Winter (Reading) Is Coming: 4 Book Collections to Hibernate With

By Sean Tuohy

No, that chill in your bones doesn’t mean a White Walker attack is nigh. Sadly, fall is rapidly fading and soon we’ll be confronted with mounting snow piles and shabby mall Santas.

You may find yourself trapped inside struggling to remember what the sun looks like this winter, so why not dig into a book series?

The following four series will take you away from the ice cold winter and bring you to a new world filled with characters that leap off the pages.

The Last Policeman Trilogy by Ben Winters

The world is going to end in a few months so why carry on? Why do your job? In Ben Winters’ game-changing detective series features a small town police officer who performs his duties as the world around him falls apart. A solid mystery mixed with vivid characters and twists and turns bring Winters’ doomed world to life.

The Harry Bosch Series by Michael Connelly

The long-running series features one of the best literary detectives, Harry Bosch. Bosch is a man who is obsessed with solving murders and filled with a deep darkness. He spends his nights quietly watching the city from his house up in the Hollywood Hills or driving the city streets while listening to jazz. Zigzag plots roller coaster readers through the underbelly of Los Angeles.  

The Sigma Series by James Rollins

Real world science and edgy science fiction mix together perfectly in these action-packed novels. Following a special team that deals with weird, the Sigma Series features slam-bam action and a group of characters you’d follow to the ends of the earth. Each time you open the next book it feels like you’re welcoming an old friend—one that will have you gasping for air by the end of the first page.

The Frontlines Series by Marko Kloos

An over-populated and war torn Earth is uninhabitable, so Marko Kloos’ main character Andrew Greyson decides to join the military and set off on a wild adventure into an ever expanding universe. The series features grounded and human stories that just happen to take place in the far reaches of the galaxy. 

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Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts: The Top 5 Harry Bosch Novels

By Sean Tuohy

Crime fiction master Michael Connelly brings back hardboiled, jazz-loving detective Harry Bosch in his newest novel The Crossing. This time around we find Bosch is no longer with the LAPD and is now working for defense attorney half-brother Mickey Haller.

With the newest book in the long running detective series published yesterday and the second season of the highly rated Amazon television show in the works, we decided to sit down and comb through the Bosch world and picked the top five Bosch stories. Get ready for some smooth jazz and murder in the City of Angels.

5. The Burning Room (#21)

Sensing his time with the LAPD maybe coming to an end, Harry races against the clock trying to solve two famous cold cases while trying to mentor his young new partner. 

What makes it great?

Harry has mentored younger detectives before but never with the same urgency that is found in this novel. Harry tries to imprint his code on his partner, teaching her that homicide is a mission. We also catch moments of trendiness with Bosch, most dealing with his own daughter. A great moment is when Bosch gets a lump in his throat thinking about his daughter and his own failing as a father. The ending is bittersweet and reminds us that not everything can be tied up neatly at the end.

What to listen to? 

“Black Coffee” by Duke Pearson Trio

4. The Black Ice (#2)

When a cop kills himself on Christmas Eve the department is ready to call it an open and shut case but Harry Bosch sees something else. Quickly, Bosch himself chases down clues through seedy back alleys that lead into Mexico.

What makes it great?

Fast-paced with more action then the first novel, The Black Ice hits the ground running and never lets up. While in Mexico, Bosch takes in bull fighting and along the way falls in love with the widow of the dead police officer. The ending to the novel is a sudden twist that no one saw coming.

What to listen to?

“Mr. Syms” by John Coltrane 

3. The Drop (#17)

Bosch investigates a 20-year-old murder while also trying to determine if his enemy’s son killed himself or was killed.

What makes it great?

Many of Connelly’s best characters are the people who live at the bottom of society, the ones who scrape by and do what they can to live. In The Drop, Connelly presents us with a character completely broken by life. We watch as Bosch goes from hating the man to understanding who he is.

What to listen to?

“Green Haze” by Miles Davis

2. Nine Dragons (#15)

A chance account on the one of the worse nights of his life Bosch meets a shopkeeper who helped him out. Years later, Bosch must solve the man’s murder and also deal with the personal issues of having a daughter who lives in China.

What makes it great?

A bittersweet ending Bosch’s life changes completely. We get to see two sides of Bosch, the cop and the father, intersect.

What to listen to?

“Night Hawk” by Coleman Hawkins

1. The Last Coyote (#4)

Bosch’s life is a mess. He’s suspended from his job, he’s about to lose his house, and he’s lost his girlfriend. During this crisis, Bosch decides to look into the murder of his mother, killed when he was a child. He is determined to solve it.

What makes it great?

Normally in series the hero is always put together and able to handle the task at hand. Connelly stacked everything against Bosch and at one point we see Bosch fall apart. The pressure of everything mixed with opening deep emotion wounds comes pouring out of Bosch.

What to listen to?

“Silk ‘n’ Satin” by Sonny Rollins

5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: October 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

By Daniel Ford

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

I’ve read Richard Russo, Joyce Carol Oates (okay, at least I tried), Jonathan Franzen, and Wally Lamb throughout my life, so I know a thing or two about dysfunctional literary families. However, the family in Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres might be the most screwed up one I’ve ever encountered in fiction. The book starts innocently enough: A father nearing the end of his working days decides to split up his Midwestern farm among his three daughters. What a nice guy! Well, in true Shakespearean fashion, things go horribly wrong. The father loses his grip on reality, his daughters reveal all manner of dark family secrets, and there’s not a man in the book that isn’t a complete asshole or grossly incompetent. There were moments I put the book down and couldn’t believe what I had just read. And Smiley doesn’t hit you over the head with each revelation. No, her style borders on nonchalant, so you constantly feel like your caught in the middle of the storm without any advanced warning. Smiley also gives the reader somewhat of an unreliable narrator, which makes the book’s plot all the more harrowing and surprising. I guarantee you’ll be done with this tale in a matter of days because the sick individual inside you will want to find out what happens next.

Academy Gothic by James Tate Hill

Tate Cowlishaw may be legally blind, incredibly snarky, and unlucky in love, but hot damn he’s a pretty good investigator. So what if he’s an incompetent, indifferent academic employed at a school in such dire straits that it has to house its teacher’s offices in a drained swimming pool? When the dean of Parshall College dies suspiciously, Cowlishaw follows a dangerous (and often hilarious) trail of clues to find out the truth. As I said in the introduction to my recent interview with the author, fans of noir and dark comedy will find something to devour within every page of this debut. Hill told me that future Cowlishaw adventures would depend on readers’ reactions to his witty hero. Well, don’t just suggest he write more, demand it by buying the book and spreading the word.

The Granite Moth by Erica Wright

The Granite Moth, Erica Wright’s sequel to her debut novel The Red Chameleon, has an explosive beginning. A bomb goes off at a Halloween parade in New York City, upending the lives of the The Pink Parrot’s performers. Good thing the nightclub has a guardian private investor in Kathleen Stone. The emotionally damaged PI, along with her drag queen friends Dolly and Big Momma, tracks down the perpetrators of the crime while trying to stay on the good sides of her two police officer love interests. The Red Chameleon set the tone of Stone’s world, but The Granite Moth digs deeper into her character and why she’s hell bent on bringing mob boss Salvatore Magrelli to justice. As with all good noir, the plot matters much less than what’s going on in Stone’s head and how her job interferes with every relationship she has in her life. There’s plenty of Wright’s trademark wit and sharp dialogue in this sequel, but the book is at its best when exploring Stone’s dark inner demons. The book comes out Nov. 16, so plan your late fall reading accordingly.   

Oh, and if you’re thinking that Tate Cowlishaw and Kathleen Stone would make the perfect crime-fighting duo, you’re not alone. I’ve already told Wright and Hill that if there isn’t a crossover at some point in the future, I will no longer speak to either of them.

Swag by Elmore Leonard

Every time I finish an Elmore Leonard tale I think, “That’s my favorite Elmore Leonard novel.” It happened with Pronto, Rum Punch, and Riding the Rap. I read Out of Sight at the end of September and thought no other Leonard could possibly surpass it. Well, shit, Swag did and it just might be the best crime fiction novel ever written. Car thief Ernest “Stick” Stickley Jr. and oily car salesman Frank Ryan start a lucrative armed robbery trade and hilarity ensues. The sweet spot of the novel comes in the middle when the guys are enjoying a massive party at their hotel that eventually comes back to haunt them. Their characters are revealed in stark black and white and both begin to accept the fate they are headed for. There are twists and turns as the novel reaches its climax, but you feel like you already know how these two idiot criminals end up. The dialogue is pitch perfect (including the novel’s brilliant final line), and the 1970s Detroit setting casts a gray urban pale to the thievery and debauchery. This novel is screaming out to be made into a three-act play and I’d pay top dollar to see it. I’m sure I’ll love the next Elmore Leonard yarn just as much, but for now Swag is at the top of my list.

The Captive Condition by Kevin Keating

During a recent podcast with Sean Tuohy, I stupidly said Kevin Keating’s The Captive Condition wasn’t capturing my attention like I thought it would. Like a dopey, over-critical writer, I whined that the novel showcased some of the grating traits inherent to novels written by an academic. Well, throw all that criticism out the window because he expertly ties everything together in the second half. Every character receives a fate that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies. The haunted town of Normandy Falls, where Edmund Campion chooses to earn his degree, is right below the Hellmouth in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on the list of places I’d never want to visit. At least other horror tales feature a monster or zombie the main character can slaughter. The Captive Condition contains a deeper, primordial evil that isn’t easy to shake, even after you finish the novel. I recommend finding out for certain that noise you hear outside isn’t someone pounding the final nail into your doorframe, trapping you inside with Keating’s demons forever.

