David Abrams's Blog, page 158
July 23, 2013
Jennifer Miller and the Year of the Book Club
Jennifer Miller is a firecracker whose fuse is a quarter-inch away from the gunpowder. She's a tea kettle whose lid is rattling from pent-up steam, ready to burst out in a hot whistle. She's irrepressible, infectious, and would be the first to describe herself as "bubbly." If you're in a book club and invited Jennifer ("Jen" to her friends) to join you for a talk about her debut novel, The Year of the Gadfly , she'd be the focal point of the room, the tractor beam pulling the...
July 22, 2013
My First Time: David Samuel Levinson
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 David Samuel Levinson, author of the novel
Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence
, which has just been published by Algonquin Books. His story collection,
Most of Us Are Here Against Our Will
, was published by Viking Penguin in 2004. His sto...
July 21, 2013
Sunday Sentence: Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I've read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
She didn't see herself, the penetrating stare of mania gone soft, her jerky motions. She couldn't hear the random and incoherent lurch from phrase to phrase.
Her Last Death: A Memoir by Susanna Sonnenberg
July 20, 2013
The Quivering Pen is looking for contributors
This blog would like to see your pen quiver.
I'm looking for contributors to write book reviews, author interviews, and essays on topics of interest to readers and writers. For more than three years, I've been the sole captain at the helm of this blog-ship and now I'd like to open it up to outside submissions. Read on for more details...
Book Reviews: Lively reviews which objectively examine a book's merits and, if warranted, demerits. The great John Updike had a set of...
John Updike's Rules for Reviewing Books
1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.
2. Give him enough direct quotation—at least one extended passage—of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.
3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.
4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending. (How...
July 19, 2013
Friday Freebie: The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer and Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
Congratulations to Kathy Poulson, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: High and Inside by Russell Rowland and The Raven's Gift by Don Rearden.
This week's book giveaway is another dynamic duo of fiction: The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer and Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer. One lucky reader will win a copy of both (The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells is a hardcover and Shine Shine Shine is the freshly-published paperback edition). Greer's book, just released la...
No artist is pleased
Today's inspiring quote comes from legendary choreographer Agnes de Mille by way of Dani Shapiro's equally inspiring book about the writing habit, Still Writing , which will be published in October (I'm lucky to have an advance copy). On the bulletin board above her writing desk, Shapiro has tacked part of the following quote, words of wisdom from dancer-choreographer Martha Graham to de Mille while the two were having lunch and discussing the famous "dream sequence ballet" de Mille desi...
July 15, 2013
My First Time: Don Rearden
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 Don Rearden, author of the new novel The Raven's Gift , which has just been released in the US by Pintail Books, a boutique imprint of Penguin USA. Rearden grew up on the tundra of Southwestern Alaska. His experiences with the Yup'ik Esk...
July 14, 2013
Sunday Sentence: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I've read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
At first, I do not think I knew what I was looking at. I could make no sense of it. Where Ursula Monkton had been made of gray cloth that flapped and snapped and gusted in the storm-winds, Lettie Hempstock was made of silken sheets the color of ice, filled with tiny flickering candle flames, a hundred hundred candle flames.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
July 12, 2013
Friday Freebie: High and Inside by Russell Rowland and The Raven's Gift by Don Rearden
Congratulations to Frank Larson, winner of last week's Friday Freebie. Frank will soon be enjoying a bundle of books which includes Me and the Devil by Nick Tosches, The Distracted Preacher by Thomas Hardy, Float by JoeAnn Hart, Pretty Much True... by Kristen J. Tsetsi, and Kingdom Come by J. G. Ballard.
This week's book giveaway is a nice duet of two new novels: High and Inside by Russell Rowland and The Raven's Gift by Don Rearden. Both Russ and Don are personal acquaintanc...
