Fiction. No one before him may have so tacitly failed at writing a memoir as Jonathan Baumbach'spoet-protagonist, B, an intellectual's Bukowski, who struggles to write his history in thiscomedic new novel. But the events herein exist largely in the gray area between the factsof B's life and the fantasies and fictions of his mind, calling into question the validity,even the importance, of truth in memory.

B, a Novel

Literature & Fiction

Baumbach, Jonathan

Contemporary

Low Fidelity Press

Takes readers on a tour of a brilliantly oddball world, where town hall meetings turn into bloodbaths and God occasionally calls to check in with mortals who are calmly ironing their souls in the kitchen.

Trouble with the Machine

Kennedy, Christopher

Poetry

Fiction. With a Proustian knack for recalling the smallest detail--from a superficial conversation to the exquisite pain of the perfect kiss--Hunter Flanagan deftly navigates past and present, simultaneously analyzing, deconstructing and torturing himself with memories of every girl he's lost or loved. For Hunter, writing is easy; it's love that comes hard. Even as he prepares to leave family, friends and Chicago--the city that made him--he never gives up on his pursuit of love and meaning. THE WEEK YOU WERENT HERE is a poignant and wry portrait of a young writer closing in on the last of his undergraduate days. Charles Blackstone's prose is a seamless match for Hunter's fragmented stream-of-consciousness. From encounters with the persistent "stalker" Kate, to the elusive Dewey, and the surprisingly independent sorority girl, Lila, Hunter exemplifies our longing for the defining moment--as fragile and quixotic a dream as life itself.

The Week You Weren't Here

Blackstone, Charles

Riotously funny, beautifully written, and charged with emotional intelligence, this well-crafted debut investigates the world from the fringe through characters who stray so far from convention they seem to inhabit another universe. Whether it's Alston Goldstein ferrying drugs around Florida on his yellow moped, a young man fighting his entire neighborhood to find a suitable husband for his pregnant sister, or a man preparing to arm wrestle Jesus, these 13 stories hinge on the interplay between middle-class normality and capricious heroes, transporting readers to a tenderly evoked world where the real and the absurd at last make peace. This fictional masterpiece is for readers who love Americana, root for the underdog, and delight in the approach of the next great voice in southern eccentricity.

Rabbit Punches: Stories

Ockert, Jason

United States

Offering a fresh perspective on the problem of being a middle-aged male completely out of touch with his world, his family, and himself, this tragic yet funny novella tells the story of Osin, a recently retired publisher adrift on the sea of his mostly pointless life. His first wife left him after many extramarital trysts, his second wife is leaving him for someone else, and he is estranged from his son. Obsessed with the idea that his family holds the key to his redemption, he attempts to reunite with his first wife, whom he hasn't seen in 15 years, and mend his life.

Osin

Lott, Jessica