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.

Collage of book covers: All Fours by Miranda July; The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan; Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson; Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney; Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney; The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave; The Lost Man by Jane Harper.

6 Degrees of Separation

This month we start with Kate’s pick for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, All Fours by Miranda July.  first degree The most recent novel I’ve read that features a number in its title is The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan. second degree I’ve recently read a novel by another author named […]

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stack of books and open notebook. Label: Quotation

On Crime Novels & Thrillers

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Brain oscillations reveal dynamic shifts in creative thought during metaphor generation Since I’ve written earlier about metaphors as novel titles, this article fascinated me. It reports on recent research into “the neural mechanisms behind metaphor generation, a creative skill that plays an important role in how people understand complex concepts and communicate abstract ideas.” The

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A stack of 3 closed books, next to an open notebook on which rests a ballpoint pen. Text: Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature

Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature

Novels Based on Mythological Retellings On the relationship between culture, psychology, folklore, mythology, and history: Mythological retellings bring us stories with timeless resonance, viewed through the lens of modern concerns, explains Francesca Simon. The bestselling author tells us about her five favourite retellings. On Slaughterhouse-Five, the “Ultimate PTSD Novel” In this excerpt from his book

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Background: light oak floor boards. A collage of mass market paperbook covers: Coma by Robin Cook, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Text: R.I.P., Mass-Market Paperbacks

What Mass-Market Paperbacks Do You Remember Reading?

Discussion These are some of the many books I remember carrying around and reading in mass-market paperback format. Since my late adolescence and early adulthood (my late teens, 20s, and 30s) coincided with the height of the mass market age, I felt a twinge of nostalgia when I read that mass-market paperbacks will no longer

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The 30 best nonfiction books of the last 30 years The Los Angeles Times is compiling a series of “30 Best” lists in honor of this year’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of its annual Festival of Books. Here are its top nonfiction titles. The Age of Genre Bending, Blending, and Juxtaposing Novelist and essayist

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Last Week's Links

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Metaphors open up our minds – but can also shut them down Because I recently wrote a post extolling the beauty of metaphors as novel titles, this article caught my eye. There are always at least two sides to every story, and here’s another side to the story of metaphors. In this article neuroscientist Claire O’Callaghan

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

For the first installment of this undertaking, I focus on this post from May 29, 2010: Fictive Worlds and Real Brains: The Psychology of Reading This extended discussion of several articles I had read online is from the year before I received my doctorate in psychology. One of the areas I studied was the psychology

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Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub

Earlier today, the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes were announced and Percival Everett’s James was declared the winner for fiction. (You can see all of the winners and finalists here.) This came as no s… Source: Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub I’m guessing this will

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

The Extreme Life and Philosophy of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo Journalism and the American Condition A short introduction, with lots of related links, to the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson, commonly known as the father of “gonzo journalism”: Gonzo journalism . . . actually has a serious question to ask: “Are not the

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