>I’m quite enjoying The Rights of the Reader, the new Candlewick edition of Daniel Pennac’s Comme un Roman, first published here as Better than Life, and I have been pondering Right No. 3, “The Right Not to Finish a Book.” Here as elsewhere, Pennac’s aphoristic style puts the ooh-la-la in Gallic shrug: So the book [...]
>The true luxury of hindsight: schadenfreude
December 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment
>I’ve gotten behind on my New Yorkers–I subscribe to the audio edition–and am just now getting through October’s issues, which were filled with news and commentary about the upcoming election. It is infinitely more fun to read about this way–leisure to gloat, of course, but also no nervous tension. I’m getting an idea of why [...]
>There Is No Shame in Loving The DaVinci Code
October 29, 2008 By 11 Comments
>People magazine (November 3, 2008 issue) gives Sarah Palin three chances to enlarge on her claim to be a “voracious reader” and three times she escapes: People: What do you like to read? Palin: Autobiographies, historical pieces–really anything and everything. Besides the kids and sports, reading is my favorite thing to do. People: What are [...]
>When Worlds Collide
September 24, 2008 By 4 Comments
>Our designer Lolly Robinson was spending a choir rehearsal break sitting in a Plymouth coffee shop and re-reading Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, only to emerge and see this: Lolly emailed me, “It made me wonder what other experiences like this people have had while still in the thrall of a children’s book.” It reminded me [...]
>And listen to ME (and Martha and Kitty)
July 24, 2008 By 1 Comment
>In lieu of a gift
May 10, 2008 By 20 Comments
>New and new
May 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
>The new Notes from the Horn Book should be in your inbox. And Claire’s latest list–Summer Reading–is up on our site. I think I should confess that I am hooked on Beach Blondes, wherein Summer has three hot dudes vying for her attention and a possible fourth who may be her long lost big brother. [...]
>Librarian superpowers
April 9, 2008 By 19 Comments
>This morning, at an unbearable point in Middlemarch–Dorothea is, I think, about to make a Very Big Mistake–I switched off my iPod and turned my attention to what my fellow Orange Line commuters were reading. It can be very tricky to not be caught staring while waiting for someone to give you a flash of [...]
>Hard books
March 28, 2008 By 11 Comments
>Having successfully evaded Middlemarch in college (I thought it was too hard), I am now reading it (via audiobook, with the Modern Library edition at hand) completely enraptured. It reminds me of another reason why children’s book professionals need to read books for grownups: Buyers of the Middlemarch newspapers found themselves in an anomalous position: [...]
>The Many Mysteries of Children’s Choices
March 26, 2008 By 4 Comments
>Huh? seems to be the main question directed at the Children’s Book Council’s just-announced Children’s Choice Book Awards, an Internet election for “Favorite Books,” “Favorite Author,” and “Favorite Illustrator.” The five nominees, “compiled from a review of bestseller lists, including those prepared by BookScan, The New York Times and USA Today,” for each of the [...]
