Audrey Schulman’s new novel “Theory of Bastards” tells the story of a compelling research celebrity, the bonobos she’s observing and a catastrophic technology breakdown. An innovative story that slowly builds into an absorbing reading experience.
Author: The Longest Chapter
I am the book critic for NPR member station WOSU 89.7 FM in Columbus, Ohio, an addicted bibliophile and out-of-control collector of first editions I can't afford.
The art of restitution and deception
Mark Sarvas’s novel "Memento Park" tells the story of a Hungarian painting that was traded to the Nazis during World War II in exchange for freedom, and of its return to the rightful owner.
Jon McGregor’s superb “Reservoir 13”
Truly a unique novel, one of the best I’ve read in a long time. How and why a teen-aged girl disappears becomes secondary to the impact on the nearby English village.
Why “Black Boy” still matters
Published in 1945, Richard Wright's classic childhood autobiography vividly reveals what it was like growing up black and poor in the Jim Crow South long before the Civil Rights Movement. It’s an unsentimental but moving and distressing travel back in time that should not be missed.
The power of books and giving one’s time
The beauty of this memoir lies in large part with Kuo's soul-searching about the Mississippi Delta region.
A bookshop closes
Much of my book collecting mania got spent at Acorn Bookshop that’s now going out of business. Here are a few of the treasures I found, in this tribute.
The eyes of a Texas Ranger
"Bluebird Bluebird" is Attica Locke's exciting new crime novel, the first of a proposed trilogy.
Top five fiction books in 2017
I cross referenced several 2017 best fiction lists. Here are the results.
Getting to know Ross Macdonald
“It’s All One Case: The Illustrated Ross Macdonald Archives” by Paul Nelson and Kevin Avery is this year’s Christmas present to myself.
My most given books
A comment during an interview with author Mark Helprin turned my thinking to the books I’ve given most as gifts. Here they are.
The power of love and conscience
If you’re looking for a novel to get lost in or for a holiday gift, here’s a recommendation: “Paris in the Present Tense” by Mark Helprin.
Pick a country. Read the books.
The 2018 International Dublin Literary Award longlist includes 150 novels nominated by worldwide librarians. Here are reading suggestions.
Longing for the unreachable past
"Katalin Street" by Magda Szabó offers a compulsive reading experience about three families who live side by side in 1934 Budapest.
Jennifer Egan’s remarkable storytelling
"Manhattan Beach" is one of the best novels I've read in a long time. Strong characters, plot complexity and a rich, wartime setting create deeply satisfying literature.
My two favorite memoirs this year
Benjamin Taylor and Joyce Johnson lived dramatically different young lives, but their stories similarly and movingly capture two iconic times in history: the Beat Movement and November 22, 1963.
