Below you'll find all my writing tagged with the word Novel. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.
I’m thinking about joining the ranks of those boring, jackassy literary pundits who warn about the impending death of something: publishing, the novel, the short story, the traditional book, and everything else you love hold dear. What am I declaring the death of? Story. Or at least good, engaging stories. Off the top of my [...]
Right before her ninth birthday, Rose has a bite of a lemon cake her mom baked. It was a practice cake to make sure the recipe was right for the big occasion, Rose’s birthday. In that bite, Rose is overcome with her mom’s feelings of loneliness and emptiness. Rose’s magical power — tasting the emotions [...]
Warning: Bold proclamation ahead, proceed with caution. Thus far, six months into the year, Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is my second favorite novel of 2010 (Peter Bognanni’s The House of Tomorrow is my favorite so far). A novel comprised of linked short stories that circle around record exec Bennie Salazar and [...]
Usually when I discover books based on the author’s Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay, it’s something about the music he or she choose that captures my attention. Or, most likely, the author picks music that I really like and I figure since they have good taste in music they must be able to write a [...]
Beezus is nine and she’s got a bratty handful of a four-year-old sister, Ramona. Beezus likes to embroider pot holders, read books, and take art classes. Ramona likes to ride her tricycle in the house while playing the harmonica, wander off in search of the end of the rainbow, and bug the crap out of [...]
Since I have encouraged everyone I know to go back and re-read the books they were younger, my Rock & Roll Bookclub chose J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey for our May read. It is one of my sister Ericka’s favorite books. I’m not entirely sure why, especially when you consider she’s a pretty devout Atheist. [...]
To be frank, Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder by Travis Nichols was one of those books that alternately charmed the hell out of me and annoyed the crap out of me. The story is told through a series of letters written to a Polish woman named Luddie. The letter-writer is an unnamed [...]
09Jan00, 6 p.m., Bowling Alley American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis So I am sitting here reading this book. I think Mom & Dad got it for me as a Christmas gift. I asked for the book based on a newsgroup reccomendation [sic]. So far it’s totally – eh. This guy — Ellis, wastes SO [...]
You know how sometimes you sit down with a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints with the intent of only having a few (and who knows why your brought the whole sleeve with you, but you did) and then a few hours later you seem to wake from a mint-cookie induced reverie to discover you’ve [...]
Had my Rock & Roll Bookclub not chosen The Lathe of Heaven as its May book I would have never read it. Science Fiction, or as the cool kids call it, Speculative Fiction has never been my thing. Aliens, dragons, spaceships, wizards, knights — none of it appeals to me in the least, not even [...]
Sometime around the time I read Blackbriar I decided it would be fun to revisit other books I loved while growing up. I wanted to see how the books held up, and find out how much I’d remembered. Second on this list of childhood favorites is Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. As [...]
My friend Steve asked me a few weeks ago if I ever read something just because the writing’s good. I can’t remember what exactly we were arguing about (and we were arguing because that’s all we ever do), but I remember my answer was an exasperated, “Duh, yes I do.” Of course I couldn’t think [...]
It’s a tricky thing, reviewing a book that’s a recommendation from a friend (or in this case an I Will Dare reader). Well, I guess it’s only tricky when you didn’t enjoy the book. If you liked it you’re in the clear. I’m not in the clear here. I picked up So Long, See You [...]
Instead of thrilling you with tall tales from crankdom, I am going to share something very special with you. It’s something I should have shared a long, long time ago (and in the world of Internet apparently April 13 is a long, long time ago, but maybe it just feels that way to me). For [...]
While slowly falling under the winsome spell of sixteen-year-old Sebastian Pendergrast, the main character in The House of Tomorrow, I made a crack about how an author could increase the chances of me liking his/her book by 38% merely by mentioning The Replacements. Author Peter Bognanni didn’t need the ‘Mats bump. His coming of age [...]
MN Reads PW.net
