Janus (3): DC Reading List 2021
I’m trying a different format for this year’s reading list: a queue and a read (past tense) list. (Note that many of these are carried… Read More »Janus (3): DC Reading List 2021
reading
Katherine Rundell on children’s books and imagination
Children’s fiction… offers to help us to refind things we may not even know we have lost. Adult life is full of forgetting… When you… Read More »Katherine Rundell on children’s books and imagination
Janus (1): Looking back
Disclaimer: This post was written mostly for me – if you’re not me, you may wish to skip to the end or to skip it… Read More »Janus (1): Looking back
“Led by pleasure and wonder”: Dana Gioia on creating a new generation of readers
You can’t force young people into literature. They need to be led by pleasure and wonder. Creating a new generation of readers is important. When… Read More »“Led by pleasure and wonder”: Dana Gioia on creating a new generation of readers
Katherine Rundell on learning from children’s books
Children’s books today do still have a ghost of their educative beginnings, but what they are trying to teach us has changed. Children’s novels, to… Read More »Katherine Rundell on learning from children’s books
Page 37
If you find it hard to give up on a book without a guilty conscience – a sense that you’ve wasted something, neglected a duty,… Read More »Page 37
Katherine Rundell on the subversive politics of children’s books
A lot of children’s fiction has a surprising politics to it. Despite all our tendencies in Britain toward order and discipline – towards etiquette manuals… Read More »Katherine Rundell on the subversive politics of children’s books
Who was Victor Hugo?
Part Jean Valjean, part Thénardier. “I want to destroy human inevitability; I condemn slavery, I chase out poverty, I instruct ignorance, I treat illness, I… Read More »Who was Victor Hugo?
Castles on Clouds
I’m a couple of chapters away from finishing Les Miserables,* thanks to the enthusiasm of a friend** and to Nick Senger’s excellent chapter-a-day read-along schedule.***… Read More »Castles on Clouds
Seth Godin: “This might not work.”
“This might not work,” is at the heart of all of our most important work, but often we let the possibility of failure put us… Read More »Seth Godin: “This might not work.”