Litstack Recs | A Wrinkle in Time & Sisters
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, a rec for #BannedBooksWeek This classic novel, number 23 on the American Library...
LitStack Recs
Litstack Recs | The Sheltering Sky & The Space Between Worlds
The Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles Bowles is one of my favorite writers. His prose is stark yet rich, with...
Litstack Recs | We the Animals & Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Called "a dark jewel of a book," by Michael Cunningham, We the Animals, the 2011 debut novel by Justin Torres,...
Litstack Recs| How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One & We Were Dreamers
For writers and readers, the sentence is the coin of the realm, the catch that keeps a reader securely in...
Litstack Recs | The Wrong End of the Telescope & Company Town
The Wrong End of the Telescope: a novel by Rabih Alameddine Rabih Alameddine’s sixth book, which earlier this year won...
Litstack Recs | Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden & The Last Wish – Introducing the Witcher
Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden, by Eleanor Perényi Writing and gardening share similarities: the same dogged tending, the...
Litstack Recs| The Love of a Good Woman & The Red
The Love of a Good Woman, stories by Alice Munro The short story has few practitioners skilled as Alice Munro,...
Litstack Recs | The Films in My Life & Six-Gun Snow White
The Films in My Life, by Francois Truffaut We are lucky that Francois Truffaut was both a prolific filmmaker and...
Litstack Recs | Two titles from WTAW Press & Ninefox Gambit
Two Titles From WTAW Press The Groundhog Forever, by Henry Hoke In Henry Hoke's debut novel, two film students in...
Litstack Recs | The Good Soldier & If You Build It…
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford If this novel had been published under the title the author selected, "The...
Litstack Recs | The UnAmericans & All the Horses of Iceland
The UnAmericans: Stories by Molly Antopol There’s a literary lineage to the strands of Jewish American literary tradition, contemporary and...
Litstack Recs | Less & A Wild Sheep Chase
Less, a novel: by Andrew Sean Greer Less, the author's sixth book and fifth novel, is a jewel-box of a...
Litstack Recs | Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father & Time Salvager
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father, by Alysia Abbott “The truth is,” Alysia Abbott writes in her debut memoir, Fairyland:...
Litstack Recs | The Custom of the Country & The Resisters
The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton I knew from the start that things would go badly for Ralph Marvell. He’s...
Litstack Recs| A Writer’s Notebook & Dog Days
A Writer’s Notebook by Somerset Maugham Like most writers, I keep a notebook—not a journal, but a record of ideas,...
Litstack Recs | Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life & Monarca
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan William Finnegan’s 2016 memoir begins with an epigraph from Edward St. Aubyn’s...
Litstack Recs | How to Write an Autobiographical Novel & When Women Were Dragons
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays, by Alexander Chee "Writing is a way of going to the depth of...
Litstack Recs | The Drifters & Pacific Storm
The Drifters, by James Michener In middle school, I was curious about the 1971 bestseller on my mother's bookshelf, but Not...
Litstack Recs | Delayed Rays of a Star & Space Opera
Delayed Rays of a Star, by Amanda Lee Koe At a New Year’s Eve ball in 1928, the German-born American...
Litstack Recs| my name on his tongue & Feed
my name on his tongue, by Laila Halaby Laila Halaby’s, my name on his tongue, her first book of poetry,...
Litstack Recs | Without: Poems & The Kaiju Preservation Society
Without: Poems, by Donald Hall It doesn’t matter what I’m doing or what time of day or night it is,...
Litstack Recs | An Unnecessary Woman & The Poet X
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of the...
Litstack Recs | On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous & Life On Mars
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, A Novel by Ocean Vuong “One does not ‘pass’ in America, it seems, without English.”...
Litstack Recs| Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend & A Song for a New Day
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges For fans of Anna May Wong,...
Litstack Recs | The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries & A Natural History of Dragons
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries, by Emma Thompson With Sunday's 94th Academy Awards coming up, here's a look...
Litstack Recs | Shout Her Lovely Name & 10:04
Shout Her Lovely Name, by Natalie Serber In the title story to Natalie Serber’s debut story collection, the narrator offers...
Litstack Recs | The Empathy Exams & Age of Ash
The Empathy Exams: Essays, by Leslie Jamison The Empathy Exams is a hybrid work of memoir, literary, cultural, and moral...
Litstack Recs| Out of Place: A Memoir & God’s War
Out of Place: A Memoir, by Edward Said Edward Said, the prolific author, political activist, pianist, and music critic, rose...
Litstack Recs| Arranged Marriage & The Unfamiliar Garden
Arranged Marriage: Stories, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The eleven stories in Arranged Marriage reveal Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s gift for chronicling...
Litstack Recs | Far From the Madding Crowd & The Past is Red
Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy First published in 1874, Hardy's novel of romantic entanglements and agrarian life...
Litstack Recs – Who Do You Love & Comfort Me With Apples
Who Do You Love: Stories, by Jean Thompson This year marks the twenty-third anniversary of the release of Thompson's classic...
Litstack Rec | The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs & The Dead Lands
Among the terrific releases from indie publishers this month is Leslie Kirk Campbell’s debut story collection, The Man with Eight...
