Nelson Algren: An Introduction
I was on a crime fiction panel this past weekend with three terrific writers (Colleen Shogan, Con Lehane, and Alan Orloff) at the equally terrific East City Bookshop, a lovely new bookstore in Capitol Hill. Someone in the audience asked which writers had influenced us, and I named Nelson Algren…
Fans of Foyle's War will want to join local author and Hopkins alumnus Stephen Kelly when he returns with the second installment of his Inspector Lamb mystery series, The Wages of Desire. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Road, Baltimore. Free. RSVP to [email protected] or 410-377-2966. Like what we do?…
Ben LeRoy: Due to my job, most of my reading time is spent on novels. When I read for bed or on long travels, I inevitably turn to nonfiction. My goal is to better understand the world around me, and I find no better way of doing so than by…
Liz Kay’s debut novel, Monsters: A Love Story, features a recent widow, a Hollywood playboy, a gender-bent Frankenstein tale, and lots of alcohol. It’s a disastrous recipe for the characters involved, but a charming ride for readers. Kay has a background in poetry (she is a recipient of the Academy…
A few months ago, actor Alan Young died. You probably knew him as Wilbur Post, the only human the horse named Mister Ed conversed with during the eponymous 1960s TV show. Ed first appeared back in 1937, in a Liberty magazine series where he and Wilbur not only talked to…
I don’t fangirl. Not over movie stars. Not even over rock stars. My family is what one would call reserved when it comes to the squee-factor. We don’t jump up and down, we don’t point, we don’t blush and stammer. It’s not really our thing. Spock-like. That’s us. I proudly…
Imbolo Mbue in Conversation with Aisha Saaka
Mbue’s eloquent debut novel, Behold the Dreamers, takes the timeless story of immigrants coming to the U.S. in search of a better life and plants it in a particularly difficult historical moment. The 2008 economic crisis was a hard time for the American Dream, and when Jende and Neni Jonga…
In publishing terms, I’m a wuss. (Definition of wussiness: failure to do or complete something as a result of fear or lack of confidence.) No getting around it. After I finished my first novel, a 125,000-word financial thriller called Sound of Blood, I sent a synopsis off to a slew…
August 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
AUGUST EXEMPLARS IN POETRY Standoff by David Rivard. Graywolf Press. 78 pages. Life in Suspension, La Vie Suspende by Hélène Cardona. salmonpoetry. 105 pages. Partly: New and Selected Poems, 2001-2015 by Rae Armantrout. Wesleyan University Press. 233 pages. The Stories of My Life by Michael Schmidt. Sheep Meadow Press. 112…
With its influential newspapers, banks, and public figures of the caliber of Henry Ward Beecher, Thomas Nast, Matthew Brady, and others, New York City was crucial to Lincoln’s election as president as well as to his mobilization of support to fight the Southern secessionists. In fact, New York raised more…
An Interview with Carolyn Parkhurst
It’s a scary world. Sometimes parents wonder how to send their kids into it. For those raising special-needs kids, it can be even more frightening. In Carolyn Parkhurst’s latest novel, Harmony, the Hammond family faces the daily frustrations of bringing up Tilly, their erratic, sometimes explosive, intelligent, autistic child, alongside…
We’re happy to announce the Independent is now more mobile-friendly! That means things just got a whole lot easier for those of you who’ve been squinting to make out our articles on your smartphones. Now when you log on from a device, our reviews will appear stacked, not side-by-side, for…
Local Reading Treasure Trove #2
Join me for another peek into the Local Reading Treasure Trove series and discover four more books for your reading pile. Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett. When you get an e-newsletter listing an upcoming reading of something called Blackass, you have to admit you’re curious. At least, I was curious.…
An Evening With James Magruder, Jen Michalski, and Amber Sparks
James Magruder’s fiction has appeared in the Gettysburg Review, New England Review, Subtropics, Bloom, the Normal School, Gargoyle, New Stories from the Midwest, and elsewhere. His début novel, Sugarless, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and shortlisted for the 2010 William Saroyan International Writing Prize. His collection of…
The Splat Method: If I’m lucky, I already have a subject in mind when I sit down to compose the next installment of this column. Often, however, the deadline looms and I am as bereft of ideas as Boris Johnson after the success of Brexit. When that happens, I rely…
11th Hour Poetry Slam Hosted by 2Deep the Poetess
The 11th Hour Poetry Slam offers an opportunity for poetry lovers to enjoy the competitive art of late-night performance poetry! Enjoy two rounds of high intensity poetry, with the audience choosing a winner. Join us for an alternative way to spend your Friday night at Poetry Slam, Inc's (PSI) DC…
5 Most Popular Posts: July 2016
John A. Farrell’s review of Bush by Jean Edward Smith. Spoiler alert: Our 43rd president doesn’t come off looking so great in this new book, which is as much an indictment as a biography. Michael Causey’s review of Never a Dull Moment: 1971, the Year That Rock Exploded by David…
An Interview with Elisa Albert
In Elisa Albert’s novel After Birth, protagonist Ari — a Ph.D. candidate, wife, and feminist — has survived the first year of motherhood. She’s crazy about her child but feels a deep sense of disappointment after delivering him via C-section. The frenzied pace of early motherhood, plus a sense of…
