"La Petite" by Michele Halberstadt and translated by Linda Coverdale is a short (barely beyond 100 pages) memoir set in Paris 1968. It recounts events surrounding Halberstadt's childhood suicide attempt and demonstrates the devastating power of dismissive indifference. Michele Halberstadt is an award-winning French author, journalist and film producer. She's written a brave memoir that concludes with keen revelation.
Collecting William Faulkner (surprise!)
Sometimes the best part about collecting an author's work is the ephemera associated with it -- such as this magazine that includes a story by William Faulkner; however, when it arrived in the mail, the classic author's words were not what I read immediately. Not with Jennifer Billingsley on the cover.
Bookstore love
A short post showcasing a favorite image that speaks volumes about what we miss when we shop for our books online.
A thin fabric of time and trust in Prague
"City of Dark Magic" is a fun novel to read. It's filled with mystery, time warp, musical references (Beethoven in particular) and a cast of colorful characters, including a 400-year-old dwarf. Pure entertainment.
The books I gave on Christmas Eve
Dinner at my house on December 24, 2012, included giving a book to each of my six guests. Here you'll find the titles of the books -- three novels, one short-story collection, one historical crime story, one allegory -- and how the selections were made.
Coming face to face with evil
Ian McEwan's newest novel "Sweet Tooth" is out; however, I pushed it aside, for reasons noted here, and selected a novel McEwan wrote before "Atonement" and even his Man Booker-winning "Amsterdam." It's one of his short novels, and it stirs up some interesting, philosophical questions.
Where’s the agreement? 2012 best books
How many lists of best books of 2012 can a reader take? They're spewing from media outlets like water from a broken hydrant. In a desperate measure to find some sanity in the mania, I cross-referenced four fiction lists to see which books they listed in common. The results are these five.
Everything happened. Everything fell.
Here's a book that's received a lot of well-deserved attention, a novel about two soldiers in Iraq in 2004 written by one who was there. Author Kevin Powers, however, is not only an Iraq War veteran, he also holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. These life experiences combine to create a powerful, unforgettable book, "The Yellow Birds."
The discussion that followed the selection
Several weeks ago, I shared the story about how a book club decided, from a stack of possibilities, on a book to read with me. They finished the novel they chose, and we got together to talk about it. Here are highlights of the discussion.
A philandering poet’s fatal attraction
Deborah Levy's novel packs a punch in a mere 157 pages. She puts a deeply unsettling spin on the impulsive, lusty fling gone wrong when vacationing Brits invite a mentally unstable beauty to stay with them. They don't know her presence is dangerous, but we do, which makes this a tense, engaging read.
You’ll take leave of your senses
NYRB Classics reprinted Thomas Tryon’s 1971 bestseller "The Other" this month, a chilling story that sold millions of copies during its day, which was the decade of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist." But of these three hair-raising novels, "The Other" unsettled me the most. Here's why. Also: An interesting database of 20th-century American Bestsellers book collectors will enjoy.
A book club’s selection process
How do you decide what to read next? Here's an inside look at what happened when I presented six books to a book club.
An accidental crime
Michael Kardos published his debut novel this fall, a thriller that starts with an annual golf get-together among three Princeton grads and turns nightmarish. His narrative style is brisk, making "The Three-Day Affair" a fast-paced read with surprises you won't see coming.
Confessions from American suburbia
The University of Georgia Press announced this week the winners of the 2012 Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Awards, but I've been hooked by a previous winner -- Andrew Porter's "The Theory of Light & Matter." Here's why, plus an "all hail the short story" burst of thought.
A forever within the numbered days
John Green's "The Fault In Our Stars" is a 2012 New York Times best-seller. Written for a young adult audience, it tells an unflinching love story between two teens with cancer. But don't for a moment believe 1) it's not for you because you're an adult; and 2) you need a hanky. Instead, be prepared with guaranteed reading time because you won't be able to put this book down.
The Longest Chapter 