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...
Ed King
My conscience says that I should start with a Spoiler Alert but with a condition: this book’s plot will only be news to you if you’ve never read Sophocles or heard of an oedipal complex or if you don’t read dust jackets. Now that I’ve covered myself liability-wise here’s what you need to know, David Guterson’s Ed King is his re-imagining of the tale of Oedipus Rex. ... Read More...
The Dovekeepers
I’ve read enough Alice Hoffman to believe that she is one of the world’s best writers about women. Her plots may be fantastical but even as her female characters behave in magical and mystical ways their deepest mystery lies in their female essence. Imagine then, taking a subject as masculine and obscure as the decimation of the Jews at the siege of Masada- the ... Read More...
