All Posts in Literature

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is a Pulitzer Prize winning book that teaches you as much about Dominican history and the human condition as it does comic books and funny Spanish swear words. Meant especially for anyone who gravitates towards the rhythms of spoken word or who likes...
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When the more avid lit fan thinks of David Sedaris, they tend to think of writing that floors them with laughter, products of his caustic wit and sophisticated humor, traits that people have started to take for granted in Sedaris’s work, especially when they review his book “Me Talk Pretty One Day” as “his most sidesplitting work...
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Apparently I never knew the correct spelling of the Berenstain Bears.  I always thought it was “stein.”  My family always pronounced it “stein,” not “stain.” It comes as something of a shock now to find out that those bears were gentiles. I guess it makes sense.  I don’t know any Jews who make all...
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Because the title isn’t conspicuous enough. One man and three women – not as fascinating as you’d think.
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Freelance Writing (insider's guide)/Central Midfield Role/Snooki/Influence & Plagiarism
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Having recently discovered this multi-media gem from 2004 at one of my favorite thrift stores for a mere $2, I’m pleased to find Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel/journal-entry style documenting the pubescent sex-capades of her fifteen-year-old character Minnie Goetze and her subsequent loves, losses and intense loneliness so all-consuming that I read Diary of a Teenage...
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At the Free Library of Philadelphia, David Mitchell told audience members that he is proud of his books in reverse order of publication – e.g., The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010), then Black Swan Green (2007), then Cloud Altas (2004) – except Ghostwritten (2001), his first novel, would probably come before his second...
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For anyone who is skeptical about the second installment in any series, Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, gives you reason to believe that some stories are best told in parts. Catching Fire satiates readers who crave a second-helping of the sadistic Hunger Games, set in the...
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One Day, the latest book from David Nicholls (Starter for Ten, The Understudy), snapshots the lives of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew – Em and Dex, Dex and Em – on St. Swithun’s Day over twenty years beginning with their first encounter on the night of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh.  A...
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So, I finally got around to seeing Youth in Revolt, and I know you’re supposed to view a movie based on a book as an entirely separate medium, keeping in mind that the goal of the film is to capture the spirit of the book, rather than merely translate each and every minute facet into visual...
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