 Over the last bunch of years Craig Nova has been faithfully publishing one novel after the other, each a little different than the last, and every book taking on a different topic. I discovered Mr. Nova with Incandescence, a truly great novel about a man realizing his limitations, and that life is short. Mr. Nova’s writing has expressed wonderful ideas about the human experience and how what we do everyday shapes us as much as it defines us to other people. I was thrilled when Craig agreed to answer a few questions.
JR: I’ve heard that you do a lot of research for each novel, what was involved with a book about Weimar Germany, set
Continue reading Interview with Craig Nova
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JE: We love the spirit of independence around here, and it gives us great pleasure to cover indie releases that may not have the benefit of 100k print runs, and deep publicity coffers, books that won’t get waterfront placement in the chains, titles you aren’t likely to read about in People Magazine, but you might, with a little luck, and some word of mouth, see on staff picks and book club walls and blogs across America.
So, I hit up every indie editor I know (every one of whom is way cool), and I asked them each to preview a title or three from their upcoming spring list. This is a really exciting, and startlingly diverse list of titles which totally confirms
Continue reading 3G1B Spring Indie Preview
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 JR: Leslie Jamison approached me a while back wanting to join in the When We First Fell In Love series, and I was glad to give her a spot. I just started reading The Gin Closet, and it’s a novel that sounds like a memoir, that’s not really a memoir. But I’ll have more later. Check out Leslie Jamison…you’ll be hearing more from her.
 Leslie Jamison – When We Fell in Love
For me, discovering Faulkner had the pacing of a summer romance. I found him one June and couldn’t think of much else until September. But if our introduction had the timing of a
Continue reading When We Fell In Love – Leslie Jamison
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 JR: For some reason Ms. Adams first novel, Harbor, slipped under my radar, and upon discovering The Room and the Chair, (thanks DH) I realized that it was impossible not to revisit her debut novel. I’m half way through The Room and the Chair right now, and I feel ashamed that it’s taken me this long to discover Ms. Adams and her quicksilver prose. She flirts with the thriller genre, while keeping the narrative grounded in Washington, DC, and doesn’t insult us with dyed in the wool characters we’ve seen before. I especially like Mabel, a central figure in this story, and her interactions with the men she stalks, Mabel is funny and sharp, painfully observant, and it’s this kind of writing that grabs me with an acute ferociousness, by reminding me that the literary novel is alive and well.
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 JC: John Dermot Woods’ The Complete Collection of People, Places and Things turned out to be one of the highlights of last year’s reading for me, serendipitously finding its way to my doorstep. The surreal little collection is a feast of animated language, whimsical tales and poignancy, and JDW’s many drawings throughout add to the fun. Here’s his contribution – prose and sketch – for our WWFIL series.
WHEN I FELL IN LOVE John Dermot Woods
The first time I read At Swim Two Birds, it took me two months to finish it, reading it every day. I was enamored with the idea of the book from the first scene of Dermot Trellis, the doomed author, whose
Continue reading When We Fell In Love – John Dermot Woods
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 JC: Roger Smith has been a friend here at Three Guys One Book, ever since our conversation about his debut thriller Mixed Blood in October 2008. That book’s seen great success, with its brutal action and dynamic revelation of Capetown’s dichotomy leading to rave reviews and film preproduction. He’s recently followed that up with a new novel, Wake Up Dead, another explosive thriller set among Capetown’s picturesque vistas and horrific underworld. He took the time to answer a few questions from DH and me.
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 JR: In the middle of last year I came upon a great collection of short stories from Steven Amsterdam; Things We Didn’t See Coming. I jumped on it and tried to get the word out early with a series of story reviews. It’s in the stores now, and Mr. Amsterdam is out on an author tour.
You can check his schedule here: www.stevenamsterdam.com and if you’re in NYC on Thursday Night, go down to Three Lives and Company on 10th Street in the West Village to see him read from his book.
Follow the links below to see previous reviews of Things We Didn’t See Coming:
Part I Part II
Part III
Continue reading Steven Amsterdam
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 JC: Lorraine Adam’s The Room and the Chair, just published this week, is getting some well-deserved praise from all quarters for her ambitious novel of war, politics, and journalism. She was gracious enough to field a few of Dennis’s questions:
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The issue of social class is certainly at play in the book. Americans like to think they live in a classless society but of course we don’t. Doug and Charlotte are both deeply imprinted by the class in which they grew up. They both have prejudices born of that experience. And some of their mutual animosity stems from that difference.
Continue reading Interview with Adam Haslett
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Photo by Saeed Mirfattah
JR: I first discovered Eric Puchner when his debut collection hit the big time, Music Through The Floor. It reminded me of a young Tobias Wolff, especially poignant and heartfelt, but cold with realism, maybe like Carver and Ford. I know that’s heavy praise, and his new novel, Model Home is about to hit the stores, so check out this essay, as a kind of preview…
The Stories of…
It’s hard for me to name a single book that made me want to be a writer, since every good book I finish makes me want to sit down and write, but I do remember the first one I fell in love with
Continue reading When We Fell In Love – Eric Puchner
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 I first discovered Elwood Reid with his collection of short stories, What Salmon Know. It’s a tight collection of realist fiction from the margins of America. Elwood continues to write books, and recently delivered the fantastic DB, which gives a fictional account of DB Cooper and what a great mystery he really became by jumping out of that plane. The story follows Cooper after the jump and imagines his life had he lived, well, I mean we all know he lived, right? Elwood was one of my first choices when we got this series going, and I’m thrilled he’s involved.
AIRSHIPS by Barry Hannah
I was an ex-jock slash bouncer slash carpenter getting my guts up to actually admit
Continue reading When We Fell In Love – Elwood Reid
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 JR: At this point you’re all hearing about The Imperfectionists, or you should be. You can read my review here. As soon as I heard about Tom Rachman and his brilliant debut I contacted him and he jumped at the chance to contribute to our When We Fell in Love series. I’m thrilled to have Mr. Rachman here on the blog, and hope everyone picks up his novel, it will blow you away.
Tom Rachman – When We Fell In Love
Books were spectators at my house, lining the walls of every room, an audience peering down on my childhood: books as thick as my thigh and books as thin as my finger, books on gardening and books on Hitler, books about
Continue reading When We Fell In Love – Tom Rachman
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Upcoming Posts
- “This Other Us” by Deborah Willis
- When We Fell In Love – Deborah Willis
- How to Live by Sarah Bakewell, revisited
- Hating Olivia by Mark SaFranko
- When We Fell In Love – Mark Safranko
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When We Fell In Love - Joshua Mohr
When We Fell in Love – Jonathan Evison
When We Fell In Love - Hesh Kestin
When We Fell In Love: David Zweig
When We Fell In Love - Lindsay Hunter
When We Fell In Love - Riley Michael Parker
When We Fell In Love - Gina Frangello
When We Fell In Love - Tatjana Soli
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