David Abrams's Blog, page 27

Sunday Sentence: These Truths by Jill Lepore

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


James K. Polk was forty-eight and wiry and had eyes like caverns and hair like smoke.

These Truths by Jill Lepore

Friday Freebie: The Strange Case of Dr. Couney by Dawn Raffel

Congratulations to Nancy Moore, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie: a bundle of John Straley’s mystery novels set in Alaska, including the latest entry in the Cecil Younger series, Baby’s First Felony .

This week’s giveaway is The Strange Case of Dr. Couney by Dawn Raffel. It’s the extraordinary tale of how a mysterious immigrant “doctor” became the revolutionary innovator of saving premature babies—by placing them in incubators in World’s Fair side shows and on Coney Island and Atlantic Cit...

Living With My Books: A Bookseller’s Library

Reader:  Barbara Theroux
Location:  Missoula, Montana
Collection Size:  Averages 2,000.  It’s a fluid collection: books come in and are donated to grandchildren, the university, and the Missoula Public Library.
The one book I'd run back into a burning building to rescue:  It’s actually four books. Two books “created and bound” by my sons when they were in third grade and two journals created on trips to Disneyland in 1982 and The East Coast in 1984
Favorite book from ch...

My First Time: Gina Wohlsdorf

My First (Almost) Agent
It’s putting the matter mildly to say I wrote a lot between 2007 and 2009. I lived alone, I had a flexible work schedule, and I was—also putting it mildly—very dedicated. Mornings were for fiction. After earning my living every afternoon, I spent evenings either revising stories or writing essays. A topic I seemed to veer toward frequently in my nonfiction was pop culture and the sociological consequences of celebrity worship.

That sounds pretty high-falutin’, but thes...

Sunday Sentence: The Bluebird Run by Greg Keeler

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


The current slides away; the river stays.

The Bluebird Run by Greg Keeler

Friday Freebie: John Straley’s Alaska mystery series

Congratulations to Paul Thomley, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie, Perfect Conditions by Vanessa Blakeslee.

This week, I’m going north to Alaska! I am teaming up with Soho Press to give away a bundle of John Straley’s mystery novels set in Alaska. To celebrate the release of the latest Cecil Younger mystery, Baby’s First Felony , Soho is re-releasing Straley’s earlier novels in beautiful new editions with cover art by Francesco Bongiorni . One lucky reader will win all the following titles:...

My First Time: Dawn Raffel

The First Time I Dug Up History
I had already published four books (three fiction, one memoir) when I dove into a historical project and found myself in over my head. And while I generally hate the word “project” when referring to a book, writing The Strange Case of Dr. Couney was indeed a project.

I thought I was researching a period novel. Then I stumbled onto the true story of a mysterious showman who saved thousands of premature babies in the early 20th Century—by placing them in incubato...

Sunday Sentence: Robin by Dave Itzkoff

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


The real Robin was a modest, almost inconspicuous man, who never fully believed he was worthy of the monumental fame, adulation, and accomplishments he would achieve.

Robin by Dave Itzkoff

Friday Freebie: Perfect Conditions by Vanessa Blakeslee

Congratulations to Jonathan Butters, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie, the bundle of new novels from Algonquin Books: Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin, Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann, and When the English Fall by David Williams.

This week, I'm giving away the new short story collection by Vanessa Blakeslee, Perfect Conditions , now out from Curbside Splendor Publishing .  One lucky reader will win a signed copy of the book. Keep scrolling for more information about Pe...

My First Time: Milana Marsenich

My First Return to the Homeland
My father was a great storyteller and, although he had never been there, I grew up listening to his stories about Montenegro, his parents’ homeland. He seemed to know the country, the people, and the stories. My great grandmother had seen the white wolf following her. She could stop a snake with a whistle. She had once crossed a mountain haunted by unburied soldiers to save a child’s life. Montenegrins were great warriors. They were a rugged people, who fought f...