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# Notes in the Margin

Life Stories in Literature. Literary Notes & News

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## Posts

- [Setting Off to Sail the Seas!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/09/setting-off-to-sail-the-seas/) - After having two cruises canceled during the time of COVID-19, my husband and I are finally sailing off to enjoy retirement for a month. I don’t expect to be posting much during that time because internet access is severely limited while at sea. I do expect to read a lot around our bouts of sightseeing,
- [Two 5-Star Novellas](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/01/15/two-5-star-novellas/) - Definition: Novella Novella is an indeterminate designation, defined loosely as a work of fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. The most commonly given lengths are 15,000-80,000 words or 70-160 pages, though these numbers are always given with the caveat that they are approximate. The number of pages, especially, can vary
- [3 Novels of Life Review](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/13/3-novels-of-life-review/) - Introduction: Life Review American psychiatrist Dr. Robert N. Butler made the study of the lives of older adults and of the aging process his life’s work at a time when the last years of life were largely neglected in both medicine and public policy. Butler coined the term ageism, by analogy with sexism and racism,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/07/19/literary-links-287/) - The Rise of Literary Tourism “Explore the rise of literary tourism worldwide and how book lovers are traveling to iconic literary destinations.” Adam Ryan looks at the various ways that readers are incorporating literary destinations into their traveling plans. While I’ve never planned a trip explicitly around a literary destination, I try to include literary-related
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/07/12/literary-links-286/) - How To Kill a Mockingbird Got Banned and Became a Pulitzer-Winning Classic “Happy anniversary, To Kill a Mockingbird! Harper Lee’s classic turns 66—explore the story behind its lasting power and timeless relevance.” In this article from July 2025, Millie Ramm celebrates the anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird by asking, “why has this
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/07/05/literary-links-285/) - Think for Yourself “One of the most dehumanizing effects of AI is the short cuts it offers through the gaps and impasses intrinsic to the act of writing.” For those of us who write to discover what we think about a topic, Dan Chiasson, chair of the English department at Wellesley College, addresses a fundamental
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/07/04/6-degrees-of-separation-27/) - For July we start with a book that everyone’s talking about – Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. According to Goodreads, in this currently popular novel “A traditional American woman, a ‘tradwife’ influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855.” first degree Like Natalie Heller Mills of Yesteryear, Billy Pilgrim of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/06/28/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-27/) - How America Gave Up on Its Own History “Unable to agree on how to interpret the American story, the country’s schools, universities, and political institutions have stopped trying to tell it at all.” Just as individuals construct stories that assert their identity, so do other social and political groups, including nations. Yoni Appelbaum, deputy executive
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/06/21/literary-links-284/) - The Rise of Ragebait Lit “This spring, arguing about books in the group chat is back” In Harper’s Bazaar, Maris Kreizman discusses the predominance of “ragebait lit,” books that “are dominating the cultural conversation.” “The premises of these books may have inspired more than their share of hot takes . . . but the conversations
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/06/07/literary-links-283/) - 15 Graduation Gifts for English Majors “WHAT TO GET THE SOON-TO-BE BARISTA IN YOUR LIFE” “If you happen to have a favorite English major about to burst forth into the hard-scrabble, AI-invested, job-scarce media apocalypse” and are searching for an appropriate gift, Literary Hub has some suggestions. Prices range from $18 to $1,550. (Of course,
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/06/06/6-degrees-of-separation-26/) - June’s challenge starts with a book by Austrian author Stefan Zweig – The Post-Office Girl. first degree We English-speaking readers must access The Post-Office Girl in translation. I’ve recently added another translated work to my TBR list, Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel by Shuang-zi Yang, translated by Lin King, 2026 winner of the International Booker Prize.
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/05/31/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-26/) - Do We Think Too Much About the Future? “For most of history, people didn’t try predicting it. Maybe that was wise.” One feature of life story psychology is the concept of life review, a tendency to think about the future in terms of what our lives mean and what we want to leave as a legacy.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/05/24/literary-links-282/) - What Are the Routines of So-Called Super-Readers? Kelsey Rexroat, a writer and editor from San Francisco, talked with people who read 100 or more books in a year, “people for whom reading is not a hobby so much as a way of moving through the world.” She identifies five patterns among such “super-readers.” I found
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/05/17/literary-links-281/) - The Summer Reading Guide If you’re still drawing up your summer reading plan, The Atlantic has 25 recommendations for books in the following categories: an engrossing page-turner a book that teaches you something completely new a cult classic something to make you lose yourself in your emotions one great book you’ll be reading all summer
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/05/10/literary-links-280/) - In Praise of Chick Lit: The Genre's All-Stars Talk to Vanity Fair “As The Devil Wears Prada 2 dominates, it’s time to give these best-selling, much-maligned books about single women in the big city their due—with help from Plum Sykes and Jennifer Weiner.” I don’t like the term chick lit; nonetheless, I’ll have to live
- [Reading Notes: March](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/03/31/reading-notes-march-2/) - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Audible Studios, 2021 Narrated by Ray Porter ★★★★★ A man awakens with no memory of who he is, where he is, or why he’s here. He’s being ministered to by robotic arms apparently controlled by a computer that keeps asking, “What is your name?” As flashes of memory play
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/04/04/6-degrees-of-separation-25/) - This month’s stating point is Virginia Evans’s epistolary novel, The Correspondent. In this novel we get to know Sybil Van Antwerp from her 73rd birthday until her death about 10 years later. first degree One of the people to whom Sybil writes is author Joan Didion. In an example of synchronicity, the book I read
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/03/22/literary-links-279/) - Reading to young kids improves their social skills − and a new study shows it doesn’t matter whether parents stop to ask questions Interested in developing empathy and creativity in her school-age children, Erin Clabough, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, compared two methods of reading aloud to children: (1) reading straight
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/03/15/literary-links-278/) - We’re All Reading Wrong “To access the full benefits of literature, you have to share it out loud.” Journalist Alexandra Moe informs us “Until approximately the tenth century, when the practice of silent reading expanded thanks to the invention of punctuation, reading was synonymous with reading aloud.” She continues: “To reap the full benefits of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/03/08/literary-links-277/) - Seven Books to Read When You Have No Time to Read “When life gets really hectic, sitting quietly with a book can feel like an impossible luxury,” writes Bekah Waalkes. “What works best for me, though, is choosing just the right book.” Here she suggests some books “representing varied genres” that you might “actually want to
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/03/08/6-degrees-of-separation-24/) - This March we start with a classic in celebration of its being made into a new film – Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. first degree A much more recent book that focuses on the next generation left to deal with its family’s mess (some things never change) is The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. second
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/03/01/literary-links-276/) - Text Is (Still) King “Why the written word will never die.” Psychologist Adam Mastroianni argues that all the current narratives about the decline of reading and the related decline of civilization itself “tend to leave out some inconvenient data points.” He concludes that “humans have a hunger that no video can satisfy. Even in the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/02/15/literary-links-275/) - Is AI hurting your ability to think? How to reclaim your brain Noel Carroll, an associate professor in Business Information Systems at the University of Galway, warns that “many people may be falling victim to the same phenomenon – outsourcing the ‘struggle’ of thinking to AI.” He calls this condition “cognitive atrophy.” Essentially, AI is
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/02/21/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-25/) - The existential balm of seeing yourself as a verb, not a noun Clinical psychologist Eric Jannazzo discusses the realization that he “could start to imagine my personhood not as a thing but as a roiling together of body and breath, memory and mood, ceaselessly shifting thoughts and perceptions, all braiding with the rest of the
- [New Books from Australia's Blue Mountains](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/02/12/new-books-from-australias-blue-mountains/) - We are traveling again, and this is my first opportunity for a literature-adjacent blog post. This was our fourth visit to Sydney, and we’ve already done just about every excursion available within the city (yes, we’ve climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge). We were in town for a day and a half, and on the first
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/02/08/literary-links-274/) - Deep reading can boost your critical thinking and help you resist misinformation – here’s how to build the skill Two college professors, a cognitive scientist and a literacy expert, explain the drawbacks of doomscrolling and how deep reading can help overcome brain passivity. Deep reading . . . refers to the intentional process of engaging
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/02/07/6-degrees-of-separation-23/) - This month’s starter is a book that topped lots of 2025 ‘best of’ lists – Flashlight by Susan Choi. first degree Although I’ve seen many good words about Flashlight, I haven’t read it yet. But a book that was on a lot of 2025 “best books” lists that I DID read is Buckeye by Patrick
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/02/01/literary-links-273/) - Julian Barnes Says Goodbye to the Novel “His fiction has found meaning in life’s gaps and love’s absence.” In The Atlantic literary biographer Adam Begley writes that Julian Barnes’s latest novel, Departure(s): offers only a sketchy storyline, mixed with memoir and thoughts on memory. An extended farewell, an author’s valedictory flourish, the whole package is
- [Author Focus: Joy Fielding](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/20/author-focus-joy-fielding/) - I was surprised recently to learn that Joy Fielding has a new book that came out this month (August 2025), Jenny Cooper Has a Secret. About 30 years ago I read and enjoyed several of Fielding’s novels: See Jane Run (1991; read in Sept. 1992) Kiss Mommy Goodbye (1981; read in Oct. 1992) The Deep
- [Reading Notes: September](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/10/01/reading-notes-september/) - Related Post: Author Focus: Joy Fielding I had a dismal reading month in terms of numbers: I finished only one audiobook. But that one was not dismal at all; in fact, I found it rewarding because it was written by Joy Fielding, a writer I was glad to have rediscovered. Jenny Cooper Has a Secret
- ["Do it for the plot"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/01/08/do-it-for-the-plot/) - —Source: Mental Floss
- [Reading Notes: December](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/30/reading-notes-december/) - The best book I read this month is Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. Here are the other two. Nash Falls by David Baldacci Hachette Audio, 2025 Narrated by MacLeod Andrews, Christine Lakin, Larry Herron, Shiromi Arserio, and Will Collyer When you’ve been in the writing business as long as I have, the one thing you need
- [“Buckeye” by Patrick Ryan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/29/buckeye-by-patrick-ryan/) - Buckeye by Patrick Ryan Random House, 2025 Kindle ed., 451 pages ISBN 978-0-59-359504-6 ★★★★★ My last read of the year turned out to be one of the best books I read in 2025. Buckeye by Patrick Ryan is my favorite kind of novel: old-fashioned storytelling from an omniscient narrator, a multi-generational family saga that follows
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/01/25/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-24/) - A simple illusion can unlock your childhood memories, according to new psychology research Recent research published in Scientific Reports suggests that “people can better access detailed memories from their childhood by experiencing an illusion of owning a younger version of their own face”: Our memories are not just recordings of external events; they are experiences
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/01/18/literary-links-272/) - The Unexpected Benefits of Reading at Random “Elspeth Wilson on Becoming a Literary Omnivore” Scottish writer Elspeth Wilson, author of These Mortal Bodies (July 2025), concludes “reading at random won’t solve all the issues with unequal advances, difficulties in sustaining a career, and lack of diversity in publishing. But it has helped me encounter the
- [Reading Notes: November](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/29/reading-notes-november/) - Related Post: Nonfiction November In addition to three works of nonfiction, I also listened to two novels this month. Strangers in Time by David Baldacci Hachette Audio, 2025 Narrated by Stewart Crank, Alexandra Boulton, John Lee, Nicola F. Delgado, Matthew Lloyd Davies, Joe Pitts, and David Baldacci ★★★★★ We learn about humanity from stories of
- [Nonfiction November](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/26/nonfiction-november/) - Because I like alliteration, for many years I have conducted my own Nonfiction November reading. It was only recently that I discovered Nonfiction November is actually a thing, with its own prompts and discussion challenges. Last year, for the first time, I participated in the formal program of Nonfiction November. As much as I enjoyed
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/01/11/literary-links-271/) - Notable Literary Deaths in 2025 Dreaming of writing your novel this year? Rip up all the rules! If your New Year’s resolutions involve getting to work on that novel you’ve been meaning to write, novelist Elizabeth McCracken has some general advice to offer. Books That Open the Mind Writers for The Atlantic offer “recommendations for
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2026/01/04/literary-links-270/) - The cultural works becoming public domain in 2026 NPR informs us of the works entering the public domain this new year. There are some big names here, including the first four books of the Nancy Drew series, Dashiel Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, and Agatha Christie’s first Miss Marple mystery, The Murder at the Vicarage. Can
- [The Best Books I Read in 2025](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2025/) - For 2025 I decided to focus on books related to the topic of Life Stories in Literature. As usual, I read mostly fiction, but I also fit in a few nonfiction resources (about various aspects of storytelling) for Nonfiction November. Here, then, is the list, arranged alphabetically by author’s last name: 10 Best Books I
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/28/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-23/) - Record everything! “Our memories are precious to us and constitute our sense of self. Why not enhance them by recording all of your life?” Yannic Kappes is a philosopher and a postdoc at the University of Vienna in Austria. In this article he takes the proposition that “[c]urrent technology allows for radical memory enhancement” to
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/21/literary-links-269/) - The dawn of the post-literate society If the reading revolution [of the middle of the eighteenth century] represented the greatest transfer of knowledge to ordinary men and women in history, the [current] screen revolution represents the greatest theft of knowledge from ordinary people in history. James Marriott laments the “draining away of culture, critical thinking
- [“The Transcendence of Writing Your Fears”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/16/the-transcendence-of-writing-your-fears/) - I don’t write fiction, but I do read a lot of it. All that reading has made me think that the very first question fiction writers must ask themselves is Whose story is this to tell? Writer Elaine Hsieh Chou suggests a similar thought in a recent interview: I’m curating the experience I want the
- [Literary Hub » The 50 Biggest Literary Stories of the Year](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/15/literary-hub-the-50-biggest-literary-stories-of-the-year/) - In 2025, we were surviving, if perhaps not always thriving. We sang along to “Golden” in the grocery store and hung Labubus from our bags. We reheated nachos. We saw Sinners in multiple… Source: Literary Hub » The 50 Biggest Literary Stories of the Year
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/14/literary-links-268/) - The Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is rage bait The powers that be at Oxford University Press have chosen rage bait as their word of the year for 2025. Rage bait is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to
- [Best Books of 2025](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/11/best-books-of-2025/) - Best Books 2025 Publishers Weekly got the ball rolling on the year’s best books lists back in late October. This is the landing page, from which you can connect with focused links of works in a myriad of categories. BEST OF 2025: Holiday Gift Guide BookBub offers a list to help you “find the perfect
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/07/literary-links-267/) - The Essential Kate Atkinson “Surprising, versatile, dark and funny, the British writer has something for (almost) everyone.” Kate Atkinson’s 1995 novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum stands atop my list of Books to Reread, and I swear that some September (my traditional rereading month) I’m going to get to it. Just about everyone in
- [Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/12/05/books-you-can-read-in-one-day-6/) - If you’re still looking for some short reads to hit your annual reading goal, here are some suggestions. 4 Novellas I’ve Come Across (Links are to the Goodreads description.) The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada (138 pages) The Odd Woman and the City by Vivian Gornick (192 pages) Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (176
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/30/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-22/) - How the Union Lost the Remembrance War “The victors of the American Civil War failed to write their story into the history books, leaving a gap for the mythologizing of the Confederacy.” “After the American Civil War, there was what historian Robert J. Cook calls a ‘robust and purposeful narrative’ of the Union’s defeat of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/23/literary-links-266/) - What’s Real and What’s Not: Gish Jen on Writing Between the Factual Lines “Finding the sweet spot between memoir and fiction” Writer Gish Jen considers writing situations that fall somewhere between memoir—or nonfiction—and fiction: “Might the author hope that his or her account, to whatever genre it belongs, will move the reader in a way
- [Merriam-Webster goes old school with first new hardcover Collegiate dictionary in 22 years | WBUR News](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/18/merriam-webster-goes-old-school-with-first-new-hardcover-collegiate-dictionary-in-22-years-wbur-news/) - Merriam-Webster, the country’s oldest dictionary publisher which is headquartered in Springfield, just released an updated Collegiate edition with 5,000 new entries. Source: Merriam-Webster goes old school with first new hardcover Collegiate dictionary in 22 years | WBUR News I guess it's time to order a new dictionary.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/16/literary-links-265/) - The Best Literary Love Stories A satisfying literary love story doesn't need to end happily ever after—but one does need to be left with a sense that two characters belong together, advises the novelist Lily King . . . Thomas Mallon’s Theory of the Diary “The New York writer and editor’s diaries of the AIDS
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/09/literary-links-264/) - How to Be a Good Literary Citizen (in Seven Easy Steps) Maris Kreizman writes about “literary citizenship . . . an amorphous kind of concept, often changing with the moment, but needed more than ever today when corporate interests have a stranglehold on the arts, literary institutions are being devastated by the cancellation of NEA
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/02/literary-links-263/) - The Ultimate Fall 2025 Reading List “95 BOOKS THE CRITICS THINK YOU SHOULD READ THIS SEASON” LitHub’s annual list, prepared by Emily Temple: This season, I processed 28 lists, which collectively recommended a total of 466 books. 95 of these were included 3 times or more, and these I present to you in descending order
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/11/01/6-degrees-of-separation-22/) - Today’s starting point is a favorite of mine, the novella We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. first degree Jeannette Walls’s father had big plans to someday build a glass castle, which she describes in her memoir The Glass Castle. second degree The word castle also figures in the title of The
- [Thomas Perry on Writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/30/thomas-perry-on-writing/) - Popular and critically acclaimed novelist Thomas Perry, best known for The Butcher’s Boy (1982) and the Jane Whitefield series, has died. I want the five quarts of blood to go out on the ground so that people know that this is real, a big deal to kill somebody . . . When I write something
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/28/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-21/) - The Making of America’s Frontier Mythology Was the Making of America Just as individuals have life stories, so do nations, ethnic groups, and other collective aspects of culture and society. In this excerpt from the book The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West, Paul Andrew Hutton examines how, beginning in
- [In Honor of Punctuation Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/24/in-honor-of-punctuation-day/) - [Punctuation marks] separate sentences and their elements to clarify meaning. Without them, meaning would be lost or up for interpretation.Source: National Punctuation Day When I was in grad school for the final time, one of my professors removed all the semicolons from the first paper I submitted to her. In high dudgeon, I fired up
- [Henrik Ibsen Museum, Oslo, Norway](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/24/henrik-ibsen-museum-oslo-norway/) - High winds and choppy seas prevented us from docking at our first scheduled port on this trip. Having an extra day in Oslo, Norway, allowed us to visit the Henrik Ibsen Museum, the restored last home of Norway’s best known and most revered literary figure. Henrik and his wife Suzannah lived here from 1895 until
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/21/literary-links-262/) - Federal judge overturns part of Florida’s book ban law, drawing on nearly 100 years of precedent protecting First Amendment access to ideas James B. Blasingame is a professor of English at Arizona State University and a former high school English teacher who has “tried to learn as much as I can about the history of
- [Happy Hobbit Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/22/happy-hobbit-day/) - Guess what day it is! It’s September 22nd, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ birthdays, which is now celebrated worldwide as Hobbit Day. Back in 2018, when my husband and I took a trip that included a few days in New Zealand, I hoped we’d get to see the location that Peter Jackson created as the setting
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/14/literary-links-261/) - #bookstodon #BookBlog #literature This Is Your Brain on Tropes: Why Readers are Addicted to the Familiar In the world of literature, a trope is: (A) a recurring theme or motif, as in literature or art: the heroic trope, the trope of motherhood, the heroic trope. (B) a convention or device that establishes a predictable or
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/07/literary-links-260/) - People Are Trying to ‘Deprogram’ Their MAGA Parents Through Book Clubs “Divisive politics have led people to go “no contact” with their right-wing parents. Some hope reading together could help bridge the gap.” A report from Wired. The Psychology Of Suspense: Why Are Thrillers So Addicting? I’m fond of thrillers, although I never thought to
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/09/06/6-degrees-of-separation-21/) - Thanks to book blogger Kate for once again sponsoring 6 Degrees of Separation. This month we begin with the winner of the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Ghost Cities by Siang Lu. Description from Goodreads: Ghost Cities – inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China – follows multiple narratives, including one in which a
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/31/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-20/) - Scientists uncover surprisingly consistent pattern of scholarly curiosity throughout history Sometimes the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. By analyzing the recorded interests of thousands of scholars born before 1700, researchers found that intellectual curiosity tends to cluster around three broad domains: the human, the natural, and the abstract. These
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/24/literary-links-259/) - What’s Happening to Reading? “For many people, A.I. may be bringing the age of traditional text to an end.” “What will happen to reading culture as reading becomes automated?” asks Joshua Rothman in this article in The New Yorker. He examines how new technology such as ereaders and artificial intelligence have changed and will continue
- [Books | Who buys books? 40-year-old women](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2010/09/06/books-who-buys-books-40-year-old-women/) - Books | Who buys books? 40-year-old women and others | Seattle Times Newspaper: Bowker, a global firm that tracks people's book-buying habits, reports some interesting statistics about book-buying in the U.S. And, in what is no surprise at all, women make 64% of all book purchases. Article link updated 9/3/2025.
- [It’s Senior Citizens Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/21/its-senior-citizens-day/) - August 21 has been celebrated as National Senior Citizens Day in the United States since President Ronald Reagan so proclaimed in 1988: For all they have achieved throughout life and for all they continue to accomplish, we owe older citizens our thanks and a heartfelt salute. We can best demonstrate our gratitude and esteem by
- [Annie Proulx on Writing Stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/14/annie-proulx-on-writing-stories/) - For me, writing stories is an invigorating chance to explore subjects, callings, places of which I know only a little. This is what makes writing such a pleasurable occupation. I am especially attracted to geology, landscape, the sciences, climate change, and the irrevocable, rash step into danger that humans always make. —Annie Proulx
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/17/literary-links-258/) - A Harvard Professor Breaks Down the Real Rules of Writing Jason Hellerman summarizes an interview with Harvard linguist and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker about “what makes great writing and how you can command attention in the modern era.” The target audience for this piece is writers interested in producing fiction and screenwriting for the general
- [AP to Slash Weekly Book Reviews](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/12/ap-to-slash-weekly-book-reviews/) - In a decision that will widely impact small newspapers, the Associated Press announced it will discontinue its longtime weekly book reviews beginning September 1. Source: AP to Slash Weekly Book Reviews
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/10/literary-links-257/) - After the Deluge: What Future for Climate Fiction? Keith Woodhouse discusses “an emerging subgenre that we might call the ‘climate assessment drama.’ These books are vast in size and scope and, at the same time, narrowly concerned with the particular political, ethical, and technical conundrums of the world climate change has wrought.” Why Do Doctors
- [National Book Lovers Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/09/national-book-lovers-day-2/) - Photo by Gunnar Ridderström on Unsplash Yes, it’s our annual special day, National Book Lovers Day! In honor of which, here are some reading suggestions. (Since I’ve been abroad for the past six weeks, these suggestions are heavily travel related.) 12 Literary Cities Every Book Lover Must Visit New Lives in New Lands: 5+ Journeys
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/08/02/6-degrees-of-separation-20/) - This month we start with the 2025 Women’s Prize winner, The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden. I haven’t read this book. first degree The most recent 6 Degrees of Separation starter book that I hadn’t read is last month’s, Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser. But I have read it since writing last
- [15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/07/10/15-years-ago-on-notes-in-the-margin-3/) - Looking back at July 2010, I discover that the literary world was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ll focus on two posts from that month: (1) From July 7, 2010: Scout, Atticus & Boo I was gratified to find that the link to the Christian
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/29/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-19/) - “We Really Love Working Here”: On Corporate Storytelling “If everything is narrative, the meaninglessness of narrative is more or less implied.” One indicator of how life story psychology has overtaken popular culture is frequent references to the importance of controlling the narrative. People have life stories, but so do larger entities such as special-interest groups,
- [Keeping a Series Fresh](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/26/keeping-a-series-fresh/) - Always the challenge with a long-running series is how to keep it fresh. To my mind, the best way to do this is to offer, book by book, a look at the dynamic process of growth for the characters as they age, as events shape and reshape how they view the world, themselves, and their
- [On Vacation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/21/on-vacation/) - Today my husband and I embark on a vacation that will take us up the coast of Norway, to Iceland, to Greenland, across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, then down the east coast of North America to New York City. Since we will be at sea most of the time, internet accessibility will be spotty
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/22/literary-links-256/) - The 20 In-Flight Crime Movie Options on This Airplane, Ranked This article amused me because, by the time you read this, I will have spent some huge number of hours flying from the West Coast of the U.S. to Amsterdam to embark on a 6-week cruise. As much as I enjoy traveling, I hate these
- [Happy 50th Birthday, "To Kill a Mockingbird"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2010/07/11/happy-50th-birthday-to-kill-a-mockingbird/) - Harper Lee's famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published 50 years ago today.
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/07/27/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-18/) - Refugee Lit Stakes Its Worthy Claim “In a refugee camp,” Iranian American author Dina Nayeri writes in her 2019 novelistic memoir, The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You, “stories are everything. Everyone has one, having just slipped out from the grip of a nightmare, [they] transported us out of our places of exile, to
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/07/05/6-degrees-of-separation-19/) - This time around, we start with the 2025 Stella Prize winner, Michelle de Kretser’s work of autofiction, Theory & Practice. Here’s part of the description of the novel from Goodreads: What happens when our desires run contrary to our beliefs? What should we do when the failings of revered figures come to light? Who is
- [15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/08/15-years-ago-on-notes-in-the-margin/) - For the first installment of this undertaking, I focus on this post from May 29, 2010: Fictive Worlds and Real Brains: The Psychology of Reading This extended discussion of several articles I had read online is from the year before I received my doctorate in psychology. One of the areas I studied was the psychology
- [Reading for Meaning](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/17/reading-for-meaning/) - what afflicts literature, more than book banning, is [the] rapid loss of the ability to read for deeper meanings, to grasp subtlety, and to understand ambiguity.—Yiyun Li
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/15/literary-links-255/) - A Deep Dive into the Mind of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson “The rise and fall of the Beach Boys leader shows how crucial the brain's executive function is to creativity” Occasioned by the death of Brian Wilson on June 11, 2025, Scientific American has updated this article from 2017 (which was itself an update
- [15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/12/15-years-ago-on-notes-in-the-margin-2/) - Related Post: 15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin A look back at the archives reveals that I didn’t publish much content during June 2010. That doesn’t surprise me, since I was concentrating on finishing my dissertation so that I could graduate the following summer. Here’s the single substantive piece for that month, from
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/08/literary-links-254/) - Linwood Barclay on the Art of Making Everyday Things Terrifying “Making people fear things in their everyday lives in ways they never did before, that’s the dream of every writer of suspenseful tales,” prolific thriller author Linwood Barclay tells us. How the far right seeks to spread its ideology through the publishing world Jason Wilson,
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/06/6-degrees-of-separation-18/) - This month we start with Kate’s pick for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, All Fours by Miranda July. first degree The most recent novel I’ve read that features a number in its title is The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan. second degree I’ve recently read a novel by another author named
- [On Crime Novels & Thrillers](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/04/on-crime-novels-thrillers/) - #bookstodon #reading #CrimeFiction #mysteries #thrillers Crime and thriller novels are in many ways a very reassuring genre to read. In World War II in the UK, when we had paper rationing, and publishers were limited in what books they were allowed to put out, certain authors were considered national priorities. One of those was Agatha
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/06/01/literary-links-253/) - Brain oscillations reveal dynamic shifts in creative thought during metaphor generation Since I’ve written earlier about metaphors as novel titles, this article fascinated me. It reports on recent research into “the neural mechanisms behind metaphor generation, a creative skill that plays an important role in how people understand complex concepts and communicate abstract ideas.” The
- [What Mass-Market Paperbacks Do You Remember Reading?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/22/what-mass-market-paperbacks-do-you-remember-reading/) - Discussion Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough The Godfather by Mario Puzo The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (in 3 fat volumes) Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Coma by Robin Cook Smilla’s Sense
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/25/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-17/) - Novels Based on Mythological Retellings On the relationship between culture, psychology, folklore, mythology, and history: Mythological retellings bring us stories with timeless resonance, viewed through the lens of modern concerns, explains Francesca Simon. The bestselling author tells us about her five favourite retellings. On Slaughterhouse-Five, the “Ultimate PTSD Novel” In this excerpt from his book
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/18/literary-links-252/) - The 30 best nonfiction books of the last 30 years The Los Angeles Times is compiling a series of “30 Best” lists in honor of this year’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of its annual Festival of Books. Here are its top nonfiction titles. The Age of Genre Bending, Blending, and Juxtaposing Novelist and essayist
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/11/literary-links-251/) - Metaphors open up our minds – but can also shut them down Because I recently wrote a post extolling the beauty of metaphors as novel titles, this article caught my eye. There are always at least two sides to every story, and here’s another side to the story of metaphors. In this article neuroscientist Claire O’Callaghan
- [Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/06/did-the-pulitzer-board-just-overrule-the-jury-to-give-percival-everett-the-prize-literary-hub/) - Earlier today, the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes were announced and Percival Everett’s James was declared the winner for fiction. (You can see all of the winners and finalists here.) This came as no s… Source: Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub I'm guessing this will
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/04/literary-links-250/) - The Extreme Life and Philosophy of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo Journalism and the American Condition A short introduction, with lots of related links, to the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson, commonly known as the father of “gonzo journalism”: Gonzo journalism . . . actually has a serious question to ask: “Are not the
- [Metaphors as Novel Titles](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/10/metaphors-as-novel-titles/) - Reviewing The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight got me thinking about the use of metaphors as novel titles. Metaphor is the use of indirect comparison to describe or define something else: metaphor A figure of speech in which a name or descriptive word or phrase is transferred to an object or
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From Rapture to the Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/05/03/6-degrees-of-separation-from-rapture-to-the-woods/) - A historical novel longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize, Rapture by Emily Maguire, begins our chain this month. Set in the ninth century, Rapture tells the story of “a wild and brilliant girl with a deep, visceral love of God,” according to Goodreads. “At eighteen, to avoid a future as a wife or nun, Agnes
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/27/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-16/) - On Reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses As a Military Spouse If you’ve forgotten, or if you didn’t know in the first place, I was a classics major (B.A. and M.A. in Latin), and that explains why I’m always drawn to any article whose author expresses love for any aspect of this area of study. Here Jehanne Dubrow
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/20/literary-links-249/) - Power and Punishment: Using the Language of Fantasy to Subvert Real-Life Oppression Power lies at the heart of all fantasy, written or imagined. To craft a novel of the genre is to visualize an expression of power and assign it to factions that will then weave and warp over the course of the story. Yet,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/13/literary-links-248/) - Science fiction may help foster a sense of global solidarity by evoking awe, study finds New research suggests that regularly engaging with science fiction—whether through films, books, or other media—can help people feel a stronger connection to humanity as a whole. The researchers found that science fiction’s ability to evoke awe, a powerful emotion triggered
- [Reading Notes: March](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/02/reading-notes-march/) - My reading intentions for March were interrupted by the sudden death of my cousin in New Hampshire, an event that hit me more heavily than I thought it would. Waiting to hear about funeral arrangements and then the actual traveling knocked me out of commission for about two weeks. I therefore have only two books
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/06/literary-links-247/) - The Novel I’m Searching For “Five years after the pandemic, I’m holding out for a story that doesn’t just describe our experience, but transforms it.” Novelist Lily Meyer, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, writes that early literature about the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at giving people a sense of control by mentioning details of how
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Crimes and Punishment](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/05/6-degrees-of-separation-crimes-and-punishment/) - I haven’t yet read this month’s starter book, Salman Rushdie’s memoir Knife, although I certainly do intend to. The book describes an attack by a knife-wielding man as Rushdie was about to begin speaking at a literary event. first degree Lucky by Alice Sebold is another memoir about a personal attack: Sebold’s rape at the
- [The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums | WIRED](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/04/02/the-doge-axe-comes-for-libraries-and-museums-wired/) - The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow. Source: The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums | WIRED
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/30/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-15/) - The Real Cognitive Neuroscience Behind Severance I haven’t caught up with the second season of Severance yet, but I will because I’m interested in both the dichotomy of inside vs. outside stories and the use of science fiction elements to portray aspects of human existence. In this article two neuroscientists explore the question “Can a
- [Women are reclaiming their place in baseball](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/27/women-are-reclaiming-their-place-in-baseball/) - Many Americans see baseball as a sport for men and softball as a sport for women. It wasn’t always this way in the US – and it isn’t that way in the rest of the world. Source: Women are reclaiming their place in baseball
- [Play Ball!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/27/play-ball-2/) - 5 Books About Baseball Feature image (Turner Field, Atlanta, GA) by Joshua Peacock on Unsplash ’Tis the season! In honor of opening day, here are five books (2 novels and 3 works of nonfiction) about the boys of summer and the game they play. What books would you add to this list? Play Ball:
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/23/literary-links-246/) - A Twist of the Kaleidoscope: Three cases for literary criticism If, like me, you review books on your blog, you’re a literary critic. In this article Kasia Bartoszyńska discusses three books about literary criticism to answer the following questions: Has academia ruined literary criticism? Is this the end of literary studies? Has contemporary culture reduced
- [Literary Links: Quick Edition](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/09/literary-links-quick-edition/) - It’s been one of those weeks in which I’ve relearned the lesson that sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. I now live on the West Coast of the U.S. This past week, one of my cousins, who lived on the East Coast, died quickly and unexpectedly. It’s a good way to go,
- [Harper Lee’s Early Short Stories to Be Published for the First Time](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/05/harper-lees-early-short-stories-to-be-published-for-the-first-time/) - For years before she published “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee wrote short stories with themes that she would later explore in that now-classic novel: small town gossip and politics, tender and tense relationships between fathers and daughters, race relations. Source: Harper Lee’s Early Short Stories to Be Published for the First Time - The
- [Reading Notes: February](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/28/reading-notes-february/) - I didn’t get much reading done in February. I only read two novels, The Three Lives of Cate Kay, which I’ve already reviewed, and The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight, which I review below. Last month I promised a later review of The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch, which I read
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/02/literary-links-245/) - Culture wars: Trump’s takeover of arts is straight from the dictator playbook “US president’s attempt to control or dismantle cultural institutions plays into a long history of authoritarians using arts to push their agenda” Sorry not sorry: Prepare to be harangued for the next 4 years. We’ve moved way past politics now here in the
- [6 Degrees of Separation: This One’s for the Birds](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/03/01/6-degrees-of-separation-this-ones-for-the-birds/) - This month’s starting book is the 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Here’s the description from Goodreads: On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate
- [Review: "The Three Lives of Cate Kay"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/26/review-the-three-lives-of-cate-kay/) - The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan Atria Books, 2025 Hardcover, 304 pages ISBN 978-1-6680-7621-7 ★★★★★ For years, the identity of bestselling author Cate Kay was a closely guarded secret; only two people knew the author’s real name. But we, the readers of this novel by Kate Fagan masquerading as a memoir by
- [Book ban boomerang: VP Vance’s book is caught up in military school “ideology” checks. ‹ Literary Hub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/25/book-ban-boomerang-vp-vances-book-is-caught-up-in-military-school-ideology-checks-literary-hub/) - In maybe the most high profile example of the “leopards ate my face” phenomenon, Vice-President-In-Name-Only J. David Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy is being pulled from the shelves at at least one D… Source: Book ban boomerang: VP Vance’s book is caught up in military school “ideology” checks. ‹ Literary Hub
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/23/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-14/) - A Classic Chronicle of Korean America: On Kim Ronyoung’s Clay Walls “David S. Cho Explores Ideas of Homeland, Belonging and Identity in a Pioneering Contribution to Asian American Literature” Novels that introduce us to people from cultures other than our own contribute to human understanding in a global context. Clay Walls is a truly pioneering
- [2 Recent Novels of Life Review](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/20/2-recent-novels-of-life-review/) - Related Post: 3 Novels of Life Review Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson Ballantine Books, 2022 Hardcover, 385 pages ISBN 978-0-593-35833-7 ★★★★★ Maybe, when all this was over, Mr. Mitch could ask Byron about his latest project, about how the institute he works for is helping to map the seafloor. The oceans are a challenge, Mr.
- [What Should We Call the Person Recorded Reading an Audiobook?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/06/what-should-we-call-the-person-recorded-reading-an-audiobook/) - I’ve long been a fan of audiobooks. (You can read about my experience with them here.) But they complicate book discussions by muddying the waters of the standard terminology of literary criticism. In fact, just creating a title for this post took me a long time; according to my notes, I’ve been contemplating this question since
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/16/literary-links-244/) - Hanif Kureishi’s Relentlessly Revealing Memoir “How a tragic accident helped the author find his rebellious voice again” In December 2022, at age 68, writer Hanif Kureishi fell onto a hard floor in Rome and woke up a tetraplegic. Hillary Kelly visited Kureishi in London in December 2024 and here describes that visit and comments on
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/09/literary-links-243/) - What We Learn About Our World by Imagining Its End Arthur Krystal ponders the stories humans have devised about when and how the world will end: “Having to come to terms with this eventuality [the end of the world] is the price we pay for being able to imagine it in the first place.” Tash
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/02/literary-links-242/) - Six Trick Novels That Play with Form One of my favorite kind of fiction is a book that plays with form. Here Gareth Rubin, writer of both fiction and nonfiction, discusses 6 novels that do just that. His list includes one of my all-time favorites, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018) by Stuart Turton.
- [Quotation: “There’s power in experimenting with life”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/23/quotation-theres-power-in-experimenting-with-life/) - There’s power in experimenting with life and figuring out how it could be read, or how you want to read it yourself.—Rachel Gerry, “The New Patron Saints of Lesbian Fiction”
- [Reading Notes: January](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/31/reading-notes-january/) - Here’s the first entry in my effort to do better this year in documenting the books I read each month. I read (well, listened to the audiobook) and reviewed Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. I also read The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch for my book club meeting in February. I’m going to wait until
- [Take Your Child to the Library Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/01/take-your-child-to-the-library-day/) - Read all about it here! This event was founded in my native state of Connecticut in 2011.
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Danger! Water!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/02/01/6-degrees-of-separation-danger-water/) - This month’s exercise begins with a classic – Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. first degree Since the starting point is a book I’ve never had even the slightest inclination to read, I’ll take the easiest approach for my first degree, repetition of a keyword from the title: The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura
- ["Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/16/yellowface-by-r-f-kuang/) - Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Harper Audio, 2023 Narrated by Helen Laser ★★★★★ Holy cow! This is my second book by R.F. Kuang (the first was Babel), and I'm blown away not only by her ability to write but also by her ability to think--and deeply--about the issues she's asking readers to confront. In this satirical
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/26/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-13/) - How Much Does Our Language Shape Our Thinking? Language is perhaps the ultimate social construct. Manvir Singh, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, examines “unease about the erosion of various cultural identities” as English continues to spread around the globe. At issue is the question of whether languages “influence how
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/19/literary-links-241/) - BookLooks, RatedBooks, and Other Unprofessional Book “Review” Sites to Know: Book Censorship News, January 10, 2025 “One of the trends we’ll see in book censorship over 2025 is the increased use of unprofessional, politically-driven book review websites like BookLooks to make decisions in professional library and educational settings,” writes Kelly Jensen for Book Riot. I
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/12/literary-links-240/) - How AI is unlocking ancient texts — and could rewrite history “From deciphering burnt Roman scrolls to reading crumbling cuneiform tablets, neural networks could give researchers more data than they’ve had in centuries.” As ominous as the threat of generative AI replacing writers is, there are some kinds of things that AI can be legitimately
- [2025: Another Year of Unplanned Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/08/2025-another-year-of-unplanned-reading/) - Just about a year ago I wrote what Notes in the Margin would be up to during 2024. Now, I’m happy with the way last year’s reading turned out, particularly how I ended the year with a sense of accomplishment rather than anxiety and disappointment. Therefore, I’m going to use the same approach to reading
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/05/literary-links-239/) - Jimmy Carter: Poet, Novelist, Memoirist, Philosopher “He wasn’t just prolific, publishing 32 books. His output also showed an unusual range that included memoirs and forays into historical fiction and even poetry.” The New York Times eulogizes President Jimmy Carter with emphasis on his writing: “Publishing 32 books over the course of his life, he wasn’t
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/04/6-degrees-of-separation-17/) - Our starting book this month is the 2024 Booker winner, Orbital by Samantha Harvey. I’ve just started reading it. first degree The characters in Orbital are astronauts in a spacecraft circling the earth. Their perspective on the world is different than usual, as if they had zoomed out on a photograph. For Count Alexander Rostov,
- [Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from “Star Trek”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/02/everything-i-need-to-know-about-life-i-learned-from-star-trek/) - Here in the U.S. today is national science fiction day, observed annually in honor of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who was born on January 2, 1920. I didn’t read science fiction as a teenager or young adult. To the best of my recollection, I discovered science fiction through television rather than books. My introduction
- [Bloggers List the Best Books They Read in 2024](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2025/01/01/bloggers-list-the-best-books-they-read-in-2024/) - When I posted about all the Best Books of 2024 by editors, publishers, and critics, Davida The Chocolate Lady wrote that she hated such lists and would much rather see lists of books that other book bloggers liked throughout the year. I immediately smacked myself on the forehead and shouted to the empty living room, “Of
- [Miscellaneous 2024 Round-Ups](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/31/miscellaneous-2024-round-ups/) - Here’s the last gasp of the Best Books of 2024 theme. 10 Beloved Authors We Lost in 2024 Tertulia profiles 10 authors who died during 2024 and recommends one representative book for each. The 50 Biggest Literary Stories of 2024 From Literary Hub. These were the most-borrowed books from public libraries in 2024 NPR compiled
- [2024: My Year in Reading and Blogging](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/31/2024-my-year-in-reading-and-blogging/) - Goodreads has spoken. Here are my reading statistics for 2024. Pages read: 14,887 Books read: 41 Average book length: 363 pages Average book rating: 3.5 Shortest book: Lord of the Flies, 189 pages Longest book: The Covenant of Water, 724 pages What the Statistics Don’t Cover Irrespective of numbers, I had what I consider a
- [I'm Signing Up for the 2025 Discussion Challenge](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/24/im-signing-up-for-the-2025-discussion-challenge/) - Full disclosure: I signed up for the 2024 Discussion Challenge and did a miserable job at it. In evaluating my year of blogging in 2024, I realized that I actually did more discussion than I thought, but I didn’t specifically frame and label much of it as discussion. However, lately I’ve been thinking, more than
- [The Best Books I Read in 2024](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/30/the-best-books-i-read-in-2024/) - In past years, I’ve kept my best books list to a total of 15, usually a top ten list plus five honorable mentions. But this year’s list just didn’t fall out that way. Because I read a lot of good books throughout 2024, I’m putting them all together here while capping the total at 15.