Listen to our podcast interview with Kevin Keating after he scares the bejesus out of you:

The Top 5 Horror Novels of All Time

By Sean Tuohy

It is that time of year again when costumed children pound on your door and demand candy. While waiting for the next chubby pre-teen wearing a homemade Batman costume to arrive at your door, why don’t you crack open a horror novel?

We’ve put together a list of the top five modern horror novels to help you question that creaking sound coming from upstairs. Throw on a pair of Depends and get ready to be scared shitless.

The Troop by Nick Cutter

Want to go camping? Do not read this novel. Want to have blood-soaked nightmares caused by a crafty written novel? Then pick up The Troop. During Cutter’s camping trip all hell breaks lose…and quickly. The characters create a strong connection with the reader, which makes the gore in the novel that much more painful.

Legion by William Peter Blaty

How do comedy writers let out their stress? Some write horror novels like William Peter Blaty. The former “Pink Panther” writer decided that making people wet themselves from fear was better then making them wet themselves from laughing too hard. His most chilling work is Legion. The story features a demon that takes hold of elderly people in a coma and uses them to commit murder around the city. and the detective trying to stop him. The book was turned into “Exorcist III” despite the fact that there isn’t an exorcist in the novel. The film and the book are both spine-tingling good and should not be enjoyed in the dark.

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

This book introduced us to Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the only human being who can make Chianti terrifying, and reminded us that we should invest in new locks. Harris designs a horrifyingly real serial killer. The Red Dragon—a deformed man who is mentally unstable but tries to deal with his emotions—kills families in their sleep. The novel dives into the killer’s twisted mind and examines his trauma, while at the same time following the burnt out FBI profiler trying to capture him. Thrilling and dark, Red Dragon reminds you that anyone can be a killer.

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Adventure and good times quickly dissolve into a fight to stay alive in Scott Smith’s novel. The horror story features a group of young Americans vacationing in Central America who stumble upon ruins. Not surprisingly, things go horribly wrong. Smith masterly mixes spine-chilling tension and blood-curdling horror in this short novel.

The Shining by Stephen King

Really, you didn’t see this coming? Daniel Ford and I devoted an entire podcast episode last year (you can listen to it below)! This man is a king (see what I did there?). The Shining perfectly showcases King’s talent as a master storyteller. The true horror of the novel is not the ghost or the evil hotel, but watching a loving family being slowly ripped apart. Jack’s fall from good husband and father struggling with demons to blood-thirty murderer is gut wrenching. Oh, and the lady in the bathtub is freaky!

5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: September 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Daniel Ford: Lauren Groff’s novel Fates and Furies was published on Sept. 15 and promptly longlisted for the National Book Award. Considering the novel’s beautifully crafted sentences, its dual narrative structure, and its multi-faceted look at a marriage between two young creative spirits, it’s not hard to figure out why critics and readers alike have made Fates and Furies a hit. The marriage of Lotto and Mathilde begins innocently enough—we’re told from Lotto’s point of view—but like all marriages, it falls prey to doubt, confusion, lies, and tragedy. Because of its narrative structure—the first half focuses on Lotto, an aspiring, out-of-work actor, the second half on Mathilde, a wife dedicated to making their lives a success—Fates and Furies has drawn comparisons to Gone Girl with some justification. However, what separates this novel from Gillian Flynn’s megahit is the presence of actual love and hope. I was much more invested and intrigued by the characters in Fates and Furies than I ever was reading Gone Girl. Without giving too much away, there’s a twist when the perspectives change, however, it fits with the character in such a way that I didn’t completely question everything I had read before. There’s a true love story in Fates and Furies that is as messy, complicated, and passionate as any in real life. The novel compels you to keep reading, so you’ll have this one done in just a couple days, but Lotto and Mathilde will stick with you long after you finish.

Make Me by Lee Child

Sean Tuohy: In Make Me, Lee Child takes readers on a thrill ride that goes from the cornfields of the Midwest to the sun-soaked shores of Los Angeles and everywhere in between. Child's itinerant hero Jack Reacher steps off a speeding train in an oddly named sleepy town in the middle of nowhere and right onto the playing field with a bang, like always. Reacher wants to explore the town’s origins, but he’s suddenly finds himself racing down a dark path searching for a missing investigator and trying to out run hitmen. Child always delivers with solid action, well-paced plots, and hardboiled dialogue that pops out of Reacher’s mouth and socks you in the face.

Daniel: I haven’t read a Jack Reacher yarn in quite some time. I cracked open Make Me after being inspired by Sean’s recommendation and our field trip to Harvard to see Child interviewed by Stephen King. After reading some heavier literature and non-fiction earlier this month, the book was the perfect brain candy. Make Me is wildly entertaining and featured snappy dialogue and Reacher doing Reacher things (like expertly planning out a shootout with a trio of thugs well before the action happens). Reacher also gets a lot more beat up in this book than in some of the others I’ve read. He’s not 100 percent during the novel’s climatic events, which made me think about how the “Justified” writers portrayed Raylan Givens after they realized it wouldn’t be realistic if he shot and killed everyone every episode. Twenty books into the series, Child wisely reminded readers that Reacher isn’t a superhero. He’s just a guy trying to stay off the grid, which is getting increasing more difficult in an increasingly connected world (Reacher even has a debit card now!). Make Me made me (see what I did there?) even more excited for the next 20 Reacher adventures.  

For more insights into Make Me, watch the Stephen King and Lee Child event Writer’s Bone attended at Harvard:

Gary Almeter: Say the title of this book aloud. Just do it. The six words put together are so discordant, so cacophonous that you almost don’t know how to feel when you say them. The rest of the book, on the heels of its title, is no less jarring for all the best reasons. Clegg’s debut novel is a story of profound loss and a meditation on grief, forgiveness, and self-forgiveness. Then it adds a layer of suspense as those affected search for the truth behind the accident at the center of the novel. All of this takes place in a small town where the visiting haves comingle with the native have-nots. The resultant anger and resentment from each are beautifully and authentically realized.

This narrative is told from many different points of view. Clegg navigates through a number of characters’ consciousnesses in an elegant and commanding way. He jumps back and forth between first and third person, back and forth in time, from coast to coast, and from the protagonist to an ancillary character who also sheds insight on the loss.   

Clegg’s story is all about what happens in those serendipitous settings where people who wouldn’t ordinarily meet actually do. And how that meeting propels them forward. It is often beautiful; often adversarial; always interesting. One of the ancillary voices in this novel says, “It’s a relief to finally find where you’re meant to be.” It’s equally rewarding seeing Clegg get them there.

For more insights on Bill Clegg, listen to Gary’s recent podcast with the author:

Daniel: There are two statistics that struck me in Aziz Ansari’s excellent sociological study, Modern Romance. First, in a 2013 study about Japanese dating habit, “a whopping 45 percent of women aged sixteen to twenty-four ‘were not interested in or despised sexual contact,’ and more than a quarter of the men felt the same way.” Wow, that’s a lot of people who are not only not getting any, but don’t want any at all! And this from a country that has a serious population problem! Come on, Japan, get on that. Literally.

Secondly, “in nonmarried but ‘committed’ couples there is a 70 percent chance of cheating.” Damn. That’s a high percentage. And, as Ansari point outs throughout the book, it’s easier than ever to connect and communicate with people, so that number might even get higher in the future.

Some of the findings in the book might lead some to despair over the changing nature of relationships, marriages, and friendships. However, Ansari’s wit and charm ooze from every page and sort of make you optimistic about where we’re headed as a civilization. I’m just thankful that I found the headline to my article in Stephanie Schaefer, and that we got to discuss the book while enjoying a healthy, committed relationship.     

Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill

Sean: There is a disappointing film out right now based on this stellar true-life crime tale. Spanning 30 years, the book, written by two award-winning Boston reporters, covers the unholy marriage between the FBI and Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Burgler. The prose has an odd, almost playful, tone. It’s much better than the film and has the added bonus of being a quick read. 

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The Top 5 Jack Reacher Novels

By Sean Tuohy

Stephen King has called Jack Reacher “the coolest character” and the public agrees. For nearly 20 books, the former military cop turned drifter has woven himself into the American literary fabric. Hardboiled and witty, Lee Child’s character is one of the funniest good guys to follow. Tom Cruise also  brought the character to the big screen in the recent action film “Jack Reacher.”

Child’s new book, Make Me, hits stands on Sept. 8, so we decided to help those unfamiliar with the Reacher legend by counting down the top five Reacher novels.

As an added bonus, listen to my interview with Lee Child!

5. Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2)

Not surprisingly, this novel starts with Reacher finding himself as the right guy at the wrong time and place. Kidnapped off a city street, he must figure out the identity of his captors and why they took a young FBI agent along with him. One crazed, but smart, villain, some hand guns, and Reacher’s brawn all adds up to a fun read.

4. Without Fail (Jack Reacher # 6)

Someone is trying to kill the second most powerful man in the United States and Reacher must stop him. Again, filled with twist and turns, this book keeps readers on the edge of their seat. Reacher teams up with the Secret Service to track down a group of well-trained assassins before they can strike again.

3. Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher #11)

When Reacher receives a distress call from his former army unit he goes west to solve a mystery and stop an attack on the country. Reacher teams up with his former unit and explores what could have been had he not left the army.

