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All right, we have some catching up to do with the Tournament of Books. If Round #2 was a bloodbath, Rounds #3 and #4 are golden victory romps around here. Round #5....gets a little more complicated. Round #3 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami versus The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah Judged by Misha Angrist Winner: According … Continue reading Tournament of Books Catch Up
Book: And Blue Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht Reviewed by: Joe T. And Blue Skies from Pain, the follow up to last year's highly acclaimed debut novel, Of Blood and Honey, firmly sets local author Stina Leicht on the road to well-earned success. Like Charles de Lint and China Mieville, she sets her urban … Continue reading Book Review: ‘And Blue Skies from Pain’ by Stina Leicht
Brand new today! Blurbs courtesy of the books' publishers. HARDCOVER FICTION The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits From the acclaimed novelist and The Believer editor Heidi Julavots, a wildly imaginative and emotionally intense novel about mothers, daughters, and the psychic damage women can inflict on one another. Julia Severn is a student at an elite … Continue reading New Releases
Merrilee Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger "I like Tom Angleberger a lot, and I love this book in particular because it's completely wacky, ridiculous, over-the-top fun. A boy buys a mustache that has super powers at a variety store for $129.99. He puts it on and hypnotizes everyone in his town, state, and eventually the … Continue reading What We’re Reading This Week
The winners of this year's National Book Critics Circle Awards have been announced. Congratulations to the winners: Fiction Edith Pearlman - Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories Nonfiction Maya Jasanoff - Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World … Continue reading National Book Critics Circle Award Winners
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt versus Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward The judge: Mark Binelli The winner: Lightning Rods !!! Read Binelli's thoughtful explanation of choice (along with commentary) on the official ToB website. See now folks, this is where the ToB gets interesting. Salvage the Bones seemed an easy pick, given the shiny … Continue reading Tournament of Books – Round 2
On behalf of BookPeople and American Short Fiction, bookseller Liz Wyckoff recently had the opportunity to ask one of our favorite authors, T. C. Boyle, a few questions about his latest novel, the writing life, and what books he recommends for literary Austinites. Boyle will be here on Monday, March 19, 7p to speak & … Continue reading Q&A with T. C. Boyle
The Tournament of Books begins today! In the first round, author Emma Straub has chosen The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes over The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollack. Read her careful decision, along with commentary. So let's see how our booksellers fared in this first round, worth one point. The … Continue reading The Tournament of Books Begins!
Austin has lost a local treasure today. Leslie Cochran succumbed to illness early this morning. We've been accepting donations for Leslie since Friday, March 2nd and will continue to accept donations for any remaining expenses and for future projects to honor our friend Leslie. We will also continue to give out Leslie magnet sets to … Continue reading Honoring Leslie
~Post by Jenn S. In my other life as an academic, most of what I read—fiction, criticism, philosophy, theory—has one thing in common: it isn’t trying to make itself too terribly clear. Just clear enough, maybe, if you work very hard as a reader, or not quite clear at all, when it comes to some … Continue reading Book Review: ‘Moonwalking with Einstein’ by Joshua Foer
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