Fiction

Monday Miscellany

Why fiction is good for you Jonathan Gottschall is getting a lot of  mileage from the recent publication of his book The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. In this piece he addresses the issue of whether fiction in all its forms—TV shows and commercials, religious beliefs, and social commentary as well as novels, […]

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‘The Corrections’ Pilot At HBO Not Going Forward

If you were holding your breath in anticipation of HBO’s series based on Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections, it’s time to exhale. Despite a stellar cast, the series has been scrapped: the decision came down to adapting the book’s challenging narrative, which moves through time and cuts forwards and back. While that works in the

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“The Opposite of Me” by Sarah Pekkanen

Pekkanen, Sarah. The Opposite of Me: A Novel   Simon & Schuster, 2010   Kindle Edition: ISBN 978-1-4391-3475-7 Former journalist Pekkanen’s debut novel presents a full-life makeover.  Lindsey Rose has spent her entire adult life climbing the corporate ladder. At age 29 she’s on the brink of a big promotion at her high-level ad agency

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Monday Miscellany

The Truth Versus Twilight This site, a collaboration between the Burke Museum and the Quileute Tribe, aims to set the record straight about the culture that forms the backdrop for Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga. Made famous by the recent pop-culture phenomenon Twilight, the Quileute people have found themselves thrust into the global spotlight. Their reservation,

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“Left Neglected” by Lisa Genova

Genova, Lisa. Left Neglected: A Novel   Simon & Schuster, 2011   ISBN: 978-1-4391-6463-1 Sarah Nickerson has it all: a Harvard business degree, a high-power position in a global consulting company, a loving husband, three young children, a house in an affluent Boston suburb, and a weekend home in Vermont. She’s also doing it all:

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Monday Miscellany

Why teens should read ‘adult’ fiction – and vice-versa Sheila Heti doesn’t understand why so many adults are reading YA (young adult) literature such as The Hunger Games: What surprises me most about YA books is not that adults are reading them in mass numbers (as with Hunger Games appearing on bestseller lists everywhere); it’s

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Monday Miscellany: Big- & Small-Screen Edition

The making of a blockbuster Salon exclusive: The behind-the-scenes story of the readers and booksellers who launched the Hunger Games franchise Laura Miller’s commentary: The Hunger Games franchise, with Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence in the starring role, aims for a spot in a select but very sweet pantheon: movie adaptations of bestselling children’s book series

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Monday Miscellany

11 Literary Friendships We Can Learn From Although from a somewhat unorthodox source (accreditedonlinecolleges.com), this article presents fascinating information on the following literary friendships: Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus George Sand and Gustave

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Monday Miscellany

The private lives of great writers What would we do without literary criticism wars? Just how relevant is an author’s private life to our appreciation or understanding of his or her work? Many would argue that we should disregard it entirely. Others (myself included) might point out that while you can thoroughly enjoy a novel

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“The Chalk Girl” by Carol O’Connell

O’Connell, Carol. The Chalk Girl (2011)Audiobook by Recorded Books   Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat  When a little red-haired girl with blue eyes shows up in Central Park and hugs everyone who will let her, psychologist Charles Butler’s cleaning woman, Mrs. Ortega, knows something is amiss. She takes the little girl to Butler’s house, where he

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