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.

The Girl Who Cast a Viking Spell

Eva Gabrielsson, the woman who lived for 32 years with Swedish author Stieg Larsson, is in the United States on a promotional tour for the English translation of her memoir, ‘There Are Things I Want You to Know’ About Stieg Larsson and Me. Larsson, a journalist, was the author of the enormously popular Millennium trilogy: […]

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Pottermore Web Site to Sell E-Books in October

Author J.K. Rowling unveils her latest project, Pottermore: J.K. Rowling has created Pottermore, a free to use Web site taking readers right into Hogwarts, as a way of thanking her fans and paying them back for their contributions to the book. Rowling announced the news in a press conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum

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Are Teen Novels Dark and Depraved — or Saving Lives?

Are Teen Novels Dark and Depraved–Or Saving Lives? OK, one more article in response to the recent brouhaha over the state of YA (young adult) literature. This one is from Publishers Weekly, and of course you’d expect a publication aimed at the publishing industry to denounce any cries for censorship and to support writers and

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YA Fiction is Too Dark: Some Responses

In an earlier post I discussed the furor in the book world caused by the publication over the weekend in The Wall Street Journal lamenting the sad state of YA (young adult) fiction. Here are a couple of responses that get at the heart of the matter. Has Young Adult Fiction Become Too Dark? Over

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Tea Obreht Wins Orange Prize for Fiction

Tea Obreht won the Orange Prize for Fiction on Wednesday for her debut novel, “The Tiger’s Wife,” making her at 25 the youngest person to win the award.

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Britain’s Orange Prize promoting women’s fiction to be awarded Wednesday – The Washington Post

Britain’s Orange Prize was established 16 years ago to promote women’s fiction in English. The judges look around the world for “excellence, originality, and accessibility” (and no, the first criterion isn’t automatically canceled out by the third). Three of this year’s shortlisted novels deal with imprisoned women, three with the aftermath of war, and three

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Darkness Too Visible

Darkness Too Visible Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea? Authors and publishers are all atwitter about this article that appeared over the weekend in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. Meghan Cox Gurdon, who writes regularly about children’s books for

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Virginia Woolf, my mother and me | Books | The Guardian

Author Michael Cunningham writes about how, as a teenager, he discovered Virginia Woolf through a reading of her novel Mrs. Dalloway, and how his own mother figured in his attempt to write about Woolf in his novel The Hours. As a woman, Woolf knew about the sense of helplessness that can afflict women given too

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Books Preview: Spotting Summer’s High Fliers : NPR

If you’re looking for something to read this summer, NPR has 15 suggestions. And it looks as if there should be at least one something for everybody here.

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Books still big business in 2010

Seattle Times book editor Mary Ann Gwinn writes about a “print isn’t dead” report from Bowker, the company that produces Books in Print. Some of the numbers may surprise you.

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