Mary Daniels Brown

Collage of book covers: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld; Possession by A.S. Byatt; The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati; The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow; 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami; The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

6 Degrees of Separation: Love Stories

I missed last month’s 6 Degrees because I was still on vacation in early July. But I’m back for this month’s exercise, which begins with Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, …

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book review

“The Art of X-Ray Reading”

I picked this book up because I interpreted the description to mean I’d get a refresher course in the kind of slow, close reading we spent our time on in grad school. Clark’s stated purpose is to help writers “learn their best moves” by observing how literary writers have used language to produce “the effects …

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

The Writers Who Went Undercover to Show America Its Ugly Side “In the 1940s, a series of books tried to use the conventions of detective fiction to expose the degree of prejudice in postwar America.” A history lesson from The Atlantic: In the years during and after World War II, the battle against fascism spread …

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Discussion

What Do You Remember About Your Childhood Reading?

Or, The Power of Enchantment How much do you remember about reading in early childhood? I ask because I’m always bemused when I see other peoples’ statements about learning to read at age 3 or 4 and remembering the very moment they realized they could make sense of the squiggles on the page. I ask …

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

How the Essay and the Novel Inform and Influence Each Other Here’s an excerpt from Jane Smiley’s recently published collection of essays, The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom (Heyday Books, 2023): Most of the essays in this book have been assignments—I am handed a topic and asked to reveal …

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Discussion

Author Focus: Amalie Skram of Norway and Denmark

When you go on an organized tour while on a cruise, the emphasis of what you learn depends on the interests of your tour guide. Fortunately, on our two days in Bergen, Norway (the first and last days of our vacation), we had a knowledgable guide with an interest in the arts. He introduced us …

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

‘It’s not climate change, it’s everything change’: sci-fi authors take on the global crisis “Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy led the way. Now a new crop of novelists is putting the heating emergency at the forefront of their plots” Categories: Author News, Literary History Controversial book ‘Stamped’ added back into Pickens Co Schools libraries PICKENS …

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Logan Steiner on Learning Life Lessons From Anne of Green Gables I was drawn to this article because much of what Logan Steiner writes here reflects my own reactions to reading Anne of Green Gables. The book demonstrates not only what it means to be human, but also how literature can unconsciously teach us how …

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feature: Life Stories in Literature

Review: ”The Ten Thousand Doors of January”

I loved this fantasy, a coming-of-age tale based on an epic search for lost love, a place to call home, and the power of stories. We first meet the protagonist, January Scaller, at the beginning of the 20th century, when she’s seven years old.  She lives with a guardian: Mr. William Cornelius Locke, self-made not-quite-billionaire, …

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