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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Author Thomas Healy chronicles how, in 1969, Floyd McKissick went about building a city from scratch, only to have his dreams dashed by a combination of prejudice and bureaucracy. -
This is Gurganus's first book since 2013, and it's worth the wait. These stories are funny, compassionate, and marked by the author's amazing ability to reflect both light and dark in his characters. -
In his new story collection, Kevin Barry proves to be a master at evoking the landscapes of both western Ireland and the human heart; he seems to have an innate sense of why people do what they do. -
Manuel Vilas' quiet, intensely sad new, about a middle-aged man trying to connect with his estranged family while thinking a lot of deep thoughts about death, requires patience, but it's worth it. -
Ellen Cooney's new novel follows an unnamed hospital chaplain on her rounds, as she ministers to patients and grapples with her own internal questions. It's a quiet, inward-looking but hopeful story. -
Bryan Washington's eagerly awaited first novel is set in Houston — just like his short stories — and follows two young gay men whose relationship is tested when one man's mother comes to visit. -
Aoko Matsuda's gently supernatural story collection — all about women who are something more than they seem — gets its unearthly feel not from jump scares, but from the quality of the writing. -
Jonathan Alter tells Carter's life story beautifully and with admirable fairness — while it's evident that he admires Carter, he treats the former president as a real person, as flawed as anyone else. -
In her first book since the critically acclaimed H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald urges us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world — and fight to preserve it. -
In His Truth Is Marching On, Jon Meacham offers an introduction to one decade in the late congressman's life. The book doesn't quite seek to be more, but this may leave some readers disappointed.
