September is Library Card Sign-up Month — so sign up!

If you don’t already have a library card from the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, why in the world not? September is Library Card month, but for crying out loud you don’t need to wait until then…and pick one up for your kid while you’re at it. Sheesh!
September is Library Card Sign-Up Month and the Library wants [...]

The Nature-friendly Garden comes to New Dominion Bookshop June 27

Coming to New Dominion Bookshop:
Nature writer and photographer Marlene A. Condon
will discuss and sign her new book,
The Nature-friendly Garden
Saturday, June 27 at 11:00 AM
Many people approach gardening as a constant struggle against the outside world. They’re perpetually at war with nature, investing in chemical treatments to fight off mammals, birds, and insects in an effort [...]

The Big List gets bigger

A couple of years ago I posted about the Big List of Literary Magazines. Well, according to a comment left on that post by Scott, who I’m guessing is the Content Editor at Every Writer’s Resource, home of the Big List, they’re giving the list a makeover. Check it out — it looks even more [...]

Setting sail with Patrick O’Brian

Jim wrote to me a few weeks ago to ask:
I’m very hungry for other blogs and observations about the Aubrey books….Where else can I read insights about the series from amateurs?
Oh, Jim, how I envy you! The Patrick O’Brian bug is freshly coursing through your veins! So many resources to recommend, how shall I choose?
The [...]

Who will you find? Tracing your family tree at J-MRL

From the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library:

Learn to use HeritageQuest for your genealogical sleuthing.
The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will provide two training sessions on how to use HeritageQuest which is a collection of research materials for doing genealogy research. The sessions will be Friday Oct 31, 9:30 am at the Central Library and Saturday Nov 1, [...]

Advice for writers about research « Lisa Gold: Research Maven

A few of you out there may be wondering why fiction writers need to do research at all. Can’t they just make everything up?
Blogger and researcher Lisa Gold outlines the benefits and potential pitfalls of research, including:

You don’t need to know everything about a subject in order to write about it….

And the very important:

Do not [...]

Q and A with Stephen P. Ryder

It happens more often than you might think: I link here at CvilleWords to some interesting site I’ve found in my journeys across the World Wide Web, and within a few hours or days someone leaves a comment letting me know that my latest find was right here in my backyard all the time. Charlottesville [...]

Good stuff on other blogs

Ran across these gems the other day:
From Damian Daily, a funny and informative interview with Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman, co-authors of How Not to Write a Novel.
And from Books on the Brain, some highlights from Natalie Goldberg’s new book, Old Friend From Far Away:
She states that first we must know how to remember, a [...]

Is there any substitute for the Bible?

Scott Esposito at Conversational Reading raises what must be a common dilemma: how can a student or critic of literature properly approach the Western canon without a thorough knowledge of the Bible (both Christian and Hebrew scriptures)? Indeed:
Take, for instance, that question many of us enjoy debating: Which books deserve to be in the Western [...]

How to wow ‘em at the literary salon

This has been out there for a year and a half, and I’m just now finding it? The Millions has a guide to pronouncing troublesome literary names. Not sure where to put the stress in Nabokov? Always confusing Theroux and Thoreau? Trouble yourself no more.
One last puzzle remains. Have I been mispronouncing da Vinci incorrectly [...]

Beowulf links

If, like me, the thought of a CGI-encrusted, 3-D, Neil-Gaiman-authored, simulated-nude Beowulf (now with more jokes!) has inspired you to read or re-read the original epic poem, you might like these links:

Beowulf in Hypertext
Beowulf on Google Books
Beowulf read aloud
Why is Beowulf Important?
Heorot
Why Bother with Beowulf?
Tolkien and the Critics

LibraryThing authors

You can now see whether your favorite authors are members of LibraryThing. Check this list — I see some familiar names on there, how about you?

“Madeleine Moments”

All Proust, all the time: Madeleine Moments. From yesterday’s entry, “The Death of Marcel,”

Today is the anniversary of Proust’s death in 1922.  He was born on July 10, 1871 and so was 51 years old when he died.  Not a very long life, but it lasted as long as he wanted it to- until he [...]

Opinionated? Me?

Here’s a neat list of online book review sites from Robin Mizell’s Treated and Released. Look for Charlottesville Words under “Opinionated or Personality-Driven.” Hmm, sounds like Robin’s been talking to my therapist…

Critical mass at Critical Mass

The National Book Critics Circle is running a collection of guest posts on its blog called The Critical Library Series. So far the list of distinguished contributors includes John Updike, Morris Dickstein, Joan Acocella, Wendy Lesser, Edmund White, Katha Pollitt, Cynthia Ozick, Sam Tanenhaus, Anne Fadiman, and Colm Toibin, each of whom has offered a [...]