Michael Schaub
Michael Schaub is a writer, book critic and regular contributor to NPR Books. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Portland Mercury and The Austin Chronicle, among other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.
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Paula Bomer's dizzying book is a fascinating look at an absurdly stupid young man in the early 1990s who manages to sustain himself despite having no evidence of a soul. -
Mariah Stovall manages to convey the essence of punk and emo through the prose itself; this is an excellent novel, compassionate and filled with a sparkling intelligence about the human condition. -
Singer and guitarist Susanna Hoffs rose to fame with the Bangles in the 1980s. With her new book, she proves her immense writing talent isn't just confined to songs. -
Keefe recognizes that we're all unreliable narrators of our own lives, and writes about his subjects with a keen sense of understanding. -
It's a testament to Hilary Mantel's brilliance as an author that even though the moments in these stories are subtle, the book somehow feels epic in its own way. -
It would have been easy for the famous journalist to fall into the nostalgia trap with his memoir, which chronicles his earliest years in the newspaper business. Happily, he doesn't. -
Jaime Cortez's debut collection, Gordo, is set in and around the same dusty California town that inspired John Steinbeck. It's a lovely portrait of a time and place that still manages to be universal. -
Authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch prove gifted at providing essential context, including deftly painting a picture of 19th-century America and the prevailing attitudes toward race and politics.
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Anna Burns gained fame in 2018 when her third novel, Milkman, won the Man Booker Prize. Little Constructions is her second novel, about a woman's vendetta against her violent, abusive brother-in-law.
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Stephen Wright's new novel is a darkly funny satire of American consumer culture, set in a Day-Glo alternate reality that's unsettlingly close to our own. It's an exhausting but unforgettable read.
