Las Vegas Review of Books
@laverb.bsky.social
Literary News from the Entertainment Capital of the World
"The media ecology that Baron describes in 'The Martians' seems strikingly similar to the digital landscape we live in now."
A review of David Baron's new book (@liveright.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
A review of David Baron's new book (@liveright.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
History
David Baron, The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America (Liveright), 336 pp. Hardcover, $29.99. In the wake of his award-winning American Eclipse, Davi…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:56 AM
"The media ecology that Baron describes in 'The Martians' seems strikingly similar to the digital landscape we live in now."
A review of David Baron's new book (@liveright.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
A review of David Baron's new book (@liveright.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
"What is the role of the underground in a city that bears its vices boldly on its surface?"
A review of Jon Wynn's novel "The Set UP" (@beltpublishing.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
A review of Jon Wynn's novel "The Set UP" (@beltpublishing.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
Fiction
Jon Wynn, The Set Up (Belt Publishing), 320 pp. Paperback, $20.00. In multiple interviews he gave in the later years of his life (from one with Dick Cavett in 1973 to one with Larry King in 1994), …
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
"What is the role of the underground in a city that bears its vices boldly on its surface?"
A review of Jon Wynn's novel "The Set UP" (@beltpublishing.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
A review of Jon Wynn's novel "The Set UP" (@beltpublishing.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
"'This is the Nevada I knew,' Elcano tells us, 'slick-haired and shifty.' He’ll see much more of it as a PD."
On Gabriel Urza's new novel, "The Silver State": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-33/
On Gabriel Urza's new novel, "The Silver State": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-33/
Fiction
Gabriel Urza, The Silver State (Algonquin), 320 pp. Hardback, $29.00. Seven months into his job as a Washoe County Public Defender, young attorney Santi Elcano finds himself holding a toy basketbal…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:57 PM
"'This is the Nevada I knew,' Elcano tells us, 'slick-haired and shifty.' He’ll see much more of it as a PD."
On Gabriel Urza's new novel, "The Silver State": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-33/
On Gabriel Urza's new novel, "The Silver State": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-33/
"'Waiting for Britney' can appear to be an attempted account of a woman undone, ending with her notorious placement under conservatorship in 2008."
A review of Jeff Weiss's new "allegedly" nonfictional narrative: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-4/
A review of Jeff Weiss's new "allegedly" nonfictional narrative: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-4/
Nonfiction*
Jeff Weiss, Waiting for Britney Spears: A True Story, Allegedly (MCD), 400 pp. Paperback, $19.00. The word “allegedly” is doing a lot of work in the subtitle of Jeff Weiss’s new book, Waiting for B…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
November 2, 2025 at 9:24 PM
"'Waiting for Britney' can appear to be an attempted account of a woman undone, ending with her notorious placement under conservatorship in 2008."
A review of Jeff Weiss's new "allegedly" nonfictional narrative: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-4/
A review of Jeff Weiss's new "allegedly" nonfictional narrative: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-4/
"'Spent' is a portrait of the artist as unsure, anxious, and self-implicating—a book that does not resolve so much as document the process of unraveling."
A review of Alison Bechdel's new "comic novel": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/graphic-novel/
A review of Alison Bechdel's new "comic novel": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/graphic-novel/
Graphic Novel
Alison Bechdel, Spent: A Comic Novel (Mariner Books), 272 pp. Hardback, $32.00. In a moment when literature often struggles to articulate personal responsibility within collective crisis, Alison Be…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
"'Spent' is a portrait of the artist as unsure, anxious, and self-implicating—a book that does not resolve so much as document the process of unraveling."
A review of Alison Bechdel's new "comic novel": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/graphic-novel/
A review of Alison Bechdel's new "comic novel": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/graphic-novel/
"The most controversial element of this immersive game show would seem to be the stipulation that contestants sleep with—though not necessarily have sex with—each other."
A review of "The Compound," by Aisling Rawle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-31/
A review of "The Compound," by Aisling Rawle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-31/
Fiction
Aisling Rawle, The Compound (Random House, June 24), 304 pp. Hardback, $29.00. As Lily, the narrator-protagonist of The Compound, and her new housemates get to know each other on the nation’s hotte…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:15 PM
"The most controversial element of this immersive game show would seem to be the stipulation that contestants sleep with—though not necessarily have sex with—each other."
