The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Day:

"Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors."

—John F. Kennedy

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Today in Literary History:

On this day in 1967 Alice B. Toklas died, at the age of eighty-nine. Toklas spent her last twenty-one years without Gertrude Stein, but with the same idiosyncratic devotion to Stein's genius as she had throughout their thirty-three years together. This did not protect her from those managing Stein's estate, and at eighty-seven she was evicted from the flat which the two had shared for decades.

For more literary history, please visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic:

 

© 2008 Wilbur Pierce

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Book on my Radar:

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Book I: The Mysterious Howling

by Maryrose Wood

Balzer + Bray (February 23, 2010)

272 pages

Children's Fiction (Grades 4-6)

 

Summary in a Sentence:

Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, is hired as governess to three young children who have been raised by wolves and must teach them to behave in a civilized manner quickly, in preparation for a Christmas ball.

Read the reviews: A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy | Welcome to my Tweendom

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Week:

"A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life."

-Henry Ward Beecher

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Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1749 the publication of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones was announced in "The General Advertiser," along with an apology: "It being impossible to get Sets bound fast enough to answer Demand for them, such Gentlemen and Ladies as please, may have them sew'd in Blue Paper and Boards, at the Price of 16s. a Set, of A. Millar over against Catharine-street in the Strand."

For more literary history, please visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic:

© 2005 Wilbur Pierce

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Book on my Radar:

The Wives of Henry Oades
by Johanna Moran
Ballantine Books (Feb. 9, 2010)
384 pages
Historical Fiction

Summary in a Sentence:

Henry Oades and his family move to New Zealand in the late 1800s, where he has accepted a job, but when his wife Margaret and the children are kidnapped during a Maori uprising and presumed dead, Henry moves back to California where he marries Nancy, a young widow, and the couple is just starting to settle down when Margaret and the children show up, and Henry, Nancy, and Margaret are all charged with bigamy.

Read the Reviews: The Crowded Leaf | Jenn's Bookshelves | Devourer of Books

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Day:

"Disparage no book, for it is also a part of the world."

-Nachman of Breslov

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Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1852 Nikolai Gogol died at the age of forty-two. His unique style is a comic-tragic-absurd hybrid which has led to him being labeled the Hieronymous Bosch of Russian Literature. Having come under the sway of a fanatical priest late in life, and then been subjected to the treatments of several quack doctors, Gogol's last days mirrored one of his bizarre stories all too closely.

For more literary history, visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic of the Week:

 

"Bookworm" by Norman Rockwell, 1926

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Book on my Radar:

Ruby's Spoon
by Anna Pietroni
Spiegel & Grau, 2010
384 pages

Summary in a Sentence:

Isa Fly arrives in Cradle Cross, England, in 1933, and many of the town's residents feel an instant pull towards the mysterious young woman, but a group of tight-knit women are suspicious of Isa and accuse her of being a witch, setting in motion a shocking series of events that will change the town and its people forever.

Read the Reviews: Farm Lane Books | The B Files

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Week:

"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them."

 —Lemony Snicket

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Today in Literary History:

On this day in 1975 P. G. "Plum" Wodehouse died, aged ninety-three. Given the hundred books and the three-dozen musicals, it seems reasonable to believe the account of Wodehouse's final moments which has him collapsing while trying to pick up the pen and papers his wife had thrown across his hospital room. On this day in 1946 George Orwell published "In Defence of P. G. Wodehouse," in which he tries to rescue the author from his stickiest and most famous spot of trouble.

For more literary history, please visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic of the Day:

 

Man Reading by Rembrandt van Rijn

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Book on my Radar:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Crown (Feb. 2010)
384 pages
Nonfiction: Medicine/Diseases

Summary in a Sentence:

Examines the experiences of the children and husband of Henrietta Lacks, who, twenty years after her death from cervical cancer in 1951, learned doctors and researchers took cells from her cervix without consent which were used to create the immortal cell line known as the HeLa cell; provides an overview of Henrietta's life; and explores issues of experimentation on African-Americans and bioethics.

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Day:

"Anti-war books are as likely to stop war as anti-glacier books are to stop glaciers."

-Kurt Vonnegut

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Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1601, Shakespeare's Richard II was presented at the Globe playhouse, a performance especially arranged by those hoping to overthrow Queen Elizabeth the following day. Followers of the Earl of Essex hoped the story of king-killing might stir up support; overcoming the actors' objections that it would not be a good draw, they paid forty shillings to have it staged. If the Saturday afternoon performance was poorly-attended, the Sunday morning rebellion was worse. . . .

