Author: Ron Rozelle

My request for responses regarding favorite book stores brought some fine feedback via this blog, Facebook and email. And much of it was about the much-missed Book Ends Bookshop in Lake Jackson. So I dug out a column I wrote when it closed and to post  here.  It was also included in a collection of some … Continue reading Bookshops, again

Asking a true lover of books – not only the stories they carry but their smell and feel – to name a favorite bookstore is like asking a parent to identify their favorite child.  It’s a loaded question. I’m not talking about Barnes & Noble and amazon.com, though I trade with both of them frequently.  … Continue reading What’s your favorite bookstore?

It would be a pretty safe bet that in all the English IV research papers I’ve graded in my career roughly half of the citations – quoted, paraphrased, or brazenly plagiarized – came from a literary scholar named Harold Bloom. In addition to his teaching duties at Yale, NYU and Harvard, Dr. Bloom has in more … Continue reading The air up there

Have you ever considered how one little word can ignite a search for a whole slew of better ones? Take “walk” for example. Amble is a better word than walk. So is strut. And meander.  “Walk” is too generic. It’s like that drawer in your kitchen where everything ends up; it’s a utility player, the … Continue reading Walking, strutting, marching and John Wayne

Ahoy,  Mateys! In an earlier post I confessed that I was rereading Moby Dick for reasons that I put forth with not some little shame.  Several of you responded that you were set on joining me in my quest for the white whale.  So, what I want to know is … how goes it? As … Continue reading Under full sail

In 1932 a twelve year old boy, already mesmerized by Buck Rogers comic strips and space travel stories by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, went to a magic show in a carnival tent in Waukegan, Illinois.  The magician, billed as Mr. Electro, touched him on his shoulder with his magic sword and said “Live Forever!” … Continue reading To the stars

On the subject of fantasy Dr. Suess, an authority on practically everything of any importance, said this: “Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.” Many of my Creative Writing students would be in complete agreement with the good doctor.  Since I’ve … Continue reading To quote Hamlet, “Tis but our Fantasy”

I’m currently rereading Moby Dick.  For my sins. A couple of weeks ago I encouraged my high school senior English students to make themselves unique in their college application essays.  Set yourself apart, I told them, make your pitch memorable in the big pile of compositions that are usually much the same. I told them … Continue reading Call me Ishmael’s prodigal son

I’ve been reading comics for as long as I’ve been able to read, both in the newspaper and in booklets, which we called “funny books” when I was a kid. Some of them are called graphic novels now, which never would have flown when I was a boy. Dirty books were called graphic novels back … Continue reading See you in the funny pages

In case you didn't know it, today is National Read a Book Day. So my very brief advice today is to ... no surprise here ... read a book! Of course, if you follow this blog you've probably got one or two already going. If you're an author you might try to find a particular … Continue reading An special day for bibliophiles