My friend Darren gave me a novel last fall which, because I read a ton during my winter holidays, I found at the bottom of my stacks last week. It’s by Zachary Lazar and it’s called Sway. It appears to me as a meditation upon the confluence of three cultural…
“Tuesdays with Tea,” Featuring Suzanne Feldman
Discuss novels, memoirs, and an occasional true story over a cup of tea (courtesy of the Iguana’s next-door neighbor, Voila!). Booksellers lead discussions at 11 a.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at Curious Iguana. Free; no registration required. Featured titles are discounted 20% four weeks prior to each…
The success of the musical “Hamilton” has revived the reputation of a forgotten Founding Father and even inspired public resistance to removing him from the $10 bill. The Broadway play, which won 11 Tony Awards, was based on the bestselling biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Neither the biography nor…
Carolyn Parkhurst has imaginatively explored different aspects of family and suburban life in her three previous novels, Dogs of Babel, Lost and Found, and The Nobodies Album. Her fourth, Harmony, traces how a family copes with a special-needs child. The Hammonds of Washington, D.C., are rapidly outgrowing the city’s resources…
7 Insightful Author Interviews
Sebastian Junger. In Tribe, Junger says our high depression rate owes to the fact that “we live in an individualistic society and we’re affluent enough to live separate lives, which is good in some ways. But it can lead to alienation and loneliness, which correlates to…mental-health issues like suicide and…
Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country
An Interview with Jeffrey Toobin
The Patty Hearst saga riveted America from the moment in February 1974 when she was kidnapped by a chaotic group of revolutionaries called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) to her sentencing in September 1976. In some ways, she’s never left America’s collective pop-culture subconscious. In his new book, American Heiress:…
It’s August 1st, and as mid-summer eases into late summer, I already feel like I’m behind on preparations for the coming semester at George Mason University. Book orders are long past due! Syllabi need to be prepped! Students are pressing for registration overrides! for previews of what’s ahead! and please…
In remarkable works of fiction such as The Corrections and Freedom, Jonathan Franzen has become one of today’s defining literary voices. His fifth novel, Purity, now in paperback and soon to be a Showtime series, showcases his abiding concern with family as well as his signature dual focus on large…
10 Books as Monsterific as Pokémon GO
Pokémon — Japanese for “each sold separately” — may have taken over, but corralling the invisible critters is hardly the only creature-filled game in town. Get your monster-loving fix with these 10 titles, all of which feature some sort of beast or brute. D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri…
Meet David Olimpio and Donald Quist
Author David Olimpio will read from his book This Is Not a Confession, while author Donald Quist will read from his book The Animals We Invent. At Upshur Street Books, 827 Upshur St., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more info. Like what we do? Click here to support the…
I've written before about my awkwardness when it comes to meeting famous people, or even non-celebrities I admire. And since ThrillerFest just ended and Bouchercon is coming up, and famous writers are going to be firmly entrenched in the hotel bar, I thought I'd put out this handy FAQ: How…
The Price of Prosperity: Why Rich Nations Fail and How to Renew Them
Cara Black: This summer, since I’m not going on vacation physically, I’m en vacances, as the French say, via bedtime travel. Specifically, international crime fiction set in European locales. That trip to Germany, well, it’s through the pages of a book. My son’s girlfriend, who lives in Leipzig, is here…
An Interview with Kathleen Spivack
In 1940s New York City, an Austrian family huddles in their cramped apartment. Herbert is an old man who escaped the war in Europe with his wife, Adeline, and elder son, David. The price he paid to get out was high: It cost him everything he owned, plus the life…
For fans of Jojo Moyes and Jonathan Tropper comes Caroline Angell's unforgettable debut, All the Time in the World, about a young woman's choice between the future she's always imagined and the people she's come to love. By turns hilarious, sexy, and wise, Angell's remarkable and generous debut is the…
Beryl Markham and Mattress Mary
It’s hardly surprising that most writers are also big readers. Kind of goes with the territory. I’m no exception. I read pretty much every spare minute. So I was excited when I was invited to sit in at my mother-in-law’s book club while on vacation. Exchange ideas about something I’ve…
Monica Coleman in Conversation with Dolen Perkins Valdez
Coleman is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a professor of theology and African-American religions at Claremont School of Theology. Her memoir, Bipolar Faith, is at once a spiritual autobiography, a family history, and an exploration of the lasting effects of slavery, poverty, and racism. Coleman…
Remembering Robert F. Kennedy’s Transformation
In my memorabilia file, I have a personal note from then Senator Robert Kennedy stating in his inky scrawl, “Every time I turn on my television you are defending me.” I did often in the four years I worked at the Justice Department as a prosecutor in his organized-crime section,…
In last month’s column, I took a potshot at BookShots, the short novellas that James Patterson and his covey of co-authors is turning out like so much literary sausage. I will let other people speak to their quality — you can read the reviews on Amazon — but I do…
A Special Message from Our President
