“Now open your eyes,” said Rachel. “Look!” Roger blinked. “What is it?” he whispered. The sea was alive with moving light. Blue and green and sparkling like diamonds, glittering like emeralds, alive and alive and alive. Everywhere, as far as Roger and Rachel could see, the sea was filled with…
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Unsolaced: Along the Way to All That Is
Unsolaced: Along the Way to All That Is
Book Chat: Joanna Ruth Meyer, Anna Bright, and Laura Weymouth
Join us for a fun online evening chat to celebrate Joanna Ruth Meyer's new novel, Into the Heartless Wood! Authors Anna Bright and Laura Weymouth will be part of the free event. Join us online on Facebook or YouTube. If you register to attend, we will also email the direct…
An Interview with Janice P. Nimura
Janice P. Nimura, recipient of a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities, may not have pursued her own onetime interest in becoming a physician, but her highly anticipated new book, The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine, explores…
The Chanel Sisters: A Novel
“Long, long ago, before I was a tormented artist… I was a glorious ruler uniting all of a divided country —” So begins “Theory of Memory” in Louise Glück’s National Book Award-winning collection, Faithful and Virtuous Night. It is a short prose poem that, in part, questions fate. In it,…
The Center of Everything: A Novel
The Center of Everything: A Novel
Ordinary Girls
Richard III
P&P Live! Koa Beck with Ruby Hamad and Melissa Gira Grant
Join the important conversation about race, empowerment, and inclusion in the United States with this powerful new feminist classic and rousing call for change. Koa Beck, writer and former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, boldly examines the history of feminism, from the true mission of the suffragettes to the rise of corporate…
A Patriotic Pick: January 2021
Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Grateful American™ Book Prize judge Dr. Peter S. Carmichael, the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College: The three-volume…
In the Land of the Cyclops: Essays
In the Land of the Cyclops: Essays
A Promised Land
Every few weeks or so, it seems there’s a commotion in publishing when some writer or reviewer, knowingly or not, disparages genre fiction. This bitterness has been happening for years (for a fun read, check out Stephen King’s wonderful, biting, emotional defense of genre fiction upon winning the 2003 National…
The Horror Is Us
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Jeffrey H. Jackson
A history professor at Rhodes College, Jeffrey H. Jackson is also the author, most recently, of Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis, which was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Foreword Reviews calls the book “a captivating tale of queer love…
The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War
The Last Platoon: A Novel of the Afghanistan War
7 Most-Favorable Reviews in December 2020
The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard by John Birdsall (W.W. Norton & Company). Reviewed by Nevin Martell. “Though much has been written about this larger-the-life epicurean figure, The Man Who Ate Too Much is the first biography to tackle Beard’s life through the lens of…
Big Freedia in Conversation with Blair Imani
Y'all, Big Freedia will be in conversation with Blair Imani and we are shook! This is going to be such an amazing event celebrating the paperback release of God Save the Queen Diva! This event will be held digitally via Crowdcast. Click here to register for the event with a…
The Sicilian Method: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery
The Sicilian Method: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery
5 Most Popular Posts: December 2020
Ellen Kwatnoski’s review of News of the World: A Novel by Paulette Jiles (William Morrow). “The narrative is peppered with dry humor and infused with equal measures of morality and common sense. Over time, the captain and Johanna come to rely on and trust one another. At a crucial moment,…
When the seriousness of the coronavirus became evident, my husband and I canceled a spring-break trip to New Orleans and a chance to be on reality TV (my niece was on “Married at First Sight,” and I had carefully choreographed a scene where we all threw drinks at each other)…
Novel Houses
A Small Door Set in Concrete
10 Reading Resolutions for the New Year (Redux)
“Keep it up. Reading is my intellectual lifeblood, and I'm pretty happy with my approach: gulping down more than 60 books this year. So I don't have much to change. I want to drink deeply at the trough, with deep draughts of literary fiction from writers who challenge me; sips…
The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain
The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain
I can’t think of a better way to ring in 2021 than with a few good books. (Though, really, every holiday celebration is better with a book in hand.) Even with a bright and shiny new year to get excited about, I know that these cold winter months are going…
Over the last several weeks, I’ve been delving into the life story and poetry of Edward Thomas. Who’s that, you may ask? I’ll admit I thought the same until my interest was sparked by his poem “Lights Out,” suggested by a listener to my weekly podcast, Read Me a Poem.…
Salt Water
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Denise Kiernan
Producer, journalist, and writer Denise Kiernan is the author, among other books, of The Girls of Atomic City and the New York Times bestselling The Last Castle. Publishers Weekly describes her new work, the Thanksgiving history We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign…
Henry Adams in Washington: Linking the Personal and Public Lives of America’s Man of Letters
Henry Adams in Washington: Linking the Personal and Public Lives of America’s Man of Letters
You Exist Too Much: A Novel
The Best Book I Ever Received…
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. “I was standing waiting for my wife and guests to go to a movie, opened this book on a table, stood there transfixed, never went to the movie, and finished [it] by morning.” ~Ronald Goldfarb The Sherlock Holmes Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle. “A…
Children’s Book Roundup: December 2020
Brighter days are coming, but we need to get through winter’s long, dark evenings first. Here are three new nighttime-themed titles to share with your little ones when they swear they’re not sleepy and beg for just one more story before bed. Ella’s Night Lights by Lucy Fleming (Candlewick). A…
The best thing about the end of the year? The end of end-of-year fundraisers. But we’ve got a good reason to ask for your help right now: a $2,500 matching grant from a generous supporter! That means any donations — which help us bring you the reviews, Q&As, columns, and…
All About the Story: News, Power, Politics, and the Washington Post
All About the Story: News, Power, Politics, and the Washington Post
It was December of 1979. I was 14 and sitting with my father as he drove our brown, 1977 Toyota Corolla toward our house. I’d been pretty depressed since leaving suburban Chicago to live in suburban Indianapolis. We were coming home from basketball practice; the team was run by a…
Who Says You’re Dead?
