GEOFF SCHUMACHER'S LAS VEGAS

News, Music, Movies, Books and More

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

My profile

Geoff Schumacher

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."

April 2009



Memo to Fox: Release seasons five and six of ‘The Bob Newhart Show'

Thu, 04/30/09 10:08 A GMT-08
I wrote a blog post about this today for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Find it here .

Academy Fine Books has reopened in Las Vegas

Tue, 04/21/09 9:36 P GMT-08
Big news in Las Vegas used book circles: Academy Fine Books has reopened after being down and out for six months after a fire.I recently posted a long piece about all this on the Las Vegas Review-Journal's books blog. It can be found here .So, bo

Las Vegas Sun wins Pulitzer Prize

Mon, 04/20/09 11:44 A GMT-08
This is a huge deal for Las Vegas journalism, the first Pulitzer ever won in Southern Nevada. (The Reno Gazette-Journal won a Pulitzer for editorial writing back in the 1980s.) Link to Pulitzer site here. Congrats to Sun reporter Alexandra Berzon and
Comments/Trackback (1-0)

A couple of cool literary sites

Wed, 04/15/09 6:46 P GMT-08
I came across a couple of really cool literary sites:The New Canon (click here ), according to its home page, "focuses on great works of fiction published since 1985. These books represent the finest literature of the current era, and are gainin

A first-quarter tally of best albums of 2009

Mon, 04/06/09 9:01 P GMT-08
It's early. A lot of year to go, and lots of albums still unheard (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Green Day, Wilco . . .). But this is what I've been listening to so far in 2009:1. Dan Auerbach, Keep It Hid. The Black Keys guitarist/voca