Ray Bradbury on the Seduction of Space in The Rocket Man
In his 1951 short story, The Rocket Man, Ray Bradbury explores the seduction of the open sky that inspires Elton John’s iconic song by the same name.
Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke on Race, Writing, and Friendship
Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke were friends for more than 50 years and Bryan Crable chronicles the complex history of their friendship.
Kate Mascarenhas’s The Psychology of Time Travel
Four women will invent time travel. Three will make their mark on history. Two will do anything to be remembered. One will not survive. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL Summer is here and we are cracking open a new book together. We’d love for you to join us in reading The Psychology of Time Travel […]
How to Talk About the Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Winter Book Club is almost over! As you probably know, this online version of book club mirrors the in-person get together we have every season. Real friends in real life get together to talk about a book. It’s incredible and I look forward to this night for months. Earlier this season was our in-person book […]
My Favorite Female Authors
Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience.” ~Mary Wollstonecraft By Jessica S. Manuel Today is International Women’s Day. I feel the same about today that I do about Earth Day: we should celebrate our female accomplishments everyday. Nonetheless, I want to carve out some mental space to […]
One Sentence Reviews of the Best Reads of 2016
This year was full of half-read books, tons of audiobooks, and plenty of research. Out of the books I read and finished, these are the ones that made the cut. Below is this year’s list of one sentence reviews of the best reads of 2016. Check out previous years here: 2014 Winners 2015 Winners Professional […]
Women & Madness in Literature & Life
“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.” ~R.D. Laing Zelda Fitzgerald At book club a few weeks […]
The Best Writing Books According to Best-Selling Authors
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” ~Gustave Flaubert Have you ever wondered if most writers would agree on the best writing books on the market? I went to a virtual writing conference over the summer hosted by Chandler Bolt. During this conference, he interviewed 43 best-selling authors. He asked them […]
Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami
“No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves.” ~Haruki Murakami, Birthday Girl Before diving into Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, I have students read this fun short story, “Birthday Girl,” by Haruki Murakami in my freshmen composition course. It’s a little […]
New to Murakami? Start here ==>
“But who can say what’s best? That’s why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, […]