What a time-consuming yet fruitful project this turned into. When I started looking back at my long-term reading log for the 6 Degrees of Separation meme, I discovered a lot of authors and/or series that I had begun to enjoy in the past but had not kept up with more recently. Many of these authors and […]
Authors/Series I Stopped Reading–For Whatever Reason Read More »
Final Girls by Riley Sager Penguin Audio, 2017 Narrated by Erin Bennett and Hillary Huber Ten years ago Quincy Carpenter ran from the woods covered in blood—the sole survivor of five young people vacationing in a secluded rental cottage. That experience made her a member of a group no one volunteers to join—Final Girls, the
Review: “Final Girls” by Riley Sager Read More »
Richard Russo: On the Moral Power of Regret One of the most memorable novels I’ve ever read is Richard Russo’s Empire Falls (2001). When I came across this essay by Russo, I knew I had to stop and take the time to settle in with it. I hope you learn from it as much as
Lots of interesting literary-related articles this week. Crime writers react with fury to claim their books hinder rape trials The Staunch prize was founded in 2018 to honor a thriller ““in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered.” This article reports on the many writers, including Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah,
Here are some of the articles that got me thinking over the past week. On Impact Stephen King experienced (celebrated doesn’t seem like the appropriate word) an anniversary last week: 20 years since the automobile accident that nearly killed him. He wrote this article for The New Yorker a year after the accident. The Weird,
Earlier post: 5 Irresistible Introductions in Fiction An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this. —Stephen King Why Stephen King Spends ‘Months and Even Years’ Writing Opening Sentences The openings of these five novels so obviously invite the reader
5 More Irresistible Introductions in Fiction Read More »
May proved to be a success. I hit my unofficial monthly quota of books completed (5), including one for my classics club list. Better yet, three of the five reads get the recommended rating. Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney text © 2017 Macmillan Audio, 2018 Narrated by: Stephanie Racine Here’s how the
Books I Read in May Read More »
Novels Mentioned The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, translated by Berliani M. Nugrahani The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman My Brilliant Friend (and 3 companion novels) by by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier The Book Thief by Markus
15 Novels: Learning History through Reading Fiction Read More »
When I posted about The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, I wondered how many people actually engage with the text of mysteries or thrillers instead of just skimming to find out how the story ends. Michaelides leads the reader along so scintillatingly that a large part of the pleasure of reading this novel lies in
Close Reading: A Pivotal Scene in “The Silent Patient” Read More »
What? I read only three books this month? I can’t even begin to figure out how I read so little. The Three-Body Problem is quite long, but still . . . What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty Pan Macmillan, 2009, rpt.2018 Recommended When we had to come home early from our world cruise, we flew
Books I Read in April Read More »
