AltWeeklies Wire
'Infidelities' Explores the Struggles of Croatians at Home and Abroadnew
Novakovich's collection of short stories represents a departure from the standard narrative of Eastern Europeans leaving the old country behind. It flows from a more fluid consciousness, able to shift between the horrors, joys and ordinary realities of both worlds.
Montreal Mirror |
Juliet Waters |
05-02-2008 |
Fiction
Willy Vlautin's 'Northline' Really has Its Own Soundtracknew
The slow-strummed ballads that accompany Northline provide a lush companion to Vlautin's starkly descriptive prose, and wisely, they're wordless, so you can listen and read at the same time.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
05-01-2008 |
Fiction
Sarah Dessen, Young Adult Before It was Coolnew
"I was worried about the stigma of it, which was stupid," Dessen says.
INDY Week |
Zack Smith |
05-01-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Louise Erdrich Returns with a Crazy Quilt of a Novelnew
The Plague of Doves stitches together several of her recent short stories, most of them previously published in The New Yorker. The remarkable thing is how seamlessly the final product fits together.
Willamette Week |
Matt Buckingham |
05-01-2008 |
Fiction
Keith Gessen Tackles Familiar Turf in 'All the Sad Young Literary Men'new
Gessen's debut follows three Harvard graduates as they struggle with too much education and not enough purpose in literary Manhattan.
Willamette Week |
John Minervini |
05-01-2008 |
Fiction
'Girls in Trucks' Tracks a Former Debutante's Adjustment to Adult Life in New Yorknew
Katie Crouch's debut novel has all the believable bad decisions, the unflinching sex, the spunk, and polish of an authentic Gen-X memoir, but it's fiction.
East Bay Express |
John Minervini |
05-01-2008 |
Fiction
'The Ten Year Nap' Explores the 'Opt-Out Revolution'new
This is a novel of manners as much as a literary take on a sociological dilemma, and as a portrait of the modern heterosexual urban bourgeoisie, much of it is wickedly bang-on.
East Bay Express |
Jolisa Gracewood |
05-01-2008 |
Fiction
Dan Ariely Discovers There's a Science to People Doing Bad Thingsnew
The MIT behavioral economist conducts an ongoing series of experiments about human behavior.
Style Weekly |
Valley Haggard |
04-30-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Reading Between the Beats of 'Rollin' with Dre'new
Bruce Williams and Donnell Alexander's book is strange and sinister. What makes it strange is that it's actually about Williams, who worked as a bodyguard, valet, personal manager, and confidante for Dr. Dre.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
D. Scot Miller |
04-30-2008 |
Nonfiction
Rich Westcott's Bio of Roundball Legend Eddie Gottlieb is a Slam Dunknew
Westcott tracks down most of Gottlieb's surviving friends and players (he died in 1979 at age 81) to present an unusually well-rounded portrait.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Andrew Milner |
04-29-2008 |
Nonfiction
Mathematics Professor Manil Suri Finds Success in Novel Trilogynew
In his small, spare office in the inner halls of the UMBC Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Suri is carefully juggling two lives.
Baltimore City Paper |
John Barry |
04-29-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
A Resort Town Holds Out Hope in Kevin Henkes' New Novelnew
If topics like divorce and death sound heavy, Henkes' new young-adult novel, Bird Lake Moon, wears them surprisingly gently.
This Memoir from a Survivor of American Torture May Help U.S. Face Realitynew
Reading Five Years of My Life, I realized the situation at Guantanamo is both better and worse than I had feared -- worse because the torture is so severe, so constant, so senseless, and so institutionalized, and better because someone who was subjected to it has survived with his soul intact.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Hannah Tennant-Moore |
04-28-2008 |
Nonfiction
Chumash Dictionary Breathes Life into Moribund Languagenew
Thought to be dead for more 40 years, the last surviving branch of Chumash languages was merely dormant.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Ben Preston |
04-28-2008 |
Books
James Collins, the New Jane Austennew
Beginner's Greek is a romantic comedy, and as such it rewards virtue and punishes evil, ultimately smiling on Peter and providing this transcendent good guy with a tidy resolution that is satisfying, if not entirely surprising.
Nashville Scene |
Liz Garrigan |
04-28-2008 |
Fiction