I hope the summer has been treating you gently. I wanted to provide a quick update on four exciting developments at the Independent, despite the supposedly lazy days of the season. October Programs on Self-Publishing. At our Washington Writers Conference in April, there was great excitement about self-publishing. So we’re…
Meet Tara Laskowski and Jen Conley
Bystanders: Stories by Tara Laskowski: Legacies of violence and tragedy haunt these thirteen stunning stories from Tara Laskowski, author of Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons. A woman who becomes obsessed with her co-worker’s murderer; an investigative reporter with a nose for scandal finds his own life suddenly unraveling; eerie…
July 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
JULY EXEMPLARS Collected Poems 1974-2004 by Rita Dove. W.W. Norton. 418 pages. Collected Poems: 1950-2012 by Adrienne Rich. Introduction by Claudia Rankine. W.W. Norton. 1,117 pages. The Anima of Paul Bowles by Karren Lalonde Alenier. MadHat Press. 80 pages. The View from the Body by Renée Ashley. Black Lawrence Press.…
An Interview with Anu Partanen
Anu Partanen, author of The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life, grew up outside Helsinki and spent much of her adult life there as a journalist until she met a fellow writer from America, fell in love, and settled in the United States. But starting a…
39 Romance Novels the DC Lit Scene Needs Right Now
Let’s face it, DC area, it’s time to spice up our image. When people think about the Washington region, they usually think about government, history, and museums. But how much do they really know about our current contribution to America’s Gross Domestic Hotness (GDH)? Swinging senators and Mayflower Madams are…
The Civil War in Washington: (Very) Local Historical Fiction
Jeff Richards, author of Open Country, a Civil War novel in stories, and Jenny Yacovissi, author of Up the Hill to Home, featuring four generations of a DC family between the Civil War and Great Depression, both feature the Battle of Fort Stevens in their debut historical novels. The battle…
Secret Agent Man Goes Shopping for Shoes By Tim Wynne-Jones (author) and Brian Won (illustrator) Recommended for ages 4-8 Tigers, spies, and a shifty salesman? They’re all part of Secret Agent Man’s (aka S.A.M.’s) trip to the shoe store. Good thing his mom, Kay (codename: K) has his back —…
We’re only halfway through July and already the summer of 2016 will go down in history as a season of violence, suffering, uncertainty, and despair. Books, articles, movies, and TV shows will be dedicated to capturing the turmoil not only here in the U.S., but throughout the world. Humanity seems…
The Heart of Hell: The Untold Story of Courage and Sacrifice in the Shadow of Iwo Jima
New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams (A Hundred Summers, Tiny Little Thing) discusses and signs her newest novel, A Certain Age. Accompanied by a wine tasting! At One More Page Books, 2200 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington, VA. Click here for info. Like what we do? Click here to support…
Declare Your Independent: East City Bookshop
“Bright and cheerful, a little bit funky, happy, and welcoming, with something for EVERYONE,” is how Laurie Gillman describes her new bookstore, East City Bookshop. The latest kid on the DC-indie block has been open a little less than three months. Already, though, it’s garnering a following among young and…
Planning to enjoy a little retail therapy on Amazon Prime Day? Support the Independent at the same time by entering Amazon via our site! Just click on any of our reviews (such as this one) and then click “purchase title from Amazon.com” at the bottom. You’ll be taken to Amazon,…
An Interview with Erik Axl Sund
Erik Axl Sund is actually two people, Jerker Eriksson and Håkan Axlander Sundquist. The Crow Girl, published in Sweden in 2010, is the first book in the Victoria Bergman trilogy. All three books have been bestsellers in Europe, and the trilogy received a special award from the Swedish Academy of…
A brilliant and utterly engaging novel about a young woman’s rise in the glitzy, moneyed city of Singapore, where old traditions clash with heady modern materialism. Vividly told in Singlish — colorful Singaporean English with its distinctive cadence and slang — Sarong Party Girls brilliantly captures the unique voice of…
I had an epiphany late last semester while teaching Toni Morrison. It was an English 101 college composition course, but I theme our studies so I can model research methods and techniques based on a subject in which I take some interest. In response to the terrible relations between police…
Sarah Pekkanen's new novel, The Perfect Neighbors, is set in “bucolic Newport Cove, where spontaneous block parties occur on balmy nights and all of the streets are named for flowers… [The place] is proud of its distinction of being named one the top twenty safest neighborhoods in the US. It’s…
An Interview with Megan Miranda
Megan Miranda’s new novel, All the Missing Girls, is a mystery told in reverse. Following Nicolette Farrell as she attempts to resolve the decade-old disappearance of her best friend in the light of a new girl’s disappearance, All the Missing Girls takes on two thrilling cases for the price of…
Maybe it all started with E.J. Kahn’s famous, or infamous, “Staffs of Life” series about grains that ran in the New Yorker in the early 1980s and subsequently came out as a book under that title. These longish stories about corn, potatoes, wheat, rice, and soybeans seemed like an exercise…
5 Most Popular Posts: June 2016
An interview with Sebastian Junger. When Shanna Wilson talked with the journalist and bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and Tribe, people listened. David Bruce Smith’s review of Then & Now: A Memoir by Barbara Cook. This look at the former Broadway ingénue’s bittersweet life struck a chord with showbiz…
