Novels

15 Questions Every Lady Book Club Should Ask

Jezebel | Posted 05.23.2012

Book clubs can be a wonderful way for like-minded people to get together and share their love of literature. Maybe you're long out of college and miss...

Close and Not-So-Close Encounters With Famous Authors

Dave Astor | Posted 05.23.2012

Dave Astor

Literature fans love "encounters" with living or dead authors. These might involve seeing novelists at book signings, listening to them give a talk, or visiting homes/museums connected with famous authors of the past.

Review: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Richard Z. Santos | Posted 05.22.2012

Richard Z. Santos

A day at Texas Stadium is more than enough time for 19-year-old, Silver Star-winning Billy Lynn to see all that's wonderful and troubling about America.

Life Lessons From Reality Stars' Novels

BuzzFeed | Posted 05.21.2012

"Not everyone was born to put on a rubber apron and split atoms in a kitchen with a meat cleaver. Some people contributed to the world in a different-...

A Novel That Stirs Interest in Short Stories

Dave Astor | Posted 05.17.2012

Dave Astor

Olive Kitteridge is enthralling and appalling, and it might cause novel readers to find themselves falling... in love again with short stories.

Are We Ever Too Old to Be Called "Promising?"

Holly Robinson | Posted 05.09.2012

Holly Robinson

It's not like writers are ballerinas who can't do splits without injuring ourselves after a certain age, or even football players too fat to run. Is it?

Toni Morrison: Building an American Home

Richard Z. Santos | Posted 05.03.2012

Richard Z. Santos

Searching for home -- for a safe place to rest your head, grow a family, and be part of a community -- occupies the heart of Morrison's body of work. How fitting then that her latest book has such a simple title: Home.

Are Novels Better With Large Casts or Small Casts?

Dave Astor | Posted 05.02.2012

Dave Astor

For a book with "Solitude" in its title, it sure has lots of characters! After recently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, I've been thinking about whether novels are better with large casts or small casts.

Nell Freudenberger On The Woman Who Inspired Her Novel

The Huffington Post | Lori Fradkin | Posted 05.02.2012

"I need to kind of trick myself into thinking I’m not writing about myself," said Nell Freudenberger, author of the short-story collection "Lucky Gi...

What I'm Learning About Life From Writing Novels

Traci L. Slatton | Posted 04.30.2012

Traci L. Slatton

For me, writing novels is an arachnid process: novels are spun into intricate webs out of the silk in my gut. It's work. It's hard. But, to mix metaphors, it's not all pushing a rock uphill.

Mothers of (Literary) Invention Make Good Mother's Day Gifts

Dave Astor | Posted 04.27.2012

Dave Astor

If you're trying to think of a Mother's Day present for mom, how about a novel featuring a memorable mother? The book could star a saintly mom, a hellish mom, or a more realistic mom between those two extremes.

'Mom Wrote A Book'

Jennifer Handford | Posted 04.23.2012

Jennifer Handford

At this moment in time, I'm an author, a job title as inspired and dreamy as a veterinarian, fire fighter, plumber, or Dolly Madison truck driver.

Why One Aging Hippie Mom Loves Twitter

Holly Robinson | Posted 04.19.2012

Holly Robinson

I love Twitter -- especially for the friendships it has brought me.

Novelists Who Were More Enlightened Than Their Era

Dave Astor | Posted 04.19.2012

Dave Astor

The 1800s were of course a time of blatant racism, and many authors reflected that by depicting fictional characters of color in horribly stereotyped ways. Or they omitted those characters entirely, as if the world was populated by whites only.

Book Review: Monday Mornings

Lloyd I. Sederer, MD | Posted 04.13.2012

Lloyd I. Sederer, MD

When this book was released, as a great fan of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, I immediately marched down to my local Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy of his novel. Yes, a novel -- not a medical guidebook.

Write What You Know? Not Always.

Scott Alexander Hess | Posted 04.10.2012

Scott Alexander Hess

Over time, my writing has become less and less about me. What I have discovered is that the further I move from myself, the richer my writing has become.

Androgynous Pen Names

A.J. Walkley | Posted 04.10.2012

A.J. Walkley

Women writers have used initials and male pen names for centuries to cover up their gender, knowing that for some readers (namely male), simply seeing a female's name on the cover of a book would dissuade them.

Tearing the World of Romance Fiction a New One

Dave Hill | Posted 04.09.2012

Dave Hill

I'd like to share this brief excerpt from my forthcoming romance fiction debut Temptation's Playing, during which our main characters Mitch and Sophia haven't had intercourse yet but are totally about to and everyone knows it.

Finding Time to Read More Novels

Dave Astor | Posted 04.04.2012

Dave Astor

There aren't enough hours in a day -- or in a weekday, at least. So how do you cram in the pleasure of reading great (and not-so-great) novels? This is one person's tale of how I managed to carve out time for literature.

What Is a Literary Novel?

Warren Adler | Posted 05.29.2012

Warren Adler

Does durability, for example, constitute an important definition of what is or becomes a literary novel? How does a novel become a classic? Who determines what becomes a classic?

One and Done (for Now) After Reading Certain Novelists

Dave Astor | Posted 05.28.2012

Dave Astor

Of course, not reading more of an author is a no-brainer when you thoroughly dislike the first novel you try by him or her. But things get trickier when you have some positive feelings about a book, as I did with The Magnificent Ambersons.

Is The Hunger Games Really the Future of Writing?

Lev Raphael | Posted 05.25.2012

Lev Raphael

Now, maybe some writers can write to a formula, can churn out books that try to catch the cultural mood, books that mimic best sellers, but I suspect most authors are like me: We write the books we want to.

Many Famous Authors Started With 'Novel 101'

Dave Astor | Posted 05.20.2012

Dave Astor

Creating a novel is tough. Until you get the hang of it, it can be hard to do the Proustian thing.

The Snow Child

Meg Waite Clayton | Posted 05.16.2012

Meg Waite Clayton

Whimsical and melancholy, believable and not, The Snow Child is an honest exploration of the weight of grief and the saving grace of love.

What's The Best Novel Of All Time?

Posted 03.16.2012

UPDATE: We have a winner! Feel free to keep telling us your favorite books that aren't on our list below, but the votes have been tallied, and the fin...