David Abrams's Blog, page 170

Trailer Park Tuesday: The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday , a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.  Unless their last name is Grisham or King, authors will probably never see their trailers on the big screen at the local cineplex.  And that's a shame because a lot of hard work goes into producing these short marriages between book and video.  So, if you like what you see, please spread the word and help these videos go viral.





I was there at the Northern Cali...

My First Time: Miriam Karmel

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 Miriam Karmel.  Her debut novel, Being Esther , has just been published by Milkweed Editions.  Booklist had this to say about the book: "Karmel’s novel of womanhood, the love and strife between mothers and daughters, marital dead zones, an...

Sunday Sentence: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

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




"Oh Maria..." I cried.  "I'm sorry."  And I was clearly not the first brute to cry in her presence, either, because she knew just what was needed, unbuttoning the top of her blue dress and putting my head between her breasts, whispering, "Shh, Wisconsin, shh," her skin so soft and butter-sweet, so wet with my tears that I cried harder and she said, "Shh, Wisconsin," and...

Front Porch Books: March 2013 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...

Friday Freebie: The City of Devi by Manil Suri, Leela's Book by Alice Albinia, Londoners by Craig Taylor

Congratulations to Jodi Paloni, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Darlings by Cristina Alger, This Will Be Difficult to Explain and Other Stories by Johanna Skibsrud, and All That I Am by Anna Funder.

This week, one lucky reader has the chance to win a copy of three new books which take readers beyond the borders of the United States: The City of Devi by Manil Suri, Leela's Book by Alice Albinia, and Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now--As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate...

My First Time: Elizabeth Benedict

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 Benedict, editor of What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most , which will be released by Algonquin Books in April--just in time to pre-order it for Mothers Day (hint hint).  The book even has its own Tu...

My First Time: Shannon Huffman Polson

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 Shannon Huffman Polson whose memoir, North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey , will be released on April 9.  Polson lives and writes with her family in the Pacific Northwest.  In previous years, she has worked as attack helicopter...

Sunday Sentence: "Running Alone" by Halimah Marcus

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




      The mass is not benign.  It is a stage three malignant tumor in her left breast, and it has spread to her lymph nodes.  Treatment is an accelerated course of chemotherapy and then a single mastectomy.  Worst-case scenario: she is dead within the year.
      Her husband Albert is with her during the second appoin...

Friday Freebie: The Darlings by Cristina Alger, This Will Be Difficult to Explain by Johanna Skibsrub, and All That I Am by Anna Funder

Congratulations to Jim Mastro, winner of last week's book giveaway: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

This week's Friday* Freebie is another triple treat.  One lucky reader will win a copy of all three of these books: The Darlings by Cristina Alger, This Will Be Difficult to Explain: And Other Stories by Johanna Skibsrub, and All That I Am by Anna Funder.

The Darlings is being called a Bonfire of the Vanities for our times.  Since he married Merrill Darling, daughter of billion...

In Which the Ping of a Basketball Changes My Life Forever: John Updike's Rabbit, Run

Today marks what would have been John Updike's 81st birthday.  In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd share this essay which originally appeared in the When We Fell In Love series at Three Guys One Book.


In 1980, I was ready for John Updike.  I didn’t know it at the time, but my childhood was about to vanish with the single bounce of a ball on a city street in Pennsylvania.  I can trace the divide between Boy-Me and Man-Me to that solitary ping vibrating from the hollow air ins...