Award-winning poet and essayist Ocean Vuong has written an emotionally raw coming of age story with "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous."
This reading life: finding a book you love
We should allow ourselves more often to wander through the library stacks. Here are two novels I hadn't planned on reading.
It’s fiction, but true.
Two absorbing novels about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Syrian civil war illustrate how the region's politics and trauma affect the daily lives of citizens. One a story of friends, the other a story of family, these memorable novels make the news headlines human.
Reading Miriam Toews
“Women Talking” released this month is getting great reviews. So have previous novels by Canadian author Miriam Toews, whose books are bestsellers up north. Why is she so little known to American readers?
The 100 Best Novels in Translation
We depend on translators to bring us the world's literature. We also depend on them to make the right decisions on how to bring a novel to life, wrestling with fidelity to the original versus comprehension for the reader. This book is not only a list, but a guide to those who do this marvelous work.
Books I’m talking about
Here are books I recently recommended on WOSU All Sides Weekend Books.
How to get your book of the month
Book box subscription services are many, but they’re not my preference. So here are my three choices for getting a monthly book delivery.
Top three novels on 2018 year-end lists
These novels appear the most times on 2018 fiction lists that announce the year's favorites, notables, and bests.
A symphony for besieged Leningrad
Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich immortalized the WWII siege of Leningrad with his 7th symphony. These books tell the story.
The value of private letters
The new Melissa McCarthy movie about Lee Israel's crime of literary forgery hit too close to home. Here's why.
A selection of new books
Here are a few titles I’ve gathered from my ongoing hunt for good books, including novels to anticipate in 2019, more Lucia Berlin stories, and the 2017 Prix Goncourt winner.
Five fiction finalists: the daring ones?
The National Book Awards released their 2018 finalists. I've listed here those for fiction with brief descriptions. Also, reasons why I've lost my thrill for this annual event.
On the November road
Lou Berney, the award-winning author of "The Long and Faraway Gone," has released a new crime novel that takes place during the days following President Kennedy’s assassination. It's intelligent and gripping.
Learning Hannah Arendt
Ken Krimstein delivers a vivid account of Arendt's life and work in "The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt." It helped me to better understand this 20th century complex thinker in a graphic (“comics”) treatment that’s creatively on the mark.
A book that left its mark
Brian Evenson’s Bookmarked personal narrative is about Raymond Carver’s short stories. I couldn’t put it down. If you love books about writers, or love to write and edit, you’ll love this, too.
