Unpacking the Hidden Parts – “Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative”
For this LitStack Rec of "Body Work," we unpack the hidden parts of memoir. Lauren Alwan recommends you buy and...
Lauren Alwan
Lauren Alwan’s fiction has appeared in the O. Henry Prize Stories, the Southern Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review, StoryQuarterly, in the Bellevue Literary Review. She is the recipient of a First Pages Prize, the Goldenberg Prize for Fiction, and.a citation of Notable in Best American Essays. Her essays have appeared in ZYZZYVA, Catapult, World Literature Today, The Rumpus, The Millions, Writer's Digest, and others. She is a prose editor at the museum of americana, an online literary review. Follow her on Twitter at @lauren_alwan and learn more at www.laurenalwan.com
5 Outstanding Linked Story Collections Perfect for Short Story Month
For this LitStack Rec, we are celebrating Short Story Month by singing the praises of the linked story collection and...
Hiding a Perilous Truth in James Tate Hill’s “Blind Man’s Bluff”
For this LitStack Rec, we're revisiting James Tate Hill's engaging and unique memoir, Blind Man's Bluff (2021). We're anticipating James'...
Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with 7 Great Books
These novels, story collections, and works of nonfiction by Asian American and Pacific Islander authors mine loss, grief, and the...
A Poem Opens Between Two Languages in “O” by Zeina Hashem Beck
This LitStack Rec celebrates April's National Poetry Month and Arab American Heritage Month by recommending the luscious and beautiful book...
Blurring Fiction And Actual Events In “The Hero Of This Book,” By Elizabeth McCracken
Our Litstack Rec Of The Hero Of This BookBlurring The Line Between Fact And FictionA True Story Built On InventionA...
An Inspiring Read for National Poetry Month | “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”
A Story Deepened by a Poetic SensibilityA Legacy of Mixed HeritageSeeing Personal History Through the Prisms of War and ErasureThe...
Give Your Soul and Grit to Daisy Jones & The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The right song, at the right time, with the right person. The Essence of Daisy JonesThe Seventies are BackThe Mercurial...
Favorite Shakespeare Quotes – Love Letters, Sonnets, Insults, and Curses
Favorite Shakespeare quotes shared during the month of April are a great way to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday. Despite the controversy...
Is Sophie’s Choice a True Story? – Revisiting “Sophie’s Choice”
1979 Bantam edition ▬ᴥ▬ I first read Sophie’s Choice in a Bantam paperback 1979 edition. Sophies's Choice is not a...
Stanley Tucci’s Taste: My Life Through Food & Six of Crows
Taste: My Life Through Food, a memoir “Cook. Smell. Taste. Eat. Drink. Share. Repeat as necessary.” For better or worse,...
Three Classic Irish Writers to Read on St. Patrick’s Day & Wintering
Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin Toibin’s 2009 novel, recipient of the Costa Award, is an affecting and haunting story set in...
Litstack Recs | Three Memoirs for Women’s History Month & The Terraformers
For #WomensHistoryMonth, here are three memoirs that portray a range of women's lives, from mid-century summers in Brittany, to pre-9/11...
Litstack Recs | Three Great Short Story Collections for Women’s History Month & Monarca
Three Great Short Story Collections for Women's History Month For #WomensHistoryMonth, here are three classic story collections by women who...
Litstack Recs | The Candy House & Born A Crime
The Candy House: a novel, by Jennifer Egan This intricate novel of futurism, connection, love and attachment—like the social media...
LitStack Recs | Nights & The Ballad of Black Tom
Nights, by Joan Didion Blue Nights is a counterpart to Didion’s 2005 memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, which tracks...
LitStack Recs | We Need New Names & The UnAmericans
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo NoViolet Bulawayo's powerful novel of the life of a young girl from Zimbabwe,...
Litstack Recs | Whereabouts & Slay
Whereabouts, a novel, by Jhumpa Lahiri This melancholy and stylish novel, Jhumpa Lahiri’s third, marks a tonal and literary departure....
LitStack Recs | The Clothing of Books & The City & the City
The Clothing of Books, by Jhumpa Lahiri “How do you clothe a book?” is how this small, but powerful volume...
Litstack Recs | Spare & The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Spare, by Prince Harry The phenomenon known as Spare is barely a week old, but the memoir by Prince Harry,...
A Reading List for 2023
Titles both recent and vintage I'm looking foward to reading this year. First up, a book that should have come...
Litstack Recs | The Dead Fish Museum & Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
The Dead Fish Museum: Stories, by Charles D’Ambrosio Of Charles D'Ambrosio and his 2006 story collection The Dead Fish Museum,...
A perfect day in the life of a book lover
I’ve always admired, though never achieved, the ideal creative input as defined by François Truffaut: “Three films a day, three...
LitStack Recs | Tinkers & Pet
Tinkers, by Paul Harding Paul Harding's Tinkers, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, tells of George Washington Crosby, a...
Litstack Recs | Favorite Reads of 2022 & Project Hail Mary
A Few Favorite Reads of 2022 A brief wrap-up of some of the books I loved reading this past year....
Litstack Recs | As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride & The Snow Child
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride—by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden and a foreword...
LitStack Recs| The Marriage Plot & The City Inside
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides “Heartbreak is funny to everyone but the heartbroken.” That reflection comes early in Jeffrey...
Litstack Recs | Jerusalem: A Cookbook and All Our Wrong Todays
Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Some cookbooks are defined by a generation. Your grandmother’s shelf likely...
Litstack Recs | Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays & Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, by Zadie Smith As an essay reader, and writer, I always hope to make a...
Litstack recs | Joseph Anton, by Salman Rushdie and The Burning Light, by Bradley P. Beaulieu and Rob Ziegler
Joseph Anton: a memoir, by Salman Rushdie Joseph Anton was published in 2012, but no memoir may be more relevant...
Litstack Recs | Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman & The Grind
Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman, with a foreword by Emma Thompson. Edited by Alan Taylor “Of all the...
Litstack Recs I Reading Like a Writer & Twisted Fairy Tales
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them, by...
LitStack Recs | Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Tales of Horror & Till the End
Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Tales of Horror, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto In their introduction to Tiny Nightmares:...
Vote for your favorite 2022 Haunting Hook!
In their latest writing contest, Dictionary.com spotlights some haunting prose We love Dictionary.com for the vast store of ways they...
Litstack Recs | The Refugees, Stories by Viet Thanh Nguyen & The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
The Refugees: Stories, by Viet Thanh Nguyen The Sympathizer, the debut novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, won the Pulitzer Prize...
14 Indispensable Resources for Querying Writers
For authors hoping to publish that first book, the challenge of querying for representation can be daunting. If you’re new...
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...
11 Lesser-Known Fairy Tales
For lovers of the fairy-tale tradition, from Mental Floss, a collection of fairy tales beyond ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty.' Read...
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 | 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...
Review | The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs: stories by Leslie Kirk Campbell
The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs, stories by Leslie Kirk Campbell Sarabande Books (February 1, 2022)Paperback, 240 pagesEAN/UPC -...
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...
My Favorite Reads of 2021
Six memorable debuts of literary fiction and nonfiction Disappearing Earth, by Julia Phlllips In Julia Phillips’ 2019 debut, two sisters...
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...
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...