5 Cool Middle-Grade Tales for Hot July
The World Beneath By Janice Warman Recommended for ages 12-14 This fictional (but based on true events) story, which introduces readers to South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, is great for parents and kids alike. Joshua, an 11-year-old boy who lives in the maid’s room with his mother, quickly matures as he…
Book Talk and Signing with Suzanne Feldman
Join us at Dublin Roasters to celebrate the launch of Suzanne Feldman’s novel, Absalom’s Daughters. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as “a searing and magical debut by a monumental new talent,” the book tells the spellbinding story of two half-sisters, one black and one white, who embark on a risky road…
America’s Snake: The Rise and Fall of the Timber Rattlesnake
John Prados, an historian and national-security analyst based in Washington, DC, is the author of more than 20 books. His newest work, Storm Over Leyte: The Philippine Invasion and the Destruction of the Japanese Navy, which comes out today, tells the story of a little-known battle that had a big…
Why aren’t short stories more popular? After all, they don’t take a lot of commitment to finish. They’re digestible on morning commutes. There are plenty of really good free ones available online. But short-story collections don’t sell many copies, and literary magazines struggle to sell enough subscriptions to survive. Weird,…
It must be the season that prompts books about tennis. Three recently published ones are reported here. Love Game: A History of Tennis from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon by Elizabeth Wilson (University of Chicago Press) seemed to be a book tennis players need to have, but it tries too…
Cara Black has been a confirmed Francophile since high school and is now a member of the Paris Société Historique in the Marais and the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Aimée Leduc. The 16th Leduc novel, Murder on the Quai, looks back to 1989, when Aimée still wanted…
4 Patriotic Books in Honor of the Fourth
I went to the National Mall years ago for the Fourth of July, and it was the worst experience of my life (I’ve lived a sheltered life). We had to get there at 7 in the morning for a good spot, which meant sitting outside in the heat for an…
The dog days — and long, languid nights — of summer are meant for lounging in a hammock and page-turning poolside. Whether your midsummer getaway is a cabin, a beach house, or your own front step, we’ve got a sampling of our 2016 favorites to add to your packing list.…
Mandla 'Kosi' Dunn is tap-dancing, beat-boxing poet, longboarder, and Individual Studies major at the University of Maryland in College Park. He enjoys Charm's Super Blowpops, plot twists, the Baltimore “Two Step,” 2D Animation, and the occasional Twitter rant. As an alumni of the DC Youth Slam Team, Kosi Dunn earned…
Enkindling Love: The Legacy of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross
June 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Prose Origins of the Dream: Hughes’s Poetry and King’s Rhetoric by W. Jason Miller. University Press of Florida. 216 pages. +++++++++++++ Let Our Eyes Linger by Hayes Davis. Poetry Mutual Press. 76 pages. The Dead Spirits at the Piano by Carol Jennings. Cherry Grove Collections. 138 pages. New and Collected…
Iain Pears is author of the international bestseller An Instance of the Fingerpost. His new novel, Arcadia, features a world inside a world built by a modern-day female scientist. She hides this inner world in the basement of a longtime friend, Professor Henry Lytten, where she believes it will be…
I love to write. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t. Pretty much that simple. But I’m not solely writing for myself. If I did, I would never worry about whether a project would see the light of day. But I do want to share what I write. Whether it’s a short…
Our World: Asian-American Voices
The Asian American Center of Frederick is teaming up with the Iguana to present a three-book discussion series exploring the works of Asian-American writers. Featured titles are discounted 20% four weeks prior to discussion. Free; no registration required. The Buddha in the Attic, Julie Otsuka’s long awaited follow-up to When…
Meet Michael Landweber and Tara Laskowski
Michael Landweber worked for the Japan Times, the Associated Press, the U.S. State Department, and currently is at the Small Business Administration. The author of We, Landweber is currently an associate editor at Potomac Review and writes the “Meet the (Small) Press” series for the Washington Independent Review of Books.…
I was watching “Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood” recently, as I do just about every week. I had already demolished my bacon and eggs and was enjoying my third cup of java with my Kringle, the Danish pastry that should be outlawed, when the show broadcast a segment on James…
Meet the (Small) Press: June 2016
Founded in Boston in 2006 and currently based in Chicago and Takoma Park, Maryland, Rose Metal Press has been publishing hybrid genres for more than a decade. Co-founders Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney started the press to champion literature that didn’t fit easily into traditional categories — flash fiction, prose…
Mark Billingham in Conversation with Laura Lippman
Mark Billingham, author of the internationally bestselling Tom Thorne series, presents his new novel, Die of Shame, which centers on a murder within an addiction support group. He'll be in conversation with bestselling novelist Laura Lippman. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Road, Baltimore. RSVP to [email protected] or 410-377-2966.
