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This is Between Us

December 11, 2013

this is between us

  This is Between Us is an intimate look at the minutia that comprises a relationship. And not in that lovey-dovey, fictional way but in the real, confusing, tedious, painful way. Author Kevin Sampsell navigates the terrain of affairs, blended families, teenagers, and jealousy in quirky little vignettes. The story covers five years that begin as an affair on both sides, move ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, Pacific Northwest, Portland, Tin House

Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life

December 9, 2013

  Often, reviewing a book occurs only in the small space between book and reviewer. Meeting the author is a bonus but usually comes after the review is published when they are touring to promote the book. I was extremely fortunate, then to meet Dani Shapiro this week, before I finished my review. It is the equivalent of getting the answers to your calculus final before you ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Non-fiction Tagged: Atlantic Monthly Press, essays, event, writing

Guests on Earth

December 6, 2013

guests on earth

  Guests on Earth: A Novel by Lee Smith is the story of an orphan, thirteen-year-old Evalina Toussaint, who, after her mother dies, is sent to the Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, because she stops eating. Highland is a renowned mental health institution knowing for principles of healthful eating and activity as a cure for mental and emotional problems. It is ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1930s, historical fiction, Zelda Fitzgerald

Plainsong

December 2, 2013

Plainsong

  From an aerial satellite view one might think Holt, Colorado to be a town so tiny as to be without interest. That would be the case if not for Kent Haruf, who brings this town to quiet, poignant life in the novel Plainsong. There are the McPheron brothers, older farmers who have never married and still live life much as they always have. There is Guthrie, a teacher with two ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, literary, the West, Vintage

Want Not

November 26, 2013

want not

In his new novel, Want Not, author Jonathan Miles explores the concept of wanting in contemporary American society. The story moves between the disparate lives of three groups: Elwin Cross, an overweight linguist professor whose wife has recently left him for a chef; Talmadge and Micah, a young freegan couple squatting in a tenement in Manhattan; and Sue, a 9/11 widow, her ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, literary

The Valley of Amazement

November 18, 2013

Valley of Amazement

  Amy Tan is another author returning this year after a multi-year absence. In The Valley of Amazement she weaves a tapestry of the lives of three generations of women, one silken thread at a time. The novel is a portrait of life in a courtesan house in Shanghai at the turn of the century. Violet’s mother, Lucia, is the proprietor. As she is growing-up Violet believes that ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: China, cultural, ecco, historical fiction

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