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.

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Literary Links

You have multiple ‘social identities’ – here’s how to manage them “When it comes to our membership of different social groups, most of us switch between different versions of ourselves multiple times each day,” writes Anna K. Zinn, Ph.D., of the University of Queensland, in Australia. Identity is the key component of Life Stories in […]

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book review

Vacation Reading: Part 1

Being on a cruise ship gave me the opportunity to have probably the best reading month of my life: 10 books: 8 novels + 2 works of nonfiction. Let the reviews begin! I put this novel on my Kindle because I thought Dave’s 2021 mystery The Last Thing He Told Me was so good: “By repeatedly

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‘A beacon of brazenness and defiance’: Edna O’Brien remembered by Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and more | Books | The Guardian

The acclaimed author of The Country Girls, which was burned in the market square of her home town, has died aged 93. Here, Irish novelists pay tribute to a titanic figure who liberated their country’s fiction Source: ‘A beacon of brazenness and defiance’: Edna O’Brien remembered by Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and more | Books

‘A beacon of brazenness and defiance’: Edna O’Brien remembered by Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and more | Books | The Guardian Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 20

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 19

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

Day 19 Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 18

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

Day 18 Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 17

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

Day 17 Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 16

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

Day 16 Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 15

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

Day 15 Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 20 Books Challenge

Day 14

I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just

Day 14 Read More »

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