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/29/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-12/) - Texas county reverses classification of Indigenous history book as fiction This controversy over the classification of a children’s Native American history book in a Texas county north of Houston occurred in October 2024. A Texas county on Tuesday reversed a decision to reclassify a children’s book on Native American history as fiction after the move
- [Whooping cough cases reach highest level in a decade](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/28/whooping-cough-cases-reach-highest-level-in-a-decade/) - The U.S. has recorded over 32,000 whooping cough cases this year, compared with around 5,100 as of mid-December last year. Infants are most vulnerable to the bacterial infection. Source: Whooping cough cases reach highest level in a decade I had whooping cough as a 10-year-old back in the late 1950s. I almost died every time
- [More Best Books of 2024 Lists](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/27/more-best-books-of-2024-lists/) - Electric Lit’s Best Novels of 2024 “Here are Electric Lit’s Top 5 novels of 2024, followed by the best novels of the year.” Public Picks 2024 This is NOT your ordinary list. I guarantee you’ll find something here that interests you that isn’t included on all the other “best books of 2024” lists. This list
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/22/literary-links-238/) - Update on Comments Glitch The cause of the problem has been traced to Jetpack. Jetpack support has informed me that “this is an issue that our development team is aware of and working to resolve. It will likely be fixed in the next version of Jetpack in early January.” So that’s where we are. In
- [10 Beloved Authors We Lost in 2024 | Tertulia](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/21/10-beloved-authors-we-lost-in-2024-tertulia/) - This year, we've said goodbye to so many beloved authors. Here is a snapshot of ten of the monumental authors who passed away in 2024, along with one recommendation of a work that embodies their literary legacy. Source: 10 Beloved Authors We Lost in 2024 | Tertulia
- [Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/19/books-you-can-read-in-one-day-5/) - I don’t know what happened this year. My pad-your-year-end-statistics-with-these-short-books list is usually longer than this. Either I didn’t come across many short-book recommendations, or I simply didn’t faithfully add them to the list. Anyhow, here you go: Three individual book titles and three lists. Links for the book titles are to descriptions on Goodreads. Happy
- [Winter Solstice & Happy Holidays](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/21/winter-solstice-happy-holidays/) - (Feature image: Photo by Mira Kemppainen on Unsplash ) In 2024, the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere starts on December 21 around 4:20 am EST. . . . the longest night of the year remains a significant turning point. Moving forward, the days (meaning hours of daylight) will gradually start to get longer again.Source:
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/15/literary-links-237/) - Update on Comments Glitch The cause of the problem has been traced to Jetpack. Jetpack support has informed me that “this is an issue that our development team is aware of and working to resolve. It will likely be fixed in the next version of Jetpack in early January.” So that’s where we are. In
- [Best Books of 2024: Lists](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/09/best-books-of-2024-lists/) - My Continued Apologies The comment glitch on this blog continues. My hosting provider has been helpful in trying to track down the cause. In the meantime, here’s a trick that has been working for me: If you type a comment and hit the “post comment” button, you’ll get the message “submitting comment,” followed by nothing.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/08/literary-links-236/) - My Continued Apologies The comment glitch on this blog continues. My hosting provider has been helpful in trying to track down the cause. In the meantime, here’s a work-around that may may work: If you type a comment and hit the “post comment” button, you’ll get the message “submitting comment,” followed by nothing. But, if
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/12/07/6-degrees-of-separation-16/) - My Continued Apologies The comment glitch on this blog continues. My hosting provider has been helpful in trying to track down the cause. In the meantime, here’s a work-around that may may work: If you type a comment and hit the “post comment” button, you’ll get the message “submitting comment,” followed by nothing. But, if
- [Books New to My TBR](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/25/books-new-to-my-tbr/) - My Apologies After the migration to a new computer, I now find myself unable to reply to comments on my own blog. This pertains to all posts over the last couple of weeks. Please know that I do appreciate your comments and read every one of them. I won’t be able to start trying to
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/24/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-11/) - My Apologies in Advance. After the migration to a new computer, I now find myself unable to reply to comments on my own blog. This pertains to all posts over the last couple of weeks. Please know that I do appreciate your comments and read every one of them. I won’t be able to start
- [2 Books That Opened My Eyes and My Mind](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/20/2-books-that-opened-my-eyes-and-my-mind/) - Week 4 (11/18-11/22) Mind Openers: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is the way it can open your eyes to the world around you–-no plane ticket required. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything?
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/17/literary-links-235/) - ABA CEO Warns of New Challenges Post-Election In a letter to American Booksellers Association membership accompanying the publication of Wednesday's Bookselling This Week newsletter, ABA CEO Allison Hill provided cautious words of encouragement following Tuesday's election results. Acknowledging that the ABA does not know how its members voted in the election, Hill wrote that the
- [3 Nonfiction/Fiction Book Pairings](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/12/3-nonfiction-fiction-book-pairings/) - Week 3 (11/11-11/15) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or (because I’m doing this) two
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/10/literary-links-234/) - Who’s Really Writing Celebrity Novels? “The writers and agents working behind the scenes tell us how it actually works.” “. . . what does it mean when a celebrity decides to write fiction?” Sophie Vershbow interviewed some “ writers and agents working behind the scenes on similar books [to] tell us how it actually works.”
- [Nonfiction November Week 2: Choosing Nonfiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/04/nonfiction-november-week-2-choosing-nonfiction/) - Week 2 (11/4-11/8) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/03/literary-links-233/) - ‘Each bears his own ghosts’: How the classics speak to these days of fear, anger and presidential candidates stalking the land You thought Spooky Season ended at midnight on October 31? Here in the U.S., Rachel Hadas, professor of English at Rutgers University, writes, “A week before the election, everyone seems to be afraid.” “Our
- [Nonfiction November Week 1: My Year in Nonfiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/29/nonfiction-november-week-1-my-year-in-nonfiction/) - Because I have a personal penchant for alliteration, I’ve been reading nonfiction in November for the past few years. Only a couple of months ago did I discover that Nonfiction November is An Actual Thing, an established book-blogging meme: Announcing Nonfiction November I apologize to the hosts for not acknowledging them in past years, and
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/27/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-10/) - Usha Vance Is Reading The Iliad, a Poem About Male Rage. Its Famous Translator Sees Irony. “JD Vance’s wife is reading a more than 800-page book about men fighting to control women’s bodies, waging war, and ‘refusing to accept a loss.’” This article ticks off so many Life Stories in Literature patterns: rewriting history, giving
- [Review: "Lord of the Flies"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/24/review-lord-of-the-flies/) - Lord of the Flies by William Golding © 1954; rpt. Penguin Books, 2018 Kindle ed., 189 pages ISBN 978-1-101-15810-4 ★★★★★ The basic plot of this novel is memorable, but I reread it to see if there are significant details that I’d forgotten since I read the book way back in high school. What I didn’t
- [Rereading Wrap-Up](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/30/rereading-wrap-up/) - 1984 by George Orwell 1949; rpt. 2017 Kindle Ed. I don’t remember when I originally read this book, although I bet it was in high school, since the book has been a staple of the high school curriculum for generations. Rereading it now, almost 60 years later and about 6 weeks before the U.S. Presidential
- [6 Degrees of Word-Association Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/11/02/6-degrees-of-word-association-separation/) - The starting point for this month’s 6 Degrees of Separation challenge is Sally Rooney’s latest release, Intermezzo. I keep meaning to read Sally Rooney’s works, but, you know, “so many books, so little time.” So I’m going to begin this exercise with word association first degree Intermezzo immediately reminded me of the title The Mezzanine
- [Happy Halloween!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/31/happy-halloween-6/) - For your Halloween enjoyment, I offer this fascinating article: Witches around the world “The belief in witches is an almost universal feature of human societies. What does it reveal about our deepest fears?” Gregory Forthis, retired professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has spent
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/20/literary-links-232/) - Echoes of the Past in Crime Fiction Clinical psychologist and novelist Lucy Burdette understands exactly what I value most about crime fiction: we humans are always affected by our history. Our families shape our stories with their presence or absence, their quirks and patterns, their healthy traits and unhealthy, and sometimes their serious trauma. We
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/13/literary-links-231/) - To read or not to read: Does COVID-19 belong in our books? Logan Brown, an arts writer for The Michigan Daily, writes the “ability to escape into another world is an essential requirement for me to like a book — when I am reminded of my own reality that escape is often broken.” She then
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/06/literary-links-230/) - Books Aren’t Mental Movies: You’re Missing the Best Part of Reading BookRiot writer Danika Ellis caught my attention with this opening paragraph: Sometimes, when people describe what they love about reading, it feels like we’re doing two very different activities. They talk about a movie playing out in their mind’s eye as they read, imagined
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/10/05/6-degrees-of-separation-15/) - This month’s starting point is Colm Tóibín’s Long Island. Here’s the description from Goodreads: From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later.
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/29/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-9/) - What I Wish Someone Had Told Me 30 Years Ago Jim VandeHei adapted this article from his recent book Just the Good Stuff: No-BS Secrets to Success (No Matter What Life Throws At You). I give the book’s full title, including the long and awkward subtitle, because it carries the true point: This is not
- [Review: "The Drowning People"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/19/review-the-drowning-people/) - Related Post: 12 Novels That changed How I Read Fiction: #8 The Drowning People The Drowning People by Richard Mason Time Warner, 1999 Hardcover, 352 pages ISBN 0-446-52524-3 ★★★★★ Writing the post about how The Drowning People contributed to my development in reading reminded me to put this novel on my list of books to reread
- [Remembering Actress Dame Maggie Smith | Masterpiece | PBS](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/27/remembering-actress-dame-maggie-smith-masterpiece-pbs/) - Learn about the extraordinary career and life of the celebrated stage, film, and television actress and beloved Downton Abbey star. Source: Remembering Actress Dame Maggie Smith | Masterpiece | PBS
- [12 Novels That Changed How I Read Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/18/12-novels-that-changed-how-i-read-fiction/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight Other posts in this series: #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/15/literary-links-229/) - Seven Books That Demystify Human Behavior I firmly believe that reading fiction teaches us a lot about being human. Here freelance writer Chelsea Leu suggests books, both fiction and nonfiction, that can increase our understanding of people. Make it awkward! “Rather than being a cringey personal failing, awkwardness is a collective rupture – and a
- [How I Review Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/12/how-i-review-novels/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight Related Post: Why I Blog I’ve been blogging about books since the late 1990s. During that time I’ve thought a lot about why I blog but not so much about how—or
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/08/literary-links-228/) - When Emily Dickinson Mailed It In “The supposed recluse constantly sent letters to friends, family, and lovers. What do they show us?” Kamran Javadizadeh looks at The Letters of Emily Dickinson, “a new, definitive edition that collects, reorders, and freshly annotates every surviving letter that Dickinson sent (or drafted) to someone else, along with the
- [Quotation: Why Read Literature?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/06/quotation-why-read-literature/) - I would never read literature for comfort. I would read literature for transport and for meeting a few people I would never want to meet in real life.—Lorrie Moore
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/07/6-degrees-of-separation-14/) - This month’s starting book is After Story by Larissa Behrendt. I haven’t read it, although it sounds like a book I would appreciate. Here’s the description from Goodreads: When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England's most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together
- [September Is Rereading Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/02/september-is-rereading-month/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight For the past few years I’ve set aside September as a month for rereading works that I’ve continued to think about since I first read them. I don’t remember exactly when
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/09/01/literary-links-227/) - Neuromancer: the birth of an SF classic “Author William Gibson and his editor, Malcolm Edwards, recall how a seminal SF work came to publication” Neuromancer came out just as I was seriously making the transition from academic reading to popular reading. I’d read almost no science fiction at the time and was curious to try
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/25/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-8/) - 7 Books That Show Storytelling Has Consequences London writer Tody Lloyd explains that in is novel Fervor, the protagonist “aims to write and publish an account of her father-in-law’s experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto and Treblinka without his consent.” Despite the fact that no one in her family wants her to do this, she proceeds
- [Vacation Reading: Part 2](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/08/vacation-reading-part-2/) - Related Post: Vacation Reading: Part 1 Lock In by John Scalzi Tor, 2015 Kindle ed., 336 pages ISBN 978-0-76-537586-5 ★★★★★ My daughter recommended this book by prolific science fiction author John Scalzi to me because she knows I like a good science fiction story that examines timeless topics and themes. I read Scalzi’s Old Man’s
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/18/literary-links-226/) - Your time is valuable. So if you only have time for one link this weekend, please make it the article about Barack Obama’s reading lists. It’s heart-warming in many ways. Epistolary Novels To Start Reading Epistolary novels can tell a story on an intimate level. Through one or more characters’ written letters, emails, diary entries,
- [Vacation Reading: Part 1](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/01/vacation-reading-part-1/) - Being on a cruise ship gave me the opportunity to have probably the best reading month of my life: 10 books: 8 novels + 2 works of nonfiction. Let the reviews begin! Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave Simon & Schuster, 2015 Kindle ed., 274 pages ISBN 978-1-47-678925-5 ★★★★★ I put this novel on my
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/11/literary-links-225/) - 15 Great Psychological Thriller Books To Bend Your Mind Apparently even business-oriented folks like to read novels, especially psychological thrillers. In this article for Forbes, Sughnen Yongo writes that a “good psychological thriller book earns readers’ respect by capturing their attention with high-stakes conflict, unforgettable tension and unpredictable twists,” then offers a list of “15
- [National Book Lovers Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/09/national-book-lovers-day/) - It’s National Book Lovers Day, a day to celebrate! Visit a library or a bookstore—or attack your TBR pile. What I’m doing today: catching up on my digital reading journal with all the books I read on vacation. What about you? How are you observing National Book Lovers Day? © 2024 by Mary Daniels Brown
- [Hiroshima Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/06/hiroshima-day/) - Today is Hiroshima Day, in memory of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. The photo above, taken at Hiroshima Memorial Park, depicts a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that covers a cenotaph holding the names of all the people killed by the bomb. The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls
- [The Best Dystopian Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/06/the-best-dystopian-novels/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight The Best Dystopian Novels Although I’m a bit more hopeful since the arrival of Kamala Harris at the top, I’m still quite anxious about the upcoming election here in the U.S.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/08/04/literary-links-224/) - You have multiple ‘social identities’ – here’s how to manage them “When it comes to our membership of different social groups, most of us switch between different versions of ourselves multiple times each day,” writes Anna K. Zinn, Ph.D., of the University of Queensland, in Australia. Identity is the key component of Life Stories in
- [‘A beacon of brazenness and defiance’: Edna O’Brien remembered by Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and more | Books | The Guardian](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/31/a-beacon-of-brazenness-and-defiance-edna-obrien-remembered-by-anne-enright-colm-toibin-and-more-books-the-guardian/) - The acclaimed author of The Country Girls, which was burned in the market square of her home town, has died aged 93. Here, Irish novelists pay tribute to a titanic figure who liberated their country’s fiction Source: ‘A beacon of brazenness and defiance’: Edna O’Brien remembered by Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín and more | Books
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/30/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-7/) - Writing About Yourself Isn’t Inherently Selfish Novelist Tope Folarin examines the work of French novelist Édouard Louis. But first, Folarin quotes from The Good Story, a 2015 book by the Nobel Prize–winning novelist J. M. Coetzee, co-authored with Arabella Kurtz, a clinical psychologist. Folarin calls The Good Story “a searching, erudite treatise about the stories
- [ALA 2024: Trevor Noah, Taraji P. Henson to Appear at ALA Annual Conference in San Diego](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/24/ala-2024-trevor-noah-taraji-p-henson-to-appear-at-ala-annual-conference-in-san-diego/) - Amid ongoing attacks on libraries and the freedom to read, a strong professional program and an excellent slate of speakers will showcase the power of libraries. Source: ALA 2024: Trevor Noah, Taraji P. Henson to Appear at ALA Annual Conference in San Diego
- [Day 20](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/26/day-20/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 19](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/25/day-19/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 18](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/24/day-18/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 17](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/23/day-17/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 16](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/22/day-16/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 15](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/19/day-15/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 14](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/18/day-14/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 13](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/17/day-13/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 12](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/16/day-12/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 11](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/15/day-11/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 8](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/10/day-8/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 9](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/11/day-9/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 10](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/12/day-10/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 7](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/09/day-7/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 6](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/08/day-6/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 5](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/05/day-5/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 4](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/04/day-4/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 3](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/03/day-3/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 2](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/02/day-2/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [Day 1](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/01/day-1/) - I’m going to be traveling through the month of July. Because I won’t be able to write and post while at sea, I’m adopting The 20 Books Challenge that has been going on over on Mastodon: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just
- [#12 “Trust” by Hernan Diaz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/20/11-trust-by-hernan-diaz/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester #6 The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton #7 Drowning
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/23/literary-links-223/) - 25 Books Your High School English Teacher Was Right to Assign Veronica Booth, a lifestyle and culture writer from Boston, MA, explains that “reading important literary works at a young age can shape your perspective of the world, your empathy toward others, and your beliefs.” Her list of books that underscore her point includes The
- [Review: "The Husbands" by Holly Gramazio](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/13/review-the-husbands-by-holly-gramazio/) - The Husbands by Holly Gramazio Doubleday, 2024 Hardcover, 343 pages ISBN 978-0-385-55061-1 ★★★★★ Here’s a summary of the book, with a little help from Goodreads: The unmarried Lauren returns home late, and slightly tipsy, after a girls’ night out and finds a strange man, Michael, in her apartment. She quickly discerns that Michael is her
- [#11 “Babel” by R.F. Kuang](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/06/11-babel-by-r-f-kuang/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester #6 The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton #7 Drowning
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/16/literary-links-222/) - How Two Rebel Physicists Changed Quantum Theory Quantum physics has permeated popular culture to the extent that we often see some of its complex concepts used as metaphors to explain life (e.g., the concept of parallel universes in science fiction novels like Dark Matter [2016] and the title of Ellen Gilchrist’s 1989 story collection, Light
- [6 Degrees of Separation: On Time and Storytelling](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/07/06/6-degrees-of-separation-on-time-and-storytelling/) - This month we start with the 2024 winner of the International Booker Prize, Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated by Michael Hofmann). Jenny Erpenbeck has created an unforgettably compelling masterpiece with Kairos. The story of a romance begun in East Berlin at the end of the 1980s: the passionate yet difficult long-running affair of Katharina and
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/09/literary-links-221/) - How the first National Book Awards reflected 1950s America “In the start of a new series reflecting on 75 years of the awards, Viet Thanh Nguyen writes about how societies and juries read and recognize literature” The National Book Awards will celebrate its 75th anniversary at this year’s ceremony, on Nov. 20. To mark the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/02/literary-links-220/) - The Secrets of Suspense “We love churning apprehension in fiction; we hate it in life. But understanding the most fundamental technique of storytelling can teach us something about being alive.” Kathryn Schulz explains the nature of suspense, the process of “making the audience want to know what happens next.” Inside Alice Munro’s Notebooks Benjamin Hedin,
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From “Butter” to “Babel”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/06/01/6-degrees-of-separation-from-butter-to-babel/) - This month’s starting point is a crime novel with difference – Butter by Asako Yuzuki. Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer," Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan. —Goodreads This sounds like
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/26/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-6/) - How Pants Went From Banned to Required in the Roman Empire “Six hundred years in the history of trousers.” One of the most obvious functions of culture is the creation of customs about how people should or should not dress. Here Vittoria Traverso examines how, in ancient Rome, men’s wearing of pants gradually morphed from
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/19/literary-links-219/) - Against the objectification of books (or, some thoughts on The Discourse). Brittany Allen addresses the tendency of readers who brag about how fast they read and how very many books they read in a given amount of time. (Examples of this trend most often pop up in those end-of-year reading statistics that Goodreads reports.) “Why
- [#10 “All the Missing Girls” by Megan Miranda](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/23/10-all-the-missing-girls-by-megan-miranda/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester #6 The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton #7 Drowning
- [On Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2016/04/18/on-reading-14/) - ON FINDING YOURSELF IN THE WORK OF JHUMPA LAHIRI Nandini Balial riffs on reading In Other Words, the latest book by another Bengali woman, Jhumpa Lahiri. This is a beautiful musing on how language and literature have helped shape Aalial’s life and sense of identity as a writer. Do Teens Read Seriously Anymore? Critic David
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/12/literary-links-218/) - Discover the Top Edgar® Award-Winning Mysteries of 2024 One of the flagship productions of PBS (public broadcasting in the U.S.) is MASTERPIECE Mystery! It’s therefore not surprising that PBS recommends that we consider adding to our summer reading lists the books that won this year’s Edgar Awards. American Writers Festival Ultimate Reading List Next Sunday,
- [#9 “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/09/9-gone-girl-by-gillian-flynn/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester #6 The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton #7 Drowning
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/05/literary-links-217/) - Between the Book Club and BookTok: Community Reading in Montreal Adam Christopher Hill tells the story of Page Break, a weekly gathering at De Stiil bookstore in Montreal. Page Break is a time when readers come together, give up their phones, and read silently for an hour. This approach to reading differs from most book
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/05/04/6-degrees-of-separation-13/) - This month we begin with a novel longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize – The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop. Description from Amazon: Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, Patrick is much older than J.B.. But when they met, he seemed somehow ageless,
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/28/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-5/) - The Real Science Behind Dark Matter Will Melt Your Gray Matter The multiverse is a compelling image for Life Stories in Literature because it offers the possibilities of multiple lives. The first novel I remember that used this concept is Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. The novel is now being made into a series for
- [#8 “The Drowning People” by Richard Mason](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/25/8-the-drowning-people-by-richard-mason/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester #6 The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton #7 “Drowning
- [KUOW - How a Northwest tribe is escaping a rising ocean](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/22/kuow-how-a-northwest-tribe-is-escaping-a-rising-ocean/) - In a mossy stretch of forest on Washington state’s outer coast, streets and sidewalks have appeared in recent weeks. Source: KUOW - How a Northwest tribe is escaping a rising ocean For Earth Day, here's a story from my neck of the woods.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/21/literary-links-216/) - What Fiction Writing Shares With Psychotherapy “Emily Howes Considers the Similarities Between Two Therapeutic Practices” I have a curious double professional identity. I am both a novelist and a therapist; both a teller of tales, and a listener to them. I spend my days in my own imagination or settling into the deepest corners of
- [6 Illustrations of How Setting Works in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/08/15/6-illustrations-of-how-setting-works-in-literature/) - In its most basic meaning, setting in fiction refers to the time and place in which the action of a novel or short story occurs. In some works the setting isn’t much more than a few simple references to time and place in order to ground the work in reality. In other instances setting takes
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/14/literary-links-215/) - ‘I will defeat Richard Osman!’: Holly Jackson on being Britain’s top selling female crime author Lucy Knight interviews YA novelist Holly Jackson, whose book series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is currently being adapted into a BBC TV series. According to Knight, “Jackson’s books are some of the most recommended among the #BookTok community.”
- [Flow](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2015/01/13/flow/) - Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience HarperCollins, 1990 ISBN 0–06–092043–2 Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life Basic Books, 1997 ISBN 0–465–02411–4 Athletes talk about being “in the zone.” For musicians, it’s being “in the groove.” Even if you’re not an athlete or a musician, you’ve probably shared the
- [The Interplay of Plot and Character in Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/05/the-interplay-of-plot-and-character-in-fiction/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the 2020 Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed Your Fiction AddictionShannon at It Starts at Midnight You can join the discussion challenge at any time during 2020 by clicking on either link above. Which is more important in fiction: plot or character? Novels that engage in complex characterization
- [Moral Depth in Current Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/15/moral-depth-in-current-fiction/) - Introduction I came upon Adam O’Fallon Price’s article The Subjective Mood, in which he laments the lack of moral depth in current fiction, back in February. I included it in a literary-links round-up, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it because I find a lot of moral depth in most of the fiction I read.
- [How to Recognize an Unreliable Narrator](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/30/how-to-recognize-an-unreliable-narrator/) - Here’s a question that comes up periodically on literary sites: When I saw the question again recently, I realized that, although the question gets asked a lot, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an answer. It’s a hard question to answer for two related reasons: The discussion requires specific examples as illustration. Naming the source
- [Announcing Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/05/announcing-life-stories-in-literature/) - Related Articles: Introduction to Life Stories “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember Life Stories: The Personal Component 11 Novels That Feature Life Stories Literary Life Stories: The Character Biography “Gone Girl”: Forging a Life Story Life Stories: A Select Bibliography What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing
- [Why I Blog](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/11/why-i-blog/) - Looking over some blogging resources recently reminded me that the first question would-be bloggers are encouraged to consider is why they blog. But as soon as I started to dismiss this directive as so obvious as to not merit consideration, I realized that, although I’ve certainly answered this question in my own mind, I’ve never
- [5 Effective Multiple-Perspective Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/25/5-effective-multiple-perspective-novels/) - "There are many reasons I love novels with multiple narratives. In novels where the events are filtered through the consciousness of a single ‘reliable’ narrator, I often wonder; is this the whole story? What could be missing here? Truth is often a multiplicity of perspectives, and sometimes the more viewpoints and versions of events there
- [#TopTenTuesday: 10 Memoirs That Taught Me the Power of Life Stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/31/toptentuesday-10-memoirs-that-taught-me-the-power-of-life-stories/) - Today’s topic for #TopTenTuesday is comfort reads, “books or kinds of books you turn to when you need to escape.” I don’t exactly read to escape. I think that escape may be the result that occurs when I read, because I read primarily to immerse myself in a world different from my daily reality. But
- [My Most Surprising Read of 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/19/my-most-surprising-read-of-2022/) - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Knopf, 2022 Hardcover, 416 pages ISBN 978-0-5933-2120-1 ★★★★★ When I was going through all the “best books of 2022” prompts and lists, somewhere—and I can’t remember exactly where—I came across the question “What was your most surprising read of 2022?” Any other year that question probably wouldn’t
- [2 Novels About Communities](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/17/2-novels-about-communities/) - These Women by Ivy Pochoda Harper Audio, 2020 Narrated by: Bahni Turpin and Frankie Corzo ISBN 978-0-0630-0546-4 ★★★★★ This novel well deserves the recognition it received: ITW Thriller Award Nominee for Hardcover Novel (2021), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Mystery/Thriller (2020), Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel (2021). Set in Los Angeles, it
- [Reading in Flow](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2015/03/10/reading-in-flow/) - Related Posts: Flow Getting Lost in a Good Book: Scientific Research on Reading Flow and the Reading Process If you’ve ever had the experience of getting lost in a good book, you’ve experienced flow. Csikszentmihalyi’s general characteristics of flow describe this experience. The key to flow is complete absorption in an activity. For readers, the
- [Gothic Elements in Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/10/08/gothic-elements-in-shirley-jacksons-we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle/) - Gothic literature features characteristics such as magic, mystery, chivalry, horror, clanking chains, ghosts, and dark castles to create a spooky atmosphere rife with foreboding and possibility. Over time Gothic emphasis changed from reliance on these external trappings for their own sake to a focus on the inner workings of the human psyche that the Gothic
- [My Top 5 Novels of All Time](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/10/01/my-top-5-novels-of-all-time/) - Every December 31st I sit down with the list of books I read that year and choose the best ones. I usually end up with 10 bests plus 5 honorable mentions. I include this many because I’m fortunate enough to be in the time of life when I can choose to read whatever I want,
- [How Narrative Structure Works in Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/08/05/how-narrative-structure-works-in-fiction/) - And How It Differs from Plot Have you ever wanted to yell at someone, “If you hadn’t done __________, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now”? Actions have consequences. And often one action produces a consequence that requires another action, and so on—and on. This cause-and-effect pattern works in fiction just as it
- [Why I Don't Need to Like Fictional Characters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/07/01/why-i-dont-need-to-like-fictional-characters/) - At a book group gathering a few months back a man opened the discussion with the comment, “I didn’t like this book because I just couldn’t like any of the characters.” I don’t even remember what that month’s book was because my mind took off with that comment. That was certainly not the first time
- [#7 “Drowning Ruth” by Cristina Schwarz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/11/7-drowning-ruth-by-cristina-schwarz/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester #6 The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton Thanks to
- [Quotation: “Whitman’s Multitudes”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/09/quotation-whitmans-multitudes/) - If humans contain Whitman’s multitudes, novels also have the possibility to contain multitudes, and they should. —Gabrielle Zevin, “Cloud Atlas at 20: What makes a novel tattoo-worthy
- [Celebrate Right to Read Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/08/celebrate-right-to-read-day/) - Organized pressure groups have used their power—and long lists of titles—to wage an aggressive campaign to empty library shelves of all books they deem inappropriate instead of allowing people to decide for themselves what they and their children read. These groups have redirected their aim from schools to public libraries, which saw a 92% increase
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/07/literary-links-214/) - The Dinner Party That Started the Harlem Renaissance “A century ago, a dinner party in New York set in motion one of the most influential cultural movements of the 20th century.” Staff members of The New York Times have “explored archival material and have reconstructed much of” what happened on March 21, 1924, at a
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Rome Through the Centuries](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/04/06/6-degrees-of-separation-rome-through-the-centuries/) - For this month’s starting point we were told to look on our shelves for a travel guide. I have a bunch of badly outdated travel guides, but the most recent one added to the shelf is Lonely Planet’s Pocket Rome: Top Experiences - Local Life. There’s a reason why this book is on the shelf:
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/31/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-4/) - The Forgotten Women Who Shaped the Roman Empire Kudos to Atlas Obscura for their series She Was There, in which female scholars participate in “writing long-forgotten women back into history.” I find the movement to give voice to marginalized people who have been erased from history one of the most interesting and vital elements within
- [Play Ball!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/28/play-ball/) - For most of my life, my mother and I could safely talk about two subjects: the weather and baseball. Thanks to my mother’s influence, I grew up a baseball fan. We lived in Connecticut, just about half way between Boston and New York, so the fierce rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees runs
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/24/literary-links-213/) - “A Nation of Lunatics.” What Oscar Wilde Thought About America “Rob Marland on the Irish Writer’s Grand Tour of the Gilded Age United States” This article caught my eye because I had just finished catching up on the second season of the HBO series The Gilded Age, which includes a trip to the opera by
- [#6 “The Short History of a Prince” by Jane Hamilton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/20/6-the-short-history-of-a-prince-by-jane-hamilton/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns #5 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge:
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/17/literary-links-212/) - Betty Smith enchanted a generation of readers with ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ − even as she groused that she hoped Williamsburg would be flattened Rachel Gordan, assistant professor of religion and Jewish studies at the University of Florida, discloses that Betty Smith herself had a different experience of life in Brooklyn than does the
- [Review: “Long Bright River” by Liz Moore](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/15/review-long-bright-river-by-liz-moore/) - Long Bright River by Liz Moore Riverhead Books, 2020 Hardcover, 482 pages ISBN 978-0-525-54067-0 Highly Recommended ★★★★★ Set in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Long Bright River humanizes the problems U.S. cities and their residents struggle with. Formerly a center of business and industry, Kensington is now home to abandoned and decaying former warehouses and
- [Celebrate Pi Day with These Mathematical Tales - Atlas Obscura](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/14/celebrate-pi-day-with-these-mathematical-tales-atlas-obscura/) - Happy Pi Day! Plus pie recipes, of course. Source: Celebrate Pi Day with These Mathematical Tales - Atlas Obscura
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/10/literary-links-211/) - ‘God forbid that a dog should die’: when Goodreads reviews go bad “I’m a professional critic, and an author of a literary novel. I’m a snob. I care about my book, and the authors I feel are my competitors,” writes Lauren Oyler. In this piece, another chapter in the continuous Goodreads controversy, she states that
- [2 Novels to Read for Women's History Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/08/2-novels-to-read-for-womens-history-month/) - In honor of International Women’s Day today, here are two novels that feature strong women. The Passenger by Lisa Lutz Simon & Schuster, 2016 Paperback, 320 pages ISBN 978-1-4516-8664-7 ★★★★★ I reread the first 11 pages of this paperback to refresh my memory before writing this review. And immediately, I was right back as a
- [#5 “The Debt to Pleasure” by John Lanchester](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/07/5-the-debt-to-pleasure-by-john-lanchester/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd #4 The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at
- [Reading Lists for Women's History Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/04/reading-lists-for-womens-history-month/) - Women's History Month: great histories written by women 5 novels to help you celebrate Women’s History Month A list of “captivating novels to celebrate Women’s History Month,” by Jordan Snowden for The Seattle Times. Our Favorite Female Detectives in Crime Fiction 10 favorite books for Women’s History Month! 10 Female Detectives Uncovering Hidden Mysteries Fierce
- ["The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2003/02/01/the-secret-life-of-bees-by-sue-monk-kidd/) - Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees (2002) Penguin, 302 pages, $14.00 trade paperback ISBN 0-14-200174-0 Highly Recommended Everyone is buzzing over The Secret Life of Bees. Every time I ask people if they’ve read any good books lately, I get the same answer: The Secret Life of Bees. “This book is
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/03/literary-links-210/) - The Third Person: Writing in the Aftermath of a Home Robbery “Kate Sidley Wrote About Tidy Mysteries in a Faraway Country. Then Real Violence Came Into Her Home.” A couple of weeks ago, Literary Links included Fictionalizing Real Trauma as a Means of Healing. In this article, Kate Sidley, author of cozy mysteries set in
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Travels Around the U.S.](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/03/02/6-degrees-of-separation-travels-around-the-u-s/) - This month we start with Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Last month (February) we were directed to start with the book our chain had ended with the previous month (January), which for me was . . . Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. So this time around, I’m accepting the challenge of taking the same starting
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/25/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-3/) - When Consciousness Itself is the Protagonist: A Reading List I’ll let River Halen themselves describe the origin of this list of “books that bend reality and the self”: As I was writing my book Dream Rooms, a book about the years that led up to my coming out as trans, I found myself fascinated by
- [#4 “The Church of Dead Girls” by Stephen Dobyns](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/22/4-the-church-of-dead-girls-by-stephen-dobyns/) - Related Posts: Introduction & #1 All the King’s Men #2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight #4 The Church of Dead
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/18/literary-links-209/) - Too Enjoyable to Be Literature What a wonderful short piece! It’s only four paragraphs long (one of which is a block quotation), but it so aptly expresses a reader’s joy of recognizing and appreciating a literary work. That literary work is Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. And Helen Garner has the same
- ["Finding Me" by Viola Davis](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/15/finding-me-by-viola-davis/) - Finding Me by Viola Davis HarperOne, 2022 Hardcover, 304 pages ISBN 978-0-06-303732-8 Highly Recommended ★★★★★ In this candid memoir Viola Davis details her journey from desperate childhood poverty in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to becoming one of the finest actors working today. “I learned from writer Joseph Campbell that a hero is someone born into
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/11/literary-links-208/) - You May Be Surprised by What Scares You “Fear may be a linchpin of horror, but as a recent anthology attests, the true bedrock of the genre is mood.” Stephen Kearse writes, “even in my favorite works of the genre, horror scenarios generally intrigue rather than scare me; I’m more likely to ponder than to
- [#2 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce & #3 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/08/2-a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man-by-james-joyce-3-the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd-by-agatha-christie/) - Related Post: 12 Novels That Changed How I Read Fiction Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the annual Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight This week I offer two selections because there’s not much I can say about #3 without giving away the whole point.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/04/literary-links-207/) - Why is March 2024 the Best Month in Years For Books? “In Her Debut Column, Maris Kreizman Considers This Spring’s Flood of Great Books” Maris Kreizman describes the kinds of books she, as a critic, likes to cover: The books that move me aren’t the kinds that are written by celebrities; they’re often labors of
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From “Tom Lake” to “The Thirteenth Tale”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/02/03/6-degrees-of-separation-from-tom-lake-to-the-thirteenth-tale/) - This month we start with the book we ended with in January. That was Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. The title refers to a region in Michigan where the protagonist and her family own a cherry orchard. first degree My first-degree entry is a no-brainer: Anton Checkhov’s probably best known play, The Cherry Orchard. second
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/28/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-2/) - It's Time to Rewrite the Rules of Historical Fiction “Research has long been a backbone of the genre. But beyond the textbooks, there's a whole world of family stories that have not yet become history. They deserve their place in fiction, too.” Vanessa Chan, author of the well-received recent novel The Storm We Made, writes,
- ["Judas Child" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/12/01/judas-child-by-carol-oconnell/) - O’Connell, Carol. Judas Child (1998) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 340 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14380 7 Readers disappointed that Carol O’Connell’s latest novel doesn’t feature Kathleen Mallory will quickly forget their displeasure once they begin reading Judas Child. This is the most chillingly effective psychological novel I’ve read in a long time.
- [The winner of a prestigious Japanese literary award has confirmed AI helped write her book | CNN](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/19/the-winner-of-a-prestigious-japanese-literary-award-has-confirmed-ai-helped-write-her-book-cnn/) - After author Rie Kudan won one of the country’s most prestigious literary awards, she admitted she had help from an unusual source. Source: The winner of a prestigious Japanese literary award has confirmed AI helped write her book | CNN
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/21/literary-links-206/) - Shane’s Lot: How a 1949 Gun-Toting Loner Still Rides Through American Literature Writer Maria Hummel examines how Shane, the gunslinger introduced in Jack Schaefer’s 1949 novel Rider from Nowhere, has lived on in American popular culture. Although Shane’s worldview is dated, the novel projects the timeless quest of innocence in our bloody world. Shane altered
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/14/literary-links-205/) - Mychal Threets Wants Everyone to Experience ‘Library Joy’ “The 33-year-old librarian from California has become popular on TikTok and Instagram with his upbeat take on libraries.” When a librarian friend of mine recently mentioned Mychal Threets on Facebook, I had no idea who he is or why she was waxing enthusiastic about him. Now I
- [What Notes in the Margin Will Be Up to This Year](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/11/what-notes-in-the-margin-will-be-up-to-this-year/) - Instead of laying out an elaborate reading and blogging plan for 2024, I’m going to tell you what I’ll be focusing on. It seems that, at the end of every year, I look back on whatever reading and writing goals I had set at the beginning of the year and document, in excruciating detail, how
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/07/literary-links-204/) - Introducing the 2024 Reading Log! I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read since May 1, 1991, when we got our first computer. I started with a database program, but, over that many years, software has changed multiple times. Every time a program would bite the dust, I’d export my data, then import it
- [It’s National Science Fiction Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/02/its-national-science-fiction-day/) - (Image by Enrique from Pixabay) Just as residents of San Francisco warn “Don’t call it Frisco,” I have it on good authority that true science fiction fans insist “Don’t call it sci-fi.” The first science fiction I remember being enthralled by was the original Star Trek TV show (1966-1969). Later, with the advent of cable television, I discovered
- [Happy New Year!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/01/happy-new-year-2/) - (Image by Markéta Klimešová from Pixabay) A happy new year wish for all my bookish friends. I look forward to sharing book thoughts and news with all of you throughout 2024. Keep reading and writing!
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/12/31/literary-links-203/) - How Women Writers Speculated Fictional Futures Free From Patriarchal Control “Lisa Yaszek on the Feminist History of Science Fiction” Since I started exploring Life Stories in Literature in the last few years, I’ve read more science fiction than I had read in my entire life before. Indeed, science fiction the ability to explore other possible
- [The Best Books I Read in 2023](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/12/30/the-best-books-i-read-in-2023/) - I was very picky about the books I chose to read this year. As a result, I read a lot of good books—so many that putting together this list was an agonizing process. In past years, I’ve kept my best books list to a total of 15, usually a top ten list plus five honorable
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2024/01/06/6-degrees-of-separation-12/) - This month we start with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which was My Most Surprising Read of 2022. Zevin’s powerful novel made me consciously re-examine how I read fiction, and I began putting together a list of books that, at various times in my life, have changed the way I read fiction.
- [Life Stories in Literature: Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/12/24/life-stories-in-literature-links/) - Related Posts: Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Edition Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature 5 Languages That Could Change the Way You See the World “How habits of speech can shape our thoughts.” Language is the most prominent social construct of all; humans develop language to communicate with each other about how they experience
- [My Big, Year-End Catch-Up Post](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/12/22/my-big-year-end-catch-up-post/) - Usually Notes in the Margin overflows with stories during December that deal with everything book-related. But we were traveling from mid-September to mid-December. In an effort to catch up with everything I missed during that time, here’s a compendium of literary topics. The Ultimate Best Books of 2023 List “Reading All the Lists So You
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/10/15/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature/) - Related Post: Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Edition I recently realized that I often feature links to articles that pertain to Life Stories in Literature without explaining exactly how those articles fit into this topic. To help you grasp how wide-ranging this topic is, here’s a group of links with a bit more explanation
- [Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/12/01/books-you-can-read-in-one-day-4/) - Rose/House by Arkady Martine Clockwork by Philip Pullman Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls The Last Book I Read in One Sitting: 16 Readers Share 20 Books You Can Read in One Sitting 7 Bite-Size Books That Pack a Powerful Punch 10 Epic Books Under 250 pages 10 One-Sitting Reads for a Well-Deserved Lazy Day Some
- [The Basket Boats of Vietnam](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/10/29/the-basket-boats-of-vietnam/) - During the French colonial period in Vietnam, authorities exacted a tax on boats. So the people of the fishing villages got creative: “These aren’t boats. They’re baskets.” We saw these boats all over the beaches around Da Nang. Sometimes they were upright, as here, but often they were inverted to provide a waterproof covering for
- [We’re Off to Sail the Seas Again!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/09/17/were-off-to-sail-the-seas-again/) - We went traveling between June 8th and July 9th. And now we’re about to leave home again. Normally we wouldn’t be taking major trips this close together, but the current exploration is the last of our postponed then rescheduled trips from the COVID-19 times. This time we’ll be gone for three months on an itinerary
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/09/10/literary-links-202/) - Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books This summer, the state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas and the local library in Midland, Texas, announced they’re leaving the ALA, with possibly more to come. Right-wing lawmakers in at least nine other states — Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,
- [Support Banned Books Week!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/10/01/support-banned-books-week/) - Banned Books Week is an annual event . . . [that] brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. —Source
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/09/03/literary-links-201/) - The Hours at 25: The book that changed how we see Virginia Woolf The 2002 film version of Michael Cunningham’s novel The Hours “has come to define the popular image of Virginia Woolf in the 21st Century,” writes Lillian Crawford. The Hours is “a modern reinterpretation of Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs Dalloway.” Crawford explains how
- [6 Degrees: From Being a Wife to Being Dead](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/09/02/6-degrees-from-being-a-wife-to-being-dead/) - This month we start with Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder, which was published in July 2023. The book details the life of writer Eileen O’Shaughnessy, who married George Orwell in 1936. Anna Funder uses newly discovered letters between Eileen and her best friend to get to know Orwell’s wife, who has been
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/27/literary-links-200/) - Seven Books for the Lifelong Learner Chelsea Leu suggests seven books that “describe the experience of becoming absorbed by a skill or craft, and deliver insights into what mundane activities—say, playing sports or learning a foreign language—can tell us about how we live today. Look closely enough at any human endeavor, these books suggest, and
- ["The Art of X-Ray Reading"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/02/the-art-of-x-ray-reading/) - The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark Little, Brown and Company, 2016 Kindle ed., 319 pages ISBN 978-0-3162-8217-8 ★★★★★ I picked this book up because I interpreted the description to mean I’d get a refresher course in the kind of slow, close reading we spent our time on in grad school. Clark’s stated
- [How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor : NPR](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/14/how-librarians-kids-and-the-country-are-paying-for-the-ongoing-rancor-npr/) - No longer are just books under fire, but also the library administrators, teachers and long-beloved librarians who are defending them. They're being shouted down by parents, vilified on billboards, reported to the police, and trolled online, leaving many fearing for their safety. Source: How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/13/literary-links-199/) - Levelling up: how Gabrielle Zevin’s gaming novel became the book of the summer I was gratified to read about the popularity in the U.K. of My Most Surprising Read of 2022. Categories: Author News, Book News, Fiction Negative capability “When it comes to our complicated, undecipherable feelings, art prompts a self-understanding far beyond the wellness
- [What Do You Remember About Your Childhood Reading?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/07/28/what-do-you-remember-about-your-childhood-reading/) - Or, The Power of Enchantment How much do you remember about reading in early childhood? I ask because I’m always bemused when I see other peoples’ statements about learning to read at age 3 or 4 and remembering the very moment they realized they could make sense of the squiggles on the page. I ask
- [On Edith Wharton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/11/on-edith-wharton/) - Edith Wharton, American Novelist (January 24, 1862 - August 11, 1937) Wharton’s deepest concern was morality. She wrote about the struggle between the body and the mind, that battlefield from which morality emerges. Central to her work are stifled and illicit passions, manifested in divorce, adultery, incest, and illegitimacy. She wrote about the struggle to
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Love Stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/05/6-degrees-of-separation-love-stories/) - I missed last month’s 6 Degrees because I was still on vacation in early July. But I’m back for this month’s exercise, which begins with Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love,
- [Review: ”The Ten Thousand Doors of January"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/24/review-the-ten-thousand-doors-of-january/) - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow Redhook, 2019 Kindle ed., 385 pages ISBN 978-0-3164-2199-7 ★★★★★ I loved this fantasy, a coming-of-age tale based on an epic search for lost love, a place to call home, and the power of stories. “There’s only one way to run away from your own story,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/08/06/literary-links-198/) - Thermo Fisher Scientific settles with family of Henrietta Lacks, whose HeLa cells uphold medicine Social justice achieved by a book! See The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Categories: Author News New England Noir: A Brief, Idiosyncratic History of a Literary Region The region is known for its literary output: six states, a
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/07/30/literary-links-197/) - The Writers Who Went Undercover to Show America Its Ugly Side “In the 1940s, a series of books tried to use the conventions of detective fiction to expose the degree of prejudice in postwar America.” A history lesson from The Atlantic: In the years during and after World War II, the battle against fascism spread
- [Voice-Driven Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/07/28/voice-driven-fiction/) - I’m always really influenced by who I’m reading. The main thing I like to consume is voice-driven fiction. I always gravitate toward a voice more than anything else, especially a darkly comic voice. I love hyper-specific imagery that feels like only a human who’s walked on this earth could have had this thought. And so
- [Review: Encountering “1Q84” in the Time of COVID-19](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/11/review-encountering-1q84-in-the-time-of-covid-19/) - Murakami, Haruki. 1Q84Trans. by Jay Rubin & Philip GabrielVintage, translation © 2011Trade Paperback, 1,157 pagesISBN 978-0-307-47646-3 Highly Recommended “ A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is
- ["Where Are the Children Now?"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/16/where-are-the-children-now/) - Related Post: My review of Where Are the Children? Where Are the Children Now? by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke Simon & Schuster, 2023 Hardcover, 275 pages ISBN 978-1-9821-8941-9 ★★★★★ In 1975 Mary Higgins Clark published her first suspense novel, Where Are the Children? Over the ensuing years she published 55 more books, all
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/07/23/literary-links-196/) - How the Essay and the Novel Inform and Influence Each Other Here’s an excerpt from Jane Smiley’s recently published collection of essays, The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom (Heyday Books, 2023): Most of the essays in this book have been assignments—I am handed a topic and asked to reveal
- [Author Focus: Amalie Skram of Norway and Denmark](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/07/19/author-focus-amalie-skram-of-norway-and-denmark/) - When you go on an organized tour while on a cruise, the emphasis of what you learn depends on the interests of your tour guide. Fortunately, on our two days in Bergen, Norway (the first and last days of our vacation), we had a knowledgable guide with an interest in the arts. He introduced us
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/07/16/literary-links-195/) - ‘It’s not climate change, it’s everything change’: sci-fi authors take on the global crisis “Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy led the way. Now a new crop of novelists is putting the heating emergency at the forefront of their plots” Categories: Author News, Literary History Controversial book ‘Stamped’ added back into Pickens Co Schools libraries PICKENS
- [Review: “The Time Has Come" by Will Leitch](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/14/review-the-time-has-come-by-will-leitch/) - The Time Has Come by Will Leitch Harper, 2023 Hardcover, 304 pages ISBN 978-0-0632-3851-0 ★★★★★ “ Lindburgh’s Pharmacy is an Athens, Georgia, institution—the type of beloved mom and pop shop that once dotted every American town but has mostly disappeared. But Lindburgh’s has recently become the object of attention of a local third grade teacher
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/25/literary-links-194/) - Logan Steiner on Learning Life Lessons From Anne of Green Gables I was drawn to this article because much of what Logan Steiner writes here reflects my own reactions to reading Anne of Green Gables. The book demonstrates not only what it means to be human, but also how literature can unconsciously teach us how
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/11/literary-links-193/) - queer indie and self-published books to read during pride month The indie and self-published community offers a great range of identities and diversification that you often can’t find in traditionally published books, but because of people’s prejudice against these books, or because of their laziness in trying to find them, indie books often go unnoticed.
