Here’s what I’ve been reading this week: Why the Best Mysteries Are Written in English From the pen of Otto Penzler: It is an inarguable fact that virtually everything of interest and significance in the history of detective fiction has been written in the English language, mainly by American and English authors. This is not […]
Recommendations for Readers Since today is Labor Day, the traditional if not actual end of summer, here are some recommendations for your fall reading list: Fall Books Preview: 20 New Releases to Check Out From The Atlantic Fall Preview 2012: New York’s indie booksellers recommend the best new From Capital New York PW Picks: The
Nothing Is More Real Than Fiction Over on BookRiot Greg Zimmerman praises the power of ficiton: I get really angry when someone says they don’t read fiction because it’s all made up and “not real.” Bullshit! Nothing is more real than fiction. Nothing helps us make sense of the real world more than fiction. Nothing
Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels A while back NPR asked readers/listeners to vote on their favorite YA novels. 75,220 people voted, helping to whittle the list of 235 finalists down to the top 100. In addition to the list of winners, this page includes links to explanations of what exactly constitutes YA literature. A
The Heroine in the Drawing Room Cynthia Crossen, books columnist for the Wall Street Journal, contemplates the meaning of the phrase domestic fiction, a genre often sneered at: Domestic fiction, like all literary genres, can be bad, and bad in an especially cloying, attenuated and dreary way. I call bad domestic novels Hallmark fiction, and
Top 7 Literary Cities in Europe Tourism-Review.com explores “the top seven European cities for literary tourists”: Edinburgh, Scotland Dublin, Ireland London, England Paris, France St. Petersburg, Russia Stockholm, Sweden Norwich, England A List of the Greatest Lists in Literature Speaking of lists, The Atlantic offers this one: “our favorite lists in literature, from short to
Monday Miscellany: Lists Edition Read More »
Forgotten Chapters of Boston’s Literary History People may know about Longfellow and Poe, but do they know about the ongoing literary feud between these two sons of New England? They will after perusing this marvelous digital exhibit from the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts Historical Society, which explores some of the “forgotten chapters” of
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey to be reworked by Val McDermid I haven’t been this literarily excited in a long, long time. One of my favorite authors, Val McDermid, has been chosen to update Jane Austen’s least well known novel, Northanger Abbey, for a modern audience: Northanger Abbey is the story of the gothic novel-obsessed 17-year-old
The Best Stephen King Book: Readers’ Picks Readers have spoken. The Stand won in a landslide as Stephen King’s most popular novel. If your King favorite is something else, check the pie chart here to see how it stacked up. New & Forthcoming: The Algonquin Reader Download Algonquin Books’ big list of books due out
16 Fiction Book Characters’ Myers-Briggs Personality Types The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a psychological categorization tool based on the theories of Carl Jung. If you don’t know your type, this page includes links for finding out more about how this assessment works and what the results mean. I’m an INFP myself, a group that includes
