Tag archieven: Amerikaanse schrijver

Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse schrijfster, Amerikaanse Schrijvers, Beste Romans, Verenigde Staten

Beste Amerikaanse romans

Beste Amerikaanse romans. Wat zijn de allerbeste romans van Amerikaanse schrijvers en schrijfsters? Welke romans uit de Verenigde Staten worden gezien als de beste?

Beste Amerikaanse romans

Uiteraard kun je uitgebreid discussiëren over wat de beste Amerikaanse romans zijn? Sterker nog iedere lezer zal zijn persoonlijke voorkeur hebben. Dus een top zoveel lijst van de beste romans van uit de Verenigde Staten afkomstige auteurs is niet helemaal nuttig.

Nieuwsbrief boekentips en recensies

Elke week de nieuwste boekentips en recensies? Meld je aan voor de nieuwsbrief.

Wat zijn de beste Amerikaanse romans?

Onze redactie kiest ervoor om een alfabetisch overzicht te maken van Amerikaanse romans die volgens velen het lezen meer dan waard zijn. Er zullen bovendien nieuwe uitstekende en uitmuntende romans van Amerikaanse schrijvers en schrijfsters worden toegevoegd. Ook is er aandacht voor de Nederlandse vertaling van de roman, mits deze verschenen is, uiteraard.

Warren Adler The War of the Roses recensieWarren Adler – The War of the Roses

roman uit 1981
Nederlandse vertaling: The War of the Roses
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Jaren 80-klassieker over een huwelijk in verval, een onvergetelijk portret van een scheiding. In deze vlijmscherpe, zwarte komedie doen beide echtgenoten er alles aan om hun wederhelft te vernietigen – tot elke prijs…lees verder >

James Baldwin Giovanni's Room 1956 novel first editionJames Baldwin – Giovanni’s Room

roman uit 1956
Nederlandse vertaling: Giovanni’s kamer
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
In het Parijs van de jaren vijftig valt de jonge Amerikaan David voor de Italiaanse barman Giovanni. Als Davids verloofde Hella terugkeert van een reis raakt hij verscheurd tussen zijn verlangens en de conventionele moraal. Ondertussen neemt het leven van Giovanni een vreselijke wending…lees verder >

Djuna Barnes Nachtwoud recensieDjuna Barnes – Nightwood

roman uit 1936
Nederlands vertaling: Nachtwoud
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
In Nachtwoud vertelt Djuna Barnes de verhalen van een groep Amerikaanse en Europese ontwortelden in het Parijs van de jaren twintig van de vorige eeuw, die in de marges van de maatschappij leven: circusartiesten, homoseksuelen, transgenders, travestieten – een nachtelijke onderwereld, excentriek, louche en mooi…lees verder >

Jane Bowles Two Serious Ladies 1943 novel first editionJane Bowles – Two Serious Ladies

roman uit 1943
Nederlandse vertaling: Twee dames die het leven ernstig nemen
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (excellent)
Miss Goering, an eccentric, impulsive New York heiress, resides in her house and tries not to be unhappy. Mrs Copperfield, an anxious, dutiful married woman, has a great fear of drowning, of lifts, of intruders in the night. Two serious ladies, nothing is natural for them and anything is possible…lees verder >

The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles novel from 1949 first editionPaul Bowles – The Sheltering Sky

roman uit 1949
Nederlandse vertaling: Het dak van de hemel
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Port and Kit Moresbury, a sophisticated American couple, are finding it more than a little difficult to live with each other. Endeavouring to escape this predicament, they set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria – uncertain of exactly where they are heading, but determined to leave the modern world behind. The results of this casually taken decision are both tragic and compelling…lees verder >

Truman Capote In Cold Blood recensie en reviewTruman Capote – In Cold Blood

A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences
true crime roman uit 1966
Nederlandse vertaling: In koelen bloede
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Controversial and compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. Truman Capote’s comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved…lees verder >

Willa Cather The Song of the Lark review en recensieWilla Cather – The Song of the Lark

Amerikaanse roman uit 1915, The Prairie Trilogy 2
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Thea Kronberg, a young girl from a small town in Colorado has a great gift – her beautiful singing voice. Her talent takes her to the great opera houses of Europe, and through ambition and hard work, she forges a life as an artist. But if she can never go home again, nor can she leave behind her past…lees verder >

Stanley Elkin The Franchiser reviewStanley Elkin  – The Franchiser

roadnovel uit 1976
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
The Franchiser follows Ben Flesh—one of the men “who made America look like America, who made America famous.” He collects franchises, traveling from state to state, acquiring the brand-name establishments that shape the American landscape. But both the nation and Ben are running out of energy. As blackouts roll through the West, Ben struggles with the onset of multiple sclerosis, and the growing realization that his lifetime quest to buy a name for himself has ultimately failed…lees verder >

Ralph Ellison Invisible Man recensie, review en informatieRalph Ellison – Invisible Man

sociale roman uit 1952
Nederlandse vertaling: Onzichtbare man
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
Defeated and embittered by a country which treats him as a non-being, the ‘invisible man’ retreats into an underground cell, where he smokes, drinks, listens to jazz and recounts his search for identity in white society: as an optimistic student in the Deep South, in the north with the black activist group the Brotherhood, and in the Harlem race riots. And explains how he came to be living underground…lees verder >

Wait Until Spring, Bandini John Fante novel from 1938 first editionJohn Fante – Wait Until Spring, Bandini

roman uit 1938, Bandini Quartet 1
Nederlandse vertaling: Wacht op het voorjaar, Bandini
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
A powerful, lyrical and touching tale of a turbulent adolescent trying to break out of the suffocating, prison-like confinements of family, poverty and religion in a small town, Wait Until Spring, Bandini tells the story of a winter in the childhood of Arturo Bandini, oldest son of Italian immigrants living in Colorado during the Great Depression…lees verder >

F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby

roman uit 1925
Nederlandse vertaling: De grote Gatsby
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach … Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby – young, handsome, fabulously rich – always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting…lees verder >

