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Fiction

New Yorker 2009 Roundup

Nicholas Brown | Posted 01.04.2010 | New York

Read More: New Year's Resolutions, Diary of an Aspiring New Yorker, Atul Gawande, New Yorker, Brain, Wall Street, Humor, Fiction, Malcolm Gladwell, Health Care, 2009, Irrationality, New York News
Nicholas Brown

It's resolution time. The new year has come and the booze-fiends are taking some time off, the philanderers are planning quality family time and delet...

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Thirst: A Terrific Debut Short Story Collection by a Peripatetic Quadrogenarian

Alex Remington | Posted 12.30.2009 | Books

Read More: Short Stories, Book Reviews, Ken Kalfus, Books, Fiction, Books News
Alex Remington

Thirst is a collection of short stories, many of which are set in exotic locales, and nearly all of which are preoccupied with some form of lust or longing -- a thirst as spiritual as physical, but in almost all cases dangerous.

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The Philip Roth Reader: Hanging On To "Letting Go" for as Long as Possible

Karen Stabiner | Posted 12.16.2009 | Books

Read More: Books, The Philip Roth Reader, College, Annie Hall, Fiction, Woody Allen, Letting Go, Reading, Philip Roth Letting Go, Books News
Karen Stabiner

The story is such a familiar, valiant mess, or better, a sprawling but disciplined rendering of a mess; 661 pages, and I am starting to regret that it will end.

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The New Yorker's Best Books Of The Year

The New Yorker | Posted 12.07.2009 | Books

Read More: Fiction, New Yorker Best Books, The Year of the Flood, The First Tycoon, The New Yorker, Zeitoun, Harold Evans, Non-Fiction, Her Fearful Symmetry, Wolf Hall, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, My Paper Chase, Best Books of 2009, Lydia Davis, Lit Mary Karr, Lit, Christmas Gifts, The Magicians, Eating Animals, Lev Grossman, Lords of Finance, Books, Hilary Mantel, Best Books 2009, Best Books, Fordlandia, Books News

Reviewers' favorites from 2009....

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The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Worst Person Who Ever Lived Makes for a Great Biography

Jesse Kornbluth | Posted 12.07.2009 | Books

Read More: Lesbians, Thrillers, Patricia Highsmith, Fiction, Bestsellers, Jews, Holocaust, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Talented Mr. Ripley, Books News
Jesse Kornbluth

She drank a quart of gin a day. She considered robbery worse than murder. No wonder Joan Schenkar begins The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith like this: "She wasn't nice."

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David Foster Wallace Excerpt From Unfinished Novel

The New Yorker | David Foster Wallace | Posted 12.07.2009 | Books

Read More: Toys, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Pale King, The New Yorker, Short Fiction, Books, Fiction, Suicide, David Foster Wallace Excerpt, David Foster Wallace, David Foster Wallace Unfinished Novel, David Foster Wallace the Pale King, Bestsellers, Authors, Christmas, Books News

Once when I was a little boy I received as a gift a toy cement mixer. It was made of wood except for its wheels--axles--which, as I remember, were thi...

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Rick Moody's Twitterfiction Project: Failure?

Wall Street Journal | Alexandra Alter | Posted 12.02.2009 | Books

Read More: Short Stories, Fiction, Rick Moody, Twitterfiction, Writing, Authors, New Media, Twitter, Writing Fiction, Books, Twitter Fiction, The Ice Storm, Books News

This week, author Rick Moody has been experimenting with Twitterfiction -- he is tweeting a short story over the course of three days, posting a new s...

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Ian McEwan's New Fiction: The Use of Poetry

The New Yorker | Ian McEwan | Posted 11.30.2009 | Books

Read More: Short Stories, Fiction, New Yorker, Ian McEwan, Atonement Ian McEwan, Poetry, Oxford University, Books, Atonement, New Yorker Fiction, Oxford, Short Fiction, Books News

It surprised no one to learn that Michael Beard had been an only child, and he would have been the first to concede that he'd never quite got the hang...

