Marion Winik

1 month ago | wypr.org | Marion Winik |Lisa Morgan

Will technology and AI will save us, or eventually ruin our lives? On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new novels about dystopias, both past and present, that might make you rethink buying that Apple watch or sharing too much with Alexa: The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami, and The Antidote, by Karen Russell. All titles available at your favorite local bookstore or online at bookshop.org The Weekly Reader WYPR BooksBooksWYPR Artsliterary arts

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Marion Winik

In his seventh book, “Run for the Hills,” Kevin Wilson continues to write about family, the most universal topic there is, in unimaginably unique ways. Unimaginable for everyone but Kevin Wilson, of course. I also considered using the word “unexpected” but we Wilson-lovers have come to expect brazen flourishes and mega-metaphors that no one else would even try to pull off.

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | Marion Winik

Andy Corren is not your typical audiobook narrator, which is evident the moment you turn on Dirtbag Queen (Hachette Audio, 10 hours and 4 minutes), a memoir of his mother (aka “the ravenous and ravishing red-headed Renay”). Corren’s Southern-fried nasal twang and tongue-in-cheek, high-drama declamatory style are as distinctive as the tale he tells and the turbo-charged language he uses to tell it.

1 month ago | telegraphherald.com | Marion Winik

“Atavists,” by Lydia Millet (Norton, 241 pages)Lydia Millet has published more than a dozen novels and two collections of stories; her latest, “Atavists,” is a bit of both — a novel in stories, a deliciously digestible and of-the-moment read. Each chapter of the collection from the “Dinosaurs” novelist gives us a look into the lives of a group of neighbors in Southern California.

1 month ago | bostonherald.com | Marion Winik |Lydia Millet

Lydia Millet has published more than a dozen novels and two collections of stories; her latest, “Atavists,” is a bit of both — a novel in stories, a deliciously digestible and of-the-moment read. Each chapter of the collection from the “Dinosaurs” novelist gives us a look into the lives of a group of neighbors in Southern California. In each chapter, a main character is identified as some kind of “ist” — Tourist, Dramatist, Mixologist, Therapist, Optimist, etc.