You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Lori, the heroine of this rousing narrative, is attempting to flee the hectic East Coast for a better life in the West. She is a child of the Seventies who feels misled by the rebellious "boomer" generation and disappointed with life in 1980s New Jersey. Spurred by the tale of her pioneering grandparents, who immigrated to Montana, and following her friend Madeleine, who has all the answers, Lori quits her job, loosens her ties, and sets off into a wild frontier. Lori's story is one of love for people and for places that are more mythic than real. Her pursuit is as painfully familiar as it is impossible: she seeks meaning in life while working dead-end jobs, falls in love with uninterested partners, and plans a future that seems doomed from the start. Somehow, though, she persists and ultimately finds her place as a twenty-first-century pioneer.
"Radio Iris has a lovely, eerie, anxious quality to it. Iris's observations are funny, and the story has a dramatic otherworldly payoff that is unexpected and triumphant." —Deb Olin Unferth, The New York Times Book Review "A noirish nod to the monotony of work." —O: The Oprah Magazine "Kinney is a Southern California Camus." —Los Angeles Magazine "'The Office' as scripted by Kafka." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune "[An] astute evocation of office weirdness and malaise." —The Wall Street Journal Radio Iris follows Iris Finch, a twentysomething socially awkward daydreamer and receptionist at Larmax, Inc., a company whose true function she doesn’t understand (though she’s heard her boss...
* One of the Best Books of 2012 —Salon "Waclawiak's novel reinvents the immigration story. How to Get Into the Twin Palms movingly portrays a protagonist intent on both creating and destroying herself, on burning brightly even as she goes up in smoke." —New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice How To Get Into the Twin Palms is the story of Anya, a young woman living in a Russian neighborhood in Los Angeles, who struggles between retaining her parents' Polish culture and trying to assimilate into her adopted community. She lusts after Lev, a Russian man who frequents the Twin Palms nightclub down the block from Anya's apartment. It is Anya's wish to gain entrance to this seeminly exclusive club. How To Get Into the Twin Palms is a really funny and often moving book that provides a unique twist on the immigrant story, and provides a credible portrait of the city of Los Angeles, literally burning to the ground.
Editor Gillian Kendall has brought together in Something to Declare a collection of impressionistic, literary travel essays that explore the sense of place and the pull of wanderlust, and reveal what happens when a traveler follows her heart. On these pages, established and emerging lesbian travel writers present accounts ranging from the poetic and internal to the exhilarating and life-altering. Rather than reporting on places to stay, local fare, or politics, these women share personal stories of exploration and adventure. Lucy Jane Bledsoe and her partner camp out and negotiate their way through the Tierra del Fuego in “Fruits at the Border.” Lesléa Newman’s “Bashert” tells the...
"Damascus succeeds in conveying a big-hearted vision." —The Wall Street Journal "At once gripping, lucid and fierce, Damascus is the mature effort of an artist devoted to personal growth and as such contains the glints of real gold." -San Francisco Chronicle It's 2003 and the country is divided evenly for and against the Iraq War. Damascus, a dive bar in San Francisco's Mission District, becomes the unlikely setting for a showdown between the opposing sides. Tensions come to a boil when Owen, the bar's proprietor who has recently taken to wearing a Santa suit full-time, agrees to host the joint's first (and only) art show by Sylvia Suture, an ambitious young artist who longs to take her ac...
"Tzivia Gover tells us that according to the educator, Paulo Freire, 'It is impossible to teach without the courage to love.' In this beautifully written memoir, Gover musters up the courage to love her students despite the often difficult differences between them. By having the pregnant and parenting teens in her classroom learn to read, write, and recite poetry, Gover exposes her students to a whole new world. Upon reading their poetry, Gover is exposed to a whole new world as well. LEARNING IN MRS. TOWNE'S HOUSE is a testimony to the power of poetry. Reading it will enrich your life." - Lesléa Newman Poet Laureate, Northampton, MA 2008-2010 Tzivia Gover is the author of Mindful Moments f...
In this book the author uses true accounts of her family's history to discuss the treatment of Ukranian citizens of Poland after World War II and the political upheaval and relocation which occurred to them.
"Jay Neugeboren’s You Are My Heart is an object lesson in imaginative empathy and observational intelligence. His fiction for years now has had the courage to be quiet and careful and comprehensively humane, but it’s in no way slight. One of his great subjects has been the damage that even the most caring and thoughtful can inflict, and though these stories take place all over the world, they’re at heart about the difference between the America to which we aspire and the America in which we live." -Jim Shepard Jay Neugeboren is an award-winning short story writer who has been applauded as one of the most distinguished writers of our time. With this, his fourth collection of short stori...
“Accessible and unfailingly encouraging, Dreaming on the Page proves that dreaming and writing are for everyone – and that when you combine the two, the result can be truly magical.” –Brooke Warner, writing coach, author, and publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress Pick up a pen and dream. Dreaming on the Page is for writers of all genres, from casual journal-keepers to experienced authors – and anyone who aspires to write. Accessible to people who don’t remember their dreams as well as for people who do, this book will empower writers to pick up a pen and befriend all aspects of who they are. Dreams and writing offer approachable ways to live richer, more soulful lives both...
Everyone has a story to tell. Fearless Confessions is a guidebook for people who want to take possession of their lives by putting their experiences down on paper--or in a Web site or e-book. Enhanced with illustrative examples from many different writers as well as writing exercises, this guide helps writers navigate a range of issues from craft to ethics to marketing and will be useful to both beginners and more accomplished writers. The rise of interest in memoir recognizes the power of the genre to move and affect not just individual readers but society at large. Sue William Silverman covers traditional writing topics such as metaphor, theme, plot, and voice and also includes chapters on...