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NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNERS: See Who Won (PHOTOS, POLL)

AP | HILLEL ITALIE | Posted 11.19.2009 | Books

Read More: Claudette Colvin, Fiction, National Book Award Winners List, National Book Award Winners, Keith Waldrop, Winners, National Book Awards, Colum McCann, Bestsellers, Flannery O'Connor, TJ Stiles, Who Won, National Book Award, Non-Fiction, Philip Hoose, Slidepoll, Books News

The National Book Awards were announced last night at an event which also honored Gore Vidal and Dave Eggers. Check out the winners below, and vote on...

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Sparks Specializes in Sad Songs

Jackie K. Cooper | Posted 11.18.2009 | Books

Read More: Miley Cyrus, Nicholas Sparks, Nc, Divorce, Songwriting, Teen Angst, Fiction, Wilimington, Book Reviews, Books News
Jackie K. Cooper

There are moments in this story that are so affecting that you have to stop reading until you can see the pages through your tears. Is this contrived? Is this manipulative? Maybe it is, but it is also the true heart of the story.

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Why Precious Matters: Fiction as Witness

Nina Sankovitch | Posted 11.17.2009 | Books

Read More: Fiction, Sapphire Push, Precious, Sapphire, Reading, Push, Hold Love Strong, Matthew Aaron Goodman, Books, Realistic Fiction, Books News
Nina Sankovitch

It is no accident that the hopes of Precious become manifest when she learns to read and write and she begins to do both, voraciously. It is through reading and writing that Precious finds her own life and her own voice.

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From Randy To Rand: The New Political Fiction(s)

John Jeter | Posted 11.16.2009 | Books

Read More: Politics, Mark Sanford, Reinhold Niebuhr, Ayn Rand, Fiction, Memoir, Jenny Sanford, Non-Fiction, Sarah Palin, Newsweek, Books News
John Jeter

Governor Mark Sanford -- the man who has confused the Appalachian Trail with Argentina and still holds public office writes about the Objectivist Philosopher.

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Off the Shelf and on to the Big Screen!

Regina Brooks | Posted 11.06.2009 | Books

Read More: Young Adult, Writing, HUnger Games, Fiction, Twilight, Teen, Harry Potter, Vampire's Assistant, Movies, Books News
Regina Brooks

Hollywood continues to bring out the movies based on popular YA books, because the guarantee of an audience is just too good to pass up.

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Transcend and Include: Fictionaut and the Future of the Literary Magazine

Jurgen Fauth | Posted 11.05.2009 | Books

Read More: Fictionaut, Fictionaut.com, Publishing, Literary Magazines, Fiction, Electric Literature, Barrelhouse, Prairie Schooner, Flatmancrooked, Digital Revolution, Book Publishing, Future of Publishing, Books, Literary Journals, Online Magazines, Books News
Jurgen Fauth

It may be more productive to consider the changes roiling the publishing industry evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

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The Help: Kathryn Stockett's Controversial Hit

The Huffington Post | Jessie Kunhardt | Posted 11.05.2009 | Books

Read More: Fiction, To Kill a Mockingbird, Book Reviews, The Help, Dialect, Kathryn Stockett, Kathryn Stockett the Help, New Books, Books, African Americans, Bestsellers, New Authors, Books News

First-time author Kathryn Stockett's recent book, The Help, has risen quickly through the bestseller lists despite Stockett being previously unknown a...

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This Writer's Life: Why Write Memoir When Fiction is So Much More Respectable?

Rebecca Walker | Posted 11.19.2009 | Books

Read More: Irene Vilar, Writers, Writing Memoir, James Frey, Writing, Authors, Alice Walker, Books, Memoir, Fiction, Memoirists, Books News
Rebecca Walker

I love the form and feel it is mine the way others feel poetry or the short story is theirs, but memoir is still seen as the first cousin of the tabloid, is it not?

