Author: Nathanael Green
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Thanks for the Books, Mom and Dad
I don’t remember the specifics of the summer (summers?) when my mom took me to the library for the reading program. It was for one of those things where a kid reads some books and earns points or toys or something to encourage reading. I didn’t need the encouragement, but I enjoyed it regardless. Our…
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Talking about Sex
There’s been some interesting gender-switching going on. Well, at least in the English language there has been for at least 600 years or so. For those of you who know me, you know I’m pretty into grammar and language history. So I’m excessively excited whenever there’s a new episode of the language podcast Lexicon Valley. And a recent…
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Tasting Outside Your Genre—of Books and Burgers
Every writer knows they’re supposed to read books from different areas of the bookstore. Wait, no. Every reader knows that, too, or at least has heard the recommendation to read widely. The advice goes something like this: “You write sci-fi/mystery/romance/YA/whatever? Read everything, old and new, in your genre. Then read lots of stuff in other genres.”…
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English Spelling, Why You So Weird?
Ever wonder why English spelling is so freakin’ weird and what it means for poor kids trying to learn to read? Here’s your answer, posted this week on The Atlantic: “How Spelling Keeps Kids From Learning.” Here are some of the tidbits from the article, by Luba Vangelova, that caught my eye: English has 205 ways…
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What Does Your Book Recommendation Say About You?
If you could shove a friend into a chair and compel them to read just one book, what would it be? It’s a little like picking your favorite book of all time. But maybe not quite. This topic came up recently in a conversation with my friend Evan Ronan and I’ve been thinking about…
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Here We Go, Ladies and Gentlemen
Oh, the dreaded first post on a new page. Don’t know if you feel the same way, but, man, trying to get a new blog up and running is a good time except for writing that very first post. So I’m going to skip all the bad ideas I had about just typing a joke,…
Nathanael Green 