For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Censorship is something Thai American author Sunisa Manning is all too familiar with. Her thrilling and heartfelt debut novel A Good True Thai follows three young people whose paths converge at university leading up to the 1970s pro-democracy student movement in Thailand, their lives upended after a massacre of student demonstrators—a historical event that … Read more
[ad_1] Zuska Kepplová is a Slovak author, editor, and political commentator for the Slovakian daily newspaper SME. In 2011, her book Buchty švabachom was published in her home country, winning the Ján Johanides Prize and becoming shortlisted for the Anasoft Litera Prize, Slovakia’s most prestigious literary prize. Now, twelve years later, Buchty švabachom is available … Read more
[ad_1] In 1870, parole emerged as a progressive-era reform to a growing problem. Disillusioned with the spectacle of punishment, parole would return lawbreakers to full citizenship once they could prove they had changed. Their logic was simple. How could a judge at trial know a person’s capacity for change? If prisons were meant to rehabilitate … Read more
[ad_1] When I think “satire” as a genre of writing, I think The Onion, or McSweeny’s, maybe A Modest Proposal—writing that is upfront and obvious about its satire. But there’s another level of skill when a writer is able to weave in satire without it being the first thought you have when reading it. Jeremy … Read more
[ad_1] At the center of Hot Springs Drive, Lindsay Hunter’s latest novel, is a horrific murder in a suburban block of a Florida town. The reader enters the story from the point of view of the house in which Theresa is murdered; the novel then spirals out to explore who she was, both as a … Read more
[ad_1] Straw Dogs Of The Universe is a multigenerational epic packed with action and adversity— but its heroes are mere humans, who must rely on luck and grit for a chance to surmount the terror of being a Chinese migrant in 19th century California. Devalued by railroad bosses, enslaved by brothel owners, and hunted down … Read more
[ad_1] My first encounter with Elle Nash’s work was Animals Eat Each Other, and since then I’ve been hooked. Her short story collection, Nudes, broke my heart in the best way, and Gag Reflex (written in the style of a LiveJournal from 2005) delivers measured doses of eating disorder vulnerability amid tenuous teenage social structures. … Read more
[ad_1] I’d promised myself I would take a break from contributing for a few months, but broke that promise when I saw Etaf Rum’s Evil Eye on the list of September releases. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk to Etaf again, as we’d had such a great conversation in 2019 about her debut novel, … Read more
[ad_1] I tore through Nick Fuller Googins’s debut novel, The Great Transition, over spring break, which my family spent in Wilmington, NC, a beautiful coastal town that could be substantially submerged by high tides as early as 2030 and completely underwater by 2100 if current carbon emission rates continue. In The Great Transition, we meet … Read more
[ad_1] In Wine People, Michelle Wildgen dives into the rich and ruthless business of wine via the dueling perspectives of two young women working for a Manhattan importer. While steely, pragmatic Wren learns the nuances of wine buying from her quixotic mentor, Sonoma-bred Thessaly prides herself on delivering top sales numbers alongside an eclectic cast … Read more