Tag: The Tournament of Books 2016

The Sympathizer

March 9, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Captured by an enemy force, an unnamed solider – a communist double agent working first in South Vietnam and then living, after the fall, in America – recounts what is supposed to be his confession. But what he actually confesses to is far more complicated than even he realizes. The Review: There comes a moment, about halfway into this novel – a moment that’s more like an extended interlude – where our narrator ends up working on a […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Historical Fiction, History, Literature, Reviews, The Sympathizer, The Tournament of Books 2016, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Vietnam, Vietnam War

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The Whites

March 7, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Twenty years ago, a group of cops known as the Wild Geese were an aggressive anti-crime unit. Today, only one of them – Billy Graves – is still on the force, working the literal graveyard shift. When an old perp who got away (known, colloquially, as a White) from the Geese is found dead at Penn Station during his shift, Billy is drawn into a case that he doesn’t want and that might forever change not just his […]

Categories: Crime, Fiction • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Crime, Fiction, Harry Brandt, New York City, NYPD, Reviews, Richard Price, The Tournament of Books 2016, The Whites

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The Invaders

February 29, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Cheryl is a second wife, living in a rich Connecticut beach community and not quite fitting in with the old money women who surround her. When her stepson Teddy gets kicked out of Dartmouth and shows up in town, she and her husband must try to take care of him – but they can’t even really take care of each other. Meanwhile, the town is quaking under threats both real (few) and imagined (many). The Review: Just […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Karolina Waclawiak, Literature, Reviews, Rich People, The Invaders, The Tournament of Books 2016, Wealth

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Ban en Banlieue

February 24, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Bhanu Kapil’s exploration of the absence of a novel she had planned to write – the spaces around the edges of story, the place where performance cannot be captured in text, the research and preparation for a story not told here… except also told in outline, a negative of a story. The Review: The wonderful thing about the Tournament of Books is that it puts literature in front of me that I might never otherwise encounter or experience. Having […]

Categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry • Tags: ban en banlieue, Bhanu Kapil, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, London, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Reviews, Semi-Fiction, The Tournament of Books 2016, Writing

Our Souls at Night

February 19, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: When Addie Moore, an elderly widow, stops by to see her neighbor and acquaintance Louis Waters, he doesn’t expect that she’ll ask him to come spend the night with her – just to sleep next to her. So begins an unexpected, beautiful look at a late-in-life courtship. The Review: Some novels are so slight, so simple of focus, that you might overlook them or go in with the predisposition of “eh, but why?” I’ll freely admit that […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Kent Haruf, Literature, Our Souls at Night, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2016

The Turner House

February 17, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: The house on Yarrow Street has been home to the Turner family for over 50 years – but now, with the matriarch in fading health and her thirteen children struggling with their own lives, the question has come up: what to do with the house? Of course, to get to that point, they’re all going to have to figure out what to do with each other & themselves – especially the eldest and youngest of the thirteen, […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Angela Flournoy, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Detroit, Family, Fiction, Literature, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2016, The Turner House

Oreo

February 10, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Christine Schwartz (nicknamed Oreo) is born in Philadelphia to a Jewish father and an African-American mother. Her father left when she was only a few years old and when she comes of age, her mother sends her off to find him, beginning a hilarious journey to New York armed with her wit, charm, and some bad-ass martial arts. The Review: Fran Ross is one of those authors who, without the attentions of a savvy publisher like New Directions, […]

Categories: Fiction, Humor, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Fran Ross, Humor, Literature, Mythology, New Directions, New York City, Oreo, Philadelphia, Reviews, Satire, The Tournament of Books 2016, Theseus

Bats of the Republic

January 29, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Split over two timelines (and several narrators) of one family’s story, Bats… follows lovestruck accidental explorer Zadock Thomas through the Republic of Texas in 1841… and Zeke Thomas, addled scion of a major political family in a city-state of Texas circa 2141. Told through letters, recordings, novels-within-novels, and more, their stories are connected by more than just blood… The Review: It’s always a great fear of mine that beautifully tricked-out books will sacrifice good storytelling for good design. […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: Alternate Universe, An Illuminated Novel, Bats of the Republic, Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Illuminated Manuscript, Literature, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Texas, The Tournament of Books 2016, Wild West, Zachary Thomas Dodson

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The Story of My Teeth

January 18, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Gustavo “Highway” Sánchez Sánchez is an old-school raconteur, an auctioneer of incredible skill, and the possessor of a rather unique set of teeth – several sets, in fact. This is his story and the story of those infamous teeth. The Review: We come to the object of the book with the subtle pleasure of approaching a well-designed cover. The deep tan with a touch of olive, the sketched teeth, the inset type – something about the book sings out […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Auctions, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Christina MacSweeney, Fiction, Literature, Metafiction, Mexico, Reviews, The Story of My Teeth, The Tournament of Books 2016, Translation, Valeria Luiselli

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Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: The Tournament of Books 2016

The Sympathizer

The Whites

The Invaders

Ban en Banlieue

Our Souls at Night

The Turner House

Oreo

Bats of the Republic

The Story of My Teeth