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Franzen's 'Freedom' rings true
Interview by Alden MudgeNine years have passed since the publication of Jonathan Franzen’s monumental novel The Corrections. That book, a National Book Award winner, remains one of the best and most popular American works of literary fiction of this new century. And it casts a long shadow over any piece of…
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An author with a magical touch
Interview by Linda M. CastellittoYou don’t need a big travel budget to have adventures—just ask Ingrid Law. The author has taken many a day trip from her home in Boulder, Colorado, to nearby small towns, excursions that inspired the settings for her Newbery Honor book, …
Featured ReviewHappiness hides in plain sightIn François Lelord’s utterly charming Hector and the Search for Happiness, a psychiatrist wants to know what makes people happy. He visits friends and keeps a list of observations—comparing your toys with a friend’s toys can make you unhappy, sun and sand can make anyone happy, happiness is caring for the people you love. Wealth and status seem to hurt some of the psychiatrist’s friends; for example, a businessman works 80 hours a week and becomes dependent on alcohol. Other characters have a gift for happiness: The psychiatrist encounters laughing, impoverished people at a picnic and wonders how they can overlook their own suffering and experience pleasure. Most notably, a very ill friend of the psychiatrist is able to forget that she is dying, enjoy her… Read More… |
Visit Our BlogAnnie Proulx memoir to look forward to in 2011
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Fall fictionThe 'Waiting to Exhale' ladies are back, and it's midlife crisis timeTerry McMillan may not be the most lyrical of novelists, but she does one thing very well, and it must be the key to her success: She’s fantastic at capturing the lives of certain African-American women. These women are middle or upper class, suburban, well-educated and take their right to be treated as full and intelligent human beings as a given. Still, there’s room… Read More… |
Web exclusives!Tasting the many flavors of lifeWeb exclusiveThe follow-up to Monique Truong’s stunning first novel, The Book of Salt, proves the best-selling author has not only staying power, but also a wealth of interests and experiences upon which to draw. Whereas her debut explored the lives of historical figures in 1930s Paris, her sophomore work, Bitter in the Mouth, brings readers into a small and…
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Can't miss readsIn search of her father's past, Bijou finds herselfSix months after her father’s death, American-born Bijou Roy travels to India to scatter her Indian father’s ashes in the Hooghly River. Clutching a box containing her father’s remains, she wades in to fulfill a tradition she is not familiar with and does not fully understand. Read More… |
New in nonfictionTaking lessons from ants, fish and termitesWeb exclusiveIf you’ve ever lived in a house made of wood and found one termite, you likely recall finding thousands more attempting to make brunch out of your walls. They are a threat and a nuisance, not to mention totally gross. While they freely gnaw on your home, however, the method termites use to design their own living space—with intake and outflow holes for air, to create…
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Tops for teensWhen all else is gone, can love linger on?Web exclusive
Linger, the much-anticipated sequel to Maggie Stiefvater’s New York Times bestseller Shiver, finds Grace and Sam still in love—and still human. While Sam tries to convince himself that the cure he endured at the end of Shiver actually did turn him from a werewolf back into a human being, Grace continues to struggle with her relationship…
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Best betsExtraordinary, unforgettable debutEvery decade or so, I find a novel that I sense, just by reading the basic description, will become unforgettable; after reading only 20 pages of The Gendarme, my impression was confirmed with great force. For this decade, and this reader, The Gendarme is that extraordinary, unforgettable novel, set during the Armenian genocide, a divisive,… Read More… |
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