Mary Daniels Brown

My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books. As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.

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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 […]

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Year's Best Books

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.

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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

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Collage of book covers. Sandwich by Catherine Newman; The Hidden Machinery by Margot Livesey; Trust by Hernan Diaz; Idaho by Emily Ruskovich; Ohio by Stephen Markley; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

6 Degrees of Separation

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

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A bluish-green rectangle with drawings of leaves in various shades of yellow, orange, and brown. Superimposed is a smaller rectangle of the same bluish-green color. Text: Nonfiction November Week 5. 11/25/24 - 11/29/24. New to my TBR. Hosted by Readerbuzz

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

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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

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

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A bluish-green rectangle with drawings of leaves in various shades of yellow, orange, and brown. Superimposed is a smaller rectangle of the same bluish-green color. Text: Nonfiction November Week 4: 11/18/24 - 11/22/24. Mind Openers: hosted by She Seeks Nonfiction

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?

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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

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A bluish-green rectangle with drawings of leaves in various shades of yellow, orange, and brown. Superimposed is a smaller rectangle of the same bluish-green color. Text: Nonfiction November Week 3: 11/11/24 - 11/15/24. Book Pairings hosted by Adventures in reading, running and working from home

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

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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.”

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