Reading with Tequila (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
Every week we'll post about what books we have received that week (via your mailbox/library/store bought)! Created by The Story Siren ! For Review (4) Life After 187 by Wade J. Halverson The Secret of Joy by Melissa Senate (blog tour) What Your Mother Never Told You: A Survival Guide for Teenage Girls by Richard M. Dudum 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster Library (5) The Red Badge of Courage by...
A Boat Against the Current (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
“Sally Hampton went to Richmond with the Rev. Mr. Martin. She arrived there on Wednesday. On Thursday her father, Wade Hampton, fought a great battle, but just did not win it-a victory narrowly missed. Darkness supervened and impenetrable woods prevented that longed-for consummation. Preston Hampton rode recklessly into the hottest fire. His father sent his brother, Wade, to bring him back. Wade...
Boots and Sabers (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Here’s a fun, if meaningless, exercise for a Friday evening if you happen to be sitting at home reading blogs. What is your favorite opening line from a novel? Is it the famous “Call me Ishmael”? How about “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”? Maybe “All this happened, more or less”? I think my favorite from a novel is “The cold...
Laudator Temporis Acti (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
Stephen Crane, The Black Riders , XLVII: "Think as I think," said a man, "Or you are abominably wicked; You are a toad." And after I had thought of it, I said, "I will, then, be a toad." Bufo americanus
Baxojayz - Centricity (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Today's Birthdays Benjamin Guinness (1798-1868): brewer, politician and philanthropist who was Ireland's richest man Stephen Crane (1871-1900): novelist and short story writer who wrote The Red Badge of Courage Gary Player (74): champion golfer Bo Bice (34): American Idol runner-up; other musicians born on this date are Bill Anderson (72), Kinky Friedman (65), Dan Peek (59), Keith Stegall (55), Lyle...
Pen On Fire (Free subscription) | 10/29/2009
This monthly salon, hosted by yours truly, features authors, literary agents, and others involved in the field of writing. Set in the atmospheric Scape Gallery in Corona del Mar, the salon is a mecca for literary devotees who listen to readings, take part in discussions, and attend book signings. Our next event takes place Tuesday, November 17 • 7pm An Evening with Memoirists Join our salon on...
Tales from the Reading Room (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
William Dean Howells was one of the stalwart gentlemen of American 19th century letters. Best friends with Mark Twain and Henry James, a champion of the work of Emily Dickenson and Stephen Crane among others, he was a wholly self-educated man who began life as a reporter and worked his way up to the editorship [...]
Scheiss Weekly (Free subscription) | 10/09/2009
Mamacita says: Many people do not know that Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage and The Open Boat – among many other works – was also a poet. Crane referred to his poems as “lines,” but I call them poems, and I like ‘em! Most of them are short, but hardly sweet. In The [...]
CHROMA (Free subscription) | 09/02/2009
Hotel de Dream Edmund White Published by Bloomsbury Reviewed by Gregory Woods Poor Henry James! What did he ever do to deserve his exhumation and re-animation by early twenty-first century novelists? His fastidious particularity about human relationships seems to have become regarded as if it were a distant and exotic cultural practice, like foot-binding or cannibalism, vaguely picturesque but ultimately...
WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS? (JD Rhoades' Blog) (Free subscription) | 08/25/2009
Ralph Nader has Written a Novel? ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US! is: ...the vivid account by political activist and best-selling author Ralph Nader that answers the question, "What if?" What if for once the driving force in America was harnessed in the interests of the citizens of this great nation? What if some of America’s most powerful individuals decided it was time to fix our...
Wonkette (Free subscription) | 08/04/2009
Hey everybody, some birthers are just wandering around various Senate and House office buildings, bothering the shit out of staffers and interns, and then twatting about it, on the Twitter. David Weigel, the Stephen Crane + Ernie Pyle × Martha Gellhorn of the Tea Party-Birthers Wars, has the whole collection ...
rooted (Free subscription) | 07/31/2009
I have been thinking about those lines for a while now. Thought I would share it here with you all "In the desert" from The Black Riders by Stephen Crane (1871-1900) In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said: “Is it good, friend,” “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But...
Oconee Politics (Free subscription) | 06/29/2009
Pat Priest does a great job with a wide and varying list of fiction and non-fiction to read to expand her horizons and those of the members of the Oconee County Democratic Committee book club (and some members do not belong to the regular political committee). So I am just reiterating you do not have to live in Oconee County or even be a member of the Democratic Party to join our book group. Woven...
Welcome Back to Pottersville (Free subscription) | 06/15/2009
Americans were once very political animals. As recently as the early 20th century, one could still take hours getting from one end of a major city street to another on election night because they would be thronged with people excitedly chattering about the candidates, the latest election results. With his characteristic style of full-immersion reporting, Stephen Crane wrote a news article consisting...
Conversational Reading (Free subscription) | 06/05/2009
On the recommendation of JRSM (whose Caustic Cover Critic blog is worth the time of any fan of book design), I recently picked up a couple of volumes in Harper Perennial's new Classic Stories series. The series thus far consists of brief volumes of short stories by Willa Cather, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Stephen Crane, Melville, and Oscar Wilde--all except the last better known for their novels than their...
Videos