Get to Know the Author

I received an Amazon.com gift certificate over the holidays and a couple months later I had fun loading up my virtual shopping cart with new books. Sandra Novack's debut novel Precious was included in that shopping spree, and when it arrived I started reading it on a Saturday morning and finished it by Sunday. It's a book I'd heard nothing about but it's so compelling and beautifully written that I only put it down to eat, brush my teeth, and sleep. How's that for a book recommendation?

Precious (available in hardcover) follows a family thrown into crisis one summer in 1978 when the matriarch, Natalia Kisch, suddenly walks out on her husband, Frank, and her daughters (nine-year-old Sissy and 17-year-old Eva). At the same time, the family's small Pennsylvania town is rocked by the disappearance of Sissy's one-time best friend Vicki. The intriguing story is made more startling by the way Novack brings to life the tensions that exist in all families (between siblings, parents and children, husbands and wives).

I jumped at the chance to discuss the book with Novack, though to give fair warning, the interview could be considered a little spoilery as Novack talks about events in her real life that inspired some aspects of this book. To get to know this author, read more

One of the best perks of my job is getting cool books sent my way. When a collection of short stories titled Spoiled by Caitlin Macy arrived at my desk, I found myself hooked from the very first page. Another great perk of the job? Chatting with authors whose books I enjoy, which is what I got the chance to do with Macy.

Based on the title alone, you might imagine this book to be yet another romp through an elite world of the rich and famous — that was my first guess — but it's not that at all. Instead, Spoiled is a razor-sharp, witty, and oftentimes touching examination of the ambiguities of class distinction in America. Macy is a keen observer of how precarious being right on the edge of the upper class can be for highly educated, urbane, and somewhat neurotic women.

Macy doesn't miss a beat mining this territory for laughs, either, which makes the collection a fun and engaging read. I kept thinking this is the world Curtis Sittenfeld's protagonist Lee Fiora in her book Prep might find herself in by her early 30s (Sittenfeld, by the way, enthusiastically recommends Macy's book).

To check out highlights of my interview with the author, who also wrote The Fundamentals of Play, just read more