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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Dawn French narrates first ever audiobook of I Love My... series

Dawn French will narrate an audiobook edition of Giles Andreae’s I Love My… picture books for Bolinda, the first time any of the series will be produced in audio.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-28 01:59:59 UTC ]
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Yes, I Love Books, But Please Don’t Take Me To a Bookstore

One avid reader on why being taken to the bookstore is way more anxiety-producing than it is enjoyable. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-07-20 10:32:00 UTC ]
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It can’t match ‘Wolf Hall,’ but ‘Love and Fury’ captures an English figure with bravura

Samantha Silva’s novel brings to life Mary Wollstonecraft: feminist, novelist and mother of Mary Shelley Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-17 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Pandemic Love (in 13 Romance Tropes) March 2020–2021, by Laura Bernstein-Machlay

Pandemic Dispatches Photo by Daniel Tafjord / Unsplash Unrequited love I download a book. One of those books—for women. Certainly not porn, but you know. Never mind the shirtless guy gracing its cover (his lumpy, bumpy abs—oh my!), or the wanton... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-16 13:40:35 UTC ]
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Love Is a Journey Without End: Close-up on R.J. Palacio

The bestselling author of Wonder is back with Pony, a standalone novel that promises to be a new American classic. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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‘The Double Life of Bob Dylan’ is the definitive account of a shape-shifting genius’s early years

Even as a youngster, Dylan seemed to be aware of the importance of crafting his persona. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-20 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Cassava Republic acquires Mukoma Wa Ngugi's 'love letter to music'

Cassava Republic is to publish Unbury Our Dead, a literary novel by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, described as "a love letter to beauty, music and the imagination". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-14 07:38:11 UTC ]
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8 Historical Fiction Novels About War-Torn Love

Every love story is built with inherently high stakes. After all, a heart can be the ultimate prize, and courtship a most dangerous risk. And love, as we all know, won’t stop for much. Our hearts pay no attention to timing or impediments, and logic falls by the wayside as we feel the anguish of... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-04-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In this love story, a few bits of wisdom amid woefully out-of-date ‘lessons’

Massimo Recalcati seems to ignore how people in the 21st century experience love. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-23 12:00:00 UTC ]
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As a kid, I loved Judy Blume’s books. As an adult, I wonder: How do they read today?

Blume’s novels educated — and entertained — generations of readers. In today’s culture, it’s more complicated. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-19 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Finding 'value in the valley': YA authors at a Festival panel on Black life and self-love

At a Times Book Festival panel on Black YA fiction, Dean Atta, Morgan Parker, Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi discussed stories of teens making it through. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-18 01:13:11 UTC ]
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‘A Light in the Dark’ is a love letter to directors, personal flaws and all

The latest addition to film historian David Thomson’s opinionated take on the film industry is notable for what it says — and what it doesn’t. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-04-12 07:00:00 UTC ]
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‘First Person Singular’ delves into lost love and strange happenings

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami offers a collection of imaginative short stories with skewed elements that his many fans are sure to applaud. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-04-06 22:11:04 UTC ]
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How grief became path-breaking poetry in Victoria Chang's 'Obit'

After her parents fell ill, Victoria Chang, finalist for a Times Book Prize, wrote 'Obit,' poems styled as obituaries of loved ones — and herself. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-04-06 14:00:08 UTC ]
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Meet Our New Release Index: How it Works and Why You’ll Love It

The Book Riot New Release Index allows book lovers to view ALL upcoming book releases in one centralized place. Learn more now! Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-04-01 10:33:00 UTC ]
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Laugh, Learn, Captivate: Spotlight on Little Genius Books

Launching in April, Little Genius Books is an independent publisher of children’s books that will offer a diverse range of board books, picture books, activity books, nonfiction, novelty books, and more. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Jacqueline Winspear’s latest novel reminds us why we love Maisie Dobbs

The venerable PI is at her best in ‘The Consequences of Fear,’ a murder mystery set in war-torn London Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Endeavour signs Deeney's Love & Care

Octopus imprint Endeavour has signed Love & Care by journalist Shaun Deeney, “a thought-provoking and often funny” account of a man becoming a carer for his mother just as he is hoping to find love one last time, post-divorce. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 14:57:29 UTC ]
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Jessica Au named inaugural winner of The Novel Prize

Jessica Au has been awarded the $10,000 2020 Novel Prize for her Tokyo-set second novel Cold Enough for Snow. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 21:06:53 UTC ]
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HarperNorth snares first novel with Woods' gangland thriller

HarperNorth has snared its first fiction acquisition, a gritty gangland thriller by Karen Woods. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-08 01:06:27 UTC ]
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