Save Me the Waltz Zelda Fitzgerald 1932 novel first editionZelda Fitzgerald – Save Me the Waltz

1932 novel
Editorial Rating: ∗∗∗∗∗ (excellent)
One of the great literary curios of the twentieth century Save Me the Waltz is the first and only novel by the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. During the years when Fitzgerald was working on Tender is the Night, Zelda Fitzgerald was preparing her own story, which strangely parallels the narrative of her husband, throwing a fascinating light on Scott Fitzgerald’s life and work…read on >

Jonathan Franzen – The Corrections

familieroman uit 2001
Nederlandse vertaling: De correcties
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
The Lamberts – Enid, Alfred and their three grown-up children – are a troubled family living in a troubled age. After fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid is ready to have some fun, but her husband Alfred is losing his mind to Parkinson’s. As his condition worsens, and the Lamberts are forced to face the long-buried secrets and failures that haunt them, Enid sets her heart on gathering everyone together for one last family Christmas…lees verder >

Jewelle Gomez The Gilda Stories reviewJewelle Gomez – The Gilda Stories

futuristische slavernijroman uit 1991
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Louisiana, 1850. A young girl escapes slavery and is taken in by two mysterious women. Rumoured to be witches, the pair travel only at night, dress in men’s clothing and seem to know others’ innermost thoughts. But the girl sees the promise of true freedom in their dark glittering eyes: the promise to ‘share the blood’ and live forever. They name her Gilda. Over the next two hundred years, Gilda moves through unseen spaces: through antebellum brothels, gold-rush bars, Black women’s suffrage groups, hair salons and jazz clubs, searching for a way to exist in the world…lees verder >

Hannah Green I Never Promised You a Rose Garden novel 1964 first editionJoanne Greenberg – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

roman uit 1964, gepubliceerd als Hannah Green
Nederlandse vertaling: Ik heb je nooit een rozentuin beloofd  
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Sixteen-year-old Deborah’s identity is shattering, as she retreats further and further from the ‘normal’ world into her imaginary kingdom of Yr, a fantastical inner refuge both lush and horrifying. Sent to a psychiatric hospital, she must, with the help of a gifted psychiatrist, try to find a way back…lees verder >

Dashiell Hammett The Maltese Falcon reviewDashiell Hammett – The Maltese Falcon

American detective novel
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
Nederlandse vertaling: De Maltezer valk
Sam Spade is hired by the alluring Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with ne-er do well Floyd Thursby. But when Spade’s partner Miles Archer is murdered while on Thursby’s trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the mythical jewel-encrusted Falcon, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man and how far can he trust the seductive Miss Wonderley?…lees verder >

Joseph Heller Catch-22 first edition 1961Joseph Heller – Catch-22

roman over de Tweede Wereldoorlog uit 1961
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Nederlandse vertaling: Catch-22
It’s the closing months of World War II and Yossarian has never been closer to death. Stationed in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, each flight mission introduces him to thousands of people determined to kill him. But the enemy above is not Yossarian’s problem – it is his own army intent on keeping him airborne…lees verder >

S.E. Hinton The Outsiders Amerikaanse roman uit 1967S.E. Hinton – The Outsiders

coming of age-roman uit 1967
Nederlandse vertaling: De outsiders
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
The bestselling American classic of youthful rebellion and coming of age on the streets, adapted into an award-winning film by Francis Ford Coppola. The Greasers and the rich-kid Socs are at war on the Tulsa streets. Ponyboy, a fourteen-year-old brawler, chainsmoker and dreamer, is a fiercely loyal greaser. But a single, murderous catastrophe is to wrench him from his old life and overturn everything he thinks he knows…lees verder >

Langston Hughes Not Without Laughter first edition form 1930Langston Hughes – Not Without Laughter

Harlem Renaissance roman uit 1930
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
In a poor town in Kansas, an African American family struggles. At its centre sits Sandy Rodgers – a young boy attempting to find purpose amid the chaos, meagreness and music of his surroundings. His narrative intertwines with those of his family – his wandering father, his fervent grandmother, his blues-singing aunt – to create a brilliantly intricate portrait of Black life in the early twentieth century…lees verder >

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man James Weldon Johnson novel from 1912 first editionJames Weldon Johnson – The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Amerikaanse roman uit 1912
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
In deze baanbrekende, nog altijd actuele roman uit 1912 beschrijft de Afro-Amerikaanse schrijver James Weldon Johnson op indrukwekkende wijze de innerlijke ontwikkeling van een zwarte en getalenteerde man, die in een door segregatie doordrongen maatschappij probeert om te gaan met de beperkingen die het geïnstitutionaliseerde racisme hem oplegt…lees verder >

Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Eerste drukKen Kesey – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

roman uit 1962
Nederlandse vertaling: En ééntje zag ze vliegen
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electroshock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates…lees verder >

Annie John Jamaica Kincaid novel from 1985 first editionJamaica Kincaid – Annie John

coming of age roman uit 1985 over Antigua
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
An adored only child growing up in Antigua, Annie has until recently lived a peaceful and content life. She is inseparable from her beautiful mother, a powerful and influential presence, who sits at the very centre of the little girl’s existence. Loved and cherished, Annie grows and thrives within her mother’s shadow. When she turns twelve, however, Annie’s life changes, in ways that are often mysterious to her…lees verder >

Elaine Kraf I Am Clarence reviewElaine Kraf – I Am Clarence

roman uit 1969
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
For Clarence’s mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to see specialists to find the cause of his blindness and developmental delays, protects him from the cruelty of other children, and loves him tenderly. But she has her own struggles too. Her sanity is precarious and fractured, making caregiving increasingly difficult…lees verder >

Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird Amerikaanse roman uit 1960Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird

roman uit 1960
Nederlandse vertaling: Spaar de spotvogel
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Summers for Scout in the Deep South are long and golden. Her story is one of innocence, and growing up. It is also about justice. When Scout’s father Atticus Finch, a lawyer, agrees to defend a black man against an accusation by a white girl, he takes on the prejudice of the whole town…lees verder >

