…in gay domestic life, with all its attendant challenges. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Love poetry? Support the nonprofit Independent!
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…the invitation of columnist Amanda Holmes Duffy.] Barbara Twigg is a longtime DC-area resident. Her first job after earning a B.A. from Yale and an M.A.T. from Harvard was teaching English at the National Cathedral School for Girls. Having later worked many years in the energy-efficiency field, she now plays…
20 Not-Technically-a-Love-Story Love Stories
…moves me to tears.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel by James McBride. “I couldn’t pass a pop quiz on the specifics of this story; I can only recall the supreme joy I felt on being transported into McBride’s world of hope and humanity.” ~Kitty…
…every page that slipped away, will be forever missing.” Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…the kind of transformation the world so desperately needs. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Love poetry? Support the nonprofit Independent!
“The Best Book I Read in 2023”
…on her inner life.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Personal Librarian: A Novel by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Berkley Books). “Belle da Costa Greene, a Black American who passes for white, is hired by J.P. Morgan to be his assistant and to manage his enormous collection of books and…
…give up in the name of convenience and proximity. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…Wilson (Schocken). Reviewed by Amanda Holmes Duffy. “We learn that Ivor doesn’t feel at home in Palestine, nor does he identify with the Jews there, although he has been the victim of antisemitic remarks himself. Things become a lot more complicated than they seem, and there is always another wrinkle.…
…by those who dislike all the fiddle of poetry. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Love poetry? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…the kind of energy all of us can cultivate. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…reading, and Taylor’s English translations are sensitive and beautiful. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a columnist and poetry editor for the Independent and the voice of “Read Me a Poem,” a podcast of the American Scholar. Love poetry? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…ultimately any real meaning. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…a truly unique world. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…originally ran in 2022.] Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
…connected to their homeland. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…want to do that? Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…to know James Still. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…considered book in disguise. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
5 Most Popular Posts: January 2023
…and then the Bolsheviks.” Amanda Holmes Duffy’s review of Our Wives Under the Sea: A Novel by Julia Armfield (Flatiron Books). “Nevertheless, the prose throughout the novel is frequently moving and evocative, and it kept me turning the pages. Armfield has a deep feel for language, although she sometimes makes…
Eve Bites Back: An Alternative History of English Literature
…that trend will continue. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
…anticipate meeting someone new. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Believe in what we do? Support the nonprofit Independent!
“The Best Book I Read this Year”
…threat to his own.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen. “There’s a lot going on in this slim novel — it’s a campus story, a comedy about reluctant hosts, and,…
…to know who can. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
“An Author I’m Truly Thankful For”
…My cup runneth over!” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Elizabeth Strout. “Her psychological portraits of difficult people are astonishing in their ability to expand the reader’s empathy. I especially loved her linked story collection Olive Kitteridge. When the second cycle, Olive, Again, came out, I doubted Strout would be able to achieve…
…the possibilities of writing.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
…where she’s left off. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
I’m the Only Reader on the Planet Who Didn’t Love…
…practically everything about it!” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. “This is a fictional tale of a serial killer that is not only repellant, but also is largely fabricated and palmed off on unsuspecting…
The (Artist’s) Struggle Is Real
…emotion that it offered.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
Our Wives Under the Sea: A Novel
…well worth the wait. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
The Book I’m FINALLY Going to Read this Summer
…loved all 700 pages.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy À la Recherche du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust. “Yes, for an insane moment, I debated reading it in French because I fancy myself plus ou moins conversant in that gorgeous language, and then I remembered the multiple volumes of In Search of…
…are shaped by stories.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
…of being changed ourselves. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
…promise comes crashing down. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Support the nonprofit…
…Moscow, Brussels, and Rome. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
…Medical Muses is indispensable. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
…preternatural in its power.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
7 Most Favorable Reviews in December 2021
