The reading life
How to read a dense literary novel without giving up
Page targets, reading aloud, a character list, fifty pages of patience and an honest way to quit: practical habits for slow, demanding novels, with a weekly plan.
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Endings
Open or closed: what an ambiguous ending owes the reader
An open ending is not an unfinished one. How the best ambiguous novels settle the emotional question and leave the factual one, plus a checklist for writers.
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Endings
How great novels end: seven kinds of last page
Marriages, deaths, homecomings, open doors, epilogues, reversals and quiet images: a field guide to the seven ways novels end, with famous examples of each.
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