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In ‘Bright Shiny Morning,’ James Frey Presents Little Pieces of Los Angeles in His Way

In ‘Bright Shiny Morning,’ James Frey Presents Little Pieces of Los Angeles in His Way – New York Times New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin writes about James Frey’s new novel: He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one […]

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Web Sites Let Bibliophiles Share Books Virtually : NPR

Web Sites Let Bibliophiles Share Books Virtually : NPR Think of it as Facebook or MySpace for people who’d rather browse in a book shop than go to a party. Book-centered sites like LibraryThing, Goodreads, Shelfari, aNobii and BookJetty, among others, allow readers to keep track of books they have read or books they want

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The lure of made-up memoirs

The lure of made-up memoirs – Los Angeles Times And here’s one more. The author of this piece compares the current faked memoir to Famous All Over Town, a first-person account of growing up in the gang culture of East L.A., published in 1983. That book, supposedly by a young Chicano writer named Danny Santiago,

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Bogus memoir sparks criticism of publishing industry

Bogus memoir sparks criticism of publishing industry – Los Angeles Times Here’s another reaction to the faked memoir by “Margaret B. Jones,” this one from Los Angeles, where the action of the book supposedly took place.  This article goes further than does The New York Times by looking at this book as “part of a

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Gang Memoir Is Pure Fiction

Gang Memoir, Turning Page, Is Pure Fiction – New York Times Yet another memoir bites the dust. Love and Consequences by Margaret B. Jones was published last week.  In this memoir Margaret B. Jones claims to be a half-white, half-Native American who grew up as a foster child in the gangland of South-Central Los Angeles

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Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers – New York Times

Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers – New York Times F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby continues to inspire urban youth, many of whom are immigrants, with its portrayal of the American dream. The book is still required reading in half the high schools in the U.S. It sells about

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The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media The Writer’s Almanac, sponsored by American Public Media and The Poetry Foundation, provides a poem each day, plus literary and historical notes for the day’s date. In addition to reading online, you can also sign up for a daily e-mail or listen to the podcast version.

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NPR : ‘Father’s Law’ a Reflection of Wright’s Masterpieces

NPR : ‘Father’s Law’ a Reflection of Wright’s Masterpieces In 1940, Chicago-based author Richard Wright published a violent first novel called Native Son. It was a huge success, and he spent the next 20 years blazing trails for other African-American writers. Wright died of a heart attack in Paris in the autumn of 1960, leaving

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What Exactly is Literature?

NPR : Best-Selling Book Shows ‘Halo’ Game’s Wide Appeal That’s the question raised by news items such as this: The action-adventure book Contact Harvest is on the USA Today and New York Times best-seller lists. Author Joseph Staten had never written a novel but was uniquely qualified to write this one. Contact Harvest is the

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