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.

feature: Life Stories in Literature

Reviews:  2 Books I Read in April

Introduction Here are two more novels I read in April. Since almost all of the books on my TBR shelf now relate to Life Stories in Literature, it’s not surprising that they share many of the same themes. In his 2020 novel The Boy from the Woods, Coben introduced Wilde, who had been found living […]

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feature: Life Stories in Literature

A Dozen 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics

This was the Top Ten Tuesday topic for March 29, 2022, but it grew into such a big topic for me that I didn’t complete it on time. Today’s topic is Books with [___] On the Cover, but since I’m not much into covers I’m substituting this one instead. Introduction When I began to think

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Over the Past 25 Years, the Big Publishers Got Bigger—and Fewer A report from Publishers Weekly: As 2022 began, the U.S. trade publishing business was dominated by what has been called the Big Five—Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan. Before the Penguin–Random House merger in 2013, that group was

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The Barrage is Finally Over!

I just published the final two index pages, and shouldn’t be hitting you up with all those notifications any more. Even if there are errors that will need to be corrected, I don’t think you’ll get notices for them.  Thank you for your patience. I ended up only adding about 45 new reviews, though it

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I’m About to Unleash a Blogging Barrage

I appreciate all of you who follow Notes in the Margin, so I wanted to give you a heads-up: I’m about to unleash a blogging barrage. When my blog broke back in 2018, I was able to copy the text of all my old posts and dump it into a text file. After my hosting

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Let’s call April mystery book month. Here’s what I’d read. At the Malice Domestic convention April 22 to 24, devotees of traditional mysteries will present the Agatha Awards. On April 28 the Mystery Writers of America will hand out the annual Edgar Awards. Therefore, Michael Dirda asks, “Shouldn’t April be designated National Mystery Month?” He continues

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book review

2 Short Reviews

Falling by T.J. Newman Simon & Schuster, 2021Hardcover, 304 pagesISBN 978-1-9821-7788-1 When Bill Hoffman arrives at Los Angeles International Airport to pilot Coastal Airways flight 416 to New York, he expects a routine day. It’s not until the plane is in the air that he learns today will be anything but routine. When he receives

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stack of 3 books plus open book with pen. Title: Top Ten Tuesday

#TopTenTuesday: Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To

Ngaio Marsh I read a lot of mysteries as well as a lot about mysteries, and Ngaio Marsh is one of the names of mystery writers that comes up most often. I’m therefore embarrassed to admit that I’ve never read any of her books, especially because she is known as one of the four “Queens

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Celebrate National Poetry Month with these 6 books April is National Poetry Month. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month has become one of the largest literary celebrations in the world, reminding us that poetry is an art form for everybody. Categories: Reading, Writing Kafka the hypochondriac “Franz Kafka believed

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stack of 3 books plus open book with pen. Title: Top Ten Tuesday

#TopTenTuesday: Remarkable Debut Novels

This week is a freebie, which means we get to come up with our own topic.  I tend to think that writers, like most people, get better at what they do with practice. Over the years I’ve read a number of debut novels that I found particularly striking because they demonstrate a high level of

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