Wake, Siren
Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park
Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park
Today is our son’s eighth birthday — hooray! — and this week brings his favorite holiday, too. Dash loves everything Christmas: putting up the tree, crowding the house with decorations, counting down the Advent calendar — Harry Potter this year! We camp out by the Christmas tree some nights. And…
The Talented Miss Farwell: A Novel
The Talented Miss Farwell: A Novel
“What use is my sense of humor?” – Robert Lowell, “Walking in the Blue” “He was my Father. I was his son.” – Robert Lowell, “Dunbarton” Alan King’s poems are no stranger to confrontation. His two previous books, Drift and Point Blank, both carry a sense of responsibility to “make…
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Susan Eisenhower
An author, longtime policy analyst, and expert on strategic leadership, Susan Eisenhower is also the granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In her new book, How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower’s Biggest Decisions, she explores what drove the former WWII supreme allied commander’s thinking as he moved through the…
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey: A Novel
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey: A Novel
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Jólabókaflóð
We’ve long swooned over Icelanders’ charming Christmas Eve ritual, jólabókaflóð, or “Yule Book Flood,” during which loved ones exchange new books and pass the evening reading together. (You can’t spend all night bingeing “A Christmas Story,” you know.) To help with your last-minute jólabókaflóð shopping — which you’ll hopefully do…
Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Fishing Village
Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Fishing Village
An Interview with Deborah Tannen
Deborah Tannen, a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, has just published her 13th book, and first memoir, Finding My Father: His Century-long Journey from World War I Warsaw and My Quest to Follow. We recently discussed the new work. You’ve written many books (including You Just Don’t Understand, You’re…
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics
At the beginning of 2020, no one could have anticipated that we’d be hit with nationwide shutdowns as a result of a pandemic or that we’d struggle to find toilet paper and paper towels! If you were that person watching all those YouTube and TikTok videos on how to make…
Citizen 865
The Capital of Basketball
The Killer’s Shadow: The FBI’s Hunt for a White Supremacist Serial Killer
The Killer’s Shadow: The FBI’s Hunt for a White Supremacist Serial Killer
The Adoption
A Book I Love Giving as a Gift Is…
The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry. “Someone recommended I read it and said I’d be hooked on his writing. I did and I was, and I read all his [other] books thereafter.” ~Ronald Goldfarb Whale Day: and Other Poems by Billy Collins. “Any poetry collection by Billy Collins, but…
I’ve never read anything by Lynne Truss, but she was the writer featured in the regular Saturday series of the Wall Street Journal in which an author recommends the five best books in a category related to his or her own work. The category for the author of the Constable…
The Liar's Dictionary is an exhilarating and laugh-out-loud debut novel from a prize-winning new talent which chronicles the misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in…
The Piano Student: A Novel
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with H. Ripley Rawlings IV
Retired Marine lieutenant colonel H. Ripley Rawlings IV published his debut military thriller, Red Metal (co-written with Mark Greaney), in 2019. He’s now back with his first solo effort, Assault by Fire: A Tyce Asher Novel. The Real Book Spy calls Assault by Fire “a high powered thriller that should…
Memorial: A Novel
An Interview with Holly Goldberg Sloan
In addition to writing feature films and TV shows, Holly Goldberg Sloan is also a bestselling author. Her books — including Counting by 7s, Short, I’ll Be There, and Just Call My Name — feature children as central characters but deal with adult themes. They should be required reading for…
The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler’s Agents, the FBI, & the Case that Stirred the Nation
The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler’s Agents, the FBI, & the Case that Stirred the Nation
One very important thing happened between when I finished reading Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi’s radiant mosaic of a debut novel, and when I started writing this column: The United States of America held a presidential election. Don’t worry; this isn’t going to be a column about politics — at least not…
Waters of the World
A Castle in Wartime
Danielle Evans in Conversation with Laura van den Berg
Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections, will be in conversation with Laura van den Berg. Presented in partnership with CityLit Project. Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and x-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans zooms in on…
A Patriotic Pick: December 2020
Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by author and publisher David Bruce Smith, founder of the Grateful American™ Foundation and the Grateful American™ Book Prize: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Few books so vividly capture…
The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution
My husband and I move slowly on small decisions. A menu choice requires consideration. But big decisions fall into place by accident or fate. Getting married? Snap consensus. Reduce our living space by a third, transplant from the Maryland suburbs to Washington? Close to impulse. The (Eventual) Plan had always…
Jillian in the Borderlands
The Best Book I Read in 2020 Was…
