Lafayette College Library

Lately Irene has noticed a slew of new fiction revolving around words, books, or characters who write. It’s the type of stuff that makes her heart beat faster. Check these out:

The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault
A recent college grad working for a dictionary publisher uncovers a mystery with clues in unusual citations.

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr
A husband and wife with PhDs in literature move to Hollywood where they run book clubs for film executives.

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker
The musings of a poet with writer’s block.

The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter
A journalist quits his job to start a website featuring poetry on financial issues.

The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
Four-months-worth of collected writings—letters, diary entries, shopping lists, etc.—from a frustrated novelist and the editor of a second-rate literary magazine.

In the Valley of the Kings by Terrence Holt
A collection of short stories, many about the power of a word. In the opening story, a plague is transmitted by a single word marked on its victims’ skin.