Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Random House Review by David Starkey Curtis Sittenfeld’s new novel Romanic Comedy really is a romantic comedy, complete with lovers who initially seem mismatched, complications and hurdles, and an ending…

In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey by Jeff Biggers

Melville House Review by Linda Lappin Sardinia’s landscapes captivate visitors: pink granite cliffs whipped into weird shapes,  massive  basalt boulders, tawny hills where tiny wild horses roam,  dunes of sparkling…

Fat Time and Other Stories by Jeffery Renard Allen

Graywolf Review by Walter Cummins The contents of most short story collections are united by similarities of voice, tone, and subject matter. Despite differences of characters, dramatic issues, and even…

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

Harper Review by Jinny Webber A manhunt across the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven in 1660 drives Robert Harris’ latest novel, Act of Oblivion. Two officers in Oliver…

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

(Crown) Review by Brian Tanguay What Bryan Stevenson (author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative) is to racial inequality in the criminal justice system in America,…

Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams

Crown Review by Brian Tanguay One anecdote in Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You captures the essence of Lucinda Williams, the acclaimed American singer/songwriter. In 1993, Williams won…

Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller

Running Press Review by George Yatchisin Not every book can help you fill your Nick and Nora coupes and your evening’s film-watching playlist, but Noir Bar does both with elan.…

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

Farrar Straus and Giroux Review by Jinny Webber “There will be time, there will be time / to prepare to meet the faces that you meet,” but what a different…

I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore

Knopf Review by David Starkey Early in Lorrie Moore’s new novel I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, the protagonist, Finn, notes that while white schizophrenics are allowed…

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Morrow Review by Brian Tanguay I can’t remember reading a work of fiction where bits of prose took me out of the story as often as happened while reading Yellowface…