Jack London The Call of the Wild recensie en reviewJack London – The Call of the Wild

roman uit 1903
Nederlandse vertaling: De roep van de wildernis
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
The biting cold and the aching silence of the far North become an unforgettable backdrop for Jack London’s vivid, rousing, superbly realistic wilderness adventure stories featuring the author’s unique knowledge of the Yukon and the behavior of humans and animals facing nature at its cruelest…lees verder >

William Maxwell So Long, See You Tomorrow reviewWilliam Maxwell – So Long, See You Tomorrow

roman uit 1980
Nederlandse vertaling: Tot ziens, tot morgen
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
In the quiet farmlands of Illinois, two lonely teenagers – bound by the burden of their rural lives – forge a delicate friendship. But when jealousy ignites between their farming families, it leads to unthinkable tragedy, and severs their bond forever. Fifty years later, haunted by the past, the narrator seeks to piece together those harrowing events and find redemption for a lifetime of regret…lees verder >

Cormac McCarthy The Border TrilogyCormac McCarthy – The Border Trilogy

Amerikaanse westernromans
All the Pretty Horses (1992)
The Crossing (1994)
Cities of the Plain (1998)
Nederlandse vertaling: De grenstrilogie
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
De jongemannen in deze drie klassieke meesterwerken groeien op in de jaren dertig op ranches in het zuidwesten van de VS. Aan de andere kant van de grens lonkt Mexico, met zijn desolate schoonheid en zijn wrede belofte van een plek waar dromen met bloed bekostigd worden…lees verder >

Bernice L. McFadden Sugar review en recensieBernice L. McFadden –  Sugar

roman uit 2000
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
When she arrives in the southern town of Bigelow, it isn’t long before the neighbourhood is alight with gossip and suspicion. Sugar fears her past is catching up with her. Then she meets Pearl, a woman trying to forget her own trauma. As these next-door neighbours become unlikely friends, they wonder if their lives could finally be changing for the better. But small towns have long memories…lees verder >

Claude McKay Home to Harlem review en recensieClaude McKay – Home to Harlem

Harlem Renaissance roman uit 1928
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
When Jake Brown joins the army during the First World War, he is treated more like a slave than a soldier. After deserting his post to escape the racial violence he is facing, Jake travels back home to Harlem. But despite the distance, Jake cannot seem to escape the past and the explosive ways in which it can culminate…lees verder >

Larry McMurtry Lonesome Dove Western novel from 1985 first editionLarry McMurtry – Lonsesome Dove

Amerikaanse westernroman uit 1971
Winnaar Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1986
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
This is the story of a group of audacious cowboys on a perilous cattle drive across the sprawling wilderness, from Texas to Montana. Bound by duty and hardened by the relentless frontier, their shared journey embodies the enduring spirit of the West. The saga paints the American West with a palette of nuanced characters, from heroes to outlaws, in a narrative that is as unflinching as it is captivating…lees verder >

Herman Melville Moby-Dick recensie en reviewHerman Melville – Moby-Dick

avonturenroman uit 1851
Nederlandse vertaling: Moby-Dick
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
Moby-Dickis a haunting social commentary, populated by some of the most enduring characters in literature; the crew of the Pequod, from stern, Quaker First Mate Starbuck, to the tattooed Polynesian harpooner Queequeg, are a vision of the world in microcosm, the pinnacle of Melville’s lifelong meditation on America…lees verder >

Henry Miller Sexus reviewHenry Miller – Sexus

The Rosy Crusifixion 1

autobiografische erotische roman uit 1949
Nederlandse vertaling: Sexus
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Henry Miller called the end of his life in America and the start of a new, bohemian existence in 1930s Paris his ‘rosy crucifixion’. His searing fictionalized autobiography of this time of liberation was banned for nearly twenty years. Sexus, the first volume in The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, looks back to his early sexual escapades in Brooklyn, and his growing infatuation with the playful, teasing dance hall hostess who will become the great obsession of his life…lees verder >

Toni Morrison – Beloved

historische slavernijroman uit 1987
Nederlandse vertaling: Beminde
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
Sethe is now miles away from Sweet Home – the farm where she was kept as a slave for many years. Unable to forget the unspeakable horrors that took place there, Sethe is haunted by the violent spectre of her dead child, the daughter who died nameless and whose tombstone is etched with a single word, ‘Beloved’…lees verder >

Ann Petry De straat RecensieAnn Petry – The Street

Afro-Amerikaanse roman over Harlem uit 1946
Nederlandse vertaling: De straat
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
De straat, de roman van de Afro-Amerikaanse schrijfster Ann Petry verscheen in 1946 en werd een verkoopsucces met zo’n 1 miljoen verkochte exemplaren. Het boek is gesitueerd in de New Yorkse wijk Harlem in de veertiger jaren van de vorige eeuw en schetst het leven van een alleenstaande jonge vrouw die samen met haar zoon zo goed en zo kwaad als het kan verbetering aan te brengen in haar miserabele leefomstandigheden en een bestaan probeert op te bouwen…recensie lezen >

Thomas Pynchon – Vineland

roman uit 1990
Nederlandse vertaling: Vineland
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Vineland, a zone of blessed anarchy in northern California, is the last refuge of hippiedom, a culture devastated by the sobriety epidemic, Reaganomics, and the Tube. Here, in an Orwellian 1984, Zoyd Wheeler and his daughter Prairie search for Prairie’s long-lost mother, a Sixties radical who ran off with a narc…lees verder >

Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged roman uit 1957Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged

roman uit 1957
Nederlandse vertaling: De kracht van Atlantis
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Opening with the enigmatic question ‘Who is John Galt?’, Atlas Shrugged envisions a world where the ‘men of talent’ – the great innovators, producers and creators – have mysteriously disappeared. With the US economy now faltering, businesswoman Dagny Taggart is struggling to get the transcontinental railroad up and running. For her John Galt is the enemy, but as she will learn, nothing in this situation is quite as it seems…lees verder >

