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MAILING LIST: I just started a mailing list for my publishing company. Will mail out every 2 months and will include excerpts from my Robert’s Roundup columns and other random stuff. https://booktoot.club/@nagletx. (Mastodon) and nagletx.bsky.social. (Blue Sky).
My Personville Press sells literary titles (mainly short stories) at budget prices (and several freebies). Gradually I have been doing “elevator pitch” videos on YouTube summarizing several of these ebooks in three minutes or so.
Abbreviations: KU means Kindle Unlimited and NYP means “Name Your Price” (that’s an option on Smashwords and other booksellers). If you’d like to submit an ebook to me for review or mention in this column, see my instructions here. Here is my article about methods and search queries I use to locate ebook deals. See also: Indie Author Spotlight, Interviews by RJN,
Under the Radar
Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens by Stephen Apkon. Film criticism.
Down the Rabbit Hole: Best friends to lovers erotic fairy tale by Hannah Altagracia
Heart for the Gods of Mexico by Conrad Aiken. Reportedly about the infidelity in the marriage of his friend Malcolm Lowry. Aiken is best known for his poetry, and although his novels were never quite successful, they were beautifully written.
Violated by Vance Bourjaily.
Late Great Creature: A novel by Brock Brower. Lost satirical-horror classic.
Cuts by Malcolm Bradbury
When the War is Over a novel by Stephen Becker.
Abnormal Occurrences: Short Stories by Thomas Berger.
City of your final destination – novel by Peter Cameron.
Error of Our Ways by David Carkeet
Mutations: Novel by Jorge Comensal, Charles Whittle. Comic novel about a militant atheist and successful lawyer whose attitude on life changes after getting cancer.
Archilles a novel by Elizabeth Cook.
These Dreams of You by Steve Erickson
Further Adventures by Jon Stephen Fink.
Viviane: A Novel by Julia Deck. French debut novel about a murder mystery and madness.
Reading, Writing and Leaving Home: Life on the Page by Lynn Freed. Also, I bought and am reading Curse of the Appropriate Man stories.
Because they Wanted to: Stories by Mary Gaitskill
Extra Innings (Memoir) by Doris Grumbach. Also the Magician’s Girl (novel).
Catch as Catch Can: Collected Stories by Joseph Heller.
3 works by Robert Irwin: Limits of Vision, Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh, and Exquisite Corpse.
Gone to the Forest by Katie Kitamura
Substance of Shadow: Darkening Trope in Poetic History by John Hollander. Unpublished lectures by the noted American poet.
I am Mary Dunne: A Novel by Brian Moore
Night Hawk: Stories by Charles Johnson
Plumbelly: Novel: by Gary S. Maynard.
Continent: Stories (Art of the Story) by Jim Crace.
Enthusiast by Charlie Hass
Take Us to a Better Place: Stories (Anthology). Stories about our ecological future.
Wild Surge of Guilty Passion (Novel) by Ron Hansen. Also At the Jim Bridger: Stories.
The Stylist by Cai Emmons.
Taking Time … A Tale of Physics, Lust and Greed by Mike Murphy.
Emerald Germs of Ireland by Patrick McCabe. 2001 messy, comic and episodic novel about a social misfit and drunk. Writes one reviewer, “Each book by McCabe is a string of adjectives: brilliant, wonderful, funny, tragic, sad, moving, joyous, inventive, imaginative, amazing, heart-rending and silly. The Emerald Germs of Ireland is more of the same. It’s a bit more difficult a read than his previous works, frequently going off into the surrealistic and understandable incomprehensible delusions of the protagonist.”
Enthusiast by Charlie Hass.
In the Shape of a Boar by Lawrence Norfolk.
River Beyond the World: A Novel by Janet Peery. National Book Award nominee. Set in the Texas/Mexico border country in the years from 1944 to the present, The River Beyond the World is the story of two women on the edge of sexual, moral, political, and spiritual divides. Luisa Cantú is a girl from a Sierra Madre mountain village. After being impregnated in a fertility ritual of ancient origin, she leaves Mexico to work in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a housemaid for Mrs. Eddie Hatch, a woman with a strong will and a narrow worldview. Their complex relationship—by turns mystical and pragmatic, serious and comic—reveals the many ways human beings can wound one another, the nature of love and sacrifice, and the possibility of forgiveness.
Separate Kingdoms: Stories by Valerie Laken.
Disturbance in One Place (Novel) by Binnie Kirshenbaum
Thirst by Ken Kalfus.
I am determined to read at least one or two works by Howard Fast (he’s very prolific, so there’s a lot to choose from). Silas Timberman, Hunger and the Trap speculative fiction. General Zapped an Angel — sf, Confession of Joe Cullen, Sally and Patrick Henry and the Frigate’s Keel: And other Stories of a Young Nation.
Great Kisser: Stories by David Evanier
Next Step in the Dance Novel by Tim Gautreaux.
Devil I know – novel by Claire Kilroy.
