Do you know Bookfessions? This Tumblr offers confessions of voracious and passionate readers. If you’re such a reader, you’ll find many of these confessions strike a chord with you. These, and many more, at Bookfessions. (All images: Bookfessions.) And if you’ve got book-related confessions of your own, share them with us in the comments.
Our latest Journal of the Week, A Public Space, strives to be “a literary forum for the stories behind the news, a fragment of an overheard conversation, a peek at the novel the person next to you on the subway is reading, the life you invent for the man in front of you at the supermarket checkout line. Ideas and stories about the things that confront us, amuse us, confound us, intrigue us.”
David Milch, the creator of NYPD Blue and Deadwood, will be bringing Faulker’s literary works to HBO. Yup, you read that right. Reports the New York Times: “I’m not, probably, the first person they would have thought of approaching them,” Mr. Milch said in a phone interview, referring to his months-long discussions with the William Faulkner Literary Estate. “But a number of conversations were fruitful and here we are.” But the Times points out Milch isn’t as far-fetched a choice as you might think: But before he started putting colorful words in the mouths of Andy Sipowicz and Al Swearengen, […]
Here’s a great gift for a young writer, a game buff, or a teacher. The Storymatic provides 500 cards suggesting characters, images, and events to lead players into a story: First, draw two gold cards. Combine the information on the two cards to create your main character. For example, if you draw “surgeon” and “amateur boxer,” your character is a surgeon who is also a boxer. Next, draw one or two copper cards. Let the information on the cards lead you into a story. Wild cards are interspersed throughout, and they prompt you to go in directions you might not […]
These bright yellow bookends would add a pop of bright color to any book-lover’s shelf—while keeping all those tomes in line. (Though really, for most book-lovers, is there ever an “end” to the books we’ll own? Methinks not…) Available from CB2. And check back here at FWR every day in December for another bookish gift idea!
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.
