Joan Silber’s characters stumble through work, family, and romance in Secrets of Happiness
At the silent center of Joan Silber’s new novel, Secrets of Happiness, lies the foundational paradox of Buddhism: The more one struggles to achieve contentment, the further it recedes. To…
In C Pam Zhang’s debut novel, orphaned siblings struggle to survive in the unforgiving American West
The odds are stacked against Lucy and Sam. In C Pam Zhang’s debut novel, How Much of These Hills Is Gold, the siblings, aged 12 and 11, are orphaned in…
In Julia Claiborne Johnson’s Better Luck Next Time, desperate women seeking divorces find friendship and love
Midway through Julia Claiborne Johnson’s second novel, Better Luck Next Time, two women show up at a masquerade dance wearing costumes they have stolen from a local college production of…
Singled Out recounts the athletic feats and personal tragedies of baseball’s Glenn Burke
The title of Andrew Maraniss’ new book, Singled Out, captures the predicament that Glenn Burke faced in the 1970s. As a baseball player with an Adonis physique and extraordinary athletic…
On basketball in a pandemic, private milestones, and a teary farewell to Paul Westphal
…up. “Today’s the day, Kinch!” When Coach released us, the team gathered around one hoop to see if I could do it. These days, friends would break out mobile phones…
A debut story collection depicts magical metamorphoses in the wake of catastrophe
Nathan Elias’ debut work of fiction, The Reincarnations, is billed as a story collection but feels like a coherent whole. The 12 stories feature recurrent characters and incidents described from…
