Mr. Bogdanovitch's characters range from contemptible wretches to disinterested observers; satisfied to watch life or death pass in front of them as they chronicle the tedium of life.

There's something rather satisfying about using the Huffington Post, a venue built on blogging, to respond to Peter Stothard's alarmist claim that book bloggers are ruining literature.

Everyone's a headline writer on Twitter. Technology mainstreamed words the way cheap, mass-manufactured automobiles made everyone a driver. Who, these days, needs a livery cab?

My affair with books reached an obsessive level of magnificence, from Louisa May Alcott to Jane Austen and George Orwell. I read whatever I could find in my parents' house. Reading was a part of my daily routine, just like eating or drinking water.

Though there have been grumblings about new technologies' detrimental effect on more traditional forms of literature, we believe that these media are not mutually exclusive. We can hold on to, and elevate, the things we love about books and still embrace the worlds opened up by more recent developments.

I have written things in appalling circumstances. In the worst motels, on scraps of paper and envelopes. And oftentimes the reduced circumstance takes me to creative places I wouldn't go otherwise.

There's a kind of truth that you can only get through untruth -- through fiction. And that's why we're now adding fiction and poetry to our menu at Huffington.

Harry Potter is now the most banned book in America, according to the American Library Association. But these books have taught children to read, to think, to write and to criticize, all hallmarks of free expression.

For the James family, canning peaches was one way to keep that taste of summer all year round. Add a little brandy to the syrup before canning them, and you have an extra-special treat; spooned over ice cream, they were James' favorite dessert.

Before there were video games and the internet, there were books. Ask a baby boomer what it was like growing up and you'll hear about all of the wonderful outdoors and the magic that a good book has on the imagination.

The truth is, Sue Grafton never had to compete in a market driven by celebrity, pop culture, and social media connections. I doubt that, if submitted under a pseudonym, her initial works would be met with the same reception today.

Oscar Wilde was in good company as a smoker. In fact, amongst the great writers of the last 150 years it's well-nigh impossible to find anyone who didn't rely on tobacco to see them through long hours scratching away with a pen or tapping at a typewriter.

Next time you're feeling yourself pulled out of a novel for whatever reason, give another medium a shot. You may find a new way to read in the process.

A great title is an art form unto itself. Indeed, a great title does not necessarily signify a great book and vice versa.

When did writers start being brands? This question led me through a maze of other squirrely musings. If you write a memoir, are you forever a memoirist? What happens if a thriller writer dares to try his hand at romance?

Gimme a genius, righteous, hot, alpha male hero and all will be right with the world. So sayeth the ladies who are tired of geek culture, video games, and soft hands.

Quoting William Shakespeare is a little like breathing: every living person does it. "He's dead as a doornail," your roommate will say as she flips through the newspaper obits, never realizing she's just quoted part of a couplet from Henry VI.