When you have been thrilled by a book, and you discover that someone has written a letter about being thrilled with that same book, even if it was a hundred years ago, it invites a certain companionship. When that letter-writer is writing to the author of that collection, you feel
“All of us are better when we are loved.” The film Reading Alistair MacLeod begins with this quotation. It’s a lovely way to summarize his oeuvre. In the film, Colm Tóibín speaks of the process of discovering MacLeod’s work through editing the Modern Library’s Best 200 Writers project; he
Bergen, Guenther, Kellough, Mosley and Thammavongsa Short Stories in October, November and December Whether in a dedicated collection or a magazine, these stories capture a variety of reading moods. This quarter, I returned to three familiar writers and also explored two new-to-me story writers.
When I was a girl, I walked the streets of New York City with Harriet the Spy. And I revisited it regularly via Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. From a young age, this was a city I recognized on the page, a place that felt real, a
Even though I did have to plan ahead when it came to books that I didn’t own, I’m enjoying a more whimsical approach to the online interviews and what content’s available in podcast or streamed. No updates to the first line (still reading Cat’s Eye) and on the next
