Every few months I take a weekend and attend a writer’s conference. These conferences almost always have swag bags filled with the goodies we authors appreciate most books and pens. These backpacks full of books are often filled with works that are not up my particular alley. (So much romance, so little interest.) I was pleasantly surprised when in one of these swag bags I found I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid’s debut novel, amongst my freebies. The novel came highly praised and I placed it on my to-read shelf with great excitement and anticipation. Time passed, life…
Category: Literary Liaisons
On The Shelf- Noir
This month’s On the Shelf entry is another product of a conference swag bag and it combines three of my favorite things the Noir genre, satire, and the city of San Francisco. I have to say, in my entire life rarely have I come across a book that so wildly altered my perception of it as I read. I began reading with great excitement, became bored and disinterested, then finally became enthralled as I finished one of my most enjoyable reads in a long while. I hope you’ll go on this madcap zany adventure with me as I discuss Christopher…
On the Shelf- Cat’s Cradle
Any list of American literary masters would be incomplete without Kurt Vonnegut. Known for prose that was simultaneously absurd and deadly serious, Vonnegut was deeply affected by his experiences as a soldier in World War II. More specifically, he was psychologically scarred by his survival of the bombing of Dresden, one of the most horrific events in a war full of horrific events. He would write about this experience in some of his non-fiction essays and in his seminal work Slaughterhouse-Five. But before Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut truly found his voice in his fourth novel Cat’s Cradle; which is the subject of…
On The Shelf- Mycroft Holmes
Since his invention by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, Sherlock Holmes has dominated the public square. Whether the medium be the printed page, the stage, radio, or screens large and small; not a year goes by without some new iteration of the world’s most famous detective entering the canon. With such an endless stream of adaptations and reinterpretations, it comes as a pleasant surprise when something comes along to pique my interest. I hope you feel the same way because in this edition of On the Shelf I discuss a rather inventive take on the Sherlock Holmes legend, Mycroft…
On The Shelf- Good Omens
With a new, live-action adaptation premiering this week, I thought it was a good time to dust off my copy of Good Omens and give it another read. Then I realized I loaned out my copy some time ago and never got it back. Luckily, I travel a good deal and the book is currently a ubiquitous feature of airport newsstands. For those of you not already familiar with Good Omens, the novel is a product of a partnership between Neil Gaiman and the late, great Terry Pratchett. A satirical take on the End Times, the novel follows the angel…
Wily Wordplay – Closing Lines
And so I bid you Adieu for now. With some of the greatest closing lines in literature. 1.“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which” – George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945) 2.“He loved Big Brother” – George Orwell, 1984 (1949) 3.”He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance.” – Frankenstein Mary Shelly 4.“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better…
A Writer’s Tale- O. Henry
Once again, loyal readers, we find ourselves in the midst of the holiday season. And if you’re anything like me this time of year finds you indulging in certain annual traditions. And while I’m sure many of you share my penchant for eggnog and Die Hard, one of my more personal traditions is to re-read “The Gift of the Magi” a powerful story about love and giving that really helps me crystalize the important things in my life. And if this year someone tugs on your heartstrings the way I just did and you feel like bumming them out in…
A Writer’s Tale- Canterbury Wine
Today’s entry in A Writer’s Tale will be shorter than our usual fare, as what I’m about to share with you is less a story and more along the lines of a hysterical, historical tidbit. But to be honest with you it was just too good a tidbit not to share. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, his Canterbury Tales being a staple of most 12th-grade literature classes. Well, modern audiences are not alone in their admiration of Chaucer, he was very much appreciated in his own time as well. In fact, to…
A Writer’s Tale- Percy Shelley’s Heart
This week’s entry of A Writer’s Tale features a story that is less quirky and more macabre. It is also a special bonus edition as it involves not one but two of my favorite writers. Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the great poets of the Romantic Age. He is known for a great many works but you’ll indulge me in recognizing one of my own personal favorites Ozymandias. Percy was married to another quite famous writer whose work is well known to all of you. Mary Shelly, who authored one of the most famous novels ever written, Frankenstein. Our…
A Writer’s Tale-Virginia Woolf
It occurred to me that I have done my readership a great disservice by somehow managing only to feature the quirky and wild tales of male authors up to this point. So in this edition, I will remedy that with a tale as amusing as it is cringe-worthy. And what literary lady will grace us with her tale this day? Why none other than the master of the modern novel herself, Miss Virginia Woolf. The year was nineteen ten, the place Dorset, England. Back before the great war, there was quite a rivalry between officers in Her Majesty’s Navy. As…