An Interview with Eric Jerome Dickey
Eric Jerome Dickey’s novel The Blackbirds spins the tale of four women who remain inseparable in spite of their struggles. Friendship is the one thing they share, though even this bond is strained as they each navigate the strange waters of finding true mates and falling in and out of…
Welcome to Washington, DC, land of a million literary events! People like us who love to read are often on the lookout for new authors and books, and readings are a great way to discover them. But which of the million events do you attend? Two organizations that consistently deliver…
Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle
Colleen J. Shogan discusses and signs Homicide in the House, the second book in her Washington Whodunit series. In the story, Kit Marshall has bounced back from her first brush with the law, when she was suspected of murdering her senator boss. Now she is working for a freshman congresswoman,…
Jen Michalski: Because I manage a literary journal, I have the pleasure of receiving tons of books every month — getting the mail is always very exciting at our house! But the stack of books by my bed comes from many sources — ones I’ve bought at readings, a trip…
This month marks the one-year anniversary of my very part-time employment as a bookseller, a dream job for someone like me who loves books, writers, readers, and people-watching. Bookselling is not a calling. It’s barely even a job. It’s a hobby. The average gig is four hours, the average number…
Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service
During the Q&A portion at a recent reading of my new novel, Will You Won’t You Want Me?, at Book Soup in L.A., one audience member raised his hand and shrugged: “Maybe this is an old-fashioned question, but do you write in pen, on the computer, or dictating aloud?” I…
LGBT Rare Book Open House & Reception
The Library of Congress' Rare Book and Special Collections Division presents an open house featuring recently acquired LGBT collections and materials, including the John Ashbery Collection, the James Ingram Merrill Collection, and the Stathis Orphanos Collection. Light refreshments will be served. The open house and reception will be held in…
An Interview with Joy Callaway
In 1891, Ginny Loftin’s young life takes an unexpected turn when her childhood love abandons her for a rich heiress. She and her four artistically minded siblings navigate their way through the Gilded Age’s treacherous social scene, with both devastating and beautiful consequences. Joy Callaway’s The Fifth Avenue Artists Society…
Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
We used to have a piano when I was a kid. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother playing songs while we six children were settling in for bed. My favorite song was “Greensleeves,” which has a fascinating history, and which bewitched me. It evokes in me now…
Lawyer and former speechwriter Michael Waldman discusses and signs his new book, The Fight to Vote. At the Library of Congress, Pickford Theater, Third floor, James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington, DC. Click here for info.
A Jen Conley short story is going to cut you. The New Jersey native has written noir-bent crime fiction for years, delivering work hinged on precise wording, loaded with emotion, and erasing the line that divides “genre” and “literary.” Fans of her work have had the chance to read her…
Book critic Michael Hofmann has a lot to say about English, in English. In an article in the London Review of Books, he described Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North as “ingratiating, gassy and lacking the basic dignity of prose.” On Martin Amis’ The Zone of Interest,…
I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies: Inside the Game We All Love
Writopia Lab Open House for Kids and Teens
Writopia Lab is hosting an open house and free workshop for kids and teens! They'll introduce their programs through a brief information session and an extended workshop, featuring Writopia games and exercises, curated by novelist, essayist, and Writopia instructor Kathleen McCleary. Bring your writing, ideas, and love for writing! Parents…
Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover? We do it all the time. Even in this age of e-books, a cover image can be a powerful marketing tool, especially for fiction, if it captures the mood of the book and catches the reader’s eye. Shopping for an…
Authors on Audio: A Chat with Clinton L. Romesha
According to the U.S. Army, Medal of Honor recipient Clinton L. Romesha “distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Section Leader with Bravo Troop…[at] Combat Outpost Keating…[in] Afghanistan on October 3, 2009.”…
Mary Roach in Conversation with Terry Monmaney
In her seventh book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, author Mary Roach, the indefatigable and intrepid author of Packing for Mars, Bonk, Stiff, and Spook, investigates how we prepare for war, a regimen that exposes combatants to extremes of temperature, noise, panic, and boredom. Her field work…
An Interview with Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm has sold over 4 million copies; War follows the 173rd Airborne Brigade through a 15-month journey in the Afghanistan’s bloody Korengal Valley. His documentary “Restrepo,” co-produced and directed with the late Tim Hetherington, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. In his new book, Tribe:…
Professor Plum, in the Library, with the Rope
Having finished my spring semester teaching at George Mason University, I was excited about diving into some books that I wanted to read — solely for myself! One of the top books on my TBR pile was my friend Cynthia Kuhn’s debut novel, The Semester of Our Discontent. Kuhn is…
In Tracy Barone's mordantly funny debut, Happy Family, a fiercely independent woman is forced to come to terms with the family who raised her, the one who gave her away, and the one she desperately wants. At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more info.
