She also wrote keenly about being an adoptive mother, about feeling unattractive, about empty-nesting and, more rarely, about sex.
He saluted and admired the self-conscious greats, Armstrong and Ellington above all, loved stars (he wrote keenly about Sinatra and Tony Bennett), and appreciated innovators (he wrote early and well about Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman).
Better to have simply acknowledged that "The Future of the Past" is a collection of magazine pieces -- deftly written, keenly observed pieces -- and to have left it at that.
Currently based in the Village of Catskill NY, Hicken writes keenly observed, carefully crafted pop that blends acoustic and Spanish guitars, piano, and strings, with subtle electronic textures.
Tautly written and keenly observed, the episode is beyond creepy, even 20 years later.
Cullina has written a keenly intelligent, beautifully arrayed work of botanical and horticultural research.
But it is clear that she now writes as someone keenly aware of how her actions appear in hindsight.
McGuane's characters are always keenly written, and that makes it bewildering when continuity falters and the illusion that they're real people falls apart.
And then, as Mr. Szwed writes in his keenly appreciative, enormously detailed new Lomax biography, "I felt something brush by my leg, and when I looked down there was Alan crawling on the floor toward the bandstand so as to stay out of people's vision".
"Travel honed his writing edge keenly and constantly," she added.
