The Dreariness of Book Club Discussions Novelist and critic Naomi Kanakia, who belongs to two book clubs, uses the context of her book group discussions to examine why we read fiction. The point of novels, she writes, “is that something happened. Something was at stake in this story. Characters made decisions. Those decisions had consequences. […]
Book Banners Are Weaponizing Legitimate Resources: Book Censorship News, October 28, 2022 Danika Ellis writes, “One of the strategies book banners are using that makes me nervous is that they are weaponizing resources that were never meant to defend book banning.” She’s particularly concerned about “resources that were specifically made to help teachers and parents
How Do the Books We Read Change Our Brains? “Gregory Berns on Measuring the Effects of a Really Good Story” In this article, adapted from his book The Self Delusion: The New Neuroscience of How We Invent—and Reinvent—Our Identities, Emory University psychology professor Gregory Berns describes a neuroimaging experiment he devised to measure whether reading
8 Cozy Books That Will Make You Think Sharon Van Meter writes: “I have discovered a whole subgenre of books that propose hard-hitting philosophical questions while enveloping readers in a homey, inviting atmosphere. It’s the best of both worlds, a cozy read that will make you think!” Read her list to discover what books she
The Queen of arts: Elizabeth II in fiction “It wasn’t until 1988 that the Queen began to make appearances in fiction, but since then she’s had many, largely sympathetic portrayals” Categories: Fiction, Literary History How Will Overturning of Roe v. Wade Influence Book Trends? “Without Roe v. Wade, we probably never would have gotten the
This month we start with Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller. I thought I had seen the film adaptation of this book, but from the description I see that I have not. I saw something, probably on Netflix, similarly titled, but about a politician. first degree However, not having seen the film or read
6 Degrees of Separation: Reading About Reading and Fiction Read More »
How Librarians Can Counter Lies from Book Banners This problem isn’t going to go away any time soon, so we need to stay informed. Categories: Censorship, Libraries 5 Messy Characters You Can’t Help But Love My favorite phrase for describing humans is “deliciously messy.” So I immediately zoomed in on this list by Zeniya Cooley:
4 Essential Books About Queen Elizabeth II Talk about life stories. Queen Elizabeth II certainly had one. Kirkus Reviews suggests some books for those of us wanting to read about it. Reimagining the Homeland Through Speculative Fiction Speculative fiction as a genre is conducive to diasporic literature, particularly for Palestinian writers, because it combines several
Today’s assigned topic is a freebie related to school. But I’ve decided to go off on a tangent that will help me set up my next reading project. And home is at the heart of much of the fiction that I most like to read. Novels that treat both the joys and the sorrows that
#TopTenTuesday Multigenerational Family Dramas Read More »
Good Company: Depictions of Older Women in Literature Jane Campbell has some reading recommendations: For some time, I have been relishing literature that offers wonderfully varying depictions of old women. They are good company. These are pieces that expose the cruelty inflicted on older women and that impress me with their capacity to pursue the
