GEOFF SCHUMACHER'S LAS VEGAS

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Schumacher Literary Hall of Fame

Here is a list of fiction writers who are among my personal favorites (with a representative book listed alongside). These are not the usual suspects, but some of the lesser-known writers I like. Richard Yates, "Revolutionary Road"; John Fante, "Ask the Dust"; Nelson Algren, "The Man with the Golden Arm"; Frederick Exley, "A Fan's Notes"; Charles Portis, "The Dog of the South"; John Williams, "Stoner"; Patrick Hamilton, "Hangover Square"; Richard Russo, "Empire Falls"; Richard Ford, "The Sportswriter"; Don DeLillo, "White Noise"; Jim Harrison, "True North"; Raymond Carver, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"; Willy Vlautin, "The Motel Life"; Michael Chabon, "The Wonder Boys"; Ian McEwan, "Atonement"; Colson Whitehead, "John Henry Days"; Orhan Pamuk, "Snow"; Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"; Avram Davidson, "Vergil in Averno"

Recent reading: recommended fiction

The Secret of Lost Things (2006), Sheridan Hay; Absurdistan (2006), Gary Shteyngart; Five Skies (2007), Ron Carlson; Citizen Vince (2005), Jess Walter; On Chesil Beach (2007), Ian McEwan; We're in Trouble (2005), Christopher Coake; Returning to Earth (2007), Jim Harrison; The Lay of the Land (2006), Richard Ford

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What's a dogsbody?

It's British slang for "a worker who has to do all the unpleasant or boring jobs that no one else wants to do."

November 2008



Remember Iraq? Dexter Filkins won't soon forget

Mon, 11/24/08 10:53 P GMT-08
With all the chatter lately about the collapse of the U.S. economy, the Iraq occupation is taking a back seat in the news. That's unfortunate, because the disaster continues to unfold over there. A lot of books have been published over the past f

Political notebook: Auto bailout, Lieberman, Franken and more

Wed, 11/19/08 3:42 P GMT-08
1. Let's not bail out the American automakers. They have been so incompetent on so many levels for so long that they don't deserve to be propped up. It'll be a case of throwing good money after bad.2. Sen. Joe Lieberman got off too easy.

Obama wins big; Al Franken apparently does not

Wed, 11/05/08 6:52 A GMT-08
In case you've been in a coma, Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States this morning. There is no controversy. He won big, at least 349 electoral votes (including Nevada's five electoral votes) with a few states still to be counte