We take Christmas as we find it.
Big or little. Rich or poor.
Our December began with a broken car.
Growing kids bursting out of their coats and socks and shoes.
And a skinnier piggy bank.
So we're doing homemade this Christmas.
And humble, homemade gifts won't hurt us a bit.
In light of so much sorrow around us this year,
all we have is gratitude.
The messes don't matter.
I am unspeakably thankful for these eight small hands,
alive and healthy,
for the joyful chaos that surrounds them,
for my imperfect, half-finished jumble,
the light, the squeals, the squabbles.
The egg carton bells.
Popsicle stick snowflakes.
Trying on wreaths as hats.
What matters is already surrounding us.
Love encircles us,
wraps us in glowing strands,
and though it doesn't magically take away the sorrows
of our broken world,
Love is the thing that will mend us. 
It anchors us when winds and sorrows come.
Smooths out the wrinkles in our weary, bleary furrows.
Makes us small candles to give courage in the dark.
Simple, homespun gifts may not be sophisticated,
fancy, or exactly on everyone's wish list,
but they are offerings of love.
and I'm okay with that. 
Because love goes deeper than wish lists.
Christmas began with a gift
wrapped in old clothes and straw.
A humble gift.
A love gift.
Love to you, my friends.
Love.
Connecticut. Haiti. Japan.
Rwanda. Middle East.
Love to you. 
Picture Books We're Enjoying this Week:
The Christmas Tapestry- Patricia Polacco
Christmas in the Barn- Margaret Wise Brown, Barbara Cooney
A Child is Born - Elizabeth Winthrop, Charles Mikolaycak
Gleam and Glow - Eve Bunting, Peter Sylvada
Christmas with the Mousekins - Maggie Smith
The Little House Christmas - Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth Williams
One Wintry Night - Ruth Bell Graham, Richard Jesse Watson
The Joy of A Peanuts Christmas - Charles Schultz
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Results 26 - 50 of 54
By: Faith Pray,
on 12/19/2012
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: holidays, kids, great books, picture books, christmas, parenting, Christmas books, crafty, perspective, good books, thankfulness, Add a tag
By: Faith Pray,
on 12/12/2012
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kid crafts, kid play, crafty hows, crafty kids, great books, gifts, christmas, Christmas books, advent, owls, crafty, felt, good books, gifts for kids, Add a tag
We made ornaments this week...for the birds.
Because they ate all our cherries this year?
But then we went birding.
So we made gifts for the birds.
I never thought I'd buy lard.
Or thistle seeds, for that matter.
Who needs more thistles? Birds, I guess.
So we squished together birdseed "cookies,"
and strung it up
Their old, familiar carols play,
- and wild and sweet
- The words repeat
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
- Had rolled along
- The unbroken song
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
- A voice, a chime,
- A chant sublime
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
- "For hate is strong,
- And mocks the song
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
- The Wrong shall fail,
- The Right prevail,
By: Ingrid Sundberg,
on 12/12/2012
Blog: Ingrid's Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Reviews, Uncategorized, Great Books, Book Suggestions, Add a tag
As the end of the year approaches, I’ve noticed many of us like to make lists of our favorites of the year. However, I never feel qualified to claim I have an opinion on “the best books of (insert year)”. Mostly, because I never have a chance to read most of the books that came out in any given year! (I seem to always be a year or so behind). Instead, I’ve decided to share six brilliant books that I personally read this year. The following six were knockouts!
And, with holiday gift-giving in full swing, these might inspire you to pick something a little different for someone you love. Or just treat yourself!
Six Brilliant Books I Read This Year:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
I was tempted to throw in the writing towel after reading this book – it was that good! On the surface it may seem like another story about an orphan girl, raised by magical creatures, in search of her past. Add a dash of adventure, a heaping spoonful of romance, and stir. But this book is so much more than that, and it proves that execution is vital to any novel! The writing is delicious, the world building astounding, the characters emotionally involving, and the plot well…I couldn’t put the book down!
