February 7, 2012 marks the bicentenary of the birth of . work transcends his time, language and culture. Book sales two centuries after his birth continue to make him the envy of contemporary bestselling authors, and his work remains an influence throughout the world, inspiring film, TV, art and other works of literature.
When he died in 1870, The Times of London successfully campaigned for his burial in Westminster Abbey, the final resting place of England's kings and heroes. Thousands flocked to mourn the best recognized and most-loved man of nineteenth-century England.
His personal life, however, was in perpetual chaos. Last fall's Charles Dickens: A Life by gives full measure to virtues as a writer but does not shy away from his temperamental treatment of his friends and family, paying special attention to his lifelong affair with the young actress Ellen Ternan.
Part of what made so revered was his ability to attract thousands of fans to his readings both in England and across North America. Not only did he give voice to his vast cast of characters, he was also a brilliant mimic and raconteur. explores this side of the public in Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World. In this short and lively study, reveals an original genius who was driven as much by performance and showmanship as by literary endeavour.
Categories: Authors, Literature
Our Author of the Month for February is celebrated historian .
Among the remarkable generation of historians who came out of Cambridge in the 1960s -- , and among others -- one name stands out. Well before his death in 2010 at the age of 62 from a progressive neurological disorder, proved himself a great historian of modern Europe and a brilliant political commentator. In his guise as a political and historical essayist, he was a fearless critic of narrow orthodoxies and bullying cliques, from communist apologists to the Israel lobby, from "liberal hawks" to progressive educationists.
Thinking the Twentieth Century is the final book by this unparalleled historian and public critic. Where masterpiece Postwar redefined the history of modern Europe by uniting the stories of its eastern and western halves, Thinking the Twentieth Century unites the century's conflicted intellectual history into a single soaring narrative. Spanning the entire era and all currents of thought in a manner never previously attempted, Thinking the Twentieth Century is a triumphant tour de force that restores clarity to the classics of modern thought with the assurance and grace of a master craftsman.
Categories: Authors, Author of the Month
British crime writer passed away Jan 12, 2012. A winner of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, Hill was the author of over fifty novels, but he was best known for his characters Dalziel and Pascoe. In addition to starring in twenty of Hill's novels, the characters were also dramatized on the BBC.
His most recent novel, The Woodcutter, was published in Fall 2010.
Categories: Authors, Mystery & Crime
is author of such wonderfully imagined novels as Last Night at the Lobster, A Prayer for the Dying, Wish You Were Here and Songs for the Missing. Emily, Alone is his spring 2011 release, now available in paperback.
When you pick up a novel, you're pretty sure to discover it won't be like the last one. He has a literary curiosity that drives him to write in a number of styles and genres. In a 2011 interview in theday.com, he did not dodge the issue: "I love to read all different kids of books, so it makes sense that I'd write them. Plus, it's much more exciting and challenging to try something new."
His thirteenth novel, The Odds, is no exception. In an original and bittersweet gem, Art and Marion Fowler flee their Cleveland suburb for Niagara Falls. Jobless, with their home approaching foreclosure and their marriage on the brink of collapse, Art and Marion risk everything they have -- their savings and each other -- at the roulette wheel. Their desperate attempt to get their life back yields a tender yet honest exploration of faith, forgiveness and last chances.
Categories: Authors, New Releases
I mostly read fiction, memoirs, and poetry--preferences that are reflected in my night table choices. I've selected books that have been published relatively recently, because I believe it's important to support new works. (I've allowed myself one exception, The Smoking Diaries, by Simon Gray, which I excuse on the grounds that it's new to me.)
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