Meghan Daum accumulates house and apartment addresses like another 33-year-old would accumulate boyfriends or shoes. It's an obsession she explores in her new memoir, "Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House." This Los Angeles Times columnist writes with a breezy, amusing style that's thoroughly enjoyable.
Category: New Books
Be confident, be creative
I read about this new book on creativity and drawing while trolling the Web. I bought it immediately. Impulse purchase? Maybe, but I'm looking forward to reading it. You can check out the first 33 pages on the publisher's Web site.
Vampire booze
Here's my excuse for why I haven't finished Grahame-Smith's best-selling vampire novel about Abraham Lincoln.
Jerry Gabriel’s “Drowned Boy”
How this collection of linked short stories found its way to my reading table.
Is Rusty Sabich innocent again?
"Presumed Innocent" by Scott Turow published in 1987 was a #1 New York Times bestseller, remaining on the list for 45 weeks. Turow has written the sequel "Innocent," with Rusty Sabich again at the center of a murder trial. It's smart, absorbing courtroom drama.
And that means what for their readers?
There are 13 fiction writers among the 180 Guggenheim Foundation grants recently announced for 2010. I recognized some of the authors but not all and then wondered what it means for readers considering a book by an author who's a Guggenheim Fellow.
Yoko Ogawa’s “Hotel Iris”
This is Yoko Ogawa's third book translated into English and published for American readers. Its subject of sadomasochism won't be for every reader. Ogawa is a master when it comes to illuminating human behavior, even the darkest kind. This is a powerful and transfixing story.
“The People Who Watched Her Pass By”
Scott Bradfield's new novel published by Two Dollar Radio is more commentary on modern American life than plot-driven story. Here's what it's all about.
New books to anticipate
Seven new books to be published in May and June include espionage fiction and a biography of William Somerset Maugham. Also, highly anticipated by 'moi' is Sloane Crosley's new essays, because she makes me laugh. Here's the list.
The bird that was tragedy
Heidi W. Durrow's debut novel "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky" tells the story of a family tragedy and also explores issues about race and identity. Told from multiple viewpoints, it succeeds where other novels of similar technique have failed.
Hans Fallada’s must-read masterpiece
Melville House, an independent publisher, has rediscovered and reissued books written by the once popular German novelist Hans Fallada. His last novel, "Every Man Dies Alone," wasn't available in English until Melville House hired a translator, Michael Hofmann. From reviews of the book to interviews with the publisher to articles about both, the message is clear: this book should not to be missed.
Athill’s “Somewhere Towards the End”
Diana Athill is a founding editor of the prestigious London-based publishing house Andre Deutsch, Ltd. Her memoir "Stet," published in 2000, recalled her years as one of the 20th Century's greatest editors, spanning five decades. Her newest memoir shares what it's been like for her, now 91, to grow old. It's an engaging, frank memoir.
Huneven’s novel about guilt and forgiveness
Michelle Huneven's "Blame" is a finalist for the National Book Critic's Circle award in fiction (to be announced March 11). It's up against "Wolf Hall" and "American Salvage". Here's what it's about and why I'm baffled by its award nomination.
My Reading Table gets a make-over
I keep piling books on the reading table to the point where it becomes another book shelf. So, the RT has been reorganized. Here's what moved off and what it looks like now, with descriptions of the 12 books. Realistic versus hopeful.
Good stories: “Something Is Out There”
Richard Bausch is one of our present-day masters of rich short fiction. His new collection is the usual good stuff. Here's a review.
The Longest Chapter 