David Thompson died yesterday. He was a sweet, ebullient man who helped to run Murder by the Book in Houston. In his honor, I spent the day away from Facebook, although that was kind of ass-backwards. It was because of Facebook, indirectly, that I first learned of his death. Because of Facebook, I had more regular contact with him than I might have otherwise; we had IM'ed just a week or so ago. And his Facebook page is an interesting testament to the man. His last two posts included a status update Read more [...]

Credit where credit is due: Terry Gross had Jonathan Franzen on "Fresh Air" on Thursday. At the beginning of the interview she characterized the discussion about Franzen's coverage in the media as a "certain amount of resentment of your success by some writers." Here's Franzen's response, transcribed from the podcast. "I haven't been following any of that closely, but the little bit that's trickled back to me hasn't sounded particularly ad hominem. It seems like there's a different critique, it's Read more [...]

I want to tell you I remember the first book I ever read. I don't. What I do remember is my sister giving me an early start on reading by giving me a "Dick and Jane" book. I can still see Sally on her tricycle going "Oh! Oh! Oh!" It was like being given the Rosetta Stone, but with a key that explained everything. Letters put together made sounds and then words. I could pass into the adult kingdom now, the world of books. I remember . . . the Oz book (The Lost Princess of Oz) that was in the basket Read more [...]