Philosopher Ryan Ruby launched his debut novel The Zero and the One last week at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn. He was joined by Alexandra Kleeman, author of the story collection Intimations and the novel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine.
WORD Bookstore hosted Kayla Rae Whitaker for a discussion of her debut novel, The Animators. She was joined by Maris Kreizman, author of Slaughterhouse 90210. The Animators follows the friendship of a creative duo, Mel and Sharon who work as animators celebrating the release of their first full-length feature.
Ranbir Singh Sidhu was at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn to discuss his debut novel Deep Singh Blue with Tanwi Nandini Islam. Islam also read from her debut novel, Bright Lines.
Adelle Waldman’s The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. has been favorably compared to Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City (1985) as a portrayal of the contemporary New York City literary scene. McInerney himself drew the comparison when he sat down with Waldman in Barnes & Noble. Waldman, like the literary scene itself, focuses her story in Brooklyn. Though intentionally obscured, the novel unfolds unmistakingly in Fort Greene and Crown Heights. Amidst the rapid gentrification, Nathaniel (Nate) finds himself dating fellow freelance writer Hannah. Over the course of the novel, Nate’s inaction and apathy leads to the eventual unraveling of their relationship. At the most fundamental level, Nathaniel P. is the story of two people gradually allowing distance to taint their relationship.
Much is the same premise with Paul Rome’s We All Live In The Same Room. Narrator Tom lives with Raina and their son, Ben, in, as the title suggests, a one bedroom apartment. Its rent controlled, of course. Despite sharing the small space, like the characters of Waldman’s novel, Tom and Raina spend the duration of the story drifting ever farther away from each other. Though Tom and Raina are more proactive about hurting each other than Nate and Hannah, ultimately they are all victims of emotional unforseen emotional distance. Given the similarities, the two authors form an ideal pairing, and NYU Bookstore brought them together for a discussion moderated by Paul Morris of Pen America.
Tara Conklin’s The House Girl follows two divided narratives — part historical fiction set in 1852 Virginia and part contemporary novel set 2004 New York. The narrative switches between an escaped slave and a young associate lawyer. She read at WORD Bookstore with Charles Dubow.
Adelle Waldman’s debut novel, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. has become something of a sensation since its July launch. Waldman was joined by Jay McInerney at the 86th Street Barnes and Noble. McInerney began the evening by reading from Waldman’s book, the quote, the obvious choice: “’Men and women on relationships are like men […]
Amy Grace Loyd knows fiction. She spent years editing fiction at Playboy and currently is an editor at Byliner, the digital story service The Atlantic called the Pandora of reading. Now Loyd is promoting her debut novel, The Affairs of Others. The audience at BookCourt filled with writers, editors, and essayists, all of whom Loyd […]
Despite the heavy wet snow, the turnout at The Strand required staff to unfold extra seats. The main event was Rebecca Dinerstein’s book of poetry, Lofoten, a collection written above the arctic circle during a year living in Norway. Adam Wilson’s novel, Flatscreen, was released in February of this year.