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Miss Fortune's Proud Parent, Wesley Stace
By Dave May 17, 2005
Perhaps you know him as the musical artist John Wesley Harding, or maybe you missed those fourteen albums. Possibly Misfortune, his acclaimed literary debut, will be your introduction. In either case, here's your chance to catch up with the "out-of-the-box, truly original storyteller" (Seattle Times) on subjects ranging from pop music and nineteenth century literature to Peter Sellers's brief ukulele career and the elegance of ankles and wrists.
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Geraldine Brooks, All over the Map
By Dave March 22, 2005
Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Using America's Civil War as her frame, Geraldine Brooks plants a famous (but mysterious) literary figure at the center of March: the absent father in Little Women, Mr. March. The result is a wholly original novel, a rich re-imagining of the nation's military and literary foundations, and arguably the bestselling author's finest work to date.
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Pam Houston's Backstreets
By Dave February 22, 2005
After three best-selling collections, in the progress of things, Pam Houston says, it was time to write about a few good men. If one of those men happens to be an Irish wolfhound, who among Houston's devoted readers would call it a surprise? On dogs, Bruce Springsteen, Colorado sports fans, and her new novel, Sight Hound, Pam Houston opens up.
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A Few Thin Slices of Malcolm Gladwell
By Dave February 8, 2005
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell set out to describe how ideas, products, messages, and behaviors travel through culture. In Blink, he considers how effective decisions are made. "Gladwell writes about subtle yet crucial behavioral phenomena with lucidity and contagious enthusiasm," Booklist raves. "[Blink] is enlightening, provocative, and great fun to read."
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Ann Brashares Embarks Into Fiction
By Dave February 3, 2005
The day before embarking on their first summer apart, four best friends discover a pair of pants that just might be magical—how else to explain a pair of jeans that fits each of them so perfectly? In the morning, the girls will go their separate ways, but not before forming The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Brashares, a seasoned editor of children's books, stole away from her own kids for a few minutes to talk about her first novel, one of the hottest young adult titles of the season.
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The Confessions of Andrew Sean Greer
By Dave January 27, 2005
The Confessions of Max Tivoli is a wonder: a love story, a mystery, a lush Victorian adventure, literature dressed as science fiction. "Entertaining and engaging enough to rival any fun, lighthearted fantasy paperback, while also so poetic, and so powerful, that it should please the most particular literary critic," cheered Salon.com.
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Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson Will Never Grow Up
By Dave January 20, 2005
How did Peter Pan learn to fly, anyway? And what's this about him never growing old? In their swashbuckling prequel to J. M. Barrie's classic, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson track Peter and friends over treacherous seas to the island of Neverland. The Seattle P-I calls Peter and the Starcatchers "a 452-page romp that's so fun and fast-paced, kids will get whiplash from turning the pages."
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Miriam Toews Breaks Out
By Dave January 20, 2005
Sharp and often howlingly funny—but insistently generous ? A Complicated Kindness (winner of the 2004 Governor General's Award) introduces Nomi Nickel, a bright sixteen-year-old straining under the pressure of family, boys, and authority, common enough conflicts drawn here in the extravagant, heartrending particulars of her Mennonite prairie town.
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Home for the Holidays with Christopher Moore
By Dave January 19, 2005
Maybe you're already one of the converted, awaiting each new installment in the canon of Christopher Moore with giddy anticipation. Or maybe you're about to discover one of the funniest, uninhibited storytellers in America. "The unhinged Hiaasen," Janet Maslin called him in the New York Times. "He's Daily Show-funny and willing to subvert anything." Read the Powells.com interview and relesh Moore's latest, The Stupidest Angel.
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James McBride Stays In Tune
By Dave January 16, 2003
James McBride's debut stands as one of the most acclaimed and treasured family narratives in contemporary literature; seven years after its publication, the story continues to find and astonish new readers by the tens of thousands. "The Color of Water [will] make you proud to be a member of the...
