 Michaela Carter’s novel Further Out Than You Thought was recently released 8/5/2014 from William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. Cofounder of the Peregrine Book Company, she lives with her two inscrutable children and teaches creative writing at Yavapai College. She is frightened of mice and Vegemite, and some of her favorite words are manatee, mariposa, maculate, gibbous, ocean, and home. |
Deliciously peculiar, delightfully perverse. A perfect pairing with tea and crumpets. —Michaela
Powerful, emotionally riveting linked short stories that spiral through the music scene. Highly recommended! —Michaela
A novel of surburban love both marital and extramarital. Tender, funny, and irresistible. —Michaela
Though inspired by Charles Manson and the infamous murders, Emma Cline’s The Girls’ real subject is girls — their vulnerability and anger, their hunger to be noticed and loved. Insightful, haunting, and beautifully written! —Michaela
Wise, inquisitive, and heart-breakingly tender, Brinkley-Rogers’ memoir moves seamlessly between the man he is now and the boy he was in 1959 when he was a sailor aboard the USS Shangri-La stationed off Japan. As much about the nature of memory and love as it is about life lived and reflected upon, Please Enjoy Your Happiness weaves poetry and effortless prose into a captivating tale of the beautiful, tragic woman he met in Yokosuka... Read Michaela's complete review in the Daily Courier »
Warning: This book may cause you to fall in love with the world again. In language both simple and beautiful, Barfield, a poet doctor, tells the remarkable story of five impoverished people (and a donkey named Jesus) living by the train tracks in Memphis who find love and grace in their everyday lives. —Michaela
This provocative, wholly original satire couldn't be more timely. When four Berkeley students travel to the south to stage a dramatic protest during a Civil War reenactment, friendships are tried and the town's darkest secrets are uncovered. Poetic, ambitious and resoundingly perceptive. —Michaela
Beautifully illustrated, A Muse and A Maze delights as it demystifies the craft of writing, likening it to puzzles of all kinds. This has been my go-to book as I near the end of a first draft of my own book. Pick it up and flip through the pages. Turchi's brilliance enables both writers and readers to glimpse the wizard behind the curtain. —Michaela
Funny and unconventional in most every way, Zink turns our assumptions about race, sexuality and the American dream on their sides, and spins a tale of missteps and surprises toward a rather Shakespearean zenith. Mislaid is a truly entertaining read! —Michaela
In her latest novel, her first in 10 years, Gaitskill writes in her distinctive, lyrical style about a Dominican girl, the Anglo woman who introduces her to riding, and the horse who changes everything. A raw and candid coming-of-age story, The Mare is one of the most powerful books I've read in a while! —Michaela
Ten years in the writing, Anthony Doerr's new novel, All the Light We Cannot See, is at once intimate and generous, historical and magical, thrilling and gorgeous. It is one of those books I savored, the way I do great poetry. –Michaela
Read Michaela's complete review of the book in Kudos.
With the rhythmic music of her language, Denfeld weaves her spell of enchantment, shining love into the darkest, most brutal of places. This novel surprises, terrifies, and enlightens, and is a spellbinding and rapturous read. –Michaela
You will never see the world the same way again. You will learn to dream with your eyes open. –Michaela
Perrotta's new book of stories measures not only the permissible distance between middle school kids in a slow dance, but that less definable space between responsibility and desire, who we think we are and who we dream of being-- if we dared. Perrota's stories are among the best I've read. Ever. (Apologies to Carver fans.) –Michaela
Part travelogue, part criticism, and part memoir, The Trip to Echo Spring examines the lives of Tennessee Williams, Raymond Carver, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever, and John Berryman, all of them brilliant and all of them troubled and alcoholic. Shimmering with insights and details, it leaves the reader enriched, educated, and inspired by the words of these great writers as seen through Laing’s insightful lens. –Michaela
While Pulitzer Prize winner Louise Gluck, whose father invented the X-acto knife, has favored a lean line throughout the fifty years of her published verse, she has reinvented her voice with each subsequent book, making this collection one of astounding breadth and depth. Drawing from myth and family, from nature and sex and her own body, she addresses her reader directly, with courage and simplicity. To read Gluck's poetry is to face one woman's truth unmasked, in all its fierceness and beauty. –Michaela
In her sharply imagined, comedic novel. Somers tackles the #MeToo issue. Refusing any facile judgments, Stay Up With Hugo Best explores the complexities of people & relationships, & the many shades of gray that make us all human. Fantastic!
Locascio's unflinching frankness about female desire is vital for our time. A truly gorgeous book.
This novel, Hallberg's first, is stellar. I marveled in the beauty of his sentences, fell in love with his characters, and didn't want it to end. Well worth the commitment.
This made me LOL-- a lot. And I've been an adult (supposedly) for awhile!
An innovative, magical, feminist memoir unlike any other book I know of.
I can’t recall the last time when reading a work of nonfiction, I’ve woken up excited purely by the fact that, today, I would get to read more. Compulsive and psychologically riveting, Three Women reads like a novel. I couldn’t keep from dog-earing its pages, because Taddeo had perfectly expressed something I’d felt but never had the words for. In Sloane, Maggie, and Lina, I recognized aspects of myself—namely the desire for connection and for love. When three women tell their uncensored truth they can liberate a nation. I feel deeply grateful to Lisa Taddeo for giving us this gift of raw authenticity.
Italy, Hollywood, and a life-long love-- what more could you want in a novel?
The story of a Parisian concierge and a precocious 12 year old girl who lives in her building. Funny, smart, and heartrending.
Another lovely book by the incomparable Leonara Carrington, delight in this peculiar prose.