J.D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye roman uit 1951J.D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye

coming of age-roman uit 1951
Nederlandse vertaling: De vanger in het graan
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic coming-of-age story: an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind…lees verder >

James Salter A Sport and a Pastime reviewJames Salter – A Sport and a Pastime

Amerikaanse roman uit 1967
Nederlandse vertaling: Spel en tijdverdrijf
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
A Sport and a Pastime is a seductive classic that established James Salter’s reputation as one of the finest writers of our time. It is remarkable for its eroticism, its luminous prose and its ability to explore the boundaries between what is dreamt and what is lived, between body and soul…lees verder >

Leslie Marmon Silko Ceremony Indiaanse roman uit 1977Leslie Marmon Silko – Ceremony

native American roman
Nederlandse vertaling: Ceremony
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Tayo, a young Second World War veteran of mixed ancestry, is coming home. But, returning to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, he finds himself scarred by his experiences as a prisoner of war, and further wounded by the rejection he finds among his own people. Only by rediscovering the traditions, stories and ceremonies of his ancestors can he start to heal, and find peace…lees verder >

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 novel first editionBetty Smith – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1943 Brooklyn novel
Editorial Rating: ∗∗∗∗∗ (excellent)
The Nolan family are first-generation immigrants to the United States. Originating in Ireland and Austria, their life in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn is poor and deprived, but their sacrifices make it possible for their children to grow up in a land of boundless opportunity. Francie Nolan is the eldest daughter of the family. Alert, imaginative and resourceful, her journey through the first years of a century of profound change is difficult – and transformative…read on >

The Mountain Lion Jean Stafford Novel from 1947 first editionJean Stafford – The Mountain Lion

coming of age-roman uit 1947
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Ralph and Molly are inseparable siblings: united against the stupidity of daily routines, their prim mother and prissy older sisters, the world of adult authority. One summer, they are sent from their childhood home in suburban Los Angeles to their uncle’s Colorado mountain ranch, where they write, hunt, roam. But this untamed wilderness soon becomes tainted by dark stirrings of sexual desire…lees verder >

Wallace Stegner Angle of Repose review en recensieWallace Stegner – Angle of Repose

westernroman uit 1971
Nederlandse vertaling: De fundamenten van ons leven
Winnaar Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1972
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
An iconic novel of the American West — a deeply moving narrative of one family and the traditions of the past. Lyman Ward is a retired professor of history and author of books about the Western frontier, who returns to his ancestral home of Grass Valley, California, in the Sierra Nevada. Living with a debilitating bone disease, he embarks on a search of monumental proportions, as he strives to rediscover the life of his grandmother – now long dead…lees verder >

The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein novel from 1925 first editionGertrude Stein – The Making of Americans

roman uit 1925
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Gertrude Stein sets out to tell “a history of a family’s progress,” radically reworking the traditional family saga novel to encompass her vision of personality and psychological relationships. As the history progresses over three generations, Stein also meditates on her own writing, on the making of The Making of Americans, and on America…lees verder >

John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath

roman uit 1939
Nederlandse vertaling: De druiven der gramschap
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitmuntend)
Shocking and controversial when it was first published, The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck’s Pultizer Prize-winning epic of the Joad family, forced to travel west from Dust Bowl era Oklahoma in search of the promised land of California. Their story is one of false hopes, thwarted desires and powerlessness…lees verder >

John Steinbeck East of Eden roman uit 1952John Steinbeck – East of Eden

roman uit 1952
Nederlandse vertaling: Ten oosten van Eden
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
East of Eden was considered by Steinbeck to be his magnum opus, and its epic scope and memorable characters, exploring universal themes of love and identity, ensure it remains one of America’s most enduring novels…lees verder >

Wallace Thurman – The Blacker the Berry

Harlem Renaissance roman uit 1929
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
One of the most widely read and controversial works of the Harlem Renaissance, and the first novel to openly address prejudice among black Americans and the issue of colorism, The Blacker the Berry is a book of undiminished power about the invidious role of skin color in American society…lees verder >

Edith Wharton The Age of Innocense novel from 1920 first editionEdith Wharton – The Age of Innocence

roman uit 1920
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Nederlandse vertaling: De jaren van onschuld
The return of the beautiful Countess Olenska into the rigidly conventional society of New York sends reverberations throughout the upper reaches of society. Newland Archer, an eligible young man of the establishment is about to announce his engagement to May Welland, a pretty ingénue, when May’s cousin, Countess Olenska, is introduced into their circle. The Countess brings with her an aura of European sophistication and a hint of scandal, having left her husband and claimed her independence…lees verder >

Edith Wharton The Glimpes of the Moon first edition from 1922Edith Wharton – The Glimpses of the Moon

roman uit 1922
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Inhoud roman: Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young and attractive, but penniless. Gracefully moving through New York high society, they have the right connections but none of the wealth. When they inconveniently fall in love, Susy devises a plan. They will marry and spend a year flitting across Europe, staying in the homes of their rich friends and living off honeymoon gifts until either one of them meets a better, richer prospect…lees verder >

Marguerite Young Miss MacIntosh, My Darling review en recensieMarguerite Young – Miss MacIntosh, My Darling

roman uit 1968
Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
Inhoud roman: This novel is one of the most ambitious and remarkable literary achievements of our time. It is a picaresque, psychological novel—a novel of the road, a journey or voyage of the human spirit in its search for reality in a world of illusion and nightmare. It is an epic of what might be called the Arabian Nights of American life. Marguerite Young’s method is poetic, imagistic, incantatory; in prose of extraordinary richness she tests the nature of her characters—and the nature of reality…lees verder >

Bijpassende boeken en informatie

Afbeelding bovenzijde: E, Robertson (Unsplash)

American Novel, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers, Queer boeken

Brandon Taylor – Minor Black Figures

Brandon Taylor Minor Black Figures review and information of the content of the new novel by the American author. Riverhead Books will publish the new Brandon Taylor novel, on October 14, 2025. 