A review of "The Compound," by Aisling Rawle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-31/
A review of "The Compound," by Aisling Rawle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-31/
"What, after all, is a perfect poem, a perfect work of art, but a 'joyous concordance'? It might be worth chasing for years."
A review of "Paper Crown," by Heather Christle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-21/
A review of "Paper Crown," by Heather Christle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-21/
Poetry
Heather Christle, Paper Crown (Wesleyan University Press), 80 pp. Paperback, $16.95. Heather Christle’s “Perfect Song” is an absolute banger. First published in Narrative in 2019, and now included,…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 17, 2025 at 4:50 PM
"What, after all, is a perfect poem, a perfect work of art, but a 'joyous concordance'? It might be worth chasing for years."
A review of "Paper Crown," by Heather Christle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-21/
A review of "Paper Crown," by Heather Christle: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-21/
"'Fonseca' sets out to dramatize this tipping point in Penelope Fitzgerald's life, when not only a financial legacy but her professional legacy and perhaps even her marriage were at stake."
A review of Jessica Francis Kane's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-30/
A review of Jessica Francis Kane's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-30/
Fiction
Jessica Francis Kane, Fonseca (Penguin), 272 pp. Hardback, $28.00. In 1952, Penelope Fitzgerald left her husband at home in London, dropped her two-year-old daughter, Tina, off at her in-laws’, and…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:53 AM
"'Fonseca' sets out to dramatize this tipping point in Penelope Fitzgerald's life, when not only a financial legacy but her professional legacy and perhaps even her marriage were at stake."
A review of Jessica Francis Kane's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-30/
A review of Jessica Francis Kane's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-30/
"'The Martians'" is a delightfully detailed and shockingly tender history that captures the converging powers of imagination."
A review of David Baron's new history: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
A review of David Baron's new history: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
History
David Baron, The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America (Liveright), 336 pp. Hardcover, $29.99. In the wake of his award-winning American Eclipse, Davi…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM
"'The Martians'" is a delightfully detailed and shockingly tender history that captures the converging powers of imagination."
A review of David Baron's new history: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
A review of David Baron's new history: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-6/
"'The Set Up' plays on the theater of the everyday by featuring a multi-level guerilla marketing firm that offers on-the-ground influencer services in Las Vegas."
A review of Jon Wynn's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
A review of Jon Wynn's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
Fiction
Jon Wynn, The Set Up (Belt Publishing), 320 pp. Paperback, $20.00. In multiple interviews he gave in the later years of his life (from one with Dick Cavett in 1973 to one with Larry King in 1994), …
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:49 PM
"'The Set Up' plays on the theater of the everyday by featuring a multi-level guerilla marketing firm that offers on-the-ground influencer services in Las Vegas."
A review of Jon Wynn's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
A review of Jon Wynn's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-32/
Check out the newest issue of LaVeRB: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/current-issue/
Current Issue
Issue #11 August 2025 Fiction: Jon Wynn, The Set Up (Belt Publishing) History: David Baron, The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America (Liveright) Fict…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Check out the newest issue of LaVeRB: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/current-issue/
Reposted by Las Vegas Review of Books
#SneakPeek 👀 Maile Chapman's THE SPOIL—her first novel in fifteen years—is out March 17, 2026.
Preorder this mesmerizing novel about the perplexities of memory, Las Vegas real estate, DIY projects, and demons:
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Preorder this mesmerizing novel about the perplexities of memory, Las Vegas real estate, DIY projects, and demons:
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
August 21, 2025 at 5:14 PM
#SneakPeek 👀 Maile Chapman's THE SPOIL—her first novel in fifteen years—is out March 17, 2026.
Preorder this mesmerizing novel about the perplexities of memory, Las Vegas real estate, DIY projects, and demons:
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Preorder this mesmerizing novel about the perplexities of memory, Las Vegas real estate, DIY projects, and demons:
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
"If 'Gatsby' stays with us one hundred years later, it is perhaps this musical quality more than any other that explains its staying power."
On the centenary of "The Great Gatsby": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/happy-annive...
On the centenary of "The Great Gatsby": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/happy-annive...
Happy Anniversary
One Hundred Years of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald If, in the final pages of The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby had not met his tragic end but instead lived on, paddling against the current, t…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 20, 2025 at 8:38 PM
"If 'Gatsby' stays with us one hundred years later, it is perhaps this musical quality more than any other that explains its staying power."
