Goodreads’s Best Books of 2023 Released, Great Gifts for Readers This Holiday Season

As the holiday season quickly approaches, consumers are still scrambling to find gifts for their loved ones. And for those of you with avid readers in your lives, that means books. But scouring your nearest Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore can be a challenge when you aren’t sure if the book you choose will suit a person. You may know which genres they prefer or subjects they are interested in, but that doesn’t mean every book will be one they devour and add to their list of favorites. Worst case scenario, it ends up collecting dust on the shelf and only halfway finished.

Luckily for you frantic shoppers, Goodreads has just released the results of their 2023 Choice Awards for the Best Books of 2023 list! Gathering votes from nearly six million of their site-users, Goodreads has collected a list of both fiction and nonfiction titles that their users have deemed the best of 2023. From science fiction to romance and memoirs to history, Goodreads has something for anyone to enjoy on their list. You can even check out the nominees that didn’t win in each category if you want even more gift ideas for readers. 

Scrolling through Goodreads’s social media accounts may highlight the discourse between readers as they argue which book may have been more deserving to win a particular category than others. This is normal considering the subjectivity of art and the wide-range of taste and preferences amongst readers, so don’t fret over buying a book someone else may call ‘boring’ or ‘trash’ (especially if they mention that they didn’t even read it). What someone else hates, your reader may enjoy! If you choose to scroll through their Instagram or Tiktok, you may want to take note of these comments. Not only could you potentially get a better idea of what certain books are about, but you may just get great recommendations! 

Some titles that may be popular gifts this holiday season seemed almost destined to win first-place in their respective categories. Yellowface and Fourth Wing, for example, were immensely popular on bookstagram and booktok this year, so it seems no surprise that they won by such large margins. There were a few interesting outcomes, however. Interestingly, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which was named the 2023 Barnes & Noble Book of the Year, came in fourth-place in its category for historical fiction, losing to the first-place winner Weyward with almost 30,000 votes. Barnes & Noble determines the winner of their prestigious title by inquiring their booksellers to nominate the titles they feel are particularly remarkable and would recommend to a consumer. This explanation, provided in one of their blog posts this past November,, is rather vague. Meanwhile, Goodreads allows their list to be determined as a sort of popularity contest. A voter isn’t required to have read every book in each category in order to cast their vote, so they merely choose the books they have read and enjoyed to determine who they vote for. This is not necessarily bad, per se, as Goodreads pools together a large group of readers, allowing many different perspectives, interests, and preferences to come together and let their voices be heard. If some books win by large margins, perhaps it’s because a majority of readers believed it deserved to win. 

Lists such as Goodreads’s Best Books of 2023 gives us a great insight into the minds of readers and which books or authors have really made an impact in the publishing world. However, just because one book wins doesn’t mean its fellow nominees in the category are any less enjoyable. Yellowface may have won with over 200,000 votes (with second-place lagging 140,000 votes behind) in the fiction category, but the titles it competed against, such as Hello Beautiful (second-place), Maame (eighth-place), or Evil Eye (thirteenth-place) are also incredible books that you should absolutely check out. If the reader you’re shopping for hasn’t read the book that won in their preferred genre, then you should definitely check it out to see if it’s something they would be interested in. That being said, check out all the nominated books in that category! Even if a book didn’t win, it could be a gem that your reader loves!

The Woman in Me, Spare, and Celebrity Memoirs Humanizing Celebrities

In 2021, the world was captivated by Britney Spears’s story as she spoke out against her father and her management as the result of their abuse and for keeping her under involuntary conservatorship. The world applauded for her as the conservatorship was terminated. Now the world applauds her memoir, The Woman in Me, for reclaiming and humanizing her story. The book highlights the importance of Spears reclaiming her independence by sharing her story as a woman within the music industry fighting against the men in her life that sought to control her. 

Published on October 24, the memoir narrates a story that is described on the Gallery Books website—the publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster—as “a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.” Gallery Books reports that the memoir sold 1.1 million copies in its first week in the U.S, with the combined figure composed of sales of print books, e-books, pre-orders, and audiobooks. The publisher has also announced the memoir is going for a fourth printing, bringing the number of hardcover copies in print to about 1.4 million, making it the fastest selling book in Gallery’s history. The Woman in Me now joins other celebrity memoirs such as Spare by Prince Harry, The Promised Land by Barack Obama, Becoming by Michelle Obama, and Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump in selling over a million copies in their first week of publication.

