Adventures with E-Books

I just finished the first novel I have ever read entirely in e-format (A Discovery of Witches), on my new e-reader. Following the lead of Sybil Harrison, the head librarian at my college, I bought a Kobo, the e-reader associated with the Canadian bookstore chain Chapters/Indigo, rather than a Kindle. I love Amazon, and had [...]

Remembering Diana Wynne Jones

I spent what I count among the happiest three days of my life in Bristol, in early July 2009, attending and presenting a paper at the international conference on Diana Wynne Jones. Scholars, students, editors, and many who “just” read and enjoy Diana Wynne Jones’ novels came together, and spent an entire weekend discussing, enthusing, [...]

A Reading Meme

Do you remember learning to read? How old were you? I know it was before I started school, and I was four then. I do have a clear memory of being on a bus with my mother and suddenly realizing that I could piece together what some of the signs said. What do you find [...]

Literate People Should Boycott Books

At least, according to this post that cites a Newser article by Michael Wolff arguing against what he calls the “vanity publishing” of books by the likes of Sarah Palin. He writes that such ghost written items devoid of real content are not “real” books and in fact are a con job by publishers. Provocative [...]

Happy 80th Birthday, Ursula Le Guin

I find it an almost overwhelming task to write about what Ursula Le Guin means to me. Perhaps you will get an idea of how I’m feeling if I tell you that when I had a chance to meet her, at a reading, and get my copy of Tehanu signed, I got tears in my [...]

For Readers and Teachers of Poetry

This is one of those quote-within-a-quote-within-a-quote things that happen in blogs. Litlove, in a post for the Sunday Salon is writing about reading Rilke’s Duino Elegies. This post on its own is worth reading, as she captures vividly the ecstacy of reading Rilke. But I particularly loved this quote from the critic William Gass, writing [...]

Love, let us be true to one another

Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach (or Philip Larkin meets Virginia Woolf) Note: it’s really impossible to write anything with insight about this book without at least implied spoilers, so if you don’t want even a hint of the outcome, do not read any further. I can’t decide whether this is a Postmodern novel about the [...]

Writer on Poet

This seems like the perfect link for a blog for English. The LiveJournal blogger, “Truepenny,” who is Sarah Monette the author in real life blogs today about Gerard Manley Hopkins. She’s teaching a university course in her area this year, so watch for interesting posts.

Seen Reading

Have you ever craned your neck to see what another person is reading? Seen Reading takes that impulse a step or two further. Here is her modus operandi: 1. I see you reading. 2. I guesstimate where you are in the book. 3. I trip on over to the bookstore and make a note of [...]