David Foster Wallace, who is known for his 1,000-page novel, Infinite Jest and many other works, knew a thing or two about writing. Even now after his passing, his voice is still one of the most well-respected in the literary world, and he had plenty to share with us. In 1999 he and dictionary maker, Bryan A. Garner had very in-depth conversations about their careers. These conversations eventually turned into Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing, a book filled with Wallace’s relationship with writing, self-improvement, and becoming who we are. In it Wallace describes the importance …
Several months ago we wrote about Bana Alabed, a 7-year-old Syrian refugee who tweeted J.K. Rowling asking if she could have Harry Potter to read after enjoying the movie. To her delight, she received e-books from Rowling several days later. Now, Alabed is making headlines in the book world again as she sets out to write a memoir. According to CBS, Alabed is known on Twitter as the “voice of Aleppo” as she tweeted updates on the war happening in Syria, giving her a large online following. As of December 2016, she and her family were evacuated and now live in …
Many of us probably read John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in school, and if you haven’t I highly suggest it. Steinbeck had a talent for telling stories about people who are not considered “high brow,” and making them truly dynamic and interesting. Whether you’ve read it or not, these facts about the novel may surprise you! 1) Steinbeck had something in common with the main characters Just like George and Lennie, Steinbeck also worked as a “bindle-stiff,” or ranch hand, for some time. In an interview with The New York Times in 1937, he described how it inspired him to …
Many of us probably read John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in school, and if you haven’t I highly suggest it. Steinbeck had a talent for telling stories about people who are not considered “high brow,” and making them truly dynamic and interesting. Whether you’ve read it or not, these facts about the novel may surprise you! 1) Steinbeck had something in common with the main characters Just like George and Lennie, Steinbeck also worked as a “bindle-stiff,” or ranch hand, for some time. In an interview with The New York Times in 1937, he described how it inspired him to …
Without context, song lyrics can look a lot like prose or poetry, which is why it may be hard to tell the difference between them. You’d also be surprised at how many lines of prose sound so musical, they might as well be lyrics! We took several lines of pop songs from the 1990’s and several lines from YA romance novels and mixed them up, see if you can tell if the line is from a song or from a book. Featured image courtesy of Billboard
