Category Archives: Authors

RIP PD James

                    Crime writers P.D. James (left) and another one of my favorites, Ruth Rendell One of my favorite crime novelists,  PD James, has died aged 94. Her agent said she died … Continue reading

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Shirley Jackson in 1951. Photograph: AP

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How to Write a Million Books.

Preamble: As someone who has been trying to slog through the first chapter of the writing of a novel for the past 3 years, I am amazed and perplexed by people who can churn out books at a rapid clip. … Continue reading

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Elizabeth Jane Howard

After a career spanning more than 60 years, the writer Elizabeth Jane Howard,  has died at aged 90. Jane (as she was always called) achieved a triumph in her 70s with The Cazalet Chronicle, a highly praised tetralogy of novels … Continue reading

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I hate all crocodiles, except for one. Loveable Lyle was first spotted lounging in a bathtub. The Primms have moved into their new Upper East Side brownstone. Mrs Primm hears strange noises from the bathroom and makes the horrifying discovery … Continue reading

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RIP

Children’s book author E.L. Konigsburg, died at 83 in Falls Church, VA. The first book I read of hers was her first book:  “Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth.” It’s about the friendship of two girls, Elizabeth and … Continue reading

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I love Judith Krantz’s house in Bel Air, on the 17th hole of the Bel-Air Country Club off Sunset Boulevard. The 8,000-square-foot house was built in 1938 and has a two story library.

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Prolific Romance Novelist is Actually a Lovable Old Coot

Authors choose to write under pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. Some simply don’t want to associated with the junk they’re writing. Some want to to gauge the level of their popularity. After the successes Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot, and The Shining, Stephen … Continue reading

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Patriotic Radical

America’s most controversial writer Gore Vidal has died…. First things first, Vidal HATED the Bush’s. All of them. He called W a “cretin”. He was a  ferocious, and often isolated, critic of the Bush administration. In his controversial polemic, ‘The Enemy Within’, … Continue reading

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Charles Dickens, 200

  It’s the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. I don’t know which of his 20+ novels is my favorite. When I think about it, I am overwhelmed. Maybe it’s Bleak House, … Continue reading

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