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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A Literary Guide to Combat Anti-Asian Racism in America “Anti-Asian violence and discrimination has increased precipitously, but it has a long history in the United States” Jae-Yeon Yoo and Stefani Kuo offer a reading list to help readers in the U.S. better understand racism against Asian Americans: We’ve compiled this list as a way to […]

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sign: Tacoma Public Library, George O. Swasey Library

A Visit to the Library! And a Restaurant!

On Monday I saw an announcement in our local paper that two branches of the Tacoma Public Library would be opening for timed-entry, in-person browsing beginning the next day. One of those two is a local library for us, so this was a not-to-be-missed opportunity. A quick click to the library web site revealed that

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PBS Is Hosting a Virtual Museum Tour of Jane Austen’s House | Mental Floss

Jane Austen’s books were all written in the Hampshire house, which is now a time capsule of her life there. The tour is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, March 26, and costs $14 per person. Half of the profits will go to the museum, which is currently raising money to restore the 70-year-old

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NEH to Distribute $135M to Cultural Institutions Hit by Pandemic

The National Endowment for the Humanities will receive $135 million in supplemental funding as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan just approved by President Biden. The funding will be used to assist institutions impacted by the pandemic. Source: NEH to Distribute $135M to Cultural Institutions Hit by Pandemic

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How Reading Ebooks Changes Our Perception (and Reviews) Addison Rizer, a self-declared “avid Kindle reader,” writes, “I am curious about the ways reading ebooks changes the way we interact, and review, the novels we consume.” The article contains lots of references, with links, to both scientific studies and popular sources. However, the discussion is unfocused;

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Discussion

Do You Read More Than One Book at a Time?

The question of whether people read more than one book at a time comes up often on book-related media. I’ve noticed that the people who post the question and then go on to answer it most often write about why they read multiple books simultaneously. Many people just ask the question without including any discussion,

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On This Day, March 8: International Women’s Day marked on March 8 for 1st time – UPI.com

On March 8, 1914, International Women’s Day was observed on March 8 for the first time and would go on to be marked on this day annually. Source: On This Day, March 8: International Women’s Day marked on March 8 for 1st time – UPI.com

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The time is right to cancel Dr. Seuss’s racist books One of the biggest literary stories recently is the decision by the company that controls the works of Dr. Seuss to pull six titles from future republication because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” Here Ron Charles, book critic for the

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Covers: Phosphorescence, Bright Lights Big City, You, Everything I Never Told You, The Center of Everything, The Center Cannot Hold, My Dark Places

6 Degrees of Separation: From Light to Dark

This month we start with Phosphorescence by Julia Baird, an author based in Sydney, Australia. Here’s the description of the book from Goodreads: A beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness – the ‘light within’ that Julia Baird calls ‘phosphorescence’ – which

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