…Mortimer (Archipelago). Reviewed by Amanda Holmes Duffy. “An Impossible Love is an exploration of how shame, denial, and betrayal can converge in lethal ways. Pierre’s early behavior, if not forgiven, is certainly overlooked by Rachel, and this paves the way for what happens to Christine. Rachel’s story then becomes a…
…a most uncompromising book. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
“The Best Book I Read All Year”
…become a Christmas classic.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Lobizona by Romina Garber. “Manu’s small world as an undocumented Argentine immigrant in Miami is blown apart when her mother is detained by ICE. Manu’s quest to find her leads Manu to surprising truths about her own past and its connection to a…
…left in irreparable ruin. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
…the Great American Memoir.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
…My cup runneth over!” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Elizabeth Strout. “Her psychological portraits of difficult people are astonishing in their ability to expand the reader’s empathy. I especially loved her linked story collection Olive Kitteridge. When the second cycle, Olive, Again, came out, I doubted Strout would be able to achieve…
“The First Book that Truly Terrified Me Was…”
…head around such evil!” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. “Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an old New York apartment house. She gets pregnant and delivers her child under unusual circumstances.” ~David Bruce Smith What Was I Scared Of? by Dr. Seuss. “To this day, I still…
…left in the middle.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
20+ Non-Beach Reads to Read at the Beach
…of its irresistible charm.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Fierce Attachments: A Memoir by Vivian Gornick. “The story of a fractured, combative relationship between a mother and her daughter.” ~David Bruce Smith Whale Day and Other Poems by Billy Collins. “Let’s face it, no one wants to vacation with someone who reads…
…Sea, neither rings true. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
…both moving and illuminating.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. ~David Bruce Smith Beneficence by Meredith Hall. “Don't make me do it, since I really don't want to part with this one, but I want everyone to know about it and read it.…
…holiday traveling this summer. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Help us help you help us! Click here to…
22 Great Books to Give (or Get) on Father’s Day
…but the anti-war writer.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Growing Up by Russell Baker. “Poverty and love, struggle and success during the Depression. This is volume one of Baker’s memoirs.” ~David Bruce Smith The Bureau of Misplaced Dads by Éric Veillé and Pauline Martin. “If you have a dad in your life…
…than we did before. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…to say of you. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…all who read it. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
An Interview with Andrea Pitzer
…follow their own passion. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…to the magical conclusion. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…originally ran in 2020.] Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and has a weekly podcast, “Read Me a Poem,” produced by the American Scholar magazine. Like what we do? Click here to…
…Me a Poem podcast. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast Read Me a Poem for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
The Best Book I Ever Received…
…~Ronald Goldfarb The Sherlock Holmes Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle. “A Christmas gift from my father when I was a teenager; it led to a lifelong love of Holmes and the stories I return to often.” ~Drew Gallagher American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America by David O. Stewart.…
A Book I Love Giving as a Gift Is…
…story to the next.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. “It's my go-to baby gift. Reading poetry aloud (heck, reading anything aloud: War and Peace, the Cheerios box) got me through some long, sleepless baby nights.” ~Ellen Prentiss Campbell The Company Daughters by Samantha…
The Best Book I Read in 2020 Was…
…the nature of consciousness.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Beneficence by Meredith Hall. “The story of a family on a Maine farm, the plain, beautiful writing, the unflinching clarity that death is part of life reminded me of Charlotte's Web.” ~Ellen Prentiss Campbell Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis. “When five ‘cantoras’ (women…
…constraints in their lives. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
25 Angst-Free Books to Take Your Mind Off the Election
…the agonies of writing.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Piccadilly Jim or The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse. “Both celebrate wondrously funny, against-the-grain misadventures among the obtuse and undeservedly monied British nobility/gentry. Actually, any of Wodehouse’s multitudinous novels would fit the bill in today’s parlous times.” ~Bob Duffy Lucky Jim…
19 Apocalyptic Reads to Help You Embrace the Nightmare
…is the great equalizer.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy “I tend not to read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction because it's so grim and easily imaginable, but Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel was too captivating to resist. It's a great example of speculative fiction that crosses genres: dystopian with a…
…pandemic can’t change that. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…here to listen to Amanda Holmes Duffy reading “Tintern Abbey” on her podcast.] Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar.…
So You Want to Read about Race?