What these numbers reflect is the support for the #FreeBritney movement that began in 2020 when rumors and personal accounts of the conservatorship and the effects it had on Spears’s mental health began to be uncovered. The internet has come out in droves to support Spears before the full extent of the situation and the implications of what that meant for the pop star’s life was even fully revealed. Of course, this also means that people have eagerly awaited for more news concerning Spears’s career under the authority of her conservatorship and what effects this had on her. And perhaps that reveals the harsh truth: the obsessive curiosity audiences possess when it comes to knowing and understanding the ugly and humane realities that lie beyond the persona celebrities present to the world. An almost desperate need to know that these larger-than-life figures possess larger-than-life issues that ground them back into reality and bring them to equal footing with us, humanizing them to us.

Another celebrity memoir that did exceptionally well was Prince Harry’s Spare, which was published earlier this year in January and sold 1.6 million copies in the U.S. during its first week. Spare followed the announcement that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, would be leaving the royal family. Like Spears’s memoir, the success and reception of Spare could be attributed to the memoir’s debut following a huge news story.

The near-instant success of celebrity memoirs such as The Woman in Me following the dramatic revelation of such imperfections in these people’s lives seems to suggest readers crave these tragic stories that explore every human emotion that hides behind the smiles and carefully-crafted persona portrayed in public. Readers want to know the details hidden behind closed doors that humanize celebrities. In a sense, a memoir like The Woman in Me is the closest we can get to an honest portrayal of a human who has been placed on a pedestal.

The Horrors of the Supernatural & Family Trauma

As Halloween quickly approaches, this is the best season to indulge in a great horror novel that sends chills down your spine. In order to celebrate the spookiest season of the year, this blog post is dedicated to reviewing a popular horror novel published earlier this year. How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix is not this author’s first foray into horror and he does not hesitate to thrust you into an environment bursting with tension and eeriness once the main character, Louise, enters the aforementioned haunted house. This narrative  doesn’t just frighten its reader with the hauntings of the supernatural, though. In it, Hendrix explores the depth of unresolved trauma and the ways it can haunt a family through generations.

The story begins with Louise receiving a call from her estranged brother, Mark, with the news that both of their parents tragically died in a car accident. Now, single-parent Louise must leave her daughter Poppy behind in San Francisco to travel back to Charleston for the funeral. As is often the case with a death in the family, money becomes a huge issue between Louise and Mark as they fight over their inheritance and what they should do with the house—including their late-mother’s extensive and creepy puppet collection. Eventually agreeing to sell the house, as the siblings bicker over their past and the differences in how they view their lives, Hendrix makes it clear that something is very wrong with the house. From dolls that seem to move on their own to the attic being nailed shut as though to keep something from getting out, coupled with Aunt Honey’s recollection of their mother saying their father had been “attacked” the night they died, Hendrix eloquently weaves together a story laced with figurative and literal hauntings that forces the siblings to actually talk through their differences and their family’s past.

Hendrix’s haunted house and haunted dolls are undeniably campy but they work well with the dark topics discussed within the family and the awkward, heavy tension that often permeates any interaction between Louise and Mark. Hendrix didn’t attempt to reinvent the horror genre or bring anything new to the table, but the novel is enjoyable because he plays into the camp and the supernatural aspects of the story works to develop the family conflict and force the family to confront the issues they were often prone to avoiding. Avoidance is perhaps the most prominent theme within the story and the setting of the family home is the most appropriate setting to force this confrontation. Although Louise wishes to escape the odd occurrences once more and flee to San Francisco, her determination to ensure the house is ready for sale in order to use the money to provide for her daughter is what drives her to confront the ghosts of her family’s past.

The leader of these haunted dolls is Pupkin, the late-mother’s favorite puppet and a source of great fear for the siblings. As a reader, one can feel how much fun Hendrix likely had while writing this character. His eerie song that echoes in Louise’s head and the aggressive actions he often displays coupled with the joy others’ fear provides him makes him a being of pure chaos. One gets the sense he is, in an ironic play by Hendrix, the puppetmaster jerking Louise and Mark around like his own pair of puppets for his twisted amusement. As Hendrix explains in the novel, “A puppet is a possession that possesses the possessor.” What Pupkin is and what he wants remains a mystery throughout most of the novel, as he represents the physical symbol for all of the secrets that have been buried and carefully avoided within the family. 

