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.

Nonfiction longlist for the National Book Award – The Washington Post

Walter Isaacson’s study of digital innovators and E.O. Wilson’s reflections on human existence are among the books on the longlist for the National Book Award in nonfiction, announced this morning. Given the elastic dimensions of the category (anything nonfiction) and the number of submissions (almost 500), the NBA judges still managed to come up with a group […]

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National Book Award fiction long list arrives early – LA Times

The National Book Foundation’s plan to release the news of its fiction long list Thursday morning was foiled by news outlets that posted the list Wednesday afternoon. With the embargo broken, we bring you the list now; it includes a National Book Award winner, two National Book Award finalists, and a debut novelist who happens

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

“The Door,” E.B. White

  White, E.B. “The Door” (1939) In The World Within: Fiction Illuminating Neuroses of Our Time Edited by Mary Louise Aswell Notes and Introduction by Frederic Wertham, M.D. New York: Whittlesey House, 1947 Related Posts: “The World Within”: Introduction “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” Conrad Aiken “The Door” originally appeared in The New Yorker in 1939.

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Monday Miscellany

Open Library Open Library is an open, editable library catalog with an attractive facade and a lofty mission. The mission? To build an online catalog with a web page for every book ever published. The best part? You can help. From the homepage, click Sign Up, then create a free Open Library account in two

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Ursula K. Le Guin to Receive NBF Lifetime Achievement Award

The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, announced that it will award its 2014 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Ursula K. Le Guin. Neil Gaiman will present the award to Le Guin at the 65th National Book Awards Ceremony on November 19, in New York City. via Ursula K.

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Monday Miscellany

SEPTEMBER 2014’S BEST BOOKS: 12 FICTION MUST-READS FOR YOUR IMAGINATION TO RUN WILD THIS FALL It’s fall—the start of a new school year and the time for a new reading list. Morgan Ribera’s got you covered with a list of a dozen books to be published during September that will keep you reading at least

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

Life Stories: The Personal Component

Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember Review of The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen We all carry around a life story that expresses who we are and that contains our sense of identity. Introduction to Life Stories discusses how cultural influences such

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Monday Miscellany

Tragic fiction may leave you emotionally upset It might seem logical that reading a sad fictional story would be less upsetting than reading a less sad but true story. But new research suggests this is not the case: “Consumers may choose to read a tragic fictional story because they assume that knowing it was fictional

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Monday Miscellany

Required Reading: 10 Books We Read For Class That Will Change Your Life As summer winds down, many students turn with desperation to those lists of required summer reading that they put aside a couple of months ago. But not all assigned reading is dull and unfulfilling, the editors at Huffington Post say: Sometimes reading

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

11 Novels That Feature Life Stories

Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember All these novels in some way feature the notion of life stories and identity. An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson The Double

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