…to Talk About Race.] Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…hole. [Editor's note: This review originally ran in 2019.] Amanda Holmes Duffy is a bookseller at Politics and Prose and has a weekly podcast, “Read Me A Poem,” at the American Scholar magazine. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…edges of the lawn.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
Capturing the Lateness of the World
…write into the world.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
…occasional rays of hope. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of a novel, I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and has a weekly podcast, “Read Me a Poem,” produced by the American Scholar Magazine. Like what we do? Click here…
Apocalyptic Reads to Help You Embrace the Nightmare
…is the great equalizer.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy “I tend not to read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction because it's so grim and easily imaginable, but Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel was too captivating to resist. It's a great example of speculative fiction that crosses genres: dystopian with a…
Happy, Fun Books to Take Your Mind Off the News
…the agonies of writing.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Piccadilly Jim or The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse. “Both celebrate wondrously funny, against-the-grain misadventures among the obtuse and undeservedly monied British nobility/gentry. Actually, any of Wodehouse’s multitudinous novels would fit the bill in today’s parlous times.” ~Bob Duffy Lucky Jim…
…all too often unrecognized. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
10 Romantic Reads for Valentine’s Day
…will ever really understand.’” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. “This novel is a wonder, portraying love in its many forms — from the points of view of people at various ages, in various aspects of being in (or out of) love, and with a great…
…do what she wants.” Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and has a weekly podcast, “Read Me a Poem,” produced by the American Scholar magazine. Like what we do? Click here to…
…capacity for perception itself. Amanda Holmes Duffy, author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a book-club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library and hosts the weekly podcast “Read Me a Poem” for the American Scholar. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
5 Most Popular Posts: July 2019
…meaning is a treat.” Amanda Holmes Duffy’s review of Bunny: A Novel by Mona Awad. “Awad also has something to say about the psychological energy, time, and money such [MFA] programs exact from participants. She has a wicked sense of humor, and you get the sense she had a lot…
The Floating Feldmans: A Novel
…things are pretty bleak. Amanda Holmes Duffy, the author of a novel I Know Where I am When I’m Falling, is a bookseller at Politics and Prose and hosts the podcast “Read Me A Poem” with the American Scholar Magazine. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit…
…fun to go with her down the rabbit hole. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a bookseller at Politics and Prose and has a weekly podcast, “Read Me A Poem,” at the American Scholar magazine. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…true. [Editor's note: This review originally ran in 2018.] Amanda Holmes Duffy is the author of I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling and a bookseller at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…the characters completely believable. Amanda Holmes Duffy is the author of a novel, I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, a book club facilitator for Fairfax County Public Library, and a bookseller at Politics and Prose. Follow her blog at nextbookbyamandaholmes.blogspot.com. Like what we do? Click here to support…
…cannot ask much more from a novel than that. Amanda Holmes Duffy is author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, book-club facilitator at Fairfax County Public Library, and a bookseller at Politics and Prose. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…many will respond to because, ultimately, it rings true. Amanda Holmes Duffy is the author of I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling and a bookseller at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
The Dog’s Last Walk (and Other Pieces)
…complexity and entertainment value. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a bookseller at Politics and Prose. She is also the author of many short stories and a novel, I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling. Her new novel is Ladyboy. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…care? Sadly, I suspect the author feels the same. Amanda Holmes Duffy is the author of many short stories and a novel, I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…the untidy real world, and in each present moment. Amanda Holmes Duffy is the author of I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling (Oak Tree Press 2014). She blogs at www.irrelevanceofhope.blogspot.com. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
…of that family life will never quite be shaken. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a facilitator for Changing Lives Through Literature through the Fairfax County Public Library and the author of I Know Where I Am When I'm Falling, a novel.
