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...
The Drifters, by James Michener In middle school, I was curious about the 1971 bestseller on my mother's bookshelf, but Not...
Delayed Rays of a Star, by Amanda Lee Koe At a New Year’s Eve ball in 1928, the German-born American...
my name on his tongue, by Laila Halaby Laila Halaby’s, my name on his tongue, her first book of poetry,...
Without: Poems, by Donald Hall It doesn’t matter what I’m doing or what time of day or night it is,...
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine “I like outsiders,” Aaliya Sohbi tells us, “phantoms wandering the cobwebbed halls of the...
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, A Novel by Ocean Vuong “One does not ‘pass’ in America, it seems, without English.”...
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges For fans of Anna May Wong,...
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries, by Emma Thompson With Sunday's 94th Academy Awards coming up, here's a look...
Shout Her Lovely Name, by Natalie Serber In the title story to Natalie Serber’s debut story collection, the narrator offers...
The Empathy Exams: Essays, by Leslie Jamison The Empathy Exams is a hybrid work of memoir, literary, cultural, and moral...
Out of Place: A Memoir, by Edward Said Edward Said, the prolific author, political activist, pianist, and music critic, rose...
Arranged Marriage: Stories, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The eleven stories in Arranged Marriage reveal Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s gift for chronicling...
Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy First published in 1874, Hardy's novel of romantic entanglements and agrarian life...
Who Do You Love: Stories, by Jean Thompson This year marks the twenty-third anniversary of the release of Thompson's classic...
Among the terrific releases from indie publishers this month is Leslie Kirk Campbell’s debut story collection, The Man with Eight...
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff First published in 1989, Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life has since become a...
The Coast of Chicago: Stories by Stuart Dybek I can still recall first reading Stuart Dybek’s classic short story “We...
The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth Mckenzie By way of Anne Lamott, we know the novelist Ethan Canin once remarked, “Nothing...
Tinkers, by Paul Harding Paul Harding's Tinkers, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, tells of George Washington Crosby, a...
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father, by Alysia Abbott “The truth is," Alysia Abbot writes in her debut memoir, Fairyland:...
Little Failure: A Memoir, by Gary Shteyngart "In order for me to be born," Gary Shteyngart says early on in...
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, by Emma Straub Those captivated by Old Hollywood will surely love Emma Straub’s debut novel,...
Light Years, by James Salter First published in 1975, this novel is considered among James Salter's most enduring. Known for...
The Oysters of Locmariaquer, by Eleanor Clark Late in Eleanor Clark’s extraordinary book, she tells us the oyster needs the...
How to Read to Read a Sentence and How to Write One, by Stanley Fish When I'm reading, the sentence...
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe in high production, high-level sci-fi productions of The Expanse and Star Trek Discovery (and Picard!)...
The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain A Classic for #NovemberNoir James M. Cain never spoke like his...
Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories, by Michael Chabon Michael Chabon’s Werewolves in Their Youth isn’t exactly horror or sci-fi, though...
A Writer’s Notebook by Somerset Maugham Like most writers, I keep a notebook—not a journal, but a record of ideas,...
The Love of A Good Woman, Stories by Alice Munro The short story has few practitioners who can touch the...
Spielberg, Truffaut, and Me: An Actor's Diary, by Bob Balaban In the summer of 1976, during the first weeks of...
Life Drawing: a novel, by Robin Black “Nobody outside a marriage can understand it,” the narrator of Life Drawing tells...
Selected Stories, by William Trevor A volume of stories by William Trevor is a reader's must-have, and this 2009 collection...
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout “Stories about women in houses are the real stories of our lives.” Thequote, from director...
Stoner, by John Williams When it was first published, John Williams’ 1965 novel went out of print after selling only...
Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett Of divorce, Nicole Krauss wrote, "One of us held on to the ambition of the one...
Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade, by Walter Kirn In Preston Sturges’ ...
The Lesson of the Master, by Henry James, and The Master, by Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín, in his introduction to...
The Moneybunnies Series, by Cinders McLeod Toronto-based author and cartoonist Cinders McLeod has come up with a brilliant tool way...
There There: A novel, by Tommy Orange Brilliant, innovative, lyric. Tommy Orange's stunning fiction debut is all those things, but...
Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama On August 4, Barack Obama celebrates his...
Less, by Andrew Sean Greer Less, the sixth book and fifth novel by Andrew Sean Greer, is a jewel-box of...
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray July 18 marks the 210th birthday of William Makepeace Thackeray, whose novel of social-climbing,...
Midsummer Reads I've got a beautiful TBR stack, and in recent months I've been spending time with some fantastic books....
Four New Adaptations from Kirkus Reviews' Book to Screen This week at Kirkus, the legendary book review site, their Book...
The Vexations: a novel, by Caitlin Horrocks The lives of artists should portray artmaking for the work it is, anything...
Women in Their Beds — Gina Berriault To cap off #ShortStoryMonth, my rec this week revisits a collection by one...
A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock, by Francois Truffaut, trans. by Helen Scott (1966)& Hitchcock/Truffaut, a documentary film by Kent...
New Titles From WTAW Press The Groundhog Forever, by Henry Hoke Mark this month's celebration of pride with the queer sequel...
Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges Anna May Wong was the first...