This is a photograph of Thomas Wolfe’s grave, which is in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina, where I happen to find myself today. Turns out that North Carolina is a state with an amazing literary heritage, claiming authors as diverse as Wolfe, Carl Sandburg (more on him later), O Henry, and tons of others. […]
So, I’m currently finishing up reading Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, which has been on the best-seller list for quite some time. I generally don’t read bestsellers. It is the anti-authoritarian streak in me, or perhaps more to the point, the I-don’t-want-to-do-what-everyone-else is doing streak. My family knows the best way to get me […]
It feels obligatory to write a post when Oprah chooses a new book for her book club. As if she doesn’t get enough publicity already. But Oprah’s choices are often odd and interesting. And all of us novelists and would-be novelists know its a long shot….but we still fantasize about Oprah choosing our book. Other, […]
Just found this link with an extensive (she’s prolific) list of Doris Lessing’s books. You can access it here [link no longer available].
This is a good week for us literary freaks, what with Doris Lessing winning the Nobel Prize for Literature today, which you can read about in my previous post here, and the National Book Award Nominations being announced yesterday. So, let’s just cut straight to the chase here–Denis Johnson was nominated for Tree of Smoke. […]
Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature today. You can read the Reuters story about it here and the New York Times piece here. The Times piece has a great photo of her sitting on her front steps in London, surrounded by reporters. She was apparently out shopping when it was announced, and learned […]
Just found another L’Engle tribute from a fan like me. This one is worth checking out because she has links to the New York Times obit, which I couldn’t find yesterday, and a couple other stories. Check it out here.
One of my favorite authors of all time died today. Madeleine L’Engle died in a nursing home in Connecticut at age 88. She was best known, of course, for her book A Wrinkle in Time, which my sister and I read and re-read and read again as we were growing up. I read it to […]
I mentioned in my previous post that I’ve been lolling about all day. The reason for this, besides the fact that it is the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, is because I am reading a novel I cannot put down. The book is called The Monk Downstairs by Tim Farrington and it is about a […]
Jonathan Lethem, author of Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn , among other books and novels, was at Portland Arts and Lectures last night. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never read him, but my friend Lauri had an extra ticket, and being the book slut that I am, I figured I’d go.
I’m glad I did, Lethem gave a good lecture–deep and informative and full of pithy commentary on current events (aka Imus) and he was funny, too.
