The mountain grows. It’s ripe for picking, certainly.
At the Norton booth last week I picked up the much-anticipated August and Then Some, by David Prete. It sounds good, but I know I won’t read it before it goes on sale in April.
Harper keeps me well oiled with books, recent trade paper releases that I missed in cloth, This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman, and The Sisters Brothers. I know Patrick Dewitt will read this and wonder why I haven’t read his Man Booker Prize nominated second novel, seeing as I loved his breakout debut, Ablutions.
I finally got my hands on the much talked about Other People We Married by Emma Straub, and it sits quietly on my desk like a coiled snake. She’s everywhere, and seems to be more plugged in with what’s going on in the book world than almost anyone I know. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read this collection yet.
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter is glimmering, a brand new novel from the guy who wrote The Zero and the much-loved The Financial Lives of Poets, which JE adored.
We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane is following me around my apartment, and making me read it. I started the Richard Ford on the plane, and can’t believe how good it is.
A late entry into the pile is The Last Trade, the debut novel by James Conway, who is a friend of the blog under another name. The book is a cold cock to the head, really ass- kicking and entertaining. I’m sure you’ll see and hear lots about it in the coming weeks and everywhere at BEA.
I can’t go another day without mentioning that I have The Patrick Melrose novels in my possession, not that it’s a great surprise, but it is to me as this writing feels like a gunshot in a dark room.
. . . reading beautiful ruins right now in my hotel room, JR, and it seriously rules! . . . walter is the man . . .
. . . oh, and i read the last trade, too, and i literally COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN– sorta’ pissed me off, since it was the only sunny day in three weeks and i wanted to be hiking!