Coq-au-vin, or love in a lorry: the genius of Victoria Wood

With one-liners to rival Oscar Wilde or Mae West, she showed that satirical language can be soft and silly as well as wry and sharp. She will be missedVictoria Wood was an expert at encouraging us to lampoon language. Her forensically crafted writing was a warm, open invitation to point and laugh at the one thing above all else that makes us human: words.More specifically, the northern dialect of the English language. Lucy Mangan wrote about how her characters called their magazines “books” – idiosyncratically northern. Wood gave voice to something that characterises many of her delicious personas: a campness, in the Susan Sontag sense of the word. Her acute eye resulted in writing that was both well observed and ridiculous. Bringing out the camp in the northern housewife was oxymoronic: it added a linguistic layer of glamour to her downtrodden identity. This won her legions of devoted gay fans, including me. It blazed a trail for the comedy that could soften the Corrie matriarch. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Obituary: Lucky Spool Media Founder Susanne Woods, Dies at 47

Susanne Woods, founder and publisher of needle and sewing crafts publisher Lucky Spool Media, died February 19, 2020, of complications from metastatic breast cancer. She was 47. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Here’s an unexpected treat: Tressie McMillan Cottom live-tweeting Love is Blind.

Today feels like one of the bad days. But as your mother always told you, silver linings hang out in the strangest of places. The brilliant Tressie McMillan Cottom, Associate Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, whose most recent book Thick was shortlisted for the National... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-05 18:42:14 UTC ]
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Stanislaw Lem has finally gotten the translations his genius deserves

“The Invincible” is just one of the books worth reading that’s available in the U.S. for the first time in a proper Polish-to-English translation. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-03 15:24:31 UTC ]
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Century pre-empts high-concept love story 'for "Fleabag" generation'

Century has pre-empted a high-concept love story "for the 'Fleabag' generation" by debut author Emma Hughes in a two-book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-03 06:09:58 UTC ]
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With ‘The Night Watchman,’ Louise Erdrich rediscovers her genius

The National Book Award winner thought she was done writing. Lucky for us, she was wrong. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-02 18:09:45 UTC ]
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Walker bags guide to love from Alex Norris

Walker Books is publishing “a guide to love” from popular Webcomic Name series artist Alex Norris Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 12:31:03 UTC ]
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Victoria Chang on the Self and Its Many Deaths

For the next installation in our interview series with contemporary poets, Peter Mishler corresponded with Victoria Chang. Victoria Chang’s books include OBIT (April 2020), Barbie Chang, The Boss, Salvinia Molesta, and Circle. Her children’s picture book, Is Mommy?, was illustrated by Marla... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-21 09:48:19 UTC ]
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Faber pre-empts Ross' 'rare' love story 15 years in the making

Faber has pre-empted Leone Ross' "lightning bolt of a novel", about two star-crossed lovers finding their way back to one another over a single day. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-18 18:09:43 UTC ]
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In ‘Counterpoint,’ a memoirist reflects on love, loss and Bach

Washington Post art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott looks back at his decision to learn the Goldberg Variations. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-18 13:28:22 UTC ]
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10 Eco-Friendly Gifts for the Book Lover You Love

Here's ten eco-friendly gifts for that book lover in your life from Etsy, who offset the carbon emissions created from shipping. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-02-18 11:35:27 UTC ]
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Discovering a Love of Science Fiction and Fantasy and Recent Favorites

A reader new to science fiction and fantasy embraces the genre and explores some of the great new works of SFF on shelves now. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-02-17 11:40:18 UTC ]
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Harlequin to Expand Love Inspired Imprint

Love Inspired, Harlequin’s inspirational romance imprint, is launching a trade paperback fiction publishing program, starting spring 2021. The new line is accepting submissions of manuscripts that focus on religious values. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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He raised his son to love wild places. Then his son disappeared.

Explorer and biologist Roman Dial reflects on parenting in this memoir of the search for his son, who vanished while solo hiking in Costa Rica. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-02-12 23:38:32 UTC ]
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He raised his son to love wild places. Then his son disappeared.

Explorer and biologist Roman Dial reflects on parenting in this memoir of the search for his son, who vanished while solo hiking in Costa Rica. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-02-12 23:38:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #son disappeared #solo hiking #costa rica #memoir


Stationery stores are in trouble, but our love for Valentine’s Day cards burns hotter than ever

In a world determined to dematerialize our interactions with each other, we still crave the tactile experience of an actual card. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-11 16:53:38 UTC ]
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Stationery stores are in trouble, but our love for Valentine’s Day cards burns hotter than ever

In a world determined to dematerialize our interactions with each other, we still crave the tactile experience of an actual card. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-02-11 16:53:38 UTC ]
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Sexism and Genius Collide ‘In the Land of Men’

Adrienne Miller’s memoir chronicles her tenure as fiction editor of Esquire in the 1990s and her rocky relationship with David Foster Wallace, the era’s iconic novelist. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-02-11 10:00:07 UTC ]
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Italians (mostly) love Elena Ferrante’s new novel. Here’s what Americans can expect.

“The Lying Life of Adults” arrives in the United States in June: An Italian reader’s spoiler-free preview. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-28 16:00:00 UTC ]
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See the weird, wonderful ads that made Americans love computers

‘Do You Compute?’ investigates how technology went from being written off as science fiction to something we engage with every day. In the years following the end of World War II, computers were just starting to make their way into the public consciousness. The intimidatingly technical devices... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-01-27 09:00:47 UTC ]
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Before Michael B. Jordan Played Him in ‘Just Mercy,’ Bryan Stevenson Was a Kid Who Loved to Read

The best-selling author and public interest lawyer comes from a family in which words mattered. A lot. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-01-23 10:00:04 UTC ]
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