We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order to Live is the first and only documentary being made about Joan Didion. While her writing is fierce and exposed, Joan herself is an incredibly private person. We have the privilege to know Joan as a subject and also as a member of our family. Our director, Griffin Dunne, […]
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Homeless Outreach in Volumes: Books by Bike for ‘Outside’ People in Oregon This city [Portland, Oregon] has a deeply dyed liberal impulse beating in its veins around social and environmental causes, and a literary culture that has flourished like the blackberry thickets that mark misty Northwest woods. It is also one of the most bike-friendly,
BuzzFeed Books is honored to celebrate the fantastic young writers of the National Book Foundation’s 9th annual 5 Under 35, chosen by past winners and finalists of the National Book Awards. “The National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 program is about supporting a rising generation of talented authors,” said Leslie Shipman, Assistant Director of the
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Tragic fiction may leave you emotionally upset It might seem logical that reading a sad fictional story would be less upsetting than reading a less sad but true story. But new research suggests this is not the case: “Consumers may choose to read a tragic fictional story because they assume that knowing it was fictional
Required Reading: 10 Books We Read For Class That Will Change Your Life As summer winds down, many students turn with desperation to those lists of required summer reading that they put aside a couple of months ago. But not all assigned reading is dull and unfulfilling, the editors at Huffington Post say: Sometimes reading
The Feud Between Amazon, Hachette Publishing, and Readers Heats Up It’s difficult to keep up with all the nuances of this issue. Here are a couple of recent articles: Dispute Between Amazon and Hachette Takes an Orwellian Turn Maybe Amazon really is rattled by the whole Authors United phenomenon organized by Douglas Preston. The writers
Ranking Cormac McCarthy’s Greatest Books I’m a week behind with this, but I include it here because Cormac McCarthy is an author I haven’t yet worked on, and I’m glad to have the suggestions offered here: Trailing Philip Roth by a few months and Toni Morrison by two years, Cormac McCarthy (who turns 81 this
The Decline of Harper Lee — Vulture. Yesterday’s Monday Miscellany included a summary of the publication of a new book about Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lee’s denial of cooperation on the book. This article paints a sad picture indeed. Having outlived most of her family and friends, Harper Lee, 88,
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A New Book About To Kill a Mockingbird Author Harper Lee? Last week saw the announcement of a new book about Harper Lee, The Mockingbird Next Door by Chicago Tribune reporter Marja Mills. USA Today explains how Mills obtained material about the notoriously reclusive and publicity-shy Lee: Mills was able to penetrate Lee’s wariness by
Could reading dark literature harm your teenage children? This isn’t a new question, but this answer is fairly well balanced, with discussion from scientists for both sides of the issue. Judy Blume: ’I thought, this is America: we don’t ban books. But then we did’ A delightful interview with Judy Blume, who has her own
