Month: July 2012

Books I Know – The Pile, Part 1

It’s embarrassing. What I have in front of me would shock you. First, Maria Semple has a new book about to hit shelves, Where’d You Go Bernadette, (Little Brown), and if you follow the blog, you know I love Maria in a sisterly way.…

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Expectations by Peter Stamm

From We’re Flying, Stories by Peter Stamm, Translated by Michael Hofmann. Other Press, August, 2012 When I read “Expectations”, the first story in the collection, We’re Flying, I was surprised to discover that I was reading a tightly told tale of erotic bliss.…

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Newsroom

Watching TV used to be fun. Now it seems like there isn’t a damn thing worth watching. Unless you count Don Draper, which really is the only thing worth watching.…

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Forty Stories

free download: Forty Stories Harper Perennial has risen to the very top of my list of great publishers. They do it right, from publishing writers in trade paper and making it work, (Matt Norman, Domestic Violets – Elizabeth Crane and We Only Know So Much) while bringing some kick ass fiction into a world filled with distractions.…

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The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham

The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham consists of seven associated stories which are all called “The News from Spain”.There’s an opening quote from Robert Calasso’s The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony…in diverging stories, all others are reflected.…

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The Pile – July

It is a daunting task to look over the piles of books around my apartment. There, I said it. Daunting. Currently as a reader I’ve got my eye on NW, by the crazy talent Zadie Smith, I’m edging towards Annie Wilkes territory now, I know.…

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