Ellen Prentiss Campbell will discuss her novel, The Bowl with Gold Seams, which tells the story of a young Quaker woman working at the hotel among the Japanese, and the further story of the lifelong consequences of that experience. At the Cricket Book Shop, 17800 New Hampshire Ave., Ashton, MD.…
5 Most Popular Posts: May 2016
“9 Tips for Running a Kick-Ass Writing Group.” Judging by the amount of traffic Tara Campbell’s column drew — and continues to draw — there must be an awful lot of non-ass-kicking writers groups out there… Jon Sallet’s review of Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman. People obviously loved…
The Independent runs this feature called “Bedtime Stories” where writers or industry folk talk about the books they're currently reading. You know, the ones sitting on your nightstand? Well, my nightstand is actually a pile of books, and I have another pile sitting on it. And then there's a book…
Classical Literature: An Epic Journey from Homer to Virgil and Beyond
Diane Guerrero, star of “Orange is the New Black” and “Jane the Virgin,” shares her personal story of the plight of undocumented immigrants in this country. Guerrero was just 14 years old the day her parents and brother were arrested and deported while she was at school. Born in the…
5 Middle-Grade Books to Kick-Start Summer Reading
Raymie Nightingale By Kate DiCamillo Recommended for ages 8-12 Author Kate DiCamillo is back with another heartfelt story that both children and adults will enjoy. When Raymie Clarke has a plan to bring her father back home, an eclectic mix of characters comes to her aid. The events that soon…
An Interview with Robert W. McChesney
Professor Robert W. McChesney — along with co-author John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for the Nation — brings an interesting mixture of anger, dread, and optimism to his new book, People Get Ready: The Fight against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy. In the book, and in conversation, McChesney…
I came to fiction writing from an academic background. Even though I walked away from that life, I still view the world through a social scientist’s lens. An anthropological one, if you’re curious. That means that my training in anthropology has shaped the way I understand and analyze the world.…
A former State Department official, J. Kael Weston spent some seven years working with American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan — longer than any other diplomat spent in the warzones — service for which he won the Secretary of State’s Medal for Heroism. Taking his book's title, The Mirror…
An Interview with Janice P. Nimura
Newly available in paperback, Daughters of the Samurai by Janice P. Nimura was named by the New York Times as one of its notable books for 2015. Its subtitle, A Journey from East to West and Back, touches on the characters’ struggle to bridge the values and expectations of their…
Carol Miller: I write mysteries, so it makes sense that there’s always a stack of crime fiction on my nightstand. Two of my favorite crime-fiction authors are Edgar Wallace and E. Phillips Oppenheim. Both were prolific British writers in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Their works range from light mystery…
As readers of this space know, I devour books in all forms — most of them in their print version, which may surprise people who’ve labeled me an apologist for all things Amazon. I do own several Kindles and have downloaded the free Kindle app to my smartphones and computers…
Author Talk and Signing with Rufi Thorpe
We’ve been enthusiastic fans of Rufi Thorpe since the 2014 release of her first novel, The Girls from Corona Del Mar. Now she’s back to celebrate her second novel, Dear Fang, With Love, a bold, spellbinding work that features one of the most fascinating protagonists in recent memory. It tells…
An Interview with Monica Hesse
Your earlier YA novels, Stray and Burn, are sci-fi, while Girl in the Blue Coat is historical fiction. What compelled you to make such a big leap genre-wise? It’s a big leap, but it’s also a total un-leap. I’m a journalist by trade, so research is my comfort zone. It…
So Close to Home: A True Story of an American Family’s Fight for Survival During World War II
9 Tips for Running a Kick-Ass Writing Group
Last month’s Text in the City focused on how to find the perfect writing group. This month, I’ll share some tips for those of you who are looking to start or spruce up a group of your own. After sampling 10 writing groups over the past few years in DC,…
Monthly Reading Series: “Starts Here!”
Starts Here! is a monthly reading series hosted by Baltimore's own Jen Michalski. This month's lineup includes Kurt Chrisman, Liz Hazen, Michael Landweber, and Benjamin Warner. Free. RSVP to [email protected] or 410-377-2966. At Artifact Coffee, 1500 Union Avenue, Baltimore. Click here for info.
The Gaithersburg Book Festival
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a celebration of the written word and its power to enrich the human experience. Our mission is to foster an interest in reading, writing and literary conversation. Since its inception in 2010, the festival has quickly become one of the nation’s top literary events, attracting…
Discover the Arab world’s most dynamic novels now available in English thanks to Hoopoe — from the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press — a new imprint spotlighting Arab novels, the kind that already top the stacks on nightstands across the Middle East. The genres offered fit into familiar niches…
Wicks, author of Human Body Theater, returns with another nonfiction graphic novel, Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean. This latest volume of the Science Comics series explores the world of coral reefs and their numerous inhabitants, discussing both their biology and their ecological importance. Learn about everything from biodiversity to…
6 Essential Books about the Asian-American Immigrant Experience
Just in time for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, Congress has passed a bill that eliminates the words “Oriental” and “Negro” from federal law. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s not. Words matter. The history and intent behind words matter. By purging words that have been used to…
An Interview with Rebecca Traister
The life of the single woman is complicated, empowering, punishing, and liberating. Today, the infinite number of alternate routes to traditional marriage and motherhood has allowed women to pursue unlimited combinations of love, sex, partnerships, parenthood, work, and social roles, enabling them to follow paths that were previously marked with…
In How to Be a Durable Human, an unprecedented handbook for being a human in the 21st century, readers learn to refresh in themselves what has been inadvertently trammeled by their close association with smart phones and other devices of personal technology. Gleaning advice from renowned thought leaders including TED…
May 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
A roundup of the best poetry (26 new books) in no particular order: Prose Letters from Langston: from the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare edited by Evelyn Louise Crawford and Mary Louise Patterson. Foreword by Robin D.G. Kelley. University of California Press. 343 pages. Poetry Sample poems from the…
David Bowie and Lou Reed, two of the most literary artists of the 1960s and 70s, both came to my attention in my early teens, in Massachusetts. Each summer, I visited my musically obsessed cousins, listened to their newest albums, and heard great Boston and Providence radio stations. From the…
