Introduction I still remember the experience of first seeing the movie Planet of the Apes (the original 1968 version starring Charlton Heston). As the movie ended, Taylor (the astronaut played by Heston) and Nova rode off on a horse in search of a new place to live. As they rode along the beach, the camera […]
What Makes a Good Twist Ending? Read More »
Duvall Hecht, who popularized audiobooks as founder of Books on Tape, dies at 91 Duvall Hecht, Founder of Books on Tape, Is Dead at 91 I was saddened recently to read of the death of Duvall Hecht, founder of Books on Tape, because our family had one particularly memorable experience with his product. In 1975
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Murakami, Haruki. 1Q84Trans. by Jay Rubin & Philip GabrielVintage, translation © 2011Trade Paperback, 1,157 pagesISBN 978-0-307-47646-3 Highly Recommended “ A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is
Review: Encountering “1Q84” in the Time of COVID-19 Read More »
“When is a book actually read? In the moment you hold it in your hands and scan the words? I don’t really think so: That moment would be more like the moment you ingest an intoxicant, but not the actual ride that it will take you on. The “event” of “Kubla Khan” is not Coleridge
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Writer Eve Peyser had a good reading year in 2021. Here’s why: “I got myself to regularly read this year because I abandoned all notions about what I “should” be reading (the classics, the entries on “best of” lists) and instead, do whatever I want. . . . As it turns out, books are fun
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I usually finish off the year with a plan for next year’s reading that includes my list of challenges, but this year I’m still figuring out how I want to move forward. However, one thing from the past that I want to continue is the annual Discussion Challenge. I’m aiming for a minimum of 12
I’m Signing Up for the 2022 Discussion Challenge! Read More »
I tried, I really did. But Instagram finally got the better of me. Settling on the kind of post I wanted to present was my first problem. Many bookstagrammers (what the bookish folk on Instagram call themselves) include the complete publisher’s description of the book, followed by their own discussion and evaluation of the book.
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Related Articles: I suspect that a feeling for stories, for narrative, is a universal human disposition, going with our powers of language, consciousness of self, and autobiographical memory. —Oliver Sacks Introduction I was, like lots of other readers, bowled over by Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl when I read it shortly after its publication in
Announcing Life Stories in Literature Read More »
Between the post-publication recall of Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth and the cancelation of contracts for upcoming political books, my head is spinning. This will probably be quite a rambling discussion, because I am truly of two minds on these kinds of issues. ‘There Is a Tension There’: Publishers Draw Fire for Signing Trump
What a Crazy Week in Publishing! Read More »
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,
Do You Read More Than One Book at a Time? Read More »
