Harold Pinter was one of my favorite playwrights. We studied his play “Betrayal” and I wondered what kind of person could write such realistic dialogue with strong, almost mighty, subtext. Actors loved his plays because the subtext allowed them to create a situation that could be completely opposite the dialogue. My theory on Pinter is [...]
About: Amy Abts
I was looking for a big juicy well-written novel to start out my 2012. This wasn’t it. My first impressions were hopeful: big, yes, at 609 pages. Juicy? Yes – female lead character who starts as a humble seamstress ends up a spy. Well-written? Not so much. It could be the translation, but by the [...]
How do you go about writing a character as large as Ernest Hemingway? If you are Paula McLain, you write him as a romantic from the view of his first wife, Hadley. Well, at first he’s a romantic. Those who know the story know it doesn’t turn out well. In her first novel, The Paris [...]
These are the books that left the most lasting impressions on me this year. In no particular order: 1. Just Kids by Patti Smith — Just beautiful. 2. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green, David Levithan — This one made me so happy. 3. Anthropology of An American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann — [...]
This series is the dim sum of anthologies. Short stories, lists, magazine articles and snippets of graphic novels are chosen by two groups of high school students. Where did they get such good taste at such a young age? The Nonrequired Reading edition of the Best American series is released annually and edited by Dave [...]
The cover is ugly. The spine features Jonathan Franzen’s name in big block letters, dwarfing the title. I was already sick of the whole Franzen phenomena before I started reading. I barely remember The Corrections, just that the characters weren’t very likeable. After the first twenty pages I wondered if he could keep the whole [...]
Duluth is the perfect place to set a murder. You’ve got Lake Superior, extreme weather, fascinating history, more lakes, bridges, lots of rocks, tourism and poverty side by side, and big (sometimes tall) ships. Every time something strange happens to me or my friends in Duluth I think, “This would make an awesome horror movie [...]
I first got interested in J.M Barrie’s involvement with the DuMaurier family after I learned Daphne DuMaurier’s (the famous novelist of Rebecca among others) cousins were the boys Peter Pan was based on. I got more intrigued when I found out Peter’s namesake, Pete Llewelyn Davies, killed himself by jumping in front of a train [...]
The Best Books Amy Read in 2009
{Best of: A.M. Homes, Arthur Phillips, Best Books of 2009, Cormac McCarthy, Dan Chaon, Elizabeth Strout, Lorrie Moore, Mary Karr, Roberto Bolano, Saffire, Tom Piazza}
My list is not that original, you may find many of these books on other best of lists for 2009, but hopefully that’s because they are good books. I’m behind the times with two of these titles – The Road and Push – but they both left lasting impressions on me this year. Here you [...]
Cassette From My Ex edited by Jason Bitner
{Non-Fiction: Essays, Jason Bitner, Rob Sheffield, Starlee Kind, Todd Bachmann}
Cassette mix tapes are a generational thing. My parents didn’t make them, probably because they had those crappy 8-tracks. At least they had vinyl. I made tons of mix tapes for practically anyone I met. I started when I was 14. This book features all kinds of mix tapes, but it will be best enjoyed [...]
note: no spoilers! When philosopher Samuel Taylor coined the term “suspension of disbelief” he intended it to be about the writer rather than the reader. Today, and in this review, it is geared toward the reader. You will need a very large dose of suspension of disbelief for this novel. I was perfectly willing to [...]
I bet a ton of lady musicians my age (early thirties) are wishing they had this DIY manual when they were fifteen or so. I know I do. There has been a gap in rock and roll writing by women and for women for many years. Jessica Hopper fills that gap with this fact-filled, witty [...]
For a first novel, Some Things that Meant the World to Me, Joshua Mohr has created a completely original character in Rhonda, a 30 year old suffering from depersonalization. The first two chapters are pretty brutal – Rhonda chronicles the abuses brought upon him by his mother and his mother’s boyfriend. He reveals these experiences [...]
This is a very different kind of novel. The circumstances of publishing 2666 were unusual because Bolano died shortly after completing it. He wanted it to be published in five different volumes, each a novel in their own right, published in a specific order. There is speculation that this had a practical reason: providing for [...]
I put off reading this book because the double marketing reeked of self promotion. For those who don’t know, David Sheff and his son released two memoirs about his son’s addiction to crystal meth at the same time. They received quite a sales push from Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, and did I hear they were [...]
Imagine this: You are adopted. At 31, you find out your biological mother is looking for you. You meet her and she is a loony. The Mistress’s Daughter is A.M. Homes’ story. I won’t even start about her biological father, you will have to read it. Homes’ has a knack for not mincing words. Ever. [...]
