Critical Notes

Roundup: David Rakoff, Mark Kurklansky, a new Hunger Games trailer, and more

By Eric Liebetrau

Marion Winik reviews David Rakoff's Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish in Newsday.

In the New York Journal of Books, David Cooper reviews Burt Kimmelman's Gradually the World: New and Selected Poems, 1982–2013. He also reviews Rebecca Miller's Jacob's Folly.

Hope Reese interviews James Salter in the Los Angeles Review of Books. She also reviews Katie Hafner's Mother Daughter Me and Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore.

NBCC board member Carolyn Kellogg explains why a TV-movie adaptation of Flowers in the Attic is a “very bad idea.” She also takes a look at the new trailer for Catching Fire, the next installment in the Hunger Games series, and wishes a happy birthday to Aldous Huxley.

Search Party author Valerie Trueblood on short stories, facing generalization as a woman and more.

Clea Simon reviews John Dufresne's No Regrets, Coyote, which “touches on issues of life, death, family, and the craziness of those living on the edge.”

Rayyan Al-Shawaf on Mark Kurlansky's new book and its subject, the iconic song “Dancing in the Street.”

NBCC board member Steven Kellman reviews Philipp Meyer's The Son in the Texas Observer.

For FabOverFifty, Linda Wolfe recommends books for summer reading.

According to Chuck Leddy, “After reading Ivy Pochoda’s masterful debut novel, it’s clear why Dorchester-born mystery writer Dennis Lehane chose to publish Visitation Street under his eponymous imprint.”

“A Bicultural Writer Whose Westerns Draw Enthusiastic Praise”: Ed Nawotka on James Carlos Blake. Nawotka also reviews Alina Simone's Note to Self, as well as a collection of Italo Calvino's letters.

 

***********************

Your reviews seed this roundup, please send items to NBCCCritics@gmail.com.