The government is planning to create a national reading competition in England to encourage a love of books and boost children’s literacy.
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Contest to boost reading for fun
I remember hearing a joke on French radio in 1994. The rock singer Johnny Hallyday — not the brightest spark — was being sent up by a couple of comics. The one playing Johnny was asked what he thought of the conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis. He replied that he liked U2’s latest album and he thought Dustin Hoffman was very good in the movie — so what was there to get upset about? Loud laughter. It was the sort of ghoulish playground joke that is made around the world as a knee-jerk response to some catastrophe, celebrity death or hideous accident, but it must have been aired before the full horror of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 was revealed. As the news began to emerge about what really had happened in the small central African country from April to July, it became clear that the world had witnessed another shocking example of man’s easy inhumanity to man. All jokes died on people’s lips. Read full article > >
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Book World: Naomi Benaron’s ‘Running the Rift’
A tour of Springfield, Mass., where Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was raised, suggests that some of the images from his books were inspired by things he saw growing up.
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On Education: Dr. Seuss Book, ‘Mulberry Street,’ Turns 75
Once upon a time there were two princesses. The older sister was good and always did the right thing. She had a wonderful smile. When she grew up and became queen, she was going to single-handedly bring about a second Golden Age. Just like the first queen of the same name. Only better. Read full article > >
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“The Real Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth the Queen”
If you’re going to read James Grippando’s new financial thriller, “Need You Now,” be prepared to scatter bread crumbs. Otherwise, you’ll never find your way back home after wandering through the thicket of aliases, double crosses, back stories and red herrings that litter the narrative path. Indeed, late in the novel, one of the characters resorts to drawing a “plot map” of sorts all over the walls of his one-room New York apartment. Here’s what it looks like: Read full article > >
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James Grippando’s financial thriller “Need You Now”
Fathers are increasingly the primary caregivers in their children’s lives. We all know that. But knowing it doesn’t mean we’ve accepted it culturally. For instance, what do we call this emergent group of homemakers? Read full article > >
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What should we call dads who stay home with the kids?
My recent column about Michelle Obama , which I wrote to counter the negative responses to Jodi Kantor’s new book , “ The Obamas ,” apparently has been misinterpreted by some. I did not intend to indict Kantor, who, in fact, wrote a mostly complimentary portrait of the first couple. Nor did I intend to cast doubt on her reporting. Kantor is a thorough reporter, and she has provided a provocative, insightful peek behind the draperies at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The purpose of reporting, after all, is to tell what you have learned. Read full article > >
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Over-scrutinizing Michelle Obama
Stewart O’Nan seems incapable of writing a false line. Whether describing the unimaginable ( losing one’s child ) or the mundane ( losing one’s appetite ), his modest sentences crystallize the lives of ordinary people. His previous novel , “ Emily, Alone ,” described the daily outings of an 80-year-old widow in Pittsburgh. Emily’s pulse beat stronger than her story, but with all the novel’s insight and charm, that lack of action didn’t matter. O’Nan is a author you learn to trust, no matter what he’s writing about. Read full article > >
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Take a chance on ‘The Odds’
Overpraising children is under attack, which is interesting because almost exactly a year ago, one mother’s philosophy of withholding praise was receiving the same treatment. Yesterday, The Post’s Michael Alison Chandler wrote about a trend in which teachers refrain from showering kids with “Good try!” at every turn. Read full article > >
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With excess praise losing favor, vindication for Tiger Mom?
“ Netherland ” and “ Let the Great World Spin ,” two of the best novels about New York and Sept. 11, were written by the Irish authors Joseph O’Neill and Colum McCann, respectively. So it seems somehow fitting that the author of “ The Street Sweeper ,” a wonderfully rich, engaging and multilayered new novel about blacks and Jews in Chicago and New York, would hail from Australia. Read full article > >
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A rich, engaging story of New York in Elliot Perlman’s ‘The Street Sweeper’
The first question you might ask about Thomas Caplan ’s “ The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen ” is just why Bill Clinton has — as the novel’s front cover proclaims — written its introduction. Clinton quickly answers that question: The two men met as freshmen at Georgetown University nearly 50 years ago and have been friends ever since. Caplan helped in Clinton’s race for freshman class president and, several decades later, contributed to his inaugural addresses. Now, with his generous and readable introduction, Clinton returns the favors. Read full article > >
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Thomas Caplan’s ‘The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen,’ reviewed by Patrick Anderson
Kindles, Nooks and iPads can do many amazing things, but they can’t bump you ahead in line at the Reston Regional Library. In fact, if you want to borrow a book, it may be quicker to put down your sleek new device and head into the stacks. Read full article > >
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As demand for e-books soars, libraries struggle to stock their virtual shelves
“I had read many radical books of late,” says the narrator of “ The Harbor ,” “and I had found most of them dry affairs.” Tendentious, too, he might have added, especially the novels among them. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin ,” Frank Norris’s “ The Octopus ” and John Steinbeck’s “ The Grapes of Wrath ” are still readable and powerful enough to move the reader, but most other examples of American protest fiction must be soldiered through. To the small company of exceptions should be added “The Harbor” itself, by Ernest Poole, which Penguin Classics has rescued from oblivion. Read full article > >
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Book World: Reissue of Ernest Poole’s ‘The Harbor’ long overdue
A rich, engaging story of New York in Elliot Perlman’s ‘The Street Sweeper’
Monday, January 16th, 2012Thomas Caplan’s ‘The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen,’ reviewed by Patrick Anderson
Sunday, January 15th, 2012As demand for e-books soars, libraries struggle to stock their virtual shelves
Sunday, January 15th, 2012Book World: Reissue of Ernest Poole’s ‘The Harbor’ long overdue
Friday, January 13th, 2012