Brandon Taylor Minor Black Figures review

  • “Taylor’s most accomplished novel – a sustained, idiosyncratic portrait of an artist.” (The New York Times Book Review)
  • “Brandon Taylor is a literary superstar … Taylor’s third novel [is] a smart and soulful exploration set in the world of art (both contemporary and historical). The book deftly explores race and sexuality, religion and community, and the way love can change a life.” (The Boston Globe)
  • “A meditative, illuminating portrait of friendship and competition, belief systems and the connections between us all.” (People)
  • “Dazzling … a poetic meditation on Black art, friendship, young love and intimacy.” (USA Today)

Brandon Taylor Minor Black Figures

Minor Black Figures

  • Author: Brandon Taylor (United States)
  • Book type: American novel
  • Publisher: Riverhead Books
  • Released: 14 October 2025
  • Length: 400 pages
  • Format: hardcover / paperback / ebook / audiobook
  • Prize: $ 39.00
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the new novel by Brandon Taylor

The story of a gay Black painter navigating the worlds of art, desire, and creativity.

New York simmers with heat and unrest as Wyeth, a painter, finds himself at an impasse in his own work.

After attending a dubious show put on by a collective of careerist artists, he retreats to a bar in the West Village where he meets Keating, a former seminarian. Over the long summer, as the two get to know each another, they talk and argue about God, sex, and art.

Meanwhile, at his job working for an art restorer, Wyeth begins to investigate the life and career of a forgotten, minor black artist. His search yields potential answers to questions that Wyeth is only now beginning to ask about what it means to be a black artist making black art amid the mess and beauty of life itself.

As he did so brilliantly in the Booker Prize finalist Real Life and the bestselling The Late Americans, Brandon Taylor brings alive a captivating set of characters, this time at work and at play in the competitive art world. Minor Black Figures is a vividly etched portrait, both sweeping and tender, of friendship, creativity, belief, and the deep connections among them.

Brandon Taylor is born June 1, 1989 in Prattville, Alabama. He  the author of the novels The Late Americans and Real Life, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Science + Literature Selected Title by the National Book Foundation. His collection Filthy Animals, a national bestseller, was awarded The Story Prize and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. He lives in New York City.

Matching books

American Novel, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers

Jay McInerney – See You on the Other Side

Jay McInerney See You on the Other Side review and information of the content of new novel by the American author. Knopf will publish the Jay McInerney novel, on April 14, 2026. Here you can read information about the content of the book, the author and the publication.

Jay McInerney See You ont the Other Side reviews

Whenever a review of See You on the Other Side, Jay McInerney’s new novel, appears in the media, we’ll highlight it on this page.

Jay McInerney See You on the Other Side

See You on the Other Side

  • Author: Jay McInerney (United States)
  • Book type: American novel
  • Publisher: Knopf
  • To be released: April 14, 2026
  • Length: 304 pages
  • Format: hardback / ebook / audiobook
  • Prize: $ 30.00
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the new Jay McInerney novel

Once again brilliantly combining the lyrical observation of F. Scott Fitzgerald with the laser-bright social satire of Evelyn Waugh, Jay McInerney gives us the stunningly accomplished and profoundly affecting final volume in the tetralogy charting the marriage of Russell and Corrinne Calloway, now in their sixties, against the backdrop of various crises that have bedeviled our society in the past forty years.

The celebration of the thirty-fifth wedding anniversary of Russell Calloway’s best friend, Washington Lee—the least likely monogamist of his acquaintance somehow having become over the years a model husband and father—at the Odeon in the Spring of 2020 sparks an at once funny and moving autumnal reckoning with mortality as the specter of the Covid-19 virus spreads. In this moment of unprecedented upheaval—frantic and fraught real-time response, piercing personal and political impact—the Calloways find themselves and their marriage tested in ways they could never have anticipated as fatal consequences ensue.

Jay McInerney was born January 13, 1955 in Hartford, Connecticut. He is the author of eight novels, two collections of short stories, and three collections of essays on wine. His latest book, Bright, Precious Days, was published in 2016. He lives in New York City and Bridgehampton, New York.

Matching books

Amerikaanse Schrijvers, Biografie

Steven J. Zipperstein – Philip Roth biografie

Steven J. Zipperstein Philip Roth biografie recensie, review en informatie over de inhoud van het boek over de Amerikaanse schrijver. Op 14 oktober 2025 verschijnt bij Yale University Press in de reeks Jewish Lives de nieuwe Philip Roth biografie. Het boek is geschreven door Steven J. Zipperstein. Een Nederlandse vertaling van het boek is niet verkrijgbaar.

Steven J. Zipperstein Philip Roth biografie recensie en review

  • “Steven Zipperstein’s appreciation of Philip Roth is literary biography at its best. Acute and original judgments of Roth’s written worlds come embraided with revelatory portrayals of the worlds Roth inhabited, scrutinized, and provoked, and of Roth himself, solemn and hilarious, voraciously curious, a boundless sensual spirit riven by his craft.” (Sean Wilentz)
  • “This is one of the fairest and finest literary biographies I have read, with the emphasis on literary. Zipperstein does Philip Roth and his life’s work more than justice. He has produced a book that is a work of literature itself. Not every writer is what Roth called (and was called) ‘a writer’s writer.’ And not every scribe who undertakes to write a major life is truly a writer’s biographer. Zipperstein is one.” (Judith Thurman)

Steven J. Zipperstein Philip Roth

Philip Roth

Strung by Life

  • Auteur: Steven J. Zipperstein (Verenigde Staten)
  • Soort boek: biografie
  • Taal: Engels
  • Uitgever: Yale University Press
  • Reeks: Jewish Lives
  • Verschijnt: 14 oktober 2025
  • Omvang: 368 pagina’s
  • Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook
  • Prijs: $ 28,00
  • Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol

Flaptekst van de biografie van Philip Roth door Steven J. Zipperstein

A landmark biography of one of our most prominent chroniclers of American life.

