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.

Former Football Player Writes Book about His Dissociative Identity Disorder

Author News, Nonfiction / By /

Walker on mission | Denton Record-Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Local News Herschel Walker, winner of the Heisman Trophy (an award for college football players) and former member of the Dallas Cowboys, has written a book about his experience with dissociative identity disorder (DID, commonly known as multiple personality disorder) and his […]

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Freedom of Speech

Literary History / By /

From today’s Writer’s Almanac, an epublication of The Poetry Foundation: It was on this day in 1934 that the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that James Joyce’s novel Ulysses was not obscene and could be admitted into the United States.

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Is Dead at 89 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com

Author News, Obituaries / By /

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Is Dead at 89 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author whose books chronicled the horrors of the Soviet gulag system, has died of heart failure, his son said Monday. He was 89.

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Famous Writers and Their Work Spaces Come Together in a Mural – NYTimes.com

Literary History, Oddities / By /

Famous Writers and Their Work Spaces Come Together in a Mural – NYTimes.com: This short piece discusses a mural painted by New York City artist Elena Climent for New York University’s Language and Literature Building. “Completing the mural took 18 months, much of it devoted to researching the rooms, conditions and rituals of each writer’s

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From the hand of J.K. Rowling. . .

Author News, Book News / By /

From the always-eager-to-sell-you-a-book folks at Amazon comes this notification: As someone who has purchased Harry Potter products from Amazon.com, you might be happy to hear that The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling’s book of fairy tales written to supplement the Harry Potter series, will be published in two new editions on December 4,

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“How Fiction Works” | csmonitor.com

1 Comment / Book News, Literary Criticism / By /

“How Fiction Works” | csmonitor.com: Matt Shaer reviews the recently published book How Fiction Works by James Wood: “Wood, a staff writer at The New Yorker and former chief literary critic at the Guardian and The New Republic, is often called America’s preeminent literary critic.” And, Shaer reports, that for the most part, Wood succeeds.

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Catching Up. . . .

Uncategorized / By /

The school I attend has an unusual academic schedule. We have the months of February and August off, which means that July has been a manic month of reading and writing papers for me, with no time for updating this blog. But I’m back now, and looking to make up for lost time! Thanks for

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book review

“Old Friend from Far Away” by Natalie Goldberg

Memoir, Nonfiction, Review, Writing / By /

Introductory Notes Natalie Goldberg grew up on Long Island, New York. She studied Buddhism with a teacher in Minnesota for 17 years. At about the same time that she began her Zen studies she also began writing and painting, and those three activities have coalesced into an active philosophy of living creatively. Natalie Goldberg has

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Book Recommendations: The Books That Changed Your Lives

1 Comment / Book Recommendations / By /

Book Recommendations: The Books That Changed Your Lives Here’s an interesting post for readers. Late last week the folks at Lifehacker asked readers to post about the books that have changed their lives. In this post they compile the top vote-getters. (Warning: One commenter said that the summaries give away too many plot points about

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Lost Titles, Forgotten Rhymes: How to Find a Novel, Short Story, or Poem Without Knowing its Title or Author

1 Comment / Author News, Book News, Literary History / By /

Lost Titles, Forgotten Rhymes: How to Find a Novel, Short Story, or Poem Without Knowing its Title or Author (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress) This is a site you’ll definitely want to bookmark. What if you wanted to locate Robert Burton’s masterful 17th century opus, The Anatomy of Melancholy? But wait: You can’t

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