Litstack Recs | This Boy’s Life & Wintering
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff First published in 1989, Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life has since become a...
Litstack Rec | The Coast of Chicago & Northernmost
The Coast of Chicago: Stories by Stuart Dybek I can still recall first reading Stuart Dybek’s classic short story “We...
Litstack Recs | The Portable Veblen & The Other Americans
The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth Mckenzie By way of Anne Lamott, we know the novelist Ethan Canin once remarked, “Nothing...
Litstack rec | Tinkers & Sistersong
Tinkers, by Paul Harding Paul Harding's Tinkers, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, tells of George Washington Crosby, a...
LitStack Recs| Fairyland & The Once and Future Witches
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father, by Alysia Abbott “The truth is," Alysia Abbot writes in her debut memoir, Fairyland:...
Litstack Recs | Little Failure & Light from Uncommon Stars
Little Failure: A Memoir, by Gary Shteyngart "In order for me to be born," Gary Shteyngart says early on in...
Litstack Recs | Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures & The Last House on Needless Street
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, by Emma Straub Those captivated by Old Hollywood will surely love Emma Straub’s debut novel,...
Litstack Recs | Light Years & The Expanse Series
Light Years, by James Salter First published in 1975, this novel is considered among James Salter's most enduring. Known for...
Litstack Recs | The Oysters of Locmariaquer & A Spindle Splintered
The Oysters of Locmariaquer, by Eleanor Clark Late in Eleanor Clark’s extraordinary book, she tells us the oyster needs the...
Litstack Rec |How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One & Frankie & Bug
How to Read to Read a Sentence and How to Write One, by Stanley Fish When I'm reading, the sentence...
Fantasy Series to Feed Your Need
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe in high production, high-level sci-fi productions of The Expanse and Star Trek Discovery (and Picard!)...
Litstack Recs | The Postman Always Rings Twice & To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain A Classic for #NovemberNoir James M. Cain never spoke like his...
Litstack Recs | Werewolves in Their Youth & A History of What Comes Next
Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories, by Michael Chabon Michael Chabon’s Werewolves in Their Youth isn’t exactly horror or sci-fi, though...
Litstack Rec | A Writer’s Notebook & Shadow Run
A Writer’s Notebook by Somerset Maugham Like most writers, I keep a notebook—not a journal, but a record of ideas,...
Litstack Recs | The Love of A Good Woman & Sisters of the Vast Black
The Love of A Good Woman, Stories by Alice Munro The short story has few practitioners who can touch the...
Litstack Rec |Spielberg, Truffaut, and Me: An Actor’s Diary & American Born Chinese
Spielberg, Truffaut, and Me: An Actor's Diary, by Bob Balaban In the summer of 1976, during the first weeks of...
Litstack Recs | Life Drawing & The Midnight Library
Life Drawing: a novel, by Robin Black “Nobody outside a marriage can understand it,” the narrator of Life Drawing tells...
Litstack Recs | Selected Stories & Before the Ruins
Selected Stories, by William Trevor A volume of stories by William Trevor is a reader's must-have, and this 2009 collection...
Litstack Recs| Olive Kitteridge & Aetherbound
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout “Stories about women in houses are the real stories of our lives.” Thequote, from director...
Litstack Recs | Stoner & If You Build It
Stoner, by John Williams When it was first published, John Williams’ 1965 novel went out of print after selling only...
Litstack Recs| Commonwealth & Black Water Sister
Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett Of divorce, Nicole Krauss wrote, "One of us held on to the ambition of the one...
LitStack Recs – Blood Will Out & Gideon the Ninth
Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade, by Walter Kirn In Preston Sturges’ ...
Litstack Recs |Two books in Conversation: Colm Tóibín and Henry James & A Fort of Nine Towers
The Lesson of the Master, by Henry James, and The Master, by Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín, in his introduction to...
Litstack Recs | Two New Titles Slated for The Moneybunnies Series & Zombie Baseball Beatdown
The Moneybunnies Series, by Cinders McLeod Toronto-based author and cartoonist Cinders McLeod has come up with a brilliant tool way...
Litstack Rec | There There & Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous
There There: A novel, by Tommy Orange Brilliant, innovative, lyric. Tommy Orange's stunning fiction debut is all those things, but...
Litstack Recs – Dreams From My Father & Wendy Darling
Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama On August 4, Barack Obama celebrates his...
Litstack Recs | Less & Sisters
Less, by Andrew Sean Greer Less, the sixth book and fifth novel by Andrew Sean Greer, is a jewel-box of...
Litstack Recs | Vanity Fair & Dog Days
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray July 18 marks the 210th birthday of William Makepeace Thackeray, whose novel of social-climbing,...
Litstack Recs | Midsummer Reads & The Last Days of Magic
Midsummer Reads I've got a beautiful TBR stack, and in recent months I've been spending time with some fantastic books....
Litstack Recs |Four New Adaptations from Kirkus Reviews’ Book to Screen & Gideon the Ninth
Four New Adaptations from Kirkus Reviews' Book to Screen This week at Kirkus, the legendary book review site, their Book...
Litstack Recs| The Vexations & Pet
The Vexations: a novel, by Caitlin Horrocks The lives of artists should portray artmaking for the work it is, anything...
