Writing Blog
Want a workout for your brain? Read a novel.
As (obsessive) readers, we all know how a novel can amuse us and transport us. But did you know novel reading also provides a workout for your brain? There’s a short, interesting article in the LA Times about brain research showing how our mind reacts to novel reading. College students were all provided with a…
Read MoreRereading Little House on the Prairie
I read Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a little girl, and, like most kids my age, I loved it. I devoured the whole series, and also enjoyed the television series of the time. Years later, my own son saw it in a bookstore back on a visit to New…
Read MoreBook review: The Good Girl
This psychological thriller by Mary Kubica is being promoted for fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on The Train. This isn’t my normal genre, but I was curious to read this book after reading about it and finding the plot intriguing. I’d read both Gone Girl and The Girl on The Train. Despite being…
Read MoreElena Ferrante on bending writing rules
“I use plots, yes, but, I have to say, I can’t respect the rules of genres.” —Elena Ferrante Successful, anonymous author Elena Ferrante certainly has the right to devise books any way she chooses. The Italian novelist (male or female, we don’t know, but my money’s on female) became an international bestseller with her ‘Neapolitan…
Read MoreNovels over authors
“I am more interested in works than authors.” -E.M. Forster “What is important is ‘Hamlet’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ not who wrote them.” -William Faulkner An interesting observation from the great novelist, E.M. Forster (1879-1970), who has a soft spot in my heart for all the novels he set in Italy. And something very…
Read MoreBook Blogger Hop: Who am I reading for?
Over at the excellent blog for readers, Once Upon a Littlefield, blogger Emma joins the Book Blogger Hop answering the question: Who am I reading for? The question – which is ideally answered by many bloggers blogging about or reviewing books: Do you read and review books mainly for publishers or authors? Like Emma, I…
Read MoreWriting inspiration from Lord Byron
If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad. Lord Byron These words from the great Romantic poet, George Gordon Noel Byron (1788-1824), more commonly known as simply Lord Byron, may feel quite familiar to writers. Well, hopefully not hauled-off-in-a-straight-jacket mad, but I’ve been known to have stories jingling around in my head,…
Read MoreWriting inspiration from Neil Gaiman
Where do I get my ideas from? I make them up. Out of my head. -Neil Gaiman Words of wisdom from the multi-talented author, Neil Gaiman. Although, for those who read Gaiman, I think any reader would be hard-pressed to believe Gaiman’s novels are simply rehashing his own stories and experiences. And that they most certainly originate…
Read MoreBook review: How to be Single
I was looking for a fun, light read, and this book started out quite promising. The author had a great voice in the first pages, introducing a series of women and explaining how these bright, intelligent women living in New York had arrived to their mid and late-thirties without ever having married. The stories explaining…
Read MoreLet beach reading season 2016 officially begin…
Over the Easter weekend, I spent a great day in the Italian beach town of Sperlonga. The March day was spectacular, and my children and I had a fabulous time wandering the beach town we’ve visited many times before. We also had fun walking along the wide beach – always beautiful, but even better without the…
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