A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. © 1959 This book was popular when I was in college back in the late 1960s. I never got around to reading it back then, and the same mass market paperback has been kicking around on my bookshelves ever since then. It won the 1961 Hugo […]
Review: “A Canticle for Leibowitz” Read More »
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
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.
Books I Finished in April Read More »
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
The Classics Spin #12: “Darkness at Noon” Read More »
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
I reread “All the King’s Men” recently, in the wake of the Ohio and Florida primaries. It remains a salty, living thing. There’s no need for literary or political pundits to bring in the defibrillators. It is also eerily prescient, in its portrait of the rise of a demagogue, about some of the dark uses
‘All the King’s Men,’ Now 70, Has a Touch of 2016 – The New York Times Read More »
Related Post: 10 Big Books I Have Read & Loved While scanning my bookshelves for Big Books I have read, I also found six that I have already read but want to read again. You’d think that once through a Big Book would be enough, but in fact Big Books contain so much that they
6 Big Books I Keep Meaning to Reread Read More »
Not too long ago, in the book section at Target, I overheard a woman say to her companion, “I stay away from big books.” They walked away, so I didn’t get to hear any more of the conversation, but it made me think about big books. I can imagine many reasons someone might offer for
10 Big Books I Have Read & Loved Read More »
Writing Tips: James Lee Burke Usually I would put writing tips from a big-time author under the heading “on writing” rather than “on novels and novelists.” But I’m including these tips from one of my favorite mystery writers, James Lee Burke, here because he has written them out as an essay rather than a list
On Novels and Novelists Read More »
If you enjoyed a good book and you’re a woman, the critics think you’re wrong Jennifer Weiner never passes up an opportunity to lament how the world of literary criticism mistreats authors (like her) and readers of popular literature. “Every once in a while,” she explains, “a literary novel becomes tremendously popular, transcending the typical