The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, Roosevelt's Chief of Staff by Phillips Payson O'Brien. “Who knew? Five-star admiral Leahy was FDR’s unheralded right-hand man. The author presents a compelling case that, as FDR’s health declined, Leahy ran all U.S. strategy for…
Authors on Audio: Sara Fitzgerald
University of Michigan alumna and retired journalist Sara Fitzgerald, who spent most of her career at the Washington Post, is also an award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her new book is Conquering Heroines: How Women Fought Sex Bias at Michigan and Paved the Way for Title IX, which…
1957: The Year that Launched the American Future
1957: The Year that Launched the American Future
The Cold Millions: A Novel
5 Outstanding New Books about the American Revolution
Given the approaching 250th anniversary of America’s founding, the pace of Revolutionary War scholarship and book publishing is quickening. During 2020, over 135 new books on the rebellion came on the market. The lives of the Founders represent almost a third of them. Similar to past years, George Washington biographies…
O.B. Hardison Poetry Series: Tonight I Am in Love
East City Bookshop is proud to partner with the Folger Shakespeare Library to provide books for their 2020/21 O.B. Hardison Poetry Series. “Tonight I am in Love: Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute.” Poet Dorianne Laux will travel to The Homestead in Amherst, MA, the home of Emily Dickinson, to celebrate Dickinson’s…
Let Love Rule
There is so much to miss, now nine months in. Lipstick, for one. Movie popcorn. A hug from my father. And putting on actual pants and hard-soled shoes in order to bear witness to the book launches of so many friends. Politics and Prose, Sixth & I, the Gaithersburg Book…
On the Plain of Snakes
Homewreckers
P&P Live! Sabaa Tahir in Conversation with Tochi Onyebuchi and Everdeen Mason
Sabaa Tahir will be in conversation Tochi Onyebuchi to discuss A Sky Beyond the Storm, the fourth and final book in her #1 New York Times bestselling An Ember in the Ashes series. The event will be moderated by Everdeen Mason and will include Ember trivia, audience Q&A, and an…
Romance Roundup: December 2020
As we wrap up this strange, surreal year, I can’t help but think 2020 wasn’t at all what I expected — or what any of us expected, really. There were no big family trips, no weekly coffee dates with friends, no new dining adventures with my husband. But the year…
Perestroika in Paris: A Novel
The Exploits of an A-List Attorney
When an old hit by the Rolling Stones is heard as background music in a restaurant, an airport, or a supermarket, Mick Jagger hears the ka-ching of the cash register. But you can rest assured the rock star doesn’t sit up nights sending out bills to collect his royalties. Instead,…
7 Most-Favorable Reviews in November 2020
Homeland Elegies: A Novel by Ayad Akhtar (Little, Brown and Co.). Reviewed by Jack McCarthy. “Homeland Elegies reads as autofiction, taking many facts from Akhtar the author’s own biography and channeling them into Akhtar the character. The narrator, like his creator, is an American-born, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright from suburban Milwaukee…
Yi Shun Lai is a writer, editor, columnist for the Writer magazine, an MFA program instructor at Bay Path and Southern New Hampshire universities, and a volunteer with international disaster-relief organization ShelterBox. She’s also a fierce advocate for equality and the importance of hearing marginalized voices. Yi Shun writes, teaches,…
High Tension: FDR’s Battle to Power America
High Tension: FDR’s Battle to Power America
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with H.W. Brands
Professor, historian, and two-time Pulitzer finalist H.W. Brands is the author of dozens of books, including, most recently, The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom. The New York Times Book Review says this latest work is “at heart an appraisal of contrasting…
The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard
The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard
5 Most Popular Posts: November 2020
“Our 51 Favorite Books of 2020.” “We don’t possess the hubris to declare certain books ‘the best.’ Instead, in no particular order, here are some of our most-loved titles of 2020, a year that can't end soon enough.” “Political? Books.” by Lupita Aquino. “But what many don’t acknowledge is that…
The hellscape that is 2020 is almost over, but we need your help to finish the year strong! We love bringing you reviews, features, Q&As, podcasts, and other goodies seven days a week, but we’re a nonprofit and…well, you know the rest. We’re grateful for any amount you can give…
Vindicated: A Novel of Mary Shelley
Vindicated: A Novel of Mary Shelley
Renzo and Carlo Piano in Conversation with Michael Kimmelman and Will Schutt
World-renowned architect Renzo Piano (the New Whitney Museum, the Pompidou Center, Potsdamer Platz, the New York Times Building, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and many more) and his son Carlo, a well-regarded journalist, will be in conversation with poet and translator Will Schutt (Westerly) and New York Times architecture…
Children’s Book Roundup: November 2020
Like in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter, the next few months — as the world awaits distribution of a covid-19 vaccine — are shaping up to be dark and challenging. So why not brighten things with these new releases? Whether you save them for the holidays or embrace the…
Writing the Virus: New Work from StatORec Magazine
Writing the Virus: New Work from StatORec Magazine
A few months ago, I posted on Twitter this excerpt from someone’s book review: “This novel is set in Virginia during two time periods: the early 1940s, and the summer of 2020. Chapters alternate between the two time periods. The story was enjoyable, but every time I came to a…
Stolen
Canyon Dreams
Join Blake Gopnik on P&P Live as he spins a Yuletide tale about Andy Warhol and the ugliest Christmas tree in New York! In Warhol, esteemed art critic Blake Gopnik takes on Andy Warhol in all his depth and dimensions. “The meanings of his art depend on the way he…
