"Reading is the creative center of a writer's life." — Stephen King
The rest of the opening paragraph of this novel lists the other things the narrator tries not to think about: sex, her boyfriend, death, and her mother who died on vacation last winter. She shows the reader all … Read More
How do you write a successful novel about a traumatic childhood? Let’s raise the bar: how do you write a best-selling book about a person who remembers being raped by her father? Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth achieves this. … Read More
This novel is a beach read about people who debate how Martha’s Vineyard compares to Nantucket Island. They actually do have passionate conversations about their beaches. Rich? Why, yes. Happy? Of course not. Readers may be reminded of Mary … Read More
Let’s just say that you wanted to write a novel that was built around that idea that “the present changes the past.” How would you structure it? Would you tell the story chronologically? Illustrate your idea through … Read More
How did she do that? Readers often ask this after reading an Ann Beattie story. Just when it seems as though not much is happening, boom! The story explodes. For example, in the final long paragraph … Read More
Short stories can be more than appetizers. But the challenge of creating a world with vivid characters who do something that matters to us in a compressed format is great. The length is a trap: some writers … Read More
Should museums include the work of living artists? Rarely does an institution say, “We are confident this will stand the test of time,” but that’s in fact the judgement of The Museum of Literature Ireland in Dublin on Claire Keegan… Read More
What should a moderately successful novelist, who didn’t engage readers during the social revolutions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, do to stage a come back? Explore trends? Update her plots? Become provocative? Barbara Pym declined these … Read More
Imagine a story about a baker who experiments with a recipe for biscotti that contains pistachios and orange zest. The baker is pleased with the results. The end. Wait, what? How can a story have no plot and … Read More
As a young bride, what book did Gail Baines receive from her mother-in-law? If you are a fan of Anne Tyler novels, you might guess something quirky and blunt, and you would be right: it’s Manners for … Read More
There are so many ways Percival Everett could have taken his retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective. He could have focused on revenge, or the relationship between Huck and Jim, or finding justice. Instead, he focuses on James’s strengths … Read More
The story “The Third and Final Continent” is about a man who moved from India to the United States. The story focuses on his early days in this country thirty years ago. However, in the final pages of … Read More
Let’s think about the title of the novel Intermezzo. If you enjoy words with many meanings – this one can refer to a musical composition, a file system for Linux, a prescription medication, a breed of horses, or a chess … Read More
What is it like to be a poet? If you have the ideal education, can you make a career of it? This novel shows us four people who attempt to do so. We meet … Read More
Like Pride and Prejudice, this book opens with a lie. It says, “This is the story of Bob Burgess.” The truth is that it’s the story of Bob, Lucy, Olive, Margaret, William, Jim, and Pam and the stories … Read More