2. Tripwire (Jack Reacher #3)

Jack Reacher travels from Key West, Fla., to New York City when the past reaches out to him. Reacher finds himself in front of a lot of bad guys and too many bullets in this taut thriller. Child brings to life one of his best villains; a hook-handed, high-end bookie with a taste for blood.

1. Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1)

The first Jack Reacher novel has one of the best first chapters in all of modern history. Tight and thrilling, the opening lines smack the reader in the face hard and the rest of the novel keeps on punching. 

5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: August 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

Death With Interruptions by José Saramago

Daniel Ford: Dimitry Elias Léger mentioned José Saramago’s Death With Interruptions during our podcast interview this past March and I finally rediscovered it in my hidden pile of books. Saramago begins his novel simply, much like he did with his masterpiece Blindness, stating, "The following day, no one died." Great news, right? Once the phenomenon is confirmed, Saramago's characters do rejoice, but only for so long. Important questions are raised that don't find easy answers. What is the government’s role in helping care for people who remain between life and death? What becomes of the undertaker, whose business depends on people expiring? How would family dynamics change in an event as peculiar as this? Saramago explores all of these themes poignantly and, at times, humorously, but it's his portrayal of death that makes this novel a true marvel. She—yes, she—is locked away in a stuffy office doing her job well until she decides to conduct an experiment halting human death. Her reappearance on the scene and subsequent actions turn the last third of the novel into a thrilling character study. The last three chapters are exquisite literature and will force your mind to ponder this question: What if death fell in love?

99 Percent Kill by Doug Richardson

Sean Tuohy: Look, we all know that I am a Doug Richardson fan. He’s a solid writer that always delivers. The first page of the “True Believers” script has more tension than most 90-minute movies. Blood Money is a slam-bang book that hits the ground running and does not let up. But 99 Percent Kill brings Richardson to a new level. Sometimes Sheriff Deputy Lucky Day, brought over from Blood Money, is hired to track down the missing daughter of a wealthy Midwesterner. Easy and straight forward. Suddenly, readers find themselves traveling head long down an always twisting and turning maze where nothing is what it seems. The characters pop off the page in this tight and well thought out thriller. But Richardson is able to bring Los Angeles to life in the same rich style as Michael Connelly or James Ellroy, but in his own very distinct voice. Like always, Richardson crafts a solid story that readers will not be able to put down, but he brings so much more to the table this time. 

Leave Your Mark: Land Your Dream Job. Kill It in Your Career. Rock Social Media. by Aliza Licht

Stephanie Schaefer: Aliza Licht (aka the former Twitter celeb DKNY PR Girl) has the wit of Carrie Bradshaw and the drive of Samantha Jones. Her debut book, Leave Your Mark, is a must read for young professionals who dream of climbing the corporate ladder in designer heels—even if all they can afford right now is knockoffs. Licht touches upon everything from building your own brand to switching careers and turning happy hour into a networking opportunity. Even though the book is geared to those in the media industry, everyone can profit from its lessons. Check out my recent interview with Licht to learn more about the secrets of success.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

DF: I don’t know the America in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ stirring and honest letter/essay to his teenage son. I know it exists and I’ve always been aware of the duality that exists in the American experience. All of the progress and good that’s come out of the United States has been matched by intolerance, oppression, and hatred. I don’t know about the fear Coates felt growing up with armed kids his age or from white police officers with the power to “break” his black body. My struggle in America has been economic, but I know that my skin color and suburban upbringing has softened the weight of “the boot” on my neck. However, there were moments when I identified strongly with Coates’ experience such as:

  • “I wish I had known more, and I wished I had known it sooner.”

  • “It was like falling in love—the things that get you are so small, the things that keep you up at night are so particular to you that when you try to explain, the only reward anyone can give you is a dumb polite nod.”

  • “In New York, everyone wanted to know your occupation. I told people that I was ‘trying to be a writer.’”

  • “But this girl with the long dreads revealed something else—that love could be soft and understanding; that, soft or hard, love was an act of heroism.”

Between the World and Me is visceral and poetic in its brutality. It raises necessary, hard questions that I wish this Presidential election would try to wrestle with. Author Toni Morrison called this work “required reading” and I couldn’t agree more. Also, President Obama included it in his summer reading list and I suggest you do the same regardless of your political, racial, or economic place in this country.


The Suicide of Claire Bishop by Carmiel Banasky

Steph Post: Carmiel Banasky's psychological whirlwind of a novel The Suicide of Claire Bishop hits shelves on Sept. 15 and I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be one of those novels everyone is talking about this fall. The premise is a little complicated: Claire, a 1950s Greenwich Village housewife, convinced for most of her life that she will die of hereditary madness, is drowning in the knowledge that insanity actually doesn't run in her family and so she is doomed to continue in her oppressive and stagnate marriage and life, without the heralding of an early death on the horizon. As the novel opens, Claire is sitting for a portrait that ultimately depicts her fragmented suicide and will drive her to freeing, if irrational, actions. Flash forward to 2004 and West Butler takes the stage. Truly schizophrenic, and the very definition of an unreliable narrator, West becomes obsessed with Claire's portrait and the past and present become intertwined in a twisted tale of art and perception.

Complicated? Yes. Mesmerizing? Yes. Gorgeous, powerful, unsettling and replete with all of the hallmarks of modern risk-taking fiction? Absolutely. Banasky's characters are reckless, but her language is crafted with diamond-edged precision and her style immerses the reader fully into a New York state of mind. Even if that mind might be rife with madness...

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: July 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

By Daniel Ford and Sean Tuohy

The Sunlit Night By Rebecca Dinerstein

Daniel: We’ve met Frances and Yasha, the two main characters in Rebecca Dinerstein’s charming, quirky debut The Sunlit Night, in literature before. They are two young people who find comfort and passion in each other while avoiding something else—Frances escapes her parents’ separation and a douchey boyfriend in New York City, while Yasha has come to Norway to bury his beloved father at the “top of the world.” With a supporting cast that includes a neglectful mother, an artist who paints only in yellow, and a Norwegian desperate to be lovestruck, The Sunlit Night makes your heart swell one moment and then shatters it the next. Dinerstein is smart though, she sews the pieces back just enough to make your ticker work again, but not so tightly that you feel whole. Most importantly, the novel is littered with beautifully crafted sentences surrounded by exuberant, honest dialogue. Plus, thanks to the Gregoriov Bakery, the novel features plenty of yummy baked goods!   

New Hope for the Dead by Charles Willeford

Sean: The second book in Charles Willeford's unfortunately short-lived Hoke Moseley series is the possibly the best South Florida crime prose ever written. The novel follows a depressed and money-strapped Miami detective who finds himself in the middle of a homicide investigation with a partner going through a life crisis, his estranged daughters entering his life, and no way to pay for anything. Willeford is a true master who blends together pitch-black dark humor, hard-boiled crime, and moody characters to make the perfect crime novel cocktail.

The Knife by Ross Ritchell

Daniel Ford: Ross Ritchell’s The Knife has all of the hallmarks of a military novel: firefights, desert maneuvers, and solider hijinks. What makes it stand apart from many of the recent books about Afghanipakiraqistan is it’s clean, inspired prose and the quiet moments before and after each Special Ops mission (Oh yeah, did I mention that Ritchell is a former soldier in a United States Special Operations Command direct-action team that conducted classified operations in the Middle East? No big deal.).

The opening chapter set in a diner before the main character heads off to war and a chapter midway through the novel featuring a young Muslim by the name of Ahmed blew me away. I knew I’d enjoy all the military scenes and the brotherly banter, but those two scenes are maybe the best I've read all year.

Ritchell also writes about the desert conflict in a way that makes it more haunting and visceral than any newspaper feature or recent novel. An example: "As they flew on, the earth looked like the chalked bones of pale skeletons." That’s good stuff.

I emailed Ritchell back and forth while I was reading the book (he’s become a literary Obi-Wan Kenobi to me) and he said that he “tried to just write stuff that didn't feel like bullshit” to him. He added, “You shouldn't feel awkward or fake with any of your stuff.”

I can assure readers that there is not one ounce of BS in The Knife, and it has an ending that will leave you swearing through your tears. 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Daniel: I told myself I wasn’t going to read another post-apocalyptic novel. I devoured books like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Jose Saramago’s Blindness, and Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, and felt like I had consumed enough literature of that ilk to last me until the actual end of days. However, I picked up Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven while perusing the stacks at Barnes and Noble on a coffee run one afternoon and fell in love.

The story weaves in and out of the past and present, and mostly follows The Traveling Symphony—a band of survivors who perform Shakespeare and music throughout a landscape violently altered by a flu epidemic. The prose is lyrical, packed with heart, and infused with a passion for the arts. There are harrowing moments for sure, but if humanity follows main character Kirsten Raymonde’s lead after all hell breaks loose, we might be okay. 

Summerlong by Dean Bakopoulos

Daniel: I hate to damn Dean Bakopoulos’ Summerlong by saying it’s the perfect beach read, but damn if it’s not best enjoyed near a body of water—or in my case, the Atlantic Ocean—with copious amounts of ice-cold alcoholic beverages to cool you off. You’re going to need them because everything in this novel is on fire: the Midwestern weather, marriages, potential, sexual urges. The characters are so intertwined that they particularly have to say, “Excuse me,” to each other as the scene shifts perspectives. A couple’s marriage falls apart owing to neglect, lies, and boredom (but not sexual passions, my god), a young woman named ABC longs to join her dead lover while enjoying as much pot as possible, and a disillusioned actor comes home to deal with his sick father (the old guy may have failed at being a writer, but he was hell of a creepy ladies man). This book is eight kinds of hilarious, and I guarantee that you’ll be cackling in public places the whole time you're reading it (and possibly blushing when you get to the really juicy parts).   

