Posts by author
M. Rebekah Otto
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In a Strange Room
Today, in Book Review, John Wilwol reviews Damon Galgut’s latest novel, In a Strange Room.
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A MODERN READER #6: In the Stacks
I spent $90, and now I have 39 books stacked on my table. That’s $2.31 each!
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Opening Lines
Opening Lines discusses the origins and first trys of now-famous writers and other figures. Their tag line reads: “How the famous and infamous got their start.” Some of my favorite’s include that Flannery O’Connor couldn’t spell, Steve Jobs started out…
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Litquake & the CLA All-Stars
The Center for Literary Arts and Litquake present an all-star reading this Sunday night at 6:30. Hosted by Rumpus Books Editor Andrew Altschul, the event features past and future CLA authors Andrew Sean Greer, Maxine Hong Kingston, Mary Roach, Kim…
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C
Today, in Book Review, John Wilwol reviews Tom McCarthy’s latest novel, C, recently shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
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The Man Who Guarded the Bomb
Today, in Book Review, Matt McGregor reviews George Orfalea’s debut collection, The Man Who Guarded the Bomb.
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A MODERN READER #5: Fetishizing the Pastoral
Is it possible to pinpoint when a trend begins? When a seminal book, or movie, or article penetrates the mainstream? Really it never is a single specimen, but rather a choir erupts, as if the movie producers and publishers had…
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The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To
D. C. Pierson’s adolescent heroes hope for a future in which “‘existence engineer’ and ‘clone wrangler’ will be viable career paths.”
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Modern Reader #4: Without Style
I often wonder if reviews can be great. Can a book (or an essay) that is essentially “about” another book compare to an original work?
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Ten Walks/Two Talks
Over at HTMLGIANT Adam Robinson interviewed Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch about their genre-defying book, Ten Walks/Two Talks: “It manages to combine a generalized, dog-like happiness with an adult awareness of death.” There is even a chance to win a…
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A MODERN READER #3: Extreme Solitude
I have largely avoided The New Yorker’s Fiction section. The stories were about aging women who lived on Cape Cod, or they were set in developing countries. I don’t want to name names, but you know what I’m talking about,…
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A MODERN READER #2: And That’s It, More or Less
When I was in college, I had a crush on Ugly Duckling Presse the way 17 year-olds in 1958 had a crush on Jack Kerouac.