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
If a book about carnivorous horses turns you off, this one isn’t for you. But if you’re spidy senses just did a double take (yes, I said carnivorous), then you’re in for a treat. A printz honor book, this novel has duly earned its shiny sticker. Told in dual point of view, the book follows a 16-year-old island girl who’s joining the scorpio races for the first time, and the 19 year-old boy who’s won them year after year. The novel is riveting, original, and absolutely engrossing. Did I mention they race on those carnivorous horses? Well they do!
My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt
Novels in verse are not everyone’s cup of tea, and the subject matter of this book may not be either – it’s about child prostitution. But this is the kind of book that will both break your heart and fill you with hope. Sixteen-year-old Angel gets dragged into the gritty reality of drugs and prostitution, only to find her “boyfriend” bringing home an even younger girl to learn the ropes. She risks her life to find a way for both of them to get out. This honest novel, told through lyrical poetry, is unforgettable.
Nothing by Janne Teller
The more philosophical reader is going to love this book! Written by Dutch author Janne Teller, the novel’s set in a contemporary European town where one boy’s existential revelation that nothing matters causes him to climb up a tree. That may not seem like a big deal – but as the rest of his classmates set out to prove him wrong, the search for meaning causes each of them to sacrifice something important, and well…things get a little out of hand. It’s a powerful book that will give you a lot to think about.
Harvey: How I Became Invisible by Herve Bouchard
This is a moody and beautiful graphic novel about a young boy coming to grips with the death of his father. Only this isn’t like any other grief novel you’ve read. This book comes entirely from a child’s perspective. The images are evocative, the structure and storytelling is out-of-the box, and the ending with haunt or infuriate you. This book won’t do any of the things you expect it to, and that’s one of its strengths. If you sit down and spend some time with it, it will unveil beautiful layers of emotion and truth.
Phineus Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleishman
I don’t read much non-fiction, because yes, I think it’s boring. Or maybe I’ve been reading the wrong books. Phineus Gage is anything but boring. It tells the true story of a railroad man who gets a 13 pound rod-iron shot through his brain and walks away! Yes, there’s a gaping hole in his head, and he survives! (The title said it was gruesome). But this book does a lot more than tell a sensational story. It explores the science behind what happened and why. It compares what they knew at the time of Phineus’s accident (in 1848) to what we know today. Unraveling like a mystery it makes reading about science absolutely compelling!
Happy reading everyone.
By: Faith Pray,
on 12/5/2012
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, art, scribbles, Add a tag
Check out my artist/writer pal Kjersten Anna Hayes's Craft Fair Crash Course here.
Good stuff, Kjersten!
Some of our latest great reads:
By: Faith Pray,
on 10/24/2012
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, good books, thankfulness, grand, homegrown learning, Add a tag
for women, for equal rights,
waving its branches:
Be brave! Help others! Stand up for what's right!
Which amazes me.
It's such a simple and essential thing
to have a voice, to be counted!
who fought
for me and my girls,
for our rights, for our vote,
for changes that have made this world better.
Some books that we love:
By: Faith Pray,
on 10/4/2012
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing tips, great books, research, treasure, play, Egypt, kid crafts, kid play, crafty kids, homegrown learning, Add a tag
permission to plunge overboard,
to get lost in your story world
in order to find it.
Some people tape maps to the walls
and wear fuzzy Russian hats.
Others swear by magazine clippings.
Hungarian folk music.
Books on fly fishing.
French chocolate.
We wear pipe cleaner headdresses.
What's your research quirk?
Can you tell what we're into these days?
It helps that King Tut's treasure is only a ferry ride away.
We said our howdies to the Pharaohs
and hopped home, hot about Egypt.
I buried old pottery shards for a "Dig."
Kids + Dirt = Heaven!
When I was sixteen, my parents took us to Egypt.
Valley of the Kings, pyramids and the Sphinx
all did their dazzling best.
And then there was this old dump,
littered with broken scraps.
At the time, mum and dad seemed so very un-cool
sifting through that Egyptian dump,
selecting a few shards to bring home.
But who's my mummy now?
Oh yeah!
There has never been such excitement in our backyard.
