Fiction Archive |
Christina Baker Kline: A Piece of the World - Christina Baker Kline had published four novels --- literary fiction, the deadliest of categories --- when she handed “Orphan Train” to her publisher. The topic was niche: homeless children transported
Christina Baker Kline: The Exiles - Her first four novels had modest sales, so Christina Baker Kline’s publisher decided to bring out her fifth as a paperback original. Book clubs discovered it, loved it, and members
Christmas in Paris, 2002 - I worked with Ron Fried on Tina Brown's "views magazine" on CNBC for about a year and a half. I came in one afternoon a week and wrote
Colette: Break of Day - Sir, You ask me to come and spend a week with you, which means I would be near my daughter, whom I adore. You who live with her know how rarely
Colette: Cheri - When Colette sat down to write "Cheri," she was ready. Before 1914, she produced eight stories about the boy, sometimes using the name she'd give him in the novel. In
Compulsion - Let's say that someone wants to kill four people, all in the same house, so quickly that no one can confront him --- and then disappear into the night, never
Crooked Heart - GUEST BUTLER NORA LEVINE's byline is familiar here; she owns the literary mystery/thriller corner of this site. In her real life, she says, “I was a law librarian until it
D.H. Lawrence: The Rocking Horse Winner - SUPPORTING BUTLER: Since the start of 2023, Amazon seems to have gone on a quiet campaign to rid itself of small sites that, collectively, generate revenue worth noticing — and
Damage - THE AMAZON LINK: There are now two ways to get to Amazon and support this site. Old: Click on the “Buy it from Amazon” link on any review and go
Dancing After Hours - So long ago it might have been in another life, I spent a day with Andre Dubus and wrote a long profile about him. It was a study in contradictions.
Daphne du Maurier - She wrote "Rebecca." "The Birds." "Jamaica Inn." "Don't Look Now." I'm fairly sure you’ve seen some of the films adapted from those books. Hitchcock's film of "Rebecca" --- the first he made
Deep River - In the sixth episode of the final season of "'Lost," a novel --- Deep River, by Shusaku Endo --- figures in the plot. So I read it. What I didn’t anticipate: that
Defectors: A Novel - At a college where everyone seemed astronomically bright, Joe Kanon was the bright guy who was also astronomically nice. That is a winning combination in some professions. He wisely chose
Defending Jacob - A father. A mother. A son, their only child. The father is an assistant district attorney, acute professionally, but personally damaged and limited. The mother is a cipher, poorly characterized. The boy, 14,
Denis Johnson: Jesus’ Son - "Jesus’ Son” is one of the ten funniest books I've ever read. A guy has a knife stuck in his eye; a drugged-out hospital orderly saves him without quite knowing what
Desperate Characters - Jonathan Franzen has just published a novel, Crossroads, and “everybody” is either writing about it or chatting with him. Elle had some questions. What Franzen most wanted to talk about
Disgrace - Only one writer has ever won England's Booker Prize twice, and the second time J.M. Coetzee won it was for "Disgrace." A few years later, a poll of "literary
Dodsworth - William Wyler got his first Oscar nomination for "Dodsworth," launching a 20-year span of remarkable achievement and honors. He's the most nominated director in Academy Awards history, with twelve nominations.
Dominick Dunne: The Two Mrs. Grenvilles - His mother was blueblood Society. His father was a bank president and a friend of the King of England. But privilege spoils. Blood thins. Their son Billy was
Down Under - Back when Mel Gibson was Mel Gibson, he made some movies on the block where Sonia Taitz lives. Sonia Taitz is married. A mother. Not looking to stray. But…. Mel Gibson. “Imagine
