New this week is Evelyn Toynton’s The Oriental Wife, a novel of Jewish refugees from Hitler’s Germany, landed in New York. Also out is Grant Morrison’s Supergods, a scholarly exploration of comic book superheroes.
Tuesday New Release Day: Toynton, Morrison
Elaine Hsieh Chou’s Accidental Satirical Novel
Elaine Hsieh Chou discussed her debut novel, Disorientation, elaborating on how she used humor and satire to tackle painful subjects.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Hill; Donohoe; Bausch; Hall & Hobbs
Out this week: The Nix by Nathan Hill; Ashes of Fiery Weather by Kathleen Donohoe; The Legend of Jesse Smoke by Robert Bausch; and Sex and Death, a new story anthology including pieces by Kevin Barry, Wells Tower and Yiyun Li. For more on these and other new titles, go read our Great Second-Half 2016 Book Preview.
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On The Emotional Dishonesty of Having a Thick Skin
At The Nervous Breakdown, Ronlyn Domingue’s honest and thoughtful “My Horrible New York Times Review” is a must-read for any writer who’s been rejected or ridiculed lately (and, really, who hasn’t been?)
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No Humans, Please
Richard Adams might be the only prominent author to make his name with a novel in which all of the main characters were rabbits. In The Guardian, he talks with Alison Flood about his classic Watership Down, explaining that he first came up with the plot while telling his children a story on a car ride.
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Steinbeck’s Journalism
For This Land Press, which you really should be checking out regularly, Millions contributor Brian Ted Jones looks into John Steinbeck’s work as a journalist, and also the “New Joads” of Oklahoma.
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Special Snowflakes
“There are people who believe that readers and writers—at least the right kind of readers and writers—are special snowflakes, existing on a more exalted plane than mere mortals. Book people are educated. They are privileged. They are brave enough to speak out when the emperor shows up naked. They sup on nectar from flowers grown on the sunny slopes of Mount Olympus, harvested by chiton-wearing MFA candidates.” Jennifer Weiner responds to bad Amazon reviews, book blogs, and elitist ” book people” in an essay for The New Republic. We especially enjoy the line about the chitons.
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Still Fighting It
The “Albums of Our Lives” series from The Rumpus has produced a couple gems. In this newest edition to the series, Andrea Laurion takes on the Ben Folds classic Rockin’ the Suburbs.