In this groundbreaking literary biography, Steven J. Zipperstein captures the complex life and astonishing work of Philip Roth (1933–2018), one of America’s most celebrated writers. Born in Newark, New Jersey—where his short stories and books were often set—Roth wrote with ambition and awareness of what was required to produce great literature. No writer was more dedicated to his craft, even as he was rubbing shoulders with the Kennedys and engaging in a spate of famous and infamous romances. And yet, as much as Roth wrote about sex and self, he viewed himself as socially withdrawn, living much like an “unchaste monk” (his words).

Zipperstein explores the unprecedented range of Roth’s work—from “Goodbye, Columbus” and Portnoy’s Complaint to the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Pastoral and The Plot Against America. Drawing on extensive archival materials and over one hundred interviews, including conversations with Roth about his life and work, Zipperstein provides an intimate and insightful look at one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers, placing his work in the context of his obsessions, as well as American Jewishness, freedom, and sexuality.

Steven J. Zipperstein is born in 1950. He is the Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University. He is the author or editor of ten books, including Rosenfeld’s Lives: Fame, Oblivion, and the Furies of Writing and Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Bijpassende boeken

American Novel, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers, coming-of-age roman

Ron Rindo – Life, and Death, and Giants

Ron Rindo Life, and Death, and Giants review and information of the content of the new novel by the American author. St. Martin’s Press will publish the new Ron Rindo novel, on october 11, 2025. 

Ron Rindo Life, and Death, and Giants review

  • “Life, and Death, and Giants is an intriguing and alluring novel from beginning to end. The events are startling, sad, amusing, invigorating, and informative. Reading it is like meeting a family that you never knew existed and becoming close friends in a few weeks. Highly recommended.” (Jane Smiley)
  • “A rare novel … Unbearably moving, yet hopeful and transcendent in all the best ways. Just read it. Lose yourself in it. Be changed by it.” (Jennie Godfrey)
  • “A small-town novel as magical and moral as a tall tale.” (Stewart O’Nan)

Ron Rindo Life, and Death, and Giants

Life, and Death, and Giants

  • Author: Ron Rindo (United States)
  • Book type: American novel
  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
  • To be released: 11 October 2025
  • Length: 336 pages
  • Format: hardcover / ebook
  • Prize:
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the new book by Ron Rindo

A remarkable child transforms a small rural community – and, soon, the world.

In Lakota, Wisconsin, a young, unmarried Amish woman births a miraculous, eighteen-pound baby, and no one in the community knows what to make of the boy.

Raised by his brother on a struggling farm, Gabriel Fisher walks at eight months, communicates with animals and possesses astonishing athletic abilities. When his brother dies, Gabriel is taken in by his devout grandparents and, for a time, he disappears into the anonymity of Amish life.

But then, aged seventeen and nearly eight feet tall, Gabriel is spotted working in a hayfield by the local football coach and his life changes for ever.

In Life, and Death, and Giants, Gabriel’s extraordinary, timeless story is told by those whose lives are transformed by him: the veterinarian who delivers him and becomes his mentor; his grandmother, who is troubled by a deep void in her faith; the salty bar owner who acts as a bridge between the Amish and English communities in Lakota; and the football coach who tries to counsel Gabriel as his fame explodes, with consequences that no one could have anticipated.

Ron Rindo is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. He has published one previous novel, Breathing Lake Superior, and three short story collections. He lives in Pickett, Wisconsin.

Matching books

Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers

James McBride – De hemel & aarde winkel

James McBride De hemel & aarde winkel recensie en informatie over de inhoud van de Amerikaanse roman. Op 9 oktober 2025 verschijnt bij Meridiaan Uitgevers de Nederlandse vertaling van The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, de roman van James McBride. de Afro-Amerikaanse schrijver. Hier lees je informatie over de inhoud van de roman, de auteur en over de uitgave.

James McBride De hemel & aarde winkel recensie

  • “Dit is zo’n roman die een deel van je wordt. Het is een geweldig boek. Elk personage is rijk, elk detail is rijk. Ik kan dit boek van harte aanbevelen. Hij is een geweldige auteur en ik denk dat dit zijn beste werk is.” (Harlan Coben)
  • “Een echte McBride: hij schuwt geen gewaagde uitspraken over de nationale catastrofes van ras en xenofobie, en hij geeft ons altijd een lepeltje suiker om de pijn te verzachten. De kers op de taart zijn McBrides scherpe dialogen en moordmysterie-waardige plotwendingen; de grote persoonlijkheden en grotere verhaallijnen van zijn personages; zijn gevatte, snelle humor; en proza ​​zo wendbaar en uitbundig dat het lezen van hem voelt als een jazzjamsessie … McBride lezen voelt gewoon goed – we worden getroost en vermaakt, en voorbereid op de harde lessen die hij ons ook leert.” (The Atlantic)
  • “Met dit verhaal legt McBride op briljante wijze een snel veranderend land vast, gezien door de ogen van de recent aangekomenen en de voormalige slaven… En door deze evocatie biedt McBride ons een grondige herinnering: tegen schijnbaar onmogelijke verwachtingen in, zelfs te midden van de meest kwaadaardige plannen van de mensheid, kunnen liefde, gemeenschap en actie ons redden.” (The New York Times Book Review)

James McBride De hemel & aarde winkel

De hemel & aarde winkel

  • Auteur: James McBride (Verenigde Staten)
  • Soort boek: Amerikaanse roman
  • Origineel: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023)
  • Nederlandse vertaling: Kees Mollema
  • Uitgever: Meridiaan Uitgevers
  • Verschijnt: 9 oktober 2025
  • Omvang: 460 pagina’s
  • Uitgave: paperback / ebook
  • Prijs: € 27,99 / € 13,99
  • Boek bestellen bij: Boekenwereld / Bol / Libris

Flaptekst van de roman van James McBride

De Hemel & Aarde Winkel begint in 1972, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, als bij graafwerkzaamheden een skelet en wat voorwerpen, zoals een mezoeze, worden aangetroffen – wat de politie ertoe brengt de enige joodse inwoner van het stadje te ondervragen. Het onderzoek wordt echter bemoeilijkt wanneer de plaats delict wordt weggevaagd door orkaan Agnes.

