For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] It was the cover of Marissa Higgins’ debut novel A Good Happy Girl that initially caught my eye: a young woman in profile, mouth open so wide her jaw nearly distends as she devours a burger. It speaks to the unbridled need in its pages, and I knew, right away, I had to read … Read more
[ad_1] Jonathan Corcoran has been writing about West Virginia and Appalachia since before I met him. We were both attending graduation programs at Rutgers University–Newark. After graduating, we continued meeting semi-regularly for an informal writing workshop where we would critique each other’s work and gossip about writers we knew. It was here, nine years ago, … Read more
[ad_1] The much acclaimed—but sadly now shuttered—Andersonville restaurant Passerotto delivered checks to their patrons inside used paperbacks. What a novel idea (forgive me)! While it likely wasn’t their intention, the practice had the potential to introduce diners to new books and new writers. One night my check happened to be delivered in Ben Tanzer’s Lost … Read more
[ad_1] Imagine that humans have ceased to reproduce successfully. A giant—and eventually sentient—metal womb takes over human reproduction, gestating what she thinks of as “would-be-future-humans” until they are ready for harvesting. The hatch that opens her gestation tank remains closed, though. The metal womb has realized that the cycle of seeding and gestating and harvesting, … Read more
[ad_1] Bronx-born, Miami-based Andrew Boryga was working on his debut novel…but something wasn’t working. He knew his main characters like the back of his hand, but he was still struggling to find the plot of the novel. Rather than continue to look within, he looked around to society—and realized a lot of what he saw … Read more
[ad_1] I first fell in love with Katya Apekina’s writing a decade ago, when I read her short story about a girl who loses her best friend to the convent. It was humorous and immersive, yet despite the humor, it elicited a depth of feeling that has stayed with me for many years. I have … Read more
[ad_1] When Laura Chow Reeve and I first met in 2022, we were students at the same low-residency MFA program, Randolph College. We workshopped pieces of novels in progress and learned from many brilliant faculty mentors. Now, in 2024, Laura is a graduate of the program and is celebrating the publication of her debut short … Read more
[ad_1] Ghost Pains is author Jessi Jezewska Stevens’ third book and first story collection. Propulsive, reflective, and at times sharply comic, Stevens’ short fiction is characterized by her precise, original prose and striking moments of observation and insight. The protagonists of her stories, equal parts aloof and earnest, at times resemble the leads in her … Read more
[ad_1] This American Ex-Wife is a book about the end of a marriage, and the end of the institution of marriage. Lyz Lenz mixes memoir and reporting to lay bare the inequities entrenched within heterosexual marriages and the inequities that marriage helps to entrench—70% of divorces are initiated by women, many of them caused not … Read more
[ad_1] Whenever I meet writers who are from my home state of Texas, I have an immediate desire to grasp their hands and talk for long hours about thunderstorms and cicadas and BBQ. And how these elements overwhelm the writing brain and find their way onto the page, regardless of any attempts otherwise. This is … Read more