- [Review: “The Rose Code" by Kate Quinn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/10/review-the-rose-code-by-kate-quinn/) - The Rose Code by Kate Quinn Audible Audio, 2021 Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld Highly Recommended ★★★★★ “ The year 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla
- [Celebrate Pride Month!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/01/celebrate-pride-month-2/) - In June 1969, a courageous group of Americans rose up to protest the violence and marginalization they faced in what became known as the Stonewall Uprising. Police had raided the Stonewall Inn — a gay bar located in New York City — and for the next six days they clashed with LGBTQI+ protestors, who bravely
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/28/literary-links-192/) - What I Learned About Writing From Reviewing Bethanne Patrick writes, “I believe in both author and reader as partners in a delicate dance. The author wants to speak; the reader wants to listen. I’ve occupied both roles.” Having been both a critic and a writer, Patrick here offers some advice for writers. Categories: Literary Criticism,
- [6 Degrees: Many Forms of Friendship](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/06/03/6-degrees-many-forms-of-friendship/) - This month we start with Elizabeth Day’s exploration of friendship, Friendaholic. Here’s part of the Goodreads description of the book: “ As a society, there is a tendency to elevate romantic love. But what about friendships? Aren't they just as – if not more – important? So why is it hard to find the right
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/21/literary-links-191/) - 6 Mid-Life Memoirs of Transformative Years “6 Life-Changing Memoirs” “What would it take for you to transform your life? Could you do it in the span of a year or two? Spurred on by loss, career changes, new hobbies — or even a global pandemic — what if your life could become something new? In
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/14/literary-links-190/) - Learning How to Read Slowly Laura Sackton, a self-proclaimed fast reader, explains her reasons for learning “about how to shift some of my bookish energy toward slower, more deliberate reading” because, she writes, “there are some books that are better when read slowly.” I couldn’t agree more. And I was especially intrigued by her realization
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/07/literary-links-189/) - Magda Szabó and the Cost of Censorship “The Hungarian writer’s fiction examines how silence—politically enforced or self-imposed—can warp and disfigure a life.” Charlie Lee profiles Magda Szabó, whose life under Hungary’s repressive political regime “was an experience that seeded her fascination with the cost of silence in all its forms—politically enforced, self-imposed—as well as her
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From Dark to Darker](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/06/6-degrees-of-separation-from-dark-to-darker/) - Before we get started on this month’s exercise, here’s a bonus offering: What Does the Term 'Six Degrees of Separation' Mean? Moving on, we start this month with a book on the Stella Prize 2023 shortlist – Hydra by Adriane Howell. From the Amazon description, I think this novel would be squarely in my wheelhouse:
- [2 Recent Audio Reviews](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/05/03/2-recent-audio-reviews/) - I’m a fair-weather walker. Here in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. we finally started having what I consider to be fair enough weather to walk in around the first of April. And walking means audiobooks. Here are reviews of two that I completed recently. I Will Find You by Harlan Coben Brilliance Audio, 2023
- ["The Violin Conspiracy"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/15/the-violin-conspiracy/) - The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb Anchor Books, 2022 Hardcover, 345 pages ISBN 978-0-593-31541-5 Recommended ★★★★★ “ Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/30/literary-links-188/) - ‘Little Banned Library’ featuring books removed from schools opening in Houston’s Heights neighborhood Many of the current book challenges are coming out of Florida. Here’s a heartening story about a Little Banned Library erected in a Houston suburb featuring books that have been challenged in or removed from public schools. Be sure to take a
- [Independent Bookstore Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/29/independent-bookstore-day/) - Inklings Bookshop in Yakima, WA Today is Independent Bookstore Day! To celebrate, I’m featuring a delightful store we visited last summer (July 2022) on our first road trip emerging from COVID-19 lockdown. Because it had been so long since we could travel anyplace to visit a bookstore, we made it a priority to look for
- [Elly Griffiths on Writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/26/elly-griffiths-on-writing/) - "It’s a strange thing but writers can only write what they want to write. I used to be a commissioning editor and I remember wishing that I could point authors towards a particular genre or subject. ‘Books about librarians in Sheffield are popular this year, can you write me a couple?’ But, of course, this
- [Celebrate National Library Week](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/25/celebrate-national-library-week/) - Libraries are full of stories in a variety of formats from picture books to large print, audiobooks to ebooks, and more. But there's so much more to the story. Libraries of Things lend items like museum passes, games, musical instruments, and tools. Library programming brings communities together for entertainment, education, and connection through book clubs,
- [Right to Read Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/24/right-to-read-day/) - #RightToReadDay The Monday of National Library Week - April 24, 2023 - will mark one year since the launch of the Unite Against Book Bans campaign. To honor the occasion, we're calling on readers, advocates, and library lovers to fight back against censorship in a national day of action to defend, protect, and celebrate your
- [World Book & Copyright Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/23/world-book-copyright-day/) - World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books - a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. . . . 23 April
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/23/literary-links-187/) - Charles Frazier Wants You to Wait Before Reading the Classics “‘Over the years,’ says the historical novelist, whose new book is ‘The Trackers,’ ‘I’ve come to realize that many great books we were assigned to read in school are far more enjoyable and have more to say when approached later in life.’” I was attracted
- [Review: "The Last Thing He Told Me"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/20/review-the-last-thing-he-told-me/) - The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave Simon & Schuster, 2021 Hardcover,320 pages ISBN 978-1-5011-7134-5 Recommended ★★★★★ “How well can you know anyone?” Hannah Hall, age 38, has been married to Owen Michaels for a little over a year. Hannah’s relationship with Owen’s 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, is still strained—after all, it had been
- [Celebrate Earth Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/22/celebrate-earth-day/) - Related Post: It’s Earth Day! Read On [from 2020] Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22 since 1970 to encourage people to protect the environment. Test your knowledge of environmental protection and learn about programs like The Canopy Project and issues like sustainable fashion by clicking here: Earth Day 2023 And you can celebrate
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/16/literary-links-186/) - How saying “me” or “we” changes your psychological response — and the response of other people “Considering the perspectives of others has important benefits for individuals and for society. There is one easy way to do it.” Susan Gelman, the Heinz Werner Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, discusses the implicit
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/02/literary-links-184/) - Two sides to a story: why feminist retellings are filling our bookshelves “From Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Julia to Shakespeare’s Rosaline, the trend for a new perspective on a familiar tale is continuing apace. Authors and publishers explain what old stories tell us about today” Writers talk about an important topic. Giving a voice to people who
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/09/literary-links-185/) - A Veteran of the Book-Banning Wars on the Importance of Speaking Out Claudia Johnson is a nationally recognized advocate for free speech, author of Stifled Laughter: One Woman’s Story About Fighting Censorship—nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1994—and winner of the inaugural PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award for her “extraordinary efforts to restore banned literary
- [Library Snapshot Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/01/library-snapshot-day/) - (Feature image: Main Branch, Tacoma Public Library, Tacoma, WA) Today is Library Snapshot Day! This day is celebrated in 38 states of the U.S. some time in the first half of each year, and for 2023 that day is today. But Library Snapshot Day is no April Fool’s joke: It is an engaging way to
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/04/01/6-degrees-of-separation-11/) - This month’s starting point is Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run. first degree Another autobiographical work with a title that begins with the word born is Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet. second degree Another book with the word blue in the title is Michael
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/26/literary-links-183/) - Reviewer Jeana Jorgensen Interviews Thomas Cirotteau, Coauthor of Lady Sapiens: Breaking Stereotypes about Prehistoric Women The book Lady Sapiens “corrects mistaken stereotypes about prehistory, asserting the primacy of women in past societies and honoring the foremothers who advanced civilization with their art, knowledge, and power,” writes reviewer Jeana Jorgensen. “In reality,” she notes, “early women
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/19/literary-links-182/) - What Are We Protecting Children from by Banning Books? “Reading the titles that have been challenged and removed from public-school libraries across the country.” I’ve lately given up on posting links to articles about censorship across the United States because they’re too numerous and, frankly, too depressing to keep up with. But this article by
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/12/literary-links-181/) - Women are now publishing more books than men—and it's good for business “Women have gone from publishing just 18% of books in the 1960s to more than half today, driving up revenue and diversifying readership” Categories: Publishing, Writing The End of the English Major I looked at a different link about this same topic last
- [5 Memoirs to Read for International Women's Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/08/5-memoirs-to-read-for-international-womens-day/) - (Feature Image: From the [U.S.] National Archives catalog; National Archives Identifier: 593556) Related Post: Women's History Month International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.IWD has occurred for well over a century,
- [Comfort� by Ann Hood](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/08/22/comfort-by-ann-hood/) - Hood, Ann. Comfort: A Journey Through GriefNew York: Norton, 2008ISBN 978-0-393-06456-8 Highly Recommended When Ann Hood’s five-year-old daughter Grace died suddenly in 2002 from a virulent form of strep, everyone tried to comfort Ann with platitudes like “She’s in a better place” or “Time heals.” But Hood did not find these cliches comforting. And everyone
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/05/literary-links-180/) - Women's History Month grew out of a weeklong commemoration by Jimmy Carter in 1980 “Years before it became a full month, there was Women's History Week.” More on the history of Women’s History Month. Category: Et Cetera Don't worry, Roald Dahl's original texts will still be published after critics call new editions 'absurd censorship' Yet
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Women’s History Month Edition](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/04/6-degrees-of-separation-womens-history-month-edition/) - This month’s starting book was a best-selling self-help title in the seventies – Passages by Gail Sheehy, published in 1976. I read Passages before I started keeping a reading journal, so I can only estimate when I read it. It would have been in the mid 1980s, as my 40th birthday approached. I remember it
- [March Is Women's History Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/03/01/march-is-womens-history-month/) - (Feature Image: From the [U.S.] National Archives catalog; National Archives Identifier: 593556) According to Wikipedia, Women’s History Month is celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia; and in Canada during October. Origin Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/26/literary-links-179/) - Roald Dahl’s books are nasty by nature – editing a word or two won’t make them nice A bit different aspect of censorship has been in the news lately: “An investigation by the Telegraph has revealed that hundreds of changes have been made to the most recent editions of Dahl’s books, published by Puffin (the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/19/literary-links-178/) - What Do 10 Years of the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller Lists Say about YA? Because I don’t read a lot of YA literature, I tend not to report on it very often. Here Kelly Jensen, who has been writing about the YA book world for more than 15 years, examines whether the demographics
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/12/literary-links-177/) - The Defiance of Salman Rushdie “After a near-fatal stabbing—and decades of threats—the novelist speaks about writing as a death-defying act.” David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, offers background on Salman Rushdie as well as news about the author’s life since he was attacked at a literary event last August 11. Category: Author News 8
- [Audio or Print Book? Sometimes One, Sometimes the Other](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/08/audio-or-print-book-sometimes-one-sometimes-the-other/) - No, I’m not going to rehash the issue of whether audiobooks “count.” As long as the audiobook you listen to is unabridged, it counts as having read the book, just as does reading an ebook. However, I recently listened to two audiobooks that reminded me that sometimes I prefer to listen and sometimes I prefer
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/05/literary-links-176/) - Harlem: The Journey Uptown The February 1, 2023, daily newsletter from The New Yorker describes this article from 1981 as follows: Few neighborhoods in New York City—indeed, few neighborhoods anywhere—are as closely linked with a community as Harlem is with African Americans. In literature and music, fashion and film, the area has become synonymous with
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/04/6-degrees-of-separation-10/) - This month we start with the book that topped the most ‘Best Books of 2022’ lists – Trust by Hernan Diaz. Since I had bought the book on vacation last July, this choice prompted me to read it. Trust is a brilliant novel comprising four sections that each offer a different viewpoint on the lives
- [Celebrate Black History Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/02/01/celebrate-black-history-month/) - (Feature Image by Freepik) Join the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) for its Third Annual Black History Month Festival celebrating the 2023 Black History theme, “Black Resistance.” Black Resistance has taken many forms throughout history. As the late Congressman John Lewis advised, “Never, ever be afraid to make some
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/29/literary-links-175/) - Florida teachers told to remove books from classroom libraries or risk felony prosecution I’ve tried to hold back on the censorship news recently because, if I’m not careful, I’ll just burst into tears. But with this news story, we seem to have reached a whole new level. Category: Censorship How Edgar Allan Poe became the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/22/literary-links-174/) - Prince Harry’s Book Is Just Good Literature “I don’t give a fig about the royals, but much of Spare reads like a good novel.” After admitting that she doesn’t care about the British royal family and doesn’t follow what they’re doing, Laura Miller writes, “To my surprise, the first half of Spare turns out to
- [Reading Goals for 2023](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/17/reading-goals-for-2023/) - Overall, I was pleased with the way my year of reading 2022 turned out. Therefore, in setting my reading goals for 2023, I’m going to follow the general outline of last year’s post: 2022: My Year of Unplanned Reading Like last year, I’m going to continue in 2023 to avoid focusing on mere productivity (such as
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/15/literary-links-173/) - You Can Watch 'Kaleidoscope' Episodes in Any Order. A Complete Guide I love novels with unusual structures. So when I read that the episodes of Netflix’s new drama Kaleidoscope could be viewed in any order, I had to check it out. This article from CNET discusses how several choices can affect the way viewers experience the
- [5 Novels With Unusual Narrative Structures](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/08/05/5-novels-with-unusual-narrative-structures/) - Genre can be liberating, in an artistic sense. To follow and break the rules at the same time can lead to moments of true serendipity. For me, it has elevated the concept of form, the actual structure of the novel, to become the most crucial element, because as in architecture, form follows function… . In
- [Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2023](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/10/most-anticipated-books-releasing-in-the-first-half-of-2023/) - Today’s topic is My Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2023. By far the one I’m most looking forward to is the April release of Alafair Burke’s continuation of Mary Higgins Clark’s 1975 novel Where Are the Children? Below are my choices, listed in order of release date. Included is a short
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/08/literary-links-172/) - Authors Who Write Outstanding Mystery Series and Stellar Standalones One question that comes up periodically on book blogs is this: Do you prefer to read series or standalone novels? But this article by novelist Alicia Beckman reminded me that there’s also another side to this question: Do authors prefer to write series or standalone books?
- [6 Degrees of Separation: A Very Short Journey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/07/6-degrees-of-separation-a-very-short-journey/) - Beach Read by Emily Henry is this month’s starting point: “ A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters. Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews
- [Discussion: "Gone Girl" 10 Years Later](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/15/discussion-gone-girl-10-years-later/) - Introductory Discussion June 2022 marked the tenth anniversary of Gillian Flynn’s mega blockbuster novel Gone Girl. This anniversary prompted many looks back at the novel’s significance; for example: "A master class in marital manipulation, the influence of the novel continues to cascade through the category; to this day, every other thriller is pitched as “Gone
- [I'm Signing Up for the 2023 Discussion Challenge!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/03/im-signing-up-for-the-2023-discussion-challenge/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the 2023 Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed your Fiction Addiction Shannon at It Starts at Midnight
- [#TopTenTuesday : The Best Books I Read in 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/03/toptentuesday-the-best-books-i-read-in-2022/) - Goodreads insists that I read 44 books in 2022, but my records indicate 46. Whichever number is correct, here are the best ones: 10 best + 5 honorable mention. Listed alphabetically by author’s last name. The 10 Best Connelly, Michael. Desert Star This latest installment in Connelly’s overlapping Harry Bosch/Renée Ballard series finds the detectives
- [Celebrate National Science Fiction Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/02/celebrate-national-science-fiction-day/) - Today is National Science Fiction Day here in the United States. Science fiction touches so many different areas of literature that most people can find one area that they love. Science fiction can include stories based in space with aliens like E.T. or space battles like Star Wars. The genre also can include time travel,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2023/01/01/literary-links-171/) - Happy New Year! Welcome to the first blog post of the year! NaJoWriMo Journal Writing Challenge Starts January 1st I know a lot of book bloggers are also writers. Many participate in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, every November. Since I don’t write fiction, I’ve always been a little jealous. But, if you write in
- [Notable Literary Deaths in 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/31/notable-literary-deaths-in-2022/) - This final post of the year is always the saddest. Notable Literary Deaths in 2022 “An Incomplete List of the Writers, Editors, and Great Literary Minds We Lost This Year” From Lit Hub.
- [2022: A Literary Review](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/30/2022-a-literary-review/) - ‘Expressive times’: Publishing industry an open book in 2022 “In 2022, the story of book publishing was often the industry itself,” writes Hillel Italie for AP News. A Novelist's Review of the State of 2022 Literary Fiction Mateo Askaripour is a Brooklyn-based writer whose first novel, Black Buck—which Colson Whitehead calls a “mesmerizing novel, executing
- [2022: My Year in Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/29/2022-my-year-in-reading/) - Thanks to Goodreads, here are my reading statistics for 2022: I’m gratified to see that, despite treating 2022 as a year of unplanned reading, these statistics are nearly the same as those for the previous 10 years. In that January post I also listed some general goals for 2022: to read more nonfiction to read more
- [Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/27/most-recent-additions-to-my-book-collection/) - Here are the newest additions to my book collection, nine that I got as presents this holiday season, followed by three I bought. Links are to Goodreads, as I haven’t read any of these yet. 1989 by Val McDermid Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh The Hero of This Book by
- [Nichelle Nichols Foundation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/26/nichelle-nichols-foundation/) - “Science is not a boy’s game, it’s not a girl’s game. It’s everyone’s game. It’s about where we are and where we’re going. Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we ain’t stopped yet. There’s more exploration to come.” Nichelle Nichols Source: Nichelle Nichols Foundation
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/25/literary-links-170/) - The dawn of AI has come, and its implications for education couldn’t be more significant The anxiety and questions about AI-generated writing continue: “t’s safe to say we can expect some challenging years ahead.” Vitomir Kovanovic, Senior Lecturer in Learning Analytics at the University of South Australia, speculates. Category: Writing Women Talking Embraces the Drama
- ["The Hidden Machinery" by Margot Livesey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/18/the-hidden-machinery-by-margot-livesey/) - The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing by Margot Livesey Tin House Books, 2017 Paperback, 302 pages ISBN 978-1-9410-4068-3 Recommended ★★★★★ "I am using the phrase 'the hidden machinery' to refer to two different aspects of novel making: on the one hand how certain elements of the text—characters, plot, imagery—work together to make an overarching argument;
- [15 Years of Blogging with WordPress!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/23/15-years-of-blogging-with-wordpress/) - Look what I found in my WordPress notifications today! I did not remember exactly when I switched Notes in the Margin to WordPress, so I was glad of the reminder. The site has been self-hosted on Dreamhost since 1999, and existed elsewhere for a couple of years before that. Notes in the Margin has been
- [More Best Books of 2022 Lists](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/22/more-best-books-of-2022-lists/) - Related Post: Lists: Best Books of 2022 Our Favorite Books of the Year From the editors of Oprah Daily, “its list of 45 Favorite Books of 2022, spanning fiction genres, including romance and suspense, to nonfiction standouts in memoir, science, and biography.” The Ten Best History Books of 2022 From Smithsonian magazine. Award Winning Nonfiction
- [#TopTenTuesday   Books I Hope Santa Brings This Year](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/20/toptentuesday-books-i-hope-santa-brings-this-year/) - Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie 1989 by Val McDermid Lessons by Ian McEwan The Hero of This Book, by Elizabeth McCracken Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng The Last Chairlift by John Irving Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/18/literary-links-169/) - A (hopefully premature) obituary for Bookforum and the magazines that connect us David L. Ulin laments the closing of Bookforum, a review journal “positioned in the middle territory between service journalism and the academy”: To engage with an issue has long felt to me like going to a fabulous party where the guests are not
- [The Difference Between Empathy and Sympathy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/15/the-difference-between-empathy-and-sympathy/) - "There’s a difference between empathy and sympathy. Sympathy is when you feel an alignment with a particular character. Empathy is when you see things from that character’s point of view. Larry Cook [the Lear-like father in A Thousand Acres] is someone I don’t have any sympathy for, but I needed to have empathy in order
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/11/literary-links-168/) - We Need Diverse Books Launches #BooksSaveLives Initiative Against Censorship We Need Diverse Books, an organization formed in 2014 “to advocate for diversity and inclusion in the publishing industry,” has launched its #BooksSaveLives initiative with “as much as $10,000 in grants to schools and libraries in underserved communities so they can purchase challenged and banned books
- [My One-Month Anniversary on Mastodon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/05/my-one-month-anniversary-on-mastodon/) - Related Post: I’m Joining the #TwitterMigration to #Mastodon Yesterday was my one-month anniversary on Mastodon. Because I had a terrible time crunch for most of November, I didn’t do as much exploring there as I had wanted to do. However, I’m starting to feel more at home there now. And I like it. Here are
- [Nonfiction November: (Semi) Wrap-Up](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/02/nonfiction-november-semi-wrap-up/) - I did manage to finish the books I wanted to read during November, but I’m still working on reviewing them. Nevertheless, here’s what I did last month. I’ll update this post with links as I finish my reviews. Books I Read Before November But Reviewed During November What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the
- [Top Ten Tuesday: Lots of Lists of Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/13/top-ten-tuesday-lots-of-lists-of-books-you-can-read-in-one-day/) - The suggested Top Ten Tuesday topic for today is Books on My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List. I find no point in doing this topic because, once I’ve composed and posted it, I never look at it again. I do set up a tentative reading list at the beginning of each month, but even that is
- [Top Ten Tuesday: 12 Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/06/top-ten-tuesday-12-books-you-can-read-in-one-day/) - Today is a freebie for Top Ten Tuesday. If you’re now in a rush to knock off your reading goal for 2022, I’m here to help you out with this list of books you can read in one day or less. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes In the Margins by Elena Ferrante
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/04/literary-links-167/) - Why I teach a course connecting Taylor Swift’s songs to the works of Shakespeare, Hitchcock and Plath Elizabeth Scala, professor of English at The University of Texas at Austin, explains how and why she created the course “The Taylor Swift Songbook,” an introductory English course. Categories: Literary Criticism, Literary History, Reading Why read old books?
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/03/6-degrees-of-separation-9/) - This month’s exercise begins with The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, set in Alaska in 1920. Jack and Mabel, a childless couple homesteading in the lonely wilderness, build a child out of snow. The next morning, the snow child has come to life. She hunts and roams the forest, like a creature out of a
- [#TopTenTuesday    10 Series I Want to Start or Catch Up On](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/08/toptentuesday-10-series-i-want-to-start-or-catch-up-on/) - Related Post: Completed Series I Wish Had More Books 5 Series I Want to Catch Up On V.I. Warshawski novels by Sara Paretsky Child psychologist Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman Psychologist Alan Gregory novels by Stephen White Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid Olive Kitteridge books by Elizabeth Strout 5 Series I Want
- ["What About the Baby?" by Alice McDermott](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/11/what-about-the-baby-by-alice-mcdermott/) - What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction by Alice McDermott Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021 Hardcover, 256 pages ISBN978-0-3741-3062-6 ★★★★★ I don’t write fiction, but I do enjoy reading it. I also enjoy reading about the writing of fiction, because understanding the issues that writers consider about their writing process makes
- [Lists: Best Books of 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/12/01/lists-best-books-of-2022/) - Happy December! If you’re in the market for some gifty books (and who isn’t?), here’s a gigantic list of Best Books of 2022 lists. Happy gifting! Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of 2022 This is the first such list I saw. It was posted on October 10. Top 10 Best Thrillers of 2022 From Canadian
- [Top Ten Tuesday   7 Books to Introduce Myself](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/29/top-ten-tuesday-7-books-to-introduce-myself/) - This week’s suggested topic for Top Ten Tuesday is: Cozy Reads (Share books that give off a cozy vibe, whether through atmosphere, setting, or some other factor.) I can’t remember the last cozy book I read. Therefore, I’m doubling up here on a topic that’s going on over on Mastodon for readers and book bloggers to
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/27/literary-links-166/) - Atoms as They Fall Upon the Mind This article from The Point magazine extols James Joyce’s Ulysses as an example of the experimental literary technique of stream of consciousness: “When in prose carefully structured to imitate the patterns of the mind these aspects of consciousness reveal themselves to us as they do in life, through
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/20/literary-links-165/) - On the End of the Canon Wars This think piece by John Michael Colón examines the question of whether and, if so, how a “liberal education” (which really means study across the humanities) benefits students. Categories: Literary Criticism, Literary History, Literature & Culture, Reading A dinosaur is a story “in science as in fiction, the
- [Top Ten Tuesday  Things I’m Thankful For](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/22/top-ten-tuesday-things-im-thankful-for/) - Since this week’s Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S., our topic this week is Thankful Freebie. Ever since my husband and I retired to the coast of Washington, where our daughter was already living, the three of us have spent Thanksgiving week at a beautiful spot in our state. For the last several years, that
- [Happy Thanksgiving!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-4/) - Today (Thursday, November 24) is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Since the traditional Thanksgiving feast features turkey, it’s also sometimes referred to as Turkey Day. No matter what you call it, happy day to all who celebrate.
- [Writers Wrestle with Twitter: Do I Stay or Go (and Where?) ‹ Literary Hub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/17/writers-wrestle-with-twitter-do-i-stay-or-go-and-where-literary-hub/) - After Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter became official on October 27, Margaret Atwood tweeted, “Any truly viable alternatives to Twitter yet?” Atwood wasn’t the only writer looking for the next lite… Source: Writers Wrestle with Twitter: Do I Stay or Go (and Where?) ‹ Literary Hub Related Post: I’m Joining the #TwitterMigration to #Mastodon
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/13/literary-links-164/) - 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.
- [Review: “Dead by Sunset” by Ann Rule](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/02/25/review-dead-by-sunset-by-ann-rule/) - Rule, Ann. Dead by Sunset Simon & Schuster, 1995Hardcover, 429 pagesISBN 0-684-80205-8 In this true-crime book Ann Rule tells the story of Cheryl Keeton, who was bludgeoned to death and left in her Toyota van on the highway so that an accident would cover her murder, in September, 1986, in Portland, Oregon. Rule also tells the
- [I’m Joining the #TwitterMigration to #Mastodon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/09/im-joining-the-twittermigration-to-mastodon/) - Background Last week you-know-what hit the fan over at Twitter when Elon Musk took over. A lot of folks, concerned over the return of hate speech and disinformation, talked about finding an alternative to Twitter. Also, Stephen King and Elon Must got into a well publicized dust-up over account verification and its related cost. I’m
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/06/literary-links-163/) - PEN America Rejects Calls to Cancel Coney Barrett Book Last week’s Literary Links included an article about Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s book advance as well as an article about PEN America’s report on diversity in the publishing industry. This week we have a link to Publishers Weekly’s news that PEN America has condemned the
- [This Year I’m Doing Nonfiction November](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/02/this-year-im-doing-nonfiction-november/) - Introduction I had all sorts of good intentions to read more nonfiction during 2022, but here it is November and, according to my spreadsheet, I’ve read exactly one nonfiction work all year (a memoir that wasn’t very good and that I therefore didn’t review). I like alliteration and have heard of Nonfiction November, so I
- [#TopTenTuesday	  10 Unlikable Characters I Couldn’t Help but Like](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/11/01/toptentuesday-10-unlikable-characters-i-couldnt-help-but-like/) - I present this list with minimal explanations to avoid spoiling the stories for you. 1. Robbie Feaver in Personal Injuries by Scott Turow I was amazed at how Turow was able to make me appreciate this shady lawyer. 2. & 3. Patty Watts and Rose Gold Watts in Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel This
- [Happy Halloween!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/31/happy-halloween-5/) - This scary experience deserves a share on Halloween:
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/30/literary-links-162/) - 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
- [#TopTenTuesday		10 Lists of Books About the COVID-19 Pandemic](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/25/toptentuesday10-lists-of-books-about-the-covid-19-pandemic/) - Today’s suggested topic for Top Ten Tuesday is a Halloween freebie. I love Halloween just as much as the next reader, but I published my Suggestions for Spooky Halloween Reading early in the month, and that’s all I’ve got on that topic. So today, instead of Halloween, I’m presenting another topic I’ve been interested in lately,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/23/literary-links-161/) - 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
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/16/literary-links-160/) - 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
- [#TopTenTuesday		Books I Read On Vacation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/11/toptentuesdaybooks-i-read-on-vacation/) - Today’s topic is Books I Read On Vacation (bonus points if you tell us where you were!). I only read 8 books over the summer on 3 different road trips, but I’m going for the bonus points on all of them, which should compensate for the shortfall. And making this list has painfully reminded me
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/09/literary-links-159/) - Opinion Have we forgotten what a public library is for? The executive directors of the Michigan Library Association and Michigan ACLU reflected on the recent vote to defund a public library outside of Grand Rapids over its display of LGBTQ books. Categories: Censorship, Libraries The Ultimate Guide to Wondrous Independent Bookstores Shortly after opting out
- [#TopTenTuesday		8 Suggestions for Spooky Halloween Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/04/toptentuesday8-suggestions-for-spooky-halloween-reading/) - Today’s assigned topic is Favorite Bookstores OR Bookstores I’d Love to Visit. Once again, this is not a topic I’ve ever thought about. I usually try to visit a local book store whenever I travel, but I’ve never drawn up a bucket list of bookstores to visit. So, in place of a bookstore list, today
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/02/literary-links-158/) - 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
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Reading About Reading and Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/10/01/6-degrees-of-separation-reading-about-reading-and-fiction/) - 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
- ["Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/04/05/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:
- [#TopTenTuesday	  10 Novels of Female Friendship](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/27/toptentuesday-10-novels-of-female-friendship/) - This week’s topic is Typographic Book Covers (covers with a design that is all or mostly all words). I honestly don’t think much about book covers; I’m more interested in content And one content area that interests me is female friendship. Here are 10 novels that examine aspects of female friendships, both the good and/or the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/25/literary-links-157/) - 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:
- ["Dead in the Water" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/07/15/dead-in-the-water-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Dead in the Water (1997) Harper Collins, 325 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 06 018368 3 Stone Barrington arrives in St. Marks, a Caribbean island nation, where he has chartered a yacht for 10 days of sailing. You can look at this site to know where to buy all the supplies
- [Banned Books Week Wrap-Up](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/23/banned-books-week-wrap-up/) - The Banned Books You Haven’t Heard About A Colorado Library Board Has Voted to Ban Book Bans Alexie, Evison, Hopkins Speak Up in Defense of Banned Books Book bans reflect outdated beliefs about how children read I'm a retired teacher. I know you can ban books, but you can't ban their ideas: Opinion Overwhelming Majority
- [Quotation: On the Writing Process](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/22/quotation-on-the-writing-process/) - "writing a book is still bloody hard work. I usually start by letting an idea percolate and take shape in my brain, which looks a lot like re-watching things on Netflix and shopping for stationery. Then I superfluously color-code an Excel spreadsheet and use it to plot out the major twists, turns and reveals. Then
- [A Sea Change: Coming Home Early](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/04/02/a-sea-change-coming-home-early/) - We were scheduled to return home from our world cruise on May 11, but during late March, while we were visiting Australia, I began to feel what I thought was the start of a sinus infection. The ship's doctor said, "No, I think you have something wrong in your tooth." He sent me to a
- [Info for Banned Books Week](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/21/info-for-banned-books-week/) - At least 50 groups in the US advocated to ban books in the past year At least 50 groups have recently played a role in the evolving movement to have books removed from schools, a new PEN America analysis shows.PEN America, a literary and free expression advocacy organization, released Monday its latest analysis of bans
- [#TopTenTuesday	10 Books On My Fall 2022 To-Read List](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/20/toptentuesday10-books-on-my-fall-2022-to-read-list/) - I haven’t been participating in Top Ten Tuesday for very long, but already I can tell that soon I’ll have to start skipping these reading-season updates. All I do is carry over unread books from one of those lists to the next. Here are 10 books I hope to read soon. You’ll recognize several of
- [Banned Books Week 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/19/banned-books-week-2022/) - The theme for Banned Books Week 2022 is "Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us." Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. For 40 years, the annual event has brought together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/18/literary-links-156/) - American Library Association’s New Book Censorship Data Released in Advance of Banned Books Week As you have probably already guessed, the statistics are pretty grim. Category: Censorship Series on Historical Fiction from The Atlantic On the occasion of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, The Atlantic carries a series of feature articles about historical fiction.
- [Writers strike out on their own with a website](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/12/01/writers-strike-out-on-their-own-with-a-website/) - Writers strike out on their own with a website | csmonitor.com: Striking writer Peter Hyoguchi was walking the picket line outside Disney’s ABC Studios in Burbank, Calif., in January when he had an epiphany. What if scriptwriters launched a website featuring their work, which they would own and control free of studio interference? That hunch
- [#TopTenTuesday	Books with Geographical Terms in the Title](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/13/toptentuesdaybooks-with-geographical-terms-in-the-title/) - The topic for this week is Books with Geographical Terms in the Title (for example: mountain, island, latitude/longitude, ash, bay, beach, border, canyon, cape, city, cliff, coast, country, desert, epicenter, hamlet, highway, jungle, ocean, park, sea, shore, tide, valley, etc.) Here are 11 novels from my reading database. Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark The Island
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/11/literary-links-155/) - 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
- [Peter Straub on Horror](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/07/peter-straub-on-horror/) - ". . . telling stories and writing fiction is a way of managing and exploring my own impulses and emotions. I’m not at the mercy of my terrors, my shame. I push the dredged-up emotions into shapes that are enjoyable in the end, even if their content seems violent or disturbing."— novelist and poet Peter
- [#TopTenTuesday		20 Pandemic Reviews I Have Yet to Write](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/06/toptentuesday20-pandemic-reviews-i-have-yet-to-write/) - (Feature photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash) Today’s assigned topic is Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library. But I don’t work that way. If I’m reading a library book, I take the notes I’ll need from the book before I return it. I don’t think just
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/04/literary-links-154/) - 5 Books that Celebrate Books This is a list of stories that pay homage to the world of books; whether through the comfort and sanctuary of libraries, the careful crafting of a narrative, or the mysticism and power of books themselves, each contain different versions of the same awe and appreciation of words, stories and
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/03/6-degrees-of-separation-8/) - This month’s assignment is to start with the book that we ended with last month. That was The Pig Man by Paul Zindel, which I described as a “seminal work in the movement to portray teenagers and their lives realistically (well before the designation young adult literature came into use).” first degree Another author who
- [#TopTenTuesday	   Multigenerational Family Dramas ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/30/toptentuesday-multigenerational-family-dramas/) - 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. School is the second place where children become socialized. But the first place is home. Home is where we begin to learn how to interact with the
- [When All Your Library Holds Come in Simultaneously](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/09/01/when-all-your-library-holds-come-in-simultaneously/) - My plan was to make September my month of rereading, but I’ll have to adjust my schedule. I don’t think I’ve ever before hit a jackpot like this one. And those two chunks at the bottom of the pile weigh in at 400 + 575 pages.
- [The Power of Fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/25/the-power-of-fiction/) - "fiction is not only one of the great escapes from the “real world” but also one of the great reflections of it. A good novel can contextualize a moment in history and bring us to understand or accept it with more clarity. Reading can even be a humbling experience, allowing us to discover new perspectives
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/28/literary-links-153/) - 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
- [“Little Heathens” by Mildred A. Kalish](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/10/10/little-heathens-by-mildred-a-kalish/) - Kalish, Mildred Armstrong. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression Bantam Books, 2007 Some time around 1930, when the author was “little more than five years old” (p. 6), she, her mother, her baby sister, and her two brothers went to live with her mother’s parents in
- [The things that are saving my life right now](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2016/02/01/the-things-that-are-saving-my-life-right-now/) - Anne over at Modern Mrs. Darcy recently suggested listing The things that are saving my life right now. Here’s her explanation of this idea: The idea comes from author Barbara Brown Taylor. In her memoir Leaving Church, Taylor tells about a time she was invited to speak, and her host assigned her this topic: “Tell
- [“Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace” by Kate Summerscale](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/07/17/mrs-robinsons-disgrace-by-kate-summerscale/) - Summerscale, Kate. Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian LadyBloomsbury, 2012Hardcover, 303 pages ISBN 978-1-608-19913-6 Recommended Kate Summerscale’s book showcases the precarious position of women in Victorian England. When Isabella Hamilton Walker married Henry Robinson in 1844, she was a 31-year-old widow with a young son. Her first husband had willed his estate to
- [#TopTenTuesday	  Completed Series I Wish Had More Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/23/toptentuesday-completed-series-i-wish-had-more-books/) - Related Post: Authors/Series I Stopped Reading–For Whatever Reason Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton Also known as the alphabet series. Sue Grafton began her career writing screenplays. But she had always been fascinated by mysteries. Between 1982 and 2017 she published 25 novels featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone, one of the first women investigators to
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/21/literary-links-152/) - Is Publishing About Art or Commerce? “The antitrust trial to block the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has riveted the industry—and raised larger questions about the business of books.” If, like me, you’re having trouble keeping up with the trial to prevent the merger of two major publishers, here’s a good
- [Bookstore Romance Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/20/bookstore-romance-day/) - Bookstore Romance Day Bets on the H.E.A. (Happily Ever After) Created in 2019, the aim of Bookstore Romance Day is to bring indie bookstores and the romance community together for a day of celebration.
