Michael Schaub
Michael Schaub is a writer, book critic and regular contributor to NPR Books. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Portland Mercury and The Austin Chronicle, among other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.
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The tensions that arise between two peoples, especially the ones felt by Chinese Americans, form a throughline in Gish Jen's brilliant new collection. -
New York Times writer Peter S. Goodman does not like Davos Man. At all. And his new book does an excellent job explaining why — focusing on the rich getting richer as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. -
While Kirby has a clear predilection for the bizarre, she plays some of her stories in her new book, Shit Cassandra Saw, straight — and those are just as entertaining as the fantastical ones. -
It would have been easy for the famous journalist to fall into the nostalgia trap with his memoir, which chronicles his earliest years in the newspaper business. Happily, he doesn't. -
Kyle Lucia Wu's debut follows a young Chinese American woman who takes a job as a nanny to a wealthy white family and never feels like she fits in, even though she bonds with her precocious charge. -
Margaret Verble's novel follows a young Cherokee woman whose life as a horse-diver in Tennessee zoo is derailed by a terrible accident. It's unfocused at times, but definitely a ride worth taking. -
Charlie Barnes, the figure at the center of Ferris' A Calling for Charlie Barnes, is 68 and on his fifth marriage, and after a self-diagnosed cancer scare, he wants his son to write his life story. -
Ye Chun's new story collection Hao takes its name from a Chinese word meaning "good," or "everything's OK" — but the characters in these stories are sick, afraid, out of time, and anything but OK. -
YZ Chin's Edge Case follows a Malaysian immigrant working at a lousy, sexist startup, worried about her marriage and the thought of having to move back home — all topics it handles beautifully. -
Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing for the top court still sticks in the minds of those all along the political spectrum; it's the subject of several books, including a new one by Jackie Calmes.
