Margaret Drabble was named a dame of the British Empire in 2008 for her contribution to contemporary English literature. Her 17 novels have mirrored the changing lives of women over the past 50 years.

It's easy to feel like you don't have time to read literature — especially hefty works by classic novelists. Between busy jobs and hectic weekends, cracking open a lengthy book that tackles humanity's ...

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Novels let you settle in. They give you time to hang up your clothes, do a little sight-seeing, enjoy a few home-cooked dinners. They take you out for scrambled eggs and pancakes in the morning and ...

For many years, I assumed that the appeal of a short story was that it was, well, short. Instead of slowly reading a novel over weeks, the reader of these bite-size plots can experience character ...

Talk about obsession: Anatomy of a Short Story: Nabokov's Puzzles, Codes, "Signs and Symbols" (Continuum) is a massive exploration of the master's (possibly) most masterful short story, "Signs and ...