Posts Tagged ‘recommended reading’

Serving the Story: An Interview with Richard Bausch

Serving the Story: An Interview with Richard Bausch

The prolific Richard Bausch on fear as fuel, naïvité as strength, and keeping the writing fresh year after year.

Stories We Love: "To Build a Fire"

Stories We Love: “To Build a Fire”

Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” (1908) is one of those stories—paralleled by certain films—that I always return to with an odd yearning. Each time, despite myself, I hope that the story (or film) will somehow end differently. That Connie won’t leave with Arnold Friend. That Christopher Reeve won’t discover that penny from 1979. Or, [...]

First Looks, April 2012: <em>Goliath</em> and <em>HHhH</em>

First Looks, April 2012: Goliath and HHhH

Hello again, FWR friends. Welcome to the third installment of our new blog series,  “First Looks,” which highlights soon-to-be released books that have piqued my interest as a reader-who-writes. We publish “First Looks” here on the FWR blog around the 15th of each month, and as always, I’d love to hear your comments and your [...]

Staff Picks: <em>Matrimony,</em> by Joshua Henkin

Staff Picks: Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin

As a fiction writer, I have a litmus test for knowing if a book is one I love love love versus one that is merely admirable. A book that is truly fantastic for me is one that also makes me want to write. It’s not that I go into the reading experience looking to be [...]

First Looks, March 2012: <em>The Pretty Girl</em> and <em>Conversations with David Foster Wallace</em>

First Looks, March 2012: The Pretty Girl and Conversations with David Foster Wallace

Hello again, FWR friends. Welcome to the second installment of our new blog series,  “First Looks,” which highlights soon-to-be released books that have piqued my interest as a reader-who-writes. We publish “First Looks” here on the FWR blog around the 15th of each month, and as always, I’d love to hear your comments and your [...]

The Idea that has Entered the Flesh: Melanie Rae Thon and <em>The Voice of the River</em>

The Idea that has Entered the Flesh: Melanie Rae Thon and The Voice of the River

Musical, prayerful, mindful, compassionate—FWR’s Aaron Cance talks with Melanie Rae Thon (The Voice of the River) about what these qualities mean in fiction and in life.

Stories We're Thankful For: "Pilgrims"

Stories We’re Thankful For: “Pilgrims”

I’m thankful for many things this Thansksgiving–friends, family, bits of good fortune large and small that have come my way over the past year. But in terms of stories, there’s one I’m eternally grateful for: Julie Orringer’s “Pilgrims.”
I first encountered “Pilgrims” in The Best New American Voices 2001, where it was the lead-off story. [...]

One book to rule them all

One book to rule them all

A recent discussion on the community blog Metafilter asked, “Please tell me one book you think everyone should read and why. Fiction or nonfiction, doesn’t matter. I’m not so interested in hearing about your favorite book or your desert island book, but a book you think everyone would benefit from reading.”
In a matter of [...]

Halloween lit

Halloween lit

We don’t usually think of Halloween as a “reading” kind of day, but I can think of at least a couple of Halloween-related stories.
In Lorrie Moore’s classic short story “You’re Ugly, Too,” a history professor escapes her life by visiting her sister over Halloween weekend–to attend what may be the most painfully awkward [...]

Stories We Love: "Irish Girl"

Stories We Love: “Irish Girl”

I don’t mind admitting that I get stuck as a writer—occasionally. Well, pretty often. Okay, I mean constantly. And I’m not talking about jamming up over a flowery paragraph or a pivotal scene. I’m saying that I’ll be four pages into a new story (on what I’ve come to imagine on my worst days as [...]