Foreign judges regularly visit the U.S. Supreme Court. On one such occasion, a guest asked then-Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, as he accompanied him on a tour of the premises, the source of the words “Equal Justice Under Law.” Those high-minded words were engraved into the spandrel at the front of…
Death and the Maiden
Like most writers, I love good quotes. Don’t you? “I wish I had said that” is a refrain uttered — or thought — by most people. So, in the spirit of the seasons (Thanksgiving or Christmas, whichever comes first; this year, I’m confused), I will cite some of my favorites,…
Kindred Spirits: An American Music Journey
Kindred Spirits: An American Music Journey
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Harold Holzer
An award-winning historian and leading expert on Abraham Lincoln and Civil War-era politics, Harold Holzer is also the author of several books, including 2014’s Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion. In his new book, The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about writers and their literary legacies. Maybe that’s in part because so many fine writers have passed away this year; maybe it’s simply because it’s autumn, which always seems to bring a mood of quiet reflection after summer’s heat and light. Or maybe it’s…
V2: A Novel of World War II
Drawing inspiration from Dante’s Divine Comedy, D. Selby Fing’s posthumous Perdition: Part One of the Profane Comedy finds Fing on a quest for meaning through a bewildering American underworld. I spoke with the author’s son Y.S. Fing about his father’s masterwork and its publication 44 years after the author’s death.…
Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
Party for One: A Thanksgiving Reading
Grab yourself a whole pie, some wine, and your favorite side and join friend of Loyalty Jami Attenberg, who is inviting some of her best writing friends to read some of their work on the theme of Party for One. Enjoy short readings of favorite selections and works in progress…
Jubilee: A Novel
Oligarchy: A Novel by Scarlett Thomas (Counterpoint). Reviewed by Josh Denslow. “What Thomas pulls off here is astounding. This is a truly funny book. It is acerbic. It is mean-spirited. It is heavy (and I don't just mean weight gain). The characters are flawed and sometimes intensely unlikable, but they…
Full Throttle
Our Wild Calling
Dedicated to authors whose first major work was published at 40 or older, Bloom seeks to challenge narrow or uniform ideas about what constitutes literary success or authenticity. We have interviewed authors such as André Aciman, Min Jin Lee, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Tessa Hadley; published essays on “late blooming”…
Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda
Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda
P&P Live! A Discussion with “The Antiracist Table”
Election years can truly drive a wedge between us and the people we love as political differences are often hard to overcome in any type of relationship. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, maybe there are some tough conversations with family members in your near future, and you're unsure of…
I hope you’re all excited about holiday shopping this year! And, by that, I mean huddling over your computer or phone and clicking “buy.” WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC. DON’T GO TO A STORE UNLESS IT’S ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. OR IF YOU’RE BUYING ME A GIFT. Anyway, if you’re…
Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation
Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Laura E. Gómez
A professor of law, sociology, and Chicana/Chicano studies at UCLA, Laura E. Gómez is also the author, most recently, of Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism, which, says Kirkus, “provides much-needed insight into the true complexity of Latinx identity while revealing the ways in which the dominant culture…
Mother Mother: A Novel
An Interview with Kerri Arsenault
For over 100 years, the community of Mexico, Maine, revolved around a paper mill that employed most of the town, including three generations of author Kerri Arsenault's own family. When Arsenault, an editor at Orion Magazine and a LitHub contributor, returns to her hometown after the death of her grandfather,…
No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality
No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality
Fantastic Tales
Claiming the Dark and the Light
Unless you’ve gone out of your way to seek classic African American literature, perhaps taking courses at a university, chances are you haven’t heard of Iola Leroy: Or, Shadows Uplifted by Frances E.W. Harper. I hadn’t heard of this 1892 story — the first novel by an African American woman…
Persistence + Prose: A Feminist Book Club
Taking us from the slave era, when white women fought in court to keep “ownership” of their slaves, through the centuries of colonialism, when they offered a soft face for brutal tactics, to the modern workplace, White Tears/Brown Scars tells a charged story of white women’s active participation in campaigns…
The Anarchy
For the Birds
If the question is, “Who was the greatest American leader of the 20th century?” it would be hard for an intellectually honest person to answer with any name other than “Dwight David Eisenhower.” Yes, admirers of Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt can make a case for their being the premier political…
A Patriotic Pick: November 2020
Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Grateful American™ Book Prize judge Dr. Douglas Bradburn, president and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon: Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by Jim Mattis and Bing West. This clear-eyed…
A Brotherhood Betrayed: The Man Behind the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc.
A Brotherhood Betrayed: The Man Behind the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc.
