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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Women are now publishing more books than men—and it’s good for business “Women have gone from publishing just 18% of books in the 1960s to more than half today, driving up revenue and diversifying readership” Categories: Publishing, Writing The End of the English Major I looked at a different link about this same topic last […]

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Historic photo: black and white image of a crowd of women suffragettes dressed in white marching on a city street lined by men in dark suits.

5 Memoirs to Read for International Women’s Day

(Feature Image: From the [U.S.] National Archives catalog; National Archives Identifier: 593556) Related Post: Here are memoirs by five strong women with whom to celebrate. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd Sue Monk Kidd was an established Christian inspirational writer when an incident involving her teenage daughter called her to question

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Women’s History Month grew out of a weeklong commemoration by Jimmy Carter in 1980 “Years before it became a full month, there was Women’s History Week.” More on the history of Women’s History Month. Category: Et Cetera Don’t worry, Roald Dahl’s original texts will still be published after critics call new editions ‘absurd censorship’ Yet

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Book covers: Passages by Gail Sheehy; The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir; The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan; Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn G. Heilbrun; Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson; The Heroine's Journey by Maureen Murdock; The Seasons of a Woman's Life by Daniel J. Levinson

6 Degrees of Separation: Women’s History Month Edition

This month’s starting book was a best-selling self-help title in the seventies – Passages by Gail Sheehy, published in 1976. I read Passages before I started keeping a reading journal, so I can only estimate when I read it. It would have been in the mid 1980s, as my 40th birthday approached. I remember it

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Historic photo: black and white image of a crowd of women suffragettes dressed in white marching on a city street lined by men in dark suits.

March Is Women’s History Month

(Feature Image: From the [U.S.] National Archives catalog; National Archives Identifier: 593556) According to Wikipedia, Women’s History Month is celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia; and in Canada during October. Origin Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28

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Roald Dahl’s books are nasty by nature – editing a word or two won’t make them nice A bit different aspect of censorship has been in the news lately: “An investigation by the Telegraph has revealed that hundreds of changes have been made to the most recent editions of Dahl’s books, published by Puffin (the

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What Do 10 Years of the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller Lists Say about YA? Because I don’t read a lot of YA literature, I tend not to report on it very often. Here Kelly Jensen, who has been writing about the YA book world for more than 15 years, examines whether the demographics

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book review

“The Violin Conspiracy”

“ Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can’t afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And

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The Defiance of Salman Rushdie “After a near-fatal stabbing—and decades of threats—the novelist speaks about writing as a death-defying act.” David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, offers background on Salman Rushdie as well as news about the author’s life since he was attacked at a literary event last August 11. Category: Author News 8

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Discussion

Audio or Print Book? Sometimes One, Sometimes the Other

No, I’m not going to rehash the issue of whether audiobooks “count.” As long as the audiobook you listen to is unabridged, it counts as having read the book, just as does reading an ebook. However, I recently listened to two audiobooks that reminded me that sometimes I prefer to listen and sometimes I prefer

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