Also, Bakopoulos has one of his main characters utter this spectacular line of dialogue: “I’m living in a Bruce Springsteen song.”

Reader for life!  

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: June 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

All This Life by Joshua Mohr

Sean Tuohy: Joshua Mohr is a writer with a unique voice. He stands out against a sea crowded with similar story lines and bland characters. All This Life, due out July 14, is the author's fifth novel and is about the digital age and the effects one event can have on many people.

All This Life opens with a mass suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge and then doesn’t let up. Featuring a cast of interesting and damaged characters, All This Life showcases a writer with a true talent.

What is Found, What is Lost by Anne Leigh Parrish

Daniel Ford: Author Anne Leigh Parrish has contributed to Writer’s Bone (including a short story, an essay, and an interview), so I was certain I’d like her latest novel What is Found, What is Lost despite the fact I’m not exactly the target demographic.

In this novel, Parrish explores the themes of motherhood, identity, and religion through the eyes of main character Freddie, as well her mother, grandmother, and daughter. Freddie is one of the most delightful female characters I’ve read in some time, despite the fact she is surrounded by some pretty terrible people (including her late husband Ken, though he earns major points with his one liners from beyond). You’ll find there is no circle of hell low enough for her mother Lorraine. She reminded me of an uber-religious version of Catherine in East of Eden. And then you have Anna, Freddie’s grandmother, who makes 1920s Chicago come alive in a fresh way with the help of her partner Olaf (who is also a shady character, but one with redeemable characteristics).

All of these characters are what make Parrish’s novel really sing. There’s snappy, heartfelt (and occasionally nasty) dialogue that will make you feel as if you’ve known these people your whole life. There’s a genuine lived in quality that weds seamlessly to the prose and plot. I don’t want to give too much away, but the book ends with certain things revealed and resolved, but leaves so much more simmering beneath the surface. It’s an excellent reflection on how real life is messy with no easy answers or solutions. If you’re looking for something meatier than a beach read, put What is Found, What is Lost on your reading docket. 

The Redeemers by Ace Aktins

DF: Michael Connelly calls Ace Atkins “one of the best crime writers at work today,” and after reading his most recent novel The Redeemers, I can see why. Atkins’ hero, Quinn Colson, finds himself out of a job as sheriff of Tibbehah County, Miss., and surrounded by a villainous crime lord, a sister crippled by drugs, and a lover that further stains his reputation. On top of all that, he’s drawn into investigating a crime perpetrated by three idiots armed with a bulldozer. The plot moves along at a brisk pace and the criminals are as entertaining as any you’ll find in an Elmore Leonard novel, but Atkins is at his best exploring characters on both sides of the law. I haven’t read any of the other Quinn Colson novels, but he strides into this novel more fully formed than must of the serial heroes I’ve come across recently. His military past, his volatile love life, and temperamental family are all explored deeply and honestly.

Women by Charles Bukowski

DF: Stephanie Schaefer grabbed this book out of my hands as soon as she saw the cover. The neon woman arching her back didn’t do me any favors. I told her at some point a guy needs to read some Bukowski. And then I did.

Whoa.

Bukowski can write the hell out of a broken character. He shows flashes of how this guy might change, and then another women slithers into the picture. I think my favorite Henry Chinaski reaction throughout the book was, "All right." Summed it all up in two words. 

If you read nothing else, read this paragraph:

“I was sentimental about many things: a woman’s shoes under the bed; one hairpin left behind on the dresser; the way they said, 'I’m going to pee.' hair ribbons; walking down the boulevard with them at 1:30 in the afternoon, just two people walking together; the long nights of drinking and smoking; talking; the arguments; thinking of suicide; eating together and feeling good; the jokes; the laughter out of nowhere; feeling miracles in the air; being in a parked car together; comparing past loves at 3am; being told you snore; hearing her snore; mothers, daughters, sons, cats, dogs; sometimes death and sometimes divorce; but always carrying on, always seeing it through; reading a newspaper alone in a sandwich joint and feeling nausea because she’s now married to a dentist with an I.Q. of 95; racetracks, parks, park picnics; even jails; her dull friends; your dull friends; your drinking, her dancing; your flirting, her flirting; her pills, your fucking on the side and her doing the same; sleeping together.”

Love and Other Wounds by Jordan Harper

DF: This debut short story collection just landed in Writer’s Bone mailbox and it shot to the top of my reading list based on the opening line of the first story:

“John ran through the high desert, away from his grave.”

Yup, that’ll do. Harper has had a variety of writing jobs, including a writer-producer for “Gotham,” but I have a feeling before his career is over he’s going to be best known as a short story artist. This collection comes out July 7 (look for an interview with the author next month!).

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6 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: May 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

Daniel Ford: Chigozie Obioma’s The Fishermen is set in 1990s Nigeria and tells the heart-wrenching and bloody tale of four brothers whose lives are changed on the banks of a haunted river. Benjamin, the story’s 9-year-old narrator, attempts to makes sense of the changing world around him as his family is torn apart by a madman’s prophecy. The Fishermen begins so lightheartedly—the reader is led to believe that this is another coming-of-age story set in a foreign location—that later events crush you even more. It’s a book that should inspire you to craft your own great art. The best authors light a fire under you, and I can assure you, Obioma will be lighting fires for years to come.        

Also, if you don’t stand up and cheer when the boys’ father delivers a rousing speech encouraging them to be “fishermen” that “will dip their hands in rivers, seas, and oceans of this life and become successful: doctors, pilots, professors, lawyers” then I don’t want to know you.

Wetlands by Charlotte Roche

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Robert Hilferty: Wetlands has an honesty and humor that reminds me a lot of Charles Bukowski but without the more problematic shit attached to it. It's full of raw emotion and reckless abandon that reminds me of the poor decisions I made growing up.

Done in One by Grant Jerkins and Jan Thomas

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DF: Any story that involves a S.W.A.T. sniper is going to have a thrilling plot, however, not all of them are going to have the big ole thumping heart beating on every page of Done in One (the novel was inspired by Jan Thomas’ real-life experiences). We first meet Jake Denton (“Fuckin’Denton”) on the hunt with his father. The lessons he learns are put to the test throughout the book, particularly when it comes to his equally badass wife Jill, a former medic (and aspiring author!) who is her husband’s first-response support team. But Jill isn’t some weepy female caricature. She’s whip smart, tough, demanding, compassionate, and honest. Jill has her tender moments for sure, but she proves over and over again that she’s very much Jake’s equal. Done in One is actually one of those novels that’s a character study wrapped in a thriller, which makes it so much more than a good beach read. Important questions are raised and dealt with and the authors humanize and reveal fresh insights into a world that is currently grossly misunderstood in today’s culture.

The Fateful Lightning by Jeff Shaara

DF: I recently read James Swanson’s excellent Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse, so I was primed for another good Civil War read. Author Jeff Shaara  (who I interviewed last June and will be speaking to again next week) didn’t disappoint with The Fateful Lightning, the final book in his series about the Civil War’s western front. The novel begins in November 1864 following William Tecumseh Sherman’s victory in Atlanta and covers the red-headed, cigar-smoking General’s famed “March to the Sea.” Shaara tells the tale from multiple perspectives on both sides of the conflict, humanizing these legendary figures with such skill that I’m convinced the author was close friends with them in another life. The Fateful Lightning is available for sale June 2, 2015 and would make the perfect Father's Day gift.

My War Gone By, I Miss It So by Anthony Loyd

Alex Tzelnic: In February 2015, The New Yorker published an article on the tragic death of Eric Harroun—a U.S. Army veteran turned mercenary and informant. The piece mentioned the 1999 book My War Gone By, I Miss It So by Anthony Loyd. "That is a hell of a title," I thought. I largely forgot about the book until April, when I was perusing the shelves of a friend and came across a weathered and torn copy. "That is one of my favorite books," he told me. "Borrow it. Read it. Pass it around." Sometimes the literary gods drop subtle hints, and sometimes they drop a book in your lap and give you clear instructions. I read it.

My War Gone By, I Miss It So is a visceral and gruesome travelogue. Travelogue might be a confusing categorization—it is technically war journalism, as the book covers the conflicts in Bosnia and Chechnya during the 1990s. But war books are full of reportage, and though they ask why, it is usually a practical why: why did this conflict begin, what happened, and what does it mean? Loyd's why is more existential. As in a travelogue, he considers the question Kerouac wrote in his journals before flinging himself on the journey that became On the Road: "The night before travel is like the night before death. Why must I always travel from here to there, as it mattered where one is?"

Indeed, many of Loyd's nights are the night before death (though not his own), and the answer is complicated; his military heritage, his strained relationship with his father, and his addiction to heroin all play a part in his attraction to war. In taking this more personal tack, Loyd not only provides a compelling narrative about the horrors that unfolded in these wars, but examines why it is that people seek out darkness and brutality, and what can be learned from plumbing the depths.

Lloyd's lessons aren't easy—they are haunting, conveyed with prose that is savage and scintillating. And his book doesn't just stay with you, it tears a hole and climbs in. Borrow it. Read it. Pass it around. But don't say I didn't warn you.