To Be a Man: Stories
Some really good novels written by immigrants have come out recently. I’m drawn to these writers, being an immigrant myself. I’ve also spent many years living overseas with my U.S. Foreign Service husband. One of my kids once remarked that when people ask where he comes from, it seems strange…
Self-Portrait with Russian Piano: A Novel
Self-Portrait with Russian Piano: A Novel
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
In their new book, The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III, husband-and-wife journalist/authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser profile one of DC’s most effective (and possibly last) behind-the-scenes dealmakers. The Wall Street Journal calls the work “an illuminating biographical portrait…one that describes the…
E.A. Barres: Book Launch & Discussion
We are pleased to host E.A. Barres (the pen name of E.A. Aymar) for the launch of his new novel, They're Gone. Jenny Milchman and Hank Phillippi Ryan will join Ed for a helpful panel discussion on “Writing a Book During a Pandemic.” Aymar/Barres' thrillers include The Unrepentant and the…
An Interview with Adam Schwartz
Adam Schwartz’s The Rest of the World recently won the Washington Writers’ Publishing House 2020 award for fiction. His eight-story collection chronicles the lives of Baltimore teens as they persevere while coping with hair-trigger violence, absent parents, and their own often conflicting impulses. Schwartz, who has taught in the Baltimore…
Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court
Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court
Carole Ione grew up in a world of beautiful Black women of various shades, where marriages crumbled, fathers fell by the wayside, and mothers forged ahead with careers and the “occasional” man. As a 10-year-old sitting at the piano listening to her mother sing Calypso songs, Ione, as she now…
At the time Stalin took control of the Communist Party and, therefore, the Soviet Union, in 1927, the country had known 13 straight years of war and violence and displacement. The Bolsheviks (contrary to their name, which means “the majority”) were still — as they always would be — a…
Leave the World Behind: A Novel
Leave the World Behind: A Novel
Murder, Inc.
Passionate Spirit
P&P Live! Celebrating Eudora Welty: A Writers Panel
Featuring a new introduction, the updated edition One Writer's Beginnings by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author and one of the most revered figures in American letters is profound and priceless as guidance for anyone who aspires to write. Part memoir, part exploration of the seeds of creativity, this…
Romance Roundup: November 2020
Okay, I admit it, I started putting up my holiday decorations on November 1st. Yes, it’s early (for me). And no, I don’t really care. In a year of sadness and uncertainty, I’m all about embracing whatever brings me a little joy. And, along with twinkle lights and Christmas music,…
A Country for Dying: A Novel
Here We Are: A Novel
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Michael Imperioli
Emmy-winning actor Michael Imperioli may be best known for his role as a mobster on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” but he’s also author of the novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes. Most recently, Imperioli contributed to The Nicotine Chronicles, which Booklist describes as “Sixteen tributes to America's guiltiest pleasure…even confirmed anti-smokers…
The Exiles: A Novel
25 Angst-Free Books to Take Your Mind Off the Election
Seasons in Hell by Mike Shropshire. “For those lamenting the delay of Opening Day, try this book — the laugh-out-loud-til-tears-run-down-your-cheeks funniest book ever written about a Major League Baseball team.” ~Talmage Boston The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life by John Le Carré. “As I read other supposedly wonderful books,…
What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era
What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era
7 Most-Favorable Reviews in October 2020
Anxious People: A Novel by Fredrik Backman; translated by Neil Smith (Atria Books). Reviewed by Robert Allen Papinchak. “How do you follow up a sensational international bestseller like A Man Called Ove? Fredrik Backman does it spectacularly with the entertaining conundrum Anxious People. As equally idiosyncratic and iconoclastic as his…
Christopher Paul Curtis in Conversation with Nic Stone
We are incredibly honored to have Christopher Paul Curtis and Nic Stone in conversation for the 25th anniversary of The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. This truly is a not to be missed event! This event will be held digitally via Crowdcast. Click here to register for the event with a…
5 Most Popular Posts: October 2020
“The Harsh Lessons of Frankenstein” by Dorothy Reno. “Nearly 200 years later, the debate about whether beauty can be measured continues, but not with Frankenstein. Today, popular and academic interpretations coalesce largely around Victor as the abandoning parent — and Monster as the faultless, traumatized child — a naked clue…
Reading will always be political. This isn’t an opinion; it’s a fact. Because we learn through reading: In books, we have the unique ability to choose to experience (at a very minimal level) what it’s like to be someone else. Researchers have found, for instance, that reading literary fiction “improves…
Homeland Elegies: A Novel
Ahab’s Rolling Sea
A Fool’s Errand
A Private Cathedral: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
A Private Cathedral: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
Meet Eduardo Halfon, Chloe Aridjis, and Andrés Neuman
And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again: Writers from Around the World on the COVID-19 Pandemic is a rich, eye-opening, and uplifting anthology featuring dozens of esteemed writers, poets, artists, and translators from more than 30 countries. As our world is transformed by the coronavirus pandemic, writers offer…
The Midnight Circus
I’m a fan of financial thrillers, though I’ve read few lately and am not sure whether there are fewer good ones, or I’ve just lost interest. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a financial journalist all my career and still follow many of the real-life shenanigans in finance. Sometimes, I think…
The world has yet to become weary of Simone Weil (1909-1943). There is an annual outpouring of books, articles, and conferences on this French woman who never wrote a book but whose literary output (essays, reports, letters, lectures, and diaries) was voluminous. All her writings were collected by others and…
