Daily Books - The Austin Chronicle

Review: The Annotated Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler, born in Chicago in 1888, raised mostly in London, fought in the trenches in World War I, dogged by failure, identity crisis, and alcoholism. Flopped as a poet and journalist. Fired from a high-paying job as an oil executive. Focus came in 1932 when he retyped a Dashiell Hammett story and studied every line, word, and nuance.

2:11PM Fri. Jul. 27, 2018, Jesse Sublett Read More | Comment »

Review: The Big Book of the Continental Op

In the late 1930s, when the fangs of fascism were getting ready to gobble up Europe, America saw its destiny to be the tough guy on the international beat, and a handful of smart left-wingers created one of the most enduring literary protagonists of modern times: the hard-boiled detective.

10:37AM Fri. Jul. 27, 2018, Jesse Sublett Read More | Comment »

Crime Month: Appreciating Mary Higgins Clark

Suspense as a genre is supposed to make you anxious, not balance you out. But these are weird times. That’s why, when the world feels like nothing but a string of Russian indictments, presidential gaffes, and natural disasters, it’s comforting to bury myself in the mysteries of Mary Higgins Clark, whose books helped introduce me to the genre as a kid.

10:30AM Mon. Jul. 23, 2018, Nina Hernandez Read More | Comment »

TODAY'S EVENTS

Affordable Art Fair

Palmer Events Center

Valley Flower, Tony Kamel (album release) at Continental Club

Ricky Sim: Coming Out to Dead People at ColdTowne Theater

MUSIC | MOVIES | ARTS | COMMUNITY

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso

Well, bleak me the fuck out.   And then do it again, please, Nick Drnaso. Because even the tastiest vinegar, when a person’s finally done sipping at it, makes the next bite of plain bread – the very stuff of life, right? – makes that bread taste so goddam sweet.

7:58AM Tue. Jul. 10, 2018, Wayne Alan Brenner Read More | Comment »

The Winner by Karl Stevens

On the afternoon of the last day I saw Karl Stevens alive, I used a large rock to bash out the rear valence window on the driver’s side of my Toyota Echo.

8:00AM Mon. Jul. 9, 2018, Wayne Alan Brenner Read More | Comment »

Primed for Some Literary Vibranium?

This being the Year of Black Panther hasn't escaped the notice of Austin’s African American Book Festival. With the slogan "Literary Vibranium," the 12th edition on June 23 features local comics scribe Evan Narcisse (Rise of the Black Panther) and Paul Coates, father to Black Panther writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

4:00PM Fri. Jun. 22, 2018, Robert Faires Read More | Comment »

Mohsin Hamid Speaks to Mayor's Book Club

It was as if a rectangle door of Exit West had opened into the Austin Central Library and migrants through time had poured into its Special Event Center for a transient moment en route to their next destination. So it felt on Wed., April 11, when Mohsin Hamid, author of the much-praised novel, arrived as a guest of the Mayor's Book Club.

4:30PM Mon. Apr. 16, 2018, Sumaiya Malik Read More | Comment »

The Reader's Field Guide to Michael Noll

The night of Michael Noll’s BookPeople reading, the seating ran out quickly. Then the standing room ran out. Soon, people were all the way into the children’s section. Finally, all of Noll’s books ran out. It was a madness worthy of an established literary icon — which seems to be Noll’s future. For now, he’s the new author with the entire city behind him.

11:30AM Wed. Apr. 4, 2018, Katarina Brown Read More | Comment »

Five Pet Cats in Modern Fiction

Yes, it's a listicle – a listicle of books! Because, after you finish consuming this post and all the rest of the content we’ve provided for the Chronicle’s Pet Issue, the first thing you’ll want to do is grab a thick chunk of dead-tree media and keep on reading, right?

2:00PM Thu. Feb. 15, 2018, Wayne Alan Brenner Read More | Comment »

« 1 ‹ BACK 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NEXT › 107 »

PHOTO GALLERIES

Austin Psych Fest 2025

MORE PHOTO GALLERIES >