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.

Books | Sherman Alexie wins PEN/Faulkner award for fiction, for ‘War Dances’

Awards & Prizes / By /

Books | Sherman Alexie wins PEN/Faulkner award for fiction, for ‘War Dances’ | Seattle Times Newspaper: Seattle author Sherman Alexie has added another award to his groaning shelf of literary trophies — the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for his book of short stories, essays and poems, ‘War Dances’ (Grove Press). The prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award […]

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March Madness reading list: 10 best books about college basketball

Book Recommendations, Writing / By /

March Madness reading list: 10 best books about college basketball / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com: If you’d rather read about basketball than spend hours watching in, Marjorie Kehe offers her list of the 10 best reads. I can’t help but notice, though, that, although the title of this article is “10 Best Books

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Book Review: Three new novels extend the beloved stories of Jane Austen

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Book Review: Three new novels extend the beloved stories of Jane Austen – washingtonpost.com: Fifteen years ago the name Jane Austen resonated mainly with earnest high school students and any of their elders who remembered the 1940 black-and-white ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ adapted by Aldous Huxley and starring Laurence Olivier. Then the literary tectonic plates shifted.

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Book review: ‘This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All’

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Book review: ‘This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All,’ by Marilyn Johnson – washingtonpost.com: In researching her previous book, ‘The Dead Beat,’ which celebrates the pleasures of obituaries, Marilyn Johnson discovered that, with few exceptions, ‘the most engaging obit subjects were librarians.’ Motivated by ‘the idea that libraries were where

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The books that took the Oscars

Film / By /

The books that took the Oscars / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com: They may not have been clutching golden statuettes last night – or anywhere near Hollywood, for that matter – but there is a another set of Oscar winners this morning and they have as much reason to celebrate as do the stars

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International Women’s Day

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International Women’s Day: International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. The first IWD was run in 1911. Next year is IWD Global Centenary 1911-2011. Check this

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Benny and Penny’ tops 2010 Geisel awards list of best books for beginners

Awards & Prizes, Book Recommendations / By /

Books | ‘Benny and Penny’ tops 2010 Geisel awards list of best books for beginners | Seattle Times Newspaper: A list of recipients of the Geisel Award for beginning readers: “The award, presented annually by the American Library Association, is named for the man better known as Dr. Seuss.”

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Making the Case for iPad E-Book Prices – NYTimes.com

Ebooks, Publishing / By /

Making the Case for iPad E-Book Prices – NYTimes.com: For those of us whose heads are still spinning from trying to understand all the hoopla, both philosophical and financial, over pricing and distribution of ebooks, this article gets to the dollars and sense of the matter. For example, on a hardcover book priced at $26,

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Barry Hannah, Darkly Comic Writer, Dies at 67

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Barry Hannah, Darkly Comic Writer, Dies at 67 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com: Barry Hannah, a writer who found wide acclaim with wild, darkly comic short stories and novels set in a phantasmagoric South moving at warp speed, died on Monday at his home in Oxford, Miss. He was 67.

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After a long courtship, Angelina Jolie will play Kay Scarpetta

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After a long courtship, Angelina Jolie will play Kay Scarpetta / The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com: In a follow-up matter to my previous post, Christian Science Monitor book blogger Marjorie Kehe is reporting that many people, like me, are not impressed by the choice of Angelina Jolie to play Kay Scarpetta: Not everyone is

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