- [#TopTenTuesday	  Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/16/toptentuesday-books-i-love-that-were-written-over-ten-years-ago/) - I had such a hard time whittling down this list that I’ve added an honorable mention section at the end. The numbers on this list are not ranks, just a way of keeping count. 1. The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood (scroll down the linked page) 2. Where Are the Children? (1975) by Mary
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/14/literary-links-151/) - What We Gain from a Good Bookstore “It’s a place whose real boundaries and character are much more than its physical dimensions.” “You may have heard that we’re experiencing a renaissance of the independent bookstore, but the situation is far from rosy,” writes Max Norman in this piece about how independent bookstores enhance communities. Category:
- [Why Salman Rushdie believes the books we love ‘make us who we are’ Salman Rushdie made his name as a novelist, but he is also one of our finest literary critics and defenders of the importance of… - Everything Shortform - Medium](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/13/why-salman-rushdie-believes-the-books-we-love-make-us-who-we-are-salman-rushdie-made-his-name-as-a-novelist-but-he-is-also-one-of-our-finest-literary-critics-and-defenders-of-the-im/) - Salman Rushdie made his name as a novelist, but he is also one of our finest literary critics and defenders of the importance of books… “I believe that the books and stories we fall in love with make us who we are, or, not to claim too much, that the act of falling in love
- [Paperback Book Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/07/30/paperback-book-day/) - Sure, those hardcover books feel substantial in your hands when you hold then open to read. However, when you want to grab a book to take with you on a trip or to a waiting room, you want a paperback. Paperback books were published in Europe as far back as the 17th century, but both
- [Suggestions Needed!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/04/11/suggestions-needed/) - My husband and I are getting ready to leave on a one-month vacation. I’ve already decided what clothes and accessories to pack, but I’m stressing out about what reading to bring along. I’m talking about those big, frothy stories that you can dive into on a long plane trip or while sunning on a ship’s
- [Former Football Player Writes Book about His Dissociative Identity Disorder](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/08/09/former-football-player-writes-book-about-his-dissociative-identity-disorder/) - Walker on mission | Denton Record-Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Local News Herschel Walker, winner of the Heisman Trophy (an award for college football players) and former member of the Dallas Cowboys, has written a book about his experience with dissociative identity disorder (DID, commonly known as multiple personality disorder) and his
- [2 Big Books That Disappointed Me](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2016/04/11/2-big-books-that-disappointed-me/) - Related Posts: 10 Big Books I Have Read & Loved 6 Big Books I Keep Meaning to Reread 6 Big Books on My Reading List I’ve been writing a lot about Big Books lately. Since I no longer continue to slog through books that don’t engage me (although I’ll give a Big Book, one of
- [“O” is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/05/01/o-is-for-outlaw-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “O” is for Outlaw (1999) Henry Holt and Company, 318 pages, $26.00 hardcover ISBN 0 8050 5955 5 In an introductory note Grafton explains to the reader that Kinsey Millhone time progresses at a slower pace than real time: “Since the books are sequential, Ms. Millhone is caught up in a
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/07/literary-links-150/) - John Williams joins The [Washington] Post as books editor John will lead our award-winning nonfiction and fiction books team, hiring new writers and working with colleagues to reach new audiences. We believe in books coverage that revels in the life of the mind and big ideas and is also consumer-oriented, giving book lovers the information
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/06/6-degrees-of-separation-7/) - This month we begin with The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, winner of the 2022 Women’s Prize. Even before Kate last month announced it as this month’s starting point, I had it on my list of books I wanted to read. So I had good intentions of having finished it before starting
- [On Tech: The books merger that’s about Amazon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/08/02/on-tech-the-books-merger-thats-about-amazon/) - The U.S. government is suing to stop the book publisher Penguin Random House from buying a competitor, Simon & Schuster. The government says that the merger, which will shrink the number of large American publishers of mass-market books from five to four, will hurt some authors by reducing competition for their books. Source: On Tech:
- ["Palindrome" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/03/15/palindrome-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Palindrome (1991) Harper, 447 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 06 109936 8 A woman staggers into a hospital emergency room so badly beaten she’s unrecognizable. The patient is Liz Barwick, professional photographer and wife of pro football player Baker Ramsey. After receiving a hefty divorce settlement from Ramsey ,thought of obtaining
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/31/literary-links-149/) - Gilbert Cruz Is Our Next Books Editor The New York Times has announced its new book editor, “veteran culture editor” Gilbert Cruz: Gilbert spent the past four years bringing important changes to our arts report . . . Now he’ll move to Books to focus his energies on three important pillars of coverage. The first
- [#TopTenTuesday    Books on My TBR Shelves That I STILL Haven’t Read](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/26/toptentuesday-books-on-my-tbr-shelves-that-i-still-havent-read/) - Today’s topic is Books From My Past Seasonal TBR Posts I STILL Haven’t Read. I haven’t been participating in Top Ten Tuesday to have a bunch of past seasonal reading posts, so I’m just going to tell you some of the books that have been on my TBR shelves for a long time and are
- [Quotation: Nonlinear Time](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/29/quotation-nonlinear-time/) - "Humans love linear time because it’s comforting. But if you push linear time to the side over there (and give it a graham cracker, so it’s okay) then I was fascinated by the idea that epics might be in dialogue with each other rather than that old tired out notion that history is the past
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/24/literary-links-148/) - The 14 Literary Newsletters You Need in Your Inbox Ceillie Clark-Keane, a writer living in Boston, suggests 14 of her “favorite literary newsletters, the ones that I love seeing in my inbox as an excuse to sit for a minute and think about books, writing, and reading.” Categories: Author News, Book Recommendations, Reading, Writing The
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/17/literary-links-147/) - 10 Books You Pretend to Have Read (And Why You Should Really Read Them) Gizmodo Australia: We asked some of our favourite writers, and they told us the 10 classic books that everyone pretends to have read, and why you should actually read them.From Asimov to Pynchon, science fiction contains some fantastic, ambitious works of
- [Road Trip!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/27/road-trip/) - My husband and I have just returned from a two-week road trip through central and southern Washington State. We retired to Tacoma, WA, on the coast, from St. Louis in 2013. Since then, we’ve slowly (with the two-year hiatus of COVID-19) been exploring other areas of the state. The more inland parts of the state
- ["Sudden Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/11/15/sudden-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Sudden Prey (1996) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 360 pages, $23.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14138 3 On the trail of bank robbers Candy LaChaise and her sister-in-law Georgie, police have staked out the Credit Union they think the duo will hit next. When Candy cold-bloodedly shoots a man inside the Credit Union
- [A Visit to the Library! And a Restaurant!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/17/a-visit-to-the-library-and-a-restaurant/) - On Monday I saw an announcement in our local paper that two branches of the Tacoma Public Library would be opening for timed-entry, in-person browsing beginning the next day. One of those two is a local library for us, so this was a not-to-be-missed opportunity. A quick click to the library web site revealed that
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From “Shuggie Bain” to “This Tender Land”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/04/03/6-degrees-of-separation-from-shuggie-bain-to-this-tender-land/) - This month we start with the 2020 Booker Prize winner, Shuggie Bain by the Scottish-American writer Douglas Stuart. The novel was also a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the Kirkus Prize for Fiction. Goodreads describes Shuggie Bain as “an epic portrayal of a working-class
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/10/literary-links-146/) - With Rising Book Bans, Librarians Have Come Under Attack “Caustic fights over which books belong on the shelves have put librarians at the center of a bitter and widening culture war.” Not just books, but librarians themselves, have been verbally threatened and attacked as the number of censorship attacks increases across the U.S. Categories: Censorship,
- [Quotation: Older Adults in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/09/quotation-older-adults-in-literature/) - Irene was eighty years old, but she didn’t feel eighty. Not just because she was, sprained ankle notwithstanding, a spritely, trim woman, but because it was impossible to feel eighty. Nobody felt eighty. When Irene considered it, she thought that she probably felt somewhere around thirty-five. Forty, maybe. That was a good age to feel,
- [An Addict, a Confessed Killer and Now a Debut Author - The New York Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/07/03/an-addict-a-confessed-killer-and-now-a-debut-author-the-new-york-times/) - COLDWATER, Mich. — One October night in 2004, Curtis Dawkins smoked crack, dressed up for Halloween in a gangster costume and terrorized a household, killing one man and taking another hostage in a rampage that drew 24 patrol officers and a six-member SWAT team. He is serving a life sentence without parole in Michigan. After
- [#TopTenTuesday  Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the Second Half of 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/05/toptentuesday-most-anticipated-books-releasing-in-the-second-half-of-2022/) - Here are the top ten books I’m looking forward to that will be published between July 1 and December 31 2022. Listed in order of publication. The It Girl by Ruth Ware Publication date: July 12 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/03/literary-links-145/) - Ten Books to Understand the Abortion Debate in the United States “Nearly 50 years ago, the Supreme Court legalized abortion. Now that the court has overturned Roe v. Wade, here are 10 books that outline the history and the terms of the debate.” Joshua Prager put this list together for the New York Times. Here’s
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Of Winters and Motherhood](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/07/02/6-degrees-of-separation-of-winters-and-motherhood/) - This month’s starting point is Wintering by Katherine May: “ Wintering is a poignant and comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves. Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our
- [#TopTenTuesday Books On My Summer 2022 To-Read List](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/28/toptentuesday-books-on-my-summer-2022-to-read-list/) - Related Post: Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Spring 2022 TBR My first Top Ten Tuesday, back in March, was Books On My Spring 2022 TBR. I knew at the time I put the list together that creating it was an exercise in futility, since other books would probably come along that begged to be
- [“Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith” by Anne Lamott](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/07/15/traveling-mercies-some-thoughts-on-faith-by-anne-lamott/) - Lamott, Anne. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith Pantheon Books, 1999Hardcover, 275 pagesISBN 0-679-44240-5 I’m not a big fan of the poor-me-I-had-a-lousy-childhood school of memoir writing that’s so popular today, so when Lamott began her book with declarations of her childhood search for parental love, approval, and acceptance, and with acknowledgement of an abortion and drug
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/26/literary-links-144/) - 9 Unputdownable Historical Fiction Picks for Pride Month Off the Shelf recommends “some of the most moving, passionate, and unputdownable works of queer historical fiction, whisking us from the streets of Victorian London to ancient Greece, gilded New York City, and beyond.” Categories: Book Recommendations, Fiction Summer reading: 5 books on the joys and challenges
- [Rowling's right to sue for Potter](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/12/31/rowlings-right-to-sue-for-potter/) - Rowling's right to sue for Potter - Los Angeles Times This opinon piece in the Los Angeles Times takes author J. K. Rowling to task for suing to prevent publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon, "a print version of the fan website hp-lexicon.org." The piece admits that, while Rowling may be within her legal rights
- [Review: "The Darkest Child" by Delores Phillips](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/27/review-the-darkest-child-by-delores-phillips/) - The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips Soho Press, 2004Paperback, 390 pagesISBN 978-1-61695-872-5 Highly Recommended ★★★★★ Review The Darkest Child is a powerful novel you’ve probably never heard of, but it’s not for everyone. Set in the early 1950s in rural Georgia in the U.S., this novel presents a picture of life during the Jim Crow
- [How Fiction Works](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2015/11/17/how-fiction-works/) - Vanishing Point This piece is a translation of a speech given by Swedish novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard on receiving a German literary award. Here the writer explains how reading fiction helps us to understand humanity in general by focusing our awareness on individual people. What characterizes our age is “the sheer volume of images of
- [Please pass the Hydrox!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/08/27/please-pass-the-hydrox/) - Last Friday, while visiting a friend in Connecticut, I walked into a grocery store owned by the owners found in ownasavealot.com/licensing-costs site and there they were: stacks of boxes of Hydrox cookies! Even as a child I preferred Hydrox to the cloyingly sweet Oreo. The Hydrox chocolate wafers were not very sweet, and biting into
- [#TopTenTuesday  Science Fiction and Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/21/toptentuesday-science-fiction-and-life-stories-in-literature/) - Today’s topic is books on my wishlist that I’d like to own, including links so that people may gift me said books. But I already have most of the books I want to read. Therefore, I’m not going to go that route. Instead, I’m going to marvel over the fact that, in about the past
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/19/literary-links-143/) - The Best LGBTO Books of the Year, According to Lambda Literary BookRiot has some reading suggestions for Pride Month. Category: Book Recommendations The 2022 Pride Reading List: 72 New Books to Read All Year This list from Goodreads includes books that are currently available as well as books that will be published later this year
- [#TopTenTuesday	Books with “Day” in the Title](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/14/toptentuesdaybooks-with-day-in-the-title/) - This week’s assigned topic is Books I Wish Had An Epilogue. Although I do love a good prologue, I’m not big on epilogues. If, after finishing a book, I feel the need for more, I usually figure one of two possibilities is operant: The author is planning a sequel.The author wants me to sit with
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/12/literary-links-142/) - The folks at Women’s Prize for Fiction carried out a “campaign aimed to encourage more men to read novels by women born out of statistical research in Mary Ann Sieghart’s bestselling book The Authority Gap. Mary Ann’s research demonstrated that whilst women read novels by men and women almost equally, fiction written by women is
- [A Roundup Of The Books That Colleges Are Assigning Their Incoming Students](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/10/a-roundup-of-the-books-that-colleges-are-assigning-their-incoming-students/) - Here's a quick look at some of the books assigned by colleges and universities as their common readers for incoming students in 2022. Source: A Roundup Of The Books That Colleges Are Assigning Their Incoming Students
- [Reviews:  2 Books I Read in April](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/29/reviews-2-books-i-read-in-april/) - Introduction Here are two more novels I read in April. Since almost all of the books on my TBR shelf now relate to Life Stories in Literature, it’s not surprising that they share many of the same themes. The Match by Harlan Coben Brilliance Audio, 2022Narrator: Steven Weber ★★★★★ In his 2020 novel The Boy
- [#TopTenTuesday    Books With a Unit of Time In the Title ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/07/toptentuesday-books-with-a-unit-of-time-in-the-title/) - Today we shine the spotlight on books with a unit of time in the title. I haven’t read The Ten Thousand Doors of January or any of the novels in “The Seasonal Quartet.” But I have read the others and recommend each one. 11/22/63 by Stephen King Specific date, a specific time in history. Tolstoy
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/05/literary-links-141/) - It's Pride Month. Here's what you need to know From CNN, a look at the origin and history of Pride Month. Category: Personal The Novel That Started the Trans Literary Revolution “Imogen Binnie first published Nevada nine years ago. In the near decade since, a renaissance of trans fiction bloomed. Now republished this summer, Binnie
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Mental Health Edition](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/04/6-degrees-of-separation-mental-health-edition/) - This month starts with a book by an Australian author shortlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction – Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. I got a late start on reading Sorrow and Bliss and have not yet finished it, but so far I’m liking it. The novel deals with one of my particular
- ["Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death" by M.C. Beaton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/03/01/agatha-raisin-and-the-quiche-of-death-by-m-c-beaton/) - Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992). St. Martin's, 201 pages, $17.95 hardcover ISBN 0‑312‑08153‑7 When we first meet Agatha Raisin, she’s 53 years old and about to retire from her public relations job in London to a cottage in the Cotswolds: "The Cotswolds in the Midlands are surely one of the few man‑made
- ["Run Before the Wind" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/03/15/run-before-the-wind-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Run Before the Wind (1983) rpt. 1988; Avon, 310 pages, $6.50 paperback ISBN 0 380 70507 9 In Run Before the Wind Stuart Woods picks up the Lee family from his first novel, Chiefs. Will Lee, the spoiled, restless son of politician Billy Lee and his wife Patricia who is just
- [Celebrate Pride Month!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/06/01/celebrate-pride-month/) - (Feature image by Kseniia Timoshenko from Pixabay.) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is celebrated annually in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots, and works to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) Americans. In June of 1969, patrons and supporters of the
- [Review: “Autobiography of a Face” by Lucy Grealy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/11/01/review-autobiography-of-a-face-by-lucy-grealy/) - Update: April 2022 When Lucy Grealy died in December 2002 at the age of 39, her death was ruled an accidental overdose. Later her close friend, novelist Ann Patchett, commemorated their relationship in the memoir Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. I wrote my review (below) of Grealy's memoir before her death. Books by Lucy
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/29/literary-links-140/) - Summer Reading Guide While most newspapers and magazines have been reducing their books coverage for some time now, The Atlantic has recently decided to increase its coverage. Here’s its recent list of summer reading suggestions: For the summer, The Atlantic’s writers and editors have picked sets of books to match your mood. Do you want
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/15/literary-links-139/) - What Is Short Story Month and Why Is It in May? Carolina Ciucci digs into the origin and history of Short Story Month, with some reading suggestions and links to information about the short story as a literary form. Categories: Literary History, Writing As the Supreme Court Weighs Roe vs. Wade, These Novels Offer Perspective
- [May is Mental Health Awareness Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/10/may-is-mental-health-awareness-month/) - Mental Health Awareness Month has been celebrated in the U.S. since 1949. For 2022, the National Alliance on Mental Illness has chosen the theme “Together for Mental Health.” The stigma surrounding mental health and its treatment persists despite recent emphases by well-known figures such as gymnast Simone Byles and tennis pro Naomi Osaka on the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/08/literary-links-138/) - How Literature Depicts the Chinese Cultural Revolution Here’s an engaging article that illustrates one of the major themes of Life Stories in Literature: how dominant—and dominating—societies control the historical narrative and attempt to erase the voices of individuals and marginalized groups. Dee Das writes: When we talk about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, we mostly zoom
- [6 Degrees: What’s in a Name?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/07/6-degrees-whats-in-a-name/) - This month’s starting point is Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang. This novel, which won the Booker Prize and several other awards in 2001, opens with this declaration: . . . my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will
- [POD: Print on Demand Publishing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/01/02/pod-print-on-demand-publishing/) - In digital age, nearly anyone can get a book published Associated Press (AP) writer Candice Choi discusses POD publishing. This form of publishing allows writers to get their book into print without having to lay out a lot of money. Under the POD model, each book is printed when someone orders and pays for it.
- [Life Stories: The Personal Component](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/09/03/life-stories-the-personal-component/) - Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember Review of The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen We all carry around a life story that expresses who we are and that contains our sense of identity. Introduction to Life Stories discusses how cultural influences such
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/05/01/literary-links-137/) - These are books school systems don’t want you to read, and why Now that “the United States is facing an unprecedented wave of schoolbook banning,” it’s almost impossible to keep up with the latest news on this movement. Here’s an update from The Washington Post. Categories: Censorship, Libraries Barcelona honours Gabriel García Márquez with new
- [March Madness reading list: 10 best books about college basketball](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2010/03/19/march-madness-reading-list-10-best-books-about-college-basketball/) - March Madness reading list: 10 best books about college basketball / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com: If you'd rather read about basketball than spend hours watching in, Marjorie Kehe offers her list of the 10 best reads. I can't help but notice, though, that, although the title of this article is "10 Best Books
- [A Dozen 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/26/a-dozen-21st-century-books-i-think-will-become-classics/) - This was the Top Ten Tuesday topic for March 29, 2022, but it grew into such a big topic for me that I didn’t complete it on time. Today’s topic is Books with [___] On the Cover, but since I’m not much into covers I’m substituting this one instead. Introduction When I began to think
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/24/literary-links-136/) - Over the Past 25 Years, the Big Publishers Got Bigger—and Fewer A report from Publishers Weekly: As 2022 began, the U.S. trade publishing business was dominated by what has been called the Big Five—Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan. Before the Penguin–Random House merger in 2013, that group was
- [The Barrage is Finally Over!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/19/the-barrage-is-finally-over/) - I just published the final two index pages, and shouldn’t be hitting you up with all those notifications any more. Even if there are errors that will need to be corrected, I don’t think you’ll get notices for them. Thank you for your patience. I ended up only adding about 45 new reviews, though it
- [“The Storytelling Animal” by Jonathan Gottschall](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/04/30/the-storytelling-animal-by-jonathan-gottschall/) - Gottschall, Jonathan. The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012ISBN 978-0-547-39140-3 Recommended “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories,” declares Jonathan Gottschall in the preface to his recent book The Storytelling Animal. Gottschall, a member
- [“Seabiscuit” by Laura Hillenbrand](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/12/19/seabiscuit-by-laura-hillenbrand/) - Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit: An American Legend Ballantine Books, 2001Trade paperback, 399 pagesISBN 0-449-00561-5 Recommended In Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand tells the classic American story of the underdog. A mud-colored horse with a crooked leg and not much ambition, Seabiscuit became the icon of rags-to-riches fame and accomplishment for an American population beaten down by years of the
- [“A Writer’s Space” by Eric Maisel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/09/01/a-writers-space-by-eric-maisel/) - Maisel, Eric. A Writer's SpaceAvon, MA: Adams Media, 2008ISBN 1-59869-460-X Recommended In this little (5.5 in. wide by 6.25 in. tall) book Maisel, a therapist and creativity coach, uses the metaphor of space “to communicate how you can get a grip on your writing life and transform yourself from an occasional writer to a regular
- [“Old Friend from Far Away” by Natalie Goldberg](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/07/26/old-friend-from-far-away-by-natalie-goldberg/) - Introductory Notes Natalie Goldberg grew up on Long Island, New York. She studied Buddhism with a teacher in Minnesota for 17 years. At about the same time that she began her Zen studies she also began writing and painting, and those three activities have coalesced into an active philosophy of living creatively. Natalie Goldberg has
- [“The Friend Who Got Away,” eds. Jenny Offill and Elissa Schappel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/04/15/the-friend-who-got-away-eds-jenny-offill-and-elissa-schappel/) - Offill, Jenny, and Elissa Schappell, eds. The Friend Who Got Away New York: Doubleday, 2005Hardcover, 294 pagesISBN 978-0-385-51186-5 Recommended We're stuck with our families, but we get to choose our friends. And although it's hard to pin down the formula for creating friendship, we all know the magic of friendship when we're lucky enough to find
- [“Journalution” by Sandy Grason](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/03/17/journalution-by-sandy-grason/) - Grason, Sandy. Journalution: Journaling to Awaken Your Inner Voice, Heal Your Life, and Manifest Your DreamsNovato, CA: New World Library, 2005ISBN 1-57731-483-2 There are A LOT of books about journal writing, so I almost didn’t pick up this one when I first saw it. But I’m glad I did. Grason covers all the usual aspects
- [“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/01/15/in-cold-blood-by-truman-capote/) - Introductory Notes Truman Capote (1924-1984) was born in New Orleans and educated in private schools in Connecticut and New York. As a young man he worked for The New Yorker. He received early acclaim as a writer, but he continued in the public eye mainly for his flamboyant life in New York City, where his
- [“Zelda: A Biography” by Nancy Milford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/11/17/zelda-a-biography-by-nancy-milford/) - Milford, Nancy. Zelda: A BiographyNew York: Harper & Row, 1970Paperback, 426 pagesISBN 0-060-91069-0 They were among the most beautiful people of the Jazz Age: the dashing young writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his striking young bride Zelda. Fitzgerald christened the era the Jazz Age, and he made his wife its first Flapper. Zelda Sayre was
- [“Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/11/06/eat-pray-love-by-elizabeth-gilbert/) - Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, LoveNew York: Viking, 2006ISBN 978-07394-7418-1 Penguin Audiobooks, narrated by Elizabeth Gilbert Recommended After a very messy divorce, writer Elizabeth Gilbert found herself in a deep depression. With her publisher's advance for the book she would write in her bank account, she set off on a year's trip around the world in search
- [“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/09/28/the-year-of-magical-thinking-by-joan-didion/) - Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical ThinkingNew York: Knopf, 2005ISBN 1-4000-4314-X HighBridge Audio, narrated by Barbara Caruso Highly Recommended On the evening of December 30, 2003, Joan Didion's husband of 40 years, John Gregory Dunne, sat down to dinner in their apartment in New York City. Didion and Dunne had just come home from visiting their
- [“Truth and Beauty” by Ann Patchett](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/06/01/truth-and-beauty-by-ann-patchett/) - Patchett, Ann. Truth and Beauty: A FriendshipNew York: HarperCollins, 2004ISBN 0-06-057214-0 Harper Audio, narrated by Ann Patchett Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy both attended college at Sarah Lawrence at the same time, although they were not friends there. Ann tells us that at Sarah Lawrence everyone--students and faculty--knew Lucy as a tremendously talented poet. Everyone also knew
- [“Forgive for Good” by Fred Luskin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/04/15/forgive-for-good-by-fred-luskin/) - Luskin, Fred. Forgive for GoodSan Francisco: HarperCollins, 2002Trade paperback, 240 pagesISBN 0-06-251721-X Highly Recommended This book changed my life. Extensive research has shown that forgiveness is good for us, both physically and emotionally. We can understand this intellectually. But, as most of us also know, it's much harder to find forgiveness in our hearts. I
- [“3000 Degrees” by Sean Flynn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2004/06/01/3000-degrees-by-sean-flynn/) - Flynn, Sean. 3000 Degrees Warner, 2002Hardcover, 245 pagesISBN 0-446-52831-5 Recommended On December 3, 1999, six firemen died fighting a fire in an abandoned storage warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. 3000 Degrees tells the story of that fire, of the six who died and their families, and of several Worcester firefighters who survived that night. Like Sebastian Junger
- [“The Midnight Disease” by Alice W. Flaherty](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2004/01/30/the-midnight-disease-by-alice-w-flaherty/) - Flaherty, Alice W. The Midnight Disease Houghton Mifflin, 2004Hardcover, 307 pagesISBN 0-618-23065-3 Trained as a scientist, neurologist Alice W. Flaherty always enjoyed writing. But after the birth and death of premature twin boys, she had a mental breakdown that made her write nearly constantly, a condition known as hypergraphia. She took medication and was hospitalized for
- [“Lucky: A Memoir” by Alice Sebold](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2003/12/17/lucky-a-memoir-by-alice-sebold/) - Review: Lucky: A Memoir Sebold, Alice. Lucky: A Memoir Scribner, 1999Hardcover, 251 pagesISBN 0-684-85782-0 Simon & Schuster Audio, narrated by Alice Sebold In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheater, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been
- [“In the Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2003/04/25/in-the-heart-of-the-sea-by-nathaniel-philbrick/) - Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea Viking, 2000Hardcover, 289 pagesISBN 0-670-89157-6 Recommended At the beginning of the nineteenth century the American whaling industry centered around Nantucket Island. Young boys of Nantucket were taught to “idolize the form of a ship” and grew up anticipating the day when they, too, would join a whaling crew:
- [“The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/12/01/the-greatest-generation-by-tom-brokaw/) - Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation Random House, 1998Hardcover, 412 pagesISBN 0-375-50202-5 When my father-in-law died just about a year ago, I realized that it wouldn't be long before everyone with personal experience of World War II would be gone. Even the youngest people who went off to that war are in their mid 70s now. So
- [“The Reader, the Text, the Poem” by Louise M. Rosenblatt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/06/25/the-reader-the-text-the-poem-by-louise-m-rosenblatt/) - Rosenblatt, Louise M. The Reader, the Text, the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work Carbondale, Ill., 1978Hardcover, 196 pagesISBN 0-8093-0883-5 Highly Recommended Rosenblatt is one of the proponents of the reader-response theory of literary criticism, a concept that emerged in the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s as a reaction to New Criticism, which treated
- [“The Body Project” by Joan Jacobs Brumberg](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/08/01/the-body-project-by-joan-jacobs-brumberg/) - Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls Random House, 1997Hardcover, 267 pagesISBN 0-679-40297-7 Joan Jacobs Brumberg teaches in the fields of history, human development, and women’s studies at Cornell University. In this cultural and historical study, she describes how growing up female has changed over the last century and how, in
- [“The Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/06/16/the-professor-and-the-madman-by-simon-winchester/) - Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman HarperCollins, 1998Hardcover, 242 pagesISBN 0-06-017596-6 Recommended Compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), begun in 1857, required more than 70 years and the help of hundreds of volunteers who submitted examples of the usage of individual words. The editor of the project was Professor James Murray, a scholarly former
- [“Note Found in a Bottle” by Susan Cheever](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/04/10/note-found-in-a-bottle-by-susan-cheever/) - Cheever, Susan. Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker Simon & Schuster, 1999Hardcover, 192 pagesISBN 0-684-80432-8 Recommended My grandmother Cheever taught me how to embroider, how to say the Lord's Prayer, and how to make a perfect dry martini. She showed me how to tilt the gin bottle into the tumbler with the
- [Review: “Titanic Survivor” by Violet Jessop](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/03/15/review-titanic-survivor-by-violet-jessop/) - Jessop, Violet. Titanic Survivor edited and annotated by John Maxtone-GrahamSheridan House, 1997Hardcover, 238 pagesISBN 1-57409-035-6 Violet Jessop went to sea as a stewardess on an ocean liner in 1908. She continued as a stewardess through the glory days when a transatlantic ship crossing was as much a society event as a mode of transportation. She retired
- [Review: “Suits Me” by Diane Wood Middlebrook](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/01/29/review-suits-me-by-diane-wood-middlebrook/) - Middlebrook, Diane Wood. Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton Houghton Mifflin, 1998Hardcover, 326 pagesISBN 0-395-65489-0 Billy Tipton was a musician and entertainer who flourished during the 1930's and 1940's. When paramedics arrived to treat Billy after he had collapsed at home in January 1989, Billy's adopted son William, who had placed the 911 call,
- [Review: “Living to Tell the Tale” by Jane McDonnell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/11/25/review-living-to-tell-the-tale-by-jane-mcdonnell/) - McDonnell, Jane Taylor. Living to Tell the Tale: A Guide to Writing Memoir Penguin, 1998Paperback, 161 pagesISBN 0-14-026530-9 Jane Taylor McDonnell is the mother of an autistic child. When she set out to write a memoir about her experience, she found there were no instruction manuals on how to write what she calls "crisis memoirs." Living
- [Review: “Our Guys” by Bernard Lefkowitz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/11/05/review-our-guys-by-bernard-lefkowitz/) - Lefkowitz, Bernard. Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb University of California Press, 1997Hardcover, 443 pages ISBN 0-520-20596-0 In March 1989 a group of boys in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, lured a 17-year-old developmentally disabled girl to a basement where they sexually abused her with a broomstick and a baseball
- [Review: “Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/09/30/review-inventing-the-truth-the-art-and-craft-of-memoir/) - Zinsser, William (ed.). Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of MemoirHoughton Mifflin Company, 1987Hardcover, 166 pagesISBN 0-395-44526-4 This book originated as a series of talks sponsored by the Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc., and presented at The New York Public Library in the winter of 1986. The book contains a memoir and introduction by William Zinsser,
- [Review: “When Memory Speaks” by Jill Ker Conway](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/09/20/review-when-memory-speaks-by-jill-ker-conway/) - Conway, Jill Ker. When Memory Speaks: Reflections on Autobiography Alfred A. Knopf, 1998Hardcover, 205 pagesISBN 0-679-44593-5 This book opens with the question "Why is autobiography the most popular form of fiction for modern readers?" (p. 3). The reason, Conway tell us, is that "We want to know how the world looks from inside another person's experience,
- [Review: “The Liars’ Club” by Mary Karr](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/07/30/review-the-liars-club-by-mary-karr/) - Karr, Mary. The Liars' Club: A Memoir Viking, 1995Hardcover, 320 pagesISBN 0-670-85053 Recommended Poet Mary Karr grew up in an East Texas town, where her Daddy, like everyone else's daddy, worked at the oil refinery. After work the men would congregate at the American Legion Bar and swap stories, a gathering that became known as the
- [Review: “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/02/15/review-undaunted-courage-by-stephen-ambrose/) - Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West Simon & Schuster, 1996Hardcover, 496 pagesISBN 0-684-81107-3 Recommended In Undaunted Courage Ambrose has managed to do the nearly impossible: create a book that is accessible to both the academic community and the general public. For the scholarly reader, all the
- [Review: “The Color of Water” by James McBride](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/01/30/review-the-color-of-water-by-james-mcbride/) - McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother Riverhead Books, 1996Hardcover, 228 pagesISBN 1-57322-022-1 Recommended As a young boy James McBride recognized that his mother was different: "Gradually . . . I began to notice something about my mother, that she looked nothing like the other kids' mothers. In fact,
- [Review: “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/01/08/review-angelas-ashes-by-frank-mccourt/) - McCourt, Frank. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir Scribner, 1996Paperback, 364 pagesISBN 0-684-87435-0 Highly Recommended Frank McCourt's memoir about his childhood well deserves all the accolades that have been heaped upon it. When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly
- [Review: “In Contempt” by Christopher Darden](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/05/10/review-in-contempt-by-christopher-darden/) - Darden, Christopher, with Jess Walter. In Contempt HarperCollins, 1996Hardcover, 387 pages ISBN 0-06-039183-9 Other than the victims' families, few people were as visibly shaken by the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial as prosecutor Christopher Darden. For him, that trial was a true trial by fire, not merely his job but an undertaking that forced him to
- [Review: “Studying the Novel” by Jeremy Hawthorn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1996/09/28/review-studying-the-novel-by-jeremy-hawthorn/) - Hawthorn, Jeremy. Studying the Novel: An IntroductionEdward Arnold, 2nd edition (1992, reprinted 1996)Paperback, 146 pages ISBN 0-340-56403-2 This slim volume is a good choice for book-discussion group members who appreciate good books but want to sharpen their reading and discussion skills. The premise of Hawthorn's book is that "in the course of studying novels we must
- [Review: “A Bomb in the Brain” by Steve Fishman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1996/06/15/review-a-bomb-in-the-brain-by-steve-fishman/) - Fishman, Steve. A Bomb in the Brain: A Heroic Tale of Science, Surgery, and Survival Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988Hardcover, 318 pages ISBN 0-684-18706-X Recommended Journalist Steve Fishman was stalking a story in Central America when a bomb in his brain exploded. His book leads the reader through that experience and through the brain surgery necessary to prevent
- [I’m About to Unleash a Blogging Barrage](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/18/im-about-to-unleash-a-blogging-barrage/) - I appreciate all of you who follow Notes in the Margin, so I wanted to give you a heads-up: I’m about to unleash a blogging barrage. When my blog broke back in 2018, I was able to copy the text of all my old posts and dump it into a text file. After my hosting
- [Monday Miscellany](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/02/13/monday-miscellany-31/) - Book Reviewing in the News There's been a lot of discussion surrounding the announcement that Adam Mars-Jones won the Hatchet Job prize for the "angriest, funniest, most trenchant" book review published in the last year. Judge Sam Leith said: "The best hatchets, in criticism, are wielded with precision as much as they are with force.
- [Monday Miscellany](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/02/20/monday-miscellany-32/) - Because I was sick for much of last week, this week's entry is short. Stories don’t need morals or messages Salon's Laura Miller caused a flurry of comments recently with this article about a post on the New York Times education blog. In that post the parents of twins talked about taking their kids' third-grade
- [What do you look for in a book review?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/09/26/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
- [What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2015/02/10/what-your-favorite-books-tell-you-about-your-writing/) - My major life activities are reading (usually fiction) and writing (always nonfiction). So I’m delighted when I come across something that combines the two: something like Marcy McKay’s writing challenge What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing. Marcy runs The Write Practice, a web site and newsletter aimed at fiction writers, but even
- [On Active Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/12/15/on-active-reading/) - Related Post: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING: A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY If you watch HBO’s drama The Newsroom, you’ve seen the introductory clip in which an editor scans a printed story by running her hand quickly down the page. While this is an appropriate, even necessary, reading method for keeping up with a daunting amount of news
- [Monday Miscellany](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/11/21/monday-miscellany-20/) - The fiction of literary friendship Writing in the Guardian, Wayne Gooderham concludes: "Judging by the stories that have been written about it, writers do not make the best of friends." 10 Most Reclusive Literary Geniuses in History The world’s greatest writers use their literary genius to illustrate and comment on the human condition. And yet,
- [“Breaking Bad” and the Willful Suspension of Disbelief](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/03/15/breaking-bad-and-the-willful-suspension-of-disbelief/) - We know that time travel is impossible. Yet when we pick up Octavia Butler’s Kindred or Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler's Wife, we don’t stop reading when we see characters moving through time. No, we accept that the story the author wants to tell requires time travel, and we allow it to exist in the
- [My List: Best Books Read in 2012](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2013/01/01/my-list-best-books-read-in-2012/) - I read 42 books during 2012, for a total of 5,852 pages of print and just slightly more than 137 hours of unabridged audiobooks. Most best books of 2012 lists include only books issued this year. But my list includes anything I read during the year, regardless of when it was published. The oldest book
- [Monday Miscellany](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2013/02/04/monday-miscellany-75/) - Hogwarts Is in Your Head, Harry: Conspiracy Theories About Literature Emily Temple weighs in over at The Atlantic: Sherlock Holmes and Watson are lovers, Winnie the Pooh is a mental-illness allegory, and other theories that might forever alter your favorite books. There was a pretty fascinating article over at Salon earlier this month, in which
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/17/literary-links-135/) - Let’s call April mystery book month. Here’s what I’d read. At the Malice Domestic convention April 22 to 24, devotees of traditional mysteries will present the Agatha Awards. On April 28 the Mystery Writers of America will hand out the annual Edgar Awards. Therefore, Michael Dirda asks, “Shouldn’t April be designated National Mystery Month?” He continues
- [2 Short Reviews](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/15/2-short-reviews/) - Falling by T.J. Newman Simon & Schuster, 2021Hardcover, 304 pagesISBN 978-1-9821-7788-1 When Bill Hoffman arrives at Los Angeles International Airport to pilot Coastal Airways flight 416 to New York, he expects a routine day. It’s not until the plane is in the air that he learns today will be anything but routine. When he receives
- [#TopTenTuesday: Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/12/toptentuesday-authors-i-havent-read-but-want-to/) - Ngaio Marsh I read a lot of mysteries as well as a lot about mysteries, and Ngaio Marsh is one of the names of mystery writers that comes up most often. I’m therefore embarrassed to admit that I’ve never read any of her books, especially because she is known as one of the four “Queens
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/10/literary-links-134/) - Celebrate National Poetry Month with these 6 books April is National Poetry Month. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month has become one of the largest literary celebrations in the world, reminding us that poetry is an art form for everybody. Categories: Reading, Writing Kafka the hypochondriac “Franz Kafka believed
- [My Lucky Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/04/my-lucky-day/) - I returned one book to the library and found this intriguing thriller on the Lucky Day Shelf. Can’t wait to dig in. What are you reading?
- [#TopTenTuesday: Remarkable Debut Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/05/toptentuesday-remarkable-debut-novels/) - This week is a freebie, which means we get to come up with our own topic. I tend to think that writers, like most people, get better at what they do with practice. Over the years I’ve read a number of debut novels that I found particularly striking because they demonstrate a high level of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/03/literary-links-133/) - Home and Away: Horror & Gothic Fiction 2022 Among this season’s horror releases, twinned themes emerge. On one side, the oppressive atmosphere of a childhood home and the secrets it holds; on the other, the ambiguity of liminal spaces and the unease of isolation. PW spoke with editors about the fear of the unknown, whether
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From the Sea to the Plagues](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/04/02/6-degrees-of-separation-from-the-sea-to-the-plagues/) - As this month’s starting point, Kate has chosen “a hot favourite to make the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.” As wonderful as this book sounds, it won’t be available in the U.S. until July 12, 2022. first degree Therefore, I’ve decided to start with a key
- [Quotation: Why We Read](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/30/quotation-why-we-read/) - "we read because it’s exciting. Metaphorically speaking, books are always taking us to the big city, opening our eyes to the world’s plenitude and diversity. By contrast, those who ban or censor them want to keep us down on the farm, restricting our experience to some safe or approved orthodoxy."— Michael Dirda
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/27/literary-links-132/) - An In-Depth Guide to Book Sizes Every once in a while I come across a book that isn’t a standard size. That difference may not seem important, but it can make shelving the book difficult if you want to put it in with, say, other books by the same author. Category: Publishing People Are Sharing
- [Life in an Independent Bookstore Near Seattle](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/13/life-in-an-independent-bookstore-near-seattle/) - Coronavirus Diaries: I Own a Bookstore. I Don’t Know How Much Longer We Can Survive. I live in Tacoma, WA, about 30 miles south of Seattle, the epicenter of the coronavirus influx into the United States. This article in Slate therefore caught my eye and seems appropriate to pass on since it’s about books. Laurie
- [Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Spring 2022 TBR](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/15/top-ten-tuesday-books-on-my-spring-2022-tbr/) - Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Here’s how it works: Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl
- [Top Ten Tuesday: Books With an Adjective In the Title ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/22/top-ten-tuesday-books-with-an-adjective-in-the-title/) - Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.Here’s how it works: Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl assigns
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/20/literary-links-131/) - The Book That Unleashed American Grief “John Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud defied a nation’s reluctance to describe personal loss.” Deborah Cohen discusses Death Be Not Proud, published in 1949, John Gunther’s account of the his son’s death at age 17 from a brain tumor. The publisher, Harper & Brothers, feared at the time that
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/13/literary-links-130/) - Women's History Month at New York Public Library “This March, The New York Public Library celebrates Women’s History Month with recommended reading, spotlights on significant women librarians from our 125 year history, events and programs, and more.” Categories: Literary History, Literary Criticism 13 Empowering Memoirs Written by Women In honor of Women’s History Month. Categories:
- [What Makes a Good Twist Ending?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/11/what-makes-a-good-twist-ending/) - Introduction I still remember the experience of first seeing the movie Planet of the Apes (the original 1968 version starring Charlton Heston). As the movie ended, Taylor (the astronaut played by Heston) and Nova rode off on a horse in search of a new place to live. As they rode along the beach, the camera
- [MLB Lockout Ends and 162-Game Season Will Be Played - The New York Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/10/mlb-lockout-ends-and-162-game-season-will-be-played-the-new-york-times/) - After a long series of deadlines, threats and delays, a tentative agreement was reached and a full 162-game season should begin on April 7. Source: MLB Lockout Ends and 162-Game Season Will Be Played - The New York Times YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- [Remembering Books on Tape](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/09/remembering-books-on-tape/) - Duvall Hecht, who popularized audiobooks as founder of Books on Tape, dies at 91 Duvall Hecht, Founder of Books on Tape, Is Dead at 91 I was saddened recently to read of the death of Duvall Hecht, founder of Books on Tape, because our family had one particularly memorable experience with his product. In 1975
- [Theresa Malkiel, a Jewish socialist immigrant, inspired International Women’s Day ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/08/theresa-malkiel-a-jewish-socialist-immigrant-inspired-international-womens-day/) - International Women’s Day began with a Russian-born Jewish woman in New York City, before traveling to the Soviet Union and back again. Source: Theresa Malkiel, a Jewish socialist immigrant, inspired International Women’s Day - The Washington Post
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/06/literary-links-129/) - A Literary Guide to Understanding Ukraine, Past and Present Ukrainians have long-prepared for this moment. Their rich land has been invaded many times before and their people have suffered innumerable losses for generations. The Ukrainian language and culture has nearly been eradicated at multiple points in their long history, and they’ve been fighting an active
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From One End to Another](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/03/05/6-degrees-of-separation-from-one-end-to-another/) - This month’s starting point is The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. About 35 years ago I tried to read a couple of Greene’s novels, The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana. I didn’t get very far in either one. I kept waiting for something to happen. For this month’s 6 Degrees, I
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/27/literary-links-128/) - Poll Shows Majority Oppose Banning Books About History, Race “According to a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, a large majority of Americans don't think books that discuss race, criticize America's history of slavery, or share different political views should be banned from school libraries or classrooms.” Categories: Censorship Feminist Phantasms: Recent Haunted House Novels by Women
- [Millions of WordPress sites receive forced patch for critical plugin flaw | Engadget](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/21/millions-of-wordpress-sites-receive-forced-patch-for-critical-plugin-flaw-engadget/) - If you're running WordPress with the UpdraftPlus plugin, you should definitely confirm that the plugin updated automatically Source: Millions of WordPress sites receive forced patch for critical plugin flaw | Engadget I know a lot of book bloggers publish with WordPress. If you're using the UpdraftPlus plugin with WordPress, you'll definitely want to read this
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/20/literary-links-127/) - How Contemporary Literary Fiction Is Reclaiming the Insanity Arc and Humanizing Women Dee Das starts her essay with this premise: A hundred or so years ago, women were silenced into submission by psychiatry under the label of ‘insane’, every time they posed a threat to the models of domesticity. Any woman who didn’t conform to
- [Quotation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/16/quotation-2/) - "Choosing to put on a new identity as easily as one might put on a new hat can be a coping mechanism, the start of an elaborate con, the last resort of a victim fleeing an abuser, the refuge of a fantasist who can no longer face reality. Strategy or stratagem, adopting a new name,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/13/literary-links-126/) - Making Story Structure Your Own I’ve recently been working on reviews of two Big Books: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (530 pages)To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (704 pages) Big Books contain so much that finding a way into discussing them is often a challenge. For both of these novels I’ve discovered
- [Quotation: Writing About Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/09/quotation-writing-about-literature/) - "First of all, writing is a way to find community with others, to discover whether you share judgment with them. Secondly, literary-critical debates are efforts to express what someone in a culture sees as urgent and important. Interpretation (or what I understand as simply “reading”) is where a culture comes to consciousness of itself. .
