Published originally in 1932, and said to be the first detective novel by an African-American author, this witty, shrewdly plotted whodunit (recently reissued) was penned by Rudolph Fisher, a New York City radiographer, short-story writer, and musician, active in the Harlem Renaissance. It tosses us onto the hectic scene of a nighttime slaying, the victim …
The Paragon Hotel has been my favorite historical fiction recommendation since it first published. It has so many things to love, a daring escape across the country, a crime to solve, a child to find, and characters to love. Set in segregated Oregon, you’ll find out things you never knew, while turning the pages as …
An anti-capitalist zombie narrative / coming-of-age that highlights the immigrant experience and the bleakness of the “millennial condition.” You’ve never read a dystopian like this. It’s moving, horrific, and humorous. –Kathryn, Browsers Bookshop, Olympia, WA Bring home something unexpected from a visit to Browsers Bookshop and other independent bookstores.
This book was recommended to me by a trusted source. The source was right. I was not familiar with the writings of Chris Pavone, but now I am a fan. The Expats is set in Luxembourg, primarily, but takes the reader to Paris, Geneva, New York City and Washington, D.C. The primary “good guys” are …
Have you ever read a book that you finish and say you are a different person when you finish it? That’s this book. There are books that are powerful and important, and then there are books that are POWERFUL and IMPORTANT. This is the latter. This book impacted me on all levels. Beautiful, romantic, smart, …
For whatever reason (having nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that publishing is dominated by intellectually aspirant professionals who live in Manhattan and Brooklyn), the New York novel is a fixture of every publishing season. Some people can’t get enough of them, some find them insufferable, and never the twain shall meet. Until now. …
Sometimes when I look back over the past few books I’ve read, I notice a common thread running through them. Might be a particular time period or historical event, a theme whether big or small, or frequently, a locale. And that’s why one corner of The Front Table is currently draped in the green, white …
Some say New York City is a “melting pot.” I think not so much. Positively scads of vastly different folks exist in close proximity. But the vastly different doesn’t go away. That’s the secret! In this book a poor kid gets mixed up with a lot of rich ones. Uptown, Downtown, Eastside, Westside … she sees it …
First of all, Arbitrary Stupid Goal is not about football. (It’s just a funny cover.) It is, ostensibly, about the general store Tamara Shopsin’s parents ran in Greenwich Village, which they turned into a diner so they could keep making rent, and which became a small, secret legend. But it’s really about the old, weird Village, …
I met James Ziskin at another writer’s bookstore event. I now have Book #1 (Styx & Stone) and Book #4 (Heart of Stone) in the Ellie Stone mysteries. Even if I know an author, I try very hard to be objective when reviewing a book. I am very glad to have met this author. I cannot …