My fake gold necklace
came in handy
as the crowning discovery.
Treasure!
Hieroglyphs + Clay = Name cartouches!
Sarcophagi:
So many great books to share with you!
The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle - Claudia Logan, Melissa Sweet
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile - Tomie dePaola
The Egyptian Cinderella - Shirley Climo, Ruth Heller
The Secret Room - Uri Shulevitz
Zekmet, the Stone Carver - Mary Stoltz, Deborah Nourse Lattimore
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum - Jessie Hartland
The Three Princes - Eric A. Kimmel, Leonard Everett Fisher
One City, Two Brothers - Chris Smith, Aurelia Fronty
Exodus - Brian Wildsmith
I, Crocodile - Frank Marcellino
The Shipwrecked Sailor - Tamara Bower
The Jewel Fish of Karnak - Graeme Base
By: Faith Pray,
on 8/31/2012
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, birthdays, gifts, parenting, costumes, parties, failure, good books, gifts for kids, dressing up, cake books, Add a tag
It's cupcakes from now on.
Yummy Cake Books:
High Pie Angel Food Cake - Nancy Willard, Richard Jesse Watson
The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies - Heather Forest, Susan Gaber
Round is a Mooncake - Roseanne Thong, Grace Lin
Clever Jack Takes the Cake - Candace Fleming, G. Brian Karas
Mud is Cake - Pam Munoz Ryan
Thunder Cake - Patricia Polacco
Moon Cake - Frank Asch
Babycakes - Karma Wilson, Sam Williams
The Fairy Tale Cake - Mark Sperring, Jonathan Langley
What are your favorite yummy books?
By: Faith Pray,
on 11/23/2011
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kids, great books, picture books, parenting, writers, play, good books, time to write, kid play, crafty projects, Add a tag
12 Comments on What To Do With Windfalls, last added: 11/27/2011
By: Faith Pray,
on 11/9/2011
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: fairies, play, crafty, good books, portals, kid play, crafty projects, great books, imagination, fairy tales, Add a tag
By: Faith Pray,
on 10/30/2011
Blog: SACRED DIRT (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, costumes, owls, good books, dressing up, owl costume, kid play, crafty projects, Add a tag
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Blog: Imagination-Cafe Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, adventures, witches, other worlds, middle-grade fantasy book, Add a tag
When 12 year-old Genevieve’s mother goes missing, she begins to search her house for clues to her disappearance. Nothing is unusual until a map drawn by Genevieve and her best friend takes on the feel and appearance of real rock. Genevieve is drawn to it. She swipes her hand across it and the turret ceiling in her bedroom suddenly slides back revealing a dark space. Intrigued she crawls up and see’s...
About the Author:
She holds a Ph.D. in social work and has been a member of the faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond since 2000. Before that, she was on faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work for four ye
Blog: Imagination-Cafe Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, romance, mystery, murder, suspense novel, beach novels, Add a tag
All this week I'll feature great books by one of my favorite authors, Brenda Novak. To kick it off, check out my review of White Heat.
~~~~
Now as a dangerous cult quickly takes over the desert ghost town of Paradise, Arizona, Rachel and Nate must go undercover posing as a married couple to nap the leader, Ethan Wycliff.
How will they handle the close quarters of a pretend marriage? Will Ethan’s infatuation with Rachel put her life in mortal danger? Find out in this exciting read, White Heat. I had trouble putting this book down before the exciting conclusion.
For more information, check out Brenda Novak's web site at; http://www.brendanovak.com/
White Heat is available on Amazon
Want some "heat" of your own? At the end of this week I'll be drawing for all three, autographed copies of the "heat" novels. Just leave a comment in this (or any of Brenda Novak's spots) and I'll do a random drawing for them on Sunday May 15th.
Good Luck!
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By: Aaron Polson,
on 5/9/2011
Blog: The Other Aaron (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, Stephen King, lord of the flies, william golding, Add a tag
One of the highlights of my Senior English course is teaching Lord of the Flies. It's often taught a younger ages in other schools, but I use it as a "send off" for seniors. Reading Lord of the Flies is the last thing we do in class.
