Last Week's Links

Literary Links

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 […]

Literary Links Read More »

A stack of 3 closed books, next to an open notebook on which rests a ballpoint pen. Text: Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature

Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature

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: Life Stories in Literature Read More »

Background: light oak floor boards. A collage of mass market paperbook covers: Coma by Robin Cook, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Text: R.I.P., Mass-Market Paperbacks

What Mass-Market Paperbacks Do You Remember Reading?

Discussion These are some of the many books I remember carrying around and reading in mass-market paperback format. Since my late adolescence and early adulthood (my late teens, 20s, and 30s) coincided with the height of the mass market age, I felt a twinge of nostalgia when I read that mass-market paperbacks will no longer

What Mass-Market Paperbacks Do You Remember Reading? Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

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 Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

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

Literary Links Read More »

Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: 15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin

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

15 Years Ago on Notes in the Margin Read More »

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

Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub Read More »

Last Week's Links

Literary Links

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

Literary Links Read More »

Collage of book covers. Rapture by Emily Maguire. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton by Diane Wood Middlebrook. Billy Summers by Stephen King. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King. Wild by Cheryl Strayed. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.

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

6 Degrees of Separation: From Rapture to the Woods Read More »

A stack of 3 closed books, next to an open notebook on which rests a ballpoint pen. Text: Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature

Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature

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: Life Stories in Literature Read More »

Scroll to Top