The Reading Life

Peter Bollen

Description

Exclusive interviews with noted authors and interesting reviews.
Collected columns & Reviews. Interesting exclusive interviews with noted authors.

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• Themes
• Subjects
• Reference
• Review
• Author
• Interview

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 11 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663247735
• Langue: English

Extrait

Books by Peter Bo llen
Great Labor Quotat ions
Nuclear Vo ices
Dear Bureau crat
Great Labor Quotations, Sourcebook and Re ader
Frank Talk, the Wit and Wisdom of Barney F rank
Growing Up Subversive—Memoir of James Bo llen
I Hold These Truths to Be Self Evi dent
A Writer’s Compen dium
The Reading Life
The Collected Columns
 
 
 
Peter Bollen
 
 
 

 
 
 
Copyright © 2022 Peter B.
- First Edition -
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
 
iUniverse
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4774-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4773-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921172
 
 
 
iUniverse rev. date: 11/30/2022
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1     The Reviews
Chapter 2     The Interviews
Chapter 3     The Personalities
Chapter 4     The Timeless Interviews
 
Peter’s Biography
Foreword
This volume is a near complete collection of my biweekly columns titled, ‘The Reading Life.’
I have often felt and commented that the state of Maine may very well be the most literary state considering its size and population. Maine has a number of Pulitzer Prize winning authors (i.e. Elizabeth Strout, Richard Ford, Richard Russo - among many other award-winning authors including super stars like Stephen King and Lois Lowry.
Having the privilege of working at Bridgton Books bookstore, I met some noted authors and writers like Anita Shreve, Chris Hedges, David Shribman (a Pulitzer recipient) and child authors. It was a great learning experience having the advantage of working with knowledgeable book people.
As an author myself, I am a regular reader of book reviews by subscription and online. This fueled my desire to become a book reviewer. It also brought back memories of when the Boston Globe initiated their ‘Literary Life’ column. It became a popular addition to the Globe. Other newspapers of note also regularly carry book review columns.
From this area the only regular publication I knew of was Lake Living magazine, a monthly which occasionally carries reviews of books favored by the employees of Bridgton Books. I strongly felt that the Bridgton News would be a popular venue for a review column. I stated my case to the publisher/editor and he immediately agreed to this format.
This volume is the collection of columns spanning 2015 to 2020.
P.B.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Bridgton News editor and publisher, Wayne Rivet for the opportunity to carry my columns, “The Reading Life” and for his kind notes regarding my writing.
The columns enabled me to have access to other writers and personalities, including Pulitzer Prize winners. It is said that writers never really retire, and in my case, this is certainly true. In my “retirement,” I continually contribute letters and occasional articles for publication. As the legendary journalist George Seldes has claimed, “Retirement is the dirtiest ten letter word in the vocabulary.” Seldes published a number of books on freedom of the press up to and including the age of 101.
I also wish to acknowledge my friend Perri Black, copyeditor extraordinaire. Perri was always a call away when I’d need advice, and her assistance was priceless. Paul Hennessey, a friend, is always a supporter of my writing. We collaborated for a community newspaper and continue our support. Paul is an adjunct professor teaching a course of writing.
The comments from my readers were kind and supportive, including the occasional criticism, which I always welcomed. I give thanks to my better half, Ellen, for her encouragement. I consider penning my columns a personal privilege.
A special thank-you to Stephanie Butterfield (our “granny geek”) for her patience and endurance with her expertise and fine work.
Chapter 1
The Reviews
Chapter 1: The Reviews
Discovery Rocks the Publishing World
Uncovering America’s Greatest Scandal
It’s in the Title
Important Life Lessons — A Review
“Subversive” American Writers
My Literary Hometown
Our Censored Books
The Thirty-Seventh Parallel — A Review
Political Suicide — A Review
Writers on Writers — A Review
Reference Books
A Father’s Day Tribute
Teeth — A Review
Enigmatic Writers—Part I
Enigmatic Writers Part—II
Book Ramblings
The Literature & Lyrics of the Folk Music Revival
Book Ramblings
Going Postal
Notes from a Book Collector
Presidential Reading
Frederick Douglass — A Review
Becoming — A Review
The Brian Garfield Legacy
Writers who killed.
Salinger’s Writings
History and the ‘Hard-Boiled’ Detective
Those Senior Moments
A Warning
The Things They Carried
Responses to the Critics
Discovery Rocks the Publishing World
This year the world of publishing has generated excitement by the emergence of old or missing manuscripts or planned works by world-famous authors. In essence, these forgotten treasures are a publisher’s dream by the unearthing of these “lost works.”
Go Set a Watchman , the recently discovered manuscript by Harper Lee, has become the most anticipated preordered book since J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, with a reported first printing of two million copies. This stunning recovery of a buried manuscript by the author of To Kill a Mockingbird rocked the publishing world. This manuscript was written three years before her book (and subsequent Oscar-winning film) that has remained steadily in print since its 1960 release.
Wildly regarded as one of the great historic books of the American century, the To Kill a Mockingbird saga took on the injustices of the southern Jim Crow era before the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was enacted. Comparisons have been made to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin , written during the era of slavery. (Stowe was a resident of Maine, where this classic was written.)
This “new” (prior) book displays a different perspective by the characters that emerged in the Mockingbird version. The newly published version, now available, stands on its own largely unedited from its original manuscript. Harper Lee, now eighty-nine, had never published since her famed Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. At the time of this writing, she lived in a nursing home. A PBS documentary was aired on the life of this author. ( www.shoppbs .org ).
Another “rediscovered” novel by the famed author Ayn Rand, has also recently been released. Ideal was written in 1934 and set aside by the author at the time. Ayn Rand’s groundbreaking books Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead began Libertarianism, which espouses self-enlightened interest. Notably, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was an original disciple of Libertarianism and its philosophy. Presidential candidate Rand Paul was named after the author.
Another major announcement awaiting the publishing world is the forthcoming works of legendary author and famed recluse, J. D. Salinger. His classic novel The Catcher in the Rye , another acclaimed book of the century, was published in 1960 and has remained in print and continues to be a major seller. The author has neither published nor given a public interview since 1965. His book of short stories also remains in print. Both To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye are regularly assigned reading in classrooms.
Despite many rumors over the years, Salinger made it clear that his writings were not to be published, at least while he was alive. He even went to court when a publisher attempted to publish his unpublished short stories. Salinger’s estate has promised to publish several of his works as early as 2015. Salinger passed away in 2010 at the age of ninety-one.
A fourth stunning discovery recently announced was the finding of a previously buried manuscript by the late children’s author Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel). What Pet Can I Get is now published much to the delight of his many fans. Dr. Seuss’s children’s classics include The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat , among others .
The release several years ago of the newly unedited two-volume memoir of Mark Twain stunned the reading public as Twain gave permission to release this version posthumously. It took a century to finally publish the real Mark Twain’s life, warts and all. A true American original, Twain’s books also remain in print.
The year 2015 was a boon for the reading public where classic authors’ works have now been rediscovered. The books mentioned can be ordered through your local bookstore and are largely available in the public libraries.
Uncovering America’s Greatest Scandal
Two journalists from the Washington Post , Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, broke a story about a break-in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in 1972. At the time, this account was