The Right Hand by Derek Haas

Sean Tuohy: The Right Hand is slim, but it packs a punch! It’s a spy thriller that doesn’t slow down until the last page. The novel features Austin Clay, the CIA’s secret weapon, as he tries to locate a missing deep cover agent in Russia. Author and screenwriter Derek Haas shoves in as much action as he can in between twist and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. My biggest compliment is that in contrast to the current literary world’s overabundance of dark and brooding characters and edgy storylines, this book is fun, enjoyable, and hard to put down.

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: April 2015

By Daniel Ford

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter

I haven’t learned so much while reading a fictional novel in quite some time. I, sadly, don’t know much about India in general, and even less about its history, which is one of the reasons M.J. Carter’s The Strangler Vine was such an enjoyable and educational experience. Set in 1837, the novel follows William Avery, a young soldier with the East India Company, and Jeremiah Blake, a disillusioned, bitter former officer, as they track down a missing writer. During their investigation, the pair runs into both historical and fictional characters that showcase the clash of cultures between England and India during this time period. The Thuggee cult also plays a mysterious role that will keep readers guessing until the end. Tiger fights, caravans on dusty roads, ladies of high society, and plenty of swashbuckling make The Strangler Vine the perfect blend of history and fun.  

What I love the most about this novel is that the relationship between Avery and Blake evolves from mutual suspicion and disgust into begrudging respect. However, the change doesn’t feel forced or unnatural. They don’t become two different people at the end, but their worldview has changed just enough to support a potential partnership.  Carter told me during our interview that there was a bit of her in Avery—“keen, clueless, blurting things about before thinking about them”—and that his voice was easier to write than Blake’s. I fully anticipate Carter will have no trouble finding either voice in future novels and I very much look forward to what trouble the pair gets into next in the sequel The Infidel Stain (to be released in Spring 2016).

Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson

While I was reading Smith Henderson’s Fourth of July Creek, I took to Twitter in order to decide if I should be drunk or really drunk during the experience. Henderson set me straight.

Fourth of July Creek reminded me a lot of certain scenes during “American Hustle.” Whenever Henderson shed a light on social worker Pete Snow’s personal life, the prose swayed a little looser, drunker, and, occasionally, more violent. Here was a guy that makes a living helping families in rural Montana in the 1980s, but can’t maintain his relationship with his ex-wife and daughter (who eventually runs away, adding even more depth to one of the central themes of the novel: freedom). Between trying to gain the trust of a young boy and his disturbed father Jeremiah Pearl, Snow falls for a damaged woman who lies to him about sleeping with multiple men, gets his ass kicked on more than one occasion, and crosses the FBI agent who takes an interest in Pearl’s case because of the old man’s ranting and preparations for the end of times. Henderson employs an innovative structure, shifting perspectives from Snow to his missing daughter by interjecting a social worker-type interview with the young, impressionable teenager. Every character, including secondary characters such as Ten Mile’s judge, Snow’s brother, and assorted Montana town folk, are fully formed and invigorate this mediation on American ideals. Many of the reviews of the novel talk about the confidence in which Henderson writes, and they couldn’t be more right. There’s a controlled bravado that singes each page and keeps you turning pages long after you should have gone to bed.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, the lines that forced me to pour some bourbon into a heavy glass were:

“Think of getting old. Think of being only thirty-one yourself and having gotten so much already dead fucking wrong.”

Damn you, Smith Henderson (just kidding, but, seriously)!  

One More Thing: Stores and Other Stories by B.J. Novak

I shouldn’t have been surprised that B.J. Novak, best known for his work on the U.S. version of “The Office,” would produce such deft, subtle, and hilarious short stories that are found in his One More Thing: Stores and Other Stories. I expected the sharp humor and spot-on observations about everyday life, but what I didn’t anticipate was the amount of heart and outright skill featured in each story. I picked up this collection in Dave Pezza’s writing cave in Rhode Island during our Bob Dylan concert weekend, and read the first story about the hare taking revenge on the slow, addled turtle that famously beat him years before. I resolved to purchase my own copy after reading the line: “slow and steady wins the race, till truth and talent claim their place.” Um, hell yes!

One of my favorite stories, “No One Goes to Heaven to See Dan Fogelberg,” is such a funny and insightful mediation on death that I wasn’t prepared for the absolutely laugh-out-loud final scene. I was lost in my own thoughts about dying, and then the main character’s Nana *spoiler alert* admits she’d rather blow Frank Sinatra than spend time with her beloved grandson. That’s…good stuff. Other stories include the guy who returned a sex doll who falls in love with him, how to land a date through Missed Connections, and the reason why carrot cake has the best frosting. I don’t want to damn this book by saying it’s a great beach read, but I can’t imagine a better place to laugh in public without people thinking you’re crazy (everyone on a public beach is crazier than you are). I’m sure Novak has other projects on his docket, including perhaps another well-reviewed children’s book, but I’d love to see how he’d handle a complete novel.

The Red Chameleon by Erica Wright

Erica Wright’s debut crime novel is making the rounds at Writer’s Bone and earning rave reviews. Wright’s brassy private investigator Kathleen Stone's identities are as hard to keep up with as her multiple boyfriends (complete badasses in their own rights). Stone blends into the background, but not perfectly, which is one of the reasons I enjoyed the novel so much. She may have been a great police officer and even better undercover agent, but Stone is still finding her way in her new profession. She gets made often by her male counterparts, her secretary, and her drag queen friend. The plot moves at a quick pace, like many good crime novels, but Wright takes enough time to flesh out Stone’s personality, habits, and demons. Wright’s prose is also crackling with dark humor and sarcasm that matches its New York City setting. During our interview, Wright mentioned that she was like a “fainting goat” when it came to all the positive reviews the novel has garnered since its publication. I’d advise her to get used to it, because it sounds like Kathleen Stone is a heroine readers are going to demand stick around as long as she can find a decent wig.

Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade

You may have noticed from this list that I went on a run of crime/historical/brassy/masculine books in April. Reading Kirstin Valdez Quade’s Night at the Fiestas to finish up the month has proved to be the perfect tonic to realign my fiction priorities. Set mainly in New Mexico and the Southwest, Quade’s collection of short stories prove that she is more than worthy of being selected as a 5 under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation. Without revealing too much of my interview with Quade (which will go live sometime in May), I can tell you that the author sought to write about “family and the little betrayals that can occur between parents and children, brothers and sisters.” That’s what gives the collection its power, themes that readers of all cultures can identify with. Readers will put themselves in a teenage girl’s shoes when she finds a sack of money on a bus driven by her father in “Night at the Fiestas,” feel the internal rage a young man has for his degenerate father in “The Guesthouse,” or the desperation and fear that surround a mother living in a trailer in “Mojave Rats.” The New York Times Book Review threw around words like “legitimate masterpiece,” “haunting,” and “beautiful” in its review, and those adjectives couldn’t be more apt (the reviewer also admitting to weeping several times while reading the novel). Much like Novak’s short stories, Quade’s tales will stick with you long after you finally put the book down on your nightstand deep into the night.  

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: March 2015

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Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

The Martian by Andy Weir

Sean Tuohy: Oh. My. Goodness. The Martian is amazing. An astronaut is left behind on Mars after a mission goes wrong. Now, completely alone on an alien planet, he has to figure out how to survive. If that doesn't get you going, then something is wrong with you. The pacing in this book is fantastic; one moment you’re on the edge of your seat and in the next, you are bent over laughing non-stop. Great read.

One of my favorite quotes:

“Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be ‘in command’ if I were the only remaining person. What do you know? I’m in command.”

The Tusk That Did the Damage by Tania James

Daniel Ford: I sat down with Tania James’ The Tusk That Did the Damage expecting only to read a couple of chapters to get a feel for her style. Well, I finally put the book down completed two nights later after devouring every perfectly crafted sentence. James utilizes three narrators—including an elephant named The Gravedigger!—and weaves a tragic story while providing a deep back story for each one. When you’re not rooting for the resilient, emotionally broken elephant, you’ll be ensorcelled by a young man whose loyalty to his poacher brother knows no bounds, or troubled by the passive-aggressive filmmaking shooting a documentary on an elephant rehabilitation clinic. The reviews for The Tusk That Did All the Damage have been overwhelmingly positive, including a glowing review in The New York Times Book Review, so I have no doubt James is an author whose best is yet to come.

Learn more about James and her work by reading my recent interview with her.

If We Lived Here by Lindsey Palmer

Stephanie Schaefer: Do you find yourself inundated with social media posts highlighting your peers’ engagements, promotions, new homes, and pregnancy announcements all while wondering when the pieces of your life will fall into place? Then you’ll certainly relate to Lindsey Palmer’s If We Lived Here. The novel follows a couple in their early 30s as they search for the perfect Brooklyn apartment while dealing with judgmental landlords, gold-digging best friends, and the everyday struggles of young adulthood in today’s world. Take a break from social media and pick up Palmer’s second novel when it debuts on March 31.

You can learn more about the witty book by checking out my recent interview with the author.

The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard

Dave Pezza: Jim Shepard's latest novel, The Book of Aron (due out in May 2015), is told from the first person perspective of a Jewish boy named Aron who lives with his family in Warsaw, Poland during World War II.

The force of this book lies not in the broad strokes of Jewish suffering in the Warsaw ghetto, nor in the survival drama played out in stories like Elie Wiesel's Night. The Book of Aron stands out as a work of powerful fiction because hell is viewed from the perspective of a prepubescent boy.

