Cover Image: The Algonquin Reader: Spring 2020

The Algonquin Reader: Spring 2020

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Member Reviews

I always love these editions of the offering of books for the season. They not only provide info about the book but a wealth of knowledge on how to contact people regarding the books! Which is such an amazing tool!

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Great collection and curation for prospective TBRs. I assumed this to be a book but it wasn't.
I accidentally came across a new publisher with some authors that I am now interested to read from.
The cover illustration is stunning hence I wanted to see what is inside.
Purely accidental bliss.

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This was my first time reading the Algonquin Reader and I am thankful to Netgalley for this. It was an interesting collection of excerpts and essays. It has definitely helped me plan my TBR list. Although I am not sure whether I will be necessarily reading this format every time I am to select a book. It is maybe not suited to my personal reading style.

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I accidentally pressed on this book. It's not the kind of literary style I usually read and would not be fair I rate it if not interested. However, the NetGalley requires I rate it so... Apologies.

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Algonquin Books is one of my favorite publishers, so It was wonderful to get to read excerpts from their most anticipated 2020 releases along with other content from the authors. Thank you Algonquin Books and NetGalley.

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Thank you many times over for the privilege. What a delightful early inside look. #Algonquin Reader is always helpful!!🌟🐾🐾
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Algonquin for the advanced copy

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This was my my first Algonquin Reader and it was very interesting! It was great to read content from Julia Alvarez and Shruti Swami. The other essays were new writers to me, and I look forward to reading more. Great curation!

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Excellent and enticing selection of new books. I loved reading the excerpts and save books I plan to read this year!

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Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the chance to read these samples!

This collection was odd in that I really enjoyed all the essays and the vignettes of real life -- the girl who skipped a treasure hunt by just looking for freshly disturbed ground, the man whose family has an absurd preponderance of twins, the real-life examples of people who have survived plane crushes, or people who have woken from comas with drastically new personalities -- and yet in reading the excerpts of the books these essays were supposed to illustrate, I was not interested in reading any more. Somehow, the distillation of ideas into the 3-page essay had almost too effectively distilled the ideas of the novels!

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The Algonquin Readers offer a tasty way to preview upcoming fiction, and the latest issue is a treat. Excerpts from select authors plus an essay by each makes this a must-have literary read. Topped off by that cover illustration by Curtis Parker ... gorgeous!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 26 May 2020

Thanks to the authors, Algonquin Books, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#TheAlgonquinReaderSpring2020 #NetGalley

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I love this glimpse at upcoming titles from Algonquin Books.
I'm especially excited to read the latest from Julia Alverez and look forward to reading it in full.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the advance copy.

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Thank you Algonquin and NetGalley for providing these diverse samples and personal messages. A great way to get a sense of new and upcoming releases!

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This collection put a few things on my radar that I was unaware were coming out, which is really exciting! There were some highlights in here that I felt didn't give enough of a feel of the work that was going to come out and seemed uninteresting to me.

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I always love the opportunity to read little previews of books. This was no exception to that rule - I only wish there were more books highlighted!

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I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
For those who want a little more about a book than a blurb on the dust jacket, comes the Algonquin Reader. It is a seasonal selection of essays and excerpts from upcoming releases and worth a look of you're a book blogger, avid reader of librarian. Enjoyable way to experience and get to know a new author.

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Such a wonderful preview of story and the writerly spark behind the story. This is a marvelous showcase and introduction to exciting new work from Nguyên Phan Quê Mai, Jill McCorkle, Richard Farrell, Shruti Swami, Caroline Leavitt, Julia Alvarez, and Larry Watson. I'll add longer reviews of The Mountains Sing and A House Is a Body in the near future.

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THE ALGONQUIN READER is a literary fiction magazine. I received an ARC (Advance Review Copy) of the SPRING/SUMMER 2020 issue.

In this issue, a selection of authors who have books being published between March and August of 2020, each wrote an essay and include an excerpt from their upcoming book.