LitStack Recs: Women in Their Beds & Luna: New Moon
Women in Their Beds — Gina Berriault To cap off #ShortStoryMonth, my rec this week revisits a collection by one...
Litstack Rec | A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock & Boy Erased
A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock, by Francois Truffaut, trans. by Helen Scott (1966)& Hitchcock/Truffaut, a documentary film by Kent...
Litstack Rec | New titles from WTAW Press & Ninth Metal
New Titles From WTAW Press The Groundhog Forever, by Henry Hoke Mark this month's celebration of pride with the queer sequel...
Litstack Rec | Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend & The Perfume Collector
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges Anna May Wong was the first...
Litstack Recs | The Love of A Good Woman & Project Hail Mary
The Love of A Good Woman, Stories by Alice Munro The short story has few practitioners as skilled as Alice...
Litstack Recs: The Dead Fish Museum: Stories & Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells
The Dead Fish Museum: Stories, by Charles D'Ambrosio A classic read for #shortstorymonth is Charles D'Ambrosio's 2006 story collection The...
Litstack Rec | Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays & Yes, Chef
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, by Zadie Smith This collection came about by accident, Zadie Smith tells us in the...
Litstack Recs | The Custom of the Country & Shakespeare in Kabul
The Custom of the Country, by Edith Wharton I knew from the start that things would go badly for Ralph...
Litstack Recs | The Good Soldier & D (A Tale of Two Worlds)
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford If this novel had been published under the title the author wanted, The...
Litstack Recs | The Clothing of Books & Remote Control
The Clothing of Books, by Jhumpa Lahiri “How do you clothe a book?” is the how this small, but powerful...
Litstack Recs | The Places In-Between & Borne
The Places In-Between, by Rory Stewart In 2002, Rory Stewart made a walk across Afghanistan from Herat to Kabul. A...
Litstack Recs |Out of Place: A Memoir & Unless
Out of Place: A Memoir, by Edward Said Edward Said, the prolific author, political activist, pianist, and music critic, rose...
Litstack Recs | Orphans: Essays & When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Orphans: Essays, by Charles D'Ambrosio Hold a copy of Orphans in your hand, and its singularity is apparent. With its...
Litstack Recs | Passage to Ararat & LaRose
Passage to Ararat, by Michael J. Arlen During the Armenian genocide, 1.2 million Armenians were systematically murdered between 1915 and...
Litstack Recs | These Charming People: Stories & The Stargazer’s Sister
These Charming People, stories by Michael Arlen Edition from the 2nd printing of These Charming People, c. 1924 In the...
Litstack Recs | Blue Nights & Ormeshadow
Blue Nights, by Joan Didion Blue Nights is a counterpart to Didion’s 2005 memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, which...
Litstack Rec | The Empty Family & The Snow Child
The Empty Family: Stories by Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín's 2011 collection, The Empty Family is a book I always keep...
Litstack Recs | The Films in My Life & The Space Between Worlds
The Films in My Life, by Francois Truffaut We are lucky that Francois Truffaut was in his short life a...
Litstack Recs |Paris Stories & Slow River
Paris Stories by Mavis Gallant When the great story writer Mavis Gallant died, I thought of a story from her...
Litstack Rec |Desperate Characters & Luster
Desperate Characters by Paula Fox Desperate Characters, recent edition. This classic of literary fiction, written in 1970, is also a...
Litstack Recs | The 400 Blows & Hamnet
The 400 Blows, by Francois Truffaut 2019 marked the 60th anniversary of the release of Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows,...
Litstack Recs | 2021 Reading List & The Murderbot Diaries
New year, new books—and these are some of the ones I'm looking forward to in 2021. My Year Abroad, by...
Litstack Recs | The Oysters of Locmariaquer, by Eleanor Clark
The Oysters of Locmariaquer, by Eleanor Clark Late in Eleanor Clark’s extraordinary book, she tells us the oyster needs the...
Litstack Recs | The MoneyBunny Series & Shades of Milk and Honey
The MoneyBunny Series The internationally acclaimed MoneyBunnies Series, by Canadian author and illustrator Cinders McLeod, are the perfect books for...
Litstack Recs| Selected Stories & The Once and Future Witches
Selected Stories, by William Trevor A volume of stories by William Trevor is a reader's must-have, and this 2009 collection...
Litstack Recs |How to Grow Old Disgracefully: An Autobiography &
How to Grow Old Disgracefully: An Autobiography, by Hermione Gingold If you’re a fan of classic films, say, Vincente Minnelli’s...
Litstack Recs | There There: A novel & Pacific Storm
There There: A novel, by Tommy Orange Brilliant. Innovative. Lyric. Tommy Orange's stunning fiction debut is all those things, but...
Litstack Recs | Changing My Mind & Time Salvager
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, by Zadie Smith This collection of essays came about by accident, Zadie Smith tells us...
Litstack Recs | Current WTAW Press Titles & Other Americans
Current WTAW Press Titles WTAW Press has two great 2019 titles, Chimerica, the debut novel from Anita Fellicelli, and Like...
