The literary world can like an infinite sea of ideas: walk into a bookstore and the thousands of titles on display—which are only the tip of the bookberg bobbing under the surface—is overwhelming in the best way. You might imagine the chances of two novels written by different people, at different times, and for different reasons being […]
Fans of beach reads: start your engines! It may not be officially summer yet, but a pair of fresh, fabulous novels set in Nantucket and Sullivan Island will kick off the season perfectly. Add in a tear-jerker about a dog’s journey, two short story collections (courtesy of Haruki Murakami and Richard Russo), and some fascinating […]
Jill Eisenstadt’s debut, From Rockaway, was bound by the nihilistic routines of a trio of lifeguards who spend their summers surveying New York’s Rockaway Beach. Though still young, their lives already seem decided, split between watching the waves and working blue-collar jobs in the cold months. Her latest, Swell, returns to the shore thirty years […]
Cherry blossoms, sunshine, the smell of cut grass, and fresh new books from fabulous authors mean it must be spring. This year, short story collections are all the rage, along with historical fiction, family dramas, and a sophomore thriller from Paula “Girl on the Train” Hawkins. Even Michael Crichton has a new book out. Whether you’re in […]
Haruki Murakami is one of those writers who’s tipped each year as a Nobel contender; widely acclaimed as a genius, his distinctive magical-realist style is both deceptively simple and dense, delving into the interior lives of his characters in a very literal fashion. He’s a writer whose work seems to speak personally to everyone who reads […]