Echoes of the Past in Crime Fiction Clinical psychologist and novelist Lucy Burdette understands exactly what I value most about crime fiction: we humans are always affected by our history. Our families shape our stories with their presence or absence, their quirks and patterns, their healthy traits and unhealthy, and sometimes their serious trauma. We […]
To read or not to read: Does COVID-19 belong in our books? Logan Brown, an arts writer for The Michigan Daily, writes the “ability to escape into another world is an essential requirement for me to like a book — when I am reminded of my own reality that escape is often broken.” She then
Books Aren’t Mental Movies: You’re Missing the Best Part of Reading BookRiot writer Danika Ellis caught my attention with this opening paragraph: Sometimes, when people describe what they love about reading, it feels like we’re doing two very different activities. They talk about a movie playing out in their mind’s eye as they read, imagined
This month’s starting point is Colm Tóibín’s Long Island. Here’s the description from Goodreads: From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later.
6 Degrees of Separation Read More »
I don’t remember when I originally read this book, although I bet it was in high school, since the book has been a staple of the high school curriculum for generations. Rereading it now, almost 60 years later and about 6 weeks before the U.S. Presidential election (2024), I was struck by how eeriely contemporary
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me 30 Years Ago Jim VandeHei adapted this article from his recent book Just the Good Stuff: No-BS Secrets to Success (No Matter What Life Throws At You). I give the book’s full title, including the long and awkward subtitle, because it carries the true point: This is not
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
Learn about the extraordinary career and life of the celebrated stage, film, and television actress and beloved Downton Abbey star. Source: Remembering Actress Dame Maggie Smith | Masterpiece | PBS
Remembering Actress Dame Maggie Smith | Masterpiece | PBS Read More »
The basic plot of this novel is memorable, but I reread it to see if there are significant details that I’d forgotten since I read the book way back in high school. What I didn’t remember is the apocalyptic suggestion: that the boys’ plane crashed at around the time when cold-war tensions were escalating and
Review: “Lord of the Flies” Read More »
Related Post: Writing the post about how The Drowning People contributed to my development in reading reminded me to put this novel on my list of books to reread this month. I’m glad I reread it. What I initially remembered was how the gothic elements gave the novel an air of timelessness and oppressiveness. What I didn’t
Review: “The Drowning People” Read More »
Seven Books That Demystify Human Behavior I firmly believe that reading fiction teaches us a lot about being human. Here freelance writer Chelsea Leu suggests books, both fiction and nonfiction, that can increase our understanding of people. Make it awkward! “Rather than being a cringey personal failing, awkwardness is a collective rupture – and a
