FullReviews Index
'Oblivion' - Book Review
One of the most prodigiously talented and original writers at work today returns with his first new fiction in five years. In the stories that make up Oblivion, David Foster Wallace joins the rawest, most naked humanity with the infinite involutions of self-consciousness-a combination that is dazzlingly, uniquely his. These are worlds undreamt-of by any other mind.
The PEN/ O. Henry Prize Stories 2009
Each year since 1919, the O. Henry Prizes have been awarded to some of the previous year's most outstanding short fiction. Edited by Laura Furman, 'The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009' lives up to its literary legacy by bringing together twenty knockout stories that will take readers around the world and into the lives of its fascinating characters.
Demons in the Spring
Joe Meno's characters are dying. Or else they're heartbroken, or they're lonely, or dangerously disturbed. This is perhaps an overgeneralization, but 'Demons in the Spring' has an aura of sadness and despair about it unlike any novel or collection of stories I've ever read.
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
In his outstanding debut story collection, 'Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned,' Wells Tower captures a variety of experience that is as far-ranging as it is close to home. These stories of Viking marauders, teenage girls, and fractured families are violent and tender. They're stories told with the kind of honesty that makes us see our worst selves in the best possible light.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2008
George Pelecanos edits this 12 installment of stories that while generally falling into the realm of mystery, refuse to be further categoized.
Sherlock Holmes in America
Why has Sherlock Holmes captured the imagination of readers for more than one hundred years? Once again a new edition of Holmes stories has come before us with tales that are a treat to the eye and ear. In 'Sherlock Holmes in America' there are 16 new stories, along with an introduction and two concluding essays.
The Best American Short Stories 2008
Edited by Salman Rushdie, 'The Best American Short Stories 2008' will provoke, amuse, stun and mystify readers as they carom from story to story, traveling from the mundane to the supernatural, from the banal to the absurd.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
'The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008' features fiction, nonfiction, journalism, comics, and humor and is doubtlessly the most eclectic of Houghton Mifflin's Best American series. It grew out of the 826 Valencia project, a writing workshop for teens that Dave Eggers founded in San Francisco's Mission District. While there's something in this collection for everybody, found that the selection of fiction was overshadowed by the remarkable nonfiction inclusions.
Pretty Monsters
'Pretty Monsters,' Kelly Link's third collection of short stories, is billed as her first for young adult readers, though it works just fine on adults as well. It's an eclectic mix of fantasy, science fiction, and horror with stops all along the fear meter. Kelly Link is a gifted story-teller. If you're not yet familiar with her work, it's time you get that way.
Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri's second collection of short stories, "Unaccustomed Earth," finds her at the rising peak of her literary powers. These stories are longer (nearly novella length in some cases) than those in "Interpreter of Maladies," her Pulitzer Prize collection of short stories. These new stories reveal a clear progression of her literary power from that first collection to her first novel, "The Namesake," to now.
Wifeshopping: Stories
The men in 'Wifeshopping' have ideas about what they want in a soul mate, or what they think they should want. They may even have fiancees or girlfriends. But in Steven Wingate's thirteen short stories, the relationships-whether real or imagined-face what Amy Hempel describes in her foreword as "The Flaw, the excuse to back out, to tear down the picture of a life together."
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008
The O. Henry Prize Stories series has an extensively proven track record (89 years) in the selection of terrific short prose, and the pieces in the 2008 volume uphold that reputation. In her choices, series editor Laura Furman casts a wide net with respect to setting, narration, characters, etc. Some are the work of well-known writers - Alice Munro, Ha Jin, Edward P. Jones, Mary Gaitskill - others come from relative newcomers.
No One Belongs Here More Than You
As an artist, Miranda July defines eclectic. In 2005 she won the Camera d'Or prize at Cannes for her film "Me and You and Everyone You Know." She is a performance artist, a musician, and a writer of short fiction, and she has met with success in all of these ventures. In 2002, she collaborated with artist Harrell Fletcher on learningtoloveyoumore.com, an ingenious participatory web site. "No One Belongs Here More Than You" is July's award-winning debut collection of short fiction.
Animals of the Ocean, In Particular the Giant Squid
Animals of the Ocean, In Particular the Giant Squid, advances many heretofore unexplored discoveries and opinions, including squid dating dos and don'ts, why squid are not at all able to watch television in black and white, the ways in which people who don't know any better might think fish are not animals, the long-term effects of salt water on musical theater, and also the adventure of Günther.
Fragile Things
Fragile Things, Gaiman's second collection of short fiction, contains approximately twenty previously published pieces of short fiction -- stories, verse, and an American Gods novella -- plus one new piece written especially for this volume.
The Nimrod Flipout
The Nimrod Flipout is the latest collection from acclaimed Israili writer, Etgar Keret. Already featured on This American Life and L.A. Weekly, Keret's short stories include a man who finds equal pleasure in his beautiful girlfriend and the fat, soccer-loving lout she turns into after dark; shrinking parents; a case of impotence cured by a pet terrier; and a pessimistic Middle Eastern talking fish.
Men and Cartoons
Jonathan Lethem is the author of six novels, including the bestsellers The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named novel of the year by Esquire. Sparkling with off-beat humor and subtle insights that have made Lethem one of today's most highly praised writers, the stories in MEN AND CARTOONS will delight Lethem's legion of fans and appeal to a host of new readers.
In Persuasion Nation
In Persuasion Nation is the latest collection of stories from acclaimed writer, George Saunders. "The Red Bow,"about a town consumed by pet-killing hysteria, won a 2004 National Magazine Award and "Bohemians," the story of two supposed Eastern European widows trying to fit in in suburban USA, is included in The Best American Short Stories 2005. His new book includes both unpublished work, and stories that first appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, and Esquire.
McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories
Michael Chabon is back with a brandnew collection that reinvigorates the stayupallnight, edgeofthe seat, fingernailbiting, pageturning tradition of literary short stories, featuring Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Peter Straub, David Mitchell, Jonathan Lethem, Heidi Julavits, Roddy Doyle, and more in McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories.
How We Are Hungry
Dave Eggers' 'How We Are Hungry" is a group of stories written over the past four years including many never-before-published stories, along with a number of pieces that first appeared in magazines, both well known (Zoetrope, The New Yorker) and small and independent (h2s04, Ninth Letter). The urgency and experimentalism of Eggers's earlier work are still present; Narratives are often linear, told by distinct and varied voices, and settings stretch from Egypt to Interstate 5.
A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by Joseph Cornell
Inspired by Cornell's avian-themed boxes, and suspecting that they would be similarly (and diversely) inspiring to others, Jonathan Safran Foer began to write letters. From Joyce Carol Oates to Robert Pinsky, Rick Moody to Lydia Davis, twenty writers have generously contributed original pieces of prose and poetry that are as eclectic as they are imaginative. Accompanied by tipped-on plates, this volume is a soaring tribute - not only to the work of Joseph Cornell, but to the spirit of creation.
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005
Series editor Laura Furman--a novelist, short story writer, and teacher--has read more than a thousand stories to identify the twenty winners, each one a potential classic. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005 also contains brief essays from each of the three jurors on their favorite story, and comments from the prize-winning writers on the inspiration for their stories. There is nothing like the ever rich, surprising, and original O. Henry collection for celebrating the contemporary short story.
The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms
The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms is a uniquely-themed anthology in that it's theme is the reader. This compendium offers reading material to fill those moments of waiting for something to happen. Organized by the time that the reader has available at that moment, the anthology provides a poem for that elevator ride to the lawyer's office; a short story for the thirty-minute commute; a novella for the three-hour plane ride.