Volume five of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle came out in English last month. Chances are it will be as wildly successful as the first four volumes. And while I find his style readable and engaging, even addictive at times, and I appreciate anyone’s effort to capture real life in…
Washington Writers Conference Recap
Click here for footage from this year's conference! The Washington Independent Review of Books' 4th annual Washington Writers Conference was a resounding success! The event kicked off Friday, April 29th, with a vibrant happy hour attended by over 100 authors, wannabe writers, and agents. The highlight of the evening was…
Acclaimed author Adam Mitzner, whose recent novel of suspense, Losing Faith, was declared “startling…a well-crafted story” (Kirkus Reviews), takes you on a gripping psychological thrill ride in The Girl From Home, an electrifying tale of a millionaire who will go to deadly lengths to get what he wants. At Kramerbooks,…
Books about maps are in! Tim Marshall, a former foreign correspondent for Britain’s Sky News, has one of the latest entries with his new book, Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything about the World. Marshall’s book is about geopolitics, and he looks at the maps of 10 regions…
Siddhārtha’s Brain: Unlocking the Ancient Science of Enlightenment
5 Reasons to Attend the Gaithersburg Book Festival
Love reading, writing, and all things lettered? Then don’t miss the 7th annual Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, MD, on Saturday, May 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.! Held rain or shine in the heart of Olde Towne Gaithersburg, it’s a daylong celebration of the literary world. Here’s why…
It’s always fun to open a window into a part of someone’s life that you never knew existed — especially a famous person. In this month’s roundup, I’m taking a look at cookbook authors who do other things for a living but clearly enjoy spending time in the kitchen, too!…
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution
An Interview with James Hannaham
Delicious Foods is the story of Darlene, a woman who travels from sorority sister, wife, and mother to widow, addict, laborer, escapee, and, finally, to the beginnings of redemption. Eddie, Darlene’s son, brings to mind Carroll Sockwell, an artist who lived and worked in Washington, DC. As a young man,…
Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
A few months ago, we were coming back from a book-launch party for Shawn Reilly Simmons, and my mom, who'd enjoyed herself immensely at the event, asked me: Does everyone do a book launch party? Like, does Stephen King still celebrate every one of his books? I don't know if…
Mothering Through the Darkness: Women Open Up About the Postpartum Experience
For nearly all of her 91 years, my mother loved the sea. If she were still alive, for Mother's Day this year I'd bring her the exquisite boxed accordion book of Michele Oka Doner’s mermaid-magical color photographs, Into the Mysterium. Just the right size to examine with one hand, this…
In her novel The House of Hawthorne, Maryland native Erika Robuck reveals the unlikely marriage between Nathaniel Hawthorne, the celebrated novelist, and Sophia Peabody, the invalid artist — a true union of passion and intellect. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD. Click here for more info.
Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman
Django Reinhardt’s instrumental “My Serenade” was the loveliest song I’d ever heard, and I wanted to write it. I had no idea what that actually meant, but figured there must be a way to translate his notes into words. After all, John Updike had done something similar with his poem…
5 Most Popular Posts: April 2016
A review by Virginia Pasley of Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive. We covered this novel in July 2015. Word must’ve finally gotten out. An interview with Robert Weil by Ronald K.L. Collins. When the uber-successful editor-in-chief/publishing director of Liveright talks, people listen. Or at least click. A review by Sarah…
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
An Interview with Peter Bergen
Peter Bergen is no stranger to the psychology of terrorism. He conducted the first television interview with Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11, is CNN’s National Security Analyst, and is vice president of the New America Foundation. In his new work, United States of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists, Bergen…
Baltimore's own Laura Lippman launches her new novel, Wilde Lake, an evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD. Click here for more info.
Boring Stories without Dragons
Most of us have probably seen one of the memes about what a writer does. It usually has several different pictures captioned with phrases like, “Mom thinks I’m a hobo. Society thinks I attend lavish parties. My husband thinks I drink all day…” Some of these lines are more accurate…
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation honors the author Robert Stone, our longtime chair and founding board member, with a night of readings and reminiscences at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Stone was one of the most acclaimed novelists of the post-Vietnam War literary generation, receiving honors from the National Book Award and Pulitzer…
Join your neighbors in supporting Capitol Hill’s own literary festival! 2016 will mark the fifth year for the annual Literary Hill BookFest, which attracts thousands of visitors to our community to meet and greet local authors, buy books, and learn about book-related resources and services on the Hill. Over 30…
April 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Best Poetry for National Poetry Month The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary School by Laura Shovan. Random House/Wendy Lamb Books. 227 pages. Manual for Living by Sharon Dolin. University of Pittsburgh Press. 89 pages. Crave by Christine Gelineau. NYQ books. 83 pages. Pictures at an Exhibition: A Petersburg Album…
It is a given among many thriller writers like myself that research is a royal pain in the asterisk. I mean, nothing can ruin a good story like facts can! After all, fiction writers are in the business of making stuff up, right? Now, take “virons.” These nasty bits are…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Dawn Michelle Hardy
Dawn Michelle Hardy has been described as a “literary lobbyist” by Ebony magazine for her ability to help authors reach their readership. As an agent, she is looking for memoirists and true-crime writers who can capture a larger narrative through their personal story, author platform, and strong hook. Find out…
An Interview with Matthew Kressel
Matthew Kressel’s debut novel, King of Shards (the start of the “Worldmender” trilogy, loosely based on Jewish mythology), arrived last year. The story features alternate dimensions full of an invented cosmology that includes nods to classic “portal” fantasies like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series and more grown-up series like Lev Grossman’s…
Howell S. Baum, a University of Maryland professor of urban studies and planning, discusses Brown in Baltimore, his study of Baltimore school desegregation. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Rd., Baltimore. Click here for more info.
