Category Archives: Authors

RIP PD James

Posted on November 28, 2014 by kara

                    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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Posted on May 23, 2014 by kara

Shirley Jackson in 1951. Photograph: AP

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How to Write a Million Books.

Posted on April 24, 2014 by kara

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

Posted on January 2, 2014 by kara

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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Posted on May 21, 2013 by kara

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

Posted on April 22, 2013 by kara

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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Posted on February 20, 2013 by kara

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

Posted on February 11, 2013 by kara

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

Posted on July 31, 2012 by kara

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

Posted on February 7, 2012 by kara

  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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