AltWeeklies Wire
Ta-Nehisi Coates Charts a 'Beautiful Struggle'new
To read this memoir about growing up in black in Baltimore is to catch a glimpse of the profound legacy and letdown of a generation raised to rebel but forced instead to fight disappointment, imprisonment, and despair.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
07-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
David Wroblewski Rewrites 'Hamlet' but with Puppiesnew
His debut novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle , tracks a young dog trainer as he tries to get up the nerve to murder his murderous uncle.
Willamette Week |
John Minervini |
07-09-2008 |
Fiction
Jazz Began Where?new
In a new book, noted jazz historian Samuel Charters changes his tune on how the genre began.
Gambit |
Jason Berry |
07-09-2008 |
Nonfiction
City of Exiles: Learning to be American means finding oneself, even after 9/11new
Outlegged by news networks that never sleep, outsold by the juggernaut of visual entertainment, the novel doesn't bring us the news as it once did. Or at least it's easy to think so until you pick up a book like Joseph O'Neill's splendid Netherland.
Charleston City Paper |
John Freeman |
07-09-2008 |
Fiction
Generation X Confronts The Economy In 'Slackonomics'new
Slackonomics looks at the generation that bridged the analog-to-digital gap through its TV, music, movies, books, relationships, marital and parenting choices, where they choose to live, and their economic prospects.
Cleveland Free Times |
Michael Gill |
07-09-2008 |
Nonfiction
'After Hours at the Almost Home' Captures Wait-staff Dynamicsnew
From the crisscrossing, interconnected perspectives of haggard wage slaves, After Hours at the Almost Home documents a single late shift at a fictitious Denver bar.
Baltimore City Paper |
Raymond Cummings |
07-08-2008 |
Fiction
Scott Douglas' Memoir is a Love Story to Public Librariansnew
His librarian vignettes are entertaining, scenes of crazy patrons and even crazier co-workers. But while everyone can relate to stories about neighborhood characters and Office Space-esque bureaucracy, Douglas' humor can take them only so far.
Baltimore City Paper |
Tina Plottel |
07-08-2008 |
Nonfiction
Andrew Blechman Checks in on What's Really Going Down in Retirement Communitiesnew
Blechman goes where few under the age of 50 have dared go when he probes at the smelly underbellies of America's age-restricted retirement communities.
Baltimore City Paper |
Adrienne Martini |
07-08-2008 |
Nonfiction
Arthur Jones Charts the Rocky Life of M. Scott Pecknew
Peck rarely practiced what he preached in his master work, The Road Less Traveled.
Baltimore City Paper |
Violet Glaze |
07-08-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
In New Orleans, Nothing's Easy. Ask Julia Reed.new
Reed and her husband John searched the Garden District for a house, which they finally found: a Greek Revival at the corner of First and Chestnut -- another New Orleans classic but one in need of mega repairs. And time, according to Reed's The House on First Street, for the real troubles to begin.
The Memphis Flyer |
Leonard Gill |
07-07-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Every Word Counts in 'Girl Meets Boy'new
As part of a series called The Myths, Girl Meets Boy reworks the Iphis story handed down to us by Ovid in which a girl, brought up as a boy in an anti-female world, falls in love with a girl.
NOW Magazine |
Susan G. Cole |
07-07-2008 |
Fiction
B.S. Johnson's 'The Unfortunates' is Resurrectednew
In his unique 1969 narrative The Unfortunates (New Directions) finally published in May for the first time in the United States, Johnson pursued the question of how creating a novel that would not be bound by conventions might necessitate a book that would not even be bound between covers.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Anthony Miller |
07-07-2008 |
Fiction
Chuck Palahniuk's Latest Novel is Undeniably Weirdnew
While Rant is less shocking than other Palahniuk novels, it contains a cabal of eccentrics and a zeal for the outrageous.
Jackson Free Press |
Lindsey Maddox |
07-03-2008 |
Fiction
J.J. Salem Speaksnew
Salem's latest steamy beach read, Tan Lines was named a "Summer Reading Pick" by Good Morning America.
Jackson Free Press |
Vince Falconi |
07-03-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tags: J.J. Salem, Tan Lines
David Sedaris Cranks Out an Airplane Readnew
When You Are Engulfed in Flames does feature flashes of that off-kilter Sedaris wit, but more often the stories here are quickly read and more quickly forgotten: entertaining enough, but easy to put away when the wheels hit the tarmac.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
07-03-2008 |
Fiction
