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Of Words and Dogs and Little Fishes*

Published on : 9 July, 201825 August, 2019 Published by : Sharon Browning

I feel so blessed that I can “work” from home as a book reviewer, essayist and occasionally as a literary editor, and to comfortably say that I read for a living. It’s like living the dream (well, until the bills come in, but that’s neither here nor there). But I […]

On this day, September 25, in 1930, Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago, Illinois. While best known for his beloved children’s books such as 1964’s The Giving Tree, 1974’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, and 1981’s A Light in the Attic (all of which he also illustrated) he was also a poet, cartoonist, screenwriter, playwright and singer-songwriter (he penned Johnny Cash’s hit, “A Boy Named Sue”, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show’s “Cover of the Rolling Stone”, and Waylon Jennings’ “The Taker”, among others). He died of a heart attack in 1999 at age 68.

On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.

Of Words and Dogs and Little Fishes*

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