David Abrams's Blog, page 28
July 15, 2018
Sunday Sentence: Adultery and Other Choices by Andre Dubus
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Larry Guidry was a short wiry boy with biceps like baseballs, thin curly hair, a small head, and a face the color of housedust.
“The Bully” from Adultery and Other Choices by Andre Dubus
July 13, 2018
Friday Freebie: Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin, Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann, and When the English Fall by David Williams
Congratulations to Renata Birkenbuel, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie: The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon.
This week, one lucky reader will win three new paperbacks from Algonquin Books: Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin, Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann, and When the English Fall by David Williams. Keep scrolling for more information about the books, their opening lines, and how to enter the contest...
My dear friend Roz Horowitz met her new husband online dating, and...
Front Porch Books: July 2018 edition
Front Porch Books is a monthly tally of new and forthcoming books—mainly advance review copies (aka “uncorrected proofs” and “galleys”)—I’ve received from publishers. Cover art and opening lines may change before the book is finally released. I should also mention that, in nearly every case, I haven’t had a chance to read these books, but they’re definitely going in the to-be-read pile.
Maid
by Stephanie Land
(Hachette Books)
Jacket Copy: While the gap between upper middle-class Ameri...
July 10, 2018
Trailer Park Tuesday: The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon
Two women, a city boiling with heat and hate, and a simple misunderstanding: these are the driving forces at work in Siobhan Fallon’s novel
The Confusion of Languages
. The story follows two military spouses, Cassie and Margaret, who join their husbands in their new duty location: Amman, Jordan. As anyone who has traveled to Countries Other Than America can tell you, foreign culture can sometimes be a shock. Fallon (an American living in the Middle East with her Army officer husband) plunges u...
July 9, 2018
My First Time: Vanessa Blakeslee
My First Time Saying No
When my first book, Train Shots , was published, I wrote a guest post for a literary magazine’s blog advising writers to say yes to opportunities. As with many such interviews and panel discussions, I encouraged my young audience to start a reading series in their local community, review books, interview authors, and participate in the literary community. And I don’t retract or regret that advice. Consider this an addendum, if you will, or a Part B. Why this addendum, wh...
July 8, 2018
Sunday Sentence: Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
No, not even a movie set, you realize. More like a seaside carnival in the winter, in the off-season, when even the beach is a poem about loneliness.
Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer
June 24, 2018
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.
To write something down is to make a fossil record of a mind.
These Truths by Jill Lepore
June 22, 2018
Friday Freebie: The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon
Congratulations to LuAnn Ritsema, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie: The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton.
This week, I’m thrilled to be giving away one of my favorite novels of recent years: The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon. I was an early reader of this novel set in contemporary Jordan and said it has “the irresistible force of a whirlpool: it sucks you in, pulling you ever closer to the mystery at the heart of the vortex. As the two narratives of friends Margaret and Cassie over...
June 17, 2018
Sunday Sentence: Mad Boy by Nick Arvin
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
A command is shouted. The thousands of British bayonets lift, and a flash of light travels down the length of the column, like an enormous animal rising to hunt.
Mad Boy by Nick Arvin
June 13, 2018
Front Porch Books: June 2018 edition
Front Porch Books is a monthly tally of new and forthcoming books—mainly advance review copies (aka “uncorrected proofs” and “galleys”)—I’ve received from publishers. Cover art and opening lines may change before the book is finally released. I should also mention that, in nearly every case, I haven’t had a chance to read these books, but they’re definitely going in the to-be-read pile.
The Strange Case of Dr. Couney
by Dawn Raffel
(Blue Rider Press)
Jacket Copy: The Strange Case of D...
