FSG Originals | Raging Biblio-holism

The Tengu’s Game of Go (The Tale of Shikanoko, Book 4)

September 14, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: The endgame approaches as Aritomo attempts to solidify his grasp on the power behind the Lotus Throne, the true Emperor confronts his destiny, and Shikanoko is called to bring order into the world. The future hangs in the balance… The Review: Coming out of the third volume in the Tale of Shikanoko, I was tremendously excited to see where things would go – it felt like we were building up nearly unstoppable momentum, in a rush towards the […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature • Tags: Advance Review, Book, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, FSG Originals, Japan, Lian Hearn, Literature, review, Reviews, The Tale of Shikanoko, The Tengu's Game of Go

Lord of the Darkwood (The Tale of Shikanoko, Book 3)

July 25, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Years have passed and the Eight Islands have come to an uneasy sort of peace – but the true emperor is still in hiding, Shikanoko remains adrift in the Darkwood, and the Spider Tribe begins to create chaos in the realm. It will take love and potent gifts to set the world aright again – but will the world survive such a shift? The Review: When I mentioned previously that the timeline had begun to splinter, I […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction • Tags: Advance Review, Book Reviews, Book Three, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, FSG Originals, Japan, Lian Hearn, Lord of the Darkwood, Otori, review, Reviews, The Tale of Shikanoko

Will & I

June 17, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: After a car accident and a botched surgical procedure, Clay Byars is told he may be paralyzed from the eyes down for the rest of his life. He fights back, making an unexpected recovery, but his life is forever altered. As his life and his twin brother’s diverge, Clay must find what it means to live anew in the face of overwhelming adversity. The Review: Most recovery memoirs, particularly those that deal with a catastrophic injury, often conclude with […]

Categories: Memoir, Non-Fiction • Tags: Advance Reviews, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Clay Byars, FSG Originals, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Reviews, Will & I, Will and I

The Hatred of Poetry

June 15, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Why do so many people hate poetry, or at least claim that they do? What is it, through history, that has caused a disconnect between the idea of poetry as perhaps the most noble of art forms… and the reality of its crushing inadequacy? Ben Lerner, a noted poet in his own right, believes that it may be part of poetry’s essence: that there will always be an impossible gap between a poem’s goal and its actual […]

Categories: Essays, Non-Fiction, Poetry • Tags: Ben Lerner, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Essay, Essays, FSG Originals, Monograph, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Poetry, Reviews, The Hatred of Poetry

Emperor of the Eight Islands (The Tale of Shikanoko, Book 1)

April 18, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Mountain sorcerers, devious politicians, valiant warriors, betrayed lovers, a young heir to the throne, and more populate the opening novel of Lian Hearn’s four-novel sequence set in a fantastical realm inspired by feudal Japan. And at the center of it all sits a young boy thought dead who doffs his old name and becomes Shikanoko, the deer’s child… The Review: I think I’ve only ever previously experienced an Eastern-set fantasy world once before, when I was a […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction • Tags: Advance Review, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Emperor of the Eight Islands, Fantasy, Fiction, FSG Originals, Japan, Lian Hearn, Otori, Reviews, Tales of the Otori, The Tale of Shikanoko

The Pickle Index

January 25, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Zloty Kornblatt, ringleader of a shoddy circus, has been arrested on charges of sedition. His band of mismatched performers set out to save his life before he’s executed, through a strange totalitarian state full of very briny treats… The Review: I’m relentlessly fascinated by apps and app-books. Although I don’t believe anything will ever take the place of a good ol’ paper copy, displayed on the shelf and easily snatchable to flip through, I do think that […]

Categories: Fiction, Humor, Literature • Tags: app books, Apps, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Eli Horowitz, Fiction, FSG Originals, Humor, Literature, Reviews, Russell Quinn, Satire, So Many Damn Books, Sudden Oak, The Pickle Index, YYYHHHQQQ

Iterating Grace

December 4, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: In summer 2015, privately printed copies of Iterating Grace appeared in the mailboxes of several prominent tech reporters, tech workers, and other assorted tech-related folks. Now, FSG has brought it to the masses – this strange, small tome of tweets-as-art and satirical poking at the Silicon Valley way of life. The Review: I love a good mystery, so this whole “who is Koons Crooks?” thing is exciting to me. Noah Krulwin, over at re/code, thinks that it’s all […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Anonymous, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, FSG, FSG Originals, Horror, Humor, Internet, Iterating Grace, Koons Crooks, Literature, Llamas, Mystery, Reviews, Satire, Silicon Valley, Tech, Technology, Twitter, vicuñas

New York 1, Tel Aviv 0

May 1, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Stories about relationships, mostly romantic ones and many with an eye towards what it is to be displaced – from your home, your life, your lover’s bed, or something else entirely. The Review: It has taken me a while to write this review. It’s not because I didn’t like the book – I didn’t dislike it, at least – but rather because it felt so ephemeral. Few of the stories really hit home, many more didn’t hit at […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, FSG Originals, Literature, New York, New York 1, New York 1 Tel Aviv 0, Reviews, Romance, Shelly Oria, Short Stories, Stories, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv 0

The Originals Series: Aleksander Hemon & Velibor Božović

April 8, 2015 by Drew

(from left: David Haglund, Aleksander Hemon, Velibor Božović) Last night’s Apple-store-hosted conversation between Aleksander (Sasha) Hemon and Velibor (Veba) Božović might not’ve been billed like other Originals Series events, but I think it’s safe to call it one: it had that same sense of curiosity, of doing something interesting and different with an author event, that the series’ somewhat looser events have had in the past. It’s just that the “something interesting and different” this time included putting on the show […]

Categories: Events, Features • Tags: Aleksander Hemon, Apple, Apple Store, Art, Bosnia, Conversation, David Haglund, Events, FSG Digital Originals, FSG Originals, My Prisoner, Politics, Recap, Recaps, The Originals Series, Velibor Božović, Video

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: FSG Originals