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Why I Don't Want to Be the Next Amy Tan

Celeste Ng | Posted 11.02.2009 | Books

Read More: Book Reviews, Amy Tan, Ethnicity, Writing, Fiction, Chinese-American, Chinese Culture, Asian Americans, Race, Culture, Asian American Literature, Chinese American Literature, Books News
Celeste Ng

Let's focus on the writing itself: the characters, the language, the narrative style. Because if a review compared me to Amy Tan on those measures, rather than on just our shared culture, I'd be proud.

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Is 'The Help' More Than A Surprise Bestseller? Is It A New 'To Kill A Mockingbird'?

Jesse Kornbluth | Posted 10.26.2009 | Books

Read More: Fiction, Racism, Mississippi, Civil Rights, Bestsellrers, Bestsellers, Books News
Jesse Kornbluth

I first heard about The Help soon after it was published in February. But it's 444 pages. I put it off. Very quickly, it became the #3 fiction bestseller.

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Storytelling Lessons From the Boy in the Balloon

Celeste Ng | Posted 10.21.2009 | Books

Read More: Balloon Boy, Falcon Heene Balloon, Storytelling, Falcon Heene, Stories, Writing, Tim O'Brien, Fiction, Books News
Celeste Ng

I'm not sure what life-lessons we're supposed to learn from this whole crazy mess, but the episode of the boy in the balloon tells us a lot about what we want in stories, and how to tell a good one.

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The Last Poet To Win The Nobel Prize

John Lundberg | Posted 10.16.2009 | Living

Read More: Fiction, Prose, Nobel Prize, Poetry, Wislawa Szymborska, Literature, Herta Muller, World War II, Poet, John Lundberg, Living News
John Lundberg

I've been trying to track down English translations of poems by Herta Muller, the newest Nobel Laureate in Literature, but they are awfully hard to come by (if they even exist).

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National Book Awards: What Do You Think? (PHOTOS, POLL)

The Huffington Post | Jessie Kunhardt | Posted 10.16.2009 | Books

Read More: Book Publishing, Lorrie Moore, Books, Fiction, Slidepoll, Biographies, Dave Eggers, National Book Award Nominees, National Book Awards, Publishing, Darwin, University Presses, Book Awards, National Book Foundation, Vanderbilt, National Book Award, Bookslut, Gore Vidal, Non-Fiction, Booker Prize, Literary Prizes, Books News

The National Book Foundation rolled out the nominations for the 2009 National Book Award on Wednesday, and the winners will be announced November 18. ...

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Philip Roth's The Humbling Is, At 140 Pages, His Best Book In Years

Jesse Kornbluth | Posted 10.08.2009 | Books

Read More: Theater, Fiction, Aging, Philip Roth, Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach, The Humbling, Goodbye Columbus, Simon Axler, Books News
Jesse Kornbluth

Roth is 76 now. He's outlived all of his rivals. He's our most prominent novelist. And over 30 books, he's learned how to disturb us -- and keep us reading.

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Why Anyone Can Publish On Fictionaut

Jurgen Fauth | Posted 10.08.2009 | Books

Read More: Fiction, Publishing, Books, Poetry, Writing, Self-Publishing, Authors, Fictionaut.com, Fictionaut, Books News
Jurgen Fauth

Fictionaut offers all the tools of a social network, but the real focus is on the actual writing: any member can post fiction and poetry to the site.

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I Want To Date Your Family

Caprice Crane | Posted 11.29.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Marriage, Caprice Crane, Family Affair, Pets, Relationships, Football, Thanksgiving, Fiction, Dating, Family, In-Laws, Comedy News
Caprice Crane

I'm not looking for "tall dark and handsome." My package comes with a family -- complete with parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents -- maybe even throw in a dog for good measure.

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Making It Up

James Grady | Posted 11.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Three-Days-of-the-Condor, Politics, Richard Thompson, Bruce Springsteen, Fiction, Politics News
James Grady

Political fiction works when it makes its consumers feel like they are not alone out in the dark heart of the murderous maniacal mob -- when it makes you feel like you can do something.

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