David Abrams's Blog, page 122

Comedy Trumps Tragedy: A conversation with Stuart Rojstaczer, author of The Mathematician's Shiva

"I’m overeducated and like to tell jokes."  That's how Stuart Rojstaczer begins the About Me page at his website.  That combination of brains and laughter provide the savory broth for his debut novel The Mathematician's Shiva , which hits bookstores at the beginning of September.  Described as "a comic, bittersweet tale of family evocative of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Everything Is Illuminated ," The Mathematician's Shiva is about a ragtag group of academics who descend o...

Trailer Park Tuesday: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

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




In the past 150 years, literature about the Civil War has piled up deep as stacks of corpses at Antietam.  You think you've read everything there was to know about that four-year struggle?  Think again.  Karen Abbott's Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is a fresh cannonball shot across the book-littered battlefield.  The trailer for the new book by the author o...

My First Time: Trevor D. Richardson

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 Trevor D. Richardson, the founder and editor of The Subtopian .  He is the author of American Bastards , Honeysuckle & Irony , and  Dystopia Boy: The Unauthorized Files from Montag Press.  A West Coast man by birth, Trevor was brough...

Sunday Sentence: My Life as a Foreign Country by Brian Turner

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


America, vast and laid out from one ocean to another, is not a large enough space to contain the war each soldier brings home.

My Life as a Foreign Country by Brian Turner

The Air a Library: A Pre-Sunday Sentence from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This post contains spoilers for those who haven't read All the Light We Cannot See.  You've been warned.

I considered saving this selection from Anthony Doerr's novel, All the Light We Cannot See , for tomorrow's Sunday Sentence , but decided against that because:

      a)  It's a long paragraph full of more than one sentence;
      b)  I already have a good candidate for this week's SS.

As you already know, All the Light We Cannot See is one of my favo...

Waiting for the Apocalypse: Outtakes from my interview with Malcolm Brooks (Painted Horses)

My interview with Malcolm Brooks is up over at The Barnes & Noble Review and I encourage you to go over there and read what he has to say about writing, busting the myths of western literature, and being inspired by the U.S. Army's last horse cavalry unit.

Click here to read the interview
Here's part of what I wrote by way of introduction to Malcolm and Painted Horses :

      It comes as little surprise to learn that Lonesome Dove is a seminal literary influence in Malcolm Broo...

Friday Freebie: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Congratulations to Yvonne Jefferson, winner of last week's Friday Freebie contest: a signed copy of Malcolm Brooks' debut novel Painted Horses .

This week's book giveaway is The Miniaturist , a new novel by Jessie Burton.  You may have seen the book highlighted earlier this week here at The Quivering Pen's monthly Front Porch Books feature--where you can also find a plot summary and an excerpt from the debut novel by the London-based author/ actress.  Here's a little more about Burton'...

Front Porch Books: August 2014 edition

Front Porch Books is a monthly tally of books--mainly advance review copies (aka "uncorrected proofs" and "galleys")--I've received from publishers, but also sprinkled with packages from Book Mooch, Amazon and other sources.  Because my dear friends, Mr. FedEx and Mrs. UPS, leave them with a doorbell-and-dash method of delivery, I call them my Front Porch Books.  In this digital age, ARCs are also beamed to the doorstep of my Kindle via NetGalley and Edelweiss.  Note: most of t...

Look What I Found: Arthur Hailey in Alberton, Montana

Look What I Found is an occasional series on books I've hunted-and-gathered at garage sales, used bookstores, estate sales, and the occasional pilfering from a friend's bookshelf when his back is turned.  I have a particular fondness for U.S. novels written between 1896 and 1931.  If I sniff a book and it makes me sneeze, I'm bound to fall in love.


You are driving west on I-90, the ribbon of road that unrolls the landscape for you between Missoula and Spokane.  It is mid-mornin...

Trailer Park Tuesday: The World According to Garp, RIP Robin Williams

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

"T. S. Garp, huh?  What does the 'T. S.' stand for?"

Throughout the 1982 movie The World According to Garp, the question is answered several different ways: "Terribly Shy," "Terribly Sexy," and "Terribly Sad."

Today, like the rest of my generation who grew up holding out split fingers and saying, " Na-nu, na-nu ," I'm Terribly Sad.  News of Robin Williams' death punched...