These eight stories cleverly illustrate the many ways happiness enters our lives when least expected. It's through human encounters, Adderson tells us, doing so with seemingly unremarkable incidents. They occur in her characters’ daily routines, surprising them and us. It’s wonderful new fiction.
Category: Literature
A genius, a horse, and the atom bomb
Here is a wonderful biography. I just finished it, as I continue to read books with large page counts (instead of adding them to the reading table and avoiding them). Also, two new books, fiction, and nonfiction. Should someone ask me what to read next, these two would be top of the list.
A review of “Us Fools” by Nora Lange
This new novel takes place primarily on a small farm in Illinois during the 1980's agricutural crisis. It also takes place in Chicago and Alaska, spanning a little more than two decades as the protagonist Bernadette looks back, wrestling with what the future holds for herself, the farm, and her older sister, Joanne.
What happened to Felice Bauer?
"Life After Kafka" imagines the life of Franz Kafka's first fiancée long after their broken engagement. Fact and fiction intertwine to bring Felice Bauer to life, so we finally see her beyond Kafka's published “Letters to Felice.” Also, it led me to another book, because I became so curious about the relationship and Kafka. Here’s what this is all about.
I had to move my books: what I found
It's easy for me to forget books I want to read if I don't keep them visible on my reading tables. That's why this temporary upheaval is turning out to be less burden and more treasure. These five books include a thriller, a first novel, short stories, and more. Also, I found a letter from the wife of a Vietnam soldier tucked inside a military classic.
A science fiction shortlist and August books
Here you'll find a link to the shortlist for The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, plus comments about two of the nominated books that were already in my current reading stack. Also, a new nonfiction book The Guardian says is written with thrilling detail, and Yoko Ogawa's newest novel since "The Memory Police."
New books published this month, plus two irresistibles
Lev Grossman's new fantasy plus the eleventh book in Norman Lock's American Novels Series are among the new releases you'll find here. Plus, an unputdownable classic novel of escape.
Recent additions to my reading table
Here’s a list of some summer reading I’ve lined up for myself. It includes a novel coming out in July by one of today’s best Irish authors, a classic Japanese crime story, a new biography, and books by two favorite authors.
“His world had ended:” the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
“The Radetzky March” is Joseph Roth's masterpiece. Everyone's pretty much in agreement about that. They're also in agreement that it's one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. If you don't know about it, here's what you’re missing, and why I took so long to get to it.
New books, old books, and the Pulitzer Prizes
Here’s a miscellany of fiction and nonfiction, including a long-awaited new novel by the author of “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.” David Wroblewski’s debut became a phenomenal bestseller, the story of a mute boy and a unique breed of dogs, with subtle similarities to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Now, Wroblewski revisits the Sawtelle family long before Edgar runs away with three of the dogs. Also featured, authors Paul Auster and Vivian Gornick.
The “hoss and horl” of the North Sea in Carys Davies’ new novel
Carys Davies is the author of two collections of short stories and three novels, most recently "Clear." It tells the story of two men who forge an unlikely bond on a remote Scottish island in 1843. You could read the story in one sitting, but you'll want instead to live inside the island's world over several days. It's a flawless work of fiction, not unexpected from this talented author.
Books I’m reading and plan to read
Memoirs, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and a surprising Great American Novels list from The Atlantic magazine are shared in this post. Some of the books are new this month and next. All are what intrigue me right now, and what I'm looking forward to.
The truths of a real place and time
“No More Giants,” first published in 1966, fell into obscurity but is now back in print. Set in the American West in the 1940s, the novel’s narrator searches for the key to her brother’s death when they were growing up on the family’s cattle ranch. All I wanted to do was read this book.
New books recommended and anticipated
Percival Everett, who wrote the unforgettable, hilarious, and wrenching novel “The Trees,” has a new novel coming in March. You can read about it here, along with other books that include a suspenseful revenge plot written by a talented Irish author, and nonfiction about chance encounters. Also, science fiction and short stories.
For Black History Month: poetry, basketball, and the Jim Crow years
A new biography offers the first full-scale life of Ohio poet Paul Laurence Dunbar in half a century. Also, Hanif Abdurraqib has a new book coming out that is highly anticipated. And a book of stories posthumously published by an author who died in a motorcycle accident in 1966.
The Longest Chapter 