Why I consider Lord of the Flies a "Great Book":
The degeneration of a band of British school boys stranded on a deserted island during wartime is a frightening mirror for all human endeavors. Selfishness, greed, egoism, violence--all the ugly depths of the human psyche are laid open when the stress of survival pushes the kids too far.
The book plays with the dichotomy of civilization and savagery. As a nice parallel, the boys hunt pigs--swine are known to turn feral rather quickly when left to their own devices.
And then there's that Nobel Prize...
Favorite Line (*spoiler alert*):
"And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."
Sheer brilliance.
I, for one, am looking forward to Stephen King's introduction in the new edition celebrating the 100th anniversary of Golding's birth.
Blog: Imagination-Cafe Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: car fun, Christmas gift ideas for family, . mishaps, family-fun, books on family, great books, Add a tag
If you're in the same boat then check out Chicken Soup for the Soul Family Matters
It's filled with 101 hilarious, heartwarming and just plain fun stories of in-laws, wives, husbands, siblings and all folks we call "family."
Here's more of what you can expect to find;
~ Forebear...ance
~ Relatively Embarrassing
~ Newlyweds and Oldyweds
~ Happily Ever Laughter
~ Family Fun
~ Relatively Strange
~ Kids Will Be Kids
~ On the Road
~ Not So Grave
~ The Serious Side
Chicken Soup for the Soul Family Matters would make a great Christmas gift for anyone on your shopping list this season. Check out Chicken Soup for Soul on the web at; http://www.chickensoup.com/
Chicken Soup for the Soul books are available at all major retailers.
By: DGLM,
on 11/9/2010
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book to film, Stephanie, great books, Add a tag
by Stephanie
Judge me as you will, but I will make no attempts to hide the fact that I am a Harry Potter fan, and have been since the beginning. The series seems to have been a benchmark for my (relatively speaking) younger years, and I have always been one of those fans who stuck with the books and subsequent franchise throughout its life. In fact, next week I will be going to the theatre (which at $13 a ticket, who does that?) to see the first installment of the final movie. I’m hoping I don’t resort to pushing a small child to get to the good seats, but I won't make any guarantees.
Anyway, with that in mind, I wanted to pass along this clever piece that examines the elements of the series that make for sound tips writers can take away and use to hone their own work. From character development to plotting to points of view, it’s interesting how one pivotal series holds within it so many building blocks to strong writing. I’m sure some won’t feel the same with regard to my admiration for the series, but I think this piece makes a strong argument in favor of Rowling’s talents, as well as driving home the importance of truly enjoying the world you create.
By: DGLM,
on 9/17/2010
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lauren, opinion, great books, Add a tag
I came across some interesting discussion in the Guardian on the use of present tense narration in novels. Apparently Philip Pullman and Philip Hensher aren’t crazy about it and are aggravated that it seems to be on the rise—and on the Booker shortlist. I’m not unsympathetic to their distaste for the technique, but it seems to me an exaggeration to say that it “does nothing but annoy.” It often does annoy, me at least, and clearly Misters Pullman and Hensher. But it also does other things, like create a feeling of immediacy and throw the reader slightly off balance. I think it’s a gimmick like any other (second person, foreign language words) that some authors use as a shortcut and few are skilled enough to employ well, but in the right hands, it’s not deadly or even distracting. I’m on record about my love of Emma Donoghue’s Room, and it’ll be Pullman’s loss if he doesn’t read it because he doesn’t like the tense. (If he already has and didn’t love it, well, I guess I won’t be matched up with him on that dating site.)
It’s easy to say that something is overused so no one should do it, but if a technique (or idea or what have you) has value, there’s no point in everyone abandoning it. Overused implies that there is an appropriate level of use, after all. It’s also easy to criticize a book that we don’t think works and blame the technique, but really, if it doesn’t work, shouldn’t we blame the technician? Room is a highly stylized novel to be sure, but the reason I rate it and Donoghue so highly is precisely because it’s stylized (noticeably, but not, I’d argue, distractingly) yet still compelling and riveting and funny and disturbing and sad and hopeful. I’d imagine the Booker committee felt likewise, about that and the other two present tense novels on the shortlist. I’m at least willing to give Tom McCarthy the benefit of the doubt here, because I loved Remainder, his previous book, and think he’s pretty talented.
Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, okay?
By: Kristi Helvig,
on 8/11/2010
Blog: Kristi Helvig YA Author (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: movies, great books, writing, inspiration, valerie, inception, amazing writers, Add a tag
I liked the topic of Kristi's post so much yesterday that I thought I would do my own post on the things that push me to be a better writer.
The most recent experience I've had with this feeling isn't from a book at all. It's from THE BEST MOVIE EVA!!! a movie.
I saw Inception last week, and I left the theater with one thought in my head:
The level of ingenuity and depth of emotion in the storytelling of the film blew my mind. It really just sort of stopped me in my tracks and I thought about the plot issues I was having with my current (and what feels like, the millionth) revision and it all seemed so small and silly. I realized not just that I needed to up my game, but HOW MUCH I needed to up it. Somehow I'd slipped into playing it safe, and safe = boring and seen it before. So I took a step back and started really ripping my tiny little impersonation of a book apart and all of a sudden I was excited about revising it again!
There are other books I keep in mind when writing as touchstones. Books that when I'm in a good mood, inspire me to attempt to reach some of their greatness and on a bad day thrust me into the pit of despair as I think I will NEVER write anything that good!
Some of those books are:
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling - because Jo Rowling's world-building and heart blow my mind every time I read one of the books.
The Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - again, the world-building! The action! The emotion! Even now I get teary-eyed when I think about Rue!
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - I love how poetic the writing is, the emotion, the sense of place, and the way she made two narrators such complete unique characters that you always know who's talking.
Stolen by Lucy Christopher - This story is so emotionally complex and moving, it still haunts me. And the detail to setting is so good that every time I think about it, I feel like I'm in the desert of the Austrailian Outback. I can completely see a place I've never been or even seen photos of.
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - I love the way she makes the ordinary beautiful in this book. The actual prose is beautiful and very poetic but it's also the way Sam observes things. I also love that she made very real, three-dimensional characters who could be unlikeable at times and made me care about them.
All of these books (and SO MANY more) do things that I hope to do in my own stories and they remind me that it IS possible to do if I just keep my focus on the goal. Also, I've just realized that all of these books have made me cry! I guess that's what sticks with me. And that's what I want to do, tell stories that stick with you.
What are some books that inspire you?
By: DGLM,
on 8/10/2010
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, about us, Jane, Rachel, interns, Chasya, what we're looking for, Miriam, Stephanie, changes at DGLM, Add a tag
Hi blog readers! Now that both Jane and Chasya have so kindly introduced me, it’s my turn to chime in. I guess the best way to begin is to give you a little information on my background here. I may be new to the website, but I’m not entirely new to the blog. In fact, I have actually been puttering around this office for longer than you think.
I began at Dystel & Goderich over a year ago as an intern. I was determined to find myself an internship in publishing, particularly during the latter half of my college career. I hadn’t had much luck early on, so by my third year at NYU, nothing was going to stop me. I applied and interviewed for the internship with DGLM all while living in London, where I was spending the spring semester of my junior year. Fully aware that my geographical gap could create a handicap, I knew I had to be persistent. And luckily for me, according to Lauren, I was persistent enough that it exhibited my determination, but not too persistent that it made her want to burn my application and any remaining evidence of my existence. So with that, I was offered the chance to join DGLM that summer as an intern. The semesters passed, I continued to stay with the agency, and before I knew it about a year and a half had gone by and I had graduated from NYU. Then I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity by Jane and Miriam to take over for Chasya as she looks to begin a new chapter in her life. I knew that the timing was right; I felt comfortable here, and I had spent enough time working on the less essential tasks that I had developed the desire to explore the business further and carve out my own place in it. And as clichés go, the rest is history.
