After more than 50 years working in the publishing industry, in part at Dell/Delacorte and Simon & Schuster in New York, and for the last 16 years working as Executive Editor here at Algonquin Books, the one and only Chuck Adams is leaving full-time work at the end of this year. To say we willContinue reading

“When you strike a match, it burns brighter in the first nanosecond than it will ever burn again.” The opening line of The Fall of Princes, is right on the money (money, so appropriate) for this novel about the flash-and-burn 1980s. And this is your chance for a quick strike: Enter below for a chanceContinue reading

The results from the Super Book Sunday draft are in! Thanks to all who participated. And here’s your Algonquin first-string: Player #1: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Player #2: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Player #3: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick Player #4: Life After Life by Jill McCorkleContinue reading

Jeff Backhaus’ The Rental Sister is a special book. One you won’t forget and one you won’t be able to stop talking about. It’s a book meant for discussion: What would you do in that situation? Have you ever felt like an outsider in your own life? How can you help someone who isolates himself?Continue reading

The Third Son by Julie Wu: In the middle of a terrifying air raid in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Saburo, the least favored son of a Taiwanese politician, runs through a peach forest for cover. It’s there he stumbles on Yoshiko, whose descriptions of her loving family are to Saburo like a glimpse of paradise. Meeting her is aContinue reading

The first page is what gets you. You cautiously open the book, careful not to crack the spine — not yet — and you glance at the first page. Chapter One. Maybe the Introduction. You’re wary, but you’re going to give the book a chance. Let’s see if the first sentence can grab me. AndContinue reading