These are articles from around the web that caught my eye over the last week.
IS FICTION AN ADDICTION?
Who among us who love reading fiction have not asked ourselves these questions:
At some point we must ask ourselves if fiction is junk food for our souls. Too much of my lifetime has been consumed in make-believe. My friends talk about what they do, I talked about books, movies and television shows. I even prefer hanging out with other addicts, by being in four book clubs. When I die, and my life flashes in front of my eyes, a huge chunk of what I see will be me staring at a book, television, or movie screen. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. Is it an addiction? I think it is.
James Wallace Harris arrives at what is possible a rationalized conclusion, but one most of us probably understand and even agree with:
I believe fiction is a negative addiction when we use it as a substitute for living, but a positive addition when its a communication tool for comprehending each other.
51 Of The Most Powerful Pieces Of Advice From Books
It’s hard to go wrong with a good long list of advice from books. Dig in!
Why Book Clubs Matter in the Age of Tablets
Back in the good old days, before the demise of Borders, I belonged to two book clubs at my local Borders stores. But my first book club was held at the local public library.
This article examines the question of how important book clubs are now that many people download ebooks instead of purchasing hardcover books.
According to Ann Berlin of the Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore, which hosts quarterly parties for its approximately 60 external book clubs, “a lot of [book club members] are regular customers, and they’re ordering backlist.” She added, “What’s important to us is our relationship with our customers. We give people what they want, when they want it.”
Caleb Carr’s New Thriller Takes On Fancy Forensics. Michael Connelly Reviews
I loved Caleb Carr’s novel The Alienist when I read it many years ago. And one of my favorite current authors is mystery writer Michael Connelly. So this review by Connelly of Carr’s new book, Surrender, New York, in the New York Times was right up my alley.
Carr is best known for “The Alienist,” a beautifully wrought novel set more than a century ago at the dawn of behavioral profiling and other detective sciences. In “Surrender, New York,” he has written an addictive contemporary crime procedural stuffed with observations on the manipulations of science and the particular societal ills of the moment. Call it mystery with multiple messages.
© 2016 by Mary Daniels Brown
