June 2011
24 posts
3 tags
My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant →
“My mother wanted to give me a better life, so she sent me thousands of miles away to live with her parents in America — my grandfather (Lolo in Tagalog) and grandmother (Lola).” By JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS This piece straight-up made me cry.
Jun 29th
17 notes
3 tags
LAUGHTER IN THE DARK
Laughter in the Dark is the world’s best soap opera in book form.  Even the name evokes the melodrama of the daytime television series.  The protagonist, Albinus, often reminds one of the lounging, aging paramours prancing on the small screen- he’s dissatisfied, comits adultery, and insanely jealous; his love interest, the scrawny, prowling schemers. I have a theory that Nabokov is...
Jun 29th
3 notes
Philip Roth No Longer Reading Fiction →
vintageanchor: Whether you’re interested in Philip Roth’s critical exegesis of “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” his contrarian take on “Freedom” or just curious to know what he thinks of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” his answer is likely to be the same: He probably hasn’t read them because he is no longer reading fiction at all. In an interview with The Financial Times, Mr. Roth, the ornery...
Jun 28th
45 notes
3 tags
“Back came the sun, dazzlingly.”
– Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room.
Jun 26th
1 tag
Rowling Releases ‘Harry Potter’ Into the Ether on... →
J.K. Rowling is so smart - this is an example of the awesomeness (and profit) that can happen with the creative use of electronic rights.   Also, yay! 
Jun 23rd
3 tags
“He knew he could never become a novelist. To become a novelist, you had to be...”
– Martin Amis, The Pregnant Widow
Jun 20th
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Amanda Hocking - Storyseller →
Jun 18th
3 notes
1 tag
How Did We Miss These? →
Far from the fame and glamour of the Booker and bestsellers is a forgotten world of literary treasures - brilliant but underrated novels that deserve a second chance to shine. We asked 50 celebrated writers to nominate their favourites.  -The Guardian
Jun 18th
3 notes
2 tags
On Being a Feminist Reader
I try to read one female author for every male author.  This is kind of a new thing for me, I guess a year old habit.  I figured I was missing out.  My 20 years of reading without regard to gender led directly to my reading primarily male writers.  Sure when I was young I read a lot of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lucy Maude Montgomery.  I read Gone With the Wind.  But since the age of 12, the woman...
Jun 18th
5 notes
2 tags
Jun 17th
3 notes
J.K Rowling to launch Pottermore →
WHAT IS THIS GOING TO BE?!
Jun 17th
1 note
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Jun 15th
3 notes
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The Master and Margarita
Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I expected The Master and Margarita to be a romantic combination of Jane Austen’s characterizations and Tolstoy’s pensiveness.  Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to just such a book, but The Master and Margarita blew me away immediately and irreversibly; flippin’ the script on my assumptions. M & M, it turns...
Jun 15th
2 notes
1000 Polish Book Covers →
toglorifythingsbecausetheyare:  Polish poster art is a thing unto itself.  LOVE.
Jun 14th
66 notes
4 tags
Jun 10th
3 tags
“This is the whole story and we might have left it at that had there not been...”
– Vladimir Nabokov, Laughter in the Dark, in a perfect summation of all writing.
Jun 10th
Forbes: The 10 Most Powerful Women Authors →
vintageanchor: Our Favorites… Toni Morrison: Nobel and Pulitzer-Prize winning author. Novelist, editor and professor Toni Morrison is best-known for such works as The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved (which was adapted into a film). Morrison’s Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning work shakes readers to their cores by taking an unflinching and often haunting look at the black experience in...
Jun 8th
58 notes
4 tags
Swamplandia! !
Swamplandia!, evocative, stylish, exhilerating.   Swamplandia!, stark, depressing, barren. Karen Russell’s prose-feat is on sale everywhere, go buy it.  You‘ll be reminded of Nabokov, Atwood, The Boxcar Children, and Wallace while marvelling at how original Swamplandia! is.  Because when you get down to brass tacks, this book is wholly unique. I felt transported to the swamp world...
Jun 8th
28 notes
Jun 6th
Jun 5th
3 tags
Our Kind of Traitor - John le Carre
John le Carre’s newest book is a unique thriller, in that it’s character based rather than plot based.  Told from various point of views and different time schemes, the novel’s twists and turns are less stomach clenching and more sympathy inducing.  The characters in Our Kind of Traitor are all wonderfully drawn, and they keep you glued to the pages.  Gail and Perry, the main...
Jun 5th
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
– Maya Angelou (via libraryland)
Jun 3rd
290 notes
3 tags
In their own words? Maybe... Celebrity Books and... →
“ASPIRING fiction writers, don’t take it too hard, but the Kardashian sisters, best known for their skill in cozying up to reality-show cameras, are about to publish their first novel.”
Jun 2nd
2 notes
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Secret Son - Laila Lalami
When I tweeted about reading Secret Son, Laila Lalami, the author, tweeted back: ”Thanks for reading!”  It’s times like these that I love social media.  I felt excited to know that Laila knew I was reading her driving, fantastic, fascinating novel. Secret Son unfolds under a momentum all it’s own.  In fact, I read it all in one day, gulpingly.  Lalami writes about an...
Jun 2nd