8 Books We’re Embarrassed Not to Have Read
…glaring omission, especially now. ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Ulysses by James Joyce. Pretty embarrassed that I haven't read this, but I don't think anyone's actually read it, and you're a liar if you say you have. ~Ed Aymar The Iliad by Homer. It feels like it’s been on my TBR list…
…and soul, in a long tradition of Mississippi writers. Amanda Holmes (Duffy) is the author of I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, a novel.
This Dark Road to Mercy: A Novel
…has not served the story well, or Cash’s readers. Amanda Holmes (Duffy) contributes frequently to the Washington Independent Review of Books and is the author of I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, which will be published by Oak Tree Press this April.
…delightful reading. You don’t want the journey to end. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a frequent contributor to the Washington Independent Review of Books. Her first novel, I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, will be published by Oak Tree Press in the spring.
…written these stories, and they are her finest yet. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a fiction writer whose stories have recently appeared in The Northern Virginia Review, Our Stories and Main Street Rag. She blogs at www.irrelevanceofhope.blogspot.com.
…its craggy rocks, inky sea urchins and glistening seas. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a frequent contributor to The Washington Independent Review of Books. Her short stories have recently appeared in “Our Stories,” “Main Street Rag” and “The Northern Virginia Review.”
…to delight us with their charm and intelligent humor. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a frequent contributor to the Washington Independent Review of Books.
…beautifully realized, and shows Claire Messud at her best. Amanda Holmes Duffy’s most recent short story appears in the current issue of Northern Virginia Review. She blogs at irrelevanceofhope.blogspot.com.
Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles: A Novel
…least bit plastic about this unflinching and captivating novel. Amanda Holmes Duffy is a fiction writer who blogs at www.irrelevanceofhope.blogspot.com. Her latest short story will appear in the 2013 issue of Northern Virginia Review.
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes Duffy A little girl plays in the snow with a childless couple, but is she real? The Russian fairy story of Snegurochka has been embroidered by writers from Alexander Ostrovsky to Raymond Briggs. It is the story of a snow man or woman who comes to…
Top 5 January Reviews and Features
…those two girls, and what happened to their parents? Amanda Holmes Duffy dissects the story. 5) The Real Literary Washington D.C.—Our list of books that embody the essence of Our Nation’s Capital.
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyDesire can be mysterious. Why do some attractions hold strong while others dissolve for no particular reason? The nature of romantic impulse and the disorienting shifts in the direction of desire provides the central focus of Dear Life, Alice Munro’s extraordinary new collection of stories. Here,…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyChekhov famously observed that if a loaded pistol appears in the first act, it should certainly be fired in the second. Similarly, when Marnie, 15, and Nelly, 12, bury their parents in the back garden, you wait with every page for the moment of discovery. Author…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyMagnificence, the conclusion of a trilogy that began with How the Dead Dream and Ghost Lights, is Lydia Millet’s most biting commentary so far on extinction and our stewardship of the natural world. In Ghost Lights, Hal travels to Belize to locate his wife Susan’s missing…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyWhen you pick up a novel by Susan Richards Shreve you enter the author’s uniquely familiar world. You can expect it to be set in a residential neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with characters who are intelligent, independent and ever so slightly quirky. There will be secrets…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyCanadian writer Frances Itani is at the top of her game, but many American readers may not know her work. She had written nine books before her American debut with the novel Deafening, which won the Commonwealth Prize in 2004. Requiem, her second novel, is less…
Brand New Human Being: A Novel