Hendrix uses a simplistic foundation for any horror story—a haunted house and haunted dolls—and uses them to reinforce the very real horrors of a family rife with secrecy, family drama, and generational trauma. The story works best when the family begins opening up to one another and the truth finally begins to unravel, allowing Louise to come to terms with her past and make amends with her family, both the living and dead. This is definitely a great novel to check out if you’re looking for some good old-fashioned horror mixed with the exploration of a family and their strained bonds.

Nonfiction Books That Will Change Your Life

For many readers, nonfiction can be an intimidating genre to break into.  However, nonfiction can often help people to change their habits, or keep them informed  on past, current, and future issues. Here, I have collected some nonfiction books I have loved and that have affected the way I think, act, and interact with others. So dive in. I promise, these books will change your life.

1. The Sweetness of a Simple Life by Diana Beresford-Kroeger

Diana Beresford-Kroeger draws on her life as a botanist and scientist to teach a better way of life in her 2013 novel, The Sweetness of a Simple Life. Beresford-Kroeger is a Canadian citizen who grew up in Ireland learning ancient Celtic wisdom. She applies these principles of natural connection, language, and kindness to modern-day life with a series of guidelines for how to live a “simple life.” This book includes tips on a wide range of  things, including how to build a bird’s nest, how to use leftover meat bones to fertilize a garden, and even  how to reduce the chance of a heart attack with food. Beresford-Kroeger’s other works, The Global Forest and To Speak for the Trees, expand on her love of nature and Celtic wisdom.

2. Radical Curiosity by Seth Goldenberg

While the market of pop science books is endlessly diluted by excess, this 2022 book was a standout in its emphasis on curiosity as society’s biggest kept secret. Seth Goldenberg makes the argument that curiosity is in short supply in the modern day, but harnessing its power could radically change the way we view our impact on society. As a more recent release, this book draws on the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for “looking at the system in a fundamentally new way.”

3. Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Hood Feminism is a breakthrough in feminist texts that reframes the conversation towards marginalized groups that created it in the first place. Mikki Kendall outlines the feminist movement as it was developed by and then shunned from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) women. Each essay in this collection reflects on how BIPOC women have continuously been left out of the mainstream white feminist movement, and how to change this. Kendall shows how the combination of racism, poverty, and hypersexualization of BIPOC women has been at the forefront of this divide, and how intersectionality is a more complex issue than mainstream feminists realize. 

4. How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

As deceiving as the title may seem, this book does not teach you how to do nothing. Instead, it teaches you how to slow down, look outside your window every now and again (or even go for a walk in the park), and distance yourself from what Jenny Odell labels “the attention economy.” Odell makes the argument that in modern society, it has become too easy to get swept up in “the attention economy” of today, with social media, the Internet, and technology at the forefront of our lives. Throughout the book, Odell develops an action plan for taking back our time that does not ignore the complexities of modern-day life and the importance of technology. Instead, Odell shows how we can disconnect from the negative effects and turn the rest into positive action.

5. Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

Trick Mirror was one of the most popular books when it was released in 2019, and for good reason. Expanding on previous essays and adding new ones, journalist Jia Tolentino gives a complex picture of the last two decades through a series of social and cultural questions that many people can relate to. In one essay, Tolentino focuses on the idea of “always optimizing,” wherein people, especially millennials, are constantly trying to find the best use of their time instead of taking a moment alone (similar to Odell’s theory in How to Do Nothing). In another, Tolentino tells the story of a falsified 2014 Rolling Stone article of a sexual assault case that happened at her alma mater, the University of Virginia. Tolentino covers a lot of ground in these essays, but ultimately does a great job of tying together underlying themes of social and cultural touchstones.

6. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Similar to The Sweetness of a Simple Life, this 2013 book serves as a part-memoir and part-instruction guide on how to live a more environmentally-friendly life. Botanist and Potawatomi scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer draws on a lifetime of studying plants, indigenous culture, and her own personal story of motherhood. Wall Kimmerer’s love of nature is infectious, and with each page, she manages to inspire the reader to do better. Her argument for a renewed bond between people and nature relies on a reciprocal culture of gratitude, in which people understand that they are indebted to the natural world in the same way as it is to them.  

