Darin Strauss is the international bestselling author of the New York Times Notable books Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy. Also a screenwriter, he is adapting Chang and Eng with Gary Oldman, for Disney. The recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing, he is a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU's Graduate school.
Eat Joy (2019) Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers edited by Natalie Eve Garrett
Lit Riffs (2007) Writers 'Cover' Songs They Love edited by Matthew Miele
Darin Strauss recommends
Stop All the Clocks (2025) Noah Kumin "From the very first, there's a bite to Noah Kumin's Stop All the Clocks. In equal measure, the book skewers and consecrates the world, and Mona Veigh is a character for the ages. Kumin has written a novel of the moment that also feels imperishable: in the universality of its concerns, in its up-to-date fears, in the sheer elegance of its observations. Plus it's a page turner."
A Thousand Natural Shocks (2025) Omar Hussain "Omar Hussain's A Thousand Natural Shocks is the most fun reading experience I've had in years. It's a Tarantino movie in book form. And that doesn't mean it skimps on the 'book' part of the equation: it's smart, lyrical, penetrating, and literary as hell. But it also comes with eight thousand volts of sizzle. You'll want to read this before everyone else starts talking about it. Just prepare to have your hair singed."
Anyone's Ghost (2024) August Thompson "This book is a monster: the magnificent writing, the gallery of characters, the fascinating glimpse into the 'right now' make it stand about twenty feet tall among new books I've read."
Days of Wonder (2024) Caroline Leavitt "Days of Wonder is unputdownable for all the best reasons. It's packed with style, pathos, and humor. It's got a killer plot, a great heroine, and brilliance on every page. It is, in short, a masterpiece. If you're not a Leavitt fan, you just haven't read Days of Wonder."
Toby Lloyd "Fervour is the book we need now. Bracing, compassionate, wise, terrifying - this beautifully written novel will haunt your dreams. That is, if you can put it down long enough to get any sleep."
The Men Can't Be Saved (2023) Ben Purkert "Ben Purkert's The Men Can't Be Saved is a work of wit and timely power. Faith and modernity, capitalism and masculinity, sex and identity--this novel has it all, and gets away with it. The style and the intellect herein mark the coming of a major new talent."
I Meant It Once (2023) Kate Doyle "With I Meant It Once, Kate Doyle proves to be an exciting, fresh, intelligent, unique, poetic and wild new talent. More, the stories feel like dispatches from the front of modernity. This is what it feels like to be here, and young, right now. This is a timely, inspired, great book."
Fireworks Every Night (2023) Beth Raymer "Beth Raymer's stylish, thrilling Fireworks Every Night delivers what the title promises: a fun spectacle on each page. Nineties Florida deserves a neon talent, and that's what Raymer offers--pyrotechnical brilliance and a book of wit and heat. The voice is harrowingly true and full of sweet compassion. And in CC, Raymer has given us a character to love forever."
Paradise, Nevada (2021) Dario Diofebi "Vegas has been right there forever, waiting for a great novelist, and Dario Diofebi has come dealing nothing but aces."
Baby of the Family (2019) Maura Roosevelt "Baby of the Family is a masterpiece, and gripping, and Maura Roosevelt is the realest of deals. You'll love how big it is, and how thrilling."
The Devoted (2018) Blair Hurley "Blair Hurley’s The Devoted is a thrilling, deep, fun, intense look at sex and faith, at East and West, at fraud and truth, at love and what it means to lose love. A remarkable debut, and more: a great read."
The Book of M (2018) Peng Shepherd "The Book of M is exciting, imaginative, unique, and beautiful. Shepherd proves herself not just a writer to watch, but a writer to treasure."
Raising the Dad (2018) Tom Matthews "Raising the Dad mines family dysfunction for all of its complex truths and wild emotions. Tom Matthews strikes the damnedest balance—aching loss, brutal humor—as his befuddled protagonist deals with mind-blowing circumstances."
Spaceman of Bohemia (2017) Jaroslav Kalfař "I beg you: take this strange, hilarious, profound, life-affirming trip into literary outer space."
(b.1970)
