Today is Shakespeare’s 400th, a day marking four hundred years since the Bard’s death. Fans celebrate and mark this day since his exact birth date is in question. (If you’re a Harry Potter fan, celebrating the day of his death reminds me of Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party.) As do so many, I adore Shakespeare’s […]
Oprah just announced her annual list of favorite things. You can check out the entire list by clicking here. I was happy to see some books and book-ish items being recommended, so of course those immediately rose to the top of the list. While most are entirely out of my price range (yowza), it’s a […]
Four years ago, many of my beloved university cohorts and I debated lists of the most attractive men in American and British literature. The conversations were intense and being the intelligent, humble ladies we are we, of course, thought our lists were far superior. Last week, we picked up the conversation again, this time debating […]
The American Library Association recently announced their annual youth media awards (for authors, illustrators, and audiobooks). This includes the highly anticipated announcements of the Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Awards, among many others. I enjoy looking over these lists each year and seeing which books I’ve read and which ones I need to add […]
As an active reader, book reviewer, blogger, but also a literature professor, I try to make sure I’m somewhat caught up on new reading trends and communities so I can share that information with my classes. The following article is adapted from one I recently wrote for my department. I hope it is of help […]
by Khaled Hosseini Genres: Fiction Publisher: Riverhead Books Length: 404 pages Published: May 21, 2013 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble Note: You can read my review of Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and read my preview for his recently released short story/picture book, A Sea Prayer, as well. “So, then. You want a story […]
by Nathaniel Philbrick Having read Moby Dick, I thought I knew what I was in for when I picked up Philbrick’s book on the nineteenth-century whaleship Essex: I was very, very wrong. I thought Philbrick’s account would be another fictional rendition of man versus the sea. Instead, Philbrick picks up where the climactic conclusion of […]
The third and final part of my interview with Karen Babine, author of Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life. Follow the links to read Part One and Part Two. Throughout your years of graduate work, professional teaching, and attending and presenting at writing conferences, what has been some of […]
by Julie Danneberg illustrated by Judy Love Genre: Children’s Picture Book (ages 5-8) Publisher: Charlesbridge Page Count: 32 pages Published: February 1, 2006 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble Note: Written at a child’s reading level, but definitely aimed at teachers as a great end-of-year present. The book is part of a series featuring Mrs. […]
Today, I am happy to join the official Penguin Young Readers blog tour to celebrate the fourth and final installment in Sheila Turner’s middle-grade mystery series, The Law of Finders Keepers (Mo & Dale Mysteries #4). After having read and enjoyed the first three installments (Three Times Lucky, The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, and The […]
The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak “This is a book with no pictures. It might seem like no fun to have someone read you a book with no pictures. It probably seems boring and serious. Except… Here is how books work: Everything the words say, the person reading the book has to […]
This week I’m excited to feature a three-part interview with my friend Karen Babine, author of Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life (University of Minnesota Press, 2015). Karen was born and raised in the lake country of Minnesota. She earned a B.A. from Concordia College, an M.F.A. from Eastern […]
by Catherine Lowell “Because the madwoman is far more compelling if she is a ‘regular’ woman,” said Orville. “No–don’t interrupt. If she is a frothing lunatic, then she becomes the most unrealistic part of Jane Eyre, and the one character that transforms the novel into implausible Gothic fiction. If, however, we treat the madwoman as […]
Jactionary: Book Review – My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
by Elizabeth Strout “There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks. This was in New York City, and at night a view of the Chrysler Building, with its geometric brilliance of lights, was directly visible from my bed. During the […]