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.

Looking Ahead – Hot Books for a Cold January

Looking Ahead – Hot Books for a Cold January – NYTimes.com: To get you started on some possibilities for next year’s best books list, “Here are some of the big books expected in January.”

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Best Books Read in 2009

Now that 2009 is officially over, I can decide which of the 50 books (exclusive of textbooks) I read this year were my favorites. All the published lists of best books of the year refer only to books published during that year, but my list is of the books I read this year, regardless of

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More on Ereaders

Devices to Take Textbooks Beyond Text A lot of the talk about digital reading devices has centered around their usefulness for textbook-toting students. Although the ability to carry a lot of hefty textbooks around on one much smaller device is a big plus, the drawback has been that the monochrome screens of current ereaders don’t

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Round-Up: Best Books Lists for 2009

I really hate it when people put up their Christmas decorations right after Halloween. In the same way, it rankles me when “Best Books of the Year” lists begin appearing well before the year is over. Now that 2009 is officially approaching its end, here’s a round-up of some of the more prominent “Best Books

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The Best Books I Read in 2009

Listed alphabetically by author Corrigan, Kelly. The Middle Place Didion, Joan. Slouching Towards Bethlehem Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique Genova, Lisa. Still Alice Hoffman, Alice. The Story Sisters Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo O’Connell, Carol. Bone by Bone Sarton, May. Journal of a Solitude Stockett, Kathryn. The Help Zaslow, Jeffrey. The Girls

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Most Literate Cities in the U. S.

Central Connecticut State University (CCSU): AMLC Home: This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources. Seattle, Washington DC, and Minneapolis head the list. My hometown of nearly 40 years, St. Louis, came in at #11.

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Books | Colum McCann novel wins national award for fiction

Books | Colum McCann novel wins national award for fiction | Seattle Times Newspaper: The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times, reports on the National Book Awards. McCann’s novel Let the Great World Spin took the fiction prize, and T.J. Stiles’s The First Tycoon, a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, won for nonfiction. Also a winner

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Many libraries go quiet as local budget cuts deepen

Many libraries go quiet as local budget cuts deepen — latimes.com: Just as the bad economy is driving more people to use library resources to save money, so is it forcing some libraries in the Los Angeles area to close or cut back on services. Ironically, “The bad times for libraries are coming just as

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Choosing the Small Screen of a Smartphone for E-Reading – NYTimes.com

Choosing the Small Screen of a Smartphone for E-Reading – NYTimes.com: In the war between Amazon’s Kindle, the Sony Reader, and Barnes and Noble’s new Nook, here’s another contender: smartphones. Despite the miniscule screen, our phones are always with us, allowing us to read a bit now and then when waiting to meet someone or

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Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2009 – The New York Times

Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2009 – The New York Times: Every year since 1952, the Book Review has asked a panel of judges to select 10 books from among the several thousand children’s books published that year. The judges this time around were Adam Gopnik, who writes regularly for The New Yorker and is

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