What Is Short Story Month and Why Is It in May? Carolina Ciucci digs into the origin and history of Short Story Month, with some reading suggestions and links to information about the short story as a literary form. Categories: Literary History, Writing As the Supreme Court Weighs Roe vs. Wade, These Novels Offer Perspective …
Mental Health Awareness Month has been celebrated in the U.S. since 1949. For 2022, the National Alliance on Mental Illness has chosen the theme “Together for Mental Health.” The stigma surrounding mental health and its treatment persists despite recent emphases by well-known figures such as gymnast Simone Byles and tennis pro Naomi Osaka on the …
How Literature Depicts the Chinese Cultural Revolution Here’s an engaging article that illustrates one of the major themes of Life Stories in Literature: how dominant—and dominating—societies control the historical narrative and attempt to erase the voices of individuals and marginalized groups. Dee Das writes: When we talk about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, we mostly zoom …
This month’s starting point is Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang. This novel, which won the Booker Prize and several other awards in 2001, opens with this declaration: . . . my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will …
These are books school systems don’t want you to read, and why Now that “the United States is facing an unprecedented wave of schoolbook banning,” it’s almost impossible to keep up with the latest news on this movement. Here’s an update from The Washington Post. Categories: Censorship, Libraries Barcelona honours Gabriel García Márquez with new …
This was the Top Ten Tuesday topic for March 29, 2022, but it grew into such a big topic for me that I didn’t complete it on time. Today’s topic is Books with [___] On the Cover, but since I’m not much into covers I’m substituting this one instead. Introduction When I began to think …
A Dozen 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics Read More »
Over the Past 25 Years, the Big Publishers Got Bigger—and Fewer A report from Publishers Weekly: As 2022 began, the U.S. trade publishing business was dominated by what has been called the Big Five—Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan. Before the Penguin–Random House merger in 2013, that group was …
I just published the final two index pages, and shouldn’t be hitting you up with all those notifications any more. Even if there are errors that will need to be corrected, I don’t think you’ll get notices for them. Thank you for your patience. I ended up only adding about 45 new reviews, though it …
I appreciate all of you who follow Notes in the Margin, so I wanted to give you a heads-up: I’m about to unleash a blogging barrage. When my blog broke back in 2018, I was able to copy the text of all my old posts and dump it into a text file. After my hosting …
Let’s call April mystery book month. Here’s what I’d read. At the Malice Domestic convention April 22 to 24, devotees of traditional mysteries will present the Agatha Awards. On April 28 the Mystery Writers of America will hand out the annual Edgar Awards. Therefore, Michael Dirda asks, “Shouldn’t April be designated National Mystery Month?” He continues …