Authors on Audio: David M. Rubenstein
A co-founder of the Washington, DC-based Carlyle Group and a longtime philanthropist, David M. Rubenstein is also an accomplished writer. His most recent book is How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, in which, says former U.N. ambassador and national security advisor Susan E.…
The Scapegracers
Children’s Book Roundup: October 2020
We don’t know about you, but a week out from Election Day, we’ve had all we can take of politicians, pundits, pollsters, and people in general. But we can still get behind animals. In that spirit, here are three charming, critter-centric tales of friendship to share with your favorite little…
An Interview with James V. Irving
By day, Jim Irving is a sixty-something, buttoned-up attorney, a partner in a prestigious Northern Virginia law firm. By night, he is a writer tapping into his past experiences as a private eye and criminal lawyer. In his debut novel, Friends Like These: A Joth Proctor Fixer Mystery, the first…
We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth
We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth
Rebecca Roanhorse in Conversation with John Scalzi
Join Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse for the launch of her new epic fantasy novel, Black Sun. Rebecca will be in conversation with fellow sci-fi author John Scalzi. Rebecca Roanhorse is the New York Times bestselling author of Trail of Lightning, Storm of Locusts, Star Wars: Resistance…
Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories
Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories
When I chose The Essex Serpent for my inaugural column, I was not expecting to find much in common with the novel. Having been told only that Sarah Perry’s story was lush and clever, I looked forward to it but also felt a certain trepidation: What will I write about…
A Guest of the Reich
The Undying
Meet Steven Leyva and Adam Schwartz
Congratulate the winners of the 2020 Washington Writers Publishing House awards, Steven Leyva and Adam Schwartz. The 2020 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize-winner Steven Leyva's The Understudy's Handbook is a collection of beautifully detailed, emotionally lush poems that comprise a portrait of a life, a biracial life, an American life. These…
Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags
Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags
9 Spine-Tingling Tales for Halloween
When it comes to scaring the bejesus out of us these days, fiction has nothing on real life. But it’s still fun to lose yourself in a spooky story or two during this season of ghouls, goblins, and all things pumpkin-spiced. Here are several to enjoy: The Deep: A Novel…
It’s a rainy morning, perfect for reading in solitude or with a close friend; parallel reading, like parallel play — not the same book, but together. Rather than reading, though, I’m writing to celebrate parallel reading with a particular friend, Jane. We attended the same college but didn’t know each…
Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America
Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America
Transcendent Kingdom: A Novel
Alex Wheatle in Conversation with Tanya Batson-Savage
Irresistible, gripping, and unforgettable, Cane Warriors follows the true story of Tacky's War in Jamaica in 1760. A powerful young adult tale told through the eyes of Moa, a 14-year-old slave, this fictionalized account of the most significant rebellion of the time is rarely mentioned in history books or taught…
An Interview with Lucile Scott
The stock advice that first-book writers receive is to keep their projects manageable in scope and length — focused on a single character, arranged chronologically, easy to explain to potential readers. But if Lucile Scott ever heard that cliché bit of condescension masked as wisdom, she ignored it. Her first…
Igifu
The Price of Justice: Money, Morals and Ethical Reform in the Law
The Price of Justice: Money, Morals and Ethical Reform in the Law
I started by making three piles: Save, Recycle, Sell. Michelle Brafman, Karin Tanabe, and Howard Norman were no-brainers. They went into the keeper pile, joining Carolyn Parkhurst, David Shields, and William Burroughs, all books signed to me by the author. Writers tend to know other writers and so, before long,…
The Man Who Saw Everything
Byron Lane in Conversation with Steven Rowley
East City Bookshop welcomes Byron Lane with his debut novel A Star is Bored, a hilariously heartfelt book influenced in part by his experiences assisting Carrie Fisher, in conversation with bestselling author Steven Rowley. About A Star Is Bored: She needs an assistant. He needs a hero. Charlie Besson is…
Make It Scream, Make It Burn
Winston Churchill: A Life in the News
Winston Churchill: A Life in the News
19 Apocalyptic Reads to Help You Embrace the Nightmare
The Plague by Albert Camus. “All pandemic and plague literature begins and ends with this one. When rats start to die in the streets of Oran, few seem to take note. But then people start to get sick, and all the populace can do is watch and wait. Camus captures…
In her debut novel, Daughters of the Wild, Natalka Burian crafts a tale of magical realism mixed with a woman’s determination to control her own life. Inspired by a very old, mysterious text filled with an unidentified language and illustrations of plants not found on earth — the Voynich Manuscript…
Anxious People: A Novel
P&P Live! Sick Forms: Writing About Illness Across Genres
Three authors come together to discuss how the overlapping subjects of illness and trauma is explored in their latest works. In Destiny O. Birdsong's remarkable debut collection of poems, Negotiations, she writes fearlessly towards the question: What makes a self? This book is about what it means to live in…
Just Us: An American Conversation
Just Us: An American Conversation
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Hannah Brenner Johnson and Renee Knake Jefferson
This past spring, professors and legal scholars Hannah Brenner Johnson and Renee Knake Jefferson collaborated on Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court, in which, says Library Journal, “the authors compellingly argue that representation of diverse women in leadership positions is in everybody's best interest.” The authors recently…
Shelter in Place: A Novel
