General News from the World of Literature
These following two books are very different from one another and will probably appeal to different readers. It’s always good to have a choice, isn’t it? The Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor, is a book by Ronald Drabkin about real life double agent Frederick Rutland. Rutland was a “James Bond-type” figure who had been a highly decorated
Three books of interest that will be adapted to TV in the future. Trust, Hernan Diaz I haven’t read this book, but it won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Kate Winslet will star in the tale of a financier couple, told in four parts, and their immersion into wealth and power. The movie will air on HBO Max–release date TBA. A Gentleman in Moscow,
David Schaeffer, a retired attorney who moved here from Atlanta, is a Kiawah Island resident with a hit book! Schaeffer has written several books, actually, about hiking and mountain climbing. The new book, Letters from Sweeden, is a different kind of book with a very interesting background. Remember when people used to write letters? I do. My mother saved letters that I wrote to her
FICTION WINNER Blackouts, Justin Torres NONFICTION WINNER The Rediscovery of America, Ned Blackhawk Books of interest that were finalists in the selection process: Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwane Adjei-Brenyah (mentioned in an earlier blog post, this book is a type of “hunger games” meets the private prison system.) The End of Drum-Time, Hanna Pylvainen This author sets her fictional story in 1851 Scandinavia and tells,with exquisite
Yes, and I don’t mean Christmas lists. I mean the ones that reflect on the best books of 2023. The New York Times has already come out with its list, so take a look: The Bee Sting, Paul Murray An Irish family pulls together to overcome the 2008 financial cirisis as well as their own individual demons in a book that is full of hopefulness
Remember these books–The Space Between Us by Thridy Umriger, Tuesdays with Morey by Mitch Albom and West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge? I have read two of these books for a book club, West with Giraffes just recently. The good news is that these were three very good and popular books. The better news is that each of the three authors has written a new
Right now, in Nashville, Tennessee, 150 authors are gathering for the 35th Annual Southern Festival of Books. I keep thinking I will go one of these years. As you know, I am a loyal fan of Southern Literature. Someone always asks ‘What is Southern Literature?’ Is it anything written by an author from the South about the South? What’s the big deal? Sarah Beth West,
Readers of this blog may think that I am obsessed with St. Jerome. Well, I am not, BUT I keep running into him on my limited travels. As you may recall, he is the patron saint of libraries; and, therefore, he treasures books and the knowledge they hold. So, I saw his statue in Washington, D.C. Now, perusing the National Gallery in London, which has
On a recent trip to Washington, D. C., I ran into this statue of someone obviously reading. It made me think about the Sandcastle Book Club and the blog. Upon further investigation, I realized this person is Saint Jerome the Priest. This particular statue was sculpted in 1954 by Ivan Mestrovic and sits in front of the Croatian Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue. Mestrovic was born
I have always marvelled at how so many people learn to read and write in Braille. On the surface, the system for visually impaired people looks very complicated. It seems astounding to me that “a blind person can read braille faster than a sighted person can read print.” This fact is taken from an article written by Kelli Finger and published in July 31, 2023,