Writing on the Wall and other essays by Mary McCarthy. Also caught Collected Novels Vol 2 for a dime.
Welcome Home: Memoir with Selected Photographs and Letters by Lucia Berlin.
Correcting the Landscape novel by Marjorie Kowalski Cole. (W) An Alaska newspaper editor learns about a dead body and struggles with how to report on it. Cole is an Alaskan librarian with a love for the natural world who died at 56. This novel won the Bellwether Prize (no never heard of it either) which is apparently for a novel that addresses issues of social justice. Alan Cheuse comments, “That’s the kind of dilemma that makes for a good story, and Cole puts it to great use, especially by dovetailing it with lonely Gus’ attraction to the Alaskan Native woman who’s interning at the newspaper. So we’ve got a love story intertwined with a public interest story and both narrative lines a bit more complicated than we might at first imagine set against the backdrop of contemporary Fairbanks, a place most of us have never been. But this is not just the first Fairbanks novel in my recollection. It’s a nicely made piece of fiction about the way we live now.”
A Perfect Divorce Novel by Avery Corman (who wrote screenplays like Kramer vs. Kramer and Oh, God). Also Prized Possessions a novel.
Man who wrote dirty Books by Hal Dresner. A well-known comedy scriptwriter. Seems like an epistolary novel?
High Lonesome by Barry Hannah.
Dissertation: Tineblas Book Two by R.K. Koster
Doing Nothing: History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers and Bums in America by Tom Lutz.
Symphony of Life by Keith Kelley.
Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light by Ivan Klima. Czech author who wrote realistic dramas.
First Contact: Or it’s later than you think by Evan Mandery.
Explorers of the New Century by Magnus Mills.
Autograph Hound by John Lahr. Fun fact. Lahr was the son of Bert Lahr of Wizard of Oz who also wrote several author bios including Prick Up Your Eyes
“Record Collecting For Girls: Unleashing Your Inner Music Nerd, One Album at a Time” ($0.50) by Courtney E. Smith is a fun look at chick music, music culture and how nerdy chicks get into music (2011)
Hugh: Hero without a novel by David Lawrence.
Urban Affair: Novel by Daniel Stern. Also After the War novel. (Too many Sterns!)
At the Shores Novel by Thomas Rogers. Very distinguished author
2 by Patrick McCabe: Emerald Germs of Ireland (Novel).
Glorious Ones (Novel) by Francine Prose.
First, Body: Stories by Melanie Rae Thon
Limbo and other places I have lived by Lily Tuck.
Little Hotel by Christina Stead.
A Place with Promise: Novel by Edward Swift.
Glimpse of Scarlet: and other stories by Roxanna Robinson.
Innocent and Others (Novel) by Dana Spiotta.
Various Academic Titles from U. of Chicago: Kafka’s Law: Trial and American Criminal Justice by Robert P. Burns, Walter Raleigh’s History of the World and the Historical Culture of the Late Renaissance by Nicholas Popper, Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan by C. Sarah Soh, Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power by Aaron Cohen, Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, S Asia & Japan 900-1200 CE by William M. Reddy. Palace of Books by Roger Grenier. Also two UC titles which are more creative: Folktales of Ireland edited by Sean O’Sullivan and Hack: stories from a Chicago Cab by Dmitry Samarov.
Mount Pleasant: A Novel by Patrice Nganang.
Bodies in Motion: Stories by Mary Anne Mohanraj — Sri Lanka family saga by former sci fi editor and erotica author. Although I haven’t bought it yet, I’m going to try to read her later work, The Stars Change, a sci fi novel with some naughty bits.
Far Country: Scenes from American Culture by Franco Moretti. Author of many books of cultural criticism. These are lectures from his days teaching at Stanford.
That Self-Forgetful Perfectly Useless Concentration by Alan Shapiro.
Reflections: The World of Paul Monette. (3 in 1 memoir which includes Becoming a Man which won a National Book Award). Gay writer who documented the 1980s AIDS fight and ultimately succumbed to AIDS himself in the 1990s.
Arrow Keeper’s Song by Kerry Newcomb.
Girl that he Marries Novel by Rhoda Lerman
Fish in the Water Memoir by Mario Vargas Llosa
Pills and Starships novel by Lydia Millet. YA Scifi by author too good to be slumming in these genres.
Trinity Fields by Bradford Morrow.
Folly by Susan Minot.
New York 1. Tel Aviv 0: Stories: by Shelley Oria.
The Naked Year by Boris Pilynak. (W) Written at 25 about the Russian Revolution, he was later put to death under Stalin. One reference book described it as “Pilniak’s anti-novel The Naked Year…was one of the earliest and most prominent large-scale attempts to create a paradigm of ‘the new prose’ about the Revolution. A self-consciously experimental, openly modernist work.”
Two by Padgett Powell: Aliens of Affection (Stories) and
Beloved Son Novel by Jay Quinn. Also, Back where he started.
