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.

man reading a big book

5 Nonfiction Big Books I Loved

Related Posts: 10 Big Books I Have Read & Loved 6 Big Books I Keep Meaning to Reread 6 Big Books on My Reading List 2 Big Books That Disappointed Me Since I read a lot more fiction than nonfiction, it’s not surprising that all of my earlier Big Books lists have included only novels. […]

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Last Week's Links

Last Week’s Links

Recent articles on books, authors, and all things literary Real, Realist, Realistic, and False This article drew my attention because of my interest in memoir. One perennial question about memoirs is how much of the content is true, and the related question, when, if ever, it’s permissible to make up things in memoir. But here

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On Novels and Novelists

On Novels and Novelists

A Little Life author Hanya Yanagihara: ’Writing can be lonely’ In an article for the U.K. publication Telegraph, Hanya Yanagihara discusses her life and the books that have influenced her: My first book, The People in the Trees, took 18 years to write, largely because there were years when I wrote nothing. But A Little

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Nebula Award swept by record number of women writers / Boing Boing

The Nebula Awards — voted on by members of the Science Fiction Writers of America to recognize excellence in science fiction and fantasy — were given out in Chicago yesterday, and every prose award went to a woman (the film award went to the writers of feminist action film Mad Max: Fury Road). Source: Nebula

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Last Week's Links

Last Week’s Links

To Help Students Learn, Engage the Emotions Emotion is essential to learning, Dr. Immordino-Yang said, and should not be underestimated or misunderstood as a trend, or as merely the “E” in “SEL,” or social-emotional learning. Emotion is where learning begins, or, as is often the case, where it ends. Put simply, “It is literally neurobiologically

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Last Week's Links

Last Week’s Links

Thriving at Age 70 and Beyond From Jane E. Brody, long-time health writer for the New York Times: A recently published book, “70 Candles! Women Thriving in Their 8th Decade,” inspired me to take a closer look at how I’m doing as I approach 75 and how I might make the most of the years

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The Shirley Jackson Awards » 2015 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Source: The Shirley Jackson Awards » 2015 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees

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woman reading

Books I Finished in April

11/22/63 by Stephen King Recommended Jake Epping is a 35-year-old high school English teacher in the small town of Lisbon Falls, Maine. To earn some extra money, he also teaches English to adult GED students. The only other activity in his life is moping around and lamenting the recent divorce from his short-term alcoholic wife.

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Read Books

The Classics Spin #12: “Darkness at Noon”

Related Post: The Classics Spin #12 Koestler, Arthur. Darkness at Noon Translated by Daphne Hardy Original publication date: 1940 Rpt. New York: Bantam Books, 1966 ISBN 0–553–26595–4   Originally written in German and translated into English by Koestler’s companion Daphne Hardy, Darkness at Noon was first published in 1940. Set in an unnamed country, the

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Last Week's Links

Last Week’s Links

I’m trying out something different this week. I have three blogs: Notes in the Margin: about books, authors, reading, and all things literary Change of Perspective: about psychology, life stories, memoirs, and writing Retreading for Retirement: my personal blog about retirement, aging, and moving to a new city Because of these wide-ranging interests, I often

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