I’m eating crumpets smothered in Lurpak and reading from one of my Christmas gifts: The Best American Short Stories (2008), edited by Salman Rushdie. In the past, short stories have not always been my favourite thing. I like to be in it for the long haul. But I’ve found they make exceedingly good bed fellows
Browsing category books
Thanks to the Glandular Fever I’m convinced I’ve got…I’ve managed to spend a lot of time reading this week. Last night I finished up the following: “MOOSE”, by Stephanie Klein. I’m a four year fan of Klein and Greek Tragedy. I read her first memoir “Straight Up and Dirty” the day I brought it home.
Flynn: I read this morning that Bette Midler’s husband bought her the entire Penguin Classics series. That’s adorable. I have a real soft spot for her cause she’s just so brassy and sassy but self-aware and, you know, Beaches. Me: I’m with you on Bette. Also, she’s top heavy. And I like those sort of
“The major difference between Tolstoy and Flaubert is that Tolstoy worked from life, Flaubert from ideas—and in this instance, from a very poor idea, which was hatred of the bourgeoisie and of provincial life. Of the two men, Tolstoy had the larger heart, which gave him the greater appreciation of the complexity of human existence
These links are more for me than anything. I use to print and bind articles of interest into a journal. I’ve now gone digital. And yeah, I still have a crush on my pink western digital passport, but it’s no comparison to paper. Nothing really is. The diaries of the novelist George Orwell are now
I’m reading William Hazlitt and enjoying it. I read most things twice these days. Once for style. Once for entertainment. I’m still on style. I’m not sure when I quit reading for the sake of a story; when I became more concerned with the way words were used and strung together. I’m thinking it was
I try to choose a handful of ‘unread-by-me’ books from this list every year. Novels I would have never otherwise been moved to try on. Like Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black, a 2005 most listee. Or The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler which sounded a little too pink to pick up through any other recommendation. This year I’ll be making a selection from the Non-Fiction list. Leonard Woolf: A Biography by Victoria Glendinning, because I’ve recently developed an irrational fascination with Virginia’s husband. And In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar because…well…just because. Anyhoo. The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year. Fiction and Poetry.
“The Church Without Christ…where the blind don’t see and the lame don’t walk and what’s dead stays that way.” – Wise Blood – – – – – – – – – – – – – I’m a huge fan of Flannery O’Connor so when someone asked me to name my favourite novel I said Wise
I like to ponder the human condition and finish the unfinishables. At least that’s what GradSpot reckons. The new life-after-college website wants to help you build a sexier library. “25 Books That Look Good and Read Even Better” is presented in a five-set: revisiting the reading list, intellectualism, dwelling on the human condition, NYT best
The New York Times just released it’s 10 Best Books List – You can check out the top 100 here. I’ll just touch on the fiction selections because there’s bound to be something political on that other ‘non’ one and to be quite honest, I don’t have the stomach for it today – am fighting
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” —Harper Lee The Pulitzer Prize winning novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been banned from school libraries and denounced for so-called racial slurs and profanity. The American Library Association keeps a database of objectionable reads and publishes a
According to the American Library Association every year hundreds of attempts are made to remove literary classics from schools and libraries. See: Banned Books and Why Censorship Makes Me Laugh The following novels have been challenged or banned. “To Kill a Mockingbird” — Harper Lee “Lolita” — Vladmir Nabokov “The Great Gatsby” — F. Scott
