Is your Kindle finger itching? Do you have a yearning to go to the bookstore or library but don't know what sounds good? Well, maybe this will help. Last night, this year's National Book Awards were announced. Here is the complete list of winners and finalists. James McBride took the fiction prize for his novel…
Category: Novels
Erudite Frights for All Hallow’s Night: Ten Spine-Tingling Lines from Literature
Here at eNotes, we would NEVER let Halloween pass without a few good scares from the masters of horror! Let's all take a break from the tedious terror of government shutdowns and 404 Errors of the new healthcare law and enjoy some scares that are a lot more fun. 1. “The shortest horror story: The…
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New to eNotes: Annotated eTexts!
For a long time at eNotes, we've displayed eTexts on the site--entire works that anyone can access for free. But recently we've worked to make them even better. Welcome to our all new Annotated eTexts! What's an Annotated eText? Have you ever underlined words or made notes in the margins of your books while reading…
Top Ten Dishes from the Classics
For her series "Fictitious Dishes," photographer Dinah Fried staged her favorite food scenes from literature. Via The Picture Show, here's a sample of her amazing work to delight foodies and book lovers alike. "I'm interested in creating something that evokes an emotional feeling for myself and others. I wanted to see how other people who…
No Child Left Inspired: Parent-Teacher Night Blues
Last night I attended Parent-Teacher night with my eighth grade son. It was depressing. For two hours, I, my son, and several hundred other parents were herded from classroom to classroom where we were introduced to the variety of TEKS tests our children would endure this year. TEKS, the acronym for the assessment "Texas Essential…
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Tacos with Pynchon, Burgers with Hemingway
Spencer Tracy and Ernest Hemingway with Friends at La Florida (“Floridita”), Havana, Cuba. Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. In between drinking (Hemingway) and hiding (Pynchon), these two iconic writers were known to procrastinate in the way that many of us who write do: by chowing…
Surprise of the year: Franzen is being a jerk again.
Yes, he who snubbed Oprah and her "schmaltzy" book club, he who lacked the capacity to laugh at the ransom of a pair of glasses kidnapped from under his nose (quite literally), has climbed back onto his high horse again. The author of The Corrections and Freedom now declares in a new Guardian essay his disappointment…
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A Cheater’s Guide to the Classics
DISCLAIMER: If you are a student assigned to read any of the following classics in school, you should ABSOLUTELY read them all the way through! Not only are they classics for a reason, but that's your job as a student, and as members of the educational community we would be remiss if we didn't point…