McBride keert vervolgens terug naar het Pottstown van de jaren twintig en dertig en beschrijft het leven van de inwoners van de overwegend arme zwarte en joodse wijk Chicken Hill. Het joodse echtpaar Moshe en Chona Ludlow zijn eigenaar van een theater met danszaal, en van een kruidenierswinkel, De Hemel & Aarde Winkel. Een van de zwarte inwoners vraagt de Ludlows om een dove jongen, Dodo, te verbergen voor de autoriteiten die hem willen opnemen in een beruchte psychiatrische inrichting. De plaatselijke arts, lid van de Ku Klux Klan, heeft racistische, xenofobe motieven en wordt helaas door veel blanke inwoners gesteund in zijn beleid. De zwarte en joodse dorpsbewoners komen uiteindelijk in actie om de jongen te helpen.

Een favoriet boek van Barack Obama, inmiddels zo’n 1.500.000 exemplaren verkocht in Amerika, uitgeroepen als beste boek van het jaar door boekhandelsketen Barnes & Noble, Amazon, én de zelfstandige boekhandels — om maar wat aanbevelingen te noemen. Bovendien heeft de roman de National Book Award ontvangen.

James McBride (is geboren op 11 september 1957 in Brooklyn, New York. Hij studeerde compositie aan het Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio en journalistiek aan de Columbia University. Zijn werk is verschenen in Essence, Rolling Stone en The New York Times. Spike Lee verfilmde in 2008 McBride’s debuutroman Miracle at St. Anna, het script schreef McBride. McBride is een bekroond auteur, muzikant en scenarioschrijver. Zijn baanbrekende memoir uit 1996, The Color of Water, De kleur van water, stond meer dan twee jaar op de bestsellerlijst van The New York Times. In 2002 verscheen Miracle at St. Anna, die in het Nederlands is vertaald als Het wonder van Santa Anna. Ook schreef hij Kill ‘Em and Leave, vertaald als James Brown op zoek naar de Godfather of Soul. Zijn roman The Good Lord Bird uit 2013 werd in het Nederlands vertaald als Lieveheersvogel. In 2015 ontving hij de National Humanities Medal van president Obama ‘voor het menselijk maken van de complexiteit van het debat over ras in Amerika’.

Bijpassende boeken en informatie

Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers

Eric Puchner – Dream State

Eric Puchner Dream State recensie, review en informatie over de inhoud van de roman van de Amerikaanse schrijver. Op 8 oktober 2025 verschijnt bij Uitgeverij Ambo | Anthos de Nederlandse vertaling van Dream State, de roman van Eric Puchner. Hier lees je informatie over de inhoud van het boek, de auteur en over de uitgave.

Eric Puchner Dream State recensie

  • “Wonderschoon. Met een van de meest ontroerende en bevredigende laatste hoofdstukken die ik in jaren heb gelezen.” (The Washington Post)
  • “Een frisse blik op het huwelijk en een prachtige, urgente overdenking van de grote gevolgen van kleine keuzes.” (The New York Times)
  • “Een schitterend panoramisch verhaal over familiebanden… Puchner vertelt zijn verhaal zo meeslepend, zo boeiend, met zoveel warmte en humor, dat je pas wanneer je het boek weglegt, de genialiteit van wat hij heeft gedaan kunt waarderen.” (Guardian)

Eric Puchner Dream State

Dream State

  • Auteur: Eric Puchner (Verenigde Staten)
  • Soort boek: Amerikaanse roman
  • Origineel: Dream State (2025)
  • Nederlandse vertaling: Peter Abelsen
  • Uitgever: Ambo | Anthos
  • Verschijnt: 8 oktober 2025
  • Omvang: 384 pagina’s
  • Uitgave: paperback / ebook / luisterboek
  • Prijs: € 24,99 / € 13,99 / € 16,99
  • Boek bestellen bij: Boekenwereld / Bol / Libris

Flaptekst van de roman van Eric Puchner

Cece arriveert in Montana bij het huis van haar toekomstige schoonfamilie om haar en Charlies bruiloft voor te bereiden. De bruidegom heeft zijn beste vriend, Garrett, een nurkse, getraumatiseerde man, als ceremoniemeester gevraagd. Omdat Charlie later komt zijn Cece en Garrett de eerste dagen op elkaar aangewezen. Bijna ongemerkt legt Garrett zijn norse masker af en Cece begint steeds meer te twijfelen aan haar toekomst. De gebeurtenissen van die zomer hebben niet alleen verstrekkende gevolgen voor henzelf, maar werpen ook een lange schaduw over het leven van hun kinderen.

Vijftig jaar omspannend en tegen de achtergrond van een opwarmend Montana, onderzoekt Dream State wat het betekent om te leven met gemaakte fouten uit het verleden, zowel die van onszelf als die van generaties voor ons.

Eric Puchner is geboren in 1970. Hij auteur en universitair hoofddocent aan Johns Hopkins University. Zijn essays verschenen o.a. in GQ, Granta, McSweeney’s. Hij ontving een Award in Literature van de American Academy of Arts and Letters. Dream State is zijn meest recente roman.

Bijpassende boeken

Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers, Amerikaanse thrillers

Thomas Pynchon – Shadow Ticket

Thomas Pynchon Shadow Ticket review, recensie en informatie over de inhoud van de roman van de Amerikaanse schrijver. Op 7 oktober 2025 verschijnt bij Jonathan Cape de nieuwe roman van Thomas Pynchon de schrijver uit de Verenigde Staten. Er is geen Nederlandse vertaling van het boek verkrijgbaar.

