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.

Monday Miscellany

When the Water’s Too Cold, Something Else to Dive Into: A Critic’s Survey of Summer Books As for this summer’s brand-new reading, if there’s one overriding motif, it’s this: the crazier, the better. Here’s a whole long list of recommended summer reading. Norman Mailer’s A Fire on the Moon: a giant leap for reportage On the […]

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Monday Miscellany

Gillian Flynn: By the Book In this interview with The New York Times, the author of the wildly successful thriller Gone Girl reveals what books she’s currently reading, who is her all-time favorite novelist, what makes a great thriller, and how she’s faring with the self-imposed project of reading every Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in chronological order.

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Mary Stewart, British Writer Who Spanned Genres, Dies at 97 – NYTimes.com

Mary Stewart, British Writer Who Spanned Genres, Dies at 97 – NYTimes.com. Mary Stewart, the British author of romantic thrillers who jumped genres in her 50s to create the internationally best-selling trilogy of Merlin books, reimagining the Arthurian legend from a sorcerer’s point of view, died on May 9 at her home in the village

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

“Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” Conrad Aiken

  Aiken, Conrad. “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” (1934) 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 Post: “The World Within”: Introduction   I remember discovering this story in an anthology of American short stories back

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Monday Miscellany

Additions to Your TBR List Just in case your TBR (to-be-read) list isn’t long enough, here are two articles with recommendations you can add. 10 overlooked novels: how many have you read? Most novels come, have their day, and are gone. For ever. Most deserve their “do not resuscitate” label. Every so often, though, a

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Monday Miscellany

Hunt on to find Cervantes — Spain’s great writer Miguel de Cervantes, Spain’s greatest writer, was a soldier of little fortune. He died broke in Madrid, his body riddled with bullets. His burial place was a tiny convent church no larger than the entrance hall of an average house. No more was heard of the

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

“The World Within”: Introduction

  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   The World Within was one of the first literary collections assembled to spotlight a psychological approach to literature. It couples a literary editor’s introductory remarks with analysis

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Monday Miscellany

Literary legacy contributes to sense of community Here’s an article about one of the most famous authors you’ve probably never heard of: Harold Bell Wright was among the most popular American authors of his time, penning 19 novels — with 15 of them making their way to the silver screen. In 1930, The New York

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Monday Miscellany

The big literary news of the past week was the death of Gabriel García Márquez and the announcement of Pulitzer Prize winners. But there is other news as well, particularly about upcoming publications: Spring brings bounty of new titles for book lovers Mary Ann Gwinn, book editor for the Seattle Times, lists both fiction and nonfiction titles

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