David Abrams's Blog
August 30, 2020
Sunday Sentence: Ferdinand, the Man with the Kind Heart by Irmgard Keun
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Children are the bonny little blossoms in the moldering garden of life.
Ferdinand, the Man with the Kind Heart by Irmgard Keun
August 16, 2020
Sunday Sentence: The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
The Western world is located somewhere between the Statue of Liberty and the pillar of salt.
The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin
August 9, 2020
Sunday Sentence: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Wine in, truth out. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
August 3, 2020
My First Time: Kim Powers
The First Time I Told the Truth(Then Lied About It)
It was third grade. I don’t remember exactly what the assignment was, but I’ll never forget what I wrote for it. All these decades later it remains one of my first truths, first secrets, first confessions, and now it’s found its way into my new novel, Rules For Being Dead , which is filled with family secrets. (Whenever my friends think I share way too much on Facebook and other social media, little do they know it all started way back when.)
It...
August 2, 2020
Sunday Sentence: Homie by Danez Smith
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
someone dragged the screaming boy
so deep into the woods he sounds like the trees now.
Homie by Danez Smith
June 14, 2020
Sunday Sentence: Blood Ties & Brown Liquor by Sean Hill
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
A flock of starlings alights in a tree and chatters,
each a night of twinkling stars on its back, then
the hush and inexplicable lighting out en masse,
black whirlwind wheeling against blue, rippling
like breeze-ruffled trees, the path of prayers,
searching before coming down to light again.
Blood Ties & Brown Liquor by Sean Hill
June 7, 2020
Sunday Sentence: Blood Ties & Brown Liquor by Sean Hill
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Lord, I wish I knew what ails me. If I was good
enough to be a dog I’d lose my bark.
Blood Ties & Brown Liquor by Sean Hill
June 5, 2020
Friday Freebie: The Mountains Sing by by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Congratulations to Carole Mertz, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: Brave Deeds by David Abrams. Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog’s 10th Anniversary celebration!
This week’s contest is for The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. You may remember hearing about this debut novel earlier at the blog; now I’m offering one lucky reader a chance to win a new hardback of the book The New York Times calls “[An] absorbing, stirring novel . . . that, in more than one sense, rem...
June 4, 2020
Breaching the Levee of Rage
It’s hard to write this week. And yet, I composed something: a raw draft of my thoughts after returning from a peaceful vigil at the Montana State Capitol on Sunday. This is a departure from the usual book conversation on this blog, but now, I think, is the time to take a break from the everyday comfort of our lives and to read something that makes us shift in our seat.
Breaching the Levee of Rage
An acquaintance, someone you don’t know personally, emails you an invitation to attend a peaceful pro...
May 31, 2020
Fresh Ink: May 2020 Edition
Fresh Ink is a monthly tally of new and forthcoming books—mainly advance review copies (aka “uncorrected proofs” and “galleys”)—I’ve received from publishers. Cover art and opening lines may change before the book is finally released. I should also mention that, in nearly every case, I haven’t had a chance to read these books, but they’re definitely going in the to-be-read pile.
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt
by Anonymous
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Jacket Copy: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two storie...
