Mary Daniels Brown

My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books. As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.

Anita Brookner, whose bleak fiction won the Booker Prize, dies at 87 – The Boston Globe

Anita Brookner, a British author of lean, elegiac and stylistically polished novels who was once labeled the “mistress of gloom” for her depiction of bleak and disappointed lives, usually of women, died on Thursday. Source: Anita Brookner, whose bleak fiction won the Booker Prize, dies at 87 – The Boston Globe

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Shani Gilchrist Remembers Pat Conroy | Literary Hub

Pat Conroy always managed to put South Carolina’s weirder qualities into gloriously humorous and scientific perspective. This is a rare art as it requires a brand of honesty most people run from before they have to think too hard about it. This honesty requires ownership of both the good and bad aspects of history, requires

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Man Booker International 2016 longlist includes banned and pseudonymous authors | Books | The Guardian

Novels by the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk and a political novel banned in mainland China have all been longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International prize, celebrating the finest in global fiction translated to English. The 13-book longlist was whittled down from 155 and consists of authors from 12 countries,

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girl reading

On Reading

Sorry, Science Says Speed Reading Doesn’t Work A report, recently published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, on a comprehensive review of the science behind speed reading: The team behind the research looked at decades of studies focused on all manner of techniques and apps that promise to help you devour words at an

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woman reading

Reading Recommendations for Women’s History Month

9 WOMEN TO WATCH IN 2016 A list of “up-and-coming female writers [who] will have readers talking in 2016.” 115 READING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BOOKS BY WOMEN From Bookriot’s Amanda Nelson: I jumped on the “One Book/One Like” Twitter bandwagon and decided to only recommend books by women for every like the tweet got. I made

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33 Life-Changing Books in Honor of International Women’s Day | Literary Hub

In honor of International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month, and all women everywhere, we asked the all-volunteer staff at VIDA to tell us about the books that changed their lives. Ran… Source: 33 Life-Changing Books in Honor of International Women’s Day | Literary Hub

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The Classics Spin #12

It’s time for The Classics Spin #12. Here are the directions: At your blog, by next Monday, March 7, list your choice of any twenty books you’ve left to read from your Classics Club list — in a separate post. Next Monday, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read

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Pat Conroy, Author of ‘The Prince of Tides’ and ‘The Great Santini,’ Dies at 70 – The New York Times

Pat Conroy, whose tortured family life and the scenic marshlands of coastal South Carolina served as unending sources of inspiration for his fiction, notably the novels “The Great Santini,” “The Lords of Discipline” and “The Prince of Tides,” died on Friday. He was 70.His death was confirmed by Todd Doughty, the vice president, executive director

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woman reading

Books That I Finished in February

In an effort to reach my reading goal of 40 books this year, I’m going to start keeping track here of the books I finish each month. Although I keep this information in a database program, it will be easier for me to see if I make each month’s quota. My Name is Lucy Barton

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man reading a big book

6 Big Books I Keep Meaning to Reread

Related Post: 10 Big Books I Have Read & Loved While scanning my bookshelves for Big Books I have read, I also found six that I have already read but want to read again. You’d think that once through a Big Book would be enough, but in fact Big Books contain so much that they

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