Raising geeks
Back in the stone ages (okay, the 1980s) when I was a kid, “geek” was a pretty harsh name to call someone—maybe not as soul-crushing as “nerd,” but certainly up there with “dweeb” or “spaz.” But thanks...
View ArticleThe second time around
The stack of new books perched precariously on a child’s stool by the door in my bedroom is taller than my six-year-old and gaining on my 5’4” height fast. My e-reader is full to bursting with books,...
View ArticleRevolution
It’s hard to think about anything else today besides the noise and excitement going on nine stories below. If you’re not in NY (particularly Union Square) or another major city today, Occupy Wall...
View ArticleRedemption through Reading
Brazil made headlines yesterday for introducing a new program to reduce prison sentences, aptly titled “Redemption through Reading”. According to this article from the Huffington Post, inmates in...
View ArticleWhat Really Happened with the Pulitzer
Just yesterday, Michael Cunningham, one of the Pulitzer jurors this year, posted a letter on The New Yorker’s website explaining why there was no fiction winner this year. Finally, some clarification!...
View ArticleColorful prose
My friend Jim Donahue sent me a link to this interesting story about a limited edition of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury that is color coded to facilitate reading the Benjy section of the...
View ArticleCover talk
“It’s about baseball. A person who likes to play baseball but also takes care of a plane. ” Obviously, we are talking about the classic novel Catch-22 here. Or, at least, that’s what could be inferred...
View ArticleThe sense of a beginning
As we’ve discussed many times on this blog, a truly great opening line to a novel is the holy grail for those who read and write for a living. A beautiful, evocative, powerful first sentence can mean...
View ArticleWords travel
In my desperate search for a blog topic today I came across this piece in the HuffPost that made me sit up and mouth “Shut up!” at my computer. Gone with the Wind is a huge hit in North Korea? WT…....
View ArticleSeuss up!
For someone who had never read many children’s books at all before her own child showed up, I’ve become a Dr. Seuss fanatic. Something about the cadence, the crazy, made-up names (the man would go to...
View ArticleCollaborating with the best
You’d think that after all this time, the things you can do on the internet would cease to fascinate or greatly amuse me. Highly untrue. I remember when a friend first introduced the collaboration...
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Ready for a little test of your literary instincts?
Don’t cheat and skip ahead to the pictures! The following is the final paragraph of the galley letter for WHAT very popular book: “I predict you’ll also face another quandary: whether to share this...
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Books as gifts
I’m always trying to think of clever ways to give a book as a gift. Sometimes it might seem too impersonal or like it needs a little extra something to go with it, depending on the occasion or the...
View ArticleThe Best Christmas Propaganda Ever
My book club – you remember them – is meeting for our holiday party tonight, and we always like to cut ourselves a bit of slack by picking a children’s book during this busy busy month. Last year we...
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From book to stage, and beyond
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned here before that in addition to books, I also love the theater (along with my colleague, Jim McCarthy, with whom I share stories of good and bad plays for sport). I think...
View ArticleReading the past
Channeling the sixteen-year-old in me (the sixteen-year-old that I most certainly was), when I saw a Buzzfeed quiz* today that would reveal which affliction of La Belle Époque would lead to my untimely...
View ArticleGo read a watchman?
Well, since none of my colleagues have blogged about it yet, I figured I’d bring up the big publishing news of the week… And while far be it from me to turn down an obvious blog topic, I’m probably not...
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Cold weather books to keep you warm
For those of us on the East Coast, it has been another rough winter. I’ve started to compare being outside to spending time in a freezer. In the suburbs, everything is layers of ice on bottom followed...
View ArticleLiterarily sick
As anyone in the office here can tell you (honestly, maybe anyone within a 5-mile radius), I’ve been struck with one beauty of a head cold this week. I’ve gone through about 3 boxes of tissues and am...
View ArticleStately, plump Buck Mulligan
Looking through the online catalogue of the very cool Litographs which, among other things, makes literary temporary tattoos, I came across this one, which recreates Molly Bloom’s iconic closing line...
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