Love, Death, and Everything In Between in Louise Erdrich’s ‘Python’s Kiss’
The book makes for an alluring baker’s dozen of this Pulitzer Prize-wining author’s short fiction.
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new books
A Newlywed Goes Missing in John Banville’s ‘Venetian Vespers’
'Venetian Vespers' is proof yet again that John Banville is a wizard with the English language.
A Daughter Makes the Case for John Cheever in ‘When All the Men Wore Hats’
Cheever reinforced his brand as the “bard of the suburbs” (most particularly, Westchester County, where many of his characters lived).
Murder in New York, With Side Dishes of Curry and Pluck, in ‘Midnight Taxi’
The Midnight Taxi, a debut legal thriller-mystery novel by Yosha Gunasekera, a Sri Lankan-American attorney, is a charming tale of a cab driver falsely accused of killing a fare in her own vehicle.
Exploring the Highs and Lows of the Writing Life in Susan Orlean’s Eloquent ‘Joyride’
In case we don’t get the point, Orlean (author of 'The Orchard Thief' and 'The Library Book'), reminds us numerous times that she falls into one of two categories of writers: “those who have something they want to say to the world, and … those who believe the world has something to tell them. I’m wholly of the second sort.”
Desperate Times, Desperate People in Brad Watson’s Riveting ‘There Is Happiness’
Watson excels in creating a tight range of characters, mostly men in small towns who hunt and drink, and whose self-awareness is sometimes lacking. His vision, however bleak, is laced with humor—no small achievement.
New Novel Details Hilarious Romp Through the Sordid Lives of Oscar Wilde and His Clan
“‘So much sordidness,’ agrees Arthur, relapsing into his chair. ‘It quite saps a fellow.’”What fatigues Arthur proves to be of sheer delight for readers. With no disregard for the novel’s considerable literary merit, The Wildes is, above all else, splendidly entertaining.
Exploring the Ripple Effect of Serial Murders in Fiona McFarlane’s ‘Highway Thirteen’
The fictional killer, an itinerant taxi driver named Paul Biga, is arrested and convicted of committing 12 murders in and around the Barrow State Forest region between 1990 and 1997. The stories in Highway Thirteen flit in and out of that timeframe.