Besides the hundreds of thousands of men who lost their lives in battle during the Civil War, the issue of slavery in the United States also set the stage for the dramatic deaths of two iconic martyrs: John Brown and Abraham Lincoln. Obsessed with a desire to free slaves that…
The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis
The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis
Spoiler Alert: The Ship Sinks Every Time
Last week, my advanced fiction workshop at George Mason University finished discussing the final student stories for this first half of the semester. The class boasts a fine bunch of writers — imaginative and ambitious. The last stories submitted included one about a pirate mutiny with some gender shifting and…
Suicide Woods
The Ghost Ships of Archangel
Latinx Heritage Month & Latinx Bookstagram Tour Chat with Natalia Sylvester
Join us for a special event for Latinx Heritage Month and the Latinx Bookstagram Tour! Author Natalia Sylvester will be in conversation w/ Lupita of @lupita.reads (creator of the Latinx Bookstagram Tour) and Karen of @idleutopia_reads (co-host of this year's Latinx Bookstagram Tour). We'll be chatting about favorite books, Natalia's…
The Exquisite Singularity of Louise Glück
“For That I came…” – W.B. Yeats From 2003-2004, Louise Glück, winner of most major poetry awards, was poet laureate of the United States. Now, in another step forward for womankind, she becomes the 16th woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Yet Glück is not emblematic or representational…
The Assignment
A Patriotic Pick: October 2020
Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Grateful American™ Book Prize judge Dr. Peter S. Carmichael, the Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College: “This Infernal…
On Seamus Heaney
When last we spoke, I recommended books to read for those who might be stuck at home during the pandemic. Since very little has changed, I’m going to recommend some more, once again plumbing my bookcase, which is full of books I read years ago and now, occasionally, re-read. Local…
The Boy in the Field: A Novel
An Interview with Luke Nichter
Dr. Luke A. Nichter is a professor of history and the Beck Family Senior Fellow at Texas A&M University-Central Texas and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for 2020-2021. His areas of specialty include the Cold War, the modern presidency, and U.S. political and diplomatic history, with a focus…
Welfare for the Rich: How Your Tax Dollars End Up in Millionaires’ Pockets — and What You Can Do About It
7 Most-Favorable Reviews in September 2020
Private Means: A Novel by Cree LeFavour (Grove Press). Reviewed by Liam Callanan. “In the right light, even acid sparkles, and this otherwise scarifying book does so on every page. A pre-publication blurb cites Cheever and Ian McEwan as comparisons, but the closer one by far is Tom Wolfe, who…
Tara June Winch in Conversation with Matthew Davis
Join us in welcoming Tara June Winch discussing her novel The Yield! In it, a young Australian woman searches for her grandfather's dictionary, the key to halting a mining company from destroying her family's home and ancestral land in this exquisitely written, heartbreaking, yet hopeful novel of culture, language, tradition,…
How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers
How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers
5 Most Popular Posts: September 2020
J.H. Bográn’s review of The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett (Viking). “This change in formula impacts the passage of time in the book; The Evening and the Morning covers a mere 10 years, from 997 to 1007. But never fear: While the timeline is shorter, the page count…
“I thought it was important always for the reader for me to place myself in the piece so that the reader knew where I was, the reader knew who was talking…At the time I started doing these pieces it was not considered a good thing for writers to put themselves…
Did You Appreciate Our Take on These Books?
Our reviewers called Peter Baker and Susan Glasser’s The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III “a delicious read for lovers of history,” and David O. Stewart’s Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America “a fresh look at one of the most notable of…
One Night Gone
Remember These Thoughtful Reviews?
Our reviewers said Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour boasts “a delicious little twist of narrative expectations that McDermott pulls off effortlessly”; Marie Arana’s Silver, Sword & Stone “is a must-read for anyone struggling to understand Latin America’s tumultuous past”; and Jane Leavy’s The Big Fella “is a lush and engaging…
Imaginary Friend
Tim Weiner in Conversation with Asha Rangappa
Join Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Tim Weiner as he discusses his new book, The Folly and the Glory, with Asha Rangappa on P&P Live! Tim Weiner has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his reporting and writing on national security and intelligence. He…
Did You Enjoy These & Other Reviews?
Our reviewers called Leslie Pietrzyk’s Silver Girl a “beautiful, bleak, and hopeful story”; Melanie S. Hatter’s Malawi’s Sisters a novel that “perfectly preserves its time”; and Tim Wendel’s Cancer Crossings a memoir that “approaches an emotional and highly fraught topic with gentleness and compassion.” Why not grab your own signed…
September brought the return to (virtual) school and the first glimpses of fall weather in Virginia — which means I’ve already eaten more apple crisp than any one woman should. This month, I read three fabulous romance novels that were as different as autumn’s changing leaves. From a romcom that…
When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted
When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted
Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics
Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics
Remember when writers were cautioned not to express themselves politically? Just a few years ago, articles would occasionally pop up advising writers not to post their political opinions on social media. Why, the authors of those articles gasped, you might lose readers! Or, they admonished, writers were better served leaving…
Why Novelist Carrie Callaghan Supports the Independent
“Hundreds of thousands of books (millions yet?) are published each year, and yet when I go to Big Newspaper book-review sites, I often find they are reviewing the same handful of books. The Washington Independent Review of Books publishes such a rich, wide array of book reviews that I am…
Start Your Holiday Shopping Early!
