Archive for April, 2010

Lisa Kogan, Writer at Large for O, the Oprah Magazine, Comes to DailyLit

We’re delighted to welcome Lisa Kogan, the Writer at Large for O, the Oprah Magazine, to the DailyLit library. We’re featuring several essays from her new book  Someone Will Be With You Shortly (compliments of our sponsor, HarperStudio), which you can read more about here.

Her writing has been described as a cross between George Plimpton and Gidget. In case that means as little to you as it did at first to me, here’s some context: George Plimpton was a journalist who pioneered the concept of participatory journalism. For him it was not enough to simply write about something; one should be a part of it–by, say, posing as a skinny quarterback and participating in a scrimmage with the Detroit Lions, or boxing with champ Archie Moore, or playing the gong for the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. As NPR put it, he carved his own artistic niche by making literature out of non-literary pursuits.

Gidget, on the other hand, is a fictional character, a “little girl with big ideas.” Her adventures in 1960s California surf culture have been immortalized on film and in a TV series (starring Sally Field). She’s the very definition of spunky.

So what do we have? A woman with big ideas who’s chronicling her own life the way Plimpton did–as NPR put it, by carving an artistic niche by making literature out of non-literary pursuits. Like perfect-tomato hunting.

Question of the Week #69: Books on Tumblr

We recently launched DailyLit books on Tumblr, a cool blogging platform. You can read (and share) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Art of War, or Emily Dickinson’s Poems on Tumblr.

Our question for you is this: what should we call these books on Tumblr? Normal Tumblr blogs are called Tumblogs. So, should we go with Tumblooks? Tumblebooks? Tumbooks? Or something different?

Share your suggestions in our Question of the Week forum.

Henning Mankell in DailyLit’s Book Channel

Henning Mankell may not be a household name in the U.S., but the rest of the world knows him well. He’s the author of a long-running series of mystery novels featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander, a seasoned, gruff, but brilliant detective in Sweden’s police force. We gave some contest winners advance copies of Mankell’s latest, The Man from Beijing, earlier this year, and now that the book has been published we’re sharing a taste in our Book Channel.

Sign up for the DailyLit Book Channel for hand-picked recommendations and excerpts from great books like those selected for Oprah’s book club and the newest titles from bestselling authors.

Question of the Week #68: Autobiographies

This week we mark the birthday of Anne Frank, the young girl whose diary has become one of the quintessential works of memoir. In her honor tell us what your favorite work of autobiography is in our Question of the Week.

Featured Book Friday: Siddhartha

This week’s Featured Book comes from DailyLit’s current intern, Susan Simonds:

Growing up in a non-religious family left me searching for something greater than myself through unconventional means. My father had spent time in India volunteering in the Peace Corps, and would often speak very highly of Buddhism. Once I expressed interest in learning about it, he responded with this book:

Title: Siddhartha
Author: Herman Hesse
Publication date: 1922

After reading this novel, I felt transformed by the amount of wisdom and depth it held within such a short amount of pages. One of my favorite quotes from the books is about the nonexistence of time:

“The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth…in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future… Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence.” Ch. 9, pg. 87

The book travels with Siddhartha on a journey of enlightenment, defined as the release from the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth, life, death, etc. Siddhartha grows up restless despite the love of his family, and seeks contentment elsewhere. He attempts to rid himself of desires and even meets the enlightened Buddha – but still decides his task must be completed alone. Taking a new path, he indulges in the world of the senses, experiencing lust, greed, and envy. Once he travels away from that he reaches his final stage of self-discovery.

Two things in particular resonated with me from this novel. First was Siddhartha’s drive to achieve enlightenment. What impressed me was his ability to change his tactics when one way wasn’t working, to adapt to new struggles and learn from them.

The second thing was how much this voyage is similar to the journey of every person I’ve ever known, myself included. Siddhartha is looking for a way to be content in his world, a way to find himself and inner peace. He gets caught up in materialism and desire, but the goal of achieving real happiness keeps him and the novel moving forward.

(If you’d like to recommend for a Featured Book Friday, email us at support[at]dailylit[dot]com.)

Read Poem-A-Day Collection for Poetry Month

It may be April Fool’s Day, but it’s also the first day of Poetry Month, and we’ve got a great collection to celebrate. We’ve teamed up with our friends at Knopf to offer a Poem-a-Day Collection, which features popular authors like John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, and Sapphire.

Each day in April you’ll receive a great poem from a contemporary writer–and it’s all for free. No foolin’. Get started here.

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