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/06/literary-links-125/) - I Needed to Know if My Favorite Books Were Products of Cultural Appropriation We hear the term cultural appropriation often in publishing circles, but what exactly does it mean? Filipino American writer Cindy Fazzi wanted to evaluate whether the novels she grew up loving were examples of cultural appropriation that gave her inaccurate or inadequate
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/02/05/6-degrees-of-separation-6/) - This month we start with a book that topped Best of 2021 lists, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. I had seen this title on a lot of those Best Books of 2021 lists, where it was often described as “inventive fiction.” I usually love books described as inventive, experimental, or genre-bending,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/30/literary-links-124/) - How to Remember What You Read First of all, back in my pre-internet life I taught advanced composition at the college level, a course that included topics such as critical thinking and vetting research sources. That approach to information has become exponentially more important now, so it’s the first thing I do whenever I discover
- [Books I Read in February](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/03/04/books-i-read-in-february/) - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney Rooney, Kathleen. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk St. Martin’s Press, 2017 ISBN 978–1–250–11332–0 I am old and all I have left is time. I don’t mean time to live; I mean free time. Time to fill. Time to kill until time kills me. I walk and
- [Review: "The Dark Hours"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/21/review-the-dark-hours/) - But he has always been an outsider, trying to solve cases while staying as far as possible outside the politics of the LAPD. He has a simple philosophy: “Everybody counts or nobody counts.” —Harry Bosch He believes in following the evidence wherever it leads in order to solve the case. In many ways Renée Ballard
- [When is a book actually read?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/25/when-is-a-book-actually-read/) - "When is a book actually read? In the moment you hold it in your hands and scan the words? I don’t really think so: That moment would be more like the moment you ingest an intoxicant, but not the actual ride that it will take you on. The “event” of “Kubla Khan” is not Coleridge
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/23/literary-links-123/) - Textual Healing: The Novel World of Bibliotherapy From The Walrus, a Canadian publication: “Though not a stand-alone clinical practice in Canada, clinical bibliotherapy is a method used by professionals who already have certification in counselling, therapy, and clinical therapy and want to help patients seeking an additional outlet.” But be certain to see also the
- [Quotation: Book Groups](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/19/quotation-book-groups/) - right now, book clubs are more important than ever. We’re all needing connection and community, needing to be in a room — be it real or virtual — where love and support and laughter are close at hand, where . . . [you] just know that you belong there.—Moira Macdonald
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/16/literary-links-122/) - Why does experiencing ‘flow’ feel so good? A communication scientist explains I’ve written here about flow before (here and here). In this article Richard Huskey, an assistant professor of communication and cognitive science at the University of California, Davis, discusses how the concept of flow figures into his resolutions for 2022. He has been studying flow
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/09/literary-links-121/) - How to Read the Dune Book Series in Order “21 novels with no obvious road map. Let's dive in!” Adrienne Westenfeld, assistant editor at Esquire, offers some guidelines on how the navigate the Dune oeuvre, “21 novels with no obvious road map.” The Novelist Who Saw Middle America as It Really Was Sinclair Lewis captured
- [2022: My Year of Unplanned Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/04/2022-my-year-of-unplanned-reading/) - Writer Eve Peyser had a good reading year in 2021. Here’s why: "I got myself to regularly read this year because I abandoned all notions about what I “should” be reading (the classics, the entries on “best of” lists) and instead, do whatever I want. . . . As it turns out, books are fun
- [Readers Pick the Best Book of the Past 125 Years - The New York Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/03/readers-pick-the-best-book-of-the-past-125-years-the-new-york-times/) - Thousands of you voted, and chose a clear favorite: “To Kill a Mockingbird.” But the winner is only part of the story. Source: Readers Pick the Best Book of the Past 125 Years - The New York Times There's so much to savor here that this warranted a post all its own.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/02/literary-links-120/) - When Aldous Huxley Opened the Doors of Perception An excerpt from the book American Trip: Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century by Ido Hartogsohn, assistant professor in the Graduate Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Bar Ilan University. To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be
- [Welcome, 2022!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/01/welcome-2022/) - (Feature Photo by Moritz Knöringer on Unsplash ) After the debacle of 2021, I’ve been awaiting the arrival of 2022 with high ambivalence. When I woke up this morning and remembered that today is the first day of 2022, the phrase guarded optimism immediately came to mind. So, in the spirit of guarded optimism, I
- [Notable Deaths of 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/31/notable-deaths-of-2021/) - It always saddens me to post the annual list of literary figures we’ve lost during the current year, but the task is especially painful on a day that has seen the announcement of the death of Betty White. For many years I compiled an annual list of the obituaries of literary figures. But compiling the
- [I’m Signing Up for the 2022 Discussion Challenge!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/30/im-signing-up-for-the-2022-discussion-challenge/) - I usually finish off the year with a plan for next year’s reading that includes my list of challenges, but this year I’m still figuring out how I want to move forward. However, one thing from the past that I want to continue is the annual Discussion Challenge. I’m aiming for a minimum of 12
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2022/01/01/6-degrees-of-separation-5/) - Kate has set as this month’s starting point a story that begins on New Year’s Eve – Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Because I’m still figuring out what I want to do in terms of a reading plan this year, I’m going to look at my TBR shelves for inspiration here. Every book sitting
- [The Biggest Literary Stories of 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/30/the-biggest-literary-stories-of-2021/) - Literary Hub has assembled an informative round-up of 2021’s biggest literary stories. They published it in three parts: The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 50 to 31 The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 30 to 11 The 10 Biggest Literary Stories of the Year Others got in on the “biggest literary events of
- [The Best Books I Read in 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/29/the-best-books-i-read-in-2021/) - I had intended to have a much fuller report of my 2021 reading to post, but time has caught up with me. So here’s the short version. I read 41 books this year, with a total of 13,139 pages. Shortest book: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (164 pages) Longest book: Second Generation by Howard
- [Joan Didion on Writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/28/joan-didion-on-writing/) - "INTERVIEWERYou have said that writing is a hostile act; I have always wanted to ask you why.JOAN DIDIONIt’s hostile in that you’re trying to make somebody see something the way you see it, trying to impose your idea, your picture. It’s hostile to try to wrench around someone else’s mind that way. Quite often you
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/26/literary-links-119/) - Here’s an abbreviated version of Literary Links for the holiday weekend. The Joy of Writing by Hand Writer Nicholas Russell says, “During quarantine, drowning in screen time and desperate for any reminder that I had a physical form, I took up writing by hand once again. This time, it was less about keeping up correspondences
- [Remembering Joan Didion](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/24/remembering-joan-didion/) - I’ve been unable to stop reading all the articles about Joan Didion that have appeared since the announcement of her death yesterday. As a nonfiction writer, I knew her through her perceptive nonfiction pieces. But these articles have made me realize that I need to read her fiction as well. Joan Didion, ‘Goodbye to All
- [Merry Christmas](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/25/merry-christmas-2/) - Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate this holiday. Here’s a related literary story: ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ helped make the modern Santa – and led to a literary whodunit
- [Joan Didion dies; writer chronicled culture with cool detachment - Los Angeles Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/23/joan-didion-dies-writer-chronicled-culture-with-cool-detachment-los-angeles-times/) - Unlike Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson and other pioneers of literary journalism, Didion did not become a character in her own stories. A pale wisp of a woman (90 pounds on a 5-foot-2-inch frame), with drab hair and wide-set eyes often hidden behind aviator glasses, she was by her own description “shy to the
- [Best Books Lists II](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/21/best-books-lists-ii/) - Related Post: Best Books Lists I Whether you’re celebrating the shortest (in the northern hemisphere) or the longest (southern hemisphere) day of the year, here’s the final installment of lists rounding up the best books of 2021. Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Books of 2021 This is the landing page for the Goodreads Choice Awards, chosen
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/19/literary-links-118/) - Plotter, Pantser, Scribbler, Scribe Can we get rid of the "plotter vs. pantser" binary already? In light of last month’s quotations around NaNoWriMo, this piece seems like the logical introduction for the weekly links list. What If We’ve Been Misunderstanding Monsters? A history of how literary monsters have changed over the centuries. “Post-Enlightenment, literary monsters
- [Quotation from Anne Rice's Final Interview](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/15/quotation-from-anne-rices-final-interview/) - "When I’m not at my computer I’m reading almost constantly in my recliner with a gooseneck lamp angled over my shoulder. I’m a diligent underliner and I take notes in the margins almost constantly. This is as true with the books I read for research as it is for the fiction I savor and enjoy
- [Best Books Lists I](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/14/best-books-lists-i/) - Just as Christmas lights seem to go up earlier every year, so does the appearance of annual best books lists. This year they started showing up even before Halloween. B&N Best of the Year: Crime Fiction Edition From Barnes & Noble, via Novel Suspects. Best Books 2021 This page is the portal into Publishers Weekly’s
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/12/literary-links-117/) - S.A. Cosby on the Conversation Around Policing in America—And Why It Needs to Change S.A. Cosby describes the event, when he was 16, that taught him “this man who had barely graduated from high school, who still came to football games and hit on the cheerleaders, who expected and received free coffee and donuts at
- [Christmas Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/07/christmas-reading/) - Top 10 Christmas crime stories This list is from last year, but I came across it too late to include it in any of my holiday posts back then. So let’s enjoy it this year. 10 December eBook Deals for Quiet Nights by the Fire December eBook deals from Simon & Schuster. 33 Best Christmas
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/05/literary-links-116/) - What I Learned About My Writing By Seeing Only The Punctuation I’ve saved this piece until after NaNoWriMo so as not to distract you from the all-important task of writing. But once you’ve completed that draft of your novel, take a look at this article (which I find fascinating) and see if it can help
- [Quotation: On Outlining a Novel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/03/quotation-on-outlining-a-novel-2/) - Related Posts: Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser?Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser (Again)?Quotation: On Outlining a Novel I thought I had finished this topic during NaNoWriMo (November), but I just found this quotation that provides a nice resolution to the question. When asked “Do you outline your novels?” Segura replies:
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/28/literary-links-114/) - Indie Bookseller Panel Tackles Free Expression News items like this are becoming distressingly frequent. Publishers Weekly reports on a virtual discussion by regional independent bookselling associations. Powell’s Books Survived Amazon. Can It Reinvent Itself After the Pandemic? “As much as any city, Portland, Ore., has been through hell. Its landmark store, Powell’s Books, must finally
- [Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/02/books-you-can-read-in-one-day-3/) - Related Posts: Books You Can Read in One Day (from 2020)Books You Can Read in One Day or Less (2019)Books You Can Read in One Day or Less (2018)Books You Can Read in One Day (2016) I’ve already admitted to myself that I’m not going to make my quota for books read this year. A
- [6 Degrees of Separation: A Convoluted Journey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/04/6-degrees-of-separation-a-convoluted-journey/) - This month we start with the classic novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. 1. I never think of Edith Wharton without also thinking about her friend and correspondent Henry James. A prominent figure in Ethan Frome is a broken pickle dish that symbolizes the broken lives of the characters. Henry James also wrote a novel
- [World AIDS Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/12/01/world-aids-day/) - World AIDS Day occurs every year on December 1st. This year marks 40 years since the first reported cases of what later became known as AIDS were officially reported: “more than 36 million people, including 700,000 in the United States, . . . have died from AIDS-related illness globally since the start of the epidemic.”
- [Ray Bradbury on Writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/30/ray-bradbury-on-writing/) - For this final day of NaNoWriMo, here are some words of wisdom from one of the most prolific and best known American authors. "if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or
- [Steph Cha on Writing Process](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/23/steph-cha-on-writing-process/) - Steph Cha starts her day by reading and writing Yelp reviews. "That’s where I get my junky habitual writing done, which has been really helpful to me. I’ve been doing it my whole career. I’ve Yelped every restaurant I’ve ever been to. I also Yelped an eye doctor today. It’s just a habit I’ve always
- [Quotation: On Outlining a Novel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/17/quotation-on-outlining-a-novel/) - With a nod to NaNoWriMo, this month’s quotations focus on how novelists approach the process of creating a novel. Last week featured two quotations from writers who don’t outline their novels, so it’s only fair to include a representative from the other side of the issue here: "I do a very concise outline. Part of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/14/literary-links-115/) - The lofty goals and short life of the antiracist book club “After George Floyd’s death, many white Americans formed book clubs. A year later, they’re wondering, ‘What now?’” Today, just a few of the antiracist book clubs formed during the height of protests soldier on. They’re taking their time to learn how America got this
- [Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser (Again)?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/12/quotation-are-you-a-plotter-or-a-pantser-again/) - Related Post: Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser? "Like many writers I know, I do not (so far) outline my work in advance. I begin a novel with a destination in mind but the route is vague. Any attempt to map the journey will, I worry, render the unwritten pages artificial and ridiculous."—
- [Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/09/quotation-are-you-a-plotter-or-a-pantser/) - Those of you participating in NaNoWriMo will know what that question means: Do you plot out your novel beforehand, or do you compose by the seat of your pants? As a nonfiction writer, I’m way over on the plotter side of this spectrum. However, I have had the experience of writing in flow, during which
- [Happy Thanksgiving!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/25/happy-thanksgiving-3/) - Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here in the United States. To those of you outside the U.S., I send warm wishes for health and happiness.
- [What the Heck Is Going On?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/21/what-the-heck-is-going-on/) - Update Please read this follow-up post: We’re Back! I really don’t know. One day I had a beautiful website, and when I looked again a couple of days later, I found this: I’m using the Astra Pro theme on WordPress. The Astra support people are working with me to figure out what happened here, but
- [We're Back!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/24/were-back/) - Related Post: What the Heck Is Going On? And just like that, the same way the glitch mysteriously appeared, it has mysteriously disappeared. Notes in the Margin uses the Astra theme, which is free, through WordPress, plus the Astra Pro plugin, a paid upgrade that offers lots of customization possibilities. Since I discovered the problem
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/07/literary-links-113/) - How Gruesome Penny Dreadfuls Got Victorian Children Reading “Despite causing a moral panic, these salacious tales helped boost literacy in Victorian England.” Even if you don’t read the article, take a gander at the illustrations. I’m Glad I Don’t Picture Anything When I Read Here’s an article on aphantasia or “mind blindness.” It attracted my
- [Quotation: On Characters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/04/quotation-on-characters/) - Because it’s NaNoWriMo, all this month’s quotations will swirl around the general topic of writing fiction. Here’s a suggestion on how to get started. "Once you create the character -- if the character is really well done, complex enough and interesting enough -- the character is going to create the story for you. . .
- [6 Degrees of Separation: “Messy, messy lives”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/06/6-degrees-of-separation-messy-messy-lives/) - This month we begin with Sigrid Nunez’s What Are You Going Through. Here’s the description from Goodreads: A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with
- [President Biden Declares November National Native American Heritage Month | Currents](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/03/president-biden-declares-november-national-native-american-heritage-month-currents/) - President Joe Biden has issued a proclamation naming November 2021 as National Native American Heritage Month, a time to “celebrate the countless contributions of Native peoples past and present, honor the influence they have had on the advancement of our Nation, and recommit ourselves to upholding trust and treaty responsibilities, strengthening tribal sovereignty, and advancing
- [Hello, National Novel Writing Month!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/11/01/hello-national-novel-writing-month/) - I don’t write fiction. However, I know that a lot of you who read and review novels also write them. So it’s only right that we all greet NaNoWriMo. Do you participate in NaNoWriMo? If you do, I’ll be reading while you’re writing. For both the readers and the writers, here’s some information on the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/31/literary-links-112/) - Sympathy for the De Vil: Reading Beyond Likability “As a writer and enthusiastic consumer of unlikable characters, I’m often puzzled by viewers or readers who criticize a story for having these types of characters,” writes novelist and English teacher John Copenhaver. This is a topic that just won’t go away. I Don’t Read to Like
- [Happy Halloween!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/31/happy-halloween-4/) - Why do we read scary books? "We’re a peculiar lot, when you think about it: we work so hard to make our world, our environment safer… and then we actively seek out things that will make us afraid. Horror movies, urban legends, ghost stories. We hunt down the darkness and we revel in it. Why?
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/24/literary-links-111/) - The Book Review Turns 125 The New York Times is celebrating the 125th anniversary of its Book Review with a selection from its archives. Here you’ll find links to reviews of past books including The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, Roots by Alex Haley, and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, as well as
- [The New Yorker](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/22/the-new-yorker/) - Dear Subscriber, On Friday, the latest film by Wes Anderson, “The French Dispatch,” arrives in theatres across the U.S. Starring Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, and more, the movie follows the staff of its namesake magazine as they produce an issue—a publication based largely on the mid-century New Yorker. From the beginning, the real-life
- [Carmen Mola: Lauded Spanish female crime writer revealed to be 3 men - CNN](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/18/carmen-mola-lauded-spanish-female-crime-writer-revealed-to-be-3-men-cnn/) - Spain's literary world has been thrown into chaos after a coveted book prize was given to "Carmen Mola" -- a lauded female thriller writer who turned out to be the pseudonym of three men. Source: Carmen Mola: Lauded Spanish female crime writer revealed to be 3 men - CNN I found this oddly appropriate, since
- [Quotation: “How We Write Mental Illness in Fiction”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/19/quotation-how-we-write-mental-illness-in-fiction/) - "Mental illness is less a disease of the mind and more of a societal blindness. Reading fiction opens our eyes to other people’s way of viewing the world. As a reader, there have been magical moments that I have felt the soul of someone I’ve never met has seen me. As a writer, it is
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/17/literary-links-110/) - The great book shortage of 2021, explained Those exhortations you’ve heard about ordering holiday gifts early include books. My daughter reminded me just a couple of days ago to get my book requests to her soon. In defence of memoirs – a way to grip our story-shaped lives After studying life stories and their nonfiction
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/10/literary-links-109/) - How the Clique Books Taught Me to Hate Other Girls and Myself “I thought these middle-grade novels would help me navigate private school. Instead, they immersed me in bullying and materialism.” Anyone who doesn’t believe how much literature can influence people could benefit from reading Lena Wilson’s account of how she was influenced by “the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/03/literary-links-108/) - All Our Possible Lives: On Sylvia Plath, Matt Haig, and the Female Suicide Narrative “Savannah Marciezyk Compares Textual Interpretations of The Midnight Library and The Bell Jar” Sylvia Plath and Matt Haig have much in common, but the differences between their receptions and textual interpretations are remarkable. Plath’s novel is famously (and controversially) autobiographical. Haig
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Deranged Minds](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/02/6-degrees-of-separation-deranged-minds/) - This month we start with “a (frightening) short story,” “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. This is probably the story Jackson is best known for. It appeared in The New Yorker in 1948. What I love about Shirley Jackson’s work is the way she gradually makes the reader realize that things are not always what they
- [Banned Books Week Finale](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/10/01/banned-books-week-finale/) - For my final post about Banned Books Week, here are two more infographics from the American Library Association.
- [Goodbye to September!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/30/goodbye-to-september/) - I don’t routinely do end-of-month roundups, but I’m feeling particularly optimistic and inspired right now at turning the calendar page to a new month. For two reasons: The greatest legacy my mother left me is a love of baseball. She was a dedicated Red Sox fan, so that’s how I started out. Then we spent
- [Stand Against Censorship!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/29/stand-against-censorship/) - In celebration of Banned Books Week, here are some articles about censorship. Banned Books Week Fights Censorship by People in Power “This op-ed argues that those who ban or burn books are seeking to destroy history, ideas, and narratives that challenge the authority of those in power.” Jameelah Nasheed provides a succinct history of censorship,
- [Quotation: Ruth Ozeki on Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/28/quotation-ruth-ozeki-on-reading/) - "We think of the writer as being the person who writes the book and the book as an object, solid and unchanging. But the book is a mutable object. I can write a book and you can read it, and in doing that, we’ve engaged in a process of cocreation. The book that you read
- [ALA Kicks Off Banned Books Week 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/27/ala-kicks-off-banned-books-week-2021/) - It's that time of year: it's ALA's annual Banned Books Week. This year's event is themed "Books Unite Us, Censorship Divides Us" and is set to run from September 26 through October 2. And it comes at a time, ALA officials said this week, when LGBTQIA+ books and books that focus on racism and racial
- [Central York School District (Finally) Overturns Ban On Antiracist Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/25/central-york-school-district-finally-overturns-ban-on-antiracist-books/) - Luckily, in our third news story about this, we have better news! After continuing protests by students and parents, national media coverage, and authors speaking out, the board has finally reversed the ban. Source: Central York School District (Finally) Overturns Ban On Antiracist Books Since I had carried the earlier news about this incident,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/19/literary-links-107/) - An Innocent Abroad: Joan Didion’s Midlife Crisis Novelist, short story writer, critic and retired English professor Scott Bradfield grew up in California but had difficulty “[l]earning how to write fictions set in California”: California is filled with so many vivid pleasures, smells, textures, and absurdities of human character that it feels difficult, or even impossible,
- [Quotation: “Life Matters”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/21/quotation-life-matters/) - "But reading is actually the opposite of escape. No story can live without the reader’s emotional participation. The writer’s words are but directions to a place within the reader where sadness and joy and grief and curiosity and boredom and hope and despair reside. The words alone are a skeleton; the reader’s felt responses to
- [Book Club: Clear your schedule -- the National Book Festival starts NOW](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/17/book-club-clear-your-schedule-the-national-book-festival-starts-now/) - This issue of our newsletter is devoted to the Library of Congress National Book Festival, which begins in less than an hour! It all kicks off at 11 a.m. with Michael J. Fox talking about his new memoir, “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality,” and then U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo will
- [Clue Attitude: Agatha Christie in Contemporary Literature and Pop Culture](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/16/clue-attitude-agatha-christie-in-contemporary-literature-and-pop-culture/) - Hey mystery lovers, check out all these great mentions of the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, in contemporary literature and pop culture! Source: Clue Attitude: Agatha Christie in Contemporary Literature and Pop Culture Oh dear, I missed Agatha Christie's birthday, which was yesterday (September 15). So here, with my apologies for being late, is
- [Quotation: “characters come to tell me their backstory”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/14/quotation-characters-come-to-tell-me-their-backstory/) - "When I embark on a writing project, my characters come to tell me their backstory. Very little of it—perhaps none—might be referred to in the final draft, but it’s there nonetheless, hiding in the decisions that each character makes, driving their reaction to every event. They tell me, these characters, of past incidents, big and
- [Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Books!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/15/celebrate-hispanic-heritage-month-with-books/) - Each year the U.S. celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15. The holiday was started by President Lyndon Johnson as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 and was expanded to a month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. The observation begins on September 15 because that date is the anniversary of independence
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/12/literary-links-106/) - Students Protest Book Bans in Pennsylvania School District Last week’s Literary Links included an article about censorship in a Pennsylvania school. Here’s a follow-up: “students have spoken up, demanding that materials by Black and Brown authors be reinstated in the classroom.” Becoming the Thing That Haunts the House: Gothic Fiction and the Fear of Change
- [Teacher Pulled From Classroom After Highlighting Inclusive Materials](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/13/teacher-pulled-from-classroom-after-highlighting-inclusive-materials/) - A third grade teacher was pulled from the classroom after highlighting inclusive and activist literature on social media. Source: Teacher Pulled From Classroom After Highlighting Inclusive Materials I'm no longer content with burying stories like this in weekly links lists. These types of actions need to be brought to general attention in the same
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/05/literary-links-105/) - Dread, War and Ambivalence: Literature Since the Towers Fell The events of 9/11 irrevocably changed the course of global affairs. They also changed culture. It will likely be easier to say how a century from now. But with 20 years’ hindsight, The Times’s book critics reflect below on some of the influence of that day
- [Quotation: Pat Barker on “The Silence of the Girls”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/07/quotation-pat-barker-on-the-silence-of-the-girls/) - Pat Barker on Briseis, the main character of the novel The Silence of the Girls, based on the women from Homer’s Iliad: "You can sometimes struggle for months to get the voice of a new character, but Briseis’s voice was there from the beginning, as if she was impatient to make herself heard. If I
- [It's National Read a Book Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/06/its-national-read-a-book-day/) - Which one will you pull from the shelf?
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Prize-Worthy Coming-of-Age Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/09/04/6-degrees-of-separation-prize-worthy-coming-of-age-novels/) - This month we start with 2021 Booker Prize nominee, Second Place by Rachel Cusk. Here’s the book description from Goodreads: A woman invites a famed artist to visit the remote coastal region where she lives, in the belief that his vision will penetrate the mystery of her life and landscape. His provocative presence provides the
- [Review: "This Tender Land" by William Kent Krueger](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/13/review-this-tender-land-by-william-kent-krueger/) - A big-hearted coming-of-age epic The significance of a life lies not only in the living, but also in the telling. William Kent Krueger brings this truth to literary life in his magnificent novel This Tender Land. Throughout, the voice of the narrator breaks through not only to tell us the story of his experiences, but
- [Quotation: Emma Cline](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/31/quotation-emma-cline/) - "It’s a strange moment in the culture, rootless and atomized, and we’ve stopped buying into a lot of the default older structures for making sense of the world—the family unit, large-scale religion, duties to some larger moral order. It does feel like the responsibility for meaning has been shifted onto the individual, so I think
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/29/literary-links-104/) - The Man Behind the Myth: Should We Question the Hero’s Journey? Sarah E. Bond and Joel Christensen dispute Joseph Campbell’s well-known theory “which proposed the existence of a singular ‘hero’s journey’ (also known as the Monomyth), as experienced by ancient heroes such as Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey.” How Extortion Scams and Review Bombing Trolls Turned
- [Why I Gave Up on Instagram](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/16/why-i-gave-up-on-instagram/) - I tried, I really did. But Instagram finally got the better of me. Settling on the kind of post I wanted to present was my first problem. Many bookstagrammers (what the bookish folk on Instagram call themselves) include the complete publisher’s description of the book, followed by their own discussion and evaluation of the book.
- [Quotation: Steph Cha](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/24/quotation-steph-cha/) - "the actual process of writing a novel is very much like doing a huge jigsaw puzzle. You can’t always see the whole thing at the same time. The more you work, the more it becomes clear. A lot of putting together a jigsaw puzzle is just patience, and looking around for the right pieces. It’s
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/22/literary-links-103/) - Censorship on the Rise Worldwide A report from Publishers Weekly: “Since the start of the Covid pandemic, there’s been a rise in instances of government censorship of books around the world.” 3 Things to Know About the Ending of a Story I see a lot of discussion in literature-related posts about fictional introductions, but not
- [Review: "We Are the Brennans"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/19/review-we-are-the-brennans/) - In this month’s 6 Degrees of Separation I expressed my love for big, sprawling family sagas. I think that love is one part of my motivation for choosing We Are the Brennans as my July 2021 Book of the Month book. Another motivator was Joyce Carol Oates’s memorable novel We Were the Mulvaneys (scroll down
- [Quotation: Alice McDermott](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/17/quotation-alice-mcdermott/) - "In the past, I’ve always been on the writer’s side, hoping for every book’s success, cheering it on — a habit born of teaching young writers for so many years. But these days, I worry about the poor reader subsisting on clichés and foregone conclusions. I worry about young adult fiction — a worthy genre
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/15/literary-links-102/) - 11 Translated Books by Asian Women Writers to Read This #WITMonth More suggestions in honor of Women in Translation Month. The Buffoonery of White Supremacy Trying to Disguise Itself as Literature “Tracing the history of white supremacy storytelling back to William Faulkner” Taking note of the items worn by the insurrectionists at the U.S. Capital
- [Please Pardon the Dust](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/11/please-pardon-the-dust/) - There’s been a lot going on around here, most of it behind the scenes until now. But I have finally, as Lady Macbeth would say, screwed my courage and taken the big step. I installed a new Wordpress theme. Back when Wordpress introduced the Gutenberg editor, now usually called the block editor, I started using
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/08/literary-links-101/) - A Reading List for Women in Translation Month 2021 Women in Translation Month is celebrated every August. Here are quite a few reading suggestions from independent literary presses and magazines. Women are leading the new Latin American literature boom Appropriate for Women in Translation Month, here’s a short article about how women are leading the
- [Happy National Book Lovers Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/09/happy-national-book-lovers-day/)
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/07/6-degrees-of-separation-4/) - This month we start with a bestselling work of autobiographical fiction, Postcards From the Edge (1987) by Carrie Fisher. Wednesday will be the 30th anniversary of my reading it (August 11, 1991). The novel tells the story of 30-year-old actress Suzanne Vale as she goes through drug rehab and tries to put her life back
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/08/01/literary-links-100/) - Oral History Through the Ages Oral history is older than written history. Homer’s early epics the Iliad and the Odyssey were transmitted orally long before they were written down. Here Sarah Rahman describes how oral history has progressed into the present. For centuries the important stories of marginalized peoples have been transmitted orally in the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/07/25/literary-links-99/) - The Sound of My Inbox “The financial promise of email newsletters has launched countless micropublications — and created a new literary genre.” I admit that I receive a number of these newsletters every day, although I stick to the free versions. But many of them also offer a paid version that promises to be even
- [Books feed the soul. Here’s what restaurateur Mark Canlis is reading | The Seattle Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/07/29/books-feed-the-soul-heres-what-restaurateur-mark-canlis-is-reading-the-seattle-times/) - I just reread with my kiddos Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” If the whole world read that and learned those life lessons the world would be a better place. Mark Twain knew what was going on. Source: Books feed the soul. Here’s what restaurateur Mark Canlis is reading | The Seattle Times
- [Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Edition](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/07/18/literary-links-life-stories-in-literature-edition/) - Related Post: Announcing Life Stories in Literature Back in May when I worked at pulling together all the many threads of appreciating life stories in literature, I wrote that once I realized how life stories function in fiction, I began to see them everywhere in the novels I read. But my realization didn’t end with
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/07/11/literary-links-98/) - On the Books: How to Keep Track of New Releases I have a list of every book that I’ve read since July 1991. I started keeping it on my very first computer, an IBM PCjr. Over the years I’ve managed to maintain the list through several computer and computer program changes, including the biggest computer
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/07/04/literary-links-97/) - Authors say Texas state museum canceled book event examining slavery’s role in Battle of the Alamo This HAS to be the week’s lead story. A promotional event for a book examining the role slavery played leading up to the Battle of the Alamo that was scheduled at the Bullock Texas State History Museum on Thursday
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/27/literary-links-96/) - THE GREAT RIGHT-WING PUBLISHING DIVIDE WIDENS If you’re still keeping up with the publishing hubbub, here’s another story on the formation of a new publishing company being started by a couple of conservative industry executives, “Louise Burke, a former top publisher at Simon & Schuster, and Kate Hartson, the former editorial director at Hachette Book
- [Books You Can Read in One Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/02/books-you-can-read-in-one-day-2/) - I must read five books in December to complete my Goodreads Challenge, so I’m turning to the list of books that can be read in one day. Here are some titles I’ve collected throughout 2020 because I knew I’d probably end up needing them when I turned the calendar page to December. The books in
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/20/literary-links-95/) - Cyberpunk: Everything You Did (and Maybe Didn’t) Want to Know I don’t know about you, but I have trouble keeping up with the terminology used to describe some of the new kinds of literature. Here Caitlin Hobbs explains that the term cyberpunk, which has its roots in science fiction, “didn’t gain traction as a recognized
- [Janet Malcolm, Provocative Journalist With a Piercing Eye, Dies at 86 - The New York Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/18/janet-malcolm-provocative-journalist-with-a-piercing-eye-dies-at-86-the-new-york-times/) - [Katie] Roiphe put it this way: “She takes apart the official line, the accepted story, the court transcript like a mechanic takes apart a car engine and shows us how it works; she narrates how the stories we tell ourselves are made from the vanities and jealousies and weaknesses of their players. This is her
- [Pulitzer Prizes: A Guide to the Winning Books and Finalists - The New York Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/14/pulitzer-prizes-a-guide-to-the-winning-books-and-finalists-the-new-york-times/) - Louise Erdrich won the fiction prize for her novel “The Night Watchman.” Here are the 2021 contenders for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history and biography. Source: Pulitzer Prizes: A Guide to the Winning Books and Finalists - The New York Times
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/13/literary-links-94/) - What Our Biggest Best-Sellers Tell Us About a Nation’s Soul “Reading America through more than two centuries of its favorite books.” In The New Yorker, Louis Menand takes on Jess McHugh’s book Americanon, which discusses “thirteen American books, from ‘The Old Farmer’s Almanac,’ first published in 1792, to Stephen R. Covey’s ‘The 7 Habits of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/06/literary-links-93/) - The 2021 Pride Reading List: 75 New Books to Read Now I’m leading with this list because June is Pride month “in honor of the LGBTQ+ community.” Greenwood author's first-person history of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre published 100 years later The 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre rightly generated a lot of press coverage.
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From The Rock to the Institute](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/06/05/6-degrees-of-separation-from-the-rock-to-the-institute/) - This month we start with the winner of the 2021 Stella Prize, The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld. I had hoped to finish the book before writing this post, but, you know, life intervenes. However, I’ve read enough to know that the novel presents the stories of three women in three different time periods. The
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/30/literary-links-92/) - Hard Times: Mental Health Books 2021 From Publishers Weekly: The tumult of the past 15 months has exacerbated common mental health concerns, among them trauma, anxiety, grief, and isolation. PW spoke with authors and editors about the emotional scars of the pandemic, and how their forthcoming books offer empathy, community, and guidance. Unforgettable reads focusing
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/23/literary-links-91/) - Inside the Simon & Schuster Blowup Over Its Mike Pence Book Deal This publishing dust-up just won’t go away. Here the Wall Street Journal takes on the business angle, of companies forced to “address employee demands.” Philip Roth biography, pulled last month, has new publisher And here’s an update on the other publishing story that
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/16/literary-links-90/) - Three New Books Find Drama in the Scandals and Controversies of the Publishing World These stories about concerns over the publishing industry aren’t going away any time soon—nor should they: “the business of books has increasingly become a hothouse, generating controversies, Twitter feuds and scrambles to save face as existing power structures are challenged.” Here
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/09/literary-links-89/) - 20 Great Works of Philosophical Fiction Rebeca Hussey here defines philosophical fiction as fiction that “encourages the reader to ponder big questions. It purposely provokes thought and debate.” Her list of philosophical fiction includes both contemporary and classic books. ‘Never stupid to ask questions’: Rare Raymond Chandler essay gives writing, office tips Here’s a reprint
- [5 Domestic Thrillers: Terror at Home](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/13/5-domestic-thrillers-terror-at-home/) - Related Post: 5 "You Can't Go Home Again" Novels The characters in “you can’t go home again” novels discover that going back home can often be a mistake because the secrets, lies, and betrayals they had hoped to leave behind are still there waiting to suck them back in. The characters in domestic thrillers often
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/02/literary-links-88/) - Behind The New York Times’ Blake Bailey Bombshell And the fallout continues over the allegations against Blake Bailey, author of the biography of Philip Roth that was canceled this week by publisher W.W. Norton. A publishing executive’s rape allegation against the Philip Roth biographer sent shockwaves through the industry—and put the Times’ handling of it
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Hurray for Siblings!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/05/01/6-degrees-of-separation-hurray-for-siblings/) - This month we begin with Beezus and Ramona in memory of its author, Beverly Cleary. This 1955 novel introduces one of Cleary’s beloved characters, Ramona Quimby, through the eyes of her five-years-older sister, Beezus. I always find writing about children’s literature difficult, probably because I’m so far removed it. Although I did enjoy reading this
- [What a Crazy Week in Publishing!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/04/28/what-a-crazy-week-in-publishing/) - Between the post-publication recall of Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth and the cancelation of contracts for upcoming political books, my head is spinning. This will probably be quite a rambling discussion, because I am truly of two minds on these kinds of issues. ‘There Is a Tension There’: Publishers Draw Fire for Signing Trump
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/04/25/literary-links-87/) - How Crime Writers Can Reimagine Public Safety Without Police "The next wave of crime fiction could help shape the public imagination of what a world where police weren’t in charge of public safety could look like." Historically, crime fiction has portrayed the police as heroes. But that vision of law enforcement is becoming hazier for
- [Books I Read in January](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/02/04/books-i-read-in-january/) - January was my month for reading memoirs, according to my reading plan for 2017. I only read two, but both, which had been on my TBR shelf for quite a while, were very good. Macdonald, Helen. H Is for Hawk Grove Press, 2014 ISBN: 978–0–8021–2341–1 Highly Recommended When Helen Macdonald’s father died unexpectedly, she was
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/04/18/literary-links-86/) - Captivating Novels about Astrology In her introduction to this list, Laura Maylene Walter, author of the novel Body of Stars, calls herself “a skeptic who doesn’t read horoscopes in my daily life.” But, she continues, “hand me a work of fiction about astrology or psychics, and I’m captivated.” Many of the books on this list
- [How Learning About Psychology Helps Me Understand Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/04/14/how-learning-about-psychology-helps-me-understand-literature/) - Imagine a phone call featuring an electronic voice telling you that your child has been kidnapped and you need to pull together some huge sum of money to get the child back unharmed. I used to think that would be one of the most horrifying calls parents could ever receive. But I was wrong, as
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/04/11/literary-links-85/) - They Are Giving Hemingway Another Look, So You Can, Too Gal Beckerman, an editor at the New York Times Book Review, talks with Lynn Novick and Ken Burns about their three-part series on Hemingway currently airing on PBS. The documentary filmmakers were drawn to Hemingway because of his complex status as both an influence on
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/28/literary-links-84/) - Beverly Cleary, beloved and prolific author of children’s books, dies at 104 Obituary from the Los Angeles Times. Larry McMurtry, Novelist of the American West, Dies at 84 Obituary from the New York Times. I Always Write in the Past: The Millions Interviews André Aciman Here’s a fascinating article in which André Aciman talks about
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/21/literary-links-83/) - A Literary Guide to Combat Anti-Asian Racism in America “Anti-Asian violence and discrimination has increased precipitously, but it has a long history in the United States” Jae-Yeon Yoo and Stefani Kuo offer a reading list to help readers in the U.S. better understand racism against Asian Americans: We’ve compiled this list as a way to
- [Happy St. Patrick's Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/17/happy-st-patricks-day-2/)
- [PBS Is Hosting a Virtual Museum Tour of Jane Austen’s House | Mental Floss](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/15/pbs-is-hosting-a-virtual-museum-tour-of-jane-austens-house-mental-floss/) - Jane Austen’s books were all written in the Hampshire house, which is now a time capsule of her life there. The tour is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, March 26, and costs $14 per person. Half of the profits will go to the museum, which is currently raising money to restore the 70-year-old
- [NEH to Distribute $135M to Cultural Institutions Hit by Pandemic](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/15/neh-to-distribute-135m-to-cultural-institutions-hit-by-pandemic/) - The National Endowment for the Humanities will receive $135 million in supplemental funding as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan just approved by President Biden. The funding will be used to assist institutions impacted by the pandemic. Source: NEH to Distribute $135M to Cultural Institutions Hit by Pandemic
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/14/literary-links-82/) - How Reading Ebooks Changes Our Perception (and Reviews) Addison Rizer, a self-declared “avid Kindle reader,” writes, “I am curious about the ways reading ebooks changes the way we interact, and review, the novels we consume.” The article contains lots of references, with links, to both scientific studies and popular sources. However, the discussion is unfocused;
- [Do You Read More Than One Book at a Time?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/10/do-you-read-more-than-one-book-at-a-time/) - The question of whether people read more than one book at a time comes up often on book-related media. I’ve noticed that the people who post the question and then go on to answer it most often write about why they read multiple books simultaneously. Many people just ask the question without including any discussion,
- [On This Day, March 8: International Women's Day marked on March 8 for 1st time - UPI.com](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/08/on-this-day-march-8-international-womens-day-marked-on-march-8-for-1st-time-upi-com/) - On March 8, 1914, International Women's Day was observed on March 8 for the first time and would go on to be marked on this day annually. Source: On This Day, March 8: International Women's Day marked on March 8 for 1st time - UPI.com
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/07/literary-links-81/) - The time is right to cancel Dr. Seuss’s racist books One of the biggest literary stories recently is the decision by the company that controls the works of Dr. Seuss to pull six titles from future republication because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” Here Ron Charles, book critic for the
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From Light to Dark](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/06/6-degrees-of-separation-from-light-to-dark/) - This month we start with Phosphorescence by Julia Baird, an author based in Sydney, Australia. Here’s the description of the book from Goodreads: A beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness - the 'light within' that Julia Baird calls 'phosphorescence' - which
- [Your Favorite Book Might Be My DNF . . . and Vice Versa](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/03/03/your-favorite-book-might-be-my-dnf-and-vice-versa/) - “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” “There’s no accounting for taste.” “Different strokes for different folks.” I occasionally see the novel Geek Love by Katherine Dunn listed on someone’s list of best novels ever read. I understand that the novel’s themes of family, love, and normality make it appeal to a lot of people,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/28/literary-links-80/) - New Report Explores ‘Engagement’ with Books, Digital Media A new report released this week is being billed as the first study to capture critical data about how consumers “engage” with books within a “connected media ecosystem” that includes video games, TV, and movies. According to Publishers Weekly, “The study's focus on consumer ‘engagement’ with books—vs.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/21/literary-links-79/) - How to Read a Book, According to Virginia Woolf Ellen Gutoskey discusses Virginia Woolf’s essay “How Should One Read a Book?” Gutoskey begins by noting that the title is a question, not a prescriptive statement: “The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your
- [Vaccinated!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/18/vaccinated/) - My husband and I both got our second dose of COVID-19 vaccine yesterday. I’ve waited to post in case either of us experienced any of the reactions to the second shot that I’ve been reading about. Last night we each had a very slight bit of soreness in our arm, but that had disappeared by
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/14/literary-links-78/) - Writers’ Inner Voices Many writers report vivid experiences of ‘hearing’ the voices of the characters they create and having characters who talk back to them, rebel, and ‘do their own thing’. It’s an experience described by a wide range of authors from Enid Blyton, Alice Walker, Quentin Tarantino and Charles Dickens through to Samuel Beckett,
- [Snow Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/13/snow-day/) - We don’t get much snow, except for occasional flurries, here near sea level on the coast of Washington. So when a storm hits, we make the most of it. Yesterday afternoon through this afternoon we got about 10 inches, which is quite a lot for this area. The last time this area got a significant
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/07/literary-links-77/) - A Sickness in the Air “Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind imagines the world after a global disaster, but its real subject is white entitlement.” [Alam] has an interior barometer exquisitely calibrated to signifiers of social class: fashion houses, just-trendy-enough restaurants, interiors detailed with the loving eye of a copywriter for a high-end furniture catalog.
- [6 Degrees of Separation: What’s in a Title?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/06/6-degrees-of-separation-whats-in-a-title/) - This month we start with Anne Tyler’s latest novel, Redhead By the Side of the Road, which Goodreads describes as the story of Micah Mortimer, “a creature of habit” who lives a “meticulously organized life.” I have not read this novel, but I have read several of Tyler’s earlier books. I always think of her
- [Groundhog Day Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/02/02/groundhog-day-reading/) - Happy Groundhog Day! I came across this list of time-loop books to celebrate with and felt it my duty to share it with you: 13 Great Time Loop Books to Read This Groundhog Day I’ve read three of these books: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart TurtonLife After Life by Kate AtkinsonThe First
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/31/literary-links-76/) - What’s Behind the Label ‘Domestic Fiction’? Soledad Fox Maura, professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Williams College and soon-to-debut novelist, wonders why World Cat “(the biggest library search engine on the planet)” has classified her upcoming novel, Madrid Again, as domestic fiction: Why would my novel, about an itinerant bilingual mother and daughter who
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/24/literary-links-75/) - Using Neuroscience to Understand Reading Slumps Joshua C. Craig, who spent an undergraduate year studying neuroscience, read up on the scientific literature to see what the current thinking is on the subject of reading slumps. He does a good job of making the subject accessible for those of us without a hefty science background. A
- [Happy 100th Birthday, Patricia Highsmith](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/19/happy-100th-birthday-patricia-highsmith/) - American novelist Patricia Highsmith was born on this day 100 years ago (January 19, 1921) in Fort Worth, Texas. She died on February 4, 1995. In between, her life was marked by chronic cycles of depression, anorexia, and alcoholism. She was a misanthrope who preferred the company of animals to that of people. She was
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/17/literary-links-74/) - TIMES NEW ROMAN, ARIAL, AND HELVETICA: THE FONT FAVORITES, BUT WHY? Melissa Baron looks into why, with hundreds of thousands of fonts in existence, Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica have become :the most widely used fonts ever.” Old Novels as Therapy “In these incredibly dark days, I’ve found solace talking to people I’ve known
- [Resources for Putting Together a Reading Plan for 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/15/resources-for-putting-together-a-reading-plan-for-2021/) - Related Post: My Reading & Writing Goals for 2021 Do you have a reading plan for 2021? If you’ve never put a reading plan together, the task can seem overwhelming. Here are some resources I’ve collected that can help. But you don’t have to develop a formal reading plan to find these articles useful. Maybe
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/10/literary-links-73/) - Reading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing “How we evolved to read is a story of one creative species.” Lydia Wilson explains how writing developed from a system to record the ownership of particular goods to one capable of creating great works of literature. Turning the Page on the Year “If ever there were a
- [My Reading & Writing Goals for 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/05/my-reading-writing-goals-for-2021/) - What I Learned from COVID-19 I keep reading things like “I can’t wait to be done with 2020 and move on to 2021.” Do most people truly believe that merely taking one calendar off the wall and hanging up another one is going to change their day-to-day existence? Such magical thinking. Reality doesn’t work that
- [Books to Be Published in 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/04/books-to-be-published-in-2021/) - Which Book Should You Read First in 2021? This quiz from Book Riot can help you answer the question. “Personally, I’m usually looking for something I think will be a 5-star read to start off the year,” writes quizster Rachel Brittain. 13 New Books to Watch For in January News flash! There’s a new book
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/03/literary-links-72/) - Overlooked No More: Clarice Lispector, Novelist Who Captivated Brazil “Critics lauded her stream-of-consciousness style and described her as glamorous and mysterious. But she didn’t always welcome the attention she received.” “This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.” From the
- [Did I Fulfill My Reading Plan for 2020?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/30/did-i-fulfill-my-reading-plan-for-2020/) - Related Post: My Reading Plan for 2020 I just went back and reread my reading plan for 2020. Then I had a good laugh. I did relatively well with Part I: Specific Challenges and Goals. I didn’t meet most of the goals, but I’m being gentle with myself in evaluating how well I did under
- [Notable Literary Deaths in 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/31/notable-literary-deaths-in-2020/) - Notable Literary Deaths in 2020 Lit Hub has compiled this “Incomplete List of the Writers, Editors, and Great Literary Minds We Lost This Year.” Among the many unhappinesses of this year, we lost what seems like an unusually large number of members of the literary community, from poets to novelists to editors to critics to
- [The Best Books I Read in 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020/) - Most of the annual best books of the year lists refer only to books published during the stated calendar year. But my annual list always refers to books I read this year, regardless of when they were published. Here, then, are the 10 best books I read this year, listed alphabetically by author, plus 5
- [Why ‘Gilmore Girls’ Endures - The New York Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/25/why-gilmore-girls-endures-the-new-york-times/) - Sherman-Palladino picked Graham for the part of Lorelai over several more well-known actors, at least partly for her literary acumen. “She’s the first actress that pronounced the name ‘Kerouac’ correctly,” Sherman-Palladino told her husband after seeing her. Source: Why ‘Gilmore Girls’ Endures - The New York Times
- [Happy New Year! Feed Your Soul](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/01/happy-new-year-feed-your-soul/) - We’ve all been waiting for 2021, and finally it’s here! And to get this new year started off right, The Guardian has put together The 31-Day Literary Diet for January: “From a Shirley Jackson short story to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 30-minute Ted talk, nourish your mind with our one-a-day selection of literary treats.”