In giving this blog post some thought, I remembered something Rachel had said in her welcome post: “I think the one thing I truly love about working in a literary agency is that I get to see the entire process of publishing, from a rough manuscript to a finished book on the shelves.” I might make fun of Rachel for her love of Vegemite, but her words are very true. I’m very excited to finally get the chance to dive in and take on my own work. My time at DGLM has allowed me to expose myself to an industry I have always wanted to be a part of, and now it’s allowing me to embark on a new journey in my life—one that will allow me to build the career I’ve always wanted.
The bottom line is, I’m excited to take on this new responsibility within Dystel & Goderich, because now I get to hear from you. Yes, you. I look forward to hearing your ideas, your thoughts, your opinions. You all have stories to tell. Trust me, I’ve read a lot of them. But now I’m ready to do something with them. Turn them into the books they deserve to be. There are certain subjects I’m particularly interested in reading, which you can find in my bio on our website. So let me hear from you. I can only rearrange the pens on my desk for so long….
By: DGLM,
on 5/11/2010
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reading, opinion, fun, great books, lists, favorites, Rachel, Add a tag
I always wonder if my personality reflects my choice in books, and last August, if you were following the DGLM blog, you’ll remember that everyone in the office put together their list of great books and made you—our readers—guess who had created them. Before working at DGLM, I actually read this series of Great Books posts and loved a lot of selections.
It’s difficult to say why I love a certain book and why I can’t get into another. I fell in love with reading Steinbeck novels when I was living in California, so I used to put my love for his writing down to geographical familiarity—Cannery Row and Salinas were places I knew about and so they came alive in his writing—but then I fell in love with Dostoevsky while living in the Midwest, and when I began reading his work there wasn’t anything familiar about his world, yet I couldn’t stop reading.
Anyway, seeing as I’m now part of the team here at DGLM, I think it’s time to give you my best books list. Scrutinize it as you will. I’m up for friendly banter on why you think my choices are terrible, mediocre or just plain brilliant.
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden
Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying
Katharine Susannah Prichard’s Coonardoo
J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace
Albert Camus’ The Stranger
Luke Davies’ Candy
Rawi Hage’s De Niro’s Game
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway
Milan Kundera’s Identity
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
After reviewing my list, it makes me wonder why I enjoy certain books. I still don’t know what it is that draws me to a particular author, or why I get into one story and not another. Years ago I certainly didn’t think John Steinbeck would be my number one writer—reading about farming and migrant laborers? Are you kidding me? I’m still trying to find out why I love his work so much.
Do you feel at all surprised by your favorite author, or love certain books you never thought you would?
By: DGLM,
on 8/13/2009
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, Add a tag
Just in time for the weekend, here are more amazing books that we here at DGLM (well, at least one of us for each list below) stand by. Why not pick one up to read before Monday?
And if you haven't already, don't forget to check out Part 1 and Part 2!
DGLM-er #5:
Graham Greene's The Quiet American
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary
Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince
James Frey's A Million Little Pieces
Alice McDermott's Child of My Heart
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring
Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper
Charles Dickens's Great Expectations
George Orwell's 1984
Colum McCann's Everything in This Country Must
Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway
Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One
Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children
Paul Muldoon's Quoof
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude
Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
Knut Hamsun's Hunger
John Milton's Paradise Lost
Philip Gourevitch's We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy
Judith Guest's Ordinary People
By: DGLM,
on 8/13/2009
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, Add a tag
It's time for great books challenge part 2! You can read all about part 1 here. As a reminder, we'll tell you the answers at the end, so feel free to keep guessing on the first two lists as well.
So tell us, who do you think we've got today and which books do you love and hate from these lists? Be sure to give us your lists in the comments!