The first author to be included was Julia Alvarez whose book AFTERLIFE was published in April of 2020. Her essay speaks of the evolution of her writing style as well as her writing routine. The excerpt from AFTERLIFE had the intended effect on me, as I have now added it to the list of books I want to read this year.
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Next up was the incredibly talented author of THE MOUNTAINS SING – Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. In her essay titled “Climbing Many Mountains,” she writes about her life in Vietnam and how winning a writing competition at the age of ten, which she had secretly entered, led her to spend her teen years talking to relatives and elders about their lives. This inquisitiveness (unknownst to her at the time) was the beginning of her research for THE MOUNTAINS SING. Also included is an excerpt from her amazing book which I have already read and will be reviewing soon. She ends her essay with the following quote:

“I hope the story of Huóng and Diêu Lan helps international readers discover our common humanity, as in the words of Huóng: ‘Somehow I was sure that if people were willing to read each other, and see the light of other cultures, there would be no war on earth.'”

The third included author is JILL McCORKLE whose book: HIEROGLYPHICS is due for release in June. Her book is based around two historic tragedies, a train derailment in 1941 and a nightclub fire in 1942. At the conclusion of her essay, author Jill McCorkle states:

“My hope is that the readers of Hieroglyphics will be entertained by these characters and their lives, but I also hope it will lead them to think of various fragments and images from their own lives and to experience the oldest and purest form of time travel – memory.”

I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this book. The essay, as well as the excerpt included in the Spring issue of THE ALGONQUIN READER has succeeded in piqueing my interest.

THE FALLING WOMAN by Richard Farrell is a tale of suspense. A plane crashes and the sole survivor is a woman, and the story is about her, as well as the young agent whose job it is to find her. THE FALLING WOMAN is being released in June. In his essay, author Richard Farrell says:

“We all are haunted by something – something we did or didn’t do – and the passing years either add to the weight or diminish it.”

I agree and identify wholeheartedly with this quote.

The final three books highlighted in the Spring 2020 Issue of THE ALGONQUIN READER are:

1. The Lives of Edie Pritchard by Larry Watson which hits bookstore shelves in July of 2020.

2. A House Is a Body by Shruti Swamy
is set for release in August of 2020

and

3. With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt which goes on sale August 2020.

Out of all the books highlighted, I most want to get my hands on a copy of AFTERLIFE by Julia Alvarez.

I rate the Spring 2020 Issue of THE ALGONQUIN READER as a hearty 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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*Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book.*

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“There are books now I come home to, books that speak to that deep place in me, books in which the rhythm of the language sounds exquisitely familiar, if more beautifully articulated than I could ever manage. For most of my life I have lived there, in these books…”

Thank you to NetGallery for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This edition of the The Algonquin Reader contains excerpts for some upcoming publications for 2020 in the United States from seven authors. To be honest, most of the names are not familiar to me, but I was drawn to this publication because I felt there was a variety of themes and representation among the upcoming titles.

A plus from this edition was that there were brief essays from the authors before each excerpt, which provided more context to the text and furthermore –it gave us the opportunity for a more personal approach to the authors. I was particularly touched by the essays of Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Shruti Swamy and Caroline Leavitt –mainly because of the approach of the first two to the immigrant experience in the United States, and from Leavitt, because her premise sounds extraordinary: what happens to people after waking up from a coma? The idea is both interesting and scary at the same time.

Nguyễn Phan is a Vietnamese author writing in English for the first time about her experience –something outstanding in my opinion – while Swamy is an author born in the US to Indian parents and in her essay, she addresses her desire to fit in a country that values whiteness way too much. I believe both texts are very promising and I am interested in checking out their upcoming titles.

Overall, this introduction is a preview to some interesting books to be published in the upcoming months and that will offer room for thought and discussion. The only thing that I would have liked more is for the essays to be a bit longer, because I did enjoy them very much!

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As usual you have a terrific selection.Love reading the previews.My list of your future books is growing,Loads to read review.#netgalley#algonquinbooks

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Loved reading the background on some of my favorite books, including Afterlife, The Mountains Sing, and With or Without You.

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