Let's not be coy; the book's ending is evident from the onset. This boy's fate, and the fate of everyone he knows, is signed, sealed, and delivered within the first few pages. Aron has a dream in the first chapter that sets the book's dark stage, "...I dreamed that a raven was sitting on my shoulder in the wind and a black cloak was streaming out behind me." It is the slow, stark unfolding of Aron's story that makes Shepard's work so crushing and so necessary. From the suburbs, to the city, to the ghetto, and finally an orphanage, Shepard relates the destruction of innocence through a boy's unfathomable suffering. Aron is forced him to live with choices and realities that you wouldn't' wish on your worst enemy.

The Book of Aron is a must read, and I'm certain it will become a new mainstay in the pantheon of Holocaust literature. Be warned, this is a tough, tough book to get through. Tough not only for the reason’s I’ve described, but also because of such soul crushing lines as, "...I hated myself for making me feel the way I did and hated myself even more for not just being dead somewhere." But it's an important story, loosely based on the story of Janusz Korczak and the Warsaw ghetto orphanage he supported and operated, to remember what hate and ignorance can do to one life's most beautiful experiences.

The Painter By Peter Heller

Daniel: I’m an unabashed fan of Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, so I couldn’t wait to read his most recent novel, The Painter. Boy, it doesn’t get much better than an author who has supreme confidence in his ability. The Painter begins with the main character, Jim Stenger, shooting someone in a bar after a man makes lewd comments about Jim’s daughter. Stenger does his time (the man he shoots survives) and then becomes a well-renowned artist (and avid fly fisherman), but can’t quite shake his dark, angry impulses. The tale Heller orchestrates through Jim’s perspective is brutal, but not devoid of all hope. You’re squarely in Jim’s corner despite the horrible acts he continues to commit. Heller’s supporting cast is equally as colorful and deep. Every sentence and line of dialogue in this novel is a masterful brush stroke of literary talent. In our interview last July, Heller said that his writing process for The Painter was to follow “the music of the language.” We should all be so lucky to hear language such as this. 

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: February 2015

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

Wool by Hugh Howey

Rachel Tyner: Wool started as a standalone short story about a post-apocalyptic Earth and then the author self-published it through Amazon! Howey then added four more short stories and dubbed it the “Silo” series. He followed up Wool with the Shift and Dust series. I’m 89% done with Wool, but I’m loving it!

El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency by Ioan Grillo

Sean Tuohy: British journalist Ioan Grillo explores the root causes of the Mexican drug wars and the grow of the "Narco" culture in this in-depth book. Filled with interviews from cartel members, cops, government officials, traffickers, and victims of the drug war, Grillo's work sifts though the blood-soaked headlines, trying to discover the cause of the war and how best to end it. 

God Loves Haiti by Dimitry Elias Léger

Daniel Ford: I read Léger’s novel in two nights. Yet another blizzard had dumped a couple of feet of snow on Boston and I was ensconced in my apartment with only the faint hope of spring. However, God Loves Haiti provided some real warmth to go along with the manufactured heat I found inside my bourbon bottle. As I mentioned in my recent email interview with Léger (podcast interview coming soon!), the author utilized an innovative structure that allowed him to illuminate experiences and themes that developed during the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Léger’s heart and soul is evident on every page, every line of dialogue, and in every character. Don’t just dream about warmer and optimistic times this winter, read this book and experience them in full splendor.

Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt

Robert Hilferty: Amazing retelling of being a comedian, growing as an artist, and movies. Excellent read.

Telegraph Hill by John Nardizzi

ST: Gangster, private detectives, and dirty lawyers fill the pages of this fast-paced and well thought out mystery from our favorite Boston PI/author John Nardizzi. Echoing with old school toughness, Telegraph Hill never stops twisting and turning. A Boston private detective is hired to locate a missing woman in San Francisco, but what looks like a simple missing person cases explodes in to a journey through the seedy underbelly of a city.

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: January 2015

By Daniel Ford

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I’ve spent a significant amount of time on trains throughout my life. Your mind wanders to some pretty strange places if you don’t have a traveling companion or you run out of reading material. After reading Paula Hawkins’ debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, I kicked myself for not writing down more of those train musings.

The novel, which centers around an alcoholic woman voyeuristically inserting herself into a grim love triangle (more accurately, a pentagon), is much better structured than Gone Girl and provides the reader with an ending infinitely more satisfying than the majority of popular thrillers. It’s the perfect popcorn read that has real depth to it. I was fully invested in all of the characters’ backstories, motives, and suspicions. Don’t wait for the beach weather, read this immediately (and plan on losing a few nights sleep while doing so).   

My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

I had never heard of M.O. Walsh or his novel, My Sunshine Away, before the book showed up at Writer's Bone HQ. After reading the dust cover and public relations material, Stephanie Schaefer said something that made me chuckle, “This sounds like something you would write.” Coming of age story that revolves around a despicable crime? That doesn’t sound like me at all…

Walsh’s crisp style and thought-provoking prose combines both literary fiction and a pulse-quickening thriller. Set in Baton Rouge, La., the novel explores the nature of “violent crime, unraveling families, and consuming adolescent love.” Fair warning, if you pick up this book in the store and read the first chapter, you’re going to end up buying it and throwing out the rest of your reading queue immediately.

While I didn’t know who Walsh was before My Sunshine Away made its way to my desk, I can safely say I’m not going to forget him going forward. My Sunshine Away goes on sale Feb. 10, 2014.   

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican

I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, but, holy shit, this cover is all kinds of awesome. Better yet, there’s a well-crafted story inside! Inspired by the author’s adolescence spent in Western Pennsylvania, the novel follows the lives of three freshmen at St. Michael’s, a troubled Catholic school (is there any other kind?) known for “religious zealots fearful of public schools,” “violent delinquents,” a “declining reputation,” and “plunging enrollment.” Sign me up!    

To pull a LeVar Burton, don’t take my word for it. Stephen King called the novel “funny and terrifying” and “a ‘Rebel Without A Cause’ for the 21st Century.”

Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer

If last month’s recommendation of A Midwife’s Tale was too obscure for you history readers out there, perhaps you’d be more interested in David Hackett Fischer’s Paul Revere’s Ride? While Fischer is better known for his excellent account of George Washington’s crossing the Delaware during the Revolutionary War, which is aptly titled Washington’s Crossing, his research into an often overlooked or sensationalized event refreshes one of the most critical times of our country’s existence. Revere, whose house is just a few blocks away from where I’m sitting, wasn’t just a simple silversmith or messenger. He was a complete badass! More importantly, the events leading up to the shots fired at Lexington and Concord were much more complex than they appear in most standard history textbooks. Fischer’s research and style gives both Revere’s midnight ride and the revolutionary movement relevancy at a time when the United States is struggling to adhere to its core democratic values in the face of domestic and international extremism. It should be required reading for members of Congress and every news commentator so that the next time they invoke the words “patriotism” and “forefathers” they know what the fuck they’re talking about.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Last month, I read the Hemingway Library Edition of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and loved everything about the volume. I received A Farewell to Arms, which the Hemingway Library released last year, as a birthday gift and hung my head after reading Hemingway wrote this when he was 30 years old (Seriously, dude, you’re killing the rest of us). After crying into my bourbon, I discovered I may enjoy this edition even more than The Sun Also Rises. From the gorgeous blue cover to the appendices that include a plethora of alternate endings (again, man, putting us simple writers to shame), this tome proves beyond a reasonable doubt that it deserves a prominent spot in every Hemingway fan’s bookshelf. Note of caution: When you re-read the story, keep in mind you’re reading a superior edition that doesn’t deserve  a fate like that of Bradley Cooper's copy in “Silver Linings Playbook.”  

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: December 2014

By Daniel Ford

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This finalist for the National Book Award is landing on just about every top 10 list for 2014 and with good reason. All the Light We Cannot See, which tells the tale of a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France during World War II, contains so many perfect sentences that I constantly question how a lowly human could have produced it. Here are two of my favorites:

Marie-Laurie can hear a can opening, juice slopping into a bowl. Seconds later, she’s eating wedges of sunlight.

As if, at every meal, the cadets fill their tin cups not with the cold mineralized water of Schulpforta but with a spirit that leaves them glazed and dazzled, as if they ward off a vast and inevitable tidal wave of anguish only by staying forever drunk on rigor exercise and gleaming boot leather.

Every chapter is a lyrical surprise that raises your spirit right before it breaks your heart. I have less than 150 pages to read and I don’t want it to end. 

A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Only my older brother can make fun of me for reading Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David one moment and then recommend this history book the next.

Here’s the overview from Barnes & Noble:

Drawing on the diaries of a midwife and healer in eighteenth-century Maine, this intimate history illuminates the medical practices, household economies, religious rivalries, and sexual mores of the New England frontier.

Yup, that’ll get the history nerd juices flowing.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

After lusting after this Hemingway Library Edition for months, I now hold it in my hands at this very moment. I must confess I have never read Hemingway’s first novel, but that didn’t stop me from drooling over a $85,000 copy at the 2014 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair.

This copy features early drafts, deleted passages, and other titles Hemingway drew up before setting on The Sun Also Rises. I haven’t been this excited about an extended edition since Peter Jackson’s "Return of the King," which featured the mouth of Sauron.

Pronto by Elmore Leonard

Simply because it has been far too long since we last included Leonard on a list and for the fact it’s my favorite novel featuring Raylan Givens. This needs to be a film (preferably not one based on the 1997 television movie) ASAP.

Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

This novel might be incredibly hard to read, but it could be worth it. Writer’s Bone essayist Dave Pezza recommended it to me, and I’m intrigued by the premise. Pynchon tells the story of British surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as they cause a ruckus on both sides of the line that bears their name. What makes the book a challenge is that Pynchon writes as if he’s living in the 18th century. Fuck me; writing this must have sucked. My hope is that Pychon stayed in character and lived, spoke, and drank like a man from the 1700s.

Bonus: The Best Book I Read in 2014

The more I wrestled with this decision, the clearer my answer became. I loved Matthew Thomas’ We Are Not Ourselves, Scott Cheshire’s High as the Horses’ Bridle, Charles M. Blow’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Steph Post’s A Tree Born Crooked, John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, Joshua Ferris’ The Unnamed, Peter Sherwood’s The Murdery Delicious Hamwich Gumm Mystery: A Comedy of Terrors, Stephen King’s The Shining, and Jeff Shaara’s Gods and Generals, however, one book floored me more than all the others. And that novel is…

2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajama’s by Marie-Helene Bertino! If you haven’t read it yet, make it part of your New Year’s resolution!

5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: November 2014

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Stephanie Schaefer: Equal parts humor and inspiration with a sprinkle of Boston sass? Yes, please! In Amy Poehler's autobiography, the funny lady touches upon everything from her childhood antics to her Hilary Clinton impersonation. Her memoir goes as deep as her post-divorce trip to Haiti and as light as the pranks she and her former "Saturday Night Live" castmates played on each other. Expect anecdotes about Poehler's famous friends, including Tina Fey and Seth Meyers throughout. All and all it's a quick, fun read that aspiring writers, fellow sassy Bostonians, and fans of Leslie Knope will definitely appreciate. Plus, Writer's Bone contributor Lisa Carroll once acted alongside Poehler in a Boston College production of Brigadoon, which is pretty badass.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

Daniel Ford: I am an unabashed history fan boy for anything Harvard’s Jill Lepore writes. Two of her previous works, The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity and New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan completely changed the way I read and think about historical works. I was intrigued that she chose Wonder Woman as a topic for her latest work, but I can tell from what I’ve read so far she employs her insightful and colorful prose to wonderful effect in telling the story of the greatest female comic book hero of all time. This book contains an extraordinary amount of black and white and color illustrations, which makes the hardcover edition even more of a collector’s item/coffee table book. Just read the words because Lepore makes all of hers count whenever she sets them to the page. I’m secretly hoping she has plans for a Superman biography, or a novel featuring Superman going back in time to prevent the Salem witch trials. All I know is that whatever she writes next, I’ll be the first in line to buy it (or the first to email her agent for a copy to review).

We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

Daniel: Here’s the first line of Matthew Thomas’ incredible debut novel, We Are Not Ourselves:

“Instead of going to the priest, the men who gathered at Doherty’s Bar after work went to Eileen Tumulty’s father.”

Even if the novel wasn’t set in Queens, N.Y., I would have jumped into this novel as fast as a skateboarder in Astoria Park. The novel follows Eileen, born to Irish immigrants, as she struggles to establish her own life in New York City while taking care of an ailing husband. You’ll be hard pressed to find a novel featuring more honest and compelling characters than the ones that inhabit this work. Joshua Ferris, an author who knows a thing or two about inspired writing, calls We Are Not Ourselves “a masterwork,” and I couldn’t agree more. The novel may seem a little intimidating at first because of its length, but you’ll be 300 pages in before you know it and start fervently hoping it never ends.  

If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go by Judy Chicurel

Daniel: I love literary debuts almost as much as I love short stories. Judy Chicurel combines the two in If I Knew…!

The short stories found in If I Knew… contain a coming-of-age story set during the “summer of 1972 in a down-on-its-heels Long Island beach town.” Chicurel said in our interview on Wednesday that it’s an “interesting challenge to make the characters as compelling as possible within the confines of the format,” and you can tell from the first page that the author met that challenge and then some. Her characters act and speak exactly how you imagine they should, which isn’t always the easiest thing to pull off. I’m just getting into the meat of the book, but I can’t wait to finish it and then see how Chicurel develops her obvious talent in the future.

Epilogue by Will Boast

Daniel: Some of us have self-induced angst and drama, and others have actual pain and misery heaped on them by outside forces. Do me a favor. Read this excerpt from Will Boast’s memoir and come back. I’ll wait.

Pain, by Will Boast

Yeah, whatever you’re dealing with as a writer, it might not be as bad as that. And odds are if it is, let’s hope that you became half the person and writer that Boast has.

I’ve been holding off on reading this memoir because I just wrote an intense short story and if I added any more darkness to my world, Stephanie Schaefer would have left me. But I think the winter months are the perfect time to visit works like these because the weather allows you to stare off into the cold distance, or into a raging fire, and contemplate what every word and moment means to the author and to yourself. It’s never easy to read about someone else’s suffering, but the resilience the England-born Boast shows throughout his book makes the tears you’ll shed into your hot chocolate worth it. 

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5 Crime Novels That Will Keep You Warm This Winter

By Sean Tuohy

Okay folks, we need to admit that winter is finally upon us. For us Northerners, that means piles of snow and fending off polar bear attacks while trying to get to work. Despite all that, we can sit down and enjoy a good crime novel with devilish men and fatal dames that fill the page with greed and murder.

Below are the top five thrillers to keep you warm during this season:

A Tree Born Crooked by Steph Post

Tired of the snow? Well, Steph Post’s noir A Tree Born Crooked will bring you to the sunny state of Florida. Now, she doesn’t feature the sun-soaked beaches of South Florida where you can get a rum runner. No. This is the intense back roads of Northern Florida, a land were blood and money run thick and both will get you killed. Post’s crooked characters will surely help you ward off the winter freeze.

Third Rail by Rory Flynn

Boston is a tough city where the wrong look or turn can end with you six feet under. Roey Flynn captures Beantown using the city’s love of baseball to set in motion a thrilling crime story that takes you on a wild ride involving cops, criminals, and, gasp, sports fans.

A Killer in the Wind by Andrew Klavan

The pages of this book ooze tough guy. Klavan tells the deadly and dark tale of a former New York City cop turned small town detective being pulled back in to a living nightmare. The author can write tough in his sleep and throws plot twists like a Super Bowl quarterback.

L.A. Rex by William Beall

James Elroy is the ruling king of hardcore Los Angeles crime fiction, but Beall, a former LAPD officer, is slowly taking his place with his no-holds-barred debut novel. Beall dives in to the wild days of the 1990s LAPD, a police department riddled with scandal and going through changes. A rockie cop with a secret is paired with a hot temper old school gunslinger and tries to keep the city safe.

A Walk Among The Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Block is master of his craft.  How does this guy do it? Every book is as thrilling as the last. His most well-known novels feature Matt Scudder, a NYPD detective turned private eye. Block uses his characters and stories as a way to explore the ever-changing New York City. In this twisted tale, Scudder must help a drug lord find the people behind the death of his wife before they strike again.

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10 Literary Treasures We Found at the 2014 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair

By Daniel Ford

One minute essayist Dave Pezza and I are enjoying a few Pabst Blue Ribbon pints at a local Boston pub, and the next we’re walking into the erudite, high-class world of the 2014 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair.

What we found were a group of people that loved books just as much as we did, but with checkbooks attached to bank accounts larger than the state of California. Many of the owners we talked to were amiable, passionate, and eager to share insights into their industry.

Here are the 10 treasures we discovered, several of which made us contemplate taking out a mortgage to pay for them:

10. Lincoln Campaign Songster—Savoy Books

It’s tough to put Lincoln at the bottom of any list, but that just goes to show you how truly special everything else in this compilation is. I love that the condition is “a little dusty, about fine.” It’s from 1864! It’s also worth noting that the President’s campaigners decided to depict a younger, clean-shaved Lincoln for the cover. His reelection was no sure thing, so they really did pull out all the stops to defeat the more popular General George McClellan (who would still be amassing an army to send nowhere had Lincoln not fired his ass).

9. Inscribed Copy of The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen—Between the Covers Rare Books

I’m actually surprised that this copy isn’t currently resting in a bookcase at Writer’s Bone’s headquarters. Dave gave this third printing of Franzen’s The Corrections a long look before deciding that his $150 would be better spent on beer and cigars later in the weekend.

8. All Quiet on the Western Front—Brattle Book Shop

Everyone at this bookshop hates me because I kept referring to the book as All Along the Western Front. Hey, I was confusing it with the Jimi Hendrix cover…wait, that’s not right either…

7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—Second Life Books

This is a first edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn bound in rare blue cloth (most of the other first editions of this printing were bound in red). It was in slightly rough shape only because the book had been “rescued.”

6. Men Without Women—B & B Rare Books

First edition, first issue in the original gray trial dust jacket…I can’t go on. It’s too magical. It is also $12,500.

5. The Lord of the Rings—Adrian Harrington Rare Books

We knew this was going to be a good stop when we found the store’s owners kicking back with a couple of beers. We sheepishly asked them if we could take a photo of this beautiful set and they pulled it out of the case as if it wasn’t worth more than Dave and I put together. We held our breath the whole time. I have no memory of taking this picture.

4. East of Eden—Adrian Harrington Rare Books

One of the most elegant, simple, and beautiful book covers I’ve ever seen in my life. This book is also in my top five favorite novels of all time, so I’m glad I came across this. I don't have the several thousand dollars it's worth, but I’m glad it exists.

