AltWeeklies Wire
Nick Harkaway's Debut Novel Shows a World Real Gonenew
There are plenty of scary places in the world. But the human imagination will always conjure up something worse. Nick Harkaway's debut novel, Gone Away World, is that kind of scary place -- where the id's gone mad and nightmares eat you.
Charleston City Paper |
Augustine Kim |
10-09-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: Nick Harkaway, The Gone Away World
Sarah Vowell Pops a Ladyboner for Puritans in Her New Booknew
In The Wordy Shipmates, she makes the case that the Puritans were not a congregation of book burning, sexually uptight, overly moral goody-goodies. Working out some schoolgirl crush on folks with buckled shoes, she gushes over the Puritans as a literary bunch who relentlessly penned letters, sermons, books, even kept day-to-to diaries.
New York Press |
Brian Pennington |
10-09-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Sarah Vowell Makes Pilgrims Piss-Pants Hilarious in Her Latestnew
The book is two parts extensive review of key Pilgrim documents -- like the letters and journals of John Winthrop, Roger Williams and John Cotton -- and one part humorous, anecdotal stories of Vowell's experience researching the topic.
Willamette Week |
Whitney Hawke |
10-08-2008 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Sarah Vowell, The Wordy Shipmates
Cartoonist Joe Glisson Releases His Second Book
Syracuse New Times' multiple award-winning cartoonist has release his second book of work, this one chronicling his 25 years covering the political scene.
Syracuse New Times |
Molly English |
10-08-2008 |
Books
Tags: Joe Glisson, Seems Like Old Times
David Sedaris Has a Midlife Crisisnew
As we transition from talking about friends' houses where you could get high until four in the morning to the pitfalls of fatal elderly falls, it's evident that Sedaris' beloved sense of humor leaves him, and us, with many more years of good storytelling.
Chicago Newcity |
Selena Fragassi |
10-08-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'The Gulf Stream' Helps Us Understand Human-Centered Ecologynew
Stan Ulanski has written a multilayered and eminently insightful book about the way the natural world works. His topic is what the founder of modern oceanography, Matthew Fontaine Maury, has called "a river in the ocean" -- the Gulf Stream.
The Texas Observer |
James E. McWilliams |
10-08-2008 |
Nonfiction
How Do You Feed an Anorexic Eel or Mend a Giraffe's Dislocated Hip?new
The Rhino With Glue-on Shoes, edited by veterinarians Lucy Spelman and Ted Mashima, is a collection of true stories written by zoo vets who have faced these situations.
Baltimore City Paper |
Anny Hoge |
10-07-2008 |
Nonfiction
James Woods Shows Less is More in 'How Fiction Works'new
While disclosing sublime writing tools, long-celebrated book critic Wood digresses into lucid meditations on the nature of language, character, and consciousness.
Baltimore City Paper |
Eli Perlow |
10-07-2008 |
Nonfiction
Tags: How Fiction Works, James Wood
Al Silverman Talks to The Post-War Editors Who Helped Forge Contemporary American Lettersnew
The book is a celebration of the "golden age of the publishing industry," from the end of World War II to the beginning of the 1980s, focusing on the publishing houses themselves.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michaelangelo Matos |
10-07-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Where the River Ends': One Foot In the Gravenew
Florida-based author Charles Martin has continued his run of heart string-tugging stories with his new novel, Where the River End.
Jackson Free Press |
Michael Patronik |
10-06-2008 |
Fiction
'So Many Ways To Sleep Badly' is an Original, Visceral Reading Experiencenew
I give it extra points for including a sex-worker theme that avoids all the overdone stereotypes.
NOW Magazine |
Zoe Whittall |
10-06-2008 |
Fiction
People's Historian Howard Zinn Has Hope for America's Futurenew
At the age of 86, Zinn's commentary remains as imperative as ever in understanding up-and-coming social movements through a historical lens.
Boulder Weekly |
Erica Grossman |
10-06-2008 |
Books
In 'American Wife,' the President's One Good Decision is Choosing His Wifenew
Curtis Sittenfeld's novel is based very loosely on Laura Bush's life. Here she's known as Alice Blackwell, and comes from small-town Wisconsin, not small-town Texas. But that's where the major differences end (unless you want to count the fact that, in the book, she marries a man who you somehow can't help liking).
Montreal Mirror |
Juliet Waters |
10-06-2008 |
Fiction
'Through Black Spruce' Charts Epic Flight Northnew
Joseph Boyden's 2005 debut novel, Three Day Road, was a rare flash of literary illumination. A desperate tumble through the heart of darkness, it led us deep into the boreal forest and even deeper into the mud and muck of Flanders during the First World War.
The Georgia Straight |
Alexander Varty |
10-03-2008 |
Fiction
Ron Rash's Sensational Appalachian Talenew
In the late 1920s, before George Pemberton's Boston Lumber Company constructed its western North Carolina logging camp—the setting for Ron Rash's haunting fourth novel, Serena—it set aside a portion of its land for a graveyard.
Tags: Ron Rash, Serena: A Novel
