Have Words–Will Write 'Em

Her second novel binds together a metaphorical story of human genetic engineering and art forgery. Though the book might sound like science fiction or pulp mystery, Amend’s A Nearly Perfect Copy is a realistic and very human tale, filled with guilt, ethical dilemma and desperation.

Click the image below to read my review in the June 16, 2013, edition of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

You can buy A Nearly Perfect Copy at Barnes & Noble

Here are some books I’m looking forward to reading and possible reviewing. What upcoming books are you eager to read?

Rawi Hage
Carnival: A novel
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (June 17, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0393072428
ISBN-13: 978-0393072426

Mark Slouka
Brewster: A novel
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 5, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0393239756
ISBN-13: 978-0393239751

Robert Pinsky
Singing School : Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 5, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0393050688
ISBN-13: 978-0393050684

Alexander Maksik
A Marker To Measure Drift: A novel
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Knopf (July 30, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0307962571
ISBN-13: 978-0307962577

Peter Orner,
Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge: Short stories
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (August 6, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0316224642
ISBN-13: 978-0316224642

Carolyn Cooke
Amor and Psycho: Stories
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Knopf (August 6, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0307594742
ISBN-13: 978-0307594747

Paul Yoon
Snow Hunters: A novel
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (August 6, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1476714819
ISBN-13: 978-1476714813

Patricia Engle
It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris: A novel
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (August 6, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0802121519
ISBN-13: 978-0802121516

Rick Bass
All the Land to Hold Us: A novel
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (August 13, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0547687125
ISBN-13: 978-0547687124

Steve Yarbrough
The Realm of Last Chances: A novel
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Knopf (August 13, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0385349505
ISBN-13: 978-0385349505

Andrea Barrett
Archangel: Short stories
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 19, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0393240002
ISBN-13: 978-0393240009

Larry Watson
Let Him Go: A novel
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Milkweed Editions (September 3, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1571311025
ISBN-13: 978-1571311023

Margaret Atwood
MaddAddam: A novel
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Nan A. Talese (September 3, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0385528787
ISBN-13: 978-0385528788

J. M. Coetzee
The Childhood of Jesus: A novel
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult (September 3, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0670014656
ISBN-13: 978-0670014651

Daniel Woodrell
The Maid’s Version: A novel
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (September 3, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0316205850
ISBN-13: 978-0316205856

Kathryn Davis
Duplex: A novel
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Graywolf Press (September 3, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1555976530
ISBN-13: 978-1555976538

Paul Harding
Enon: A novel
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Random House (September 10, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1400069432
ISBN-13: 978-1400069439

Norman Rush
Subtle Bodies: A novel
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Knopf (September 10, 2013)
ISBN-10: 140004250X
ISBN-13: 978-1400042500

Jonathon Lethem
Dissident Gardens: A novel
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (September 10, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0385534930
ISBN-13: 978-0385534932

David Vann
Goat Mountain: A novel
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Harper (September 10, 2013)
ISBN-10: 006212109X
ISBN-13: 978-0062121097

Laura Furman
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2013: The Best Stories of the Year
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Anchor Books; Original edition (September 10, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0345803256
ISBN-13: 978-0345803252

Robert Bly
Stealing Sugar from the Castle: Selected and New Poems, 1950-2013
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (September 16, 2013)
ISBN-10: 039324007X
ISBN-13: 978-0393240078

Nicholson Baker
Traveling Sprinkler: A novel
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Blue Rider Press (September 17, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0399160965
ISBN-13: 978-0399160967

Thomas Pynchon
Bleeding Edge: A novel
Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (September 17, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1594204233
ISBN-13: 978-1594204234

Allan Gurganus
Local Souls (Three novellas)
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Liveright (September 23, 2013)
ISBN-10: 087140379X
ISBN-13: 978-0871403797

Jhumpa Lahiri
The Lowland : A novel
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Knopf (September 24, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0307265749
ISBN-13: 978-0307265746

Julian Barnes
Levels of Life –A memoir
Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Knopf (September 24, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0385350775
ISBN-13: 978-0385350778

Kevin Barry
Dark Lies the Island: Short stories
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Graywolf Press; First Edition (September 24, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1555976514
ISBN-13: 978-1555976514

Bill Bryson
One Summer: America 1927
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (October 1, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0767919408
ISBN-13: 978-0767919401

Margaret Drabble
The Pure Gold Baby
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 1, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0544158903
ISBN-13: 978-0544158900

T. C. Boyle
Stories II: The Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle, Volume II:
Hardcover: 944 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult (October 3, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0670026255
ISBN-13: 978-0670026258

Andre Dubus
Dirty Love: A novel
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (October 7, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0393064654
ISBN-13: 978-0393064650

John Freeman
How to Read a Novelist
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: FSG Originals (October 8, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0374173265
ISBN-13: 978-0374173265

Cormac McCarthy
The Counselor: A Screenplay
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Vintage (October 8, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0345803590
ISBN-13: 978-0345803597

Chuck Palahniuk
Doomed
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (October 8, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0385533039
ISBN-13: 978-0385533034

Elizabeth Strout & Heidi Pitlor
Best American Short Stories 2013
Hardcover: 356 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 8, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0547554826
ISBN-13: 978-0547554822

David Leavitt
The Two Hotel Francforts: A novel
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 edition (October 15, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1596910429
ISBN-13: 978-1596910423

Jayne Anne Phillips
Quiet Dell: A novel
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Scribner (October 15, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1439172536
ISBN-13: 978-1439172537

Lee Smith
Guests on Earth: A novel
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: A Shannon Ravenel Book (October 15, 2013)
ISBN-10: 161620253X
ISBN-13: 978-1616202538

J. C. Hallman
The Story About the Story Vol. II
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Tin House Books (October 15, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1935639684
ISBN-13: 978-1935639688

Daniel Alarcon
At Night We Walk in Circles: A novel
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (October 31, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1594631719
ISBN-13: 978-1594631719

Bill Henderson
The Pushcart Prize 2014
Hardcover: 600 pages
Publisher: Pushcart Press; 1 edition (November 6, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1888889705
ISBN-13: 978-188888970

Robert Stone
Death of the Black-Haired Girl
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (November 12, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0618386238
ISBN-13: 978-0618386239

Daniel Menaker
My Mistake — A memoir
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (November 19, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0547794231
ISBN-13: 978-0547794235

Tolstoy (Peter Carson, translator)
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Liveright (November 25, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0871404265
ISBN-13: 978-0871404268

Frederick Busch
The Selected Stories of Frederick Busch
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (December 2, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0393239543
ISBN-13: 978-0393239546

E. L. Doctorow
Andrew’s Brain: A novel
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Random House (January 28, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1400068819
ISBN-13: 978-1400068814