David Abrams's Blog, page 183

Friday Freebie: The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Congratulations to Doni Molony, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye.

This week's book giveaway is The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers.  I'm especially pleased to offer this novel about the Iraq War to Quivering Pen readers.  As I mentioned earlier , I did a series of fist-pumps when I learned The Yellow Birds (along with Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk  by Ben Fountain) had been named as a finalist in this year's National Book Awards.  I've be...

Fobbit Tour: Montana Festival of the Book

I walked into the room where I was about to read from Fobbit and saw my wife sitting with another man.  He was handsome, bearded, and seemed to be having a very intimate conversation with my wife.

It took my brain a few seconds to catch up to my eyes before I realized that was my son.  My SON!!  What was he doing here in Missoula at the Montana Festival of the Book when he should be back in Savannah, Georgia where he's enrolled as an art student?

After a series of breath-robbing...

Iraq War fiction and the National Book Awards

It's a great day for Iraq War fiction.

I was delighted to see The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain were both named as finalists for this year's National Book Awards.  I've read both novels and believe they are important additions to the national dialogue on our most recent conflicts in the Middle East.  Powers writes a sobering, haunting account of one soldier's experience on the battlefield and the struggle to fit in to life in the Uni...

Fobbit Tour: University Bookstore in Seattle

One of the greatest sights I've seen so far on this cross-country book tour for Fobbit was when Joe C., a family friend I haven't seen in about 35 years, showed up for the reading in Seattle with a copy of the novel which looked like it had been through a war itself.  The spine was creased and curved like it had been propped open face-down at many points as Joe made his way through the story.  There was a dark grey scuff mark on the cover, as if it had fallen to the floor of a car a...

My First Time: George Singleton

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 George Singleton, one of the funniest writers north or south of the Mason-Dixon Line.  His newest collection of short stories, Stray Decorum , has just been released by Dzanc Books.  Singleton’s other story collections are These...

Friday Freebie: The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye

Congratulations to Jane Rainey, winner of last week's Friday Freebie:   Panorama City  by Antoine Wilson.

This week's book giveaway is The Lighthouse Road  by Peter Geye.  Just published this week by Unbridled Books, The Lighthouse Road is a novel that, as Booklist puts it, brings the wilderness of northern Minnesota "to crackling, thundering life."  Here's the plot summary of the book:

In 1895 Thea Eide leaves her arctic home in Norway for a better life in America. After...

"Thaw," an excerpt from Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

Sometimes you find the book, and sometimes the book finds you.  This was the case for me when, earlier this year, I walked into the Barnes and Noble in Bozeman, Montana "just to get a latte" (i.e., I wasn't on a typical book-buying mission).  I was walking toward the cafe when it happened: Glaciers found me.  It was like one of those "meet cute" scenes in movies when the pretty brunette dogwalker and the distracted guy with the briefcase, walking in opposite directions, ro...

Swimming Away: The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch

The Chronology of Water
by Lidia Yuknavitch
Hawthorne Books
Guest Review by Sara Habein

I had a dream about this review.  Not the actual writing of it ¾watching myself with a notebook or laptop would be too dull to note ¾ but rather the thematic turmoil involved.  I stood against the front door at a house party while three men in their early 20s tried to gain entry.  They yelled through the window that there was no point in fighting.  They would find a way inside.  The...

Fobbit Tour: Barnes & Noble in Edina, MN

This is the One With All the Friends.

Looking out into audience who turned out for the Fobbit reading at the Barnes and Noble in Edina, Minnesota, I spotted two e-friends I'd known for years but was meeting in person for the first time.  And then there were Joe and Pam, real-life friends I hadn't seen in 25 years (but who had been e-friends for years in the interim).  While I appreciate each and every person who comes to the readings on this tour, there's a special frisson of delight...

Trailer Park Tuesday: Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino

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.




The book trailer for Marie-Helene...