- [Lists: More Best Books of 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/28/lists-more-best-books-of-2020/) - The Ultimate Best Books of 2020 List You could check out all the lists below. Or you could just start here and be done with it. Emily Temple of Lit Hub has scoured all the “best books of the year” lists to find out which books appeared most often. The 10 Best Literary Adaptations of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/27/literary-links-71/) - Book Club Spotlight: How This 20-Year-Old Book Club Connects Virtually The group of 15 ladies successfully transitioned from over 20 years of dinner and monthly meetings at the Rancho Santa Margarita City Hall to a virtual format — and were even able to welcome back a few members! Most recently, the club held its annual
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Women Healers](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2021/01/02/6-degrees-of-separation-women-healers/) - For this first 6 Degrees of 2021, we start with the winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. This book is next up on my to-read list. I understand from reading about this highly praised novel that it portrays the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, at age 11 in the
- [Merry Christmas!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/25/merry-christmas/) - If ever there was a time that required an extra helping of holiday cheer, 2020 is it. Please allow me to send each of you an extra-big helping of cheer this winter. Thank you for sharing the book life with me during these crazy times. And if you’re looking for some particular examples of holiday
- [The Ten Biggest Literary Stories of the Year ‹ Literary Hub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/24/the-ten-biggest-literary-stories-of-the-year-literary-hub/) - Without any further ado, you’ll find the third and final installment of our countdown of the 50 biggest literary stories of the year below—so you can remember the good (yes, there was some!), the bad, and the Zoom book launch. It’s time for the top 10, baby. Source: The Ten Biggest Literary Stories of the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/20/literary-links-70/) - We Need More Dark Stories with Hopeful Endings Author Les Edgerton believes that dark novels needn’t have completely dark endings: “To endure page after page of never-ending pain and sorrow and to culminate in the same morass of tragedy would only be nihilism, and the best books don’t end like that.” Here he lists some
- [The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 30 to 11 | Literary Hub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/17/the-biggest-literary-stories-of-the-year-30-to-11-literary-hub/) - Below, you’ll find the second installment of our countdown of the 50 biggest literary stories of the year, so you can remember the good (yes, there was some!), the bad, and the Zoom book launch. Source: The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 30 to 11 | Literary Hub
- [The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 50 to 31 | Literary Hub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/14/the-biggest-literary-stories-of-the-year-50-to-31-literary-hub/) - Starting today, we’ll be counting down the 50 biggest literary stories of the year, so you can remember the good (yes, there was some!), the bad, and the Zoom book launch. Join us, won’t you, on this very special journey. Source: The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 50 to 31 | Literary Hub
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/13/literary-links-69/) - 15 Books About Appalachia to Read Instead of Hillbilly Elegy This article came out after I posted last week’s articles about Hillbilly Elegy. Kendra Winchester, from Appalachia, has compiled this list of works to counterbalance “the stereotypes of J.D. Vance’s version of Appalachia . . . [that] the entire region is made up of poor
- [Lists: Best Books of 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/09/lists-best-books-of-2020/) - Publishers Weekly: Best Books 2020 Publishers Weekly started the annual parade off before Halloween with its lists. This page offers a portal to categories such as mystery/thriller, poetry, romance, various children’s levels, and YA. Barnes & Noble: The Best Books of 2020 Barnes & Noble got in on the action during the first week of
- [Literary Links: “Hillbilly Elegy” Edition](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/06/literary-links-hillbilly-elegy-edition/) - I have not read J.D. Vance’s multiple-award—winning 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis for a couple of reasons: I usually avoid “Poor me, I had a rough childhood” stories.There are just not enough hours in each day for reading all the books. I saw the book on lots
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/12/05/6-degrees-of-separation-3/) - This month we begin with a book that is celebrating its 50th birthday this year – Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Since this book was published the year I graduated from college, I missed it when I was in its targeted age group (about 12), although I did read it
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/29/literary-links-68/) - How Crime Writers Use Unreliable Narrators to Add Suspense Emily Martin uses the categories that William Riggan explores in his book Pícaros, Madmen, Naifs, and Clowns: The Unreliable First-Person Narrator to look at ways crime writers employ them to build suspense. The 2021 Tournament of Books Long List Next March’s Tournament of Books, something that
- [Where are the voices of indigenous peoples in the Thanksgiving story?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/26/where-are-the-voices-of-indigenous-peoples-in-the-thanksgiving-story/) - In my research and experience as a teacher educator, I have found social studies curricular materials (textbooks and state standards) routinely place indigenous peoples in a troubling narrative that promotes “Manifest Destiny” – the belief that the creation of the United States and the dominance of white American culture were destined and that the costs
- [Re-Examining My Stance on Horror](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/21/re-examining-my-stance-on-horror/) - Introduction Ever since I started Notes in the Margin back in the late 1990s, I’ve been saying that I don’t like, and therefore don’t read, horror literature, particularly books about vampires, werewolves, and zombies. However, lately I’ve read several articles about horror that have convinced me it might be time for me to re-examine my
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/22/literary-links-67/) - See What the World’s Reading Habits Look Like in 2020 The editing and proofreading service Global English Editing gathered statistics from various sources, including Pew Research and Amazon's bestsellers page, that demonstrate how the world’s reading habits changed over the course of 2020: “35 percent of web users worldwide reported reading more during the pandemic,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/15/literary-links-66/) - The Golden Age of Book Adaptations for TV Andrew Neiderman, the author of 46 thrillers who has written as V.C. Andrews for over 34 years, says, “The pandemic has brought on a new age of book-to-series adaptations, and with it novelists have found not only new sources of income but greater satisfaction in how their
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/08/literary-links-65/) - The 50 Greatest Apocalypse Novels “Apropos of . . . Nothing” I’m including this list here because, really, how could I not? How many of these have you read? I’ve read five, and I have two more on the top of my TBR pile. I think that’s pretty good, given that I usually avoid most
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Life Replete with Questions and Drama](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/07/6-degrees-of-separation-life-replete-with-questions-and-drama/) - This month is a wild card: We are to start with the book we’ve ended a previous chain with, and continue from there. I’ve decided to start with the final book from a 6 Degrees of Separation post I did over the summer: Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart. 1. Another novel with a
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/01/literary-links-64/) - Mixing Genres Is All About Messing with Structure "Knowing what people are expecting allows you to subvert the trope. Expectation is its own red herring, built right into your reader." Stuart Turton, author of the brilliant The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and newly released The Devil and The Dark Water, admits, “I’m obsessed by
- [Happy Halloween!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/30/happy-halloween-3/) - Because I was having trouble cranking up much enthusiasm for Halloween this year, here’s a collection of items I’ve collected. I hope you’ll find something here to help you get into this weekend’s holiday spirit. Read What You Need: 9 Gothic Novels for Every Mood This is the one that first inspired me. Did you
- [Daylight saving time ends this weekend: Don’t let ‘fall back’ lure you into depression | The Seattle Times](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/11/01/daylight-saving-time-ends-this-weekend-dont-let-fall-back-lure-you-into-depression-the-seattle-times/) - As we prepare to turn the clocks back an hour on Sunday morning, experts in winter depression say the loss of daylight — just as coronavirus infections start to spike again and election tension comes to a head — could make this an unusually difficult stretch. Source: Daylight saving time ends this weekend: Don’t let
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/25/literary-links-63/) - The Best Time Travel Books Annalee Newitz is both a science journalist and a science fiction writer who uses science to spur investigations into the nature of human existence. Newitz says science fiction is “less teaching people about how science works, and more about teaching people how history works.” Newitz uses the version of time
- [Quotation: In a “Post-Truth Era”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/15/quotation-in-a-post-truth-era/)
- [How I Use Goodreads](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/30/how-i-use-goodreads/) - I occasionally come across articles criticizing Goodreads. The latest one is “Why Goodreads is bad for books.” I’m always surprised at the vehemence with which some people criticize Goodreads. Sure, the platform is owned by one of the biggest retailers on the planet and therefore doesn’t have much incentive to improve. But as I read this
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/18/literary-links-62/) - Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in “anti-intellectual times” Thirty years ago Judith Butler published Gender Trouble, a book in which she introduced the notion of gender as performance. The book has since become “a foundational text on any gender studies reading list,” and the question of whether gender is how
- [It’s Time for Spooky Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/14/its-time-for-spooky-reading/) - One of the reasons why we read is to practice life, to look at particular circumstances and wonder what we’d do if we found ourselves in them. For example, I don’t think I’d ever kidnap a child. But what if someone called me and told me she had kidnapped my daughter, and to get my
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Ghosts!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/03/6-degrees-of-separation-ghosts/) - This month we start with The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, an appropriate choice for the Halloween season because it features ghosts. Or does it? The most salient feature of James’s novella is its ambiguity. Are the ghosts the governess sees real, or are they the product of some psychological projection such as
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/11/literary-links-61/) - How the Pandemic Has Changed Our Reading Lives “Many of the readers who have more reading time are finding that the mental toll of current events is hurting their attention spans, or seeing their genre preferences shift and twist.” Leah Rachel von Essen “talked to authors, book bloggers, librarians, and general readers to investigate how
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/04/literary-links-60/) - 14 of the Scariest Books Ever Written Halloween reading season is upon us. Leila Siddiqui, declaring that “as readers, we love the sensation of being scared—it is adrenaline-inducing and addictive,” offers her list of reading material for the season. THE WOMEN WHO SHAPED THE PAST 100 YEARS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE This article from Smithsonian Magazine
- [For Banned Books Week, I read the country’s 10 most challenged books. The gay penguins did not corrupt me. - The Washington Post](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/02/for-banned-books-week-i-read-the-countrys-10-most-challenged-books-the-gay-penguins-did-not-corrupt-me-the-washington-post/) - Every September, I look over the new list and sigh, “How could anyone object to these great-looking books?” This year, instead of just sighing, I read all the books. The experience introduced me to some great new titles and, by implication, the anxieties of too many censorial Americans. Source: For Banned Books Week, I read
- [Star Wars Reads Begins Today!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/10/01/star-wars-reads-begins-today/) - This October marks the ninth year of Star Wars Reads, a month-long celebration of Star Wars and reading. Source: Star Wars Reads Begins Today!
- [9+ Tolkien-Inspired Recipes to Enjoy on Hobbit Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/22/9-tolkien-inspired-recipes-to-enjoy-on-hobbit-day/) - Celebrate Hobbit Day with a feast fit for the Shire and these Tolkien inspired recipes for your second breakfast and more. Source: 9+ Tolkien-Inspired Recipes to Enjoy on Hobbit Day Happy Hobbit Day, a celebration of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthdays.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/20/literary-links-59/) - J.K. Rowling’s ‘Troubled Blood’ is her most ambitious Robert Galbraith novel yet — and likely the most divisive I have liked J.K. Rowling’s mystery novels featuring Cormoran Strike—published under the pen name Robert Galbraith—very much. But Rowling herself has been criticized recently for transphobic remarks she made earlier this year. (This article contains a link
- [A Literary Guide to the 2020 Emmy Awards | Los Angeles Public Library](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/19/a-literary-guide-to-the-2020-emmy-awards-los-angeles-public-library/) - Every September, the Primetime Emmy Awards are handed out, celebrating the best that television had to offer from the previous season. Usually, this event entails the red carpet, designer dresses, flashing lights, and giant crowds. Well, this year is going to be a little bit different. This year’s virtual ceremony will combine pre-recorded and live
- [Agatha Christie and The Art of Opening a Mystery Novel | CrimeReads](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/15/agatha-christie-and-the-art-of-opening-a-mystery-novel-crimereads/) - Agatha Christie probably doesn’t need our honors. Born on this day in 1890, in Torquay, England, she enjoyed surpassing fame in her lifetime and lays a current claim to being the bestselling … Source: Agatha Christie and The Art of Opening a Mystery Novel | CrimeReads
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/13/literary-links-58/) - 10 Mystery and Thriller Books Starring Older Women When Neha Patel decided to analyze the ages of female protagonists in contemporary fiction, she was surprised to discover that “glancing through all the books I’ve read so far this year, I was shocked to realize that almost all the leads were under the age of 45
- [Quotation: "Our Chaotic Weather"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/11/quotation-our-chaotic-weather/) - The New Critics will cry, “Pathetic fallacy,” but I can’t stop thinking that our chaotic weather is a reflection of the country’s mental chaos. --Ron Charles, in today’s issue of “Book Club,” his weekly newsletter for The Washington Post
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/06/literary-links-57/) - When Mums Go Bad: How Fiction Became Obsessed With The Dark Side Of Motherhood “Motherhood and 'mum noir' is taking over the psychological suspense shelves, but some portrayals have come in for criticism. Author Caroline Corcoran looks into the trend…” I read a lot of psychological thrillers and mysteries, and women-centered stories have for several
- [Why is it so hard to review mediocre books?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/11/10/why-is-it-so-hard-to-review-mediocre-books/) - It’s easy to talk about books that are either amazingly good or blatantly bad; we usually have no trouble articulating the points that we either love or loathe. But it’s often hard to find much of anything to say about a book that we think is just so-so, mediocre, ordinary—perhaps the nicest term is unremarkable.
- [Jesmyn Ward on Her Husband’s Death and Grief During COVID-19 | Vanity Fair](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/02/jesmyn-ward-on-her-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid-19-vanity-fair/) - Please read this piece by award-winning novelist Jesmyn Ward. Source: Jesmyn Ward on Her Husband’s Death and Grief During COVID-19 | Vanity Fair
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Women’s Voices](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/09/05/6-degrees-of-separation-womens-voices/) - This month we begin with Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest novel, Rodham, published May 19, 2000. According to Goodreads, Sittenfeld’s novel examines this question: “What if Hillary Rodham hadn’t married Bill Clinton?” I have not read this book and am not likely to, because Hillary Rodham Clinton is still alive and well, and more than capable of
- [Review: "Every Last Lie"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/09/01/review-every-last-lie/) - Kubica, Mary. Every Last Lie Harlequin Audio, © 2017 (print edition also © 2017) I enjoyed Mary Kubica’s first three novels: The Good Girl (2014), Pretty Baby (2015), and Don’t You Cry (2016). Each features a twist at the end. But these twists aren’t simple plot tricks designed to shock or titillate readers. Rather, they
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/30/literary-links-56/) - Why a Campaign to ‘Reclaim’ Women Writers’ Names Is So Controversial “Critics say Reclaim Her Name fails to reflect the array of reasons authors chose to publish under male pseudonyms” Nora McGreevy reports in Smithsonian Magazine about the Reclaim Her Name project recently launched by the Women’s Prize for Fiction in conjunction with Baileys (of Irish
- [11 Novels That Feature Life Stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/08/21/11-novels-that-feature-life-stories/) - Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember All these novels in some way feature the notion of life stories and identity. An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson The Double
- [Birthday at the Zoo](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/27/birthday-at-the-zoo/) - My husband and daughter took me to the zoo yesterday for my birthday. It was the first time we had seen our daughter in 6 months. I felt especially celebrated because Mount Rainier came out splendidly. The zoo is now offering timed entrance tickets and has done a good job of adapting to necessary COVID-19 restrictions.
- [Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/28/celebrate-independent-bookstore-day/) - Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day August 29 The festivities begin tonight (Friday, August 28) at 4:30 p.m. PDT. Here, thanks to Book Riot, is a list of events as well as links to a couple of other sites that provide more information.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/23/literary-links-55/) - Is the literary trend toward passive women progress? Maybe we’ve been misreading Lynn Steger Strong writes that Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy “broke open a new and surprisingly vital form: the novel of passivity.” Strong is happy to see that, for the last decade or so, women’s fiction has been recognized for probing what the novel—“forms
- [Ray Bradbury's 100th Birthday](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/22/ray-bradburys-100th-birthday/) - Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of author Ray Bradbury. To celebrate this event, writers, actors, and librarians will present the Ray Bradbury Centennial Read-a-Thon from August 22 through September 5, 2020. For more information about the life and works of Ray Bradbury, visit this website.
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/16/literary-links-54/) - Alan Dershowitz claims a fictional lawyer defamed him. The implications for novelists are very real. on Charles of the Washington Post reports that Alan Dershowitz, a real-life attorney, claims that he was defamed by a fictional attorney on the CBS All Access show The Good Fight. This may sound comic, “But his complaint, if successful,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/09/literary-links-53/) - Many writers say they can actually hear the voices of their characters – here’s why I don’t write fiction, but I read a lot about and talk with people who do. I’m always fascinated when fiction writers say that a character either appeared and demanded to be written about or appeared to object when the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/08/02/literary-links-52/) - Looking at Epic Poetry Through 21st-Century Eyes “New translations of the ‘Aeneid,’ ‘Beowulf’ and other ancient stories challenge some of our modern-day ideas.” Classical epic poetry has been the basis of the Western literary canon for centuries and has helped shape social values and political identities as well as literary history. But new translations of
- [The Functions of Art](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/29/the-functions-of-art/)
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/26/literary-links-51/) - Viewing Literature as a Lab for Community Ethics The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront many bioethical questions, such as, when resources are limited, which lives should be saved and which sacrificed? Maren Tova Linett, author of Literary Bioethics, argues that fiction, with its ability to present imagined worlds, offers the chance to explore
- [Look! A Library Book!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/22/look-a-library-book/) - I’ve been jealously eyeing people’s Instagram and Facebook posts showing off their book hauls from their library’s curbside pickup service. A lot of libraries opened for pickup while I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for announcements from both my city and county libraries. Now my county library has finally figured out how to handle pickup service. They’re
- [What Books Have Given You a "Book Hangover"?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/08/what-books-have-given-you-a-book-hangover/) - Recently I came across the article “The Psychology of a Book Hangover” by Clare Barnett, who describes a book hangover this way: A “book hangover” is the slangy shortcut for the feeling when a reader finishes a book—usually fiction—and they can’t stop thinking about the fictional world that has run out of pages. The story
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/12/literary-links-50/) - Crime Fiction Trains Us for Crisis Writer Sulari Gentill says that, since crime fiction “essentially tells the story of a crisis,” is has helped to prepare us for the world we all now find ourselves in. This year we have already faced fire, flood and pandemic. We had fled our homes and been confined to
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/05/literary-links-49/) - Time Is Not Real: Books That Play with the Art of Time Vivienne Woodward looks at some books that manipulate our sense of time. The inspiration for this essay is the way COVID-19 lockdown has affected her perception of time: One of the things reading fiction makes clear is how many ways there are to
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/06/07/literary-links-47/) - Summer reading has a fraught history. But if there was ever a time to delight in escapism, it’s now Wisdom from Ron Charles, book critic for the Washington Post: The shame of summer reading is almost as old as summer reading itself. It took humanity 200,000 years to produce movable type, widespread literacy and enough
- [6 Degrees of Separation: Books I Didn’t Like But More That I Did](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/07/04/6-degrees-of-separation-books-i-didnt-like-but-more-that-i-did/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt, a novel I haven’t read. 1. The only
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/06/28/literary-links-48/) - Murder, He Wrote When Charles Dickens dropped dead on 9 June 1850, he was hard at work on his latest novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Readers who had already devoured the first three instalments of the story were left to solve its central mystery without the author’s help. On the 150th anniversary of Dickens’s
- [6 Degrees of Separation on My TBR Shelves](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/06/06/6-degrees-of-separation-on-my-tbr-shelves/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with Sally Rooney’s best seller (and now a TV series), Normal People. I’ve had this
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/31/literary-links-46/) - ‘Killing People in Fiction Was Fun’: Mysteries That Have Stood the Test of Time Like many of us, Sarah Weinman initially thought that the coronavirus lockdown would allow her to read, read, read. And also like many of us, she soon discovered that “Focus has evaporated. The cognitive load of living through the coronavirus has
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/17/literary-links-45/) - French serial-killer expert admits serial lies, including murder of imaginary wife Another author debunked: “Stéphane Bourgoin, whose books about murderers have sold millions, says he invented much of his experience, including training with FBI.” 85 years ago, FDR saved American writers. Could it ever happen again? David Kipen writes in the Los Angeles Times that
- [Daphne du Maurier Reading Week](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/12/daphne-du-maurier-reading-week/) - It’s Daphne du Maurier Reading Week, hosted by HeavenAli over on her blog. Since I’d been wanting to read more works by Daphne du Maurier anyway—and had even bought the books—I knew I wanted to participate in this when I saw the announcement on her blog. I have to admit that my planning didn’t work
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/10/literary-links-44/) - The Economics of Coronavirus: A Reading List I’ve been thinking a lot about what the world will look like once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but my speculations are mostly social and political. I know absolutely nothing about economics beyond balancing my checkbook, which is why I took particular notice of this article from Five
- [Reading in the Midst of COVID-19](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/08/reading-in-the-midst-of-covid-19/) - I MISS THE LIBRARY: AND OTHER THOUGHTS ON QUARANTINE READING LIFE When it comes to reading, read whatever you’re able to get through without finding yourself distracted or filled with an overwhelming sense of dread. If that means listening to audiobooks because you just can’t focus on reading a page, so be it! Need to
- [3 Recent Thriller Reviews](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/06/3-recent-thriller-reviews/) - To help me break out of a reading slump at the onset of the COVID-19 health emergency, I turned to the books I’ve always trusted to draw me in: thrillers. These three books were among the first I read at that time. While you can never go wrong with a book by Harlan Coben, the
- [Classics Club Spin #23](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/16/classics-club-spin-23/) - It’s time for another Classics Club Spin! Here’s how it works: I post a numbered list of 20 titles from my Classics Club list. On Sunday, April 19 the Classics Club curators will post a number from 1 through 20. I then have to read whatever title has that number on my list by June
- [The Glossary is Back!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/04/the-glossary-is-back/) - Back in November 2019 I had to do a complete overhaul of my website. I started Notes in the Margin back in the mid 1990s, and I had accumulated a lot of content over the years. When the old website went down last fall, I had time to copy and paste a lot of that
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/03/literary-links-43/) - On Friday afternoon, Governor Jay Inslee announced an extension of his stay-at-home order through May 31 for residents of Washington State, USA. I totally agree with this decision. I’d rather continue self-isolating now than have to start all over again by opening everything up too soon and letting the virus overwhelm us again. I do
- [Happy Cinco de Mayo!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/05/happy-cinco-de-mayo/) - Our great staff here at Franke Tobey Jones provided a Cinco de Mayo party at yesterday’s weekly tailgate happy hour. We are indeed lucky to live in such a caring retirement community. © 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown
- [6 Degrees of Separation: All Roads Lead to . . .](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/05/02/6-degrees-of-separation-all-roads-lead-to/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books This month, in keeping with the theme of the current pandemic, the starting point is The Road by Cormac
- [John Scalzi Quotation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/27/john-scalzi-quotation/) - Source: The Amazon Book Review
- [CC Spin #23: A Change of Plan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/24/cc-spin-23-a-change-of-plan/) - Related Post: Classics Club Spin #23 Earlier this month the Classics Club announced a return of its spin, in which we make a numbered list of books, then read the book on our list with the number chosen at random. Initially I welcomed the exercise, because I have been having trouble reading and writing in
- [World Book and Copyright Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/23/world-book-and-copyright-day/) - Source: World Book and Copyright Day For additional information, including the importance of April 23rd, free book offers, and events you can watch "from the comfort of your armchair," see this article from Newsweek.
- [It’s Earth Day! Read On](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/22/its-earth-day-read-on/) - Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. If you’ve finally decided that it’s time to read a book about climate change, The New York Times has some suggestions in the following categories: I don’t even know where to start.I just want to understand how we got here.I’m ready for the hard truth. Don’t sugar-coat
- [National Library Week April 19-25, 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/21/national-library-week-april-19-25-2020/) - Find Your Place at the Library: National Library Week April 19-25, 2020 Source: National Library Week | Conferences & Events
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/19/literary-links-42/) - The Case for Teaching Depressing Books High school English teacher Sahar Mustafah writes that her students often ask when they’re going to read happy books. Young people, quite naturally, equate “happy” with a safe, uneventful existence. Genocide, sexual assault, poverty, racism, climate change—it’s hard to find any reason to be excited about reading these subjects
- [Medieval Reads Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/20/medieval-reads-day/) - Get ready for tales of knights, battles, court intrigue and more. It's Medieval Reads Day! Source: Medieval Reads Day According to Book Riot, it's Medieval Reads Day, and they've got you covered with the following articles: 10 of the Best Medieval Romance Stories 10 Books with Our Favorite Fictional Knights 8 Courtly Medieval Female Writers
- [Introduction to Life Stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/08/01/introduction-to-life-stories/) - "We live forwards but we understand backwards.” --Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Even though we may not be aware of it, we all carry within us a story about our lives that describes who we are. We’ve had experiences from which we’ve learned lessons, and from those experiences and lessons we’ve formulated a set
- [“Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/08/15/before-i-go-to-sleep-s-j-watson-we-are-what-we-remember/) - Related Post: Introduction to Life Stories Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel by S. J. Watson HarperCollins, 2011 Kindle Edition A woman awakens, wonders where she is, rolls over—and is shocked to see a middle-aged man wearing a wedding ring and with hairs on his back sleeping next to her. She stumbles
- ["Before I Go to Sleep": The Film](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/08/19/before-i-go-to-sleep-the-film/) - Before I Go To Sleep: Exclusive film stills show Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth in new psychological thriller Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember These emotive images depict Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman as a woman who wakes up every morning remembering nothing in the
- [Literary Life Stories: The Character Biography](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/10/01/literary-life-stories-the-character-biography/) - Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember Life Stories: The Personal Component 11 Novels That Feature Life Stories Must We Like Fictional Characters? “Mr. Mercedes” by Stephen King: The Power of Characters Although the concept of life story originated in the field of
- [Life Stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/10/01/life-stories/) - “Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.” ― Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead
- [“Gone Girl”: Forging a Life Story](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/10/17/gone-girl-forging-a-life-story/) - Related Posts * Introduction to Life Stories * “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember * Review of The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen * Life Stories: The Personal Component * 11 Novels That Feature Life Stories * Literary Life Stories: The Character Biography * Life Stories: A
- [Life Stories: A Select Bibliography](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2014/10/22/life-stories-a-select-bibliography/) - Aftel, Mandy. The Story of Your Life: Becoming the Author of Your Experience (Fireside, 1996) Atkinson, Robert. The Gift of Stories: Practical and Spiritual Applications of Autobiography, Life Stories, and Personal Mythmaking (Bergin and Garvey, 1995) Estrade, Patrick. You Are What You Remember: A Pathbreaking Guide to Understanding and Interpreting Your Childhood Memories (Da
- [Review: "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2015/03/18/review-winesburg-ohio-by-sherwood-anderson/) - Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio Original publication date: 1919 Rpt. New York: Random House, 1947 Sherwood Anderson’s masterpiece, Winesburg, Ohio, is a collection of 23 interrelated sketches—Anderson calls them “tales”—that portray life in a Midwestern town in the early years of the twentieth century. The unifying thread throughout is the coming-of-age story of George Willard, an
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/12/literary-links-41/) - I hope that you are all staying healthy and finding solace in activities that comfort you. Book sales surge as self-isolating readers stock up on ‘bucket list’ novels From the U.K. comes news that “Book sales have leapt across the country as readers find they have extra time on their hands, with bookshops reporting a
- [5 Books to Keep You Company During Isolation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/02/5-books-to-keep-you-company-during-isolation/) - I recently came across the article “Kristin Hannah Recommends 5 Books to Keep You Company During Isolation.” Since I’ve been having trouble writing much of anything at all, I decided to use the format of this post as a template for my own recommendations. Here are the categories, Kristin Hannah’s recommendations, and my own suggestions.
- [Last Night's Super Moon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/08/last-nights-super-moon/) - Here’s my husband’s photo of last night’s super moon over Tacoma, WA, USA. We often can’t see the full moon here because of cloud cover, but the last couple of nights have been super clear for the super moon. Here’s a photo I took with my phone to give you an idea of how big
- [“An Anonymous Girl” by Green Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/08/an-anonymous-girl-by-green-hendricks-sarah-pekkanen/) - Hendricks, Greer & Sarah Pekkanen. An Anonymous GirlSt. Martin’s Press, 2018ISBN 978-1-250-13373-1 Recommended Jessica Farris, age 28, works as a freelance make-up specialist, lugging her product cases all over Manhattan and barely earning enough to get by. On a typical Friday night Jessica overhears Taylor, one of her college-student clients, tell her roommate that she
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/04/05/literary-links-40/) - Penguin Classics and Others Work to Diversify Offerings From the Canon “Across the industry, publishers are releasing titles by authors who were previously marginalized or entirely lost to history.” The critical and commercial success of these titles is a result of a combination of factors: initiative on the part of writers’ families or estates; changing
- [5 Examples of Why I Like Mysteries](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2017/02/28/4217/) - I love reading mysteries because a well written mystery delves deeply into the depths of the human heart and psyche. I’m in partial agreement with Beth O’Brien, who says: For me, the mystery books to read are personal. I want to know what happens to those directly affected. The family, the friends, the victims themselves.
- [Reading & Blogging in the Time of COVID-19](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/26/reading-blogging-in-the-time-of-covid-19/) - Related Posts: Life in an Independent Bookstore Near SeattleSome of the Less Obvious Effects of the Coronavirus PandemicBook-Related News for Self-Isolation and Social DistancingMore Arts-Related Pandemic News All of my recent posts have been lists of COVID-19—related links. I just kept collecting these links, almost obsessively. Now that we’re approaching the end of our third
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/29/literary-links-39/) - The Curious Creation of Anna Kavan Although I’ve heard of Anna Kavan—mostly through occasional references to her works—I know nothing about her. But I’ll have to change that, after reading this profile in the New Yorker. She examined the nature of identity, both in her writing and in her personal life. Not long after being
- [More Arts-Related Pandemic News](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/24/more-arts-related-pandemic-news/) - More Book-Related Pandemic News Luckily, books still exist, and can be their own vehicle for connection. And what better reading material for right now than books where the characters are, in some way, alone? None of these are dystopian (at least not in the traditional sense), but are instead characterized by protagonists with complex interior
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/22/literary-links-38/) - I’m Not Feeling Good at All “The perplexingly alienated women of recent American fiction” Jess Bergman writes, “the new heroines of contemporary fiction possess a kind of anhedonic equanimity, more numb than overwhelmed.” Doing No Harm: A Look at Writing Suicide and Self-Harm in Fiction Alice Nuttall makes the case that “Suicide and self-harm are
- [St. Patrick's Day Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/17/st-patricks-day-reading/) - 7 Books With Striking Green Covers to Read This St. Paddy’s Day My own stack of green books appears at the top of this post. 15 IRISH CRIME WRITERS YOU SHOULD BE READING RIGHT NOW This is reprinted from 2018. 8 Irish Writers We’re Lucky to Have on Our Shelves 10 Audiobooks with Incredible Irish
- [Book-Related News for Self-Isolation and Social Distancing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/16/book-related-news-for-self-isolation-and-social-distancing/) - B&N, BAM Remain Open Publishers Weekly reports that Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million are currently staying open. I would imagine, though, that this situation could change at any time, so you’d probably want to check with your local store. A dystopian reading list: books to enjoy while in quarantine The U.K.’s Guardian advises that, in
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/15/literary-links-37/) - “What Do I Know To Be True?”: Emma Copley Eisenberg on Truth in Nonfiction, Writing Trauma, and The Dead Girl Newsroom Jacqueline Alnes talks with Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of true-crime book The Third Rainbow Girl, “about what it means to seek truth in nonfiction, and how writing the personal can allow for more complicated
- [Some of the Less Obvious Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/14/some-of-the-less-obvious-effects-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/) - We’re all a bit frazzled about the current health pandemic and the mammoth amount of information out there for us to process. Like you, I’m concerned about the health of my friends and neighbors here in the retirement community where I live, as we’re all over 60. But once we get past all the health
- [Big Books to Read Right Now](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/12/big-books-to-read-right-now/) - If there’s some extra reading time in your life right now, this article has you covered: 10 Novels Long Enough to Last a Quarantine (If you read slowly!) Long live Big Books! Seriously, please take care of yourselves and each other during this trying time. I live in Washington State, one of the hottest spots
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/08/literary-links-36/) - My mistress Melancholy Mary Ann Lund, associate professor in Renaissance English literature at the University of Leicester in the UK, discusses Robert Burton (1577-1640) and his The Anatomy of Melancholy, “the most pervasive and elusive of Renaissance diseases.” “One of the great achievements of The Anatomy of Melancholy is to draw together the collective wisdom
- [Celebrate International Women’s Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/08/celebrate-international-womens-day-2/) - In honor of International Women’s Day, here are some suggested books about women: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth FranklinWoman As Healer by Jeanne AchterbergHidden Figures by Margot Lee ShetterlyThe Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss For more reading
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From “Wolfe Island” to “Me”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/03/07/6-degrees-of-separation-from-wolfe-island-to-me/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with Lucy Treloar’s Wolfe Island. According to Amazon, this novel is not available in the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/23/literary-links-35/) - Top 10 books of eco-fiction A blog challenge that I’m working on for next month includes a novel about climate fiction. This challenge made me realize that I haven’t read many works in which this topic figures prominently. I was therefore glad to come across this list by Michael Christie, whose recent novel Greenwood, set
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/16/literary-links-34/) - HOME SWEET HO…MAYBE NOT: THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN FICTION So what is it about the haunted house that spans media types? What is it about the concept that transfixes both audience in the land of imagination, and truth seekers in the science world? Why is this one of those subjects that bridges the gap between
- [Happy Valentine's Day!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/14/happy-valentines-day/) - Some holiday reading . . . 50 States of Love “From sea to shining sea, here’s a tour of unforgettable fiction that explores matters of the heart.” 125 Books We Love As the New York Public Library celebrates its 125th anniversary, “125 Books We Love honors all the books from the past 125 years that
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/09/literary-links-33/) - American Dirt Starts An Important Conversation But Not The One Author Intended I avoided the recent brouhaha over Jeanine Cummins’ novel American Dirt while it was developing, but most of the dust seems to have settled now. If you looking for a summary of the situation, this article provides a good overview. It also contains
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/02/literary-links-32/) - The Subjective Mood Adam O’Fallon Price describes Muriel Spark’s novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie like this: “The novel does not settle for merely telling a story and telling it well; it also on some level considers that story and frames it, in doing so giving the narrative a greater dimensionality, what we might
- [6 Degrees of Separation: What Goes Around Comes Around](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/02/01/6-degrees-of-separation-what-goes-around-comes-around/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with a book that topped the critics ‘best of 2019’ lists, Fleishman Is in
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/26/literary-links-31/) - The Million Basic Plots Novelist and screenwriter Ned Beauman laments the existence of the website TV Tropes, which breaks down the plots of all forms of popular-culture storytelling into such minute parts as to prevent him from coming up with any original plot elements. I don’t write fiction but I love reading it, and I
- [Is the Locked-Room Mystery Obsolete?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/15/is-the-locked-room-mystery-obsolete/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the 2020 Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed Your Fiction AddictionShannon at It Starts at Midnight You can join the discussion challenge at any time during 2020 by clicking on either link above. As a subgenre of the mystery or detective-fiction genre, the locked-room mystery, which originated in
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/19/literary-links-30/) - Looking for a Book to Read With Friends? The New York Times introduces Group Text, “a monthly column for readers and book clubs about the novels, memoirs and short-story collections that make you want to talk, ask questions, and dwell in another world for a little bit longer.” The focus for book clubs will be
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/11/literary-links-29/) - Why I’ll Never Read a Book a Week Ever Again Calling herself a slow reader, writer Hurley Winkler describes her 2019 experience of “the 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge” she found on the literary blogosphere. During the year she finished several books she “wasn’t wild about” simply because she’d already invested time in
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/05/literary-links-28/) - What to read in 2020 based on the books you loved in 2019 If you liked any of the 12 books listed here, Angela Haupt has suggestions about what you might like to read this year. The 12 books from 2019 that she references are: “City of Girls,” by Elizabeth Gilbert“All This Could Be Yours,”
- [These 1924 Copyrighted Works Enter the Public Domain in 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/03/these-1924-copyrighted-works-enter-the-public-domain-in-2020/) - These 1924 Copyrighted Works Enter the Public Domain in 2020 The folks at Lifehacker list works entering the public domain this year in the areas of film, music (both popular and classical), literature, and artworks. Here are many of the literary works on the list: Edgar Rice Burroughs’s The Land That Time Forgot and Tarzan
- [Books I Read in January](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/01/31/books-i-read-in-january-2/) - Watership Down by Richard Adams Adams, Richard. Watership Down© 1972rpt. Avon, 1975ISBN 0-38000293-0 If you liked The Lord of the Rings, you’ll probably like this book. Replace Hobbits with rabbits, and you’ve got an archtypical heroic quest. Forced by the encroachment of people into their warren of Sandleford in England, a small band of rabbits
- [My Reading Plan for 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/02/my-reading-plan-for-2020/) - Thanks to these two bloggers for sponsoring the 2020 Blog Discussion Challenge: Nicole at Feed Your Fiction AddictionShannon at It Starts at Midnight You can join the discussion challenge at any time during 2020 by clicking on either link above. For the past few years I’ve set up a reading plan at the beginning of
- [My Year in Books 2019](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/31/my-year-in-books-2019/) - According to Goodreads:
- [The Best Books I Read in 2019](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019/) - Because I read more books this year than I had in any recent year, paring down my list of the year’s favorites was much harder than usual. I always try to reduce the list of 10 best and 5 honorable mentions, but this year I couldn’t decide which should be the final title to get
- [Happy New Year!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/01/happy-new-year/) - I wish you peace, health, and happiness throughout 2020.
- [Remembering Those We Lost in 2019](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/31/remembering-those-we-lost-in-2019/) - The literary world lost many in 2019, including those listed here (with date of death and link to obituary, where available. Francine du Plessix Gray, 1/13 Mary Oliver, 1/17 Russell Baker, 1/21 Diana Athill, 1/23 Jan Wahl, 1/29 Edith Iglauer, 2/13 Andrea Levy, 2/14 Gillian Freeman, 2/23 Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, 3/12 W.S. Merwin, 3/15 Jonathan
- [The Best of 2019: The Top 10 Book Lists of the Year](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/31/the-best-of-2019-the-top-10-book-lists-of-the-year/) - I swore that I was through with “Best Books of 2019” lists. But then the folks at Off the Shelf hit me with this post: The Best of 2019: The Top 10 Book Lists of the Year Ah, the thematic book list. Nothing makes up leap for a new read like discovering a gem hidden
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/28/literary-links-27/) - How a Twitter war in 2010 helped change the way we talk about women’s writing A look at how the 2010 dust-up between writers Jennifer Weiner and Jonathan Franzen engendered a decade-long pop culture discussion over two basic questions: “What kinds of stories do we consider to be worthy of respect? And to whom do
- [Did I Fulfill My Reading Plan for 2019?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/27/did-i-fulfill-my-reading-plan-for-2019/) - Earlier this month I posted about 10 Reading Regrets of 2019, a list of 10 particular books that I’m sorry I didn’t get to this year. But how did I do in terms of my overall reading plan for 2019, which I composed back in January? Let’s take a look. Here are the sections of
- [More Best Books of 2019 Lists](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/26/more-best-books-of-2019-lists/) - Best Books of 2019 I put this Goodreads list at the very top of this entry because it’s “the only major book awards decided by readers.” Check out the winners in a whole bunch of categories. The Ultimate Best Books of 2019 List And here’s the list made up from other lists. Literary Hub editor
- [Happy Holidays!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/25/happy-holidays-2/) - However you celebrate, I wish you peace, health, and happiness now and throughout the upcoming year.
