Disturbing the Peace by Richard Yates
I put off reading Revolutionary Road for years. That car on the cover, it haunted me, and then a few years back I picked it up upon hearing the news that it was going to be a movie.…
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Author: Jason Rice
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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Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller
I was introduced to Jennifer Miller at the book release party for Emily St. John Mandel’s latest masterpiece, The Lola Quartet.…
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Interpreters of Men Get It On by Fiona Maazel
I’m a big giant fan of Fiona Maazel. Her debut novel Last Last Chance, published by FSG in 2009 is a slithering gem.…
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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 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.…
Read MoreGirls – HBO
It took me a while to figure this show out, and I’m not sure I can say one way or the other that I “get it”.…
Read MoreWhy Revising Your Novel is like wanting to Throw Up.
Very Unphotogenic and I are continuing the talk about things that interest us. Cleary; revising a novel holds no sway, for us…at all.…
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This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman
It was hard not to compare This Beautiful Life to The Privileges, which I hated, beyond anything I’ve hated in a long time.…
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When We Fell In Love: Elizabeth Crane
JR: I loved Ms. Crane’s novel, We Only Know So Much, and she jumped at the chance to write our favorite essay.…
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We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane
Elizabeth Crane has worked tirelessly over the years, teaching, writing stories, and We Only Know so Much should be her breakout.…
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Children by Ferdinand von Schirach
from Guilt: Stories by Ferdinand von Schirach This is a stop what you’re doing, find this story, read it, come back to this review, kind of story.…
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When We Fell In Love – Alix Ohlin
Alix Ohlin has two books coming out, one after the other. She was kind enough to give us this great piece of writing.…
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DNA by Ferdinand von Schirach
from Guilt: stories by Ferdinand von Schirach There seems to be nothing left in this story except the awful qualities of other people, and how they go from sad to worse.…
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Funfair by Ferdinand von Schirach
from Guilt: stories by Ferdinand von Schirach Silly me, once again, the New York Times has to tell me about an author.…
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A Map Of Modern Palm Springs by Emma Straub
From Other People We Married: Stories, by Emma Straub “Lets go interact with some nature.” The two sisters of this story, who meet in Palm Springs for vacation, don’t really like each other.…
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Lola Quartet by Emily St John Mandel
Recall the first time you saw The Indian Runner, or Rumble Fish. If you are anything like me, it was a chemical experience, and you left the theater changed right down to your fibers.…
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Interview with Emily St John Mandel
JC: While several of the guys have loved Emily St. John Mandel’s novels, Last Night in Montreal and The Singer’s Gun, JR has been singing her praises far and wide for years.…
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Rosemary, from Other People We Married, by Emma Straub
from Other People We Married by Emma Straub “Did you hire a psychic?” When Matt realizes that his wife Claire has hired a woman who claims to be an animal psychic, he’s less than pleased at how she spends her days and their money.…
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Some People Must Really Fall In Love by Emma Straub
from Other People We Married by Emma Straub “Just because something was impossible didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.” Which sort of says it all about my relationship with this book.…
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Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
It is a glorious thing, this repackage. Beyond wow. I never knew Updike very well, his writing was always something off in the distance, on a road I never traveled.…
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