Birthdays: John Remsburg (1848), Zora Hurston (1891), Cresson Kearny (1914), Robert Duncan (1919), Gerald Durell (1925), William Blatty (1928), Edwin Torres (1931), Kay Chorao (1936), Hayford Peirce (1942), Ben Fong-Torres (1945), Nicholson Baker (1957), Billy Merrell (1982),

Quote: “Poetry is prose in slow motion.” – Nicholson Baker, The Anthologist

Zora Hurston was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on hoodoo. The most popular of her four novels is “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, published in 1937. She also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays.

William Blatty is best known for his 1971 novel “The Exorcist”, for which he won the Academy Award for the screenplay of its film adaptation and was nominated for Best Picture as its producer. The film also earned Blatty the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama as producer.

Edwin Torres is best known for his book “Carlito’s Way.”

I tried reading Blatty’s “The Exorcist” once. Nope. Nor the movie. Kind of freaked me out.

Birthdays: Carl Sandburg (1878), Khalil Gibran (1883?), John Holmes (1904), Wright Morris (1910), Alan Watts (1915), E.L. Doctorow (1931)

Quote: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” – E.L.Doctorow

“Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.” – Carl Sandburg

Doctorow was the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Ragtime, National Book Critics Circle Award for Billy Bathgate, National Book Critics Circle Award for The March, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. Former President Barack Obama called him “one of America’s greatest novelists”

Khalil Gibran is best known as the author of “The Prophet”, which was first published in the United States in 1923 and has since become one of the best-selling books of all time, having been translated into more than 100 languages.

Morris won the National Book Award for “The Field of Vision” in 1956. His final novel, “Plains Song” won the American Book Award in 1981.

Alan Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on religion and philosophy, introducing the emerging hippie counterculture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism. In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), he argued that Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy. He considered Nature, Man and Woman (1958) to be, “from a literary point of view—the best book I have ever written”. He also explored human consciousness and psychedelics in works such as “The New Alchemy” (1958) and The Joyous Cosmology.

I remember reading Carl Sandburg’s books on Lincoln with my dad when I was growing up. I also read a lot of his poetry. I’ve read parts of Khalil Gibran too. The others, not so much.

Birthdays: Jacob Grimm (1785), Max Eastman (1883), James Bond (1900), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1933), Gao Xingjian (1940), Doris Kearns Goodwin (1943), Natalie Goldberg (1948), Harlan Coben (1962), Christina Baker Kline (1964).

Quote: “Once I have the idea for a story, I start collecting all kinds of information… For example, I may see a picture of a man in a magazine and say ‘That’s exactly what the father in my book looks like!’…I save everything that will help.” – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Doris Goodwin won the 1995 Pulitzer for History

Harlan Coben was the first author to win all three of these: the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony Awards.

James Bond – no, not the spy, though he was the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s character.

Gao Xingjian won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature

Who has not read a fairy tale by the Grimm brothers? Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and more. Almost any common fairy tale we know today was penned by them.

And Natalie Goldberg’s books on writing are among my favorites.

Off to a great start this year, so here we go:

Under Romance: Jagged Feather by Jan Sikes – 5 Sparklers for this amazing romantic suspense.

Under LGBTQ+ for Adults: Past His Defenses by Andrew Grey – 5 Sparklers for this romantic suspense

Under Nonfiction: 7 Minute Strength Training for Seniors 60+ by Liam Owens – 3 Sparklers for this one.

Under YA: The Incident by Avis Adams – 4 Sparklers for this dystopian YA book

Birthdays: Cicero (106 BC), John Fletcher (1886), J.R.R. Tolkien (1892), Carolyn Haywood (1898), Erik Larson (1954), Patricia Lee Gauch (1934), Alex Wheatle (1963), Charles Yu (1976).

Quote: “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

Erik Larson won the 2004 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime for “The Devil in the White City”.

John Gould Fletcher won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “Selected Poems”

I will admit to never having finished reading TLotR by Tolkien. I’ve read parts of the books, but not all of them. I think I need to look at them again.

Birthdays: Isaac Asimov (1920), Jan Slepian (1921), William Scott Home (1940), Susan Wittig Albert (1940), Andre Aciman (1951), Jimmy Santiago Baca (1952)

Quote: “When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.” – Isaac Asimov

Susan Wittig Albert also wrote under the penname Carolyn Keene of “Nancy Drew” fame. Besides the Nancy Drew mysteries, she also wrote many mysteries under her own name as well as The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter and other series. Asimov is one of my favorite authors. His science fiction is amazing. But…the Nancy Drew books that I grew up on? Those will always hold a special place in my heart.

Asimov is generally considered one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. He has works published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (lacking only an entry in the 100s category of Philosophy).

Asimov is widely considered a master of the science-fiction genre and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was considered one of the “Big Three” science-fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov’s most famous work is the Foundation Series. His other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, both of which he later tied into the same fictional universe as the Foundation Series to create a unified “future history” for his stories. He wrote numerous short stories, among them “Nightfall”, which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time.

I’m going to start something new this year. Hopefully you’ll like it, and maybe like my page on FB as well. Each day that I’m not featuring reviews or a writer’s promotion, I’m going to feature authors’ birthdays for that day as well as a quote or two and maybe some interesting facts. So here goes… and Happy New Year!

Birthdays: Ouida (1839), James Frazer (1854), E.M. Forster (1879), Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897), J.D. Salinger (1919), Mary Norton (1903), Audrey Wurdemann (1911), Gina Berriault (1926), Ernest Tidyman (1928), Mary Ann Shaffer (1934), Olivia Goldsmith (1949), James Richardson (1960), Claudia Rankine (1963).

Quote: “I think the first idea—or first feeling—of The Borrowers came through my being shortsighted: when others saw the far hills, the distant woods, the soaring pheasant, I, as a child, would turn sideways to the close bank, the tree roots, and the tangled grasses.” – Mary Norton (author of “The Borrowers”)

“The king died and then the queen died. That is a story. The king died and the queen died of grief. That is a plot.” – E.M. Forster

I read “The Borrowers” as a youngster and loved them. I can’t say the same for E.M.Forster’s books “Howard’s End” or “A Passage to India”. Famous books, but not my favorite genres. I did read Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” when in high school, but again, not a favorite. James Frazer’s “The Golden Bough” is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion and is *the* book to study when planning a fantasy world.

Beneath the kitchen floor is the world of the Borrowers — Pod and Homily Clock and their daughter, Arrietty. In their tiny home, matchboxes double as roomy dressers and postage stamps hang on the walls like paintings. Whatever the Clocks need they simply “borrow” from the “human beans” who live above them. It’s a comfortable life, but boring if you’re a kid. Only Pod is allowed to venture into the house above, because the danger of being seen by a human is too great. Borrowers who are seen by humans are never seen again. Yet Arrietty won’t listen. There is a human boy up there, and Arrietty is desperate for a friend. 

We’re winding down the year and I just read my favorite book of the year – and it’s a YA!

Under YA: Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee – a 5 Sparkler mixture of Korean folklore, mythology, magic, and science fiction all wrapped up in one book.

Under Holidays: Two historical romances that leave you smiling:

“A Little Kringle Magic” by Loretta C. Rogers

“The Gingerbread Man” by Kim Turner

I will probably not be posting more before the holiday, so I am wishing you all a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday. No matter what you celebrate, may you have a healthy, peaceful time. And here’s to more reading in the coming year.

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