Morgan Vogt's 3 favorite reads in 2024

“An expedition into the troubled soul of one of the world’s greatest songwriters.”—Haaretz

“A fascinating and intense account of Leonard Cohen’s time in Israel during the 19-day Yom Kippur War of 1973. A must for any Leonard Cohen completist.”—Suzanne Vega

AVanity FairBest Book of 2022 *Mosaic Magazine Best Book of 2022

The untold story of Leonard Cohen’s concert tour to the front lines of the Yom Kippur War, including never-before-seen selections from an unfinished manuscript by Cohen and rare photographs

In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled to… show more.

Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary."

Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he… show more.

Deadpan is a mordantly funny novel that skewers prejudice and scoffs at ignorance, opposing hate with humor. The story follows the misadventures of a vaguely antisemitic West Virginia Buick dealer who wakes up one day transformed into the world’s most popular Jewish comedian. Steeped in magical realism, the narrative confronts the pivotal issues of our day: identity, intolerance, tribalism and the redemptive force of humor.

Set during the world-wide oil crises of the 1970s, the narrative alternates among locations in West Virginia, Las Vegas, Washington, Tehran, and Sinai, and featuring characters as diverse as Sarah Palin, Mel Brooks, and the… show more.