Friday July 1 (7–10pm)
119 Ingraham St
718.456.7570
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Love Doesn't Work
Love Doesn't Work
Henning Koch
Release Date: January 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0982631812 Price: $16.95
Review:
The latest book by Henning Koch is as readable and entertaining as any classic short story collection. Although Koch was born in Sweden, his voice mirrors the American Woody Allen's wit, minus his obsessive neuroticism. Each of the stories here has their own characters and contexts, but love is a unifying thread linking them to one another.
One of the most original works in the collection is "In Memoriam, Ingmar Bergman". Funny, mysterious and also romantic at the same time, Koch weaves together a beautiful piece reminiscent of the movie "Being John Malkovich".
"Life is a rare mystery. When we look beyond our lives, we see only darkness." These are the opening lines to the short story "My Gift, My Dictation". Being a fan of the essay, I was captivated by the language so fluidly used in this piece. Although it is not in the typical essay format, it had similar qualities of a typical essay. Koch hit upon all of my favorite topics of discussion: language, religion and the meaning of life. I was drawn in from the first to the last line of the masterpiece.
The only story in this collection that I had a hard time following was "Have You Met Lumpa?" It reminded me of most adult themed cartoons that I have seen in the past ten years. It was strangely weird and I find myself thinking about its meaning. Maybe it's way over my head. Overall, this is a powerful, life affirming and boldly funny collection that everyone should experience. I look forward to reading more by Koch in the near future.
Description: Love Doesn't Work offers classic storytelling with profound, startling insights into human desire and its shortfalls. Inspired by the ancient Cathars, these seven tales present a vision of life as an inevitable struggle against ignorance, darkness and sexual confusion. Devilish and playful in tone, they leave the reader with a sense of outraged satisfaction and delight.
Author: Henning Koch's writing started with screenplays. Between 2002 and 2007, he worked as a translator and dramaturge for Yellow Bird Films, makers of Henning Mankell's Wallander series for television/cinema in Scandinavia, Germany and the UK. In 2005, Koch moved to Sardinia, off the coast of Italy, where he spent three years writing the short story collection Love Doesn't Work and the novel The Maggot People (forthcoming September 2012).
Here's the Jacket Copy:
Enduring her jet-set life in Sardinia, a woman has learnt to sublimate her erotic longings caused by her husband's impotence, until a visitor offers a more immediate solution.
A claustrophobic banker fears the destruction of his relationship when he discovers a yawning hole beneath the streets of Stockholm.
The arrival of a gorgeous Russian piano prodigy inspires a screenwriter to look beyond his treadmill London existence.
And while fixing a leaking toilet in the wilds of Sweden, Ingmar Bergman explains the predicament of lovers in a hostile world.
Love Doesn't Work offers classic storytelling with profound, startling insights into human desire and its shortfalls. Inspired by the ancient Cathars, these seven tales present a vision of life as an inevitable struggle against ignorance, darkness and sexual confusion. Devilish and playful in tone, they leave the reader with a sense of outraged satisfaction and delight.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Short Story Collection Contest
Dzanc offer
Recently, two of Dzanc's titles were recognized by Independent Publisher Magazine's IPPY Awards, winning prizes in the Literary Fiction category: Hesh Kestin's The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats tied for the gold medal, and Steven Gillis won the silver medal for his novel The Consequence of Skating. To celebrate, we're offering the print editions of both books for just $25 ( a savings of 28%), and-if you order before the deal expires on July 10-we'll include a free eBook of your choosing, from among any of our currently available titles, a full list of which can be found here. (Your eBook will be delivered by email, and will including Kindle, .ePub, and PDF versions of the book, allowing you to read it on whatever device you choose, including your PC.)
