On Waiting
Great story. What a wonderful request by your contest winner. I love King’s On Writing, too. I often assign sections of it to my comp classes.
Some time back I held an “appreciation”for the growing audience my blog was accumulating. I had hit 400 followers and in my euphoria I offered Stephen King’s book “On Writing” to the first person to like and comment on that particular post.
A man named Jim over at “Life Choice” won, but when I contacted him for an address, he, very generously, asked if I could please donate the book to someone who may not be able to buy it for themselves. He also asked that I name him and myself, and include the story of how the book found its home.
I was thrilled. And then…
I waited.
Why? I don’t know. Procrastination, had a headache, needed coffee, had to go buy gum.
It took me way too long a while, but with the help of a friend, I decided to gift it to our local…
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The Awakening of Joyce’s Lust for Beauty
For those soul-searching, here is an excerpt from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce (1882 – 1941). This autobiographical Künstlerroman is unprecedented in literature for its use of free indirect speech prefiguring Joyce’s stream of consciousness technique. American modernist poet Ezra Pound had the novel published in book format for the first time by B. W. Huebsch in New York, on the 29th of December 1916. The following passage captures one of the Joyce’s best-known epiphanies, his youthful infatuation with beauty – the seed of creativity:
“A girl stood before him in midstream, alone and still, gazing out to sea. She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird. Her long slender bare legs were delicate as a crane’s and pure save where an emerald trail of seaweed had fashioned…
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The Animal issue is coming
We have many great pieces in here! Don’t miss out.
Mythbusters: Confirm Or Bust Science
You have got to read Mythbusters: Confirm Or Bust! Science Fair Book #2 (mythbusters Science Fair Book) an important children’s book. My husband and I hoped to get our daughter who is 9 years old a brand new child’s book and my coworker Darryl Mcintosh from Tampa, Florida pulled out a copy of Mythbusters: Confirm Or Bust! Science Fair Book #2 (mythbusters Science Fair Book) .
Written by Samantha Margles and it is published by Scholastic Paperbacks. The child’s book was released on the 1st of December, 2012. The book has 128 pages. The child’s book dimensions are 0.4″H x 8.9″L x 7″W.
Let yourself end up being engrossed during this children’s book. Just picture yourself being the key figure, pondering and also struggling to find an answers in the process. You could get as imaginative as you choose with the circumstances in your mind. It’ll most likely put you…
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Don’t Tell Me How to Think
I went to a Banned Book website to pick which book I wanted to read during Banned Books Week, a site that, for me, is so high in comedic value. Charlotte’s Web is on there? It’s such a wonderful, sweet book that teaches kids about the power of friendship and helps them understand death. Who could possibly not want their children to read that? Oh, I see. The people who complain that talking animals are blasphemous. Sigh.
I realize I will never understand the Religious Right, but perhaps I can give them some perspective: It’s MAKE BELIEVE! It’s FICTION! Animals don’t really talk. Nor have the ability to be blasphemous.
Do they never let their children near any book that has talking animals in it? It seems to me that three-quarters of picture books we read to our children before they are old enough to read for themselves have talking…
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Update on the Harper Lee Lawsuit
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, and literary agent Samuel L. Pinkus have reached an agreement in principle to resolve Ms. Lee’s lawsuit against Mr. Pinkus. At the moment, the terms of the settlement are undisclosed, and it’s common for such terms to remain confidential.
I discussed this lawsuit in a previous post, When Our Literary Heroes Become Victims, in which I said that “the complaint is a difficult set of allegations to untangle.” Ms. Lee alleged that Pinkus, the son-in-law of her former agent Eugene Winick, breached his fiduciary duties (by failing to be truthful, self-dealing, and failing to ‘work’ the copyright to maximize royalties) and manipulated Ms. Lee into assigning away the copyright to her classic novel. It was particularly sad to read about her failing health, which Lee alleges Pinkus exploited for his personal gain.
To Kill a Mockingbird is one of…
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Amber Nicole Brooks 