Litstack Recs | Less & The Sol Majestic
Less, by Andrew Sean Greer Less, the sixth book and fifth novel by Andrew Sean Greer, is a jewel-box of...
Litstack Recs |Manhood for Amateurs &
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, essays by Michael Chabon There are some...
Litstack Recs | Thunderstruck & Other Stories & A Fort of Nine Towers
Thunderstruck & Other Stories, by Elizabeth McCracken Early on in Elizabeth McCracken’s extraordinary story collection, Thunderstruck, a grieving mother instructs...
LitStack Recs | Car Trouble & Northernmost
Car Trouble by Robert Rorke As Car Trouble opens, it's one a.m., and the novel’s young protagonist, Nicky Flynn, is...
Litstack Recs | Sophie’s Choice & Hearts of Oak
Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron In 1979, John Gardner wrote in his review of Sophie's Choice, “guilt is everywhere,” a...
Litstack Recs | Middlemarch & The Expanse Series
Middlemarch, by George Eliot The first thing I knew about Middlemarch, George Eliot’s classic novel, was the ending. The year...
Litstack Recs |The Refugees: Stories & The Orphan Master’s Son
The Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh Nguyen If you're a fan of The Sympathizer, the debut novel by Viet Thanh...
Litstack Rec | Earn It & Class A
Earn It! by Cinders McLeod This is the perfect book for young readers on your list, because it's never too...
Litstack Rec | Brooklyn & Miranda and Caliban
Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin Toibin's 2009 novel, which won that year's Costa Award, is a lovely and haunting story set...
Litstack Recs |Epilogue: A Memoir & The Grind
Epilogue: A Memoir, by Will Boast Both a remembrance and a elegiac account of the loss of a family, Boast’s...
Litstack Rec |An Unnecessary Woman & John Saturnall’s Feast
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of the...
Litstack Recs | #StayHome Summer Reads & The Resisters
The summer of 2020 is unlike those past—no traveling, no baseball games, limited beach and park time, if any, and...
LitStack Recs | Space Opera & Fear: Trump in the White House
Space Opera, by Catherynne Valente Having recently watched the surprisingly good Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga on...
Litstack Recs: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel & Tranny
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays, by Alexander Chee "Writing is a way of going to the depth of...
Litstack Recs |AUTHOR: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan & Life on Mars
Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan, with a foreword by Salman Rushdie. Beowulf Sheehan, the literary world’s foremost photographer, has...
Litstack Recs |Three classics of Writing Craft & The Poet X
If you're devoting some of your stay-at-home to a work-in-progress, here are three classics of writing craft to see you...
Celebrating PRIDE Month: A Dozen LGBTQA SciFi/Fantasy Books I Would Highly Recommend
As a middle-aged, monogamous white CIS woman, it may seem strange that I’m recommending LGBTQA books in the scifi/fantasy genre...
Litstack Recs | Dreams From My Father: A Story of Inheritance & Gideon the Ninth
Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama Stories that center on fathers have a distinct place in the memoir genre....
Litstack Rec |Delayed Rays of a Star & Feed
Delayed Rays of a Star, by Amanda Lee Koe At a New Year's Eve ball in 1928, the German-born American...
Litstack Recs| Ship Fever & A Wild Sheep Chase
Ship Fever: Stories by Andrea Barrett The eight stories in Andrea Barrett's 1996 story collection, which won that year's National...
Litstack Recs|There There & The Expanse Series
There There: A novel, by Tommy Orange Brilliant, innovative, lyric. Tommy Orange's stunning fiction debut is all those things, but...
Litstack Recs | Commonwealth & Otaku
Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett Of divorce, Nicole Krauss wrote, "One of us held on to the ambition of the one...
Litstack Recs |Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend & Exit West
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges Anna May Wong was the first...
Litstack Recs |The Good Soldier & The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford If this novel had been published under the title the author chose, The...
Litstack Recs |Spielberg, Truffaut and Me & Glow
Spielberg, Truffaut and Me: An Actor's Diary, by Bob Balaban With the Pentagon's recent release of three unclassified videos of...
Litstack Recs | WTAW Press 2019 ebooks & Cyber Shogun Revolution
WTAW Press 2019 Titles WTAW Press released two great titles in 2019, Chimerica, the debut novel from Anita Fellicelli, and...
Litstack rec | Vanity Fair & The Stars Are Legion
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray The early nineteenth century didn’t have reality television, but it did have William Makepeace...
Litstack Recs | Little Failure & Chosen Ones
Little Failure: A Memoir, by Gary Shteyngart "In order for me to be born," Gary Shteyngart says early on in...
Litstack Recs |The Clothing of Books & The Sisters Grimm
The Clothing of Books, by Jhumpa Lahiri “How do you clothe a book?” is the how this small, but powerful...
LitStack Recs|The Priory of the Orange Tree & The Death of the Heart
The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree has been getting...
Litstack rec | The Way We Live Now & The Red
As you read this you may, like me, be working from home, while your partner is doing the same, and...
Litstack Recs| How to Write an Autobiographical Novel & A Song for a New Day
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays, by Alexander Chee "Writing is a way of going to the depth of...
LitStack Recs: Car Trouble & Ninth House
Car Trouble: A novel, by Robert Rorke As Car Trouble opens, the novel’s young protagonist, teenaged Nicky Flynn, is driving...
