Fiction Archive

Rogue Male - They used to be loners. Then they formed cells. And sleeper cells. Now, once again, we fear the unaffiliated terrorist, the lone wolf who looks like us, lives in our

Sally Rooney: Is she really all that and a bag of chips? - “Normal People,” from Sally Rooney’s novel, was the BBC’s most streamed series of 2020, with 63 million views. Last week a friend recommended the 12-episode series on Hulu. A few days

Savages - "A scene must start because the hero has a problem, and it must culminate with the hero finding him or herself either thwarted or educated that another way exists." That is

Scott Turow: Innocent - It’s not exactly like asking where you were when you heard JFK was shot, but for many of us, the publication of Presumed Innocent in 1987 was An Event. A bookseller

See you in September? Yes, but I leave these for you - SHOPPING ON AMAZON: The business model of this site is Amazon. You start here, buy something there, Butler gets a commission. And not just on the item reviewed. Anything you

Shikasta - Doris Lessing, a novelist "who swept away convention," died a few days ago. Bad me: I've never read her. Guest Butler Stephen Mo Hanan reads everything. But then, he's a

Shining City - A few years ago, I had a rare experience: I read a contemporary novel I wish I'd written. I knew from the very first two sentences: Julian Ripps was too fat

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” — The Authorized Graphic Adaptation - Shirley Jackson’s short story "The Lottery" was published in The New Yorker 75 years ago, in the issue of June 26, 1948. It caused an immediate sensation. Some readers wrote

Shmutz - Ask a writer what her/his book is about, and odds are good you’ll be treated to a tour of the plot, and not in twenty-five words or less. Stephen King

Siddhartha - I became aware of Hermann Hesse around the time Steppenwolf recorded “Born to Be Wild.” All the kids were reading him --- he’s who you read when you graduated from

Simple Passion - You wait for the phone to ring. That's your life, waiting. You never know when he'll call, so you leave your home as little as possible. Hair dryers and vacuum

Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet - Virtually unknown in America, Xinran is a legend in her native China --- from 1989 to 1996, she hosted "Words on the Night Breeze,'' a radio call-in show in Beijing. In 1994, someone

Skylight - If Head Butler had a book group, we’d all be reading “Skylight” this month. Well, there can’t be a book club --- that would require message boards, and message boards invariably

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922, exactly four years after the end of World War I. On Mother’s Day in 1944, while he was home on leave from

Sleepless Nights - GUEST BUTLER RON FRIED is the author of Christmas in Paris, 2002. His play, "Two Mailers," is scheduled for an Off-Broadway production in the fall. He recently completed

Small Things Like These - The novel ends abruptly… on page 128. A full stop in mid-stride. This is not laziness or an unfortunate editorial decision. It’s because what happens next is for you to

Smut: Stories - Oooooo…..a dirty book. And short --- 160 pages --- so you don’t have to wade through acres of prose to get to the good parts. And by a distinguished

So Long, See You Tomorrow - I just reread this novel. Flawless. And vivid about Another Time. A perfect escape, in every possible way. William Maxwell may be the best American writer you've never heard of. He

So Much Pretty - "So Much Pretty" a first novel by Cara Hoffman, is ugly stuff. And it reads ugly. No other way to say it: “So Much Pretty” is the ugliest book I have read