- [Classics Club Spin #22](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/17/classics-club-spin-22/) - It’s time for another Classics Club Spin, #22. Here’s how it works: I post a numbered list of 20 titles from my Classics Club list. On December 22 the Classics Club curators will post a number from 1 through 20. I then have to read whatever title has that number on my list by January
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/21/literary-links-26/) - CANDID PORTRAITS OR GHOSTWRITTEN FLUFF: THE HISTORY OF THE CELEBRITY BOOK Jeffrey Davies looks at the history of the celebrity book, whether it be “a memoir, an essay collection, a cookbook, a book of poetry, or a self-help book.” He discusses the rise of the ghostwriter, what happens when celebrity culture and science clash (for
- [2020 Book Blog Discussion Challenge Sign-Up](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/24/2020-book-blog-discussion-challenge-sign-up/) - In an effort to motivate myself to produce more substantive posts next year, I’ve decided to sign up for the 2020 Book Blog Discussion Challenge. This challenge is hosted by two book bloggers: Nicole at Feed Your Fiction AddictionShannon at It Starts at Midnight Thanks to Nicole and Shannon for running this annual challenge, which
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2020/01/04/6-degrees-of-separation-2/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with the 2019 best-seller Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, the story
- [10 Reading Regrets of 2019](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/18/10-reading-regrets-of-2019/) - Yesterday I came across the article Readers’ Regrets: The Books We Wish We Read in 2019. It prompted me to take a look at my own shelves for the books I regret not having read in 2019. Here are 10 of them, listed in no particular order. (Links that describe the book are to either
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/15/literary-links-25/) - Romance Is a Billion-Dollar Literary Industry. So Why Is It Still So Overlooked? Samantha Leach writes in Glamour that romance novels have evolved from the steamy bodice-rippers of the early 1970s to mid 1980s into works that deal meaningfully with “whatever is happening to women or marginalized people.” ON FAILING THE GOODREADS CHALLENGE P.N. Hinton
- [3 Short Reviews](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/11/3-short-reviews/) - The Suspect by Fiona Barton Barton, Fiona. The Suspect Penguin Audio, 2019 Narrated by Susan Duerden, Fiona Hardingham, Nicholas Guy Smith, Katharine Lee McEwan ISBN 9781524779962 When two British girls spending their gap year in Thailand disappear, journalist Kate Waters senses a possible big story. Always looking for the latest big scoop,
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/08/literary-links-24/) - Is ‘devouring’ books a sign of superficiality in a reader? Louise Adams discusses the history of the metaphor of eating as applied to reading. While the historical applications of the metaphor are informative, I’d like to focus on this point: This metaphor, however, hasn’t always seemed so benign. Two hundred years ago, describing someone as
- [Close Reading: A Pivotal Scene in “The Silent Patient”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/05/11/close-reading-a-pivotal-scene-in-the-silent-patient/) - 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
- [Books You Can Read in One Day or Less](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/02/books-you-can-read-in-one-day-or-less-2/) - You’ve still got almost a month to hammer away at your reading goal for 2019. Here’s a list of short works (around 200 or fewer pages) that I’ve collected. And below my list you’ll find a list of other lists. Good luck. Read on! As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Can You Ever Forgive
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/12/01/literary-links-23/) - 'Your throat hurts. Your brain hurts': the secret life of the audiobook star If you think narrating audiobooks is a dream job because all you have to do is sit there and read, you’d be wrong. Way wrong. Read all about the complex matters of matching specific books with appropriate readers, of preparing, and of
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/24/literary-links-22/) - The first fairytales were feminist critiques of patriarchy. We need to revive their legacy Melissa Ashley finds the origin of fairytales to “a coterie of 17th century French female writers known as the conteuses, or storytellers.” Fairytales “crystallised as a genre” in this time when women, sometimes as young as 15, were married off—often to
- [Let the Best of 2019 Lists Begin!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/30/let-the-best-of-2019-lists-begin/) - A few of these lists began appearing in early November, but I refuse to start my year-end summaries that early. I haven’t put my Christmas decorations up yet, either. Our Fiction Editor Shares Some Favorites From the Best Books of 2019 From the fiction editor of Kirkus The Best Books of 2019 Amazon’s portal to
- [Happy Thanksgiving (in the U.S.)!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/28/happy-thanksgiving-in-the-u-s/) - And for your reading pleasure: From Zeus to Williams-Sonoma: The History of the Cornucopia
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/17/literary-links-21/) - America’s First Banned Book Really Ticked Off the Plymouth Puritans A portrait of Thomas Morton, an English businessman who came to the New World with the Puritans but didn’t share their religious zeal. Morton “had the audacity to erect a maypole in Massachusetts.” The Rise and Fall of Booth Tarkington “How a candidate for the
- ["The Run" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/11/01/the-run-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. The Run (2000) HarperCollins, 352 pages, $26.00 hardcover ISBN 0 06 019187 2 Just in time for the U.S. Presidential election comes The Run, a political thriller about a U.S. Senator’s campaign for the Presidency. Fortunately, the candidate is not Stone Barrington, but William Henry Lee, IV, of Georgia. A descendant of
- ["Worst Fears Realized" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/10/01/worst-fears-realized-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Worst Fears Realized (1999) HarperCollins, 332 pages, $25.00 hard cover ISBN 0 06 019182 1 Stone Barrington is up to his usual activities. At the beginning of Worst Fears Realized, he picks up Susan Bean, a female attorney who was the assistant prosecutor on a recent high-profile case. Susan and Stone
- ["Orchid Beach" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/07/01/orchid-beach-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Orchid Beach (1998)HarperCollins, 325 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0-06-019181-3 Finally, a new book by Stuart Woods that doesn’t feature philandering superhero Stone Barrington. In fact, the protagonist of Woods’s latest novel is a woman, 37-year-old Holly Barker. After 20 years in the army, Barker retires when a male superior whom she and another
- ["Swimming to Catalina" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/10/22/swimming-to-catalina-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods,Stuart. Swimming to Catalina (1998) HarperCollins, 311 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 06 018369 1 In his latest adventure Stone Barrington travels to Hollywood at the request of the country’s hottest movie star, Vance Calder. Vance is now married to writer Arrington Carter, Stone’s former lover. When Vance tells Stone that Arrington is
- ["Dirt" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/06/15/dirt-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Dirt (1996) HarperCollins, 272 pages, $24.00 hardcover ISBN 0 06 017666 0 When fax machines all over the country begin receiving exposés about ruthless New York gossip columnist Amanda Dart, she hires Stone Barrington to find out who’s giving her a dose of her own medicine. Barrington is a former policeman, now
- ["Choke" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/04/15/choke-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Choke (1995) Harper Collins, 280 pages, $23.00 hardcover ISBN 0-06-017667-9 Twenty some years ago Chuck Chandler choked. Right on Centre Court at Wimbledon. He squandered three match points, then went on to lose the most prestigious championship in tennis. It’s 1995 when we next see Chuck, who has just arrived in Key
- ["Santa Fe Rules" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/05/15/santa-fe-rules-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Santa Fe Rules (1992) Harper Paperbacks, 332 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 06 109089 1 After leaving his Santa Fe home one morning to travel to his Hollywood home and workplace, film producer Wolf Willett is stunned to read his own obituary in The New York Times. He, his wife, and
- ["New York Dead" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/04/15/new-york-dead-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. New York Dead (1991) HarperPaperbacks, 325 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0-06-109080-8 Having read two other Stone Barrington novels (Dirt and Dead in the Water) previously, I decided to go back and be properly introduced to this character whom Stuart Woods can’t seem to let go. In New York Dead Stone Barrington
- ["Under the Lake" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/02/15/under-the-lake-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Under the Lake (1987) Avon, $6.50 paperback ISBN 0 30 70519 2 In this excellent supernatural thriller, John Howell, former newspaper reporter and recipient of the Nobel Prize, is approaching 40. Having burned out on newspaper work, he is now supposedly working on The Great American Novel; actually, he spends his days
- ["Chiefs" by Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/01/15/chiefs-by-stuart-woods/) - Woods, Stuart. Chiefs (1981) Avon Books, 427 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 380 70347 5 Recommended One benefit to discovering a prolific author with one of his later works is that you then have the pleasure of going back and reading all his earlier books as well. I first discovered Stuart Woods in
- ["The Echo" by Minette Walters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/10/01/the-echo-by-minette-walters/) - Walters, Minette. The Echo (1997) Penguin Putnam, 351 pages, $6.99 paperback ISBN 0 515 12256 4 When a homeless man known as Billy Blake dies of malnutrition in the garage of an expensive home in London, police are unable to discover anything about the man’s true identity. Several months later journalist Michael Deacon is
- ["The Dark Room" by Minette Walters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/09/01/the-dark-room-by-minette-walters/) - Walters, Minette. The Dark Room (1996) Penguin Putnam, 339 pages, $7.99 mass market paperback ISBN 0-515-12045-6 Jinx Kingsley, a London photographer and daughter of a millionaire father with reputed underworld connections, wakes up in a private hospital. She has no recollection of how or why she got there. But she does have flashes
- ["The Scold's Bridle" by Minette Walters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/08/01/the-scolds-bridle-by-minette-walters/) - Walters, Minette. The Scold's Bridle (1994) St. Martin's, 365 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 312 95612 6 Recommended Nobody is very concerned when the body of Mathilda Gillespie, a venomous old woman, is discovered in her bathtub. Mathilda apparently has committed suicide by slitting her wrists while wearing her scold’s bridle, an ancient
- ["The Sculptress" by Minette Walters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/06/01/the-sculptress-by-minette-walters/) - Walters, Minette. The Sculptress (1993) St. Martin's, 308 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 312 95361 5 Rosalind Leigh is a blocked writer given an ultimatum by her publisher: write a book about a sensational murder that occurred several years earlier or be dropped from the publisher’s list. Roz grudgingly accepts the assignment to
- ["The Ice House" by Minette Walters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/04/01/the-ice-house-by-minette-walters/) - Walters, Minette. The Ice House (1992) St. Martin's, 301 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 312 95142 6 Recommended When a decomposing body is discovered in the ice house on a British estate, two cynical detectives arrive to investigate. They’re certain that the body must be that of the husband of the household, who
- ["The Hunter" by Richard Stark](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/06/01/the-hunter-by-richard-stark/) - Stark, Richard. The Hunter (1962); rpt. as Point Blank Allison & Busby, 154 pages, $13.95 hardcover ISBN 0 85031 591 3 {Richard Stark is a pseudonym Donald E. Westlake used for a series of stark noir thrillers featuring the character Parker.} As Parker walks across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan at the
- ["The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2004/02/01/the-lovely-bones-by-alice-sebold/) - Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones (2002) Little, Brown, 328 pages, $21.95 hardcover ISBN 0-316-66634-3 "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973" (p. 5). So begins Susie’s story, her narrative of watching from heaven as her family and friends go
- ["Disturbances in the Field" by  Lynne Sharon Schwartz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/06/01/disturbances-in-the-field-by-lynne-sharon-schwartz/) - Schwartz, Lynne Sharon. Disturbances in the Field New York: Counterpoint, 1983 ISBN 1-58243-332-1 Highly Recommended We hear a lot about nutritionally dense foods these days. Foods that are nutritionally dense provide high nutritional value in proportion to the calories they contain; they are the opposite of junk food, which delivers high calories with
- ["Certain Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/11/01/certain-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Certain Prey (1999) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 339 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14496 X In his latest Lucas Davenport thriller John Sandford does something different: he focuses on the villain as much as on the hero. And what a villain it is: Clara Rinker, the best hit woman (or hit
- ["Secret Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/10/15/secret-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Secret Prey (1998) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 392 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14382 3 After an interlude with Anna Batory on the West Coast, in Secret Prey John Sandford puts detective Lucas Davenport back to work in Minneapolis. Daniel S. Kresge, chairman of the board, president, and CEO of the
- ["The Night Crew" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/12/01/the-night-crew-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. The Night Crew (1997) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 371 pages, $23.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14237 1 The action has moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles and the protagonist is a woman, but otherwise fans of John Sandford’s “Prey” series won’t notice much difference between the earlier novels and this one. The
- ["Mind Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/11/08/mind-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Mind Prey (1995)Berkley, 354 pages, $6.99 paperback ISBN 0 425 15289 8 Mind Prey opens with a memorable simile: "The storm blew up late in the afternoon, tight, gray clouds hustling over the lake like dirty, balled up sweat socks spilling from a basket" (p. 1). Soon Andi Manette, a psychiatrist, and her
- ["Night Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/11/01/night-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Night Prey (1994) Berkley, 400 pages, $6.99 paperback ISBN 0 425 14641 3 Back in Minneapolis, Lucas Davenport’s new business producing police training simulation software is making a fortune when Rose Marie Roux, the new police chief, asks Davenport to come back to the force. Roux, who has her eye on an
- ["Winter Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/10/22/winter-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Winter Prey (1993) Berkley, 343 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 425 14123 3 Lucas Davenport is spending the coldest winter anyone can remember in his cabin in northern Wisconsin. When a multiple murder occurs in a nearby small town, the local sheriff realizes he’s in over his head and calls in
- ["Silent Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/10/15/silent-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Silent Prey (1992)Berkley Books, $6.99 paperback ISBN 0 425 13756 2 This book opens with the escape of Michael Bekker on the day the jury begins deliberation at his trial. Soon bodies with no eyelids start turning up in New York City and scientific journals begin receiving long, scholarly papers from Bekker
- ["Eyes of Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/10/08/eyes-of-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Eyes of Prey (1991). In John Sandford: Three Complete Novels G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 725 pages, hardcover ISBN 0-399-14007-7 At the end of Shadow Prey Jennifer, Davenport’s former girlfriend, and Sarah, their baby, are wounded in a shootout. After this experience Jennifer has withdrawn from Lucas and now allows him to see Sarah only
- ["Shadow Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/10/01/shadow-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Shadow Prey (1990). In John Sandford: Three Complete Novels G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 725 pages, hardcover ISBN 0-399-14007-7 A slumlord in Minneapolis, a politician in New York City, and a judge in Oklahoma City are all murdered in the same way. All are connected back to Minnesota’s Native American community, where Lucas Davenport
- ["Rules of Prey" by John Sandford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/09/01/rules-of-prey-by-john-sandford/) - Sandford, John. Rules of Prey (1989). In John Sandford: Three Complete Novels G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 725 pages, hardcover ISBN 0-399-14007-7 In this introductory novel Minneapolis homicide detective Lucas Davenport, creator of computer games in his spare time, faces an intelligent serial killer who leaves behind messages stating his rules for avoiding detection. As the chase
- [John Sandford: Introductory Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/08/01/john-sandford-introductory-notes/) - John Sandford is the pseudonym of author and journalist John Camp, who won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1986 and the Distinguished Writing Award of the American Society of Newspaper Editors for 1985. Camp was born in 1944 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa, where he received a bachelor’s degree
- ["The Opposite of Me" by Sarah Pekkanen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/05/01/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
- ["Hard Time" by Sara Paretsky](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/09/01/hard-time-by-sara-paretsky/) - Paretsky, Sara. Hard Time (1999). Delacorte, 385 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 385 31363 Whatever demons were haunting Sara Paretsky, she seems to have exorcised them in Ghost Country, for Hard Time brings back V.I. Warshawski in the author’s best novel yet. When Global Entertainment, a media conglomerate, purchases the Chicago Herald-Star, V.I. Warshawski’s long-time
- ["Ghost Country" by Sara Paretsky](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/08/01/ghost-country-by-sara-paretsky/) - Paretsky, Sara. Ghost Country (1998) Delacorte, 386 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 385 29933 8 I was very glad when Sara Paretsky finally proved wrong my fear (after reading Windy City Blues) that she might never publish again with the appearance of Ghost Country. Then I read the novel. Ghost Country starts off
- ["Windy City Blues" by Sara Paretsky](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/07/01/windy-city-blues-by-sara-paretsky/) - Paretsky, Sara. Windy City Blues (1995)Delacorte When Windy City Blues, a collection of V.I. Warshawski short stories, came out, Sara Paretsky was in the midst of a prolonged and well publicized writing slump. After I read this book, my heart sank. I feared that we might never see another Paretsky book again. I imagined this
- ["The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" by Maggie O'Farrell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/05/01/the-vanishing-act-of-esme-lennox-by-maggie-ofarrell/) - O'Farrell, Maggie. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox New York: Harcourt, 2006 ISBN 978-0-15-101411-8 Blackstone Audiobooks, narrated by Anne Flosnik Recommended This novel is about family stories--in this case, the truths that don't get told and the lies that spring up to fill the void--and how those stories reverberate through generations. Iris Lockhart
- ["The Chalk Girl" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/03/01/the-chalk-girl-by-carol-oconnell/) - 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
- ["Shell Game" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/05/01/shell-game-by-carol-oconnell/) - O’Connell, Carol. Shell Game (1999)G.P. Putnam's Sons, 374 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14495-1 After a break for Judas Child, Carol O’Connell returns to her series character, NYPD detective Kathleen Mallory, in Shell Game. When an elderly magician dies horribly in what appears to be a botched magic act, only Mallory suspects murder.
- ["Stone Angel" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/11/30/stone-angel-by-carol-oconnell/) - O’Connell, Carol. Stone Angel (1997) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 341 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14234 7 In Stone Angel Charles Butler tracks Mallory to Dayborn, Louisiana, where she’s gone in search of her past: “Though she had buried it deep, the act had come back in bits and pieces of unguarded thoughts
- ["Killing Critics" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/11/15/killing-critics-by-carol-oconnell/) - O’Connell, Carol. Killing Critics (1996) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 309 pages, $23.95 hardcover ISBN 0 39914168 5 I found this to be the least enjoyable of O’Connell’s Mallory books. In this installment, an art-related murder leads Mallory back to an unsolved brutal double homicide Markowitz had worked on 12 years earlier. The plot of
- ["The Man Who Cast Two Shadows" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/11/01/the-man-who-cast-two-shadows-by-carol-oconnell/) - O’Connell, Carol. The Man Who Cast Two Shadows (1995) Jove Books, 308 pages, $6.99 paperback ISBN 0 515 11890 7 After a short prologue, the first chapter of this book opens with a page about the young child Kathy who had a phone number written on her hand. The first three digits of
- ["Mallory's Oracle" by Carol O'Connell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/10/01/mallorys-oracle-by-carol-oconnell/) - O’Connell, Carol. Mallory's Oracle (1994) Jove Books, 310 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 515 11647 5 NYPD detective Louis Markowitz has been tracking a serial killer who preys on elderly women. Now Markowitz has been murdered, his body found near that of the killer’s latest victim. One of the officers who arrive on
- ["Beneath the Bleeding" by Val McDermid](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/07/01/beneath-the-bleeding-by-val-mcdermid/) - McDermid, Val. Beneath the Bleeding (2007) Audiobook by Recorded Books (2010), narrated by Gerard Doyle This book opens with Dr. Tony Hill in his office late one night at the psychiatric facility where he works. When one of the most violent patients stages an escape, Hill manages to distract him long enough to allow
- [Authors/Series I Stopped Reading--For Whatever Reason](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/08/07/authors-series-i-stopped-reading-for-whatever-reason/) - 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
- ["A Place of Execution" by Val McDermid](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/08/01/a-place-of-execution-by-val-mcdermid/) - McDermid, Val. A Place of Execution (1999)St. Martin's, 465 pages, $6.99 mass market paperback ISBN 0-312-97953-3 Recommended British writer Catherine Heathcote has nearly finished her book about a famous case, the disappearance of 13-year-old Alison Carter 25 years earlier. Although Heathcote has interviewed all the people still living who were involved in
- ["The Mermaids Singing" by Val McDermid](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/06/26/the-mermaids-singing-by-val-mcdermid/) - McDermid, Val. The Mermaids Singing (1995) Audiobook by Dreamscape Media (2011), narrated by Graham Roberts Note: This novel contains graphic descriptions of torture and sexual violence. The bodies of four men, brutally tortured and murdered, have been found in the fictional town of Bradfield, England. Police have no leads in the case and have
- ["Crack Down" by Val McDermid](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/07/01/crack-down-by-val-mcdermid/) - McDermid, Val. Crack Down (1994)Harper, 246 pages, $4.99 paperback ISBN 0 06 104394 X British private investigator Kate Brannigan is one half of the firm Mortensen and Brannigan, which specializes in white collar crime, particularly financial and computer fraud. The book opens with Kate and her boyfriend, freelance rock journalist Richard Barclay, posing as
- ["Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/11/01/mystic-river-by-dennis-lehane/) - Lehane, Dennis. Mystic River (2001) HarperCollins, 448 pages, $7.99 mass market paperback ISBN 0 380 73185 1 Highly Recommended Dennis Lehane takes a break from Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro of Dorchester to tell the story of three boys from the fictional East Buckingham, a working-class district just west of downtown.
- ["A Drink Before the War" by Dennis Lehane](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/07/01/a-drink-before-the-war-by-dennis-lehane/) - Lehane, Dennis. A Drink Before the War (1994) HarperCollins, 277 pages, $6.99 mass market paperback ISBN 0 380 72623 8 Sometimes it pays to start reading a series at the beginning. And sometimes it doesn’t. After discovering Dennis Lehane in Gone, Baby, Gone, I decided to get to know Patrick Kenzie
- ["To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/06/01/to-kill-a-mockingbird-by-harper-lee/) - Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) rpt. Warner, 1982, 281 pages, $6.99 paperbackISBN 0-446-31078-6 Highly Recommended The story takes place in rural Maycomb, Alabama, between the summer of 1933 and Halloween of 1935. In Part One the young narrator, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, sets the stage for the main action by introducing us
- ["The Dance of the Dissident Daughter" by Sue Monk Kidd](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2003/11/01/the-dance-of-the-dissident-daughter-by-sue-monk-kidd/) - Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996) HarperCollins, 238 pages, $12.95 trade paperback ISBN 0-06-064589-X Highly Recommended Long before Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees hit the bestseller lists, Kidd was an established Christian inspirational writer and speaker. Then suddenly one day an incident involving her teenage daughter
- ["Sing Them Home" by Stephanie Kallos](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/02/01/sing-them-home-by-stephanie-kallos/) - Kallos, Stephanie. Sing Them Home Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009, 560 pages ISBN: 0871139634 Audiobook by Blackstone Audio Narrated by Tavia Gilbert The sudden death of physician Llewellyn Jones brings together his three grown children in their small hometown of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. Nearly 30 years earlier the children’s mother, Aneira Hope Jones,
- ["Broken for You" by Stephanie Kallos](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/10/30/broken-for-you-by-stephanie-kallos/) - Kallos, Stephanie. Broken for You New York: Grove Press, 2004 ISBN 0-8021-1779-1 Blackstone Audiobooks Narrated by Anna Fields Recommended Margaret Hughes, age 75, has just learned that she has a brain tumor. Margaret lives alone in a vast mansion in the most upscale part of Seattle. Her only companions are the
- ["The Knitting Circle" by Ann Hood](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/12/15/the-knitting-circle-by-ann-hood/) - Hood, Ann. The Knitting Circle New York: Norton, 2007 ISBN 0-393-05901-4 Blackstone Audiobooks, narrated by Hillary Huber Highly recommended This novel is all about perspective, and about the healing power of telling our stories. When Mary Baxter’s five-year-old daughter dies suddenly of meningitis, Mary finds herself unable to read, write, go to work, or do
- [Ann Hood: Introductory Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/11/01/ann-hood-introductory-notes/) - Ann Hood was born in West Warwick, RI. After receiving her B.A. in English from the University of Rhode Island, she became a flight attendant for TWA. She has lived in Boston, St. Louis, and New York City, where she attended graduate school in literature at New York University. In April 2002 Hood's two-year-old daughter,
- [“V” Is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/02/01/v-is-for-vengeance-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “V” Is for Vengeance (2011)Putnam, $27.95 hardcover ISBN10: 0399157867 Audiobook by Random House Audio. Narrated by Judy Kaye While shopping at a department store, Kinsey witnesses a woman obviously stealing some expensive merchandise. She reports what she has seen to a store clerk, who then notifies security. Kinsey hangs around to
- [“T” Is for Trespass by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/04/01/t-is-for-trespass-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “T” Is for Trespass (2007)New York: Putnam, 400 pages ISBN: 0399154485Random House Audio, narrated by Judy Kaye Recommended Starting a new Sue Grafton novel always means getting reacclimatized to Kinsey's world. For Kinsey (lucky woman), time is not passing nearly as quickly as it is for her readers. At the beginning of
- [“Q” Is for Quarry by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2004/01/01/q-is-for-quarry-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “Q” Is for Quarry (2002)Putnam, 385 pages, $26.95 hardcover ISBN 0-399-14915-5 After her worst outing yet (“P” is for poor), Kinsey is back, this time helping two aging police detectives take another crack at a cold case—a still unsolved murder from 18 years earlier. Found with her hands
- ["P” Is for Peril  by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/03/01/p-is-for-peril-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton,Sue. "P” Is for Peril (2001) Putnam, 352 pages, $26.95 hardcover ISBN 0399147195 Dr. Dowan Purcell has been missing for nine weeks by the time his ex-wife, Fiona, hires Kinsey to find him. The 69-year-old doctor, a respected member of the local medical community, is director of a nursing home. He’s now married to
- ["N” is for Noose by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/09/01/n-is-for-noose-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. "N” is for Noose (1998) Henry Holt and Company, 289 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 8050 3650 4 Sue Grafton’s new novel finds Kinsey Millhone ready to leave Nevada after caring for Dietz, her off-again, on-again lover, for a couple of weeks after his knee-replacement operation. Dietz refers Kinsey for a
- [“M” is for Malice by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/06/01/m-is-for-malice-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “M” is for Malice (1996)Henry Holt and Company, 300 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 8050 3637 7 “M” is for melancholy, the mood in which we find Kinsey Millhone at the beginning of this book: Ah, January. The holidays had left me feeling restless and the advent of the new year generated
- [“L” is for Lawless by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/05/01/l-is-for-lawless-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “L” is for Lawless (1995) Holt, 290 pages, $24.00 hardcoverISBN 0-8050-1937-5 Many critics called “K” is for Killer Grafton’s darkest, most disturbing novel. Grafton herself may have felt the same way, because “L” is for Lawless seems to be a concerted attempt at humor. The novel opens in comical circumstances: Henry Pitts, Kinsey’s
- [“K” is for Killer  by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/04/01/k-is-for-killer-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “K” is for Killer (1994)Holt, 285 pages, $22.95 hardcoverISBN 0-8050-1936-7 Janice Kepler is having trouble coping with her daughter’s death. She’s joined a support group but finds it little comfort. One night she leaves the group meeting early and sees a light on in the office of Millhone Investigations. Janice explains to Kinsey
- [“J” Is for Judgment  by Sue Grafton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/08/01/j-is-for-judgment-by-sue-grafton/) - Grafton, Sue. “J” Is for Judgment (1993) Fawcett Crest, 360 pages, $6.99 paperbackISBN 0 449 22148 2 A little over five years ago Wendell Jaffe disappeared from his sail boat, leaving behind a suicide note and a failed, fraudulent investment company. Jaffe also left behind a business partner who went to jail for fraud, a
- ["Still Alice" by Lisa Genova](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/01/01/still-alice-by-lisa-genova/) - Genova, Lisa. Still Alice Simon & Schuster, 2008 ISBN: 1439116881 Simon & Schuster Audio. Narrated by the author Highly Recommended As the book opens, Alice Howland, Ph. D., a cognitive psychologist at Harvard, works on a peer-review evaluation of an academic paper submitted for publication in a scientific journal. She is disturbed by
- ["Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2012/10/15/gone-girl-by-gillian-flynn/) - Related Post: “Gone Girl”: Forging a Life Story Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl (2012) Crown Publishing Ebook ISBN 0307588386 Highly Recommended On a July morning in North Carthage, Missouri, Amy Dunne has disappeared. Today is their fifth anniversary, husband Nick tells us. Nick is an unemployed writer who brought his beautiful and brilliant wife
- ["Room" by Emma Donoghue](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/01/01/room-by-emma-donoghue/) - Donoghue, Emma. Room New York: Little, Brown, 2010 ISBN 978-0-316-09833-5 Five-year-old Jack lives with Ma in an 11-foot square room. This room is Jack’s whole world. It’s where he eats and plays and learns. It’s where he watches the unreal pictures, made only of colors, on the television. Room is filled with Jack’s friends: Bed,
- ["Writing a Woman's Life" by Carolyn G. Heilbrun](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/04/01/writing-a-womans-life-by-carolyn-g-heilbrun/) - Heilbrun, Carolyn G. Writing a Woman's Life (1988) W.W. Norton & Company, 144 pages, $14.95 hardcover ISBN 0-393-02601-9 In the "Introduction," feminist scholar Carolyn Heilbrun explains the topic of her book: There are four ways to write a woman's life: the woman herself may tell it, in what she chooses to call an autobiography; she
- ["The James Joyce Murder" by Amanda Cross](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/03/01/the-james-joyce-murder-by-amanda-cross/) - Cross, Amanda. The James Joyce Murder (1967) Ballantine Books, 197 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0-345-34686-6 Spending the summer at a house in the Berkshires editing letters between James Joyce and his publisher promises to be a peaceful refuge from the city for Kate Fansler. Caring for her young nephew Leo is only a
- ["In the Last Analysis" by Amanda Cross](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/07/01/in-the-last-analysis-by-amanda-cross/) - Cross, Amanda. In the Last Analysis (1964) rpt. Avon Books, 176 pages, $5.50 paperback ISBN 0-380-54510-1 Carolyn G. Heilbrun, the reality behind the pseudonym Amanda Cross, was a professor at Columbia University in New York City. In Cross's Kate Fansler mysteries I hoped to find books with a bit more substance than many current
- [Amanda Cross: Introductory Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/06/01/amanda-cross-introductory-notes/) - Feminist critic and scholar Carolyn G. Heilbrun was a tenured professor of literature at Columbia University in New York City. She published mystery novels featuring heroine Kate Fansler under the pseudonym Amanda Cross. I originally read In the Last Analysis, the first Kate Fansler novel, because I had frequently heard this series described as "literate
- ["Shelter" by Harlan Coben](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/07/01/shelter-by-harlan-coben/) - Coben, Harlan. Shelter: A Mickey Bolitar Novel G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011 Life is looking pretty bleak to fifteen-year-old Mickey Bolitar. In addition to watching his father die in a car crash and admitting his mother to drug rehab, he has had to move in with his uncle, Myron Bolitar, whom he hates. The
- ["Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/03/01/hold-tight-by-harlan-coben/) - Coben, Harlan. Hold Tight (2008) Dutton, 321 pages, $26.95 hardcover ISBN-10: 0525950605 ISBN-13: 978-0525950608. Recommended When Mike and Tia Baye install a spy program on their son Adam's computer, they have no idea what they're getting themselves into. All they know is that 16-year-old Adam has become increasingly more withdrawn and sullen over the past
- ["No Second Chance" by Harlan Coben](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2003/01/01/no-second-chance-by-harlan-coben/) - Coben, Harlan. No Second Chance (2003) Dutton, 338 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0-525-94729-9 "Can you ever do the wrong thing for the right reason?" That’s the question Harlan Coben addresses in his latest thriller, No Second Chance. As we’ve come to expect from Coben, the novel grabs us with its opening line: "When the
- ["Gone for Good" by Harlan Coben](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/06/01/gone-for-good-by-harlan-coben/) - Coben, Harlan. Gone for Good (2002) Delacorte, 341 pages, $23.95 hardcover ISBN 0-385-33558-X While looking over his mother’s belongings just after her death from cancer, Will Klein discovers a photograph that indicates his brother, Ken, may still be alive. Eleven years earlier Will’s former girlfriend and neighbor, Julie Miller, was murdered in their suburban
- ["Tell No One" by Harlan Coben](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/05/01/tell-no-one-by-harlan-coben/) - Coben, Harlan. Tell No One (2001) Delacorte, 339 pages, $22.95 hardcover ISBN 0-385-33555 Recommended Spoiler Alert! This review gives away plot details that may spoil the reading experience for you. Proceed at your own peril! You'll get a second warning below. "Don't start this book at bedtime," several people told me. "I stayed up all
- [Harlan Coben: Introductory Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/04/01/harlan-coben-introductory-notes/) - Harlan Coben was born in Newark, NJ, in 1962 and grew up in Livingston, NJ. He continues to live in NJ with his wife, a pediatrician, and their four children. He graduated from Amherst College with a major in political science. Coben is the first author to win all three of mystery's most prestigious awards:
- [Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part II](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/09/23/harlan-coben-in-st-louis-part-ii/) - Part I (in case you missed it) The first question people always ask an author is “Where do you get your ideas?” Coben said that anything, such as a tabloid headline, can stimulate an idea. Then he just keeps asking “What if?” For example, the idea for Promise Me came when he overheard a couple
- [“An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England” by Brock Clarke](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/02/01/an-arsonists-guide-to-writers-homes-in-new-england-by-brock-clarke/) - Clarke, Brock. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England: A Novel Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 2007 ISBN 978-1-56512-551-3 Random House Audio, narrated by Daniel Passer This quirky novel is about stories--the stories we tell about our lives and about ourselves, and the stories we tell to others and to ourselves. The story's narrator is
- ["Lost Boys" by Orson Scott Card](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/02/01/lost-boys-by-orson-scott-card/) - Card, Orson Scott. Lost Boys New York: HarperCollins, 1992 ISBN 0-06-109131-6 Audiobook by Blackstone Audio Recommended This is the story of the Fletcher family: Step (Stephen) and his pregnant wife, DeAnne, and their children--Stevie, age 8; Robbie, 4; and Elizabeth, 2. It's 1983, and the family is relocating from Indiana to Steuben,
- ["The Ax" by Donald E. Westlake](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/05/01/the-ax-by-donald-e-westlake/) - Westlake, Donald E. The Ax (1997) Mysterious Press, 273 pages, $23.00 hardcover ISBN 0 89296 587 8 Most of the serial killers we meet in modern fiction are tortured souls, abused as children or tormented by multiple personalities. But what if an otherwise ordinary man made a perfectly logical decision to become a
- ["Smoke" by Donald E. Westlake](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/04/01/smoke-by-donald-e-westlake/) - Westlake, Donald E. Smoke (1995) Mysterious Press, 454 pages, $21.95 hardcover ISBN 0-89296-543-7 Freddie Noon is a twice-convicted thief in New York City. So when he’s caught by Dr. David Loomis and Dr. Peter Heimhocker stealing electronic equipment from their research facility, he decides that becoming their experimental subject is better than the
- ["Trust Me on This" by Donald E. Westlake](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/02/01/trust-me-on-this-by-donald-e-westlake/) - Westlake, Donald E. Trust Me on This (1988) Mysterious Press, 292 pages, $5.50 paperback ISBN 0 445 40807 3 This send-up of tabloid journalism is the precursor to Baby, Would I Lie?. Young reporter Sara Joslyn has just lost her job when the small New England newspaper she worked for was bought out,
- ["Baby, Would I Lie?" by Donald E. Westlake](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/03/01/baby-would-i-lie-by-donald-e-westlake/) - Westlake, Donald E. Baby, Would I Lie? (1994) Mysterious Press 291 pages $19.95 hardcover ISBN 0-89296-532-0 Singer Ray Jones has his own theater on traffic-jam strip in Branson, Missouri, new center of country-and-western music. And Branson traffic is about to become even more congested than usual as reporters from everywhere pour in to
- ["The Hot Rock" by Donald E. Westlake](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/01/01/the-hot-rock-by-donald-e-westlake/) - Westlake, Donald E. The Hot Rock (1970) Simon and Schuster, 249 pages, $5.95 hardcover ISBN 671 20541 2 The Hot Rock introduces John Archibald Dortmunder, the criminal you can’t help but like. According to William L. DeAndrea in Encyclopedia Mysteriosa, Westlake’s “most successful comic novels, the Dortmunder series, grew directly from the grim
- [5 Big Books I've Read or Reread Recently](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2018/10/11/5-big-books-ive-read-or-reread-recently/) - It’s been a while since I wrote about my love for Big Books (tomes of 500 or more pages). Here are the five most recent ones I’ve read. A Column of Fire by Ken Follett, 928 pages This is the final entry in Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge trilogy. (The first two are Pillars of the Earth,
- ["World Without End" by Ken Follett](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/01/01/world-without-end-by-ken-follett/) - Follett, Ken. World Without End New York: Dutton, 2007 ISBN 0525950079 Penguin Audiobooks Ken Follett spent three years writing this sequel to his most popular book, The Pillars of the Earth. In World Without End, 200 years have passed since the completion of the majestic cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. During
- ["The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/01/01/the-pillars-of-the-earth-by-ken-follett/) - Follett, Ken. The Pillars of the Earth New York: Morrow, 1989 Penguin Audiobooks, narrated by John Lee Highly recommended "It's a truism of the book business that the best advertising is the kind you can't buy: the personal recommendation of one reader to another," says Ken Follett in the preface to the recently rereleased
- ["Hornet's Nest" by Patricia Cornwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/03/01/hornets-nest-by-patricia-cornwell/) - Cornwell, Patricia. Hornet's Nest (1996) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 377 pages, $25.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14228 2 I hoped that a break from Dr. Scarpetta might rejuvenate Patricia Cornwell’s writing. It didn’t. This is among the worst novels I’ve ever read. Most books this poorly written would end up in some editor’s wastebasket.
- ["Point of Origin" by Patricia Cornwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/02/01/point-of-origin-by-patricia-cornwell/) - Cornwell, Patricia. Point of Origin (1998) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 356 pages, $25.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14394 7 I’m getting really sick of Kay Scarpetta. At least in Patricia Cornwell’s earlier novels Scarpetta waited until the plot began to develop before beginning her self-centered, self-righteous lamentations. But in Point of Origin Scarpetta starts
- ["Unnatural Exposure" by Patricia Cornwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/01/01/unnatural-exposure-by-patricia-cornwell/) - Cornwell, Patricia. Unnatural Exposure (1997) G.P. Putnam's Sons, 338 pages, $25.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14285 1 After Cornwell’s two recent disasters, Cause of Death and Hornet’s Nest, I approached Unnatural Exposure with trepidation. Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns in a novel that doesn’t exhibit Hornet’s Nest’s lack of focus but that does, like
- ["Cause of Death" by Patricia Cornwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/02/01/cause-of-death-by-patricia-cornwell/) - Cornwell, Patricia. Cause of Death (1996) G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 340 pages, $25.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14146 4 This book opens with a powerful image: "On the last morning of Virginia's bloodiest year since the Civil War, I built a fire and sat facing a window of darkness where at sunrise I knew
- ["From Potter's Field" by Patricia Cornwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/01/01/from-potters-field-by-patricia-cornwell/) - Cornwell, Patricia. From Potter’s Field (1995) Scribner, 412 pages, $24.00 hardcover ISBN 0-684-19598-4 In the few days surrounding Christmas, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Pete Marino (now a police captain), and FBI agent Benton Wesley pursue Temple Gault, a serial killer who has appeared in earlier Scarpetta novels. Scarpetta’s niece, computer whiz Lucy, now age
- ["Blood Work" by Michael Connelly](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/03/01/blood-work-by-michael-connelly/) - Connelly, Michael. Blood Work (1998). Little Brown, 391 pages, $23.95 hardcover ISBN 0 316 15399 0 Taking a break from LAPD detective Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly introduces a new character, former FBI agent Terry McCaleb. We first meet McCaleb two months after his heart transplant surgery, living in a Los Angeles marina
- ["Angels Flight" by Michael Connelly](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/02/01/angels-flight-by-michael-connelly/) - Connelly, Michael. Angels Flight (1999) Little, Brown, 393 pages, $25.00 hardcover ISBN 0 316 15219 6 Howard Elias, an attorney well known around the LAPD for bringing charges of police brutality, is found murdered in Angels Flight, a small two-car train that travels up and down a hill in Los Angeles. The murder
- ["The Concrete Blonde" by Michael Connelly](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/02/01/the-concrete-blonde-by-michael-connelly/) - Connelly, Michael. The Concrete Blonde (1994). St. Martin's, 397 pages, $5.99 mass market paperback. ISBN 0 312 95500 6 Four years earlier, during the hunt for the serial killer known as the Dollmaker, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch had followed a lead to a small apartment, where he confronted and killed
- ["The Black Ice" by Michael Connelly](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/01/01/the-black-ice-by-michael-connelly/) - Connelly, Michael. The Black Ice (1993). St. Martin's, 368 pages, $6.99 mass market paperback ISBN 0 312 95281 3 It’s Christmas Day, and L.A. homicide detective Harry Bosch is on call. When he hears a broadcast for a homicide on the police scanner, he wonders why he, the on-call detective, hasn’t been notified. Bosch
- ["The Black Echo" by Michael Connelly](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/01/01/the-black-echo-by-michael-connelly/) - Connelly, Michael. The Black Echo (1992) St. Martin's, 412 pages, $7.50 paperback ISBN 0 312 95048 9 Harry Bosch of the LAPD, newly demoted to Hollywood detectives after 10 years in RHD—Robbery Homicide Division—catches what looks like a routine homicide. Soon, though, Bosch realizes that the corpse is Billy Meadows, whom Bosch had
- ["Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet " by M.C. Beaton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/04/01/agatha-raisin-and-the-vicious-vet-by-m-c-beaton/) - Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (1993) St. Martin’s, 199 pages, $17.95 hardcover ISBN 0‑312‑09242‑3 Agatha Raisin arrived at London's Heathrow Airport with a tan outside and a blush of shame inside. She felt an utter fool as she pushed her load of luggage towards the exit. She had just spent two weeks in the
- ["Death of a Gossip" by M.C. Beaton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/02/01/death-of-a-gossip-by-m-c-beaton/) - Death of a Gossip (1985) Warner Books, 179 pages, $6.50 paperback ISBN 0‑446‑60713‑4 Every week during salmon-fishing season a new class arrives at the fishing school in Lochdubh run by John and Heather Cartwright. But town constable Hamish Macbeth has a bad feeling about this particular class…. Macbeth is the lone police officer in Lochdubh,
- [M.C. Beaton: Introductory Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/01/01/m-c-beaton-introductory-notes/) - M.C. Beaton is a pseudonym of Marion Chesney, who is known primarily for the more than 100 historical romance novels she has published under her own name and under several pseudonyms: Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward. But M.C. Beaton is the pseudonym she reserves for her mystery novels. Marion Chesney was
- [The Best Books I Read in 1996](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1996/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-1996/) - Listed alphabetically by author Burke, James Lee. Black Cherry Blues Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany Margolin, Phillip. The Last Innocent Man O'Brien, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods O'Connell, Carol. Mallory's Oracle Sandford, John. "Prey" series (I admit this is cheating since it's more than one book) Shields, Carol. The Stone Diaries
- [The Best Books I Read in 2011](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2011/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2011/) - Listed alphabetically by author Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games Connelly, Michael. The Fifth Witness Donoghue, Emma. Room Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad Harbach, Chad. The Art of Fielding Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken Hoffman, Alice. The Story Sisters McLain, Paula. The Paris Wife Shapiro, Alison Bonds. Healing into Possibility Watson, S. J. Before I
- [The Best Books I Read in 2010](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2010/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2010/) - This has been an abysmal year for me in terms of pleasure reading: I read a mere 18 books. The reason for this low count is that I’ve spent the entire year researching and then writing my dissertation, which I hope to finish up in early 2011. So I’m looking forward to 2011 being a
- [The Best Books I Read in 2009](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2009/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2009/) - Listed alphabetically by author Corrigan, Kelly. The Middle Place Didion, Joan. Slouching Towards Bethlehem Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique Genova, Lisa. Still Alice Hoffman, Alice. The Story Sisters Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo O’Connell, Carol. Bone by Bone Sarton, May. Journal of a Solitude Stockett, Kathryn. The Help Zaslow, Jeffrey. The Girls
- [The Best Books I Read in 2008](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2008/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2008/) - Listed alphabetically by author Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby Goldberg, Natalie. Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir Hood, Ann. Comfort: A Journey through Grief O’Farrell, Maggie. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Saks, Elyn R. The Center Cannot Hold:
- [The Best Books I Read in 2007](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2007/) - Listed alphabetically by author Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights Butler, Octavia E. Kindred Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking Follett, Ken. The Pillars of the Earth Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love Hood, Ann. The Knitting Circle Kallos, Stephanie. Broken for You Lippman, Laura. What the Dead Know Rowling, J. K.
- [The Best Books I Read in 2006](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2006/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2006/) - Listed alphabetically by author Atkinson, Kate. Case Histories Auster, Paul. Oracle Night Auster, Paul. The Book of Illusions Harwood, John. The Ghost Writer Lipton, Bruce. The Biology of Belief Phillips, Arthur. The Egyptologist Picoult, Jodi. Plain Truth Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle
- [The Best Books I Read in 2005](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2005/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2005/) - Listed alphabetically by author Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning Gross, Joel. The Lives of Rachel Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven Shriver, Lionel. We Need to Talk about Kevin Tartt, Donna. The Secret History Turow, Scott. Ordinary Heroes Wharton, Edith. The House
- [The Best Books I Read in 2004](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2004/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2004/) - Listed alphabetically by author Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex Franzen, Jonathan. The Corrections Goodman, Carol. The Seduction of Water Gross, Joel. The Books of Rachel Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Haruf, Kent. Eventide Hoffman, Alice. Blue Diary Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City Niffenegger,
- [The Best Books I Read in 2003](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2003/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2003/) - Listed alphabetically by author Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game Connelly, Michael. Lost Light Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter McCafferty, Jane. Thank You for the Music McEwan, Ian. Atonement Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea Sebold, Alice.