…24th at 5pmReviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyAt first Emily Jeanne Miller’s debut novel Brand New Human Being looks like that classic of “chick lit,” a good beach read. Unlike most such novels, though, this one might leave you thinking about gender roles long after you put it down.The story begins…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyFrom the first pages of In the Kingdom of Men, narrator Virginia “Gin” Mitchell is an outcast, unlike anyone else she knows. Raised by a fire-and-brimstone grandfather in small-town Oklahoma, she listens to his sermons and realizes she can tell big lies and get away with…
…assurance at its center. ~Amanda Holmes Duffy Clawback by Mike Cooper Viking 390 pp. Who is murdering the most hated money managers on Wall Street? That’s the question Mike Cooper asks in his new thriller, Clawback. A better question might be: Who is murdering the modern American thriller? It would…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyIn her first novel The Dissident, Nell Freudenberger told the story of a Chinese artist living in Los Angeles on a teaching grant. She asked us to look at the differences between how people see themselves and how others perceive them, and to explore the shift…
…through all 500 pages. ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Forest Laird by Jack Whyte Forge 477 pp. After Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart,” we all know of Scottish patriot William Wallace, but do we really know the flesh-and-blood man behind the legend? Jack Whyte’s well-written historical novel explores the man and his world…
…over the dazzling prose. ~Amanda Holmes Duffy The Map and the Territory by Michel Houllebecq Knopf 269 pp. Monsieur Houllebecq makes himself a supporting character in his novel, an examination of the life and art of his creation Jed Martin, a mildly autistic, television-watching photographer and painter, a man marked…
…thrall until the end. Amanda Holmes Duffy, who teaches writing at Northern Virginia Community College, has edited art listings for “Goings On” in The New Yorker and has published stories, under Amanda Holmes, in Ploughshares, Rattapallax, Moxie, Sunday Express and on the Ether Books app for download to iPhone. “Russian…
…holidays, read what reviewer Amanda Holmes Duffy has to say about poet Alan Shapiro’s first novel, Broadway Baby. The Ice Balloon: S.A. Andree and the Golden Age of Arctic Exploration by Alec Wilkinson Knopf 256 pp. If the Greely and Nansen expeditions represent the golden age of Arctic exploration —…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes Duffy Lydia Millet’s sixth novel, How the Dead Dream (2008), concerned real-estate developer T., who loses his bearings when his car hits a coyote and he watches its painful death. After a series of other difficult losses, T. finds solace by breaking into zoos in the…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyIn 1957, poet Anna Akhmatova wrote the following words as a preface to her collection Requiem:“In the terrible years of the Yezhov terror I spent seventeen months waiting in line outside the prison in Leningrad. One day somebody in the crowd identified me. Standing behind me…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes Duffy Josie Henderson is a black marine biologist stationed at Woods Hole. She has worked hard to get where she is. She loves the ocean and while observing and tracking data on marine mammals, wonders: “How can you truly get to know an environment that you…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyWhat happens when a damaged, self-involved man loves a girl unconditionally? David Lamb stumbles upon this question when he encounters Tommie in front of the CVS drug store. She’s a freckled piglet of a girl, dressed in a makeshift tube top. Set up by friends to…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyIn the winter of 1943, at 5 years old, Eva Farkas is smuggled in a flour sack over the Hungarian border into Romania. She is taken in by an aunt and uncle and given the new name Anca Balaj. She must forget her Hungarian past, her…
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyTwo best friends from Ann Arbor Michigan are living their dream in Manhattan. Julia is senior publicist for the New York City Ballet while Marissa works as an editor at Svelte, a health magazine that “essentially runs the same 10 articles over and over, each one…
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
Reviewed by Amanda Holmes DuffyWhen her sister Anne-Marie died of cancer at the age of 46, Nina Sankovitch was grief stricken; three years on, she struggled with “the relentless question of why I deserved to live.” So starting on her own 46th birthday, she undertook the challenge of reading a…
By Amanda Holmes Duffy In 1968, Heck Hellman and his friend Rebozos embark on an ill-fated kayak trip off Wilde Point, Mass. Heck drowns while Rebozos, wearing the only life vest, is rescued by a woman on shore. Thus begins Carolyn Cooke’s debut novel, clearly informed by her skill as…
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