Daily Archives for: November 21st, 2017

A Certain Smile by Françoise Sagan (1956)

From the United Press review of A Certain Smile by Françoise Sagan (1956):  A Certain Smile by Françoise Sagan (translated from the French, Un Certain Sourire)  is that rare delight, a second novel that fulfills the promise of the author’s first.

Young as Miss Sagan is, her writing is imbued with a maturity so naturally presented as to seem not in the least surprising.

Here, as in Bonjour Tristesse, Miss Sagan’s heroine is a young girl acting out of purely selfish motives, and finds herself embroiled in something far beyond her capabilities. Read More→


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15 Great Biographies of Women Authors

There are so many great biographies of women authors — what to choose depends on which classic authors you love and want to know about.

A great biography reveals much about the author’s inner life as well as their often tumultuous love life and public persona.

The roundup of biographies following is by no means definitive and nowhere near exhaustive — it’s simply a great place to start when you want to learn more about your favorite women writers of the recent and distant past. Read More→


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Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields

From the 2006 St. Martin’s Griffin edition of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields: To Kill a Mockingbird is the most widely read American novel ever.

Yet its creator, Harper Lee, has become a mysterious figure who routinely turns away reporters.

Mockingbird is a colorful portrait of this unconventional, high-spirited, and sometimes hardheaded woman who loved her Southern home and the craft of writing and who — from these undying affections — created a book whose power has never diminished. Read More→


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