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Artwork from Booklyn
This week, two of Booklyn's founding members will be showing artwork
in two separate NYC galleries, opening Thursday and Friday. Mark Wagner: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, Thursday 6/30; 5-8 pm
Marshall Weber: Original Spin, Friday 7/1; 7-10 pm
Friday, June 24, 2011
Patrick Rosal
Patrick Rosal is the author of three full-length poetry collections, Boneshepherds (forthcoming), My American Kundiman (2006), and Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive (2003).
Christina Stead (1902-1983)
Australian author of (among many other works) The Man Who Loved Children (1940), a novel based on the dysfunctional family in which she herself grew up. Although this work has repeatedly been named as one of the best fictions of the century (e.g., in TIME magazine, 2005) and in 2010 was described by the novelist Jonathan Franzen as a "masterpiece," it is not as widely known as it deserves to be.
TIFERET Journal
TIFERET’s mission is to promote peace in you as an individual and in our world. Our poetry and prose are dedicated to bringing you closer to spirit and higher consciousness through the written word. Tiferet is a Hebrew word meaning reconciliation of opposites, the heart, compassion, truth. On the Tree of Life, it is where the material and spiritual worlds meet. TIFERET the magazine is a multi-faith publication, presenting a variety of religious traditions as different paths up the same mountain.
Want to know what to read next?
So many books, so little time.
Answer these ten questions to find out which one of the novels that made our list, should be first on yours.
When I took the test, this was the suggestion that I received:
The book for you to start reading now is In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
ADANNA LAUNCH READING in Fairfield
Adanna Literary Journal Launch Reading featuring Pam Bernard, Jessica deKoninck, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Maryanne Hannan, Adele Kenny, Michelle Lerner, Diane Lockward (Guest Editor), Jim O'Rourke, Madeline Tiger, Laura Whalen, Christine Redman-Waldeyer (Editor).
Sunday, June 26, 3:00 - 5:00 PM
31 Passaic Ave.
Fairfield, NJ
Summer Reading: New Books for the New Season
Looking for a book to slip into your beach bag this summer? Check outAmerican Poet's reviews of recent notable books by Kamau Brathwaite, Martín Espada, Susan Howe, Alice Notley, Cedar Sigo, Matthew Zapruder, and others.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
New Ebook of On the Road Published
The classic Beat book is now available in ebook format.
This "amplified edition" includes maps, photographs, and audio of Kerouac.
For more details, check out the video demo.
This "amplified edition" includes maps, photographs, and audio of Kerouac.
For more details, check out the video demo.
"Write in recollection and amazement for yourself."
—Jack Kerouac
—Jack Kerouac
LGBTQ Poetry
In honor of National Pride Month, celebrate the rich tradition of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer poets and poetry as Poets.org brings together a showcase of audio, video, poetry, and prose—resources as exciting and diverse as the communities they represent. Check out work by contemporary poets Kay Ryan, Mark Doty, Jericho Brown, Julian T. Brolaski, Eileen Myles, and others, along with classic poems by queer poets from Sappho to Whitman.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Booklyn Artists Alliance Bash
A night of books
featuring an exciting auction of fabulous eccentric artworks-readings
plus music, giveaways, and a celebration of Booklyn artists and the
completion of the cataloging of the
First Booklyn Decade Archive.
Pascal Balthrop
Chris Buckridge
Caithlin De Marrais
& FLY
SPIKE HILL
in Williamsburg
186 Bedford Avenue
(across street from L train)
staff@booklyn.org (718) 383-9621
Sunday, June 19, 2011
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK AT THE DRAMA BOOK SHOP
This summer, The Public and The Drama Book Shop are teaming up to fill your summer with Shakespeare!
Visit The Drama Book Shop at 250 West 40th Street, NYC for a closer look at Shakespeare in the Park 2011.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Marie Lundquist
Untitled
I have seen a woman transform into a garden and a garden become increasingly more of a woman. I have heard the soft language of figs into which her teeth have left marks. I have seen the borders repealed, that which previously was a face exposed is now a bowl of terracotta. Birch-leaves are blown into the mouth and scrape against the sermon. I know that when I dip my writing hand in the green sorrow it will be cooled. Hanging from the breathing of the trees the words become coated with verdigris.
