-
Recent Posts
Archives
- March 2021 (1)
- January 2021 (1)
- December 2020 (2)
- November 2020 (3)
- October 2020 (3)
- September 2020 (2)
- July 2020 (3)
- June 2020 (2)
- April 2020 (1)
- March 2020 (3)
- February 2020 (1)
- January 2020 (1)
- December 2019 (4)
- November 2019 (2)
- October 2019 (2)
- September 2019 (3)
- August 2019 (3)
- July 2019 (4)
- June 2019 (4)
- May 2019 (2)
- April 2019 (3)
- March 2019 (1)
- February 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (3)
- December 2018 (5)
- November 2018 (4)
- October 2018 (2)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (3)
- July 2018 (2)
- June 2018 (3)
- May 2018 (3)
- April 2018 (4)
- March 2018 (2)
- February 2018 (1)
- January 2018 (5)
- December 2017 (3)
- November 2017 (2)
- October 2017 (2)
- September 2017 (4)
- August 2017 (3)
- July 2017 (2)
- June 2017 (4)
- May 2017 (2)
- April 2017 (2)
- March 2017 (3)
- February 2017 (3)
- January 2017 (4)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (1)
- October 2016 (3)
- September 2016 (2)
- August 2016 (3)
- July 2016 (4)
- June 2016 (1)
- January 2016 (1)
- December 2015 (1)
- November 2015 (1)
- October 2015 (2)
- September 2015 (3)
- August 2015 (1)
- July 2015 (3)
- June 2015 (2)
- May 2015 (5)
- April 2015 (5)
- March 2015 (2)
- February 2015 (1)
- January 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (3)
- November 2014 (3)
- October 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (1)
- August 2014 (2)
- July 2014 (3)
- June 2014 (3)
- April 2014 (3)
- March 2014 (5)
- February 2014 (1)
- January 2014 (3)
- December 2013 (2)
- November 2013 (2)
- October 2013 (5)
- September 2013 (4)
- August 2013 (3)
- July 2013 (5)
- June 2013 (4)
- May 2013 (4)
- April 2013 (5)
- March 2013 (4)
- February 2013 (8)
- January 2013 (1)
- December 2012 (7)
- November 2012 (2)
- October 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (9)
- August 2012 (3)
- July 2012 (5)
- June 2012 (27)
- May 2012 (28)
- April 2012 (10)
- March 2012 (5)
- February 2012 (7)
- January 2012 (10)
- December 2011 (7)
- November 2011 (7)
- October 2011 (12)
- September 2011 (8)
- August 2011 (6)
- July 2011 (6)
- June 2011 (15)
- May 2011 (37)
- April 2011 (24)
- March 2011 (2)
Categories
- Alyssa Zysett's Bookstore Tour (6)
- Grad School (14)
- History of Publishing Observations (64)
- Ideas and Opinions (224)
- Interviews (193)
- Language (54)
- Literary Ashland Radio on KSKQ (4)
- Literary Events in Southern Oregon (45)
- My Year of New Words (11)
- Non-word of the Day (25)
- Teaching internationally (8)
- What People Are Reading (51)
Meta
Blogroll
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Out of Breath
I don’t read much young adult fiction, largely because I’m a not-so-young adult. My students and colleagues remind me that YA fiction is an important and often under-appreciated genre, so I’m always happy when I find a young adult book … Continue reading
Posted in What People Are Reading
Comments Off on Out of Breath
Curse the Names from Akashic Books
Accepting the Army-Navy Excellence Award in 1945, J. Robert Oppenheimer warmed that the time might come when “mankind will curse the names of Los Alamos and Hiroshima.” Oppenheimer was warning of nuclear war. In Curse the Names (Akashic Books 2012), … Continue reading
Posted in What People Are Reading
Comments Off on Curse the Names from Akashic Books
Let’s Have a Party, Child-Approved 1961
I have a bad habit of haunting the thrifts and local booksales and like many, I’m always on the look out for odd items. Recently, Let’s Have a Party by Helen Jill Fletcher (Paxton-Slade, NY, 1961) caught my attention. It’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Ideas and Opinions
Comments Off on Let’s Have a Party, Child-Approved 1961
Holiday Reads
The fall term grades are in and now there’s a chance to catch up on some reading. I’m getting started on James Pennebaker’s The Secret Life of Pronouns (who knew?) and John McWhorter’s Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History … Continue reading
Posted in What People Are Reading
Comments Off on Holiday Reads
Twilight and Dickens
My fall term linguistics class spent a little time on the origins of writing and the alphabet, including a look at Egyptian hieroglyphs. And we wondered whether The Book of the Dead was an example of ancient Egyptian vampire literature. … Continue reading
Posted in Ideas and Opinions, Literary Events in Southern Oregon
Comments Off on Twilight and Dickens
What goes on a book flap
Here is a piece by Daniel Menaker (editor of Grin and Tonic) from The Barnes and Noble Review on the language of book flaps. It’s got 16 rules for writing the copy on books flaps. Words to use: “stunning,” “deeply,” … Continue reading
Posted in Ideas and Opinions, Language
Comments Off on What goes on a book flap
Hammy and Grammy
Last week the New York Times Book Review did a couple of nice features on audiobooks, an under-reviewed genre. The Times stories “Wired for Sound” and “The Mind’s Ear,” got me to thinking about audio. I’ve always used audiobooks on … Continue reading
Posted in Ideas and Opinions
Comments Off on Hammy and Grammy