How the Union Lost the Remembrance War “The victors of the American Civil War failed to write their story into the history books, leaving a gap for the mythologizing of the Confederacy.” “After the American Civil War, there was what historian Robert J. Cook calls a ‘robust and purposeful narrative’ of the Union’s defeat of […]
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
Related Post: In addition to three works of nonfiction, I also listened to two novels this month. We learn about humanity from stories of individual lives. In A Calamity of Souls David Baldacci introduced us to two people fighting for civil rights during the Jim Crow era in the American South. The historical novel Strangers in
Reading Notes: November Read More »
Because I like alliteration, for many years I have conducted my own Nonfiction November reading. It was only recently that I discovered Nonfiction November is actually a thing, with its own prompts and discussion challenges. Last year, for the first time, I participated in the formal program of Nonfiction November. As much as I enjoyed
Nonfiction November Read More »
What’s Real and What’s Not: Gish Jen on Writing Between the Factual Lines “Finding the sweet spot between memoir and fiction” Writer Gish Jen considers writing situations that fall somewhere between memoir—or nonfiction—and fiction: “Might the author hope that his or her account, to whatever genre it belongs, will move the reader in a way
Merriam-Webster, the country’s oldest dictionary publisher which is headquartered in Springfield, just released an updated Collegiate edition with 5,000 new entries. Source: Merriam-Webster goes old school with first new hardcover Collegiate dictionary in 22 years | WBUR News I guess it’s time to order a new dictionary.
The Best Literary Love Stories A satisfying literary love story doesn’t need to end happily ever after—but one does need to be left with a sense that two characters belong together, advises the novelist Lily King . . . Thomas Mallon’s Theory of the Diary “The New York writer and editor’s diaries of the AIDS
How to Be a Good Literary Citizen (in Seven Easy Steps) Maris Kreizman writes about “literary citizenship . . . an amorphous kind of concept, often changing with the moment, but needed more than ever today when corporate interests have a stranglehold on the arts, literary institutions are being devastated by the cancellation of NEA
The Ultimate Fall 2025 Reading List “95 BOOKS THE CRITICS THINK YOU SHOULD READ THIS SEASON” LitHub’s annual list, prepared by Emily Temple: This season, I processed 28 lists, which collectively recommended a total of 466 books. 95 of these were included 3 times or more, and these I present to you in descending order
Today’s starting point is a favorite of mine, the novella We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. first degree Jeannette Walls’s father had big plans to someday build a glass castle, which she describes in her memoir The Glass Castle. second degree The word castle also figures in the title of The
6 Degrees of Separation Read More »
Related Post: I had a dismal reading month in terms of numbers: I finished only one audiobook. But that one was not dismal at all; in fact, I found it rewarding because it was written by Joy Fielding, a writer I was glad to have rediscovered. We meet Linda Davidson, our first-person narrator, as she
Reading Notes: September Read More »