The Ice Hotel By MC Foley
A family, reeling from their eldest son's death, escapes to the Ice Hotel, where an age-old, arctic magic connects this world to the next...
To twin siblings Izzie and Poe McGarity, big brother Rossa is not just the eldest of three children. He is a hero, a leader, a king. Or rather... he was a king. Before his mistake. Before he died.
Purchase a copy today.
Thoughtcast, a podcast featuring conversations with authors and intellectuals
Jenny Attiyeh, host of Thoughtcast, had a recent conversation with Tom Perrotta about the influence of Flannery O'Connor on his work: www.thoughtcast.org
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Spoon River Project
WHEN AND WHEREThrough June 26. Meet at the main cemetery entrance,
500 25th Street, at Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, at 8 p.m.; performance begins at 8:30.
500 25th Street, at Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, at 8 p.m.; performance begins at 8:30.
ADMISSION $20 in advance; $25 at the door.
MORE INFORMATION (718) 768-7300, green-wood.com.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Eleanor Henderson
Thursday, July 14
614 S. Meadow Street, Ithaca, NY
7 p.m.
Thursday, July 28
101 E. Green Street, Ithaca, NY
6 p.m.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Part of the 2011 Mad. Sq. Reads Series
Thursday, July 14 – 6:30pm
Madison Square Park @ the Farragut Monument
In celebration of the centenary of the seminal American poet and National Book Award winner Elizabeth Bishop, the National Book Foundation presents a discussion of Bishop’s life and legacy with poets Tina Chang and Vijay Seshadri, Joelle Biele, poet and editor, and Alice Quinn, former poetry editor of The New Yorker.
America Walks into a Bar A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops Christine Sismondo
"A robust homage to the history and proliferation of bars and their vast and often overlooked cultural significance." --Kirkus Reviews
"Breezy, anecdotal, and pun-laden yet complete with a selective bibliography of print sources, Sismondo's book surveys a myriad of American drinking establishments, accenting their importance in social, political, and cultural history and discerning subtle differences over the centuries." --Library Journal
Jason Polan
Living and Working
June 9th – July 30th 2011
Nicholas Robinson Gallery is pleased to
present the debut New York solo
exhibition of Jason Polan.
June 9th – July 30th 2011
Nicholas Robinson Gallery is pleased to
present the debut New York solo
exhibition of Jason Polan.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
"My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."
I thought it was the worst thing in the world to be lying flat on my back with a sweating man on top of me.... He was inside me. He was grunting.... I was the mortar. He was the pestle.... He had done this thing to me and I had lived. That was all.... I was still breathing. I knew he was killing me.... I did not realize then that I was already an animal dying.... "Tell me you love me", he said. Gently, I did. The end came anyway.... (Excerpt from the novel)
Review:
Over the past few months I have been visiting my "to read" bookcase and plowing through the various titles that have been calling my name for two years now. This book was on the top of my list and I had high hopes, but it just fell flat. Sometimes when I hear all the hype about a book and wait a few years for the hype to die down I enjoy the book more, but that was not the case here. Thinking about it, I wish I would have read this book when it came out a few years back.For starters, the pacing was very inconsistent, and I found myself bored and skimming whole pages. Whenever there was a glimpse of hope in the story line, it burnt out too quickly and I was let down hard. I noticed that I developed a strong sense of detachment from the characters and their situations and in the end, I just wanted the murderer to get caught. The sex scene at the end with Susie and Ray was not even relevant to the story line and felt it was unnecessary and dull. I hated the ending and felt like their wasn't really any closure with the underdeveloped characters. Overall, this book was not original and completely forgettable. This definitely wasn’t the read for me.