LitStack Recs: Great Expectations & The Dead Fish Museum
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens Narrated by Eddie Izzard I will admit that in a life full of fondness for...
LitStack Recs: Stoner & Atlas Alone
Stoner, by John Williams When it was first published, John Williams’ 1965 novel went out of print after selling only...
Litstack recs | The Marriage Plot, by Jeffery Eugenides
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffery Eugenides “Heartbreak is funny to everyone but the heartbroken.” That ironic reflection comes early in...
Litstack Recs: The Vexations & Pet
The Vexations: a novel, by Caitlin Horrocks The lives of artists must portray artmaking for what it is: work—anything else...
Litstack Recs: There There & Emily Eternal
There There: A novel, by Tommy Orange Brilliant, innovative, lyric. Tommy Orange's stunning fiction debut is all those things, but...
Litstack Recs: The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries & LaRose
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries, by Emma Thompson Emma Thompson's diary tracks the making of the award-winning Sense...
Litstack Rec: Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend & The Wanderers
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges Don’t be misled by the tabloid...
Litstack Recs: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays & Wintering
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays, by Alexander Chee “Writing is a way of going to the depth of...
Litstack Recs: Without & Ormeshadow
Without, by Donald Hall It doesn’t matter what I’m doing or what time of day or night it is, when...
Litstack Rec: The Vexations and The Lost Child of Lychford
The Vexations, by Caitlin Horrocks One of my favorites books of this year, Caitlin Horrock's debut novel, The Vexations, is...
Litstack Rec: The Dead Fish Museum & Suicide Woods
The Dead Fish Museum: Stories, by Charles D'Ambrosio Charles D'Ambrosio's 2006 story collection The Dead Fish Museum, is set in...
Litstack Rec: An Unnecessary Woman & A Song for a New Day
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of the...
LitStack Rec: This Boy’s Life and Landscape With Invisible Hand
This Boy's Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff First published in 1989, Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life has become a classic...
Litstack Recs: Vanity Fair & Slade House
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray The early nineteenth century didn’t have reality television, but it did have William Makepeace...
Litstack Rec: Car Trouble & The Sol Majestic
As Car Trouble opens, it's one a.m., and the novel’s young protagonist, Nicky Flynn, is driving backwards through the streets...
Litstack Recs: Arranged Marriage: Stories & Shadow Run
Arranged Marriage: Stories, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The eleven stories in Arranged Marriage reveal Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s gift for chronicling...
Litstack Recs – Fear: Trump in the White House & A City Dreaming
Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward With this week's news that impeachment of the president looks to...
Litstack Rec: The Vexations & Relics
The Vexations, by Caitlin Horrocks The lives of artists, when depicted in novels, must portray artmaking for what it is:...
Litstack Rec: Epilogue: A Memoir & Zombie Baseball Beatdown
Epilogue: A Memoir, by Will Boast Both a remembrance and a elegiac account of the loss of a family, Boast’s...
LitStack Rec: Manhood for Amateurs & A Fort of Nine Towers
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, essays by Michael Chabon The trope of...
Litstack Recs: Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List & Admiral
Barack Obama's Summer Reading List The #SummerReads of President Barack Obama are always an eclectic and smart collection of books...
Litstack Rec: The 400 Blows & The Last Wish (The Witcher)
The 400 Blows, by Francois Truffaut This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of Francois Truffaut’s The 400...
Litstack Recs: Passage to Ararat & The Orphan Master’s Son
Passage to Ararat, by Michael J. Arlen Tuesday, April 24, marked a sober anniversary, 103 years since the Armenian genocide,...
Litstack Recs: Fleabag & Speak Easy
Last week, when the Emmy nominations were announced, the BBC Three series Fleabag received eleven nominations—for writing, acting, and direction,...
Litstaff Rec: Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories & The Cage
Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories, by Michael Chabon Michael Chabon’s, Werewolves in Their Youth isn’t a horror or sci-fi, though Chabon...
Litstack Rec Fear: Trump in the White House & Six Gun Snow White
Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward The story has been called a bookend to Richard Nixon's, a...
LitStack Recs: Cutting Teeth & Green
Cutting Teeth, by Julia Fierro When my daughter was little, there was a universally acknowledged sentiment among the parents I...
Litstack Rec: The Mueller Report & Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
On Wednesday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller spoke publicly for the first time about the Russia investigation he began over two...
Litstack Rec: The Love of a Good Woman & The Windup Girl
The Love of A Good Woman, Stories by Alice Munro The short story has few practitioners as skilled as Alice...
Litstack Rec: Arranged Marriage & Class A
Arranged Marriage: Stories, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Acclaimed poet, novelist, and story writer Chitra Banerjee Divrakaruni’s first book of fiction...
Litstack Recs: Selected Stories & Space Opera
Selected Stories, by William Trevor Today's rec continues a celebration of #ShortStoryMonth. A volume of stories by William Trevor is...
Litstack Rec: The Refugees: Stories & Nightwise
The Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh Nguyen May is Short Story Month, a great time to celebrate the short story,...
