Blind Horse Books

  Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period, best known for "Typee" (1846), a romantic account of his experiences in Polynesian life, and his whaling novel "Moby-Dick" (1851). Fun Fact: Much of Melville’s later work, which is now considered his most highly regarded fiction, was neither critically nor commercially successful during his lifetime. For instance, between 1863 and 1887, an average of only 23 copies of "Moby-Dick" were sold annually. Today, "Moby-Dick" sells more copies each year than were sold in the entire nineteenth century and is recognized as a classic. Interestingly, its influence extends into the modern world of coffee and capitalism: the founders of the Starbucks chain took the name from a character in Melville’s novel. During the last thirty years of his life, his work was nearly forgotten. Melville's writing draws from his experiences a...

  TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY — Birthday of J. D. Salinger - January 1 Born January 1, 1919, J. D. Salinger remains one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in twentieth-century American literature. He is best known for The Catcher in the Rye (1951), a novel that captured adolescent alienation, moral confusion, and resistance to conformity with a voice that felt startlingly immediate to generations of readers. Salinger’s fiction —particularly his stories featuring the Glass family—blends spiritual inquiry, postwar disillusionment, and sharp social observation. Though his published output was relatively small, its cultural impact has been enormous. The Catcher in the Rye became both a staple of school curricula and a touchstone of youthful rebellion, even as Salinger himself grew increasingly uncomfortable with fame and public scrutiny. After serving in U.S. Army counterintelligence during World War II, including participation in the D-Day invasion and the liberation of con...

  Happy Birthday to Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) November 11 One of the most distinctive American voices of the 20th century, Kurt Vonnegut blended satire, science fiction, and dark humor to question everything from war to free will. His writing—part tragicomedy, part moral fable—helped readers see the absurdity of modern life while holding on to compassion for its flawed participants. I first read Slaughterhouse-Five in ninth grade, and it changed how I thought about storytelling. Later, in high school, I made a deal with my German teacher: I’d stay quiet in the back of the room reading—so long as I stuck to German authors. Vonnegut, thankfully, snuck through the loophole. In a career that spanned over fifty years, he published fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of nonfiction. Slaughterhouse-Five, inspired by his experience as a WWII POW who survived the firebombing of Dresden, remains his most celebrated and haunting work. ‘We are here on Eart...