David Abrams's Blog, page 12

Sunday Sentence: Great Books by David Denby

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


Walking home from midtown Manhattan, I am drawn haplessly to a bookstore…where I will buy two or three books, which then, often enough, sit on my shelves for years, unread or partly read, until finally, trying to look something up, I will pull one or another out, bewildered that I have it. I like to own them: I had grown into a book-buyer, but not always a book-reader; a boon to the book...

Friday Freebie: Who Says You’re Dead? by Jacob M. Appel

Congratulations to Tisa Houck, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart.

This week’s giveaway is for Who Says You’re Dead? by Jacob M. Appel. Subtitled Medical & Ethical Dilemmas for the Curious & Concerned, Appel’s new book is sure to tantalize those who have a vested interest in bioethics—in other words, all of us. Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dreams, called it “An original, compelling, and provocative exploration of ethical issues...

Sunday Sentence: The Witch Elm by Tana French

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


My G and T tasted novel and starry, I could feel every individual bubble popping on my tongue.

The Witch Elm by Tana French

Friday Freebie: Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart

Congratulations to Delia Igo, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: the new novel by Amitav Ghosh, Gun Island .

This week’s giveaway is for Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart. In the fifth installment of the clever and original Kopp Sisters series, the sisters learn some military discipline—whether they’re ready or not—as the U.S. prepares to enter World War I. Keep scrolling for more about the novel and how to enter the contest...
It’s the spring of 1917 and change is in the air....

My First Time: Christopher Swann

My First Time Meeting an Author
When I was an undergraduate student at Washington and Lee, the author Richard Ford (pictured above) visited campus. I had read his short story “ Rock Springs ” and his most recent novel at the time, The Sportswriter , and I vaguely understood that he was a Serious American Author, an up-and-coming big deal in the world of American literary fiction. One of my professors, Jim Warren, invited me and another creative writing student, Traci Lazenby, to dinner with Rich...

Sunday Sentence: Great Books by David Denby

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

NOTE: This week, while reading the “Shakespeare” chapter in David Denby’s Great Books , I couldn’t choose between sentences, so I am giving you a double-dose this week. You’re welcome.


My mother died the way she did everything, decisively and in great haste.

The play is about fierce, pre-Christian aristocrats, not American Jewish mothers. But Ida Denby was the Lear of my life.

Great Books ...

Friday Freebie: Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

Congratulations to Craig Brown and Diane Porter, winners of the previous Friday Freebie contest: Tell Me Who We Were by Kate McQuade.

This week’s giveaway is for the new novel by Amitav Ghosh: Gun Island . By all indications, this novel couldn’t be more timely for our current messed-up world. Here’s the great Annie Proulx (Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Barkskins, etc.) on why we should all read Gun Island:

“In The Great Derangement, Amitav Ghosh, an important international writer, asked why wri...

Front Porch Books: August 2019 edition

Front Porch Books 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.



Tiny Love
by Larry Brown
(Algonquin Books)

Jacket Copy:  A career-spanning collection, Tiny Love brin...

Sunday Sentence: Inland by Tea Obreht

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

“Lies cut holes in the fabric of Heaven, Toby, and make all the little angels fall out.”
Inland by Tea Obreht

Friday Freebie: Tell Me Who We Were by Kate McQuade

Congratulations to Rhonda Lomazow, winner of the previous Friday Freebie contest: Someone We Know by Shari Lapena.

This week’s giveaway is for Tell Me Who We Were by Kate McQuade. Two lucky readers will each win a hardcover copy of the book (dressed in that gorgeous, haunting cover). Here's what Joyce Carol Oates had to say about it: “These are stories of magical lyricism, contemporary in their exploration of the obsessions of girls and young women, mythic in their scope and mystery. Remarkabl...