I feel bad making this list on December 27th when I’m in the midst of two books that are really quite good (A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein and What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg) what if they turn out to be [...]

Best of Arthur Phillips, Best Books of 2009, Brian Wood, Dan Chaon, David Small, Junot Diaz, Lionel Shriver, Maile Meloy, Nicole Helget, Norah Labiner, Ryan Kelly, Stacey Richter

I’ve noticed lately a slew of Best of 2009 (so far) music lists (all of which I found on Largeheartedboy). I thought, you know maybe people want to know what the best books (that I’ve read) of 2009 thus far. Ominvoracious has a list of the best book so far, but I haven’t read any [...]

Best of Arthur Phillips, Best Books of 2009, Brian Wood, Maile Meloy, Nicole Helget, Norah Labiner, Ryan Kelly, Stacey Richter

Anyone who has ever read Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” a second (or more) time will remember that chest-tightening tension that happens when you read about the grandmother and her family happening upon the strangers on a deserted southern road. Maile Meloy conjures up that same kind of tension [...]

Fiction Maile Meloy, Short stories