Nicholas Ruddock's The Parabolist Doubleday, 2010 It's ironic. One of the women in Nicholas Ruddock's novel is thinking about the heroines of Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina. "Look at all those passionate women, the ones in novels, the ones who wore their hearts on their sleeves," she says. "They all
You might remember that I've been sampling books from Indie presses that have been shortlisted for this year's ReLit Awards. Not just novels, but short stories, even poetry (which is adventurous for me). For a month of Sundays (at least), I'm Buried in ReLit Print. One Bloody Thing After Another,Joey Comeau (ECW) Sample:
James King's Étienne's Alphabet Cormorant Books, 2010 Stephen Chambers has been charged with the task of presenting Étienne Morneau's memoir. (I Googled him, but he is fictional; I fell for it book, spine, and thinker.) Morneau, himself, before he died, had tried for six months to write a conventional autobiography, but he
Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw (1983) (And my Holman-Harmon Handbook to Literature) I hadn't given this book a thought for my series on Letters for this autumn, but I happened upon a copy of it at a booksale a couple of weeks ago, and I did love my Ramona re-reads (and
Unforgettable design, no? Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers House of Anansi, 2011 So I'm chatting about this book, about the scene with the 'dentist', and I announce that I agree that it's unfair that he doesn't get paid for his 'services', but dismiss it quickly by saying that
