Author name: Booksquare

One of the things we find most amusing in life is Harlequin bashing by those who’ve never read romance. We freely admit to a wide and varied library and even more wide and varied tastes, and we don’t discriminate against any type of reading material (except, perhaps, dubious celebrity “autobiographies”). We won’t try to change your minds about romance (just as we won’t try to change minds about mystery or science fiction or literary fiction or just about anything else), but we must take exception to SodaPop Culture’s refuting of Oprah Winfrey’s comparison of Anna Karenina to Harlequin romances…

Publisher’s Lunch points us to what has to be the most fascinating article we’ve read in weeks: A Day in the life of the OED. Various staff walk us through what they did on a particular day. By turns hilarious (intentionally? unintentionally?) and jaw-dropping, the article makes us realize how very lazy we really are. We were especially fascinated by the team that started a new range of the alphabet…our imagination immediately wondered if perhaps they were trying to tell us something. Logic interjected with the day’s downer: same old 26 letters, they’ve most likely moved on from “G” to

Perhaps you’ve received one too many rejections. Perhaps you’re afraid of failing. Perhaps you feel like you’re beating your head against the wall. Or perhaps you simply think the opportunity has passed you by. Well, today’s your lucky day: the New York Times has published the author interview for you. Nod your head knowingly as Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club recounts her struggles and frustrations — and the serendipitous moment that lead to her greatest success (and all it took was a moment of confusion). It will remind you that you’re not alone. Parlaying an

This is ever-so-slightly off-topic, but what the heck — it’s that kind of day. Recently we clarified Hollywood press release language (which meant all our readers were clear on the recent WB Network “resignations”); now we feel compelled to point out a Hollywood cultural phenomenon. Yes, kids, it’s the inevitable lawsuit. We realize the movie biz isn’t the most original industry in the world, but we are perpetually bemused by the fact that every single motion picture released is apparently plagiarized in some manner. Seriously, what are the odds? We cannot comment on the merits of this particular suit (actually,

We have reservations about a writer’s conference and retreat being held in such a beautiful region of Italy, but the organizers of the Women’s Fiction Festival and Writing Retreat seem committed to their locale despite the obvious opportunity for distraction. Tapping into the burgeoning women’s fiction market in Europe, sessions will cover the world’s second largest market, looking at the translation game, and, of course, writing. We presume much of this will be discussed over a bottle of Chianti, but that’s the optimist in us. We can personally attest to the organizational skills and enthusiasm of the conference team…and we

There are, we believe, two major groups of writers: those who write every day, without fail (we pretend we fall into this camp); and, those who write in chunks and spurts and live for the deadlines that create discipline (we mostly fall into this group, though we don’t call it procrastination). Then there are the authors who seem to be actively avoiding their work. Maybe it’s because the idea needs more time to gestate. Maybe it’s because they’re a little bit afraid…and we suspect there’s a little of both in Yann Martel, award winning author of Life of Pi, who