Are You a Handwriter or a Typer? | boy with a hat

Handwriting is like making love; typing, like having sex. It’s essentially the same enjoyable activity, but the approach is slightly different. via Are You a Handwriter or a Typer? | boy with a hat. Random blog quotation.

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Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90 – NYTimes.com

Nadine Gordimer, the South African writer whose literary ambitions led her into the heart of apartheid to create a body of fiction that brought her a Nobel Prize in 1991, died on Sunday in Johannesburg. She was 90. via Nadine Gordimer, Novelist Who Took On Apartheid, Is Dead at 90 – NYTimes.com.

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Monday Miscellany

Could reading dark literature harm your teenage children? This isn’t a new question, but this answer is fairly well balanced, with discussion from scientists for both sides of the issue. Judy Blume: ’I thought, this is America: we don’t ban books. But then we did’ A delightful interview with Judy Blume, who has her own

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The Texas Observer Short Story Contest 2014 | The Texas Observer Memberships and Contributions

The Texas Observer Short Story Contest 2014  The Texas Observer has announced its short story contest. Entrants need not live in Texas (although stories with a Texas setting or theme are encouraged). The winner will receive $1,000 and publication in the magazine. This year’s judge is author Elizabeth McCracken. Click the link above for more

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Monday Miscellany

Vroom, Vroom, Hmmmm: Motorcycles As Literary Metaphor Confession time: I’ve only made it half way through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. I keep the book on my shelf because I fully intend, someday, to finish it off. And so this report intrigued me: In literature, motorcycles — and the people

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

Must We Like Fictional Characters?

  During a recent book group discussion of John Updike’s novel Rabbit, Run, someone said, “I don’t particularly like any of the characters in this book.” I had to admit that I agreed with this assessment, but that truth doesn’t affect my appreciation of the book. This seemingly casual reference to not liking fictional characters

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Monday Miscellany

Because I am currently in the process of leaving my heart in San Francisco, this week’s Monday Miscellany is short. 10 of the Best Independent Bookstores Across the U.S. Barnes & Noble will always be there with a stack of bestsellers, and Half Price Books is likely to have the novel you’re looking for in

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Daniel Keyes, a Novelist of the Mind, Dies at 86 – NYTimes.com

Daniel Keyes, the author of “Flowers for Algernon,” the story of a man with an I.Q. of 68 who temporarily becomes a genius after surgery — a book that inspired the film “Charly,” starring Cliff Robertson — died on Sunday at his home in South Florida.  He was 86. via Daniel Keyes, a Novelist of

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Monday Miscellany

Anthony Burgess on James Joyce: the lost introduction Written in 1986 as the introduction to a Dolmen Press edition of ‘Dubliners’ illustrated by Louis le Brocquy, but never used, this brilliant essay, recently found among the papers of the author, who died in 1993, appears here for the first time Happy Bloomsday! (June 16, the

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