In no specific order: In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami: Kenji is a young guide who takes tourists through Tokyo’s seedy underground. It’s an illegal job that brings him into contact with the seemingly plastic-faced and socially awkward Frank, whom Kenji suspects is a murderer. This book is absolutely chilling. In my favorite scene, [...]

Best of Andrew Davidson, Arthur Phillips, Best Books of 2009, Charlotte Roche, E.L. Doctorow, Jonathan Safran Foer, Josh Bazell, justin evans, lucinda rosenfeld, Ryu Murakami

How fortuitous. E.L. Doctorow’s novel Homer & Langley was released just as hoarding has become the OCD d’jour. In this novelette, Doctorow tweaks the legend of the Collyer brothers, two New York City, right-side-of-the-park eccentrics living together in a somewhat spousal situation. It is early in the 20th century. Their wealthy parents are as dead [...]

Fiction E.L. Doctorow, Novel

I read a lot of author’s about pages. It’s a job hazard. So when I say I found David Housewright’s about page funny and engaging (it’s full of newspaper funniness), I know what I’m talking about. It only makes sense, afterall, Housewright is an Edgar Award Winner (for his novel Penance and a Minnesota Book [...]

Interview, MN Authors Dashiell Hammet, David Housewright, E.L. Doctorow, Leo Tolstoy, Patrick O'Brien, Robert B. Parker, T.H. White