LitStack Rec: Green Thoughts & Renascence and Other Poems
Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden, by Eleanor Perényi Writing and gardening share similarities: the same dogged tending, the...
Litstack Rec: my name on his tongue & Baseball’s Great Experiment
Presenting another installment celebrating #NationalPoetryMonth: my name on his tongue, by Laila Halaby Laila Halaby's, my name on his tongue,...
Litstack Rec: Without & Feed
Without, by Donald Hall In celebration of National Poetry Month It doesn’t matter what I’m doing or what time of...
Litstack Rec: Fruits & Vegetables, Poems & Ninefox Gambit
Fruits & Vegetables, Poems by Erica Jong In celebration of #NationalPoetryMonth Long before Fear of Flying, before Erica Jong’s now-classic...
Litstack Rec: The Dead Fish Museum & The Red
The Dead Fish Museum: Stories, by Charles D'Ambrosio While most of the writing world is in Portland at #AWP19, myself...
Listack Rec: An Unnecessary Woman & How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine - “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of...
Litstack Recs: Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood & American Born Chinese
Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, by Teri Garr Each year, the Academy Awards always generates memorable images, and this year...
LitStack Recs: The End of All Things & The Death of the Heart
The End of All Things, by John Scalzi Full disclosure: I adore John Scalzi. I enjoy his writing, which I...
Litstack Rec: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel & The Cost of Hope
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays, by Alexander Chee "Writing is a way of going to the depth of...
Litstack Rec The Goldfinch, & The Dead Lands
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt The reception Donna Tartt garnered for her third novel—her first in twelve years—was called a phenomenon...
LitStack Rec: A House For Mr Biswas & Hild
A House For Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul This past week, we lost a giant when V.S. Naipaul died in...
Litstack Rec: The Boys of My Youth & Aurora
The Boys of My Youth, by Jo Ann Beard When it was released in 1998, I somehow missed Jo Ann...
Litstack Recs: Fairyland & Scribe
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father, by Alysia Abbott “The truth is," Alysia Abbot writes in her debut memoir, Fairyland:...
Litstack Recs: Arranged Marriage & This Case Is Gonna Kill Me
Arranged Marriage: Stories, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Acclaimed poet, novelist, and story writer Chitra Banerjee Divrakaruni’s first book of fiction...
Our 2018 Favorite Reads
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, by Alexander CheeThe UnAmericans: Stories, by Molly AntopolThe Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh NguyenThe...
Litstack Rec: My Misspent Youth & Santa 17
My Misspent Youth, essays by Meghan Daum My introduction to Daum and her essays was Life Would Be Perfect If...
LitStack Recs: Author -Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan & The Jesus Cow
Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan. By Beowulf Sheehan. Foreword by Salman Rushdie. If you need a gift for the...
Litstack Rec: Earn It! and Viva Frida
Earn It! by Cinders McLeod This is the perfect gift for young readers on your list, because it's never too...
LitStack Rec: Barbarian Days & Alif the Unseen
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan William Finnegan's 2016 memoir begins with an epigraph from Edward St. Aubyn's...
Litstack Rec: Dreams From My Father & Time Salvager
Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama Stories that center on fathers have a distinct place in the memoir genre....
Litstack Recs: The Romanoffs & The Burning Light
The Romanoffs, by Matthew Weiner The thing I love most about linked story collections is the strategy of slow accrual....
Litstack Recs: An Unnecessary Woman & Lethal White
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of the...
Litstack Recs: Two New Titles from WTAW Press & Us
Two New Titles from WTAW Press Northern California's newest independent press has just released its 2018 titles: Unnatural Habitats and...
Litstack Rec: Bridge & The Stargazer’s Sister
Bridge, by Robert Thomas “Welcome to the prayer-strewn pews of my brain,” Alice, the narrator of Bridge tells us, and...
LitStack Rec: Life Drawing & A City Dreaming
Life Drawing, by Robin Black “Nobody outside a marriage can understand it,” the narrator of Life Drawing tells us. In...
Litstack Recs: Fear: Trump in the White House & The Bone Clocks
Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward It’s been called a bookend to the Nixon story, a tale...
LitStack Recs: By Nightfall & The Wanderers
By Nightfall, by Michael Cunningham Peter and Rebecca Harris are forty-something New Yorkers, well-off, hip, empty-nesters. Peter is an art...
LitStack Rec: Little Failure & United States of Japan
Little Failure: A Memoir, by Gary Shteyngart "In order for me to be born," Gary Shteyngart says early on in...
LitStack Recs: Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries & Brotherhood of the Wheel
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries, by Emma Thompson There's enough left of summer to fit in at least...
LitStack Rec: Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List & Shotgun Lovesongs
Barack Obama's Summer Reading List In uncertain times, we look to the familiar things, and this past week, it was...
LitStaff Rec: A House for Mr Biswas & Pride’s Spell
A House For Mr Biswas, by V.S. Naipaul This past week, we lost a giant when V.S. Naipaul died in...
LitStack Recs: Desperate Characters & Mortal Bonds
Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox Desperate Characters, recent edition. This classic of literary fiction, written in 1970, is also a...
