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A Twist of the Kaleidoscope: Three cases for literary criticism If, like me, you review books on your blog, you’re a literary critic. In this article Kasia Bartoszyńska discusses three books about literary criticism to answer the following questions: Has academia ruined literary criticism? Is this the end of literary studies? Has contemporary culture reduced […]

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Culture wars: Trump’s takeover of arts is straight from the dictator playbook “US president’s attempt to control or dismantle cultural institutions plays into a long history of authoritarians using arts to push their agenda” Sorry not sorry: Prepare to be harangued for the next 4 years. We’ve moved way past politics now here in the

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Collage of book covers. On left, large cover; text: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. On right, top row of smaller book covers: The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather; Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke; The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Lower row: Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson; Raven Black by Ann Cleeves; The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier.

6 Degrees of Separation: This One’s for the Birds

This month’s starting book is the 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Here’s the description from Goodreads: On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: Reading Notes: February

Reading Notes: February

I didn’t get much reading done in February. I only read two novels, The Three Lives of Cate Kay, which I’ve already reviewed, and The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight, which I review below.  Last month I promised a later review of The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch, which I read

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Hanif Kureishi’s Relentlessly Revealing Memoir “How a tragic accident helped the author find his rebellious voice again” In December 2022, at age 68, writer Hanif Kureishi fell onto a hard floor in Rome and woke up a tetraplegic. Hillary Kelly visited Kureishi in London in December 2024 and here describes that visit and comments on

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

What We Learn About Our World by Imagining Its End Arthur Krystal ponders the stories humans have devised about when and how the world will end: “Having to come to terms with this eventuality [the end of the world] is the price we pay for being able to imagine it in the first place.” Tash

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Last Week's Links

Literary Links

Six Trick Novels That Play with Form One of my favorite kind of fiction is a book that plays with form. Here Gareth Rubin, writer of both fiction and nonfiction, discusses 6 novels that do just that. His list includes one of my all-time favorites, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018) by Stuart Turton.

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Collage of book covers. Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman. Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. The Color of Watr by James McBride. The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy.

6 Degrees of Separation: Danger! Water!

This month’s exercise begins with a classic – Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. first degree Since the starting point is a book I’ve never had even the slightest inclination to read, I’ll take the easiest approach for my first degree, repetition of a keyword from the title: The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura

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Background: 3 stacked, closed books; open notebook with pen on top. Text: Reading Notes: January

Reading Notes: January

Here’s the first entry in my effort to do better this year in documenting the books I read each month. I read (well, listened to the audiobook) and reviewed Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. I also read The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch for my book club meeting in February. I’m going to wait until

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