For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] There’s something distinctly aspirational about the titles of Lydia Kiesling’s two novels thus far. If judging on that alone, you’d be forgiven for missing their satirical bent. First was The Golden State in 2018, which bears the nickname of its California setting, but whose story of a young mother searching for a haven for … Read more
[ad_1] Kyle Dillon Hertz’s The Lookback Window starts in paradise. Or rather, it starts in a clothing-optional resort in South Florida. I found it apt to open the book here, a space of artificial beauty and peacefulness built directly on a foundation of unspoken terrors, all of which are fated to be erased by the … Read more
[ad_1] Chicago’s inaugural Poet Laureate avery r. young is as remarkable, and multitudinous, and mesmerizing, as the city itself. His poetry is equally generative and multifaceted, and extends far beyond specific boundaries of language, music, performance, and visual art. At an essential level, young is both a remarkable individual, impassioned creator, and committed collaborator whose … Read more
[ad_1] Each story in Drew Buxton’s debut collection, So Much Heart, puts readers right into the thick of its author’s obsessions, an intoxicating blend of cryptozoology, hucksters, and stray bits of Americana that prompt grandiose delusions of wealth and success from their wayward protagonists. Whether they’re selling the stolen sperm of Sea World Tulsa’s beloved … Read more
[ad_1] In her new novel The Possibilities, Yael Goldstein-Love draws on neuroscience, quantum theory, and her background as a therapist to communicate the disorienting, terrifying experience of new motherhood. From the opening description of a traumatic birth in which it is not clear whether the child survives, this compelling and surreal narrative forces the reader … Read more
[ad_1] A good short story can feel like a mystical experience, or leave a reader remorseful, longing. Kate Doyle’s debut is a collection of such stories, linked in subtle ways, that perfectly encapsulate what it’s like to reflect on your youth while you’re still in it. The young women in these stories are on the … Read more
[ad_1] In The Librarianist, the latest novel from Patrick deWitt—author of The Sisters Brothers, French Exit—Bob Comet, a 71-year-old retired librarian, has chosen to spend the majority of his life reading, sequestering himself cozily in the pages of the world’s great literature. In his younger days, after Bob’s best friend Ethan had a marriage-destroying affair … Read more
[ad_1] Sarah Viren’s new book, To Name the Bigger Lie, pushes us to re-examine what it means to tell the truth, one gorgeous sentence at a time. The two narratives—one of her high school humanities teacher and his tendency towards conspiracy theories—and the other, a piece about a false Title IX complaint against her wife … Read more
[ad_1] In 2016, Fiona Davis made a big splash on the historical fiction scene with her debut novel, The Dollhouse. Set at a landmark building that played an essential role in the history of New York City—in this case, the Barbizon Hotel for Women, a temporary home for women from Grace Kelly to Joan Didion—The … Read more
[ad_1] Julia Fine is back. I wouldn’t say she necessarily went anywhere – she’s steadily published novels since her debut in 2018 – but with her most recent, Maddalena and the Dark, she’s triumphantly returning to your bookshelves with her signature dark feminist speculative fiction. And it’s a masterpiece. Set in 18th century Venice, Maddalena … Read more