Goodreads has just asked me to declare my personal reading challenge for 2015. Last year I chose 40 books as my goal and managed to read 43. Yet I see other people who plan—and in past years have managed—to read 100 books or more in a year. What’s wrong with me? I could give up […]
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Related Post: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING: A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY If you watch HBO’s drama The Newsroom, you’ve seen the introductory clip in which an editor scans a printed story by running her hand quickly down the page. While this is an appropriate, even necessary, reading method for keeping up with a daunting amount of news
Related Posts: Introduction to Life Stories “Before I Go to Sleep,” S.J. Watson: We Are What We Remember Life Stories: The Personal Component 11 Novels That Feature Life Stories Must We Like Fictional Characters? “Mr. Mercedes” by Stephen King: The Power of Characters Although the concept of life story originated in the field of
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SEPTEMBER 2014’S BEST BOOKS: 12 FICTION MUST-READS FOR YOUR IMAGINATION TO RUN WILD THIS FALL It’s fall—the start of a new school year and the time for a new reading list. Morgan Ribera’s got you covered with a list of a dozen books to be published during September that will keep you reading at least
Tragic fiction may leave you emotionally upset It might seem logical that reading a sad fictional story would be less upsetting than reading a less sad but true story. But new research suggests this is not the case: “Consumers may choose to read a tragic fictional story because they assume that knowing it was fictional
Harry Potter and the Battle Against Bigotry Sure, Harry Potter destroyed the evil Lord Voldemort. But, aside from making lots of money for book publishers and film studio/theme-park conglomerates, what has the wizard done for us lately? In fact, he has been helping to reduce prejudice. That’s the conclusion of research just published in the
Ranking Cormac McCarthy’s Greatest Books I’m a week behind with this, but I include it here because Cormac McCarthy is an author I haven’t yet worked on, and I’m glad to have the suggestions offered here: Trailing Philip Roth by a few months and Toni Morrison by two years, Cormac McCarthy (who turns 81 this
Could reading dark literature harm your teenage children? This isn’t a new question, but this answer is fairly well balanced, with discussion from scientists for both sides of the issue. Judy Blume: ’I thought, this is America: we don’t ban books. But then we did’ A delightful interview with Judy Blume, who has her own
Additions to Your TBR List Just in case your TBR (to-be-read) list isn’t long enough, here are two articles with recommendations you can add. 10 overlooked novels: how many have you read? Most novels come, have their day, and are gone. For ever. Most deserve their “do not resuscitate” label. Every so often, though, a
Literary legacy contributes to sense of community Here’s an article about one of the most famous authors you’ve probably never heard of: Harold Bell Wright was among the most popular American authors of his time, penning 19 novels — with 15 of them making their way to the silver screen. In 1930, The New York