For more literary history, visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic of the Day:

 

"A Novel Reader" by Van Gogh

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Book on my Radar: 

Remarkable Creatures
by Tracy Chevalier
Dutton, 2010
320 pages

Summary in a Sentence:

Nineteenth-century fossil hunter Mary Anning and spinster Elizabeth Philpot form a friendship based on their interest in science, and, when Mary's work is put into question by individuals who believe it goes against their religious beliefs and men in her field try to take credit for it, Elizabeth's loyalty to Mary becomes invaluable to her.

Read the Reviews:

• S. Krishna's Books  
• Tales of a Capricious Reader 
• Bibliophile by the Sea
  

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For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Librarians doing 'Thriller'...

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Day:

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

-Cicero

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Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1948, J. D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" was published in the New Yorker; in the same magazine, on the same day in 1953, Salinger's "Teddy" also appeared. These are the first and last selections in Nine Stories (1953), Salinger's only collection. "Bananafish" introduces Seymour Glass, one of the many that Salinger would cast in the Holden mold and predicament.

For more literary history, please visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic of the Day:

Reading Room at Merchant's Association, New York City

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Book on my Radar:

Bloodroot
by Amy Greene
Knopf, 2010
304 pages
Historical/Literary Fiction

Summary in a Sentence:

Follows the lives and experiences of one family from the time of the Great Depression to the twenty-first century, centering around Myra Lamb, a young girl who has the extraordinary talent of connecting with animals and people around her.

Read the Review:

• Genre Go Round Reviews

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Interesting Links to Peruse:

• Are novels better than memoirs?
• A paleontologist explains why the Book of Kells is so dang awesome.
• Literate Housewife reviews Wolf Hall.
• The top ten books written by librarians.

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Day:

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”
– Italo Calvino

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Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1670 English playwright William Congreve was born. His "comedy of manners" toasted and tilted at the "gala day of wit and pleasure" enjoyed by those who lived in the inner circles of power, or wished they did -- "men and women of quick brains and cynical humours," says the Cambridge History, who talk "with the brilliance and rapidity wherewith the finished swordsman fences."

For more literary history, please visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic of the Day:

"Subway Stories, New York City" studio print

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Book on my Radar: 

Beneath the Lion's Gaze
by Maaza Mengiste
W. W. Norton (Jan. 11, 2010)
Fiction
305 pages

Summary in a Sentence:

Hailu, a physician, his wife Selam, and their two grown sons, Dawit and Yonas, face the trauma of the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia in their own ways, with Hailu being ordered to report to jail for aiding a victim of state-sanctioned torture, Yonas struggling to protect his wife and daughter, and Dawit becoming active in the fight.

Read the Reviews:

• Tadias
• MostlyFiction 
• Bookmunch
  

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Interesting Links to Peruse:

• Interview with Newbery winner Rebecca Stead.
• Biblioaddict on "Why I read what I read".
• Poe had a lonely birthday this year...
• Booklust discusses racism in fantasy.
  

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Bookish Quote of the Day:

"I read part of it all the way through."

-Samuel Goldwyn

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Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1775 Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals premiered. Sheridan was just twenty-three years old, this was his first play, and his Mrs. Malaprop may have borrowed from Henry Fielding's Mrs. Slipslop, but the stage and the language got one of its most enjoyable and enduring creations -- not to mention "a nice derangement of epitaphs."

For more, please visit Today in Literature.

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Literary Pic of the Day:

© 2009 by Katie S. Atkinson and by Owl Square Press

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Book on my Radar:

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Pub. Jan 5, 2010)

When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives happily alone in Norfolk. But when a child's bones are found on a desolate beach nearby, and Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Galloway for help, Ruth finds herself in completely new territory - and in serious danger.

Read the Reviews:

• A Lovely Shore Breeze
• Back to Books 
• A Bookworm's World
  

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Unfinished book this week:

I was reading this book for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge and was most excited about its premise. I'm deeply disappointed that I wasn't able to continue past about 75 pages due to the complete denseness of the writing style. I didn't realize until I began reading that Petroski is an engineer and approaches writing about the history of books and bookshelves from a very dry and factual point of view, almost in the manner of a textbook. I did enjoy the photos and illustrations included in the book, but could not fall into the rhythm of the writing and was forced to put it aside.