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.

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books This summer, the state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas and the local library in Midland, Texas, announced they’re leaving the ALA, with possibly more to come. Right-wing lawmakers in at least nine other states — Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, […]

Literary Links Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

The Hours at 25: The book that changed how we see Virginia Woolf The 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham’s novel The Hours “has come to define the popular image of Virginia Woolf in the 21st Century,” writes Lillian Crawford. The Hours is “a modern reinterpretation of Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway.” Crawford explains how

Literary Links Read More »

Book covers: Wifedom by Anna Funder; The Paris Wife by Paula McLain; Night Woman by Nancy Price; Crossfire by Dick Francis & Felix Francis; Saratoga Payback by Stephen Dobyns; The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns; Being Dead by Jim Crace

6 Degrees: From Being a Wife to Being Dead

This month we start with Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder, which was published in July 2023. The book details the life of writer Eileen O’Shaughnessy, who married George Orwell in 1936. Anna Funder uses newly discovered letters between Eileen and her best friend to get to know Orwell’s wife, who has been

6 Degrees: From Being a Wife to Being Dead Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Seven Books for the Lifelong Learner Chelsea Leu suggests seven books that “describe the experience of becoming absorbed by a skill or craft, and deliver insights into what mundane activities—say, playing sports or learning a foreign language—can tell us about how we live today. Look closely enough at any human endeavor, these books suggest, and

Literary Links Read More »

How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor : NPR

No longer are just books under fire, but also the library administrators, teachers and long-beloved librarians who are defending them. They’re being shouted down by parents, vilified on billboards, reported to the police, and trolled online, leaving many fearing for their safety. Source: How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor

How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor : NPR Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Levelling up: how Gabrielle Zevin’s gaming novel became the book of the summer I was gratified to read about the popularity in the U.K. of My Most Surprising Read of 2022. Categories: Author News, Book News, Fiction Negative capability “When it comes to our complicated, undecipherable feelings, art prompts a self-understanding far beyond the wellness

Literary Links Read More »

stack of books and open notebook. Label: Quotation

On Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton, American Novelist (January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) Wharton’s deepest concern was morality. She wrote about the struggle between the body and the mind, that battlefield from which morality emerges. Central to her work are stifled and illicit passions, manifested in divorce, adultery, incest, and illegitimacy. She wrote about the struggle to

On Edith Wharton Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Thermo Fisher Scientific settles with family of Henrietta Lacks, whose HeLa cells uphold medicine Social justice achieved by a book! See The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Categories: Author News New England Noir: A Brief, Idiosyncratic History of a Literary Region The region is known for its literary output: six states, a

Literary Links Read More »

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,

6 Degrees of Separation: Love Stories Read More »

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

“The Art of X-Ray Reading” Read More »

Scroll to Top