Welcome to The Rise of the Short Story: a series dedicated to exploring the short story and its current renaissance. To that end – all during the month of February some of my favorite bloggers and podcasters will stop by to tell us why they love (or hate) short stories, why they think they’re back into vogue and to (of course!) recommend some of their … Continue reading The Rise of the Short Story – Bristol Short Story Prize
Murder just isn’t what it used to be. Pick any thriller or mystery off the best seller lists and you’ll see that murderers no longer need motive. They kill for pleasure. Greed, power, lust are quaint vestiges of a distant past. Nowadays everyone is a psychopath, sociopath, masochist, sadist… a diagnosis is de rigueur. It’s rather disheartening. Which is why I recommend taking a step … Continue reading Who Says a 12th Century Benedictine Monk Can’t Be Sexy? – The Brother Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt has been a hurdle I’ve needed to jump all Summer. I’m approximately 100 pages in and don’t know why this book is taking so long to get through. I pick it up and put it down fairly regularly. (The putting down part is most likely the problem). My goal is to have it read and reviewed by the October … Continue reading Finally! Back to Byatt…
Voltaire said to cultivate your garden… so what are you waiting for? It’s time to go outside and dig up the backyard. No backyard? Sign up for a community plot. If all else fails, do a little guerrilla gardening. In between pulling up the weeds I recommend Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire & the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf. This very readable book traces how … Continue reading Dig into a good book! (pun intended) Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire & the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf
READER AT LARGE 