Happy reading!

-Hannah Eaton, CambridgeEditors Team

Interview with the Interns

Hey, readers! We had a bit of downtime in the office today, and I decided to introduce you to the sillier side of the staff here. I asked our two interns, Hadley and Adrienne, to answer some questions about themselves. It started out as normal, but quickly turns absurd. Hope you enjoy!

Elizabeth: So tell me, what are your favorite books?

Adrienne: I think I’d say American Gods by Neil Gaimen. My most treasured possession is probably my signed copy of Ananzi Boys.

Hadley: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. My favorite type of literature is Middle-Eastern. I think it’s really interesting because it actually depicts the plight of women in extremely patriarchal societies. It was super interesting and I found a lot of parallels between it and American society.

E: Are you guys also interested in writing?

A: Yes and no. I’m interested in writing well, but not necessarily being a writer.

H: Yes, I am. I’ve taken numerous creative writing classes, which I enjoy a lot. I also do a lot of writing on my own. Hopefully some day I can write things to submit to different literary journals or something.

E: Awesome! If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?

A: Oh gosh. I think I’d be a kiwi… because I like green, and I’m kind of tart.

H: If I was a fruit… wow. That’s a really hard question. I’d probably be like, a… What’s something that looks pretty normal on the outside but it pretty gross and weird on the inside? Because I look pretty average but I’m pretty weird.

A: I don’t know, but maybe blueberries, because they aren’t blue on the inside.

H: I could be a blueberry. I can see that. Sure, why not!

E: Last question, guys. If you were an object in the CambridgeEditors’ office, what would you be?

*crickets*

H: Haha, too many options. I’ll be this painting. It’s got lots of colors, and a guy falling off of a bull. I think he’s a bullfighter. I mostly just like the colors, but bull fighting also reminds me of Earnest Hemingway.

A: That reindeer (stuffed animal for dog). There’s no reason, I just like it.

Alright, that’s all for now! Tune in later for more silly anecdotes from the CE office 🙂

On Reading Shakespeare

Though I was an English major, one of my most memorable college experiences was taking a government class on the political wisdom of Shakespeare. Aside from the remarkable wisdom of the professor himself, the most notable part of the class was the rate at which we read the text. In contrast to the majority of my English classes, which tended to require ingesting whole novels for our weekly discussions, this class allowed not a line of Shakespeare to pass unexamined. The syllabus included only five plays for the semester, and reading assignments were often as short as a single act. Class periods would then be devoted to reading the assigned act and carefully dissecting the language.

I should clarify that my reasons for liking this course did not derive from its having a light reading load. Though the length of reading assignments was relatively short, this did not entail a light workload. On the contrary, the course was one of the most difficult I’d taken in college. This, in part, could be because I was less familiar with the school’s government department curriculum. However, it was primarily because the course challenged me to examine the text at a much closer and deeper level than I had ever done in the past. The professor focused discussions and paper assignments on the philosophical questions and contextual implications surrounding Shakespeare’s words. Single lines would unfurl into multilayered revelations about plot, character, and humanity, requiring hour-long debates and explanations.

Perhaps this course’s approach was appealing to me because it corresponded with my own approach to reading. Despite the years of practice, I have never been a fast reader. My slowness could derive from any number of undiagnosed-but-plausible causes—slow processing ability, high anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, OCD, to name a few. However, one undisputable cause for my slow reading speed is my unrelenting need to thoroughly comprehend each sentence before proceeding. This is not to say I do comprehend everything I read—or even most of what I read for that matter. But when I come upon a word or phrase I don’t understand, I find it necessary to pause and try to understand. I will usually keep trying until I’ve concluded either that I understand enough, or that—given my intellectual limits—I never will. Depending on the density of the language and my familiarity with the subject matter, this could entail considerable amounts of rereading and outside research. Although this process is not an uncommon one among conscientious readers, it undoubtedly hinders my reading speed more than it does others. This, of course, could be a sign either that I comprehend less than most people, or that I am exceptionally anal about retaining the details. In my opinion, it’s a combination of both.

