by Sue Horner | Nov 12, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Festive decorations filled store flyers and shelves even before Halloween was over. A local radio station started playing Christmas music ALL THE TIME on November 1. A spell of summery weather shortly afterwards had some of my neighbours putting up Christmas lights....
by Sue Horner | Apr 1, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
At a time when attention spans are shorter than ever, a long-running quirky contest fits right in. Yes, I’m talking about The Bookseller’s Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title. “We don’t judge books on the contents within or even by their covers, but by their purest,...
by Sue Horner | Sep 9, 2015 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
My sons were big readers growing up, and their teachers often commented that they could tell. Something about the vocabulary and the spelling, even though the boys didn’t actively try to learn new words. When parents read to and with their children, it just happens....
by Sue Horner | Dec 5, 2013 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Author Helen Fielding didn’t get the prize because her Mad About the Boy wasn’t deemed “cringeworthy” enough. The Fifty Shades books didn’t qualify either, because the prize doesn’t go to porn or erotic literature. The prize in...
by Sue Horner | Aug 2, 2013 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Especially given my last post, it’s time for another roundup of funny, interesting or just plain silly items found online, this time related to books: The Seattle Public Library staged the world’s longest book domino chain to promote its summer reading...
by Sue Horner | Dec 4, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
In absolutely shocking news, E.L. James and her Fifty Shades books did not even make the shortlist for the annual Bad Sex in Fiction award. Nor did J.K. Rowling for her adult novel, The Casual Vacancy. According to the Guardian’s Maev Kennedy, the Fifty Shades...
by Sue Horner | Mar 25, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The wonderfully quirky Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has a new winner: Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way, by Michael R. Young. The prize is given by British trade magazine The Bookseller, a leading trade magazine for the book industry....
by Sue Horner | Apr 1, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
In case you missed it, the winner of the prestigious Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has been chosen. Drumroll, please. It is Daina Taimina’s Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes. No doubt you are as surprised as I that Governing Lethal...
by Sue Horner | Mar 30, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“If you can read this, thank a teacher.” This is how a post linked to by my friend and colleague Joan Vinall-Cox began. While blogger Ralf Schwartz suggested that the best way to thank your teacher is to teach others “by further developing what your...
by Sue Horner | Sep 12, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Now, this is expressive writing! Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See (edited by Bill Shapiro), which I commented on recently, has many examples of writing that touches the heart. Here are some that appealed to me: “I love...
