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house of journos

The House of Journalists

May 14, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: The House of Journalists – a house, in London, converted into a sort of halfway-home/asylum for persecuted writers, fleeing repressive countries and regimes.  But the writers are, to some, less important than their stories and the prestige those stories bring – and the House’s ‘leader’ will stop at nothing to ensure that the House survives any potential storms… The Review: The realities of political oppression are widespread and widely documented.  At no other time in history has it […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Advance Review, Farrar, Fiction, Literature, London, Politics, Straus and Giroux, The House of Journalists, Tim Finch

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spellman5

Trail of the Spellmans (Document #5)

May 7, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Things in the Spellman family / at Spellman Investigations have reached a sort of (relative) status quo.  Of course, that’s obviously too good to be true and, before long, the family is up to its usual shenanigans – but nobody is getting any younger and the question arises: what, exactly, does Izzy Spellman want out of her life? The Review: It feels like an eternity since I last read a proper Spellman novel.  I suppose it is, […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: Document #5, Fiction, Izzy Spellman, Lisa Lutz, Mystery, The Spellman Files, Trail of the Spellmans

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familiar

Familiar

May 4, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: While driving back from a yearly pilgrimage to her dead son’s grave, everything changes for Elisa Brown.  Literally: her clothes are different, her car is different, and the timeline of her life is different – but she still has the memories of this other life.  As she tries to find her way in this alternate universe, she begins to question whether or not the old life was real at all. The Review: John Warner, a few years ago, proclaimed […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Familiar, Fiction, Indiespensable, J. Robert Lennon, Literature

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motherland

Motherland

May 3, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Park Slope.  To a New Yorker, you don’t even have to say anything else: immediately, images of strollers and babies and food co-ops and neo-yuppie parents spring to mind.  This is a story about several of those neo-yuppie parents, living their own variations on Desperate Housewives on a daily basis. The Review: In a moment of inspired serendipity, a good friend of mine moved (on the day I started this book) to a new apartment on Prospect Park West, […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: Amy Sohn, Brooklyn, Chick Lit, Fiction, Motherland

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storm of swords

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice & Fire, Book 3)

April 29, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: In the wake of the Battle of the Blackwater, the War of the Five Kings rages on.  Renly and Balon are dead, Stannis nursing his wounds and striking all kinds of scary deals with his Red Woman, Robb Stark a King without a seat, and the Lannisters threatening to tear themselves apart from within.  Meanwhile, Daenerys continues to build a host in the East and a new threat looms in the North… The Review: I’ve been trying to […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction • Tags: A Song of Ice & Fire, A Storm of Swords, Book #3, Fantasy, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin

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the silent history

The Silent History

April 19, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Around the year 2011, children begin to be born without the ability for language.  Over the next 30 years, humanity struggles to come to terms with its silent brethren: some reject them, others seek to be like them, and several seek to cure them.  Told over the course of short interview-based installments, the oral history of the silent pandemic is a groundbreaking event in the history of the novel. The Review: So I am (if you haven’t […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: App, Eli Horowitz, Epistolary, Fiction, Field Reporters, Field Reports, iPhone, Kevin Moffett, Literature, Matthew Derby, Sci-Fi, The Silent History, YYYHHHQQQ

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final destination

The City of Your Final Destination

April 14, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Omar Razaghi would like to write an authorized biography of little-known Latin American novelist Jules Gund.  In fact, his career somewhat depends on it.  But when he goes to Uruguay to seek authorization from the executors of Gund’s estate – his brother, his wife, and his mistress – he runs into a spot of trouble convincing them.  But the trip ends up being about more than the book – it’s about Omar’s life itself. The Review: A […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Fiction, Literature, Peter Cameron, The City of Your Final Destination

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transmet5

Transmetropolitan: Lonely City

April 9, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: So the Smiler won the election and Spider is feeling a bit gloomy.  Still, there are stories to be discovered and Truth to be told – so he, along with his filthy assistants, continues about his merry way.  But when he latches onto the story of a brutal beating on Dante Street, he suddenly finds himself smack in the middle of a perfect trap, laid out by maybe even the President himself… The Review: I’ve been impressed […]

Categories: Fiction, Sci-Fi • Tags: Darick Robertson, Dystopian, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Journalism, Lonely City, Patrick Stewart, Politics, Sci-Fi, Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis

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dark lies island

Dark Lies the Island

April 5, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: A collection of cloudy, slightly dark Irish tales – stories of drinkers, lovers, losers, and a few who might be something else entirely… The Review: Kevin Barry’s first novel, City of Bohane, has been on my radar for a little while, although I’ve consciously passed it over a few times.  But I was lucky enough to (long after the time had passed) come upon a copy of Powell’s Indiespensable #37 (a novel called Familiar) – which included a well-in-advance-of-pub-date copy […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Advance Review, Dark Lies the Island, Fiction, Graywolf Press, Ireland, Kevin Barry, Powell's, Short Stories

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building stories

Building Stories

April 4, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: A building in Chicago, a young woman who lost part of her leg, a bickering couple, and an industrious bee are just some of the major players in a panoramic story of life – the lives most people lead, of quiet desperation. The Review: So it took me a while to get to this book.  Partially because, yes, the price tag is a bit intimidating – but it’s also worth it, in the end.  I was lucky enough to score […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: Book in a Box, Building Stories, Chris Ware, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Literature, The Tournament of Books 2013

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