Literary Criticism

And the Golden Hatchet goes to. . .

And the Golden Hatchet goes to … – latimes.com There’s a certain joy that comes with reading a great literary takedown, the kind of mean but intelligent and precise review that eviscerates the pretensions and the sloppiness of a truly awful book. Over in Britain, they think of a good pan as a kind of […]

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Monday Miscellany

Happy New Year! And welcome back. Read ahead for 2013 Jane Sullivan of Australia’s The Age clues us in on books (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) to be published this year. Announcing the 2013 Tournament of Books To add to your March madness: The ToB is an annual springtime event here at the Morning News, where

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Monday Miscellany

It’s been a good week for literature-relating reading. The Top 10 Charles Dickens Books Robert Gottlieb, author of Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens, explains why he thinks these are Dickens’s 10 best books: Great Expectations Our Mutual Friend David Copperfield Bleak House Little Dorrit Oliver Twist Nicholas Nickleby Dombey and Son

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Monday Miscellany

Some interesting reading this week. The Q&A: James Ellroy: Writing scandal An interesting interview with the author of one of my favorite novels, LA Confidential. Read why Ellroy tries to avoid popular culture and why he doesn’t write books about the present. And read why he says, ” I don’t read.” Reading 125 Titles A

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Monday Miscellany

Today’s links. The Most Dysfunctional Families in Literature  Neuroses run rampant across three generations of the Middlestein family in Jami Attenberg’s sublime new novel, The Middlesteins. See why Attenberg includes the families from the following books on her list: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver A Game

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Monday Miscellany

Start you week off right, with some book-related reading. 10 reasons we still love J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ Here’s a list to warm you up for the December 21 opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson’s film adaptation (Part 1) of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novel. A Short Defense of Literary Excess Novelist Ben

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Monday Miscellany

Here’s some reading to start off your week. Five Smarter Ways to Nurture Reading Sari Harrar has suggestions, based on recent research, for helping children learn to read and to enjoy reading. This one is my favorite: Link the story to their lives. Pause when you read and ask kids how the story connects to their

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What do you look for in a book review?

The question of what exactly a book review is and what it should do comes up often on the internet. So far I’ve tried to avoid it, because it’s a big question that requires a big answer. But the question is impossible to avoid this morning, with two particular articles getting lots of mention on

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Monday Miscellany

Some of what I’ve been reading over the last week: Why J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ Isn’t Just For Kids On the 75th anniversary (September 21) of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s first novel, The Hobbit, Corey Olsen explains why the book isn’t just for kids: “The Hobbit” is a brilliantly constructed story unfolding themes that

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Taproot woos fans of Dorothy L. Sayers in upcoming ‘Gaudy Night’

Taproot woos fans of Dorothy L. Sayers in upcoming ‘Gaudy Night’ | The Arts | The Seattle Times Seattle Times theater critic Misha Berson provides some background on Dorothy L. Sayer’s ground-breaking character, Harriet Vane: And what was groundbreaking about both “Strong Poison” and “Gaudy Night”? The brilliance and fierce independence of a witty, learned

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