Kevin Barry

The 10 Best Debut Novels of 2012

This year, all are agreed, was a pretty great one for books — but it was a particularly good one for debut novelists, which impressed us over and over again with their ingenuity, seriousness, and talent. This year’s debuts ran the gamut from sci-fi masterpieces to realistic war novels, with several magic-tinged worlds floating around in between. Looks like the novel/this insufferably ironic generation/reading itself isn’t a lost cause after all. Read on for our favorite debut novels of the year, and since we already had to tearfully eliminate quite a few from our list of loves, feel free to add them back on for us in the comments. … Read More

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12 Great Small Press Books Recommended by Literary Insiders

According to the literary powers that be, March is Small Press Month, so before the month is out, we decided we’d better get to talking about a few of the great books — and there are many — published by the tinier houses. We reached out to a few publishers, editors, and publicists of small presses and asked them to recommend some of their favorite books recently released by other indie outfits. They responded in force, suggesting novels, short story collections, works of poetry and works in translation to add to our ever growing list of must-read books. Click through to check out twelve amazing books, all published by small presses in the last year or so, and let us know your own favorites in the comments. … Read More

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