Return to Night: Mary Renault. This novel about a love affair between a female doctor and her patient won a $150,000 prize in 1948.
Coming of the Night by John Rechy. Explicit gay fiction.
Daughters of the House: A Novel by Michele Roberts.
Tarabas: Guest on Earth by Joseph Roth, Early work.
Golk: A Novel by Richard Stern.
Childhood by Nathalie Sarraute
Willow Tree novel by Hubert Selby.
Twisted Planet Book One: scifi anthology by Peter Schinkel.
In Perfect Light a novel by Benjamin Alire Saenz
In Every Woman’s Life by Alix Kates Shulman.
Hurt People Novel by Cote Smith
Two by Scott Spencer (who wrote Endless Love): Preservation Hall and Waking the Dead.
Rough Strife: A novel by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. First novel (and 1980 National Book Award finalist ) about a complicated marriage.
Various Antidotes (Stories) by Joanna Scott.
Sukkwan Island: Novella from Legend of a Suicide by David Vann.
Robot World by Ray Verola
Night Song novel by John Williams
Lesbian Images: Essays by Jane Rule. Literary portrait essays about noted lesbian authors from history. She is also known for her fiction about the lesbian experience.
Against the Current; Vietnamese Boat Person’s Journey by Cuong Tram. A Houston friend of mine wrote a memoir about his escape from Vietnam in the 1970s.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Book 1 of this interplanetary settlement trilogy has been widely praised. Can’t wait to read.
Two works by B. Traven, the German author in Mexico: Death Ship and Aslan Norval.
Triumph of Human Empire: Verne, Morris and Stevenson at the end of the World by Rosalind Williams.
Fay Weldon: Collected Novels in 3 volumes (containing 9 novels!) . Also Polaris (short stories).
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
In the Palomar Arms a novel by Hilma Wolitzer. (BTW, heard a delightful podcast interview with Wolitzer, an amazing woman). Also Tunnel of Love a novel .
Frequency of Souls by Mary Kay Zuravleff 1996) (RJN: This sounds like such a strange novel). A staid refrigerator designer’s life is changed by a quirky, spiritual female colleague who is obsessed with finding electrical evidence of life after death in this extraordinary debut novel.
Blink and It’s Gone
The Moth Presents: All these Wonders (Oral stories).
Welcome Home: A Memoir with Selected Photographs and Letters by Lucia Berlin.
“60 Songs That Explain the ’90s” ($2.99) is a wildly entertaining series of rants from rock critic Rob Harvilla (who does a podcast with the same name). (2023).
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Dangerous Visions Edited by Harlan Ellison. 1.99 . Famous 1967 sci fi anthology now as an ebook.
Library Purchases/Printed books
Lumberjanes Graphic Novel by Shannon Watters. This book about a girl’s summer camp is one I randomly started reading. Very funny and imaginative. (Giving to my 16 year old niece)
World According to Garp by John Iriving (giving to my 18 year old niece).
Metamorphosis by Ovid. Charles Martin translation in verse. I’ve been eying this for a very long time and finally succumbed.
Literary Articles and Essays
Here’s a nice 5 books listicle about the 5 Best Philip K. Dick books by David Hyde. I could browse through that site forever. Here’s Flora Carr’s recommendations for 5 Best Feminist Historical Novels.
CM Mayo interviews Timothy Heyman on the life and works of the reclusive German author B. Traven. CM Mayo published an introduction to B. Traven by Timothy Heyman on her blog.
Yale Review has published several essays about being a literary critic: Christina Smallwood writes about the material constraints of writing criticism today : After lamenting the abyssmal compensation for critics, she notes:
IF THE CRITICISM I write is always limited by the fact that it is I who am writing it, bounded as I am by material constraints, it is also true that within that limit a profound freedom of thought persists. Sometimes when I read, I do have the sensation of blocking out the immediate physical world, journeying to an entirely different place, losing the sense of my body. It’s not just leaving myself behind that is freeing; it’s discovering myself. Writing a review is the best, maybe the only, way I can discover what I think. I don’t come to reviewing with my ideas already formed; I have to build them, sentence by sentence. For me, writing a review is a way of getting closer to an object, taking it apart to understand how it works. I get closer to and farther away from myself in the process, even as I know that I will inevitably ask questions that betray myself and my interests. The question I am most aware of asking has to do with point of view: I want to understand an object’s way of looking at the world. What would I have to believe about the world in order for this book to be true? This is the kind of question I get most excited about asking.
Multimedia/Podcasts, Etc
Really psyched to discover a kickass podcast about storytelling, Why is this Good? hosted by Kristine Gill and J.C. Bronsted of the Naples Writers’ Workshop. I am really enjoying the random episodes I listened to — each episode is about a single short story. One great thing about the podcast is that all episodes are about 25 minutes each… Not too long and not too focused on interpretation and background.
Here’s a delightful video lecture on authors and aging by Lynn Freed.
Here’s an interview with Doris Grumbach on Charlie Rose (15 minutes).
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