David Abrams's Blog, page 108

Friday Freebie: When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon, The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, Fosse by Sam Wasson, The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, Selections from Melville House's Art of the Novella series, Hit

Congratulations to Amy Morgan, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair, Sometimes the Wolf by Urban Waite, Three Bargains by Tania Malik, The Family Hightower by Brian Francis Slattery, and Big Little Ma n by Alex Tizon.

This week's "book contest" is a little something different, designed to assist you in your holiday gift-giving quandary (if, in fact, you find yourself in a quandary).  This giveaway has a little something for just about every reader on yo...

Friday Freebie: When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon, The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, Fosse by Sam Wasson, The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, Selections from Melville House's Art of the Novella series, Hit

Congratulations to Amy Morgan, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair, Sometimes the Wolf by Urban Waite, Three Bargains by Tania Malik, The Family Hightower by Brian Francis Slattery, and Big Little Ma n by Alex Tizon.

This week's "book contest" is a little something different, designed to assist you in your holiday gift-giving quandary (if, in fact, you find yourself in a quandary).  This giveaway has a little something for just about every reader on yo...

Friday Freebie: When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon, The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, Fosse by Sam Wasson, The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, Selections from Melville House's Art of the Novella series, Hit

Congratulations to Amy Morgan, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair, Sometimes the Wolf by Urban Waite, Three Bargains by Tania Malik, The Family Hightower by Brian Francis Slattery, and Big Little Ma n by Alex Tizon.

This week's "book contest" is a little something different, designed to assist you in your holiday gift-giving quandary (if, in fact, you find yourself in a quandary).  This giveaway has a little something for just about every reader on yo...

Friday Freebie: When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon, The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, Fosse by Sam Wasson, The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, Selections from Melville House's Art of the Novella series, Hit

Congratulations to Amy Morgan, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair, Sometimes the Wolf by Urban Waite, Three Bargains by Tania Malik, The Family Hightower by Brian Francis Slattery, and Big Little Ma n by Alex Tizon.

This week's "book contest" is a little something different, designed to assist you in your holiday gift-giving quandary (if, in fact, you find yourself in a quandary).  This giveaway has a little something for just about every reader on yo...

Sunday Sentence: "Probate" by Joyce Carol Oates

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.


She had a blunt bold fist of a face.

"Probate" from Sourland by Joyce Carol Oates

Friday Freebie: Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair, Sometimes the Wolf by Urban Waite, Three Bargains by Tania Malik, The Family Hightower by Brian Francis Slattery, and Big Little Man by Alex Tizon

Congratulations to Bart Zimmer, winner of last week's book giveaway: Electric City by Elizabeth Rosner.

This week's Black Friday Freebie is a whopper of a shelf-stuffer.  One lucky reader will win a hardcover copy of ALL the following books: Pickett’s Charge by Charles McNair, Sometimes the Wolf by Urban Waite, Three Bargains by Tania Malik, The Family Hightower by Brian Francis Slattery, and Big Little Ma n by Alex Tizon.  Read on for more info on the books...

Imagine Kurt Vonnegut an...

Bernie Brown's Library: The No-Arrangement Arrangement

Reader: Bernie Brown
Location: Townhouse in Raleigh, North Carolina
Collection size: About 250 in this bookshelf.  The same number scattered throughout the house on other shelves.
The one book I'd run back into a burning building to rescue: Once Upon A Town by Bob Greene.  This nonfiction book tells the story of the women of North Platte, Nebraska during World War II and the thousands of troops they served at the Railroad Depot Canteen.  The canteen was funded and staffed entire...

Trailer Park Tuesday: Some Luck by Jane Smiley

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.




In this week of Thanksgiving, I'm giving thanks that, within the next six months, we'll have not one, but two new Jane Smiley novels in our hands.   Some Luck , which came out last month, is the first in a planned trilogy called "The Last Hundred Years."  The next volume in the series, Early Warning , is scheduled to be released in May.  These are family sagas in t...

My First Time: Elizabeth Rosner

My First Time is a regular feature in which writers talk about virgin experiences in their writing and publishing careers, ranging from their first rejection to the moment of holding their first published book in their hands.  Today’s guest is Elizabeth Rosner, a bestselling novelist, poet, and essayist living in Berkeley, California.  Her third novel, Electric City , and her full-length poetry collection, Gravity , were both published last month.  Her first novel, The Speed of L...

Sunday Sentence: "Crossing the Indian Ocean" by Meena Alexander

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.


Sometimes the syllables of poetry well up, waves on the surface of the sea, and they burst as flying fish might, struck by light.

"Crossing the Indian Ocean" by Meena Alexander
from Short , edited by Alan Ziegler