3. The Sun Also Rises—Peter L. Stern & Co.

I had to tell Dave I’d buy him an ice cream cone after the fair so he would walk up to the owner and ask if we could take a picture of this $85,000 edition of Ernest Hemingway’s first novel. To put it in perspective, a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was also going for $85,000. The Sun Also Rises is not Hemingway’s most popular novel. We’ll let you do the rest of the math.  

2. Declaration of Independence—Seth Kaller, Inc.

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This broadside of the Declaration of Independence was read throughout New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts in July 1776. Interestingly enough, this document is not considered the “official” version of the Declaration. This one was only signed by Continental Congress President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson (spelled “Thompson”). The delegates signed the official version on Aug. 2, 1776.

While Dave and I were digesting all this information, one of the seller’s employees leaned over and said, “This is usually our main attraction, but this year, it’s not.” He then pointed to our left, prompting us to weep immediately.

1. George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation—Seth Kaller, Inc.

Only two (two!) copies of Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation exist. One is held by the Library of Congress (because it is technically a law) and the other was two thin panes of glass away from my stupefied expression. Washington signed this as President in 1789 in the then-capital city of New York. Only three other Presidents would sign a document like this: John Adams, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln (who made Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War). There was a heavy set gentleman in front of us who spent a considerable amount of time staring at the more than 200-year-old piece of paper. He walked away with a tear in his eye. No one could blame him, because we did the same.

Oh, it’s $8.4 million and change if you’re interested in adding it to your collection. 

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5 Books To Read On Veteran’s Day

By Daniel Ford

Veteran’s Day is always been important to me because many of the men in my family have worn a military uniform. More than anything else, my grandfather’s World War II stories and my uncles’ service inspired me to become a student of history and truly appreciate the sacrifices made by military personnel and their families. As a humble writer, I could think of no better way of honoring all veterans than by recommending some of my favorite military-related titles from the past several years.

I read a line in a publication recently that said this country is really good at sending its men and women to war, but really crappy at bringing soldiers back home. I couldn’t agree more, which is way I strongly suggest supporting  organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project or Ron Capp’s Veteran Writing Project.    

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

During one of my frequent trips to the nearby Barnes & Noble early this year, I picked up this novel and read the first couple of lines.

“The men of Bravo are not cold. It’s a chilly and windwhipped Thanksgiving Day with sleet and freezing rain forecast for late afternoon, but Bravo is nicely blazed on Jack and Cokes thanks to the epic crawl of game-day traffic and the limo’s minibar. Five drinks in forty minutes is probably pushing it, but Billy needs some refreshment after the hotel lobby, where overcaffeinated tag teams of grateful citizens trampolined right down the middle of his hangover.”

Hello!

A finalist for the National Book Award, Fountain’s novel follows an Army squad following its heroic performance against Iraqi insurgents. America has thrown them a party that culminates in a halftime spectacle at the former the Dallas Cowboys' stadium. The main character, Specialist Billy Lynn, tries to make sense of the war and his country’s reaction to his team during the football game while interacting with the wealthy owner of the Dallas Cowboys, a movie producer, and a beautiful cheerleader. It’s visceral, as any book about war is, but it also has just the right amount of hope. I thought about Billy Lynn long after I finished the novel and will likely make this an annual read.

An Army At Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson

Atkinson’s The Guns at Last Light was featured in last Friday’s Bruce, Bourbon, and Books, but I still think my favorite entry in his Liberation Trilogy is the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army At Dawn. The book essentially depicts the birth of the modern U.S. military. While the other two books in the series contain plenty of military fuck ups, An Army at Dawn features some that will leave a lasting impression. Our troops were so green and so under-trained during the early stages of the invasion of Africa that Hitler’s Desert Fox, Irwin Rommel, didn’t even break a sweat while routing Allied Forces. Atkinson’s portrayal of the heartbreaking retreat at the Kasserine Pass will make you wonder how we turned things around, won the war, and became one of the world’s only superpowers.

War is never simple, but it is made all the more difficult when shaping an army on the fly in the face of an truly menacing enemy. The men who eventually liberated Africa and Europe and forced the Japanese to surrender earned every mile and this generation’s enduring respect.   

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes

I’m ashamed to say I’ve started Matterhorn several times, but haven’t finished it. It’s not that it doesn’t immediately grab you, it does, but it’s so powerful you have to read it in small doses. Fiction allows a writer to play with emotions and Marlantes—who served in Vietnam—does a beautiful job of making you ache during the story of Bravo Company. When people are putting you in the same class as Norman Mailer and James Jones, you know you’ve done something right. Not a lot was handled correctly during the Vietnam War, but there are valor and sacrifices during that conflict that need to be acknowledged and celebrated. Marlantes precisely frames that war  and war in general in an accurate light.

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Powers, a veteran of the Iraq War, spins quite the tale about two soldiers attempting to stay safe in the heat of battle.

This is the opening line of the book: "The war tried to kill us in the spring."

As poetic as Powers’ style is, the reading doesn’t get easier after that. You turn the pages unsure if you want to continue, but you do because the soldiers you’re reading about do that same thing while carrying out their objectives. I’ve read numerous war-related non-fiction and fiction tomes, but this one made me tear up. There’s always another front back home that some of us forget, and this book sheds light on that battle while servicing the story of the in-country troops. You may never return to this book ever again, but it’s worth getting through once. You won’t be sorry you did.

WAR by Sebastian Junger

It’s really hard to read things about Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. The fighting was hard and the men who were doing it were living on the extreme edge of their profession. Junger, who also authored The Perfect Storm, captures it all in heart-stopping, on-the-ground detail in this book that will cause you to sweat, swear, and cheer along with the soldiers in the platoon he’s embedded with.  

Here’s what the author had to say about war in an interview with Amazon.com:

“War is hell, as the saying goes--but it isn't only that. It's a lot of other things, too—most of them delivered in forms that are way more pure and intense than what is available back home. The undeniable hellishness of war forces men to bond in ways that aren't necessary—or even possible—in civilian society.”

Indeed.

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5 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: October 2014

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York by Sari Botton

Lindsey Wojcik: I can't tell you much about this book yet, because it just came out yesterday and I haven't started it. But I finished Sari Botton's first anthology Goodbye to All That, and as much as that was a love letter to New York City, it was mostly about moving on from life in New York City and sometimes coming back—and, after five years living in the city, I totally related to the desire to flee it. From what I've read on Botton's follow up, it's even more of a love letter to the city. The phrase "unshakable love" is on the cover, for goodness sake. Anyone with even a questionable love or appreciation for the city will undoubtedly fall back in love with it in this new set of essays.

Chump Change by David Eddie

Daniel Ford: Speaking of leaving New York City, Sean Tuohy was right when he said David Eddie’s Chump Change had me written all over it. The first line of the book: “I’m a failure.” That effectively sucked me in. There’s a great scene where Eddie’s character—who has been chewed up by New York City—says goodbye to the woman he’d been seeing. He wants to make it a clean break, but he’s so screwed up, he leaves the relationship in a weird state of limbo. The worst part is that he’s so poor, she has to buy his ticket back to Toronto. “A new low,” the character says, “I have to borrow from my girlfriend to leave her.” The adventures that follow are best enjoyed with some low grade alcohol.

2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino

Daniel: This book is quite simply a complete treasure from start to finish. There is music playing in your head from the moment you open the book until you finish it in a white heat two days later without any sleep in between. It is the rare book that combines exquisitely drawn characters, a swift, meaningful plot, and innovative prose. I honestly did not want the book to end, and I’m sure I’ll be revisiting it in the near future. If you need a constant surprise in your life, pick this book up immediately. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I very much look forward to Bertino’s next novel (hurry up!).

A Cold and Broken Hallelujah by Tyler Dilts 

Daniel: Sean Tuohy knows a thing or two about crime stories. When he recommends a novel that has anything to do with detectives, crime, or heart-pounding action, you listen.

A Cold and Broken Hallelujah by @tylerdilts one of the best thrillers out there now. It's crack for a crime reader. Pick it up!

— Writer's Bone (@WritersBone) October 2, 2014

Sean knows a thing or two about crack too, so his metaphor must be legit (just kidding, he was just a drug mule). When I asked him what made this novel in particular so special, his response was surprising: “He spends a lot of time on the victim of the crime.”

Say no more Sean, I’m in.

You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt

Daniel: Writer’s Bone contributor Hailey Reissman recommended Elliott Holt’s novel You Are One of Them a couple of weeks ago and, I have to admit, the premise didn’t immediately grab me. Two friends growing up in Washington D.C. during the Cold War write to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov asking for peace. Only one of the friend’s letters receives a response, leading that friend to head to the USSR for a meeting with Andropov, which pisses the other friend off to no end. The two are still estranged when one of them dies in a plane crash with her parents. However, it turns out said friend might not be dead. Mystery ensues.

Who am I kidding? This book sounds exactly like something I would pick up on one of my daily trips to Barnes & Noble (I have a serious problem). This book is also inspired by the true story of Samantha Smith, which satisfies the non-fiction reader in me as well. If that all wasn’t enough, I made the mistake of reading the prologue while I was invested in another book. It hit all the right notes ensuring that I’ll be devouring this novel in short order. Holt is yet another author to watch closely.

Other books worth checking out: A Tree Born Crooked by Steph Post, Sway by Kat Spears, Ecstatic Cahoots by Stuart Dybek, and A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

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