A Fixation with Endings There has been a lot of discussion lately about how novels end. On Bad Endings On The New Yorker‘s Page-Turner blog Joan Acocella declares: Many of the world’s best novels have bad endings. I don’t mean that they end sadly, or on a back-to-work, all-is-forgiven note (e.g. “War and Peace,” “The […]
The 10 Best Books of 2012 The venerable New York Times has declared its choices for the year’s 10 (5 fiction, 5 nonfiction) books. New York Times Best Of 2012: Alternative Reads But the folks at Huffington Post take issue with the New York Times‘s choices, calling its list “pretty dull” and also, apparently, pretty
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It’s been a good week for literature-relating reading. The Top 10 Charles Dickens Books Robert Gottlieb, author of Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens, explains why he thinks these are Dickens’s 10 best books: Great Expectations Our Mutual Friend David Copperfield Bleak House Little Dorrit Oliver Twist Nicholas Nickleby Dombey and Son
Here’s quite a variety of new lists of the best books of 2012. The Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide Returns Next Monday Author John Scalzi will offer a shopping guide to which you can contribute: So: Starting Monday, December 3rd, the Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide Returns! If you’re a writer or other creator, this will be an
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For Your Holiday Gift-Giving Now that the winter holiday gift-giving season has officially arrived, here are a couple of items to keep in mind: Holidaze, Book Riot’s Pinterest Board 100 books for holiday gift-giving, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Media Elite: The Best Literary Cameos Ever Committed to Film Though an author’s film cameo
Here are a few more entries for this year’s list of lists: The 10 best books of 2012 From The Washington Post. Presents five selections each in fiction and nonfiction. There are also links to other lists: best graphic novels of 2012, 50 notable works of fiction, 50 notable works of nonfiction, best audiobooks of
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Some interesting takes on the literary world this week. Out of Touch: E-reading isn’t reading Slate caused quite a stir recently with its publication of this excerpt from Andrew Piper’s recent book Book Was There: Reading in Electronic Times (University of Chicago Press, 2012): Amid the seemingly endless debates today about the future of reading,
Not even Thanksgiving, and yet we have our first offerings in the annual best-books-list marathon. Best Books 2012 This is the lead-in page to Publishers Weekly’s lists: Top 10 Best Books of the Year Fiction Mystery/Thriller Poetry Romance SF/Fantasy/Horror Comics Nonfiction Children’s Picture Books Children’s Fiction Children’s Nonfiction Religion Lifestyle Best Books of the Year:
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Yes, there were stories in the news this past week other than the U. S. election. Author Philip Roth says he is done with writing An icon—or iconoclast, depending on your point of view—of American literature casually announced that he won’t be writing any more books. He admitted to a French magazine that he hasn’t
Some interesting reading this week. The Q&A: James Ellroy: Writing scandal An interesting interview with the author of one of my favorite novels, LA Confidential. Read why Ellroy tries to avoid popular culture and why he doesn’t write books about the present. And read why he says, ” I don’t read.” Reading 125 Titles A
