So glad to see "To the Lighthouse" recognized for what it is. I re-read it years later soon after plowing through "Ulysses." My thoughts: "Yes, Joyce made stream of consciousness a great literary experiment. "To the Lighthouse" took the impetus and made it into art."
De gustibus and all, but what is it with the myriad Jane Austen fans? Have they never read Middlemarch? George Eliot never ceases to astonish, as a novelist and as a psychologist.
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So happy to see Edward Gorey here. The Gorey Museum on Cape Cod in Yarmouth is a must for any admirer. Always interesting, great swag, and each time I go I wish this strange, interesting, and intensely funny artist was still here.
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I have three of those! (I always feel smarter if a smart writer likes the same books I do, even though there's absolutely no real connection there.) Any fan of Austen is good people in my book. (Can a bad person like Jane Austen?)
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Marvelous selections. I especially commend your choice of Edward Gorey. A true genius. His illustrations and prose are both remarkable. He's under-appreciated!
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Wonderful list, and would add Fitzhugh's THE LONG SECRET as bonus to HARRIET THE SPY. Not exactly a sequel. Stays with you forever.
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As a late middle-aged adult, I find myself more held by THE LONG SECRET than when I was a young reader. It's Flannery O'Connor for middle schoolers! (I've written about it in those terms). Fitzhugh's audacity in combining the Jamesian child (Beth Ellen as Maisie), the religiosity of Jessie Mae, and dark humor of Mama Jenkins, the bargain basement Gatsbyism of Zeenie and Wallace, all with Harriet presiding to the side. Magnificent!
Many of us would like to be stranded on that island with you. And I would add to your lists...all of your books, especially:Are You My Mother. It needs to be read and reread in order to fully grasp everything you are writing about.
Keep writing Alison, please.
Keep writing Alison, please.
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humm , very good and useful books thanks for share
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Oh wow. We share two favorite books in our list of top 10. I think you would like another adult book for kids, Suzuki Beane, by sandra scoppettone, with Louise Fitzhugh as the illustrator. I knew I was gay even at 8, but the friendship between Suzuki and Henry still resonates with me.
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What a great list! If you liked "The Night Watch," you might also enjoy a rare WWII memoir, "All the Brave Promises" by Mary Lee Settle.
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