Do you have a spare copy of Fifty Shades of Grey that you’re hoping to donate? Well, maybe don’t – at least not to this UK bookstore, which has been utterly overrun by donations of the romance novel. It’s gotten so bad that the store has had to ban donations of the book! According to the Mirror, the donations are flooding in from women who bought the steamy novel but “don’t want to keep [it] in their own home once they’ve read it.” As a result, thrift stores are being inundated with “hundreds” of copies of the book. Things are …
This past Monday, his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama celebrated his 80th birthday. That’s a lot of birthdays! And luckily for the rest of us, the Dalai Lama has been spending most of his time on earth trying to help regular people achieve enlightenment. The Dalai Lama is, of course, the world leader of Buddhism. Buddhism is a religion (though some adherents prefer to think of it as a philosophy or way of life) with a complicated history and beliefs but a very simple central philosophy. At its core, Buddhism is about the belief that suffering is caused by attachment, …
Books have been the inspiration for great films for as long as movies have been around – after all, books were here first! But as movies have become a big business, we’ve left some of our appreciation for the great books behind. Everyone knows that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was adapted from a novel, but other books haven’t been quite so lucky. That’s why we’ve put together this list of great films that you may not have known were based on books. If you loved these movies, you should run out and get the books – because as …
Everyone loves cheering for the protagonist in a great novel, but what about the bad guys? Without them, there would be nothing for the hero to vanquish. We’re celebrating the under-appreciated baddies with this list of iconic literary villains. Here are the characters that we love to hate. Big Brother From 1984 by George Orwell George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, the repressive surveillance state is represented by one of the most iconic villains in literature. Big Brother is omnipresent symbol of a regime that demands total loyalty and submission. Count Dracula From Dracula by Bram Stoker Dracula is still …
For the most part, we get our insights about authors in print. The writer presents a story or an opinion, support it with details or arguments, and leaves again when we close the book’s cover. But occasionally, thanks to an award ceremony or a graduation speech, we get to see another side of an author. We get to see what they would tell us if they spoke directly, and we get to better understand their views on life, morality, art, and their books. In these eight speeches, some of the greatest authors from history and today share their insights and their …
