“Prairie is among the most altered and threatened ecosystems in the world,” Thomas Dean of Iowa City wrote in a new book he co-authored with Cindy Crosby of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. “Care of the world is always essential, and care arises from conversation.”
Book reviews
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘(Intentionally Blank)’ by Thomas Mundt
(Intentionally Blank) Thomas Mundt — Tolsun Books Thomas Mundt’s (Intentionally Blank) opens with a line from a Betty Wright song: “Jumpin’ slick was my ruin.” Wright’s narrator, a free-spirited woman who loses a kind suitor to a more loving and attentive rival, would be right at home in the world of (Intentionally Blank). Mundt’s collection […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘You or a Loved One’ by Gabriel Houck
You or a Loved One is an arresting collection of short stories by New Orleans native Gabriel Houck. Houck, who earned an MFA from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program, is currently a lecturer in the English department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Spectacle’ by Susan Steinberg
Susan Steinberg’s ‘Spectacle’ collects 12 short stories bound within a slim, 135-page volume. Despite ‘Spectacle’’s brevity, due in no small part to Steinberg’s impressive economy of language, several of the stories are so emotionally weighty, readers may feel the need to rest before moving onto the next.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book review and interview: Andrew Ridker, ‘The Altruists’
To read Andrew Ridker’s sparkling novel ‘The Altruists’ is to find oneself inside the claustrophobic confines of a dysfunctional family. The Alters are apparently normal St. Louis residents; parents Arthur and Francine are respectively a professor of engineering and a couples’ counselor, and the children, Ethan and Maggie, are being prepared for successful careers. Yet under their upper-middle-class veneer, there is a profound disconnection.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘The Current’ by Tim Johnston
The Current Tim Johnston, Algonquin Books On the Road. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Road trip stories lend themselves well to coming-of-age adventures. Kerouac writes the Great American Novel, Pee-wee finds his bike, Harold gets his kiss. For 19-year-olds Audrey Sutter and Caroline Price, a road trip turns into tragedy […]
Posted inOpinion
Book Review: ‘Marcher, Walker, Pilgrim’ by Ed Fallon
Marcher, Walker, Pilgrim: A Memoir From The Great March for Climate Action Ed Fallon, Business Publications Corporation Inc. (Des Moines, IA) Marcher, Walker, Pilgrim is a memoir by Bold Iowa’s “Agitator in Chief” Ed Fallon, detailing the eight-month saga of his 3,100-mile journey from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. known as “The Great March for […]
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Five questions with: Novelist Salvatore Scibona
Salvatore Scibona’s 2008 debut novel, ‘The End,’ was nominated for the National Book Award. Scibona, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, now has a second novel on the shelves: ‘The Volunteer.’ Scibona will be reading from ‘The Volunteer’ at Prairie Lights on Monday, March 11.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with: Author Mark Mayer
Mark Mayer, graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and inaugural Robert P. Dana Emerging Writer fellow at Cornell College, will read from his debut collection of short stories, ‘Aerialists,’ at Prairie Lights on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with: Author Elizabeth McKracken
Quirky and engaging, funny and serious at once, ‘Bowlaway’ is a book that makes you think. The story of a bowling alley and the family which owns it is part historical novel, part family saga and part pure whimsy.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with: Author Tom Hunt
A disastrous accident embroils a family in terror in Iowa native Tom Hunt’s new thriller, ‘One Fatal Mistake.’ When 18-year-old Joshua hits a man with his car, he has no idea that his choices will be the catalyst for a chain of horrifying events. Hunt will read from his novel at Prairie Lights.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book review: From Iowa City to San Francisco, ‘The Ultimate Actualist Convention’ is a treasure-trove packed with literary gems
Subtitled “A Detailed View of Iowa City Actualism in the 1970s & 1980s and Its Migration to the San Francisco Bay Area,” this tome was edited by Morty Sklar, Cinda Kornblum and Dave Morice, who were part of this unique community of artists whose works deserve to be explored and cherished.
