Tag Archives: Books
‘Trust Me’ Tackles Politics, Power, and Perception
Austin author Richard Z. Santos’ debut thriller takes readers behind the scenes of corruption and scandal.
Never become the story. This is the cardinal rule for political campaign staffers, at least according to Charles O’Connell, the protagonist in Richard Z. Sant...Read More
13 Small Texas Presses to Read Right Now
These 13 Texas-based independent presses and publishers have offered diverse, boundary-pushing literature for years, even decades.
There’s no better time for reading than when you’re curled up in your home. Books offer a retreat from the chaos of the world—something we could all use a...Read More
In ‘Barn 8,’ an Unsparing Look at the Industrial Chicken Industry
Deb Olin Unferth’s darkly comic novel imagines a chicken heist gone wrong—and takes on the factory farming industry.
The average American eats about 279 eggs each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and that’s no surprise. Eggs are cheap and available ever...Read More
Gabriel García Márquez and the (Comforting) Case for Embracing Failure
A new Austin exhibit reveals how much the acclaimed Colombian writer struggled to make a living and find success.
If you’re a writer on Twitter, there’s a fair chance this letter has popped up on your timeline in the past few days. It’s a rejection from the Ne...Read More
17 Great Books on the Border to Read Instead of ‘American Dirt’
There’s no shortage of talented Latinx writers with all kinds of stories to tell. Let’s make space for them.
If you’ve been online in the past few months, you’ve probably seen ads for American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins’ heavily promoted new novel about Mexican-Americ...Read More
The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.
Author Samuel Woolley argues that a slew of new technologies will further degrade political life unless we rein them in.
In 2013, when Samuel Woolley began studying online misinformation as a graduate student at the University of Washington, hardly anyone was worried about the sub...Read More
The 30 Best Texas Books of The Decade, from Amarillo to Utopia
As you scramble for a holiday gift or ponder what you’d like to peruse by the fire, we’ve got 10 years of Texas books to suggest.
The twists and turns of these 30 Texas novels, nonfiction narratives, and other works published between January 2010 and December 2019 reveal undercurrents that...Read More
An Observer Staff Guide to the 2019 Texas Book Festival
It’s an embarrassment of riches.
The 24th annual Texas Book Festival, happening this Saturday and Sunday in downtown Austin, is expected to draw approximately 50,000 curious readers to hear fro...Read More
American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?
Physician Marty Makary’s new book shows how sky-high medical bills can ruin patients’ lives—but puts the burden on individuals to demand change.
Add yet another first place health care ranking no one wants for Texas: We have the highest hospital bills in the country. A new study has found that Texas pr...Read More
