Books

In Jamie Quatro’s fiction, a person is a burning thing: a voracious creature, hot with emotional, sexual and spiritual needs; prey to the squalid demands of embodied existence. Surely it’s my imagination, but when I read Quatro – whether her story collection, “I Want to Show You More” (2013), her debut novel, “Fire Sermon” (2018), or her new book, the novel “Two-Step Devil” – I can’t shake the sense that the pages feel warm to the touch. I see, in my mind’s eye, her sentences threaded with muscle and sinew, letters glistening with sweat and blood.

Determining which movie to watch has never been such an undertaking. With so many streaming services at our disposal, it can take as long to choose a title as it would to watch the first act.

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Aug. 31, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2024 Circana. (Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2024, PWxyz LLC.) HARDCOVER FICTION 1. "The Women: A Novel" by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's) Last week: 3 ...

As the U.S. Congress reached a historic low of public approval this year, and amid polarizing partisan politics, few Americans might have realized the path to the bottom began in Spokane.

In the spring of 1974, I lost my basketball scholarship to Gonzaga University.

Three of science fiction and fantasy’s best storytellers have returned after agonizingly long absences, and they’re all breaking one of the strongest rules of the genres: that characters are supposed to be lovable, or at least likable. These novels feature protagonists who buck convention by rarely knowing what they’re doing and not always doing the right thing. All three of these books are addictive because of their messy, disastrous heroes, not in spite of them.

Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll met in the late 1980s, unknowing that each other’s skills would take them over 5,000 miles throughout the country to create a book about fossil education.

If the end of summer feels bittersweet, you may find comfort in one of these new books. Or check out last month’s books to read when you need a break from the news.

The “Voice of Yankee Stadium” for over 15 years was the voice of the Gonzaga University Thursday evening, when Paul Olden reminisced on his years being the name behind the broadcasting announcements for the Spokane Indians and the Yankees.

A man sits in a theater and watches his life acted out onstage. Though he is a famous writer, it is not his play; though it is his life, he cannot control the outcome. He writhes in his seat, wants to stand up and make his voice heard, correct the record. But the audience is already against him. The tide has turned; they’ve come for the performance, not the truth. His time has already passed.

In 1966, Gary Gygax, an insurance underwriter living in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, placed a notice in the “Opponents Wanted” section of the Avalon Hill General, the in-house promotional magazine of the era’s premier war gaming company. Like many gamers, Gygax was part of some local and regional clubs but was always searching for new people to compete with or against. He wrote, “Opponents wanted for face-to-face play. Any AH (Avalon Hill) Wargame, other type war game, or any form of chess.” But then he added a telling sentence: “Will cooperate on game design.”

Despite decades of saying her life story should be told after she died, Liza Minnelli will finally release an autobiography.

Children’s author Laura Joffe Numeroff once said, “If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk.”

Have you ever wondered how ostriches got their long necks?

To them, she isn’t a bestselling novelist but simply “the flightless creature” – and, most important, a reliable source of food.

“Ten years past my expiration date,” is how 47-year-old Steve Gleason describes his life after his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 2011 and being told he only had a few years left to live.

Maybe you’ve been to author presentations.

As I listen to my mother talk, I’m glad that I’m running and that the sound of my steps hitting the asphalt, the undulating rhythm of my breathing, can mask the groans and sighs escaping my lips. Her fanaticism, talking about the elections in India and how she voted for Modi, the hard T’s and D’s of her Hindi settling in my ears in a way that English doesn’t, is hard to take. It only makes sense that I vote for a Hindu man in a Hindu country, she says. Who else is going to save us from the terrorists? Again, I am relieved that I am running, that my exasperation is lost in the strain of my breath and gentle beat of my footfalls as I run down the Centennial trail along the river; my mother’s words devour the distant sounds of morning traffic, leaving nothing in my ears except the weight of her disdain for other religions – for Muslims – and the frightening sense of nationalism that has built in her over the years.