Litstack Recs: The Tall Book of Make-Believe & The Last Days of New Paris
The Tall Book of Make-Believe ed. Jane Werner Illustrated by Garth Williams Well beyond the age it's intended for, this...
LitStack Recs: Blood Will Out & The Adjacent
Blood Will Out, by Walter Kirn In Preston Sturges’ romantic comedy, “The Palm Beach Story,” Claudette Colbert plays Gerry, reluctant...
Litstack Rec: The Refugees & The Hummingbird
The Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh Nguyen Fans of The Sympathizer, Nguyen's debut novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in...
LitStack Recs: How to Read to Read a Sentence and How to Write One & American Elsewhere
How to Read to Read a Sentence and How to Write One, by Stanley Fish For writers, the sentence is...
LitStack Rec: Cutting Teeth & Wait Till Next Year
Cutting Teeth, by Julia Fierro When my daughter was little, there was a sentiment among the parents I knew. We...
LitStack Recs: A Time of Gifts & Wolf in White Van
A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople, by Patrick Leigh Fermor A classic of the travel memoir genre, A...
LitStack Recs: Who Do You Love & Glow
Who Do You Love: Stories, by Jean Thompson In my favorite short stories, something singular happens to a character, usually...
Litstack Recs: The Refugees & All the Light We Cannot See
The Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh Nguyen In celebration of #ShortStoryMonth, this week's rec looks at another great story collection...
LitStack Rec: The Empty Family & Company Town
The Empty Family, by Colm Tóibín For #ShortStoryMonth, I'm recapping some favorite story collections—and chief among the story writers I...
LitStack Rec – The Coast of Chicago & Red Rising
The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek May is Short Story Month, so this month I'll be looking at story...
LitStack Recs: Passage to Ararat & Borderline
Passage to Ararat, by Michael J. Arlen Tuesday, April 24, marked a sober anniversary, 103 years since the Armenian genocide,...
LitStack Rec: Two Award-Winning Titles from WTAW Press & Born A Crime
And There And There was Evening And There Was Morning, Essays on Illness, Loss, and Love,by Mike Smith The Truth...
Litstack Rec: Patrimony & Biggie
Patrimony: A True Story, by Philip Roth Roth's 1991 memoir charts the illness and death of his father, Herman Roth,...
LitStack Recs: Green Thoughts & Nightwise
Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden, by Eleanor Perényi If you're a writer who gardens, Eleanor Perényi writes in...
LitStack Recs: The Death of the Heart & God’s War
The Death of the Heart, by Elizabeth Bowen Even though it's spring, there may be snow and frigid temperatures outside...
LitStack Rec: Out of Place & Miranda and Caliban
Out of Place: A Memoir, by Edward Said Edward Said, the prolific author, political activist, pianist, and music critic rose...
LitStack Rec: Arranged Marriage: Stories & This Case Is Gonna Kill Me
Arranged Marriage: Stories, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Acclaimed poet, novelist, and story writer Chitra Banerjee Divrakaruni’s first book of fiction...
LitStack Rec: Epilogue: A Memoir & Hounded
Epilogue: A Memoir, by Will Boast Both a remembrance and a elegiac account of the loss of a family, Boast's...
Litstaff Rec: The Oysters of Locmariaquer & Longbourn
The Oysters of Locmariaquer, by Eleanor Clark Late in Eleanor Clark’s extraordinary book, she tells us the oyster needs the...
LitStack Rec: I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place & Siege Line
I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place: A Memoir, by Howard Norman Howard Norman's memoir, I Hate to Leave This Beautiful...
LitStack Rec: The Films in My Life & Slow River
The Films in My Life, by Francois Truffaut The revered French filmmaker, who would have been eighty-six this year, is...
Litstack Rec: Thunderstruck & Other Stories & Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Thunderstruck & Other Stories, by Elizabeth McCracken Early on in Elizabeth McCracken’s extraordinary story collection, Thunderstruck, a grieving mother instructs...
Litstack Rec: Selected Stories & Gemini Cell
Selected Stories, by William Trevor A volume of stories by William Trevor is a reader's must-have, and this 2009 collection...
Litstack Rec: Spielberg, Truffaut and Me & The Wanderers
Spielberg, Truffaut and Me: An Actor's Diary, by Bob Balaban In the summer of 1976, during the first weeks of...
Litstack Rec: The Refugees: Stories & All Our Wrong Todays
The Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh Nguyen Fans of The Sympathizer, Nguyen's debut novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in...
LitStack Rec: Werewolves in Their Youth & Safe From the Sea
Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories, by Michael Chabon Not all scary stories are for Halloween. Michael Chabon's, Werewolves in Their...
LitStack Recs: Life Drawing & Viva Frida
Life Drawing, by Robin Black “Nobody outside a marriage can understand it,” the narrator of Life Drawing tells us. Augusta...
LitStack Recs: Top reads & Winterdance
Are books, and stories, getting better? That is, are they getting richer, stronger, and more compelling? My answer is an...
LitStack Recs: Speedbumps & The Human Division
Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, by Teri Garr Think of Teri Garr, the legendary actress turns 70 on December 11,...
LitStack Rec: Anna May Wong & We Were Liars
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges Don’t be misled by the tabloid...
