Book cover of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog

Book description

The "Young Dog" of the title is of course Thomas himself, and this volume of autobiographical stories by the great modern poet, who died at 39 while on his third lecture tour in the United States, shows his waggish humor at its best, his exuberance and verbal magic in spectacular…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

These stories appeal to my appreciation of style in a perhaps peculiar way: I want to know.

How does a great poet sound when he’s writing prose? Especially a poet whose exalted work leaves many readers mystified. These are satisfying and memorable stories, and they gave me a look into what this poet saw, thought about, and prosaically wrote about in his youth.

Precise prose is, to my mind, the prime element of powerful writing, and these stories satisfied my search. 

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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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