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.

book review

“Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace” by Kate Summerscale

Nonfiction, Review / By /

Summerscale, Kate. Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian LadyBloomsbury, 2012Hardcover, 303 pages ISBN 978-1-608-19913-6 Recommended Kate Summerscale’s book showcases the precarious position of women in Victorian England. When Isabella Hamilton Walker married Henry Robinson in 1844, she was a 31-year-old widow with a young son. Her first husband had willed his estate to […]

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Monday Miscellany

Book Recommendations, Fiction, Literary Criticism, Monday Miscellany / By /

The Best Stephen King Book: Readers’ Picks Readers have spoken. The Stand won in a landslide as Stephen King’s most popular novel. If your King favorite is something else, check the pie chart here to see how it stacked up. New & Forthcoming: The Algonquin Reader Download Algonquin Books’ big list of books due out

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Quotation of the Day

Quotation, Writing / By /

“Everything I write is about the stories people tell themselves about themselves to make life more bearable, which basically is what all people do all the time.” — mystery novelist Laura Lippman Source: ‘Most Dangerous Thing’ a tale of summertime & secrets kept

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Books That “Play Ball!”

Book Recommendations, List / By /

Tonight is Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game here in the U. S. Why not celebrate by reading a book about the national pastime? Here are some suggestions, both fiction and nonfiction.   Fiction Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris The Natural by Bernard Malamud The Brothers K by David James Duncan The Great American

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Monday Miscellany

Author News, Fiction, Monday Miscellany, Oddities, Reading / By / /

16 Fiction Book Characters’ Myers-Briggs Personality Types The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a psychological categorization tool based on the theories of Carl Jung. If you don’t know your type, this page includes links for finding out more about how this assessment works and what the results mean. I’m an INFP myself, a group that includes

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Ernest Borgnine, Tough but Tender Actor, Is Dead at 95

Obituaries / By /

Ernest Borgnine, Tough but Tender Actor, Is Dead at 95 – NYTimes.com Ernest Borgnine, the rough-hewn actor who seemed destined for tough-guy characters but won an Academy Award for embodying the gentlest of souls, a lonely Bronx butcher, in the 1955 film “Marty,” died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 95.  

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American Southern Writers – Biography.com

Author News / By /

American Southern Writers – Biography.com. To honor today’s 50th anniversary of William Faulkner’s death, Biography presents mini-biographies of 5 famous Southern writers: William Faulkner Carson McCullers Harper Lee Tennessee Williams Cormac McCarthy

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‘A Farewell to Arms’ With Hemingway’s Alternate Endings – NYTimes.com

Author News, Book News / By /

A Farewell to Arms’ With Hemingway’s Alternate Endings – NYTimes.com A new edition of “A Farewell to Arms,” which was originally published in 1929, will be released next week, including all the alternate endings, along with early drafts of other passages in the book. The new edition is the result of an agreement between Hemingway’s

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Featured Review: “Room” by Emma Donoghue

Review / By /

Featured Review: Room by Emma Donoghue In a writer’s group I participate in someone recently asked for recommendations of novels to look at as examples in creating the voice of a child narrator. I’ve always been interested in books with child narrators because I think one of the hardest jobs writers can set for themselves

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