On the centenary of "The Great Gatsby": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/happy-annive...
On the centenary of "The Great Gatsby": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/happy-annive...
"There's something very 'Utah' about this book."
A review of "Rodeo" (@autumnhousepress.bsky.social), Sunni Brown Wilkinson's new collection of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-20/
A review of "Rodeo" (@autumnhousepress.bsky.social), Sunni Brown Wilkinson's new collection of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-20/
Poetry
Sunni Brown Wilkinson, Rodeo (Autumn House), 88 pp. Paperback, $17.95. The title poem of Rodeo, Utah poet and Weber State University professor Sunni Brown Wilkinson’s newest book, is also the stron…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 19, 2025 at 5:59 PM
"There's something very 'Utah' about this book."
A review of "Rodeo" (@autumnhousepress.bsky.social), Sunni Brown Wilkinson's new collection of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-20/
A review of "Rodeo" (@autumnhousepress.bsky.social), Sunni Brown Wilkinson's new collection of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-20/
"Lalami offers a harrowing and cerebral meditation on state control, surveillance, and the unreliability of intention in a world where the unconscious mind is no longer private."
A review of Laila Lalami's "The Dream Hotel" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-27/
A review of Laila Lalami's "The Dream Hotel" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-27/
Fiction
Laila Lalami, The Dream Hotel (Pantheon), 336 pp. Hardback, $29.00. Las Vegas is a city where the future touches the present, where infrastructures take on speculative technologies in order to cast…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 17, 2025 at 7:56 PM
"Lalami offers a harrowing and cerebral meditation on state control, surveillance, and the unreliability of intention in a world where the unconscious mind is no longer private."
A review of Laila Lalami's "The Dream Hotel" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-27/
A review of Laila Lalami's "The Dream Hotel" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-27/
"Vegas becomes a symbol not just of excess and reinvention but of the deep tensions between human ambition and environmental limitations."
A review of Kyle Paoletta's "American Oasis" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-3/
A review of Kyle Paoletta's "American Oasis" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-3/
Nonfiction
Kyle Paoletta, American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest (Pantheon), 352 pp. Hardback, $30.00. Of the writers who have called the Southwestern United States home—Cormac McCa…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
"Vegas becomes a symbol not just of excess and reinvention but of the deep tensions between human ambition and environmental limitations."
A review of Kyle Paoletta's "American Oasis" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-3/
A review of Kyle Paoletta's "American Oasis" (@pantheonbooks.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/nonfiction-3/
"While she is well aware of water issues, Eloise is continually impressed by the 'fearsome and optimistic' outlook that drives development in the region."
A review of Madeleine Watts's new novel, "Elegy, Southwest": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-29/
A review of Madeleine Watts's new novel, "Elegy, Southwest": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-29/
Fiction
Madeleine Watts, Elegy, Southwest (Simon & Schuster), 288 pp. Hardback, $27.99. In the middle of Elegy, Southwest, Madeleine Watts’s new novel, Eloise, the 29-year-old narrator, and her husband…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 14, 2025 at 9:10 PM
"While she is well aware of water issues, Eloise is continually impressed by the 'fearsome and optimistic' outlook that drives development in the region."
A review of Madeleine Watts's new novel, "Elegy, Southwest": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-29/
A review of Madeleine Watts's new novel, "Elegy, Southwest": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-29/
"The desert beyond Gabriela's backyard becomes a surreal landscape—a place of furtive movements and jarring sounds, where time is irregular and the cacti are closing in."
A review of José Rivera's "References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/theatre-3/
A review of José Rivera's "References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/theatre-3/
Theatre
José Rivera, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, directed by Gigi Guizado, A Public Fit Theatre Company, April 4 to April 22, 2025. The heat is on for the Las Vegas theatre scene. A January Ne…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 13, 2025 at 3:26 PM
"The desert beyond Gabriela's backyard becomes a surreal landscape—a place of furtive movements and jarring sounds, where time is irregular and the cacti are closing in."
A review of José Rivera's "References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/theatre-3/
A review of José Rivera's "References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/theatre-3/
"A prominent vein of esoteric knowledge winds through the poems in 'The Rose,' evoking classical mythology, medieval theology, modern astrology, and—maybe—witchcraft."
