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.

Oprah’s Book Club Is Back!

Oprah’s Book Club Selects ‘Wild’ Officially kicking off “Oprah Book Club 2.0” on June 4, Oprah Winfrey has selected Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (Random House) as her first pick. The book, a memoir about a 1,100 mile solo hike that Strayed took after personal tragedy, has […]

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Monday Miscellany

Here’s what caught my eye over the past week:  ‘I Am The Cheese’: A Nightmarish Nail-Biter: The most chilling book I’ve ever read is Robert Cormier’s I Am the Cheese. In this piece, which is almost as compelling as the novel itself, author Ben Marcus remembers how reading the book affected him as a 12-year-old

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2012 Orange Prize Goes to ‘The Song of Achilles’

2012 Orange Prize Goes to ‘The Song of Achilles’ Madeline Miller, the 8-1 outsider last night won the 2012 – and last – Orange Prize for Fiction with her debut novel The Song of Achilles (Bloomsbury), becoming the fourth American in a row to take home the £30,000 cheque and the bronze “Bessie” figurine, both

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JoyceWays: Ulysses iPod App | A Piece of Monologue: Literature, Philosophy, Criticism

JoyceWays: Ulysses iPod App | A Piece of Monologue: Literature, Philosophy, Criticism A James Joyce iPod app is scheduled for introduction at Dublin’s James Joyce Center on June 14, two days before Bloomsday: It’s six chapters from Ulysses; it’s twenty locations from Dubliners; it’s fifteen of Joycean hostelries. It’s got over 100 spots from Ulysses.

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55 years later, Kerouac novel finally is a movie

55 years later, Kerouac novel finally is a movie | The Columbia Daily Tribune – Columbia, Missouri Fifty-five years after its publication, Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” finally is burning on the big screen. Marlon Brando, Jean-Luc Godard and Brad Pitt have all circled the classic 1957 novel over the past six decades, but Walter

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Monday Miscellany

This week’s link round-up: The 42 Best Lines from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Series: I’m sorry that I missed Towel Day on May 25, the annual celebration of the life and work of Douglas Adams, but I’ve put it on the literary calendar so I won’t forget next year. In honor

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‘Things Fall Apart’ named one of the world’s 50 Most Influential Books

‘Things Fall Apart’ named one of the world’s 50 Most Influential Books : Ghana Business News An academic group based in San Antonio, Texas, USA, calling itself SuperScholar, has listed prolific Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe’s, bestseller, ‘Things Fall Apart’, now a movie with veteran Nigerian actor Pete Edoche starring as the lead character Obi Okonkwo,

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