Great Expectations (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Fictional characters and irrational fears go together like bread and butter, like Romeo and Juliet, like Dave Eggers and long book titles. Where would we be, canonically speaking, if Macbeth wasn’t all weird about murdering the king? If the Ancient Mariner wasn’t frightened by the albatross around his neck? If Batman wasn’t terrified of bats? […]

One clichéd writerly image is that of a drunken, perhaps insane, party animal who somehow occasionally overcomes his or her hangover and delusions long enough to craft enduring prose. Since publishing a novel, however, I’ve met a bunch of writers, and as far as I can tell, most of them are long-married spouses, PTA-meeting-attending parents, and stalwart […]

Think of National Novel Writing Month as the Author Olympics: a crazy event that comes around every year and offers up a challenge that goes beyond sales numbers, advances, or any other data point used to measure success. NaNoWriMo asks a simple question: can you write a novel-length story in just one month? For years now, […]

Despite being full of extra days off during which to read and (hopefully) the gift of some beautiful new books, sometimes the pressure of being surrounded by everyone we know and love means the holidays aren’t as enjoyable as we wish they were. But for every dull office party you attend and every well-intentioned relative asking about […]