As I’ve learned from experience, this approach to reading is not always the most practical when given an English major’s workload. Pages needing to be read accumulate, and hours used for sleeping dwindle. However, despite the meager word count of my post-read reservoir, I find that the benefits of reading thoroughly significantly outweigh those of reading quickly.

In school, I always lamented the pressure to swallow books hastily, which—in my case, anyways—came at the expense of chewing them. Class discussions would frequently consist of vague allusions to grand and complex themes—students sporadically voicing half-digested ideas, having had no time to ponder what they’d read in greater depth. Commentary would too-often digress into monologues about the students’ personal impressions of the literature—about the experience of their reading.

In addressing this general tendency I, in no way, mean to belittle the intelligence or capability of these fellow students, or neglect the many insightful and profound ideas voiced in class discussions. My goal, rather, is to consider the consequences of reading too quickly. When one reads with intent to read quickly, one loses touch with the writing’s colorful details. Rather than retaining the richness of a story, hurried readers are more inclined to recall their own scampering journeys through a partially foggy world of remote text.

I have taken a number of Shakespeare classes, and most of them tended to focus on the theatrical element of the plays. Although this element is key to interpreting Shakespeare’s plays, I found that an overemphasis on such in a classroom comes at the expense of appreciating the written artistry. The fact that the plays were intended for the stage should not, in my opinion, be reason to overlook the profound subtleties in each line.

By closely reading and rereading Shakespeare’s plays, my class had the liberty to explore the text in much greater depth. We had time to appreciate not only the beautifully crafted language, but also the expanse of meaning it contained. Far from dissipating into untenable statements and personal opinions, these discussions focused on the text alone—on the significance of wording, on the genius behind the scenes.

A Summer with Eliot

One of the highlights of my summer was reading (finally) Middlemarch, which—as many would agree—was a thoroughly rewarding experience. The book is universally relatable and inspirational, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t already read it.

For my first blog post I originally planned to compile a list of favorite quotes from all my summer readings. However, after finding myself incapable of narrowing down my Middlemarch picks to only one or two, I decided I had no choice but to dedicate a full post to the wise words of Eliot.

First, here’s a beautiful passage relating to a theme I thought pertinent to this community of readers: the character and power of writing:

Who shall tell what may be the effect of writing? If it happens to have been cut in stone, though it lie face down-most for ages on a forsaken beach, or “rest quietly under the drums and tramplings of many conquests,” it may end by letting us into the secret of usurpations and other scandals gossiped about long empires ago:–this world being apparently a huge whispering-gallery. Such conditions are often minutely represented in our petty lifetimes. As the stone which has been kicked by generations of clowns may come by curious little links of effect under the eyes of a scholar, through whose labors it may at last fix the date of invasions and unlock religions, so a bit of ink and paper which has long been an innocent wrapping or stop-gap may at last be laid open under the one pair of eyes which have knowledge enough to turn it into the opening of a catastrophe. (XLI)

Much more than a means of communication among the living, writing connects the world to the breadth of human history. It provides, to those curious enough to look, a window into the world’s collective wealth of experience and knowledge.

These next few quotes are about the nature of learning, and its hindrances. For the heroin Dorothea, the pursuit of knowledge is inextricably tied to sentiment:

All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along. She did not want to deck herself with knowledge–to wear it loose from the nerves and blood that fed her action . . . But something she yearned for by which her life might be filled with action at once rational and ardent; and since the time was gone by for guiding visions and spiritual directors, since prayer heightened yearning but not instruction, what lamp was there but knowledge? (X)

Thirsting for a life of purpose, Dorothea follows intellectual guidance with religious fervor. Here, and throughout the book, Eliot brilliantly captures the tensions of an age in which a growing emphasis on empirical knowledge challenges previously held faiths and traditions. Amidst weakening and conflicting religious beliefs, scientific reason comes to the forefront of worship. While Eliot’s observations center on the Victorian Era, her insights have become no less relevant today, in a world dominated by science and technology.