Author Biography: Alice Sebold was born in 1963 and grew up in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia. In her essay "The Oddity of Suburbia," she confesses that she despised suburbia, but after living in both Manhattan and Southern California, she "realiz[ed] … that within the suburban world of [her] upbringing there were as many strange stories as there were in the more romanticized parts of the world." Her novel, The Lovely Bones (2002), reflects her realization that suburbia can and does contain "a bottomless well of narrative ideas." However, that realization did not occur until Sebold left Philadelphia. (Taken from Book Rags)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
A weekend of writing and relaxation: Ocean State Summer Writing Conference
June 23-25, 2011
Kingston, RI
Sponsored by the University of Rhode Island, the Ocean State Summer Writing Conference is held on the lovely Kingston campus, minutes away from beaches and the popular destinations of Newport and Narragansett. This year’s conference welcomes Tomaz Salamun, the most important living Central European poet; Jennifer Egan, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction; and National Book Award winner Robert Stone. Participate in workshops, publishing sessions, and craft seminars with poets Kathy Aguero and Darcie Dennigan, among others—and celebrate the launch of The Ocean State Review, a new literary journal.
Beautifully Broken
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Release Date: June 30, 2011
Publisher: Firelight Publishing
Official Website:www.sherrysoule.com
Thirteenth daughter. Heritage witch. Demon hunter.
They say every town has its secrets, but that doesn’t even begin to describe Whispering Pines. The townsfolk are a superstitious lot, with many prominent residents hiding secrets and a newcomer raising eyebrows. Dragged out of boarding school, seventeen-year-old Trent Donovan and his father move back to the area and are instantly under speculation. Especially when construction on their mansion awakens an ancient evil, and the vanishing of a local teenager has everyone murmuring about an old witch’s curse.
On the other side of town, sixteen-year-old Shiloh Ravenwolf is a white witch from the Broussard family, a family both destined and cursed. When she takes a summer job at Ravenhurst and meets Trent, her new-would-be-boyfriend, she discovers a wraith with an agenda. Finally, Shiloh’s met someone who is supercute and totally into her, but now it looks like Trent may be the next victim on the supernatural hit list. And Shiloh is the only person with the power to save him. Complicated much?
Unfortunately, for Shiloh, not all ghosts want help crossing over. Some want vengeance.
Read the Excerpt HERE
![[yalit]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-OE671_yalit_DV_20110606121921.jpg)
Monday, June 6, 2011
“We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret”
“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.”
Click here to read the first chapter.
Review:
A few years ago I read Chris Cleave's debut novel Incendiary and was blown away by his honesty and the rawness of his main character. This haunting novel won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction award 2005 and won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. It later was turned into a movie starring Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor.
For some time, his second novel titled Little Bee in Canada and the US, where it is a New York Times #1 bestseller, has been on my "to read" list. It is titled The Other Hand in the UK, where it is a Sunday Times bestseller and it was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards. This is the story of two women and how their lives collide one fateful day. One of them has to make a terrible choice that will change each of their lives forever.
Two years later, they meet again and we see the aftermath of that courageous decision unfold. The story quietly gives you a snapshot into the lives of the two women and as new characters are introduced you start to unravel the mystery behind the newly developed friendships. This book is one of the most engaging tales I've read and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a story that will keep them on their toes.
A few years ago I read Chris Cleave's debut novel Incendiary and was blown away by his honesty and the rawness of his main character. This haunting novel won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction award 2005 and won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. It later was turned into a movie starring Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor.
For some time, his second novel titled Little Bee in Canada and the US, where it is a New York Times #1 bestseller, has been on my "to read" list. It is titled The Other Hand in the UK, where it is a Sunday Times bestseller and it was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards. This is the story of two women and how their lives collide one fateful day. One of them has to make a terrible choice that will change each of their lives forever.
Two years later, they meet again and we see the aftermath of that courageous decision unfold. The story quietly gives you a snapshot into the lives of the two women and as new characters are introduced you start to unravel the mystery behind the newly developed friendships. This book is one of the most engaging tales I've read and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a story that will keep them on their toes.
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