A James Bond thriller, a biography of the first queen of journalism and a new novel by Jonathan Franzen. Here's a glimpse of what they're about and what to anticipate.
Category: Classics
Remember, it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird
Harper Lee's second book "Go Set a Watchman" is now published. This literary event forever changes Ms. Lee's famous one-book legacy of the phenomenal classic, the incomparable "To Kill a Mockingbird." Here's how I prepared to read "Watchman," as well as information about the shifting story regarding its "accidental discovery."
James Salter’s Ohio connection
Several years ago, I had a memorable conversation at Barnes & Noble that revealed a little known fact about novelist and short story writer James Salter. Here's the story, as well as a remembrance of this exceptional author who died last week.
Welcome new year, now here are old books
Here are three novels, two of them crime mysteries, published in 1993, 2009 and 1930. It's a way of welcoming the new year by remembering that the past in literature shall not be forgotten.
What I’m reading this summer
Something I love to do during the summertime is catch up on classics. The desire is connected to the memory of the required summer reading lists I used to get for school when I was a young reader. Here's what I've "assigned" to myself this summer.
What books do you reread?
I know someone who rereads Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles." I know someone who rereads the books of Charles Dickens. Me? I don't reread. But that doesn't mean I don't want to reread. Here's my wish list, and why the books are on it.
The question of his life
I read an essay in "The New York Review of Books" about author James Baldwin in which Darryl Pinckney wrote, "I fell under the spell of Baldwin's voice." Pinckney's story about reading Baldwin connected me to "Giovanni's Room," Baldwin's bold second novel, a classic I'd skipped in my reading journey. Now I can say it's one of the most moving books I've ever read.
Can you speak rhinoceros? Of courserous!
Once out of print and then later back in print with revisions, "The Story of Doctor Dolittle" now has a place on my bookshelf -- the 1920 edition, that is. Here's a few illustrations from that original classic children's book, plus why it went out of favor.
What if there are no more books like these?
Looking for a summer reading list? It's right here in James Patterson's call-to-action advertisement about saving books, bookstores and libraries.
A place that gets to know you
Mark Brazaitis' Sherman, Ohio, invites comparison to Winesburg and Knockemstiff, the small Ohio towns immortalized in fiction by Sherwood Anderson and Donald Ray Pollock. Except Sherman residents in Brazaitis’ “The Incurables” don't feel trapped, like Anderson and Pollock's characters. Far from it. Here are their stories.
Caught in the sweet flypaper of life
20th century African-American photographer Roy DeCarava and poet Langston Hughes collaborated on a small book of black-and-white photos depicting everyday life in 1950's Harlem. Published in 1955, "The Sweet Flypaper of Life" reveals this time and place with a poignancy that eludes history books.
Collecting William Faulkner (surprise!)
Sometimes the best part about collecting an author's work is the ephemera associated with it -- such as this magazine that includes a story by William Faulkner; however, when it arrived in the mail, the classic author's words were not what I read immediately. Not with Jennifer Billingsley on the cover.
The books I gave on Christmas Eve
Dinner at my house on December 24, 2012, included giving a book to each of my six guests. Here you'll find the titles of the books -- three novels, one short-story collection, one historical crime story, one allegory -- and how the selections were made.
You’ll take leave of your senses
NYRB Classics reprinted Thomas Tryon’s 1971 bestseller "The Other" this month, a chilling story that sold millions of copies during its day, which was the decade of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist." But of these three hair-raising novels, "The Other" unsettled me the most. Here's why. Also: An interesting database of 20th-century American Bestsellers book collectors will enjoy.
Confessions from American suburbia
The University of Georgia Press announced this week the winners of the 2012 Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Awards, but I've been hooked by a previous winner -- Andrew Porter's "The Theory of Light & Matter." Here's why, plus an "all hail the short story" burst of thought.
The Longest Chapter 