The editor of Slate read every single word of the Bible and lived to tell (and write) about it. In his epic quest, Plotz moves from serious explorations (faith vs. works) to whimsical asides (why does God love bald men?)
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Plotz was inspired to write the book after leafing through a Bible at a Bar Mitzvah a few years back. Rumor has it his next book focuses on the role of chocolate fountains and bad DJs in our society.
Flying By Eric Kraft, Out now
This comedic novel explores the diverging reality and myth of the adventures of a young man who builds a flying motorcycle in the 1950s and takes off cross country and how he returns home years later to tell the true story of his trip.
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Flying is the final leg of a trilogy along with Taking Off and On the Wing.
The Kindly Ones By Jonathon Littell, Out now
This fictional memoir of a former Nazi Doctor looking back on his role in World War II and the Holocaust was first published in France in 2007 to great acclaim, including winning the country’s top lit prize, the Prix Goncourt.To Sound in the Know:
Though American (he was born in New York), Littell wrote the Kindly Ones in his non-native French.
Lowboy by John Wray, Out now
In his third novel, the Brooklyn-based author tells the story of a 16-year-old New Yorker who stops taking his meds and escapes from a mental hospital into the subway tunnels where he wanders in fear of the imminent apocalypse. Someone should tell the kid Obama won the election and everything is going to be peachy.
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Granta named Wray one of the Best Young American Novelists in 2007.
Wonderful World By Javier Calvo, Out Mar. 17
This Barcelona/Brooklyn novelist pens a comic thriller about a son who inherits his father’s company and descends into Barcelona’s criminal underworld. Bonus lit points for the book being translated by Mara Faye Lethem, Calvo’s wife and Jonathan’s sister.
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Calvo once wrote a short story titled “Ned Flanders,” a twisted take on Homer Simpson’s goodly (and Godly) neighbor.
Escape fromBellevue By Christopher John Campion, Out Mar. 19
The former lead singer of indie band The Knockout Drops recounts his personal and professional ascent (Fame! Sex!) and crash (Booze! Drugs!) through the 1980s and ’90s New York music scene.
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This memoir is based off an off-Broadway musical Campion wrote of the same title.
The Long Fall By Walter Moseley, Out Mar. 24
The long time mystery master of such classics as Devil in a Blue Dress creates a new character (ex-boxer PI Leonid McGill) in a new city (so long L.A., hello New York!) that quickly learns just because a city looks clean that doesn’t mean the dirt has disappeared.
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Though Moseley is best known for his Los Angeles private dick Easy Rawlins, who has appeared in 11 novels, he’s also written science fiction, an award-winning young-adult novel and even erotica.
