The 10 Most Disturbing Books Of All Time In my younger days if I heard a book or movie was disturbing or hard to handle I generally took that as a challenge. Most books generally turned out to not be too bad, but occasionally I’d come across something that would leave me with a sick […]
Why teens should read ‘adult’ fiction – and vice-versa Sheila Heti doesn’t understand why so many adults are reading YA (young adult) literature such as The Hunger Games: What surprises me most about YA books is not that adults are reading them in mass numbers (as with Hunger Games appearing on bestseller lists everywhere); it’s
The making of a blockbuster Salon exclusive: The behind-the-scenes story of the readers and booksellers who launched the Hunger Games franchise Laura Miller’s commentary: The Hunger Games franchise, with Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence in the starring role, aims for a spot in a select but very sweet pantheon: movie adaptations of bestselling children’s book series
Monday Miscellany: Big- & Small-Screen Edition Read More »
11 Literary Friendships We Can Learn From Although from a somewhat unorthodox source (accreditedonlinecolleges.com), this article presents fascinating information on the following literary friendships: Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus George Sand and Gustave
The private lives of great writers What would we do without literary criticism wars? Just how relevant is an author’s private life to our appreciation or understanding of his or her work? Many would argue that we should disregard it entirely. Others (myself included) might point out that while you can thoroughly enjoy a novel
Athena’s Library, The Quirky Pillar Of Providence NPR offers a look at the Providence Athenaeum in Providence, RI, USA: With a bit of reverence, librarians carefully wind an antique library clock near the circulation desk in a temple of learning called the Providence Athenaeum. This is one of the oldest libraries in the United States,
Breakfast with Dr. Seuss In honor of the upcoming movie The Lorax, green eggs and ham at IHOP Dmitri Nabokov, Steward of Father’s Literary Legacy, Dies at 77 Dmitri Nabokov, the son of Vladimir Nabokov, who tended to the legacy of his father with
Because I was sick for much of last week, this week’s entry is short. Stories don’t need morals or messages Salon’s Laura Miller caused a flurry of comments recently with this article about a post on the New York Times education blog. In that post the parents of twins talked about taking their kids’ third-grade
Book Reviewing in the News There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding the announcement that Adam Mars-Jones won the Hatchet Job prize for the “angriest, funniest, most trenchant” book review published in the last year. Judge Sam Leith said: “The best hatchets, in criticism, are wielded with precision as much as they are with force.
Print Books vs. Ebooks Debate (cont., ad nauseam) Never one to shy away from controversy, Jonathan Franzen recently condemned ebooks as the harbingers of the fall of civilization: “I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this