- [The Best Books I Read in 2002](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2002/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2002/) - Listed alphabetically by author Brooks, Geraldine. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague Connelly, Michael. The Last Coyote Dallas, Sandra. Alice's Tulips Diamant, Anita. The Red Tent Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Sister of My Heart Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit: An American Legend Mason, Richard. The Drowning People McDermid, Val. A Place of Execution Pears, Iain. An
- [The Best Books I Read in 2001](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2001/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2001/) - Listed alphabetically by author Bragg, Rick. All Over But the Shoutin' Haruf, Kent. Plainsong Irving, John. The World According to Garp Lethem, Jonathan. Motherless Brooklyn Liss, David. A Conspiracy of Paper Oates, Joyce Carol. Blonde Oates, Joyce Carol. We Were the Mulvaneys Schwarz, Christina. Drowning Ruth Shreve, Anita. Strange Fits of Passion Vreeland, Susan. Girl
- [The Best Books I Read in 2000](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2000/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-2000/) - Listed alphabetically by author Gibbons, Kaye. A Virtuous Woman Hamilton, Jane. The Short History of a Prince Hegi, Ursula. Stones from the River James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird McEwan, Ian. Enduring Love: A Novel Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia Shreve, Anita. The Weight of
- [The Best Books I Read in 1999](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1999/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-1999/) - Listed alphabetically by author Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh Cheever, Susan. Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker Connelly, Michael. The Black Echo Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory Deane, Seamus. Reading in the Dark Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin
- [The Best Books I Read in 1998](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1998/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-1998/) - Listed alphabetically by author Austen, Jane. Emma Berendt, John. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Davies, Robertson. The Cunning Man DeLillo, Don. Underworld Ellroy, James. L.A.Confidential Erdrich, Louise. The Antelope Wife Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain Hamilton, Jane. The Book of Ruth Irving, John. The Cider House Rules Lefkowitz, Bernard. Our Guys: The Glen
- [The Best Books I Read in 1997](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/1997/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-in-1997/) - Listed alphabetically by author Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage Atkinson, Kate. Behind the Scenes at the Museum Byatt, A.S. Possession: A Romance Dorris, Michael. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water Finney, Jack. Time and Again Gaines, Ernest J. A Lesson Before Dying Mistry, Rohinton. A Fine Balance O'Connell, Carol. Stone Angel Smiley, Jane. A Thousand
- [Best Books I Read in 2007](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2007/12/31/best-books-i-read-in-2007/) - My favorite end-of-the-year activity is compiling my annual list of the best books I read during the year. Making this list is both pleasurable and painful: pleasurable because it allows me to revisit and remember each book; painful because I have to cut some books I really enjoyed to get the list down to the
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/09/literary-links-20/) - In the rush to harvest body parts, death investigations have been upended Maybe I just read too many crime novels and watch too many cop shows. Or maybe I’m just gruesome by nature. Yet I often think of exactly this problem when I’m reading a novel or watching a show. A medical examiner needs time
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/03/literary-links-19/) - Learning to Write Mysteries the Mystic River Way Angie Kim’s recently published debut novel Miracle Creek is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Dennis Lehane’s 2001 book Mystic River is a novel I still remember well even after all these years. Coming across this article, in which Angie Kim explains
- [“Monsters, villains, and antiheroes are largely just like us”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/05/monsters-villains-and-antiheroes-are-largely-just-like-us/)
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/10/27/literary-links-18/) - SOME OBSERVATIONS FROM LIBRARY TOURISM Jen Sherman declares “public libraries should be a tourist destination the way museums are.” And she knows whereof she speaks: I started doing a PhD about public libraries in 2012, and in the past eight years, I have visited 112 libraries in six different countries (primarily USA and Australia). I
- [5 "You Can't Go Home Again" Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/02/5-you-cant-go-home-again-novels/) - Feature image by Hermann Schmider from Pixabay Recently my husband and I traveled back to our neighboring hometowns for a family funeral. We’d been back for visits periodically, of course, but we haven’t lived there for 50 years. Each time we visit, I feel a distinct sense of dislocation. The adage “you can’t go home
- [My Longest Books (cont.)](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/10/23/my-longest-books-cont/) - Related Post: The 20 Longest Books I Own When I started collecting data for this project, I pulled down from my shelves every book that looked bigger than most of the others. In this age of Big Data, I just couldn’t quite discard all the remaining titles after I determined the 20 longest. Therefore, here’s
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/10/20/literary-links-17/) - Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers Joe Pinsker looks at the question of “why some people grow up to derive great pleasure from reading, while others don’t.” Here’s no surprise: “a chief factor seems to be the household one is born into, and the culture of reading that parents create within it.” How Reese Witherspoon
- [Books I Wish I Could Read for the First Time Again](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/10/16/books-i-wish-i-could-read-for-the-first-time-again/) - Recently I came across the article 14 Books You Wish You Could Read for the First Time Again. Off the Shelf editors asked members of their Facebook group which books they wish they could read again for the first time and published some of the responses. I agree with these titles from the article: 11/22/63
- [Literary Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/29/literary-links-16/) - A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Films When I recently read Riley Sager’s novel Final Girls, I didn’t realize that the final girl, the last girl left standing, is a standard trope of slasher movies. In this article Lindsay King-Miller talks about “a film’s Final Girl, a term coined by
- [6 Degrees of Separation: 1 Woman and 6 Others](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/11/02/6-degrees-of-separation-1-woman-and-6-others/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with a classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. 1. Another book with the
- [How Thrillers Grab Our Attention](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/27/how-thrillers-grab-our-attention/)
- [Banned Books Week](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/26/banned-books-week/)
- [Celebrate the Freedom to Read](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/27/celebrate-the-freedom-to-read/)
- [Who Challenges Books?](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/26/who-challenges-books/)
- [Read Banned Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/24/read-banned-books/)
- [It's Banned Books Week!](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/09/22/its-banned-books-week/)
- [The 20 Longest Books I Own](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/07/25/the-20-longest-books-i-own/) - This is not my original idea. A while back Madame Writer posted her list. She got me thinking that, given my interest in big books, I should compile my own list. Once I got started compiling a list, grabbing all the fattest books off my shelves became a compulsion. Consequently, so as not to waste all
- [6 Degrees of Separation: From Three to Eight](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/2019/10/05/6-degrees-of-separation-from-three-to-eight/) - It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books. This month we begin with a book that everyone’s talking about – Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, which Goodreads

## Pages

- [Glossary](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary-2/) - Here are some terms that you might come across in your reading. The definitions given below are not meant to be exhaustive. Indeed, whole books have been written to explain some of these terms, such as archetype, hero, realism, and symbolism. These notes are meant to provide basic definitions of frequently used literary terms; I
- [Fiction Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/fiction-notes/) - Index by Author's Last Name —A—B—C—D—E—F—G—H—I—J—K—L—M—N—O——P—Q—R—S—T—U—V—W—X—Y—Z— —A— Abbott, Megan Give Me Your Hand (2018) Adams, Richard Watership Down (1972) Adams, Taylor No Exit (2019) Anderson, Sherwood Winesburg, Ohio (1919) Asher, Jay Thirteen Reasons Why (2007) Atkinson, Kate Transcription (2018) Atwood, Margaret The Blind Assassin —B— Backman, Fredrik A Man Called Ove Baldacci, David A Calamity
- [Year's Best Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/years-best-books/) - My favorite end-of-the-year activity is compiling my annual list of the best books I read during the year. Making this list is both pleasurable and painful: pleasurable because it allows me to revisit and remember each book; painful because I have to cut some books I really enjoyed to get the list down to the
- [Featured Posts](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/featured-posts/)
- [Literary Calendar](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/literary-calendar/)
- [Nonfiction Notes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/nonfiction-notes-2/) - Index of All Nonfiction Notes Arranged Alphabetically by Author's Last Name An index of nonfiction notes arranged by topic is available here. —A— Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage (1996) —B— Brokaw, Tom The Greatest Generation (1998) Brumberg, Joan Jacobs The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (1997) —C— Cahalan, Susannah Brain on Fire:
- [Nonfiction by Topic](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/nonfiction-notes-2/nonfiction-by-topic/) - Index of Nonfiction by Topic The index of all nonfiction reviews arranged alphabetically by author’s last name is available here. This page contains the index of nonfiction notes by topic. Within each topic, entries are listed alphabetically by author’s last name. Some books appear under multiple categories. Biography Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage (1996) Middlebrook,
- [A-E](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary-2/a-e/) - ALA Youth Media Awards Each year the American Library Association honors books and media for children and teens. Major awards include the Alex Awards, theRandolph Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, and John Newbery Medal. More information on all ALA Youth Media Awards is available on the ALA website. allegory “In literature, an extended
- [About](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/about/) - Welcome to Notes in the Margin by Mary Daniels Brown, Ph. D. I have always read a lot. There are few activities I enjoy more than getting together with other people to discuss books. That modern convocation known as the book group is one of the highest achievements of humankind, in my book. Over the
- [U-Z](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary-2/u-z/) - unity “The concept that a work shall have in it some organizing principle to which all its parts are related so that the work is an organic whole. A work with unity is cohesive in its parts, complete, self-contained, and integrated…A work may…be unified by form, intent, theme, symbolism—in fact, by any means that can
- [P-T](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary-2/p-t/) - parody “In literature, a comic or satirical imitation of a piece of writing, exaggerating its style and content, and playing especially on any weakness in structure or meaning of the original.” Source: Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, 4th ed., ed. Bruce Murphy (N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1996), p. 778. pathetic fallacy “. . . the tendency to credit nature
- [K-O](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary-2/k-o/) - Kibble Awards There are two categories of the Nita B. Kibble Literary Awards for Women Writers, which support outstanding Australian female literary achievement: The Kibble Literary Award recognizes the work of an established Australian female writer. The Dobbie Literary Award recognizes a first published work from an Australian female writer. The Nita B. Kibble Literary
- [F-J](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary-2/f-j/) - flashback “A device by which a work presents material that occurred prior to the opening scene of the work. Various methods may be used, among them recollections of characters, narration by the characters, dream sequences, and reveries.” Source: Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman, A Handbook to Literature, 7th ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice

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- [Reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/reading/)
- [Wednesday Wildcard](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/wednesday-wildcard/)
- [Challenge](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/challenge/)
- [Story](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/story/)
- [List](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/list/)
- [Notes in the Margin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/notes-in-the-margin/)
- [Television](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/television/)
- [Et Cetera](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/et-cetera/)
- [Audiobooks](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/audiobooks/)
- [Literature & Psychology](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/literature-psychology/)
- [The Classics Club](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/the-classics-club/)
- [On Novels and Novelists](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/on-novels-and-novelists/)
- [WordPress Writing 201: Poetry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/wordpress-writing-201-poetry/)
- [Big Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/big-books/)
- [Last Week's Links](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/last-weeks-links/)
- [slow reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/slow-reading/)
- [How Fiction Works](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/how-fiction-works/)
- [Older Adults in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/older-adults-in-literature/)
- [Memoir](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/memoir/)
- [6 Degrees of Separation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/6-degrees-of-separation/)
- [Year's Best](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/years-best/)
- [Life Stories in Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/life-stories-in-literature/)
- [Discussion](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/discussion/)
- [Top Ten Tuesday](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/top-ten-tuesday/)
- [Literature & Culture](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/literature-culture/)
- [Language](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/language/)
- [15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/category/15-years-ago-on-notes-in-the-margin/)

## Tags

- [blog](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/blog/)
- [technology](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/technology/)
- [time travel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/time-travel/)
- [Santa Barbara](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/santa-barbara/)
- [pelican](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/pelican/)
- [Joyce](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joyce/)
- [Myers-Briggs](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/myers-briggs/)
- [Val McDermid](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/val-mcdermid/)
- [Olympics](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/olympics/)
- [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gerard-manley-hopkins/)
- [Moby-Dick](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/moby-dick/)
- [dogs](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dogs/)
- [sisters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sisters/)
- [Goodreads](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/goodreads/)
- [LibraryThing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/librarything/)
- [Charles Dickens](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/charles-dickens/)
- [mystery](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mystery/)
- [Emily dickinson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/emily-dickinson/)
- [Henry James](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/henry-james/)
- [grammar](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/grammar/)
- [feminism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/feminism/)
- [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dorothy-l-sayers/)
- [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/j-r-r-tolkien/)
- [The Hobbit](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-hobbit/)
- [Elmore Leonard](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/elmore-leonard/)
- [Laura Ingalls Wilder](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/laura-ingalls-wilder/)
- [Little House on the Prairie](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/little-house-on-the-prairie/)
- [J. K. Rowling](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/j-k-rowling/)
- [Banned Books Week](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/banned-books-week/)
- [James Ellroy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-ellroy/)
- [Joe Queenan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joe-queenan/)
- [Philip Roth](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/philip-roth/)
- [Ian Fleming](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ian-fleming/)
- [James Bond](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-bond/)
- [Stieg Larsson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stieg-larsson/)
- [Best Books 2012](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2012/)
- [Virginia Woolf](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/virginia-woolf/)
- [Mars](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mars/)
- [Ulysses](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ulysses/)
- [Golden Hatchet Award](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/golden-hatchet-award/)
- [The Feminine Mystique](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-feminine-mystique/)
- [Betty Friedan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/betty-friedan/)
- [Toni Morrison](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/toni-morrison/)
- [Truman Capote](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/truman-capote/)
- [Alice Munro](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alice-munro/)
- [Best Books 2013](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2013/)
- [Jane Austen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jane-austen/)
- [Robert Frost](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robert-frost/)
- [William S. Burroughs](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-s-burroughs/)
- [Harlan Coben](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/harlan-coben/)
- [Edgar Allan Poe](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/edgar-allan-poe/)
- [Sigmund Freud](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sigmund-freud/)
- [The World Within](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-world-within/)
- [Gillian Flynn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gillian-flynn/)
- [James Joyce](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-joyce/)
- [Donna Tartt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/donna-tartt/)
- [Harper Lee](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/harper-lee/)
- [Lois Lowry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lois-lowry/)
- [S.J. Watson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/s-j-watson/)
- [E.B. White](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/e-b-white/)
- [featured](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/featured/)
- [Jodi Picoult](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jodi-picoult/)
- [Luanne Rice](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/luanne-rice/)
- [Russell Banks](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/russell-banks/)
- [Shirley Jackson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/shirley-jackson/)
- [Christopher Morley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/christopher-morley/)
- [Best Books 2014](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2014/)
- [Stephen King](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stephen-king/)
- [Elena Ferrante](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/elena-ferrante/)
- [Fuminori Nakamura](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/fuminori-nakamura/)
- [P. D. James](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/p-d-james/)
- [Ruth Rendell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ruth-rendell/)
- [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robert-louis-stevenson/)
- [classic mysteries](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/classic-mysteries/)
- [Hollywood authors](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hollywood-authors/)
- [reader-response criticism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/reader-response-criticism/)
- [Patricia Cornwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/patricia-cornwell/)
- [James Patterson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-patterson/)
- [Norman Mailer](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/norman-mailer/)
- [Robert Galbraith](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robert-galbraith/)
- [Horace Walpole](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/horace-walpole/)
- [Sarah Gerard](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sarah-gerard/)
- [Dean Koontz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dean-koontz/)
- [Margaret Atwood](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margaret-atwood/)
- [Zadie Smith](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/zadie-smith/)
- [a post a day 2015](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/a-post-a-day-2015/)
- [To Kill a Mockingbird](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/to-kill-a-mockingbird/)
- [Sue Monk Kidd](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sue-monk-kidd/)
- [Stephanie Kallos](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stephanie-kallos/)
- [Mary Karr](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mary-karr/)
- [Frank McCourt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/frank-mccourt/)
- [Louise M. Rosenblatt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/louise-m-rosenblatt/)
- [Mary Catherine Bateson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mary-catherine-bateson/)
- [haiku](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/haiku/)
- [poem](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/poem/)
- [limerick](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/limerick/)
- [acrostic](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/acrostic/)
- [concrete poetry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/concrete-poetry/)
- [elegy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/elegy/)
- [fear](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/fear/)
- [for](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/for/)
- [uncertainty](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/uncertainty/)
- [diagnosis](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/diagnosis/)
- [Jonathan Franzen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jonathan-franzen/)
- [Marilynne Robinson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/marilynne-robinson/)
- [Richard Ford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/richard-ford/)
- [Anne Tyler](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anne-tyler/)
- [digital humanities](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/digital-humanities/)
- [old age](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/old-age/)
- [ballad](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ballad/)
- [anaphora](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anaphora/)
- [Elizabeth Blackwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/elizabeth-blackwell/)
- [poetry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/poetry/)
- [prose poem](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/prose-poem/)
- [ode](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ode/)
- [sonnet](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sonnet/)
- [brain](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/brain/)
- [full-body transplant](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/full-body-transplant/)
- [blogging](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/blogging/)
- [blog post length](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/blog-post-length/)
- [a blog a day 2015](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/a-blog-a-day-2015/)
- [flow](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/flow/)
- [Csikszentmihalyi](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/csikszentmihalyi/)
- [reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/reading/)
- [psychology](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/psychology/)
- [literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/literature/)
- [Go Set a Watchman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/go-set-a-watchman/)
- [“Still Alice](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/still-alice/)
- [” Lisa Genova](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lisa-genova/)
- [“Armies of the Night](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/armies-of-the-night/)
- [Joanna Trollope](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joanna-trollope/)
- [“Mad Men](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mad-men/)
- [” Matthew Weiner](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/matthew-weiner/)
- [Alzhiemer's](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alzhiemers/)
- [St. Patrick's Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/st-patricks-day/)
- [Ireland](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ireland/)
- [shamrocks](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/shamrocks/)
- ["Anne of Green Gables](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anne-of-green-gables/)
- [" Lucy Maud Montgomery](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lucy-maud-montgomery/)
- ["Winesburg Ohio"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/winesburg-ohio/)
- [Sherwood Anderson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sherwood-anderson/)
- [naturalism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/naturalism/)
- [Ian Rankin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ian-rankin/)
- [Joyce Carol Oates](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joyce-carol-oates/)
- [Tania James](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/tania-james/)
- [Peter Carey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/peter-carey/)
- [Rafael Yglesias](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rafael-yglesias/)
- [Gore Vidal](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gore-vidal/)
- [crime fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/crime-fiction/)
- [mysteries](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mysteries/)
- [David Mitchell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/david-mitchell/)
- [Man Booker International Prize](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/man-booker-international-prize/)
- [University of Puget Sound](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/university-of-puget-sound/)
- [Emerald City Comicon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/emerald-city-comicon/)
- [Frank Herbert](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/frank-herbert/)
- ["Dune"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dune/)
- [science fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/science-fiction/)
- [women writers](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/women-writers/)
- [HeForShe](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/heforshe/)
- [gender equality](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gender-equality/)
- [Daniel T. Willingham](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/daniel-t-willingham/)
- ["Raising Kids Who Read"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/raising-kids-who-read/)
- [Seattle City of Literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/seattle-city-of-literature/)
- [Ryan Boudinot](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ryan-boudinot/)
- [MFA writing programs](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mfa-writing-programs/)
- ["The Dark Tower"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-dark-tower/)
- [David Seders](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/david-seders/)
- ["Me Talk Pretty One Day"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/me-talk-pretty-one-day/)
- [apostaday2015](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/apostaday2015/)
- [writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/writing/)
- [voice](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/voice/)
- [Marlon James](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/marlon-james/)
- [Anisfield-Wolf fiction prize](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anisfield-wolf-fiction-prize/)
- [Shakespeare](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/shakespeare/)
- [Lewis Theobold](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lewis-theobold/)
- [John Fletcher](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-fletcher/)
- [James Pennebaker](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-pennebaker/)
- [Ryan Boyd](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ryan-boyd/)
- [psychological text analysis](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/psychological-text-analysis/)
- [Alzheimer's](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alzheimers/)
- [dementia](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dementia/)
- [Agatha Christie](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/agatha-christie/)
- [Iris Murdoch](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/iris-murdoch/)
- [Ronald Reagan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ronald-reagan/)
- [Andre Dubus](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/andre-dubus/)
- [vertical writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/vertical-writing/)
- [personal writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/personal-writing/)
- [essay](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/essay/)
- [Nick Ripatrazone](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nick-ripatrazone/)
- [National Poetry Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/national-poetry-month/)
- [poems](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/poems/)
- [American Academy of Poets](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/american-academy-of-poets/)
- [Pat Conroy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/pat-conroy/)
- [Alan Cheuse](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alan-cheuse/)
- [Ruth Ozeki](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ruth-ozeki/)
- [Jill McCorkle](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jill-mccorkle/)
- [Hulu](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hulu/)
- [imagination](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/imagination/)
- [YA literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ya-literature/)
- [Rocky Mountain Land Library](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rocky-mountain-land-library/)
- [Gretchen Rubin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gretchen-rubin/)
- [Jenn Worthington](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jenn-worthington/)
- [Edgar Award](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/edgar-award/)
- [Barbara Vine](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/barbara-vine/)
- [Little Free Library](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/little-free-library/)
- [Neil Gaiman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/neil-gaiman/)
- [Paulo Coelho](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/paulo-coelho/)
- [Teju Cole](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/teju-cole/)
- [Ursula K. LeGuin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ursula-k-leguin/)
- [Salman Rushdie](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/salman-rushdie/)
- [Gary Shteyngart](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gary-shteyngart/)
- [Haruki Murakami](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/haruki-murakami/)
- [Veronica Roth](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/veronica-roth/)
- [Katherine Dunn](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/katherine-dunn/)
- [Cormac McCarthy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/cormac-mccarthy/)
- [Richard Yates](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/richard-yates/)
- [Atticus Lish](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/atticus-lish/)
- [Alissa Nutting](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alissa-nutting/)
- [Catherine Lacey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/catherine-lacey/)
- [Bill Brittain](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bill-brittain/)
- [Noy Holland](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/noy-holland/)
- [Kent Haruf](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kent-haruf/)
- [Ross Macdonald](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ross-macdonald/)
- [Alison Lurie](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alison-lurie/)
- [Alice Sebold](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alice-sebold/)
- [Kevin Brockmeier](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kevin-brockmeier/)
- [Daphne du Maurier](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/daphne-du-maurier/)
- [Rober Olen Butler](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rober-olen-butler/)
- [Maxine Hong Kingston](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/maxine-hong-kingston/)
- [Flannery O’Connor](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/flannery-oconnor/)
- [Lynda Barry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lynda-barry/)
- [wicked stepmother](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/wicked-stepmother/)
- [archetype](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/archetype/)
- [patriarchy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/patriarchy/)
- [William Gaddis](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-gaddis/)
- [Christopher Robinson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/christopher-robinson/)
- [Gavin Kovite](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gavin-kovite/)
- [Miguel de Cervantes](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/miguel-de-cervantes/)
- [pseudonyms](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/pseudonyms/)
- ["Broken for You"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/broken-for-you/)
- ["Blue Diary"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/blue-diary/)
- ["We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/we-are-all-completely-beside-ourselves/)
- ["One Thousand White Women"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/one-thousand-white-women/)
- [Alice Hoffman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alice-hoffman/)
- [Karen Joy Fowler](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/karen-joy-fowler/)
- [Jim Fergus](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jim-fergus/)
- [Emma Straub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/emma-straub/)
- [Ken Bruen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ken-bruen/)
- [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/arthur-conan-doyle/)
- [G.K. Chesterton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/g-k-chesterton/)
- [E.C. Bentley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/e-c-bentley/)
- [Freeman Wills Crofts](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/freeman-wills-crofts/)
- [G.D.H. Cole](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/g-d-h-cole/)
- [Henry Wade](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/henry-wade/)
- [Ed McBain](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ed-mcbain/)
- [Anthony Berkeley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anthony-berkeley/)
- [Patricia Highsith](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/patricia-highsith/)
- [Margaret Millar](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margaret-millar/)
- [Sophie Hannah](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sophie-hannah/)
- [J.K. Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith)](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/j-k-rowling-writing-as-robert-galbraith/)
- [Eleanor Catton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/eleanor-catton/)
- [David Foster Wallace](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/david-foster-wallace/)
- [Tolstoy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/tolstoy/)
- [George Eliot](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/george-eliot/)
- [Jane Smiley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jane-smiley/)
- [bibliotherapy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bibliotherapy/)
- [detective novel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/detective-novel/)
- [John Steinbeck](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-steinbeck/)
- ["Cannery Row"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/cannery-row/)
- [Philip Jose Farmer](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/philip-jose-farmer/)
- [L. Sprague de Camp](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/l-sprague-de-camp/)
- [C.L. Moore](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/c-l-moore/)
- [Edgar Rice Burroughs](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/edgar-rice-burroughs/)
- [Dashiell Hammett](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dashiell-hammett/)
- [Margaret St. Clair](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margaret-st-clair/)
- [Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robert-a-heinlein/)
- [Raymond Chandler](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/raymond-chandler/)
- [Leigh Brackett](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/leigh-brackett/)
- [Patricia Highsmith](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/patricia-highsmith/)
- [Stephenie Meyer](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stephenie-meyer/)
- [Gertrude Chandler Warner](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gertrude-chandler-warner/)
- [Douglas Adams](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/douglas-adams/)
- [Philip K. Dick](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/philip-k-dick/)
- [Milan Kundera](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/milan-kundera/)
- [Monroeville AL](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/monroeville-al/)
- [Time Magazine](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/time-magazine/)
- [All-Time 100 Novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/all-time-100-novels/)
- [John Fowles](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-fowles/)
- [A.S. Byatt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/a-s-byatt/)
- [William Thackeray](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-thackeray/)
- [Ernst Lothar](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ernst-lothar/)
- [Leon Uris](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/leon-uris/)
- [Paul Murray](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/paul-murray/)
- [T.H. White](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/t-h-white/)
- [Lawrence Durrell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lawrence-durrell/)
- [Ford Maddox Ford](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ford-maddox-ford/)
- [Thomas Mann](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/thomas-mann/)
- [Italo Calvino](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/italo-calvino/)
- [Edith Wharton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/edith-wharton/)
- [Kate Chopin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kate-chopin/)
- [John Updike](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-updike/)
- [Vladimir Nabokov](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/vladimir-nabokov/)
- [Atticus Finch](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/atticus-finch/)
- [Grateful Dead](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/grateful-dead/)
- [Richard Adams](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/richard-adams/)
- [Edna O’Brien](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/edna-obrien/)
- [E.L. Doctorow](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/e-l-doctorow/)
- [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ursula-k-le-guin/)
- [James Purdy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-purdy/)
- [Naja Marie Aidt](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/naja-marie-aidt/)
- [Wilhelm Grimm](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/wilhelm-grimm/)
- [Jacob Grimm](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jacob-grimm/)
- [Linda Fairstein](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/linda-fairstein/)
- [Susan Barker](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/susan-barker/)
- [gothic literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gothic-literature/)
- [Southern gothic](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/southern-gothic/)
- [L. Timmel Duchamp](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/l-timmel-duchamp/)
- [Emily St. John Mandel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/emily-st-john-mandel/)
- [Octavia Butler](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/octavia-butler/)
- [Madeleine L’Engle](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/madeleine-lengle/)
- [Nnedi Okorafor](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nnedi-okorafor/)
- [Jo Walton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jo-walton/)
- [Hiromi Goto](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hiromi-goto/)
- [Tanith Lee](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/tanith-lee/)
- [Alice Bradley Sheldon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alice-bradley-sheldon/)
- [Nalo Hopkinson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nalo-hopkinson/)
- [Karen Russell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/karen-russell/)
- [Leonora Carrington](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/leonora-carrington/)
- [Sofia Samatar](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sofia-samatar/)
- [Iain Pears](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/iain-pears/)
- [Chad Harbach](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/chad-harbach/)
- [Matthew Thomas](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/matthew-thomas/)
- [Margaret Mitchell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margaret-mitchell/)
- [Elizabeth Kostova](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/elizabeth-kostova/)
- [Garth Risk Hallberg](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/garth-risk-hallberg/)
- [Mark Z. Danielewski](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mark-z-danielewski/)
- [Marisha Pessl](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/marisha-pessl/)
- [Umberto Eco](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/umberto-eco/)
- [Susanna Clarke](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/susanna-clarke/)
- [Deborah Harkness](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/deborah-harkness/)
- [David Wroblewski](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/david-wroblewski/)
- [narrative](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/narrative/)
- [narrative structure](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/narrative-structure/)
- [S.E. Hinton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/s-e-hinton/)
- [Lorrie Moore](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lorrie-moore/)
- [Bret Easton Ellis](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bret-easton-ellis/)
- [Roxane Gay](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/roxane-gay/)
- [Ray Bradbury](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ray-bradbury/)
- [Sonny Mehta](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sonny-mehta/)
- [television](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/television/)
- [publishing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/publishing/)
- [Neal Stephenson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/neal-stephenson/)
- [Richard Flanagan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/richard-flanagan/)
- [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/f-scott-fitzgerald/)
- [Ernest Hemingway](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ernest-hemingway/)
- [International School Library Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/international-school-library-month/)
- [American Association of School Librarians](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/american-association-of-school-librarians/)
- [William Gay](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-gay/)
- [Catriona Ward](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/catriona-ward/)
- [Neil Spring](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/neil-spring/)
- [Andrew Michael Hurley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/andrew-michael-hurley/)
- [Kate Mosse](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kate-mosse/)
- [Andy Weir](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/andy-weir/)
- [William Peter Blatty](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-peter-blatty/)
- [“The Exorcist”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-exorcist/)
- [Ruth Galm](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ruth-galm/)
- [Beverley Cleary](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/beverley-cleary/)
- [John Irving](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-irving/)
- [creative nonfiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/creative-nonfiction/)
- [Portland OR](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/portland-or/)
- [Michael Connelly](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/michael-connelly/)
- [Star Trek](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/star-trek/)
- [Nomi Eve](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nomi-eve/)
- [Best Books 2015](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2015/)
- [Jennifer Weiner](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jennifer-weiner/)
- [genre fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/genre-fiction/)
- [literary fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/literary-fiction/)
- [detective fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/detective-fiction/)
- [e-books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/e-books/)
- ["Emma"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/emma/)
- [James Lee Burke](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-lee-burke/)
- [Gabriel García Márquez](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gabriel-garcia-marquez/)
- [reading challenge](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/reading-challenge/)
- [Bill Gates](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bill-gates/)
- [Alan Rickman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alan-rickman/)
- [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dr-martin-luther-king-jr/)
- [Mark Twain](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mark-twain/)
- [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/fyodor-dostoevsky/)
- [George Orwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/george-orwell/)
- [Graham Greene](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/graham-greene/)
- [James Salter](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-salter/)
- [Herman Wouk](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/herman-wouk/)
- [speed reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/speed-reading/)
- [Emma Watson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/emma-watson/)
- ["The Great Gatsby"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-great-gatsby/)
- [rereading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rereading/)
- [Alexander Chee](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alexander-chee/)
- [Jonathan Kellerman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jonathan-kellerman/)
- [Michael Cunningham](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/michael-cunningham/)
- [Michelle Hoover](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/michelle-hoover/)
- [Charlotte Brontë](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/charlotte-bronte/)
- [“Jane Eyre”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jane-eyre/)
- [Sylvia Plath](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sylvia-plath/)
- [Mary Higgins Clark](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mary-higgins-clark/)
- [Tom Wolfe](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/tom-wolfe/)
- [Robert Penn Warren](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robert-penn-warren/)
- [Hanya Yanagihara](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hanya-yanagihara/)
- [Otto Penzler](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/otto-penzler/)
- [Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/cynthia-daprix-sweeney/)
- [Phil Klay](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/phil-klay/)
- [David McCullough](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/david-mccullough/)
- [A. Scott Berg](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/a-scott-berg/)
- [Laura Hillenbrand](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/laura-hillenbrand/)
- [Sheila Weller](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sheila-weller/)
- [Karin Salvalaggio](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/karin-salvalaggio/)
- [Karl Ove Knausgaard](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/karl-ove-knausgaard/)
- [Rufi Thorpe](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rufi-thorpe/)
- [Laura Lippman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/laura-lippman/)
- [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kurt-vonnegut/)
- [Liane Moriarty](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/liane-moriarty/)
- [plot](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/plot/)
- [Marcel Proust](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/marcel-proust/)
- [horror literature](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/horror-literature/)
- [Bonnie Nadzam](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bonnie-nadzam/)
- [Lionel Shriver](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lionel-shriver/)
- [Brisbane Writers Festival](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/brisbane-writers-festival/)
- [Megan Abbott](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/megan-abbott/)
- [Christine Sneed](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/christine-sneed/)
- [National Translation Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/national-translation-month/)
- [Franz Kafka](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/franz-kafka/)
- [horror](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/horror/)
- [Oprah](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/oprah/)
- [Halloween](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/halloween/)
- [“The Girl on the Train”](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-girl-on-the-train/)
- [Paula Hawkins](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/paula-hawkins/)
- [zombies](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/zombies/)
- [Best Books 2016](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2016/)
- [Privacy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/privacy/)
- [Debbie Reynolds](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/debbie-reynolds/)
- [Carrie Fisher](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/carrie-fisher/)
- [U.S. inauguration](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/u-s-inauguration/)
- [memoir](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/memoir/)
- [Olive Ann Burns](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/olive-ann-burns/)
- [George Saunders](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/george-saunders/)
- [Grace Paley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/grace-paley/)
- [Robert Lowell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robert-lowell/)
- [Father's Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/fathers-day/)
- [active reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/active-reading/)
- [setting](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/setting/)
- [New Historicism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/new-historicism/)
- [New Criticism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/new-criticism/)
- [Michiko Kakutani](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/michiko-kakutani/)
- [best books 2017](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2017/)
- [thriller](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/thriller/)
- [Hunter S. Thompson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hunter-s-thompson/)
- [Finland](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/finland/)
- ["Little Women"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/little-women/)
- [thrillers](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/thrillers/)
- [Westerns](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/westerns/)
- [#WeNeedDiverseBooks](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/weneeddiversebooks/)
- [autofiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/autofiction/)
- [National Coffee Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/national-coffee-day/)
- [Hispanic Heritage Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hispanic-heritage-month/)
- [mental health](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mental-health/)
- ["The Haunting of Hill House"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-haunting-of-hill-house/)
- [haunted house](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/haunted-house/)
- [ghost stories](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ghost-stories/)
- [literary awards](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/literary-awards/)
- [dystopian fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dystopian-fiction/)
- [tsundoku](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/tsundoku/)
- [Kate Morton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kate-morton/)
- [1960s](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/1960s/)
- [bookstore](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bookstore/)
- [best books 2018](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2018/)
- [travel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/travel/)
- ["Thirteen Reasons Why"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/thirteen-reasons-why/)
- [Jay Asher](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jay-asher/)
- [Netflix](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/netflix/)
- [Susan Sontag](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/susan-sontag/)
- [storytelling](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/storytelling/)
- [Eugene O'Neill](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/eugene-oneill/)
- ["The Iceman Cometh"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-iceman-cometh/)
- [Bookish](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bookish/)
- [Pride Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/pride-month/)
- [World Refugee Awareness Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/world-refugee-awareness-month/)
- ["The Silent Patient"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-silent-patient/)
- [Alex Michaelides](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alex-michaelides/)
- [close reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/close-reading/)
- [Oliver Sacks](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/oliver-sacks/)
- [Anthony Bourdain](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anthony-bourdain/)
- [schizophrenia](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/schizophrenia/)
- ["Good Omens"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/good-omens/)
- [translation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/translation/)
- [Nell Freudenberger](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nell-freudenberger/)
- [Peter Matthiessen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/peter-matthiessen/)
- [John Okada](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-okada/)
- [Naomi Wolf](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/naomi-wolf/)
- [Blake Crouch](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/blake-crouch/)
- [Jayson Greene](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jayson-greene/)
- [Rene Denfeld](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rene-denfeld/)
- [Gilly Macmillan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gilly-macmillan/)
- [Ann Hood](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ann-hood/)
- [Viet Thanh Nguyen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/viet-thanh-nguyen/)
- [Staunch prize](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/staunch-prize/)
- [Judith Krantz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/judith-krantz/)
- [identity](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/identity/)
- [Richard Russo](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/richard-russo/)
- [Adrienne Rich](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/adrienne-rich/)
- [Harold Robbins](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/harold-robbins/)
- [crime writers](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/crime-writers/)
- [solarpunk](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/solarpunk/)
- [rural noir](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rural-noir/)
- [Stuart Woods](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stuart-woods/)
- [Stephen White](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stephen-white/)
- [Kate Atkinson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kate-atkinson/)
- [Nina Simone](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nina-simone/)
- [witches](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/witches/)
- [Samuel R. Delany](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/samuel-r-delany/)
- [Tana French](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/tana-french/)
- [Heart of Darkness](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/heart-of-darkness/)
- [Joseph Conrad](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joseph-conrad/)
- [Steve Cavanagh](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/steve-cavanagh/)
- [Adrian McKinty](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/adrian-mckinty/)
- [Barack Obama](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/barack-obama/)
- [The Blind Assassin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-blind-assassin/)
- [literary criticism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/literary-criticism/)
- [final girls](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/final-girls/)
- [amnesia](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/amnesia/)
- [fantasy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/fantasy/)
- [Nancy Drew](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nancy-drew/)
- [Angie Kim](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/angie-kim/)
- [Dennis Lehane](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dennis-lehane/)
- [M.C. Beaton](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/m-c-beaton/)
- [Best Books 2019](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2019/)
- [fairytales](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/fairytales/)
- [Joan Didion](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joan-didion/)
- [William Gibson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-gibson/)
- [ghostwriting](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ghostwriting/)
- ["Where the Crawadads Sing"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/where-the-crawadads-sing/)
- [Walt Whitman](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/walt-whitman/)
- [Joanna Russ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joanna-russ/)
- [International Women’s Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/international-womens-day/)
- [Women's History Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/womens-history-month/)
- [William Styron](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-styron/)
- [Myriam Gurba](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/myriam-gurba/)
- [speculative fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/speculative-fiction/)
- [John Scalzi](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-scalzi/)
- [Edna Buchanan](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/edna-buchanan/)
- [journalism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/journalism/)
- [ethics](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ethics/)
- [Margaret Fuller](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margaret-fuller/)
- [epic poetry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/epic-poetry/)
- [The Ox-Bow Incident](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-ox-bow-incident/)
- [Lolita](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lolita/)
- [introductions](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/introductions/)
- [Star Wars](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/star-wars/)
- [John Banville](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/john-banville/)
- [gender](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gender/)
- [COVID-19](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/covid-19/)
- ["Gilmore Girls"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gilmore-girls/)
- [William Faulkner](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-faulkner/)
- [unreliable narrator](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/unreliable-narrator/)
- [Hillbilly Elegy](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hillbilly-elegy/)
- [best books 2020](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2020/)
- [Clarice Lispector](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/clarice-lispector/)
- [J.K. Rowling](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/j-k-rowling-2/)
- [mythology](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mythology/)
- [Joan Did](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joan-did/)
- [Toni](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/toni/)
- [sci](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sci/)
- [point of view](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/point-of-view/)
- [Terry Pratchett](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/terry-pratchett/)
- [Dr. Seuss](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dr-seuss/)
- [video games](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/video-games/)
- [Lisa Taddeo](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lisa-taddeo/)
- [Lynne Sharon Schwartz](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lynne-sharon-schwartz/)
- [Gish Jen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/gish-jen/)
- [Nathaniel Hawthorns](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nathaniel-hawthorns/)
- [cyberpunk](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/cyberpunk/)
- [Harry Bosch](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/harry-bosch/)
- [Joni Mitchell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joni-mitchell/)
- [O. Henry](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/o-henry/)
- [slow reading](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/slow-reading/)
- [trauma](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/trauma/)
- [Lauren Berlant](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lauren-berlant/)
- [Matt Haig](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/matt-haig/)
- [LGBTQ](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lgbtq/)
- [National Book Lovers Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/national-book-lovers-day-2/)
- [magical feminism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/magical-feminism/)
- [Women in Translation Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/women-in-translation-month/)
- [Alice McDermott](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alice-mcdermott/)
- [YA (young adult)](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ya-young-adult/)
- [NA (new adult)](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/na-new-adult/)
- [Monomyth](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/monomyth/)
- [Joseph Campbell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/joseph-campbell/)
- [Appalachia](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/appalachia/)
- [critical race theory](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/critical-race-theory/)
- [Barbara Pym](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/barbara-pym/)
- [Big Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/big-books/)
- [Pat Barker](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/pat-barker/)
- [William Maxwell](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/william-maxwell/)
- [kishōtenketsu](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kishotenketsu/)
- [Simone de Beauvoir](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/simone-de-beauvoir/)
- [Jonathan Lee](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jonathan-lee/)
- [historical fiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/historical-fiction/)
- [Substack](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/substack/)
- ["Still Mad: American Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/still-mad-american-women-writers-and-the-feminist-imagination/)
- [colophons](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/colophons/)
- [National Book Festival](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/national-book-festival/)
- [classics](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/classics/)
- [Sally Rooney](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sally-rooney/)
- [Katie Lattari](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/katie-lattari/)
- [trigger warnings](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/trigger-warnings/)
- [folklore](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/folklore/)
- [Georgette Heyer](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/georgette-heyer/)
- [Lauren Groff](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lauren-groff/)
- [likable characters](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/likable-characters/)
- [Lee Child](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/lee-child/)
- [The New Yorker](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-new-yorker/)
- [epistolary novel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/epistolary-novel/)
- [Stephen Crane](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stephen-crane/)
- [Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/)
- [NaNoWriMo](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nanowrimo/)
- [baseball](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/baseball/)
- [Astra WordPress theme](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/astra-wordpress-theme/)
- [Brainstorm Force](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/brainstorm-force/)
- [Dreamhost](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/dreamhost/)
- [Thanksgiving](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/thanksgiving/)
- [Powell's Books](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/powells-books/)
- [Graywolf Press](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/graywolf-press/)
- [Margot Livesey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margot-livesey/)
- [Paul McCartney](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/paul-mccartney/)
- [The Beatles](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-beatles/)
- [language](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/language/)
- [James Baldwin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/james-baldwin/)
- [Rachel Howzell Hall](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/rachel-howzell-hall/)
- [Steph Cha](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/steph-cha/)
- [Julia Cameron](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/julia-cameron/)
- [Alex Segura](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/alex-segura/)
- [plagiarism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/plagiarism/)
- [Nella Larsen](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/nella-larsen/)
- [Margaret Wise Brown](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/margaret-wise-brown/)
- [L. Frank Baum](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/l-frank-baum/)
- ["The Wizard of Oz"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/the-wizard-of-oz/)
- [Christmas](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/christmas/)
- [Kindle](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/kindle/)
- [Amazon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/amazon/)
- [S.A. Cosby](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/s-a-cosby/)
- [Anne Rice](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/anne-rice/)
- [Louise Fitzhugh](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/louise-fitzhugh/)
- ["West Side Story"](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/west-side-story/)
- [vampires](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/vampires/)
- [Best Books 2021](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2021/)
- [2022 Discussion Challenge](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/2022-discussion-challenge/)
- [memory](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/memory/)
- [Aldous Huxley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/aldous-huxley/)
- [Crime and Punishment](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/crime-and-punishment/)
- [Sinclair Lewis](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/sinclair-lewis/)
- [Babbit](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/babbit/)
- [romance novels](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/romance-novels/)
- [PTSD](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ptsd/)
- [WordPress](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/wordpress/)
- [Robin Kirmin](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/robin-kirmin/)
- [Ukraine](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ukraine/)
- [Transcendentalism](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/transcendentalism/)
- [social media](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/social-media/)
- [Walter Mosley](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/walter-mosley/)
- [Samuel L. Jackson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/samuel-l-jackson/)
- [Brandon Sanderson](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/brandon-sanderson/)
- [Meredith Doench](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/meredith-doench/)
- [Jack Kerouac](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/jack-kerouac/)
- [Melissa Febos](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/melissa-febos/)
- [grief](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/grief/)
- [creativity](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/creativity/)
- [Mental Health Awareness Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mental-health-awareness-month/)
- [punctuation](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/punctuation/)
- [Danielle Steel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/danielle-steel/)
- [Peter Straub](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/peter-straub/)
- [T.S. Eliot](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/t-s-eliot/)
- [Twitter](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/twitter/)
- [Mastodon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/mastodon/)
- [hero's journey](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/heros-journey/)
- [artificial intelligence](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/artificial-intelligence/)
- [stream of consciousness](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/stream-of-consciousness/)
- [Best Books of 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-of-2022/)
- [Best Books 2022](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2022/)
- [journal writing](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/journal-writing/)
- [reading journal](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/reading-journal/)
- [genre](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/genre/)
- [Black History Month](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/black-history-month/)
- [Roald Dahl](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/roald-dahl/)
- [International Women's Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/international-womens-day-2/)
- [Hilary Mantel](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hilary-mantel/)
- [Judy Blume](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/judy-blume/)
- [Earth Day](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/earth-day/)
- [true crime](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/true-crime/)
- [narrative medicine](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/narrative-medicine/)
- [AI](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/ai/)
- [Hugo Awards](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/hugo-awards/)
- [typography](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/typography/)
- [featured post](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/featured-post/)
- [multiverse](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/multiverse/)
- [Colleen Hoover](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/colleen-hoover/)
- [music](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/music/)
- [bookstodon](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bookstodon/)
- [CrimeFiction](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/crimefiction/)
- [BookBlog](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/bookblog/)
- [utopia](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/utopia/)
- [Best Books 2025](https://www.notesinthemargin.org/tag/best-books-2025/)