Through her characters, Eliot demonstrates the human desire to reconcile passion with reason. As Dorothea strives to direct her passion with reason, Mr. Casaubon aims to drive his reason with passion. Tragically, he struggles in vain to fill his intellectual pursuits with emotion, and his lifelong studies are continuously strained and obstructed by his chronic depression, pride, and self-doubt:

He had not had much foretaste of happiness in his previous life. To know intense joy without a strong bodily frame, one must have an enthusiastic soul. Mr. Casaubon had never had a strong bodily frame, and his soul was sensitive without being enthusiastic: it was too languid to thrill out of self-consciousness into passionate delight; it went on fluttering in the swampy ground where it was hatched, thinking of its wings and never flying. His experience was of that pitiable kind which shrinks from pity, and fears most of all that it should be known: it was that proud narrow sensitiveness which has not mass enough to spare for transformation into sympathy, and quivers thread-like in small currents of self-preoccupation or at best of an egoistic scrupulosity. (XXIX)

Apart from demonstrating Eliot’s mastery of character, this passage illustrates how self-consciousness obstructs the path of intellectual growth. This concept I find particularly interesting, as it brings to mind memories of my own experience in school, when I too-often observed—in both my classmates and myself—the detrimental effects of self-absorption. From college I learned, if nothing else, how little one learns when preoccupied with one’s own performance. In Eliot’s words, “Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self” (XLII).

As a recent college graduate, I was naturally drawn to Elliot’s wisdom—and pessimism—about the world’s youth and the meaning of maturity. Here are a few quotes on the subject:

Many souls in their young nudity are tumbled out among incongruities and left to “find their feet” among them, while their elders go about their business . . . Some discouragement, some faintness of heart at the new real future which replaces the imaginary, is not unusual. (XIX)

If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions, partings, and resolves are the last of their kind. (LV)

We are all of us born in moral stupidity, taking the world as an udder to feed our supreme selves. (XXI)

Despite the dawning hopelessness that may befall the young when first glimpsing their futures in the world at large, Eliot again warns against the danger of cowering behind the blot of self. Without curiosity in the world around us, we risk wasting away our lives and happiness in selfish circles of pettiness. As a final reminder not to squander our futures, I will close on this note:

It is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are forever wasted, until men and women look round with haggard faces at the devastation their own waste has made, and say, the earth bears no harvest of sweetness–calling their denial knowledge. (XLII)

Contemplating Jazz

Inspirational and heartbreaking; full of grunge, images you want to forget, pictures you wish you had thought to take, and the hunger of the mind. I spent a tumultuous semester in New York City, my time spent climbing up my fifth floor walk up, mooching free wine at the galleries, smelling expensive products at one of the world’s largest fashion magazines, and drinking cheap coffee at a tiny literary agency.

I also wandered the streets, in sunshine and at dusk, dangerously on my bicycle (don’t do that) and frustratingly with the subway system and also eye-opening. I didn’t follow a plan and went where I chose, but I often ended up at the public library, the pretty part despite tourists in the lobby, and I made sure to go to Edith Wharton’s house to try to sniff out the glamour that I was told still clings to the city streets.

This is a snapshot of some of my journey, a literary piece of the semester, the haunts and homes of writers from the past:

Besides a Starbucks, Wharton’s home also houses WeightWatchers.

Edith Wharton

You might start your day with the usual tourist fare, but after shopping on Fifth, round the corner and arrive at 14 W. 23^rd St.

Known for The House of Mirth and her family connections to the Joneses (as in “keeping up with the Joneses” Joneses), Wharton stands for Old New York and an era gone by. This is where she grew up, and it’s now a Starbucks.

One of several reading rooms.

The New York Public Library

Keep going up fifth until you find yourself Between the Lions.

Yes, it is just as magical as you might suspect. I discovered that the stacks extend far down below the streets of New York, far past even the level of the subway system.

Unfortunately, much scaffolding blocked the best view, but here’s a taste of the hotel, to the left.

Algonquin Hotel

Just a couple of blocks further up you will stumble upon 49 W. 44^th St.

A hangout of the Dorothy Parker, the Algonquin also housed the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of writers and publishers. Popular with the literary crowd, the hotel also hosted the beginnings of The New Yorker, founded at the end of World War I and passed out free to hotel guests.

Far from bustling downtown, Salinger’s previous home.

J.D. Salinger

Take a stroll through the (far) upper reaches of the park, or possible a long jaunt through the public transportation system, until wandering into 390 Riverside Dr.  at W. 111^th St.

