David Abrams's Blog, page 48

My Year of Reading: Every Book I Read in 2016

This Was the Year
This was the year I killed it, reading-wise: 130 books, a new record since I started keeping track of my habits in 2005 (the year I was deployed to Iraq with the U.S. Army, I had loads of free time on my hands, and I read what now looks like a paltry 50 books).

This was the year when I read fewer books published in 2016 than ones published in other years: 56 vs. 74. Part of that had to do with my commitment to making headway on my Five-Year Reading Plan of the Essentials (tho...

Sunday Sentence: Wintering by Peter Geye

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


The moon rose after dark, low and bulbous through the trees, as golden as if it had been dipped in bourbon.

Wintering by Peter Geye

My Year of Reading: Best Poetry of 2016

In his Afterword to the late Larry Levis’ posthumous collection The Darkening Trapeze, David St. John writes: “I continue to believe that poetry remains one of our most vital reservoirs of reflection, solace and outrage within a world replete with horrors.” He wrote those words long before November 8, or the atrocities on the streets of Aleppo, or the year’s final, hard cluster of celebrity deaths, but I believe St. John is right. In a world often draped in the black shroud of greed, bigotry,...

My Year of Reading: Best Covers of 2016

First impressions are often lasting impressions, especially when it comes to book design. The jacket art, the thickness and geometric dimensions, the typeface, the feel of the page—all of those elements impact our attitude toward the words between the two covers. And I’m not just talking about physical dead-tree books. No matter if we take our literature electronically, design elements come into play: the size and type of font, the margins, the brightness of the screen all influence us. Even...

My First Time: Joseph Mills

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 Joseph Mills, author of the new poetry collection Exit, pursued by a bear . A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Mills has published six volumes of poetry with Press 53, including Somewhere During the Spin Cycle , Sendin...

Sunday Sentence: Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson

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


Odd that a festival to celebrate the most austere of births should end up being all about conspicuous consumption.

Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson

The Big Christmas Read

This year, I’m seeking comfort and joy in Christmas books. I don’t always find it—sometimes the seasonal stories I pull off my shelf are so lame, it’s like reaching into my Christmas stocking and pulling out a brick of fruitcake (regifted from last year) dusted with black from a lump of coal—but in these days of presidents-elect tweeting us into a nuclear winter and the grief of finding 3,000 dead snow geese in a pit one mile north of my house, I have to jingle my bells in whatever way I can....

My Year of Reading: Best First Lines of 2016

In 2016, I read somewhere north of 100 books (the final tally is still to come). In those same twelve months, I bought, received in the mail, downloaded onto my Kindle, or was gifted nearly eight times that number of books. They passed through my hands like a slurry caught in never-ending water. With so many new books rushing past my eyes, it takes something bold and unique to catch my attention. Sure, I’m attracted to plot, character and sometimes by the reputation of the author, but it’s th...

Brave Deeds Gets Dressed

If, as Annie sings, you’re never fully dressed without a smile, then a book is still half-naked until it gets its cover.

Well, that day has finally arrived for my forthcoming novel Brave Deeds . Thanks to the splendid production team at Grove/Atlantic, the book is no longer nude. I know I’m biased, but I really like the novel’s new wardrobe. For four years, the book existed only as bare words, black ants crawling across white sheets of paper, and now it’s splashed with color. I hope it catches...

My First Time: Michael Anthony

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 Michael Anthony, author of Civilianized , “an intense memoir” (Kirkus) about his return to the U.S. from a combat tour in Iraq. He is also the author of Mass Casualties: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq , which received...