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.

With ‘Angel at the Fence,’ Another Memoir Is Found to Be False

With ‘Angel at the Fence,’ Another Memoir Is Found to Be False – NYTimes.com: In media circles, there is a joke about facts that are too good to check. This week Oprah Winfrey and the New York publishing industry stumbled on yet another unverified account in the form of a Holocaust survivor who said his […]

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The Best Books I Read in 2008

Listed alphabetically by author Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby Goldberg, Natalie. Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir Hood, Ann. Comfort: A Journey through Grief O’Farrell, Maggie. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Saks, Elyn R. The Center Cannot Hold:

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Madoff Case Echoes Rich Lode of Swindler Literature

Madoff Case Echoes Rich Lode of Swindler Literature – NYTimes.com: In the “there’s nothing new under the sun” department, this article points out some of the literary predecessors to the Bernie Madoff financial scandal: ‘You must realize that money making is one thing, religion another, and family life a third,’ Mr. Voysey matter-of-factly tells his

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Harold Pinter, Nobel-Winning Playwright, Is Dead at 78

Harold Pinter, Nobel-Winning Playwright, Is Dead at 78 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com: Harold Pinter, the British playwright whose gifts for finding the ominous in the everyday and the noise within silence made him the most influential and imitated dramatist of his generation, died on Wednesday. He was 78 and lived in London.

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Two More Best Books Lists

These are both from The Seattle Times: Our Picks for the Best Books of 2008 “Our reviewers have nominated . . . books that informed, inspired and delighted them,” announces the newspaper’s book editor. The list includes both fiction and nonfiction. Our Critic’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2008 Critic Michael Upchurch’s list of “eight

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The Big Read is a national page-turner – Los Angeles Times

The Big Read is a national page-turner – Los Angeles Times: Developed by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Big Read funds projects nationwide in an effort, NEA literature director David Kipen explains, ‘to restore reading to the heart of American life.’ This newspaper article, which understandably focuses on Southern California, may pique your

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