David Abrams's Blog, page 136

Sunday Sentence: Red Army Red by Jehanne Dubrow

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


          We dreamed of glowing children,
          their throats alive and cancerous,
          their eyes like lightning in the dark.

"Chernobyl Year" from Red Army Red by Jehanne Dubrow

Immigrant Lit: Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart

Little Failure
by Gary Shteyngart
Review by Henry Gonshak

There’s a rich literary genre that sews together the patches of the endless, multifaceted quilt that is the immigrant experience in America. It unfolds at least as far as Willa Cather’s brilliant novels, such as O Pioneers and My Antonia , published in the early 20th century, which describe the struggles of immigrant Scandinavians to scratch a living from the harsh soil of the western frontier. The genre continues with Henry Roth’s Depress...

Friday Freebie: Golden State by Michelle Richmond and Up at Butternut Lake by Mary McNear

Congratulations to Nina Lehman, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Visible City by Tova Mirvis.

This week's book giveaway is another terrific two-fer.  One reader will enjoy a copy of both Golden State by Michelle Richmond and Up at Butternut Lake by Mary McNear.  Both novels have recently been released in trade paperback.  Here's a little more about the books from their publishers:

Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Anna Quindlen, Golden State is a powe...

My First Time: Michael Parker

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 Michael Parker.  His new novel, All I Have in This World , has just been released to great acclaim.  His previous novels include  Towns Without Rivers , Virginia Lovers , If You Want Me To Stay , and The Watery Part of the World .  His...

Sunday Sentence: Be Safe I Love You by Cara Hoffman

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


She had a three-octave range, comfortably extending beyond high C.  Her voice was clear, smooth and sweet and rich.  It was bell-like.  Drinkable.  About to spill over the rim.  Filled with a natural exuberant power, untrained, wavering between release and restraint.

Be Safe I Love You  by Cara Hoffman

An Ode to the OED

Friend of the Blog (FOB) James Bennett submitted this wonderful essay on the Oxford English Dictionary and I'm happy to share it with readers (especially those with keen eyesight who can still see the microbial words on the OED page).  James is a retired National Guard Chief Warrant Officer, who currently masquerades as a software engineer in Seattle, while indulging in a little reading and writing on the side.  He's the author of two (unpublished) novels: The Team and The Interroga...

Friday Freebie: Visible City by Tova Mirvis

Congratulations to Patricia Mariani, winner of last week's Friday Freebie contest: the book bundle of Knitting Yarns  edited by Ann Hood, Last Friends by Jane Gardam, Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne, North of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson, and  The Promise by Ann Weisgarber.

This week's book giveaway is Visible City by Tova Mirvis (if you haven't already done so, you should check out Tova's "My First Time" account of how she stared-down the naysayers in her hometown when she returned t...

Front Porch Books: March 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...

When Will I See You Again? or, The Flighty Adventures of a Traveling Novelist

Here is the novelist pulling a stack of clean underwear from his dresser and loading it into a suitcase.

Here is the novelist running over a well-worn checklist in his mind: Toothbrush?  Contour memory-foam pillow?  Phone charger?  Reading copy of Fobbit ?  Breath mints?

Here is the novelist kissing his wife farewell, sucking a week's worth of love through their lips.  Here is the novelist reminding his wife to empty the cat's litter box; her sardonic reply, "Okay, if I...

Trailer Park Tuesday: Joe (from the novel by Larry Brown)

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



Larry Brown, the late, great chronicler of the South's darker corners, gets another big-screen treatment (after 2001's Big Bad Love).  This time, Brown's 1991 novel Joe fills the screen with heavy drinking, domestic abuse and ornery men yelling, "The hell you lookin' at?"  Nicolas Cage (who physically looks like Brown--perhaps intentionally?) plays the titular role o...