American Fiction

Posted by Melissa Howard

You started the book because it was a classic or because it seemed interesting when you picked it off the shelf at the library. After twenty-five pages, you put it down. Several days later you pick it up again and read ten more pages. You keep picking it up because it haunts you.

The haunting by this book isn't because it is so compelling. It isn't. You've already decided it is the stupidest book you've ever read but you keep picking it up. Leaving a book unfinished is like leaving food on your plate. Some starving child in Africa wants your food and some illiterate child in the ghetto wants your book. You must finish.

In steps Sarah Nelson, she writes "Allowing yourself to stop reading a book - at page 25, 50, or even, less frequently, a few chapters from the end - is a rite of passage in a reader's life, the literary equivalent of a bar mitzvah or a communion, the moment at which you look at yourself and announce: Today I am an adult. I can make my own decisions."

Alleluia!!

Posted by Melissa Howard

Today is the birthday of James Norman Hall who co-wrote Mutiny on the Bounty with Charles Nordhoff. Hall was born April 22, 1887 in Colfax, Iowa. During WWI, Hall was a fighter pilot. During his time in the military, he met fellow pilot Charles Nordhoff. Following the war, both men began careers as writers and in 1932, they co-wrote the historical novel, Mutiny on the Bounty. The book was popular as raw material for movies. Three different films were made from the successful novel.



Loafing is the most productive part of a writer's life. ~James Norman Hall

Posted by Melissa Howard

Ninety years ago, today, Clifton Keith Hillegass was born in Rising City, Nebraska. A voracious reader from early childhood, Clifton was a gifted student and popular with his peers. However, he quit college just short of getting a master’s because he did not write the required thesis.

In 1946, Hillegass became manager of the wholesale division of Nebraska Book Co. During his work with there he met Jack Cole who sold a line of study guides in Canada. The guides were called Cole’s Notes. He offered Hillegass the opportunity to reprint them and sell them in the United States. Hillegass decided to accept the offer and borrowed $4,000 to start his business. He reprinted the study guides, changing the name to Cliff’s Notes, which he later changed to Cliffs Notes when he broke all business ties with Jack Cole.

In the first year, he sold 18,000 study guides by 1964 he was selling 1 million guides per year. Cliffs Notes are written with the understanding that students aren’t looking for an in-depth analysis of material. What students want is something that gives them the information they need to understand and pass without extraneous information. Hillegass said it this way "Someone involved in 20 years of teaching Shakespeare often has too specialized a knowledge. Eventually we found that the best Notes were written by graduate students.”

Many colleges view Cliffs Notes as cheat sheets but Hillegass always maintained that they were supplemental study aids. Until Hillegass sold Cliffs Notes, every study guide had the following statement "These notes are not a substitute for the text itself or for the classroom discussion of the text, and students who attempt to use them in this way are denying themselves the very education that they are presumably giving their most vital years to achieve."

Posted by Melissa Howard

Eighty-two years ago today (April 16), the Book of the Month Club sent out its first shipment of books to nearly 5000 members. The selections were either Lolly Willows, or, The Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Within twenty years of the initial shipment, BOMC’s membership had reached 550,000.

Many in the literary community were concerned that the book club would result in cookie-cutter literature with no imagination or variety. However, no one can argue with the success of founder Harry Scherman’s brainchild. His intent was to create a “standard brand” that established itself “as a sound selector of good books and sells by means of its own prestige. Thus, the prestige of each new title need not be built up before becoming acceptable.”

BOMC has succeeded not only financially but also in achieving its goal of creating a label of prestige. Thanks to the book club, many renowned authors have had their start with books published through the club, including Margaret Mitchell with Gone with the Wind (1936), John Steinbeck with Of Mice and Men (1937), J.D. Salinger with The Catcher in the Rye (1951), and Harper Lee with To Kill a Mocking Bird (1960.

Posted by Melissa Howard

A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe. Madeleine L'Engle

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the inheritance of generations and nations. Henry David Thoreau

Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself. George Bernard Shaw

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life. Walt Disney

Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand. Ezra Pound

Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind James Russell Lowell

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. Edward P. Morgan

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is time to browse through the precious books that have meant the most to you that you may rediscover illuminating phrases and sentences to light your pathway to the future... Wilferd Peterson

Reading is the royal road to intellectual eminence...Truly good books are more than mines to those who can understand them. They are the breathings of the great souls of past times. Genius is not embalmed in them, but lives in them perpetually. William Ellery Channing

Read Humourous Quotes About Books and Reading

Read a variety of Quotes About Books and Reading

Posted by Melissa Howard

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." Groucho Marx

"book collecting is an obsession, an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. it is not a hobby. those who do it must do it. those who do not do it, think of it as a cousin of stamp collecting, a sister of the trophy cabinet, bastard of a sound bank account and a weak mind." Jeanette Winterson

"In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which are frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you...And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. " Italo Calvino

"Professors of literature collect books the way a ship collects barnacles, without seeming effort." Amanda Cross

For more quotes about books read my blog post Quotes About Books and Reading.

Posted by Melissa Howard

Essays about Poe's Work in General

The Moral in Edgar Allan Poe: Poe's Philosophy of Composition and the Implied Moral

Summaries of the Short Stories

The Cask of Amontillado

The Black Cat

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Masque of the Red Death

Allegory in Edgar Allan Poe

Allegory in Masque of the Red Death

Teaching Resources for Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe: Online Lesson Plans

Critical Articles About Poe's Short Stories

For Whom Does Poe’s Bell Ring?: The Connections Between Edgar Allan Poe and John Donne

Isolation and Community in Poe: Comparison and Contrast Between Edgar Allan Poe and John Donne

Posted by Melissa Howard

Popular summer reading often includes light, easy reads that don't require a lot of concentration. However, why not pick some literature that fits the theme of summer? Pick some outdoor literature and expand your appreciation of this beautiful creation we live in.

Ron Watters, from Outdoor Book Reviews: A Guide to Outdoor Literature, has a suggested reading list of great Outdoor Literature. Use it to select some outdoor literature for your reading list or explore the site further for more great ideas.

Posted by Melissa Howard

Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting his second annual book challenge titled Once Upon A Time. His very poetic introduction to the challenge deserves quoting:

Four small words. Combined together they wield a power unmeasured–the power to take one on a journey, the power to transform a life, the power to inspire and comfort, the power to connect a large group of diverse people over a common theme.

Once Upon a Time…

It is a beginning, but written as such denotes an ending as well. This happened before, in another place, at another time, with people who no longer exist, or may never have existed in the first place.

If his description intrigues and charms you go to his blog, Stainless Steel Droppings, and check out the Once Upon A Time II reading challenge.

Posted by Melissa Howard

If you are anxious for spring flowers and need something to do during the showers, try this fun book challenge hosted by Connect the Plots. Esther of Connect the Plots has created Another Bloomin’ Challenge. The challenge is all about reading books with the name of a flower in the title.

Esther has created four levels of difficulty for this challenge: Bud-vase, Nosegay, Bouquet, Garden. You can sign-up at the host blog, Another Bloomin’ Challenge.