New Items in the Gift Shop

Check out some of the new items in the Birthplace Gift Shop.  In addition to note cards and other items featuring images of the Birthplace, we've now carry Good Earth Organic Tea, and it has already proven to sell well.  Most varieties of tea originated in China, India or elsewhere in Asia thousands of years ago, so it was astute for this company to take their name from Pearl Buck's best selling novel.  It's delicious tea, too!

Daleen Berry on Pearl S. Buck Writer's Workshop and Other News from Around the Web

The Pearl S. Buck Writers Workshop

Thanks to Eddy Pendarvis for forwarding along this interesting blog post, "What Pearl S. Buck, Blueberries and Bovines Have in Common," which begins as follows:

This morning I woke up from a dream in which I was trying to find a colorful clause to go with the verb “giggled,” as in “like a little girl.

That’s what happens when you go to a writing workshop taught by Jim Minick, author of several books, including The Blueberry Years. (While at Jim’s site, be sure to check out his wife Sarah’s baskets; they are exquisite!)

The workshop was held yesterday, in conjunction with Allegheny Echoes, at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, W.Va. And it was wonderful, educational and hopefully made all of us better, stronger writers.  

Continue reading on Daleen Berry's Blog.

Other items related to Pearl S. Buck that appeared online recently include:

Pearl Buck's Work to be Available for E-Readers

If you're a geek like me, the announcement that came today that thirteen of Pearl Buck's novels will soon be available in digital format is very welcome news indeed.  According to an article in the New York Times

The novels will be released by Open Road Integrated Media and include The Good Earth, The Big Wave, The Promise and A House Divided.

I should point out that "The Big Wave" is not a novel, but rather a children's book, also sold as the main story in a short story collection, The Big Wave and Other Stories.  It's an exciting read, but certainly not a novel.

What's on Your Summer Reading List?

The Good Earth is on the Globe & Mail summer reading list. 
Order your books from this site and support the Birthplace.

Toronto's Globe and Mail has published a selection of its "Reader's picks for sizzling summer reads" and Pearl Buck's The Good Earth is one of the recommendations, in this the 80th anniversary of its receipt of the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.  Arguably the most prestigious prize in American letters, did you know that the Pulitzer Prize in a category can even be withheld in any given year if no work is deemed worthy of the prize?  Globe and Mail reader Mary N wrote:

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. Although it is more than 80 years old, the story is wonderful. I can read this over and over again. The characters are strong and the life lessons still apply today. 

Clearly the book still resonates and sells.  Oprah's Book Club published a new edition in 2004, and a new "Enriched Classic Edition was released by Simon & Schuster just a year later.  This type of reading list appears often at the beginning of summer.  Some contain only recently published books, but it is also common to publish lists generated by readers, authors, or other famous people.  Have you seen other lists with books by or about Pearl Buck on them?

"The Good Earth" on the Underground New York Public Library

Check out the latest in "The Good Earth" series on Underground New York Public Library.  This site is just a collection of people reading literature on the subway.  The photo to the right is of a woman reading Pearl Buck's The Good Earth in a subway station.  It can be very interesting to see who is reading what in the photographs and how wrapped up in it they seem to be.