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.

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queer indie and self-published books to read during pride month The indie and self-published community offers a great range of identities and diversification that you often can’t find in traditionally published books, but because of people’s prejudice against these books, or because of their laziness in trying to find them, indie books often go unnoticed. […]

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A small ocean cruise ship on the water, with green hills and a snow-covered mountain peak in the background.

Setting Off to Sail the Seas!

After having two cruises canceled during the time of COVID-19, my husband and I are finally sailing off to enjoy retirement for a month. I don’t expect to be posting much during that time because internet access is severely limited while at sea. I do expect to read a lot around our bouts of sightseeing,

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Book covers: Friendaholic by Elizabeth Day; On Friendship by Alexander Nehamas; The Friend Who Got Away, edited by Jenny Offill and Elissa Schappel; The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow; Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett; Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg; The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

6 Degrees: Many Forms of Friendship

This month we start with Elizabeth Day’s exploration of friendship, Friendaholic. Here’s part of the Goodreads description of the book: “ As a society, there is a tendency to elevate romantic love. But what about friendships? Aren’t they just as – if not more – important? So why is it hard to find the right

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Celebrate Pride Month!

Resources Pride Month—June 2023 Happy Pride Landing page for Lit Hub’s articles 7 Children’s Books That Celebrate Pride Ten LGBTQ+ Authors on the Books That Taught Them Celebrating Pride “LGBTQ+ Books to Discover the Voices, Stories, and Power of Pride” From publisher Harper Collins The Lesser-Known Novel of the 1950s That Presaged Queer Liberation “Cat

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What I Learned About Writing From Reviewing Bethanne Patrick writes, “I believe in both author and reader as partners in a delicate dance. The author wants to speak; the reader wants to listen. I’ve occupied both roles.”  Having been both a critic and a writer, Patrick here offers some advice for writers. Categories: Literary Criticism,

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6 Mid-Life Memoirs of Transformative Years “6 Life-Changing Memoirs” “What would it take for you to transform your life? Could you do it in the span of a year or two? Spurred on by loss, career changes, new hobbies — or even a global pandemic — what if your life could become something new? In

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feature: Life Stories in Literature

2 Novels About Communities

This novel well deserves the recognition it received: ITW Thriller Award Nominee for Hardcover Novel (2021), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Mystery/Thriller (2020), Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel (2021). Set in Los Angeles, it tells the stories of women who represent the outcasts, the marginalized and the expendable members of society. West

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Learning How to Read Slowly Laura Sackton, a self-proclaimed fast reader, explains her reasons for learning “about how to shift some of my bookish energy toward slower, more deliberate reading” because, she writes, “there are some books that are better when read slowly.” I couldn’t agree more. And I was especially intrigued by her realization

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feature: Life Stories in Literature

Review: “The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn

“ The year 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything – beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece

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Magda Szabó and the Cost of Censorship “The Hungarian writer’s fiction examines how silence—politically enforced or self-imposed—can warp and disfigure a life.” Charlie Lee profiles Magda Szabó, whose life under Hungary’s repressive political regime “was an experience that seeded her fascination with the cost of silence in all its forms—politically enforced, self-imposed—as well as her

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