Help a friend flaunt her love of forbidden fiction with this banned books bracelet. Each enameled panel features a book that’s been banned, from To Kill a Mockingbird to Huckleberry Finn. It’s from the UK—but defying censorship knows no bounds. Right? Available from The Literary Gift Company. And check back here at FWR every day in December for a bookish gift idea!
If you’re looking for a way to encourage a writer-friend, what about membership to a local independent writing center? Most writing centers offer workshops and seminars, but they also provide quiet places to work, as well opportunities for writers to meet, share ideas, and talk shop. Let’s face it: writing is a lonely task, and reminders that you’re not alone can make a huge difference. Here’s just a sampling of what’s out there: In Boston: Grub Street offers workspace as well as everything from one-night seminars to ten-week workshops. (Disclaimer: I teach at Grub Street–but I can also testify to […]
Publishers Weekly’s blog has named the Worst Book Ever, and it’s pretty bad. But the Amazon reviews of Microwave for One are themselves delightful little vignettes of fiction: It used to be that I got home from work and the only thing I’d want to put in my mouth was the cold barrel of my grandfather’s shotgun. Then I discovered Sonia Allison’s Chicken Tetrazzini, and now there are two things. This book is all you need for all the cooking you will ever do. Yes, even when you’re cooking for more than one! Impossible you say? Well, I thought so […]
The key to the adult is often found in the child. Susan Henderson’s debut novel, Up From the Blue, perfectly balances the two crises of Tillie Harris: the year in childhood when her mother went mad and the present alarm of her premature labor.
Today we have a simple but striking DIY gift idea: a picture frame made from a hardcover book. Maybe you’ve got an old book with unreadable pages but an intact cover, or maybe you found a gorgeous old hardcover at a used bookstore that could use a new lease on life (hello, Illustrated Cheeses of the World). Craft blog Papernstitch offers this tutorial on making that hardcover into a picture frame for a one-of-a-kind gift. The full tutorial is here (via)—you’re on your own for the book, though.
Breaking Copy highlights these ads, by the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, that satirize anti-drug PSAs: I can see an MFA program putting together its own series of these ads: Anita Desai: “Where did you learn to write stories? Who taught you how to do this stuff?” Kiran Desai: “You, all right? I learned it by watching you!” Ad campaign, anyone?
What do the 2011 Japanese Tsunami, the Cuban Missile Crisis and one family’s personal heartbreak have in common? For Ellen Prentiss Campbell the answer lies in Pearl S. Buck’s 1948 young adult novel The Big Wave and the individual acts of creative defiance that help survivors not only carry on, but value life’s beauty more highly because they know it will not last.
We’ve already looked at some posters to encourage kids to read, but what about adults? Take a peek at these amazing vintage-y reading posters. There’s the “Be Kind to Books Club” poster above, as well as several reminding you to read each month, like this one for March: How great would these look over your desk–or in your library, should you be so lucky? Available—along with other historical reading posters—at Art.com. And check back every day in December for another bookish gift idea from FWR!
Maybe it’s just the time of year—has anyone ever finished a project during the holiday season? Ever? In the history of time? But I’ve been doing some quality procrastination lately. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. On Monday, we talked about Mark Frauenfelder’s suggestion that being creative outside of your field can help you be more creative in your field. Now here are two other posts to make you feel less bad about procrastination—and maybe even make it helpful. Both are from Grub Street’s excellent blog, the Grub Street Daily. First, Katrin Schumann discusses the value of “cross-pollination” […]
This week’s feature is Jessica Gregson’s debut novel, The Angel Makers. Originally published in 2007 in the United Kingdom by PaperBooks, the novel has been released this week in the U.S. by independent publisher Soho Press, which specializes in literary fiction and international crime series. Gregson is also the author of The Ice Cream Army (PaperBooks, 2009). She currently lives is Glasgow, Scotland, where she is working towards her PhD in International Development at Glasgow University. In the opening of her recent review of this book, Contributor Cyan James writes: Time for an embarrassingly personal admission: while reading Jessica Gregson’s […]
