Blog | Amitha Knight

Oct 16, 2013
2 min

Guest Post by Author Anna Staniszewski: Top Five Favorite Fairy Tales

Today on the blog, I’m excited to have a guest post by Anna Staniszewski, author of the hilarious My Very Unfairy Tale Life series. The last book in the series, My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending, comes out on November 5th, so pre-order your copy now! Take it away, Anna! — Top Five Favorite Fairy Tales 1. East of the Sun, West of the Moon This has been my favorite fairy tale for years. At first it seems like it’s going to be similar to Beauty and the Beast, but then it evolves into

Mar 22, 2010
2 min

Monkey Week at Monkey Poop!

I’ve decided to declare this week Monkey Week here at Monkey Poop in honor of my two year blogaversary! Okay, so the anniversary was actually about a month and a half ago, but whatever. Close enough! (This blog post is to be read to the tune of “Monkey” by Harry Belafonte from “Jump Up Calypso”–see the Animaniacs version below) First things first—why monkeys? I’m not really sure why. If I ever figure out the answer to that, I’ll probably have to let my family know first. One

Feb 18, 2010
1 min

Three of My Favorite Disney Lullabies

Okay this is a bit off-topic but in the spirit of my new motherhood I thought I’d share a few of my favorite Disney lullabies with you. These are songs I enjoyed as a kid and my baby daughter seems to like them too: “La La Lu” from Lady and the Tramp And here’s a non-Disney related one that I really like (and only recently discovered on a world lullaby CD called Dreamland that I got for Xmas on year): “Dreamland I also like Numi Numi from this same CD, but since it’s in Hebre

Jan 20, 2010
1 min

Lebowitz: Jane Austen is popular because she is misread and misunderstood

I seem to be in (yet another) Jane Austen kick these days. Author and Vanity Fair contributing editor Fran Lebowitz on Jane Austen (via Survival of the Book): [vimeo id=8100960] One thing Lebowitz says is that most people who enjoy Jane Austen are misreading her. What do you think about this? Some of the points she makes are pretty valid–I would agree that most people like the romance aspect of her works–but I’m not sure that reading it this way is “misreading” or “misunderst

Oct 1, 2008
2 min

Neal Stephenson’s Anathem and made up words

So this morning, my husband showed me this XKCD comic making fun of Neal Stephenson’s new book Anathem (Disclaimer: I have not actually read this book): Then, later today, I read (okay skimmed) an interview with Neal Stephenson on Goodreads.com where he points out that even Harry Potter has loads of made up words. How fun would it have been if J.K. Rowling had called “quidditch” the “flying hockey-like game” instead? Or if Tolkein had called hobbits the “little furry-footed g

Guest Post by Author Anna Staniszewski: Top Five Favorite Fairy Tales

Brontë sisters action figures!

A sneak peek at some new e-ink gadgets

Monkey Week at Monkey Poop!

Ray Bradbury on Writing and Rejection

Making a Book Cover

How to make a book (1947)

Three of My Favorite Disney Lullabies

Lebowitz: Jane Austen is popular because she is misread and misunderstood

Boston Globe Horn-Book Award Speeches

Mad Men–Sesame Street Style

Harvard Book Store to offer Espresso…

still don’t want to read the book, but i might want to see the made for TV movie…

E-reader with a flexible screen

espresso book machine

Sherlock is that you? Are you sure?

A Conversation With Jeffrey Eugenides

Neal Stephenson’s Anathem and made up words

“The Writing of Fantasy” lecture online

Amy Tan on Creativity