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Mark Twain’s “ghost” written books

During his life, Samuel Clements (“Mark Twain”) became “the greatest humorist this country has produced,” according to the New York Times. It seems Twain still wanted to write after he died in April 1910. He supposedly “ghost” wrote at least three books.

The first book Twain wrote posthumously was appropriately titled Spirits Do Return. Published […]

Tim July 13th, 2021 | Tags: , , | Category: A Reading Life, History | Leave a comment | |

When psychiatry came to the Hundred Acre Wood

Twenty years ago five Canadian specialists in pediatric neurodevelopment explored Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood. They discovered “Seriously Troubled Individuals,” many meeting the criteria for significant mental disorders.

Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, and friends first appeared in stories by A.A. Milne in the late 1920s. In 1961, five years after Milne’s death, Walt […]

Tim March 23rd, 2021 | Category: A Reading Life, Culture | Comments are closed | |

Unintended rereading

As a general rule, I don’t reread books. Especially with books I really liked, I’m afraid reading them again might detract from my initial enjoyment. I also figure rereading is a missed opportunity to read something “new.” In 2019, though, I reread six books, more than half of all the books I reread in the […]

Tim January 19th, 2021 | Tags: , , | Category: A Reading Life | Comments are closed | |

Reading in Trump’s American dystopia

For a voracious reader like me, retirement should be close to nirvana. In fact, before I retired at the end of 2016 I had a magnet on a file cabinet in my office saying, “Born to Read, Forced to Work.” And a self-imposed COVID lockdown should add even more time for reading. Yet as the […]

Tim January 14th, 2021 | Tags: , , | Category: A Reading Life, Resist Trump | Comments are closed | |

The book that didn’t exist — until hundreds asked for it

Trump supporters on Reddit last week tried, but failed, to keep Hillary Clinton’s new book from reaching No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller lists. It wasn’t the first time an effort by a group of people affected the book industry. Perhaps the most interesting one, though, involved demand for a book that didn’t exist.

Jean Shepherd […]

Tim September 20th, 2017 | Tags: , , | Category: A Reading Life | Comments are closed | |
 
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