I’m fairly certain that Tolstoy spent less time on War & Peace then I have spent trying to review Gossip. My problem is this: on the surface you have a cool-toned, witty look at three women living in the upper echelon of New York society. They are each interesting, diverse women, wearing fabulous clothes, and if that’s all you need from a book, then stop right here and go ... Read More...
Tigers in Red Weather
In Tigers in Red Weather It’s 1945 and in a small apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts cousins Nick and Helena prepare to celebrate the end of the war and the beginning of their lives. Helena is leaving to be with her new husband, Avery, an insurance salesman in Hollywood and Nick is heading to Florida to rejoin her husband, returning naval officer, Hughes. As the years pass ... Read More...
Author Reading: Claire McMillan
On Thursday I attended a reading at Powell’s by Claire McMillan of her debut novel Gilded Age. The event was a happy confluence of author reading and college reunion, as McMillan went to school at the University of Oregon. It gave the evening a convivial feel not always found at readings. Not that they’re ever drama laced events but, depending on the author, the feel can ... Read More...
The Darlings
Typically by the time Sol was pitching an exit strategy, the client was already so far in the woods that they had lost sight of any ambient light long ago. Sol’s job was to lead them out of the darkness. Before becoming an author, Cristina Alger was an analyst at Goldman Sachs and an attorney. This is important because her pedigree means that her debut novel The ... Read More...
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Was it The Rapture or not? This is the launch point for Tom Perrotta’s new novel The Leftovers and his take on the possibly apocryphal event is so well done it’s one more reminder to me that I’ll never be a novelist. This theme has been cartoonized by every fundamentalist/zombie writer in the world with heavy emphasis on the horror and suffering that such an event would ... Read More...
The Submission by Amy Waldman
An anonymous competition to design the 9/11 memorial in NYC. A panel of 13 judges including the widow of a man who died in one of the towers. A winner who turns out to be a Muslim. With these straightforward facts begins a book that is anything but straightforward: Amy Waldman's debut novel, The Submission. Even at first glance it's clear that the opportunity for ... Read More...