New York was home to both Salinger and of course Holden Caulfield, in Salinger’s famous The Catcher in the Rye.

On the edge of the art district.

Hotel Chelsea

Continue navigating classic Manhattan by going through Chelsea, or if you’re in the area for Thursday night wine tastings at gallery openings, and stop in at 222 W. 23^rd St.

Built in 1884, the Hotel Chelsea has housed numerous artists, writers, and musicians over the years from Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, to Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

On (the side of) the road.

Jack Kerouac

While continuing you journey on the road, stroll down to 454 W. 20^th St.

Though not physically on the road at the time, Kerouac completed his famed manuscript by the same name at this location.

Buy something here.

Three Lives Bookstore

Further down is Three Lives. It’s cramped, quaint, and utterly charming at 154 W. 10^th St.

Opened in 1968, Three Lives has delighted readers ever since and is proclaimed “One of the greatest bookstores on the face of the Earth.”

Looking down 10th from outside Lewis’ front door.

Sinclair Lewis

Stay on 10^th and keep moving towards 37 W. 10^th St.

While living in the concrete jungle, Lewis put up his feet at this pretty address, a far cry from jungles of any kind.

Twain’s front windows.

Mark Twain

Almost neighbors, Twain lived a few doors down at number 14 W. 10^th St.

At 18, Twin moved to the city and worked for a printer before launching his later writing career in Connecticut.

In the basement. You will want to buy something here too.

Strand Bookstore

Pop up a couple blocks and just across Fifth to 828 Broadway. You will spend a great portion of your time here.

The stacks are tall, long, and stuffed with every book you can ever imagine. Explore every corner, from the highest level and rare books down into the basement and bargains.

One of those fire escapes was his.

W.H. Auden

Without getting to distracted by the riches of the Strand, continue on to 77 St. Mark’s Place

Spending some of the later years of his at St. Mark’s Place, Auden sailed to New York for the first time in 1939.

Ginsberg’s stomping grounds.

Allen Ginsberg

Finally, start to weave into Alphabet city and conclude your stop at 170 E. 2^nd St.

One of the Beat poets, Ginsberg lived on E 2^nd St. from 1958-1961. To close this tour, the opening of Ginsberg’s “Howl,” full of imagery drawn from the mysteries of the city and his own experience of a changing generation:

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz.”

Call for Submissions!

CambridgeEditors is thrilled to announce that in an effort to help promote young aspiring writers in Greater Boston area, we are calling for submissions! We would like to encourage creative writers and contribute to a more literary environment in Boston.  We’ve spent the early months of the summer planning and preparing for this, and we’re excited to read all your submissions!

We hope to become a major promoter of creative works in addition to our normal editing services, and a literary magazine may even be in discussion!

Submitting to CambridgeEditors is completely free, and accepted submissions will be displayed on our main website as well as this blog. We’ll be accepting all creative work, poetry or prose, including creative non-fiction.

For specific submission guidelines, please see our submissions page.

Hope to read from you soon!

CambridgeEditors/Sandor’s list of 7 Books to Make your Writing Better

Hello readers, July is almost over and that’s good and bad.  Good because CambridgeEditors is about to be up and running at full capacity in a day or so; bad because my time at CambridgeEditors is almost up.  Never fear, soon there will be other interns to man the blog and you will gain a fresh new perspective on writing and literature.  Also, I’ll remind everyone that Dr. Weiner is preparing herself to begin blogging.  Perhaps I’ll open up a new page on the blog just for Dr. Weiner’s own musings and tips.

In other news I’d like to make sure people keep a look out for a new CambridgeEditors special and to go to the website for news on the Dr. Weiner’s workshop, which she will be hopefully teaching in the fall.   If you can’t take the class in the fall but would like to, never fear! CambridgeEditors will be hosting the class several times a year.

Now I’d like to make another list of sorts since I got such good feedback on the “Sandor’s Booklist Blog.”  This one is going to be another book list, but it’s going to be a special one. I’ve often said that writing and reading are two of the best ways to improve your writing.  Like the old joke goes, “how do you get to carnegie hall? Practice Practice Practice.”  When it comes to writing the joke is “how did Joyce become a great writer? He wrote.”  I just made that up–hopefully it sticks.  However, practicing is not always enough.