Thomas Pynchon Shadow Ticket review en recensie

  • “Pynchon’s gift has always been his ability to render America in its full strangeness … The book is full of exuberance. Pynchon’s sentences themselves are so alive, so pleasurable … The fact that Shadow Ticket is brilliant and prescient isn’t a surprise; that it exudes so much joy and sensuousness is.” (Megan Nolan, Daily Telegraph)
  • “Brilliant fun … Rollicking … Pynchon’s prose is still as balletically dazzling as the trick shot Lew teaches Hicks… It’s not just that no one else writes quite like Pynchon; it’s that no one even tries.” (The Washington Post)
  • “Pynchon’s livewire prose hops from subject to subject, joins the dots and makes patterns … The novel sets out with a song in its heart and mischievous spring in its step, but it edges into darkness.” (Guardian)
  • “A 1930s detective tale with a sucker punch ending . . . Dark as a vampire’s pocket, light-fingered as a jewel thief, Shadow Ticket capers across the page with breezy, baggy-pants assurance – and then pauses on its way down the fire escape just long enough to crack your heart open.” (Los Angeles Times)

Thomas Pynchon Shadow Ticket

Shadow Ticket

  • Auteur: Thomas Pynchon (Verenigde Staten)
  • Soort boek: Amerikaanse roman, misdaadroman
  • Taal: Engels
  • Uitgever: Jonathan Cape
  • Verschijnt: 7 oktober 2025
  • Omvang: 304 pagina’s
  • Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook / luisterboek
  • Prijs: £ 22,00 / £ 11,99 / £ 14,00
  • Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Boekenwereld

Flaptekst van de nieuwe roman van Thomas Pynchon

A private eye is catapulted on to a continent-hopping journey that proves difficult to escape – from the bestselling, award-winning American author Thomas Pynchon.

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labour-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement – and of course no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing.

By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with.

Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can’t see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.

Thomas Pynchon is born on 8 May 1937 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York. Pynchon is often noted for his complex works of postmodern fiction, which are often characterized by dense Vineland Thomas Pynchon novel from 1990 first editionreferences to history, popular culture, literature, music, science, and mathematics, as well as by humor and explorations of paranoia. He is the author of the novels V., The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity’s Rainbow, Vineland, Mason & Dixon, Against the Day, Inherent Vice and Bleeding Edge. Also he wrote Slow Learner, a collection of short stories, published in 1984. He received the National Book Award for Gravity’s Rainbow in 1974.

Bijpassende boeken

American Novel, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers

John Irving – Queen Esther Novel

John Irving Queen Esther Novel review and information of the content of the new book by the American author. Simon & Schuster will publish the new John Irving novel, on November 6, 2025. The Dutch translation of the novel is also titled Queen Esther, 

John Irving Queen Esther novel review

Whenever a book review or commentary of John Irving’s new novel, Queen Esther, appears in the media, we will highlight it on this page.

John Irving Queen Esther novel

Queen Esther

  • Author: John Irving (United States)
  • Book type: American novel
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • To be released: 6 November 2025
  • Length: 256 pages
  • Format: hardcover / ebook / luisterboek
  • Prize: $ 30.00 / $ 14.99 / $ 16.99
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the new book by John Irving

After forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther—a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism.

Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; in fact, he won’t find any family who’ll adopt her.

When Esther is fourteen, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows. In the final chapter, set in Jerusalem in 1981, Esther Nacht is seventy-six.

John Irving’s sixteenth novel is a testament to his enduring ability to weave complex characters and intricate narratives that challenge and captivate. Queen Esther is not just a story of survival but a profound exploration of identity, belonging, and the enduring impact of history on our personal lives showcasing why Irving remains one of the world’s most beloved, provocative, and entertaining authors—a storyteller of our time and for all time.

The Dutch translation of the novel is also titled Queen Esther, and wil be published on November 4, 2025.

John Irving was born on 2 March 1942 in Exeter, New Hampshire. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven. He is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 1980, Mr. Irving won a National Book Award for his novel The World According to Garp. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for his novel In One Person. Internationally renowned, his novels have been translated into almost forty languages. His all-time bestselling novel, in every language, is A Prayer for Owen Meany. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, John Irving lives in Toronto.

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Salman Rushdie – The Eleventh Hour

Salman Rushdie The Eleventh Hour review and information of the content of the new with stories by the Indian born English-American author. Jonathan Cape will publish the new Ron Rindo novel, on November 4, 2025. 

Salman Rushdie The Eleventh Hour reviews

  • “More than 40 years after Midnight’s Children, there is still nobody who spins a yarn quite like Salman Rushdie.” (Spectator)
  • “Rushdie has not just enlarged literature’s capacities, he has expanded the world’s imaginative possibilities.” (The Times)

Salman Rushdie The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour

  • Author: Salman Rushdie (England, United States)
  • Book type: stories
  • Publisher: Jonathan Cape
  • Released: 4 November 2025
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Format: hardcover / ebook / audiobook
  • Prize: £ 18.99 / £ 9.99 / £ 14.00
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the new book with stories by Salman Rushdie

If old age was thought of as an evening, ending in midnight oblivion, they were well into the eleventh hour.

Two quarrelsome old men in Chennai, India, experience private tragedy against the backdrop of national calamity. Revisiting the Bombay neighbourhood of Midnight’s Children, a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire. In an English university college, an undead academic asks a lonely student to avenge his former tormentor.

These five dazzling works of fiction move between the three countries that Salman Rushdie has called home – India, England and America – and explore what it means to approach the eleventh hour of life. They are the reckoning with mortality that we all must one day make, and speak deeply to what the author has come from and through.

Do we accommodate ourselves to death, or rail against it? How can we bid farewell to the places that we have made home? How do we achieve fulfilment with our lives if we don’t know the end of our own stories? The Eleventh Hour ponders life and death, legacy and identity with the penetrating insight and boundless imagination that have made Salman Rushdie one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

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