You Must Read This

Thursday June 29, 2006

Review

'Dirty Snow': Dismal Perfection

June 29, 2006 • Georges Simenon's Dirty Snow, a noir chronicle of a mean, vicious soul, is anything but the feel-good read of the summer. But novelist Jim Hynes is going to recommend it to you anyway.

Friday June 23, 2006

Review

A Historian's Pivotal Take on Theodore Roosevelt

June 23, 2006 • For decades after his death, Roosevelt was regarded as a hyperactive New York swell. It wasn't until John Morton Blum published The Republican Roosevelt that Roosevelt assumed his stature as a force to be reckoned with in the Oval Office. Political historian Lewis Gould talks about the impact of Blum's study.

Friday June 16, 2006

Review

Sam Lipsyte on Elkin's Comic 'Living End'

June 16, 2006 • Sam Lipsyte, author of the recent comic novels Home Land and The Subject Steve, discusses Stanley Elkin's vision of life, the universe and everything.

Thursday June 8, 2006

Review

Tom Perrotta Hails Suburban Sendup 'Neighbors'

June 8, 2006 • Thomas Berger's Neighbors recounts the chaotic events of the deliriously sleepless weekend that descends on a suburban family when a shady couple move in next door. Tom Perrotta, a sharp suburban satirist himself, appreciates Berger's antic tale.

Friday June 2, 2006

Review

Pelecanos on the Enduring Power of 'True Grit'

June 2, 2006 • True Grit is a tale of vengeance told in the deceptively innocent voice of a 14-year-old frontier girl. George Pelecanos, master of noir fiction set in contemporary Washington, D.C., hails it as "one of the very best American novels."

Friday May 26, 2006

Review

Saunders on Babel, Prose Poet of the Grotesque

May 26, 2006 • George Saunders, satirist of American consumerism, offers his appreciation of Isaac Babel's dark, visceral tales. Babel's Collected Stories chart the perils and absurdities of life among Russian Jews and Cossack armies.