Let me see if I can explain it with a simple analogy.  Say I want to be a major league pitcher, which until I was a sophomore in high school was in fact my dream. I can watch every single game, trying to analyze the way pitchers throw.  But when it comes time for me to practice I can’t throw as well as the pros.  This is for two reasons.  One I’m not a muscular freak of nature, and two no one taught me the right mechanics. It’s not enough to be able to throw, you have to throw correctly.

It’s similar for writing.  You can write until your fingers have blisters, but if you keep making the same mistakes you’re not going to improve. So I’ve compiled a short list of 7 books that will help you become a better writer. These books cover everything from the technical aspect of writing, to the thematic

1) Elements of Style-William F. Strunk and E.B. White

This is a basic manual for writing every kind of composition, be it fiction, non-fiction, essays.  This is not a book of grammar as one of my English professors once corrected me, it is a style book.  And as far as Style goes you can’t get any better. Along with commonly misused and misspelled words, Professor Strunk included various writing rules like, “omit useless words.”  Seemingly standard advice, but someone had to say it first and Strunk was that someone.  I find myself constantly going back to Strunk and White’s book when I’m writing essays for school.  It is a must have for writers at all levels

2) The Hero with a Thousand Faces-Joseph Campbell.

Joseph Campbell was a mythologist as well as a writer and he is best known for bringing modern psychological insights to ancient mythology.  The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a sociological study into what makes myth and stories tick.  For example, Campbell examines what elements make up the hero’s journey.  Anyone who wishes to write fiction should dive into this book to glean the necessary information on what makes fiction so important as a cultural tool and how to introduce meaningful thematic content into text.

3) The 3 A.M. Epiphany/ The 4 A.M. Breathrough-Brian Kiteley

If you want to write fiction then you should at least have one prompt book.  My favorite books of prompts is the breakthrough/epiphany series. Now you may be asking, what are prompt books? These books give you topics to write about that will help you develop specific skills like dialogue, character creation, point of view.  These books assign you different tasks and ask you to complete them in a very small amount of words. My favorite exersise is the idiosyncratic character prompt; an exercise that asks you to write a scenario where a character with a strange way of looking at the world is uncomfortable.  I’ve come up with a whole lot of characters with this prompt; from a guy who describes everything in terms of deli meat to a woman who values friendship as if she’s at a doll collector’s auction.

4) Man and his Symbols-Carl Jung

This posthumous work of Jung was meant for the everday person.  Jung wanted to explain his theories of symbols and psychology in a way everyone could grasp. How does this help your writing? Writing is all about assigning meaning to symbols, at least according to the modernists.  In addition, a grasp on psychology and how the mind works helps the writer better mirror reality through language.  Also it’s just a fascinating read.

5) Grimm’s Fairy tales-The Brothers Grimm

I love fairy tales. I think they’re a great way to examine cultures and literary themes.  You can tell a lot about a people based on their folklore, urban legends and mythology.  For example, have you ever noticed that American ghost stories take place in the woods whereas British ghost stories take place in cities.  The reason has to do with the dehumanizing force of the industrial revolution that took place in British cities.  If you read fairytales you’ll gain a basic grasp on significant cultural values as well as basic themes that are repeated throughout other forms of literature. The brothers’ Grimm book of fairy tales is a great way to get started.

6) The Complete Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

These stories rely on the fundamentals of logic and the law of action and reaction.  Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can help you establish logical story lines that take character motive and backstory into account.  Also reading about Sherlock Holmes is just a really good time.

7) How Fiction Works- James Wood

Whether you are an accomplished writer or you’re just starting out, James Wood’s book is a standard tome that should be on every wordsmith’s bookshelf. How Fiction Works starts by answering the question of what exactly does a novel do and moves on to more complex topics like what exactly makes a character novelistic; should we only see the actions of a character or should we as readers be given a personal look into a characters mind.  Wood takes his readers through his favorite novels and literature, (from Balzac to Updike), to illustrate his point.  On top of that Wood is a great writer and he makes the dissection of fiction incredibly fascinating.

That is my quick list of books that can make you a better writer. Of course they’re are countless other but these are just my favorites. Keep writing ya’ll

Best regards,

Sandor Mark