A review of Ariana Reines's new work of poetry (@graywolfpress.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-19/
A review of Ariana Reines's new work of poetry (@graywolfpress.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-19/
Poetry
Ariana Reines, The Rose (Graywolf), 96 pp. Paperback, $17.00. In Ariana Reines’s absolutely stunning poem “Eye of Death,” dedicated to Vegas writer Amanda Fortini, the poet and Amanda walk through …
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 11, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"A prominent vein of esoteric knowledge winds through the poems in 'The Rose,' evoking classical mythology, medieval theology, modern astrology, and—maybe—witchcraft."
A review of Ariana Reines's new work of poetry (@graywolfpress.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-19/
A review of Ariana Reines's new work of poetry (@graywolfpress.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-19/
"Rutherford is at his best when, like Melville before him, he channels the feeling that a legendary epoch is about to give way to a bleak and depressing future."
A review of "North Sun; or, The Voyage of the Whaleship 'Esther'" (@deepvellum.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-28/
A review of "North Sun; or, The Voyage of the Whaleship 'Esther'" (@deepvellum.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-28/
Fiction
Ethan Rutherford, North Sun; or, The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther (Deep Vellum), 396 pp. Paperback, $17.95. Moby-Dick was published in 1851 at the very pinnacle of the American whaling industry. …
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 10, 2025 at 3:48 PM
"Rutherford is at his best when, like Melville before him, he channels the feeling that a legendary epoch is about to give way to a bleak and depressing future."
A review of "North Sun; or, The Voyage of the Whaleship 'Esther'" (@deepvellum.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-28/
A review of "North Sun; or, The Voyage of the Whaleship 'Esther'" (@deepvellum.bsky.social): lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-28/
"What is striking about Baker’s book is how it frames the entrepreneurial work ethic as a kind of religious movement."
A review of Erik Baker's "Make Your Own Job": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-5/
A review of Erik Baker's "Make Your Own Job": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-5/
History
Erik Baker, Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America (Harvard University Press), 352 pp. Hardback, $35.00. Erik Baker’s Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Wor…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 8, 2025 at 10:08 PM
"What is striking about Baker’s book is how it frames the entrepreneurial work ethic as a kind of religious movement."
A review of Erik Baker's "Make Your Own Job": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-5/
A review of Erik Baker's "Make Your Own Job": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/history-5/
"Durbin’s novel is a darkly fun trip through the moral gloam of nineteenth-century America."
A review of Frederic S. Durbin's "The Country Under Heaven": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-25/
A review of Frederic S. Durbin's "The Country Under Heaven": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-25/
Fiction
Frederic S. Durbin, The Country Under Heaven (Melville House), 336 pp. Paperback, $19.99. The Weird Western, particularly in film and TV, draws a cult audience. A movie like S. Craig Zahler’s Bone …
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 7, 2025 at 8:19 PM
"Durbin’s novel is a darkly fun trip through the moral gloam of nineteenth-century America."
A review of Frederic S. Durbin's "The Country Under Heaven": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-25/
A review of Frederic S. Durbin's "The Country Under Heaven": lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-25/
"The smoke in the collection gains power not by analogically suggesting but by thematically abutting the book’s focus on motherhood."
A review of "Smother," Rachel Richardson's new book of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-18/
A review of "Smother," Rachel Richardson's new book of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-18/
Poetry
Rachel Richardson, Smother (Norton), 128 pp. Hardback, $25.99. Smother, Rachel Richardson’s new collection of poetry, isn’t about suffocating anybody. The title is a portmanteau of “smoke” and “mot…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:59 PM
"The smoke in the collection gains power not by analogically suggesting but by thematically abutting the book’s focus on motherhood."
A review of "Smother," Rachel Richardson's new book of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-18/
A review of "Smother," Rachel Richardson's new book of poetry: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/poetry-18/
"'Big Chief' is a remarkable debut—gritty, gorgeously written, politically astute, and emotionally resonant."
A review of Jon Hickey's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-26/
A review of Jon Hickey's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-26/
Fiction
Jon Hickey, Big Chief (Simon & Schuster), 320 pp. Hardback, $28.99. While many people instantly flash to Las Vegas when imagining legalized gambling, casinos also hold a stake in another univer…
lasvegasreviewofbooks.com
August 5, 2025 at 9:44 PM
"'Big Chief' is a remarkable debut—gritty, gorgeously written, politically astute, and emotionally resonant."
A review of Jon Hickey's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-26/
A review of Jon Hickey's new novel: lasvegasreviewofbooks.com/fiction-26/