Love somebody who loves to read? Surprise them with an autographed book or Zoom appearance from Bob Woodward, Alice McDermott, John Feinstein, Carolyn Parkhurst, Evan Thomas, Peter Baker, Marie Arana, David Maraniss, and dozens of other bestselling authors! Or, for a holiday gift truly like no other, name a character…
Jack: A Novel
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Ariel Sabar
Ariel Sabar, a longtime journalist and the award-winning author of My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family’s Past and Heart of the City: Nine Stories of Love and Serendipity on the Streets of New York, has just released Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel…
Having and Being Had
The idea began with Ronald Reagan and Edmund Morris. An American leader, confident of his life decisions and political record, and aspiring to preserve his legacy, connects with an eminent historian whose objectivity the leader trusts, and they make an informal handshake agreement to collaborate on a one-volume biography. Under…
Why Mystery Author Ellen Crosby Supports the Independent
Ellen Crosby — author of the popular Wine Country Mysteries and many other novels — knows it’s no mystery why the Independent matters to the world of books. To hear why she supports us, and why you should, too, click HERE. And don’t miss your chance to get an autographed…
Want to discuss books with fellow customers? We bet we have a book club for you! No sign-ups required: Just read the book (or don't; we won't tell), show up for the meeting, and enjoy all sorts of lively discussions! All groups will be meeting via Zoom until further notice.…
Children’s Book Roundup: September 2020
Pick up a newspaper lately? There’s nothing — truly nothing — scarier than the real world right now. But Halloween approaches, and your kids will be expecting a few spooky stories of their own. With that in mind, here are three excellent titles to explore. While the first is geared…
Grab an Autographed Copy of a Favorite Book!
It’s an honor to bring you the reviews, author Q&As, thought-provoking columns, and other features you’ve come to expect from us. But we’re a nonprofit, and we can’t keep doing it without your help. Luckily, dozens of generous authors will give you a gift in exchange for that help! For…
Why Bestselling Novelist Keith Donohue Supports the Independent
“Reading the Independent is like having a conversation with all the friends you wished you had. For readers, it provides fresh takes — often provocative, always interesting — on the latest ideas and literary arts. For writers, the Independent offers room and space to take apart books, poke around the…
Escaping Dreamland: A Novel
America is in a dangerous state of cognitive dissonance. I know whereof I speak. As a transracial adoptee, I lived the first half of my life in cacophonous cognitive dissonance, a state of psychological distress that occurs when assumptions and values clash with reality. Born to a Korean mother but…
Have you always dreamed of being in a book? Well, now you can be! Thanks to the generosity of five popular authors, for a donation of at least $1,000, you can have a character named after yourself or someone you love in a forthcoming novel. But act fast: There’s only…
Because Internet
Why Novelist E.A. Aymar (E.A. Barres) Supports the Independent
“I give to the Independent because, on a daily basis, it gives so much to me. DC sorely needs a resource like the Washington Independent Review of Books. This is a region frequently ranked as one of the most well read in the nation, but that readership is often disregarded…
The Glass Woman
Score a Signed Copy of a Favorite Book!
We love publishing reviews of big-name bestsellers and undiscovered gems, interviewing authors across genres, and providing a platform for an array of diverse, opinionated columnists! But we can’t keep doing it without your help. Luckily, dozens of generous authors will give you a gift in exchange for that help! For…
Around the World in 80 Words: A Journey Through the English Language
Around the World in 80 Words: A Journey Through the English Language
The Day Lincoln Lost: A Novel
It’s been six months of social distancing. Hard not to feel wistful, as we approach the end of September, about the lives we used to have. This time of year used to mean the Fall for the Book literary festival. We’d drive out to the Fairfax, VA, campus of George…
Why Novelist Alice Stephens Supports the Independent
Alice Stephens, author of the novel Famous Adopted People, also writes reviews and the popular, long-running “Alice in Wordland” column for the Independent. To hear why she has supported us for so long, and why she thinks you should support us, too, click HERE. And don’t miss your chance to…
Gilly MacMillan: I recently finished The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since and I’ve recommended it to so many family and friends. It’s the fascinating story of how Konnikova, a writer and psychologist, decided to try to master playing professional poker in one year.…
Authors on Audio: A Conversation with Daniel Hornsby
With short stories and essays published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Missouri Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere, award-winning writer Daniel Hornsby is also author of the debut novel Via Negativa, which Booklist calls “a beautifully crafted story…that forces readers to consider what holds us back from action.”…
White Hot Light: Twenty-Five Years in Emergency Medicine
White Hot Light: Twenty-Five Years in Emergency Medicine
Reward Yourself with an Autographed Book!
From publishing reviews and features seven days a week to spotlighting small presses, romance novels, poetry, and children’s books, we love doing what we do! But we can’t continue without your help. Luckily, dozens of generous authors will give you a gift in exchange for that help! For a donation…
Talland House: A Novel
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