If you enjoyed a good book and you’re a woman, the critics think you’re wrong Jennifer Weiner never passes up an opportunity to lament how the world of literary criticism mistreats authors (like her) and readers of popular literature. “Every once in a while,” she explains, “a literary novel becomes tremendously popular, transcending the typical […]
’Tis the season for buying, giving, and donating books. Penguin Random House is embracing that spirit of generosity with the launch of #GiveaBook, a social media campaign that promotes books as holiday gifts, and also serves as an avenue to donate books to U.S. children in need via the aid organization Save the Children. Each
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To give and reconcile: Lois Lowry discusses childhood, importance of fiction In a recent talk at Bowdoin College in Maine, award-winning author Lois Lowry discussed how her books in many ways reflect her own life: In a winding narrative of her life story, Lowry intertwined personal anecdotes, beginning with her childhood, with their parallels in
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It is hard to believe that a decade after his death, and a hundred years after his birth, the first play Arthur Miller wrote could be having its world premiere, but that is what will happen in London next week.”No Villain”, which Miller wrote at 20 as a literature major at the University of Michigan,
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[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Is it too early for ‘best books’ lists? Nope —Seattle Times [/pullquote] I’ve waited until December 1 to start reporting on these lists, though a few of them appeared before today. 100 Notable Books of 2015 The editors of The New York Times Book Review recommend the
An old-school book lover in praise of the audiobook Brian Howe admits, “I don’t always take easily to new technology.” He still doesn’t use an e-reader—not, he explains, as an ethical matter but because texts for his obscure reading tastes, like small-press poetry, are generally not available as e-books. But, Howe says, he has become
Vanishing Point This piece is a translation of a speech given by Swedish novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard on receiving a German literary award. Here the writer explains how reading fiction helps us to understand humanity in general by focusing our awareness on individual people. What characterizes our age is “the sheer volume of images of
The universe within. This is not an example of outstanding writing. But I can’t help but warm to someone who can write this: While reading you create a universe within you where your characters talk and move through breathtaking landscapes and everything is as unique as you and your imagination are. You become the container
18 BOOKS FOR WINTER: A SELECTION OF FEEL-GOOD NOVELS, BIG BOOKS, AND CLASSICS TO ENJOY DURING COLDER WEATHER On Tolstoy Therapy, Lucy discusses books that she has loved and “ snippets of literary interestingness.” In this post she offers some reading choices for your winter reading in the categories of big books, feel-good novels, and
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I was excited to read that CBS is bringing to life yet another Star Trek series. When I stopped in at Twitter, I was surprised to see that lots of other people were excited about it, too. My husband and I were avid fans of the original series Star Trek. We watched the reruns so
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