The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire
5 Steps to Finding Your Perfect Match (in a Writing Group)
Critique and revision are essential to a writer’s work, yet so many of us struggle to find a writing group that fits. It’s not that there aren’t any groups out there; there are lots. But not every writer clicks with every group. Maybe you’re still searching for the group that…
In The Gunning of America, historian Pamela Haag overturns conventional wisdom. American gun culture, she argues, developed not because the gun was exceptional, but because it was not: guns proliferated in America because throughout most of the nation’s history, they were perceived as a simple commodity, no different than buttons…
Dave Singleton: If someone tried to get a sense of my inner life by looking at my outer bedside stack of books, would they ferret out a theme? I don’t think so, since I love toggling between diverse topics. I split my time between fiction and nonfiction, heavy and light,…
I just wrote a negative book review. It’s not something I like to do, disparaging another writer’s efforts. I know firsthand the blood, sweat, and tears that go into writing a novel, and the intense vulnerability of baring one’s soul to the harsh judgment of strangers. I don’t want to…
A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls
Congratulations, Joby Warrick!
Journalist and author Joby Warrick was awarded a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for his book Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. If you missed our autumn interview with Warrick, click here to read all about him. And while you're at it, click here to see our review of Blag Flags. (Spoiler…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Brenda Copeland
Brenda Copeland is an executive editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she publishes a vibrant mix of fiction and nonfiction, from the commercial to the literary. Over the course of her career, Brenda has published such bestselling authors as Dean Koontz, Claire Cooke, Cecily Von Ziegesar, and Melissa de la…
Contemporary Fiction Reading Series: Helen Oyeyemi
Politics and Prose and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation are building on their successful partnership, curating a second season of the Contemporary Fiction Reading Series, following a well-received launch in fall 2015. This ongoing series is a testament to the strength and supportiveness of DC’s literary arts community. Close partnerships between Politics…
Now that he’s won the Pulitzer Prize for it, maybe we’ll pay attention to the words of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” the genre-smashing Broadway hit that costs a monthly car payment to attend. When we listen to the words — really listen — we can appreciate his achievement. Magic can happen…
The Human Cost of Welfare: How the System Hurts the People It’s Supposed to Help
An Interview with Matthew Desmond
Lauded for its exhaustive composite of poverty in America, Matthew Desmond’s Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City presents a portrait of America’s poor many care to ignore. He spent a large portion of 2008-2009 embedded in a Milwaukee trailer park in a zip code known less for its…
Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s
Just as a solid rock Is unmoved by the wind, So are the wise unmoved By praise or blame — Dhammapada verse #81 I started working on the Washington Writers Conference because David Stewart said that the Washington Independent Review of Books wanted the conference for fundraising and marketing. I…
Poetry Night with Anne Higgins
Sister Anne Higgins returns to the Iguana to celebrate the release of her new chapbook, Life List. Higgins is a professor at Mount St. Mary's University, a member of the Daughters of Charity, and a graduate of Saint Joseph College - Emmitsburg, Johns Hopkins University, and Washington Theological Union.She has…
Immigrant Writers: Judith Krummeck and Pantea Tofangchi
WBJC host Judith Krummeck and Pantea Tofangchi, a graphic designer and professor at University of Baltimore, will read from their prose and poetry on the theme of immigration. Free. RSVP to [email protected] or 410-377-2966. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Road, Baltimore. Click here for more info.
“Farm-to-table,” “locavore,” and every other permutation of locally sourced food seems ultra-contemporary. It is a concept that those of us who enjoy cooking and eating are happy to embrace as we patronize the farmer’s markets, community-supported agriculture, and other ways to buy fresh, local food. But for those of us…
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Debbi Mack
Debbi Mack is the New York Times bestselling author of Identity Crisis, the first book in the Sam McRae Mystery Series, featuring Maryland lawyer-sleuth Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae. She has also published a YA novel, Invisible Me, and several short stories, one of which was nominated for a Derringer Award.…
Duncan Clark's new book, Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built, is an inside look at the incredibly dynamic company, from its first days to today — Duncan was a consultant very early on so he has had amazing access to all the essential players. In the book, he details…
An Interview with Libby Cudmore
Libby Cudmore’s debut novel, The Big Rewind, begins with a package being delivered to Jett Bennett by mistake, leaving her a little too curious to leave that package alone. “I’ve got a smartphone, but I’m not too young to remember the exact weight and feel of a Maxell mix tape.”…
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