DGLM-er #3:
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead
Leon Uris's Exodus
James Michener's Hawaii
George Eliot's Silas Marner
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women
Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls
Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint
Anita Diamant's The Red Tent
Sue Miller's The Good Mother
Anne Rivers Siddons's Outer Banks
Susan Isaacs's After All These Years
Dominick Dunne's People Like Us
Herman Wouk's The Winds of War
DGLM-er #4:
Lorrie Moore's Birds of America
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
André Breton's Nadja
Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Charles Baudelaire's Paris Spleen
Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
George Orwell's Animal Farm
Art Spiegelman's Maus
Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
Cintra Wilson's Colors Insulting to Nature
Alan Moore's The Watchmen
By: DGLM,
on 8/12/2009
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, Add a tag
Around the DGLM office, great book lists generally occasion complaints that however talented so-and-so might be, surely no one enjoys reading their work. And so we've decided to challenge ourselves--and you--with some DGLM-generated lists of books that are truly great, but also truly lovable. We decided there'd be no picking a 500 page tome we had to slog through, but begrudgingly admit is a seminal work. We've got to stand by both their quality and their enjoyability.
So over the next little while we'll be anonymously posting batches of lists generated by individuals here at DGLM, and we're challenging you, dear readers, to guess who created those lists. So in the comments tell us who you think posted each list, which of these books you love, and which you're amazed to discover anyone does! If you want to play along yourself, give us your own list in the comments.
Your choices are: Jane, Miriam, Michael, Stacey, Jim, Lauren, Chasya, Jessica, Alex, and--just to make things more challenging--our summer interns Stephanie and Zach. We'll tell you the answers once we've posted them all.
DGLM-er #1:
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
Henry Fielding's Tom Jones
Joseph Heller's Catch-22
Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End
Nicole Krauss's The History of Love
John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany
Philip Roth's American Pastoral
Nathan Englander's The Ministry of Special Cases
Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote
Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True
Art Spiegelman's Maus
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman's Good Omens
Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated
Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife
DGLM-er #2:
Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried
Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty
Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
Joseph Heller's Catch-22
Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Cormac McCarthy's The Road
Donna Tartt's The Secret History
John Knowles's A Separate Peace
Robert Graysmith's Zodiac
C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
George Selden's The Cricket in Times Square
By: Marya Jansen-Gruber,
on 2/4/2009
Blog: Through the Looking Glass Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: great books, bloggers, The Cybill Award finalists, Add a tag
I have some more awards news for you. I know there have been a lot of announcements of late, but these are the Cybils, and since the Cybils are awarded by bloggers like yours truly I think an announcement is in order. So, please take a look at the finalists for the awards. The final choices will be
By: Becky,
on 1/14/2008
Blog: Farm School (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Great Books, Add a tag
"Over the coming year, an international panel chosen by The Globe and Mail will select the 50 Greatest Books ever written. Each week, a single work will be discussed by an expert or a writer passionate about the work in question. This is the first in the series."Just started the other day (Saturday, in the weekly Books supplement) and not a bad way to spend a year. Up first -- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, considered by Globe & Mail Books Editor Martin Levin.
Next week: Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
By the way, I'm not sure of the official policy, but at The Globe & Mail anything older than a week or so is no longer accessible for free. So best hurry up if you're interested.
By: Becky,
on 1/14/2008
Blog: Farm School (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Great Books, classics, Beowulf, Add a tag
Sophie Gee, an assistant professor of English at Princeton University and author of The Scandal of the Season, wrote in yesterday's NY Times Book Review section,
Mass-market adaptations make Great Books go bad. Or so conventional wisdom would have it. But every so often, plundering and pillaging a canonical text for the sake of entertainment gives it the kiss of life. Take “Beowulf” and “Paradise Lost.” The unpalatable truth is that both originals are now virtually unreadable.Or so conventional wisdom would have it.
I'll bet you a loonie I already know what Mama Squirrel in her Treehouse is thinking.
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This is so beautiful, Faith!
We have a "lean" Christmas this year as well, and it makes me want to keep it this way! It's too easy to lose sight of why we are celebrating.
Have a beautiful, blessed Christmas!
Your post is a gift too. I love all your little treasures. Growing up, Christmas was all about making each other gifts in secret ... gifts of love.
A happy and blessed Christmas!
All I can do is smile after reading this, Faith. Thank you so very much. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I can't think of a better blog post--the words, the meaning, the heart. Love to you and your family!