Litstack Rec: The Goldfinch & Doctor Sleep
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt The reception Donna Tartt garnered for her third novel—it washer first in twelve years—was called...
LitStack Rec: Jerusalem: A Cookbook & Exit West
Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi Some cookbooks are defined by a generation. Your grandmother’s shelf likely...
LitStack Rec: Out of Place & Landscape with Invisible Hand
Out of Place: A Memoir, by Edward Said Edward Said, the prolific author, political activist, pianist, and critic who would...
Litstack Rec: Blood Will Out & Vinegar Girl
Blood Will Out, by Walter Kirn In Preston Sturges’ romantic comedy, “The Palm Beach Story,” Claudette Colbert plays Gerry, reluctant...
LitStack Rec: Manhood for Amateurs & The Last Good Man
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, essays by Michael Chabon You know a...
Litstack Rec: Barbarian Days & The Echo
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan William Finnegan's 2016 memoir begins with an epigraph from Edward St. Aubyn's...
LitStack Rec: Little Failure: A Memoir & Back Roads and Frontal Lobes
Little Failure: A Memoir, by Gary Shteyngart "In order for me to be born," Gary Shteyngart says early on in...
Litstack Rec: The Lesson of the Master and A Land More Kind Than Home
The Lesson of the Master, by Henry James Colm Tóibín, in his introduction to the 2007 edition of Henry James'...
Litstack Rec: The Hermit in the Garden & A City Dreaming
The Hermit in the Garden: From Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome, by Gordon Campbell You may not know it, but...
LitStack Rec: Blue Nights and Under Heaven
Blue Nights, by Joan Didion Joan Didion's books have had a titanic effect on me, but when Blue Nights came out in...
LitStack Rec – The Marriage Plot & Leviathan Wakes
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffery Eugenides “Heartbreak is funny to everyone but the heartbroken.” That ironic reflection comes early the...
LitStack Rec: Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood & American Born Chinese
Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, by Teri Garr Think of Teri Garr, and likely it’s as the outspoken girl next...
LitStack Rec: Cutting Teeth & The Dead Lands
Cutting Teeth, by Julia Fierro For those who have young children, there's a lovely innocence to summer—its sprinklers and days...
LitStack Rec: Vivian Maier: Street Photographer & Private Diary of Mr. Darcy
Vivian Maier: Street Photographer by Vivian Maier (Author), John Maloof (Editor), Geoff Dyer (Contributor) For forty years, Vivian Maier worked...
Litstack Rec: An Unnecessary Woman & Extraordinary Adventures
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of the...
LitStack Rec: The Good Soldier & Pride’s Spell
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford If this novel had been published under the title the author selected, The...
LitStack Rec: Desperate Characters & The Last Days of Magic
Desperate Characters, by Paula Fox This classic of literary fiction, first published in 1970, serves too as a classic example...
LitStack Recs: Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History & Blue Nights
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History, by Stephen Jay Gould A book about the 1909 discovery...
LitStack Rec: Commonwealth & All the Birds in the Sky
Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett Of divorce, Nicole Krauss wrote, "One of us held on to the ambition of the one...
LitStack Rec: The Portable Veblen & Wait Till Next Year
The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth McKenzie By way of Anne Lamott, we know the novelist Ethan Canin once remarked, “Nothing...
LitStack Rec: Stoner & Cradle to the Stage
Stoner, by John Williams John Williams’ 1965 novel went out of print after selling only 2,000 copies, but since its...
LitStack Rec: Central Station & Green Thoughts
Central Station by Lavie Tidhar It's kind of hard to describe Lavie Tidhar's Locus- nominated, Clarke-shortlisted book Central Station. It's...
LitStack Recs: Passage to Ararat & War for the Oaks
Passage to Ararat, by Michael J. Arlen “It’s a dangerous business,” writes Clark Blaise in this book’s introduction, “going into...
LitStack Recs: The Oysters of Locmariaquer & Relics
The Oysters of Locmariaquer, by Eleanor Clark Late in Eleanor Clark’s extraordinary book, she tells us the oyster needs the...
LitStaff Recs: The Empathy Exams & Three Parts Dead
The Empathy Exams: Essays, by Leslie Jamison The Empathy Exams blends memoir, literary, cultural and moral investigation, and its essays...
LitStack Recs: Books About Actors and Film & Ancillary Justice
As the summer film season approaches, here are three books—a memoir, a novel, and a book-length interview—that offer a look...
LitStack Rec: How to Grow Old Disgracefully & Life on Mars
How to Grow Old Disgracefully: An Autobiography, by Hermione Gingold If you're a fan of classic films, say, Vincente Minnelli's...
Litstack Recs: Anna May Wong & The Hatred of Poetry
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges Don’t be misled by the tabloid...
LitStack Rec: Changing My Mind & Hunger Makes the Wolf
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, by Zadie Smith This collection of essays came about by accident, Zadie Smith tells us...
LitStack Recs: Crash Course & Ninefox Gambit
Crash Course: essays from where writing and life collide, by Robin Black The third book from short story writer and...
Litstack Recs: Life Would be Perfect if I Lived in That House & A Natural History of Dragons
Life Would be Perfect if I Lived in That House, by Meghan Daum The moral of this story might run...
