‘America’s Final Beginning’ a clumsy, preachy novel written by a beginner. I offer this review as a good definition of what is commonly known as a “program novel” or a “propaganda novel”: a novel that is written to portray a message but that forgets the first requirement of a novel is to tell a good […]
‘America’s Final Beginning’ a clumsy, preachy novel written by a beginner Read More »
Why fiction is good for you Jonathan Gottschall is getting a lot of mileage from the recent publication of his book The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. In this piece he addresses the issue of whether fiction in all its forms—TV shows and commercials, religious beliefs, and social commentary as well as novels,
“writing and reading can allow people to live other lives and to try things out symbolically so that we can make better decisions about what we value and do. There is no guarantee, of course, that reading and writing make people act more wisely. But, writing and reading, by expanding our experience and repertoire of
Quotation of the Day Read More »
“I’m conscious of writing as a living, breathing practice, not as something in a textbook or something you do for a grade in a 10-week course. It’s living a life. And particularly for women, it’s living a struggle to claim artistic practice as a viable and socially relevant activity. So as a writer I teach
Quotation: The Writing Life Read More »
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
Publishing Words: The Future of Books Writing in The Harvard Crimson, Sofie C. Brooks discusses how the rise of ebooks may change the publishing industry: What the publishing industry faces right now is a customer base that demands a digital product even as the technology that makes these products possible is still in its early
You may have been seeing an unwieldy acronym lately: NaNoWriMo. It stands for National Novel Writing Month, which comes around every November. In USA Today writer Joyce Lamb explains what it is: The NaNo plan is to write 1,667 words a day — or about 12,000 words on the weekends, if you’re as undisciplined as
It’s National Novel Writing Month Read More »
2012 Stamp Preview: A Stamp a Day The United States Postal Service will be issuing some new literature-related stamps in 2012. Click on the numbers to see more information about these: #2 Edgar Rice Burroughs #11 O. Henry #31 Twentieth-Century Poets: Elizabeth Bishop, Joseph Brodsky, Gwendolyn Brooks, E. E. Cummings, Robert Hayden, Denise Levertov, Sylvia
Part I (in case you missed it) The first question people always ask an author is “Where do you get your ideas?” Coben said that anything, such as a tabloid headline, can stimulate an idea. Then he just keeps asking “What if?” For example, the idea for Promise Me came when he overheard a couple
Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part II Read More »
If you ever get a chance to see Harlan Coben in person, go for it. He was in St. Louis last weekend for Boucheron 2011. As part of the book tour promoting his new book, Shelter, the introductory volume for his YA series featuring Mickey Bolitar, Coben spoke at St. Louis County Library. He began
Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part I Read More »
