David Abrams's Blog, page 4
April 5, 2020
Sunday Sentence: “Anyone Can Do It” by Manuel Munoz
Simply put, the best sentence(s) Ive read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Sundays were always so peaceful, Delfina thought, no matter where you were, so serene she imagined the birds themselves had gone dumb.
from Anyone Can Do It by Manuel Munoz in
Best American Short Stories 2019
March 30, 2020
My First Time: Elizabeth Kadetsky
My First In-Depth Encounter with an Actual Author
In 1990, the summer before I enrolled at Columbia Journalism School, a friend had passed along her job as amanuensis to a man whom I will call Harry Dewitt because, really, he was a very nice man, and I appreciate the exposure he gave me to an old-fashioned view of the publishing industry. It is not his real name.
Harry met me in his floor-through Park Avenue apartment, a grand if faded space adorned with dusty oriental carpets and rattan. I...
March 29, 2020
Sunday Sentence: Edison by Edmund Morris
Simply put, the best sentence(s) Ive read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
The revolution Edison had wrought was so unobtrusive and at the same time so world changing that few, if any, of the people who experienced it realized what had happened: an end to the counterbalance of night and day that had obtained for all of human history, mocking the attempts of torchbearers and lamplighters and gas companies to alter it with their puny waves of flame.
Edison by...
March 27, 2020
Friday Freebie: Prairie Fever by Michael Parker
Congratulations to Carl Scott, winner of last weeks Friday Freebie contest: Lanny , the new novel by Max Porter (author of Grief is the Thing With Feathers ).
This weeks contest is for Prairie Fever by Michael Parker, out in paperback from Algonquin Books in April. I have a copy to put in one lucky readers hands, and soon they can enjoy a novel that captures a time, place, and sisterhood so perfectly it hurts to turn the last page. A riveting, atmospheric dream of a novel (according to Dominic...
March 24, 2020
Fresh Ink: March 2020 edition
Fresh Ink is a monthly tally of new and forthcoming booksmainly advance review copies (aka uncorrected proofs and galleys)Ive 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 havent had a chance to read these books, but theyre definitely going in the to-be-read pile.
The Last Bathing Beauty
by Amy Sue Nathan
(Lake Union Publishing)
Jacket Copy: Everything seemed possible in the...
March 22, 2020
Sunday Sentence (Special Grandson Edition): Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Simply put, the best sentence(s) Ive read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
NOTE: Content has been a little thin at the Pen lately. Theres a very good reason for that: Ive just spent the last week in North Carolina where I was incredibly blessed and lucky to witness the birth of my first grandchild, a healthy, happy, cute-as-a-button little lad named Ludo. Four days later, with my new best friend tucked in the crook of my arm like a swaddled butternut squash, I...
Sunday Sentence: Plot It Yourself by Rex Stout
Simply put, the best sentence(s) Ive read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Squab marinated in light cream, rolled in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg, clove, thyme, and crushed juniper berries, sautéed in olive oil, and served on toast spread with red currant jelly, with Madeira cream sauce poured over it, is one of Wolfes favorite tidbits.
Plot It Yourself by Rex Stout
March 14, 2020
Sunday Sentence: So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith
Simply put, the best sentence(s) Ive read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
You kiss me with the deliberateness of carefully pouring acid from one beaker to anotherthe slightest mistake and we could have a Situation.
"Dandelion Light" from So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith
March 13, 2020
Friday Freebie: Lanny by Max Porter
Congratulations to Katrina Roberts, winner of last weeks Friday Freebie contest: four books from Algonquin Young Readers : Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry, The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz, Naked Mole Rat Saves the World by Karen Rivers, and Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland.
This weeks contest is for Lanny , the new novel by Max Porter (author of Grief is the Thing With Feathers ).
Reading Lanny is like going to the back of the garden to find the exact spot where magic and menace...
March 8, 2020
Sunday Sentence: So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Billie Holiday is singing and singing and singing, her dusty paper-flower voice echoing off the tiled walls.
"Home Safe" from So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith
