Mary Daniels Brown

Mary Daniels Brown learned at an early age how to read people, and she’s been doing that ever since. Combining advanced education in both literature and psychology, she reads and reviews novels that explore identity, the search for meaning and purpose in life, and the varieties of human experience. She’s been blogging about books at Notes in the Margin for more than 25 years. Mary believes that her focus on Life Stories in Literature has made her both a more astute reader and a happier, more human person.

An Appraisal – Updike Made the Mundane Into a Saga

An Appraisal – Updike Made the Mundane Into a Saga – NYTimes.com: Endowed with an art student’s pictorial imagination, a journalist’s sociological eye and a poet’s gift for metaphor, John Updike — who died on Tuesday at 76 — was arguably this country’s one true all-around man of letters, moving fluently from fiction to criticism, […]

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John Updike, Author, Dies at 76

John Updike, Author, Dies at 76 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com: NEW YORK (AP) — John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76. Updike, a resident of Beverly Farms, Mass., died

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Library use jumps in Seattle area; economy likely reason

Local News | Library use jumps in Seattle area; economy likely reason | Seattle Times Newspaper: A library card has become a hot property in the Seattle region — area public libraries are experiencing a surge in circulation. While busy libraries in one of the nation’s most literate cities are nothing new, some librarians credit

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Librarian Nancy Pearl Dips Below The Reading Radar : NPR

Librarian Nancy Pearl Dips Below The Reading Radar : NPR: Although we all can turn to reviews, advertisements or the best-seller lists for some suggestions, many books remain unreviewed and overlooked. I always especially like to look for books that have fallen beneath the reading radar, or books that I think more people ought to

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In difficult economic times, libraries become even more popular with the general public

In difficult economic times, libraries become even more popular with the general public Books fly off shelves as library use soars http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090108/NEWS0107/901080426/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01 The Santa Barbara Independent Libraries Busy in Faltering Economy http://www.independent.com/news/2009/jan/08/libraries-busy-faltering-economy/ The Public Library Renaissance http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/the-public-library-renaissance/ Judge orders libraries to stay open http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20090106_Judge_orders_libraries_to_stay_open.html Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/ Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Wiki

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Hollywood rarely did Donald Westlake justice

Hollywood rarely did Donald Westlake justice – Los Angeles Times: Roughly two dozen films emerged from Westlake’s novels or involved screenplay work by the man himself. But only two — 1967’s ‘Point Blank,’ based on the first novel he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and Westlake’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s ‘The Grifters’ (1990) —

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‘Conversations With God’ Author Accused of Plagiarism

‘Conversations With God’ Author Accused of Plagiarism – ArtsBeat Blog – NYTimes.com: Neale Donald Walsch, author of the best-selling series ‘Conversations with God,’ recently posted a personal Christmas essay on the spiritual Web site Beliefnet.com that was nearly identical to a 10-year-old article originally published by a little-known writer in a spiritual magazine. He now

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Donald E. Westlake, Mystery Writer, Is Dead at 75

Donald E. Westlake, Mystery Writer, Is Dead at 75 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com: Donald E. Westlake, a prolific, award-winning mystery novelist who pounded out more than 100 books and five screenplays on manual typewriters during his half-century career, died Wednesday night. He was 75. Aw, darn. The audiobook currently playing on my iPod is

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