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

Awards & Prizes, Reading, Story / By / / , ,

Show Us Your Tsundoku! Loosely translated as the practice of piling up books you might never read, the Japanese word tsundoku seems to be everywhere right now. In recent months, The New York Times, the BBC, Forbes, and plenty of others have reported on the phenomenon. Here’s the feature’s subtitle: “We want to see your

Last Week’s Links Read More »

The Classics Club

Gothic Book Tag

The Classics Club / By /

#CCgothicbooktag Here’s another exercise for the Halloween season from the Classics Club: Gothic Book Tag. The assignment is to post answers to 13 questions. (1) Which classic book has scared you the most? This has to be Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” (continued in #2) (2) Scariest moment in a book? That

Gothic Book Tag Read More »

Last Week's Links

Last Week’s Links

Last Week's Links, slow reading / By / / , , ,

Awards Introduction: 6 Literary Prizes and a Few Winning Books We Love There are so many literary prizes that keeping them all straight becomes a problem. Who awards which ones, and what are the entry and judgment criteria? Here are descriptions of a few—Nobel Prize, National Book Award, Costa Award, Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker, Women’s

Last Week’s Links Read More »

Last Week’s Links: Halloween Edition

Fiction, Film, Last Week's Links, Literature & Psychology / By / / , , , , , ,

It’s only the middle of the month, so you’ve got some time to get into the Halloween book/film mood. Here are some suggestions. WOMEN, TRAUMA, AND HAUNTED HOUSES Sarah Smeltzer writes: The haunted house is a staple of the horror genre and it’s easy to see why. Your house should be familiar and it should

Last Week’s Links: Halloween Edition Read More »

Maryse Condé Awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature

Awards & Prizes / By /

Source: Maryse Condé Awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature

Maryse Condé Awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature Read More »

man reading a big book

5 Big Books I’ve Read or Reread Recently

Big Books, Fiction, List, Personal / By /

It’s been a while since I wrote about my love for Big Books (tomes of 500 or more pages). Here are the five most recent ones I’ve read. A Column of Fire by Ken Follett, 928 pages This is the final entry in Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge trilogy. (The first two are Pillars of the Earth,

5 Big Books I’ve Read or Reread Recently Read More »

Mental Health Book Recommendations From Those Who Struggle

Uncategorized / By / /

Source: Mental Health Book Recommendations From Those Who Struggle Here’s a great list of books that can help us better understand mental health issues and the people who face them.

Mental Health Book Recommendations From Those Who Struggle Read More »

Scroll to Top