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Julie Schumacher

Julie Schumacher's first published story, "Reunion," was included in The Best American Short Stories 1983. Since then she's been writing about family relationships and parents and children for adult as well as younger readers. She is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota and lives with her family in St. Paul.

Genres: Literary Fiction

Series

Dear Committee Trilogy
   1. Dear Committee Members (2014)
   2. The Shakespeare Requirement (2018)
   3. The English Experience (2023)

Novels

   The Body Is Water (1995)
   Grass Angel (2004)
   The Chain Letter (2005)
   The Book of One Hundred Truths (2006)
   Black Box (2008)
   The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls (2012)

Collections

An Explanation for Chaos (1997)

Julie Schumacher recommends

The History of a Difficult Child (2023)
Mihret Sibhat
"Selam, Mihret Sibhat's ferociously witty young narrator, depicts her family's religious and political struggles in Ethiopia in extraordinarily rich and original prose. The History of a Difficult Child is deeply moving as well as hilarious. This is a one-of-a-kind must-read debut."

Please Be Advised (2022)
Christine Sneed
"Attention, fans of The Office, 'Dilbert' readers, and survivors of corporate culture: Please Be Advised is for you. Christine Sneed has perfectly captured the peculiarities and foibles of the 9-5 cubicle world - from refrigerator thievery to conference room ghosts. This book is great fun."

Sirens & Muses (2022)
Antonia Angress
"Antonia Angress is so talented, and her depiction of young artists--with their egos and inspirations and ambitions--is unforgettably impressive. Read. This. Book."

The Poet's House (2022)
Jean Thompson
"Jean Thompson makes hanging out with poets look like even more of a good time than one suspects, in real life, it might be. The Poet's House is terrific company: funny, poignant, and full of realistically quirky and original characters. A thoroughly enjoyable read."

Happy for You (2022)
Claire Stanford
"Turn off your phone, shut down your computer, and immerse yourself in Happy for You. In this very smart and timely novel, Claire Stanford poses questions about how we define and understand ourselves--as opposed to how we allow social media and technology to define and portray us. A thought-provoking, comic, and marvelously unsettling debut."

The Latinist (2022)
Mark Prins
"A novel about love and scholarship, ego and obsession, coercion and consent-a brilliant, marvelously infuriating puzzle of a book that combines the globe-trotting exploits of The Da Vinci Code with the smarts and literary gifts of A. S. Byatt. A terrific debut!"

After Francesco (2021)
Brian Malloy
"Furious, funny, and beautiful, After Francesco immerses the reader in the crisis of the AIDS epidemic in 1980s in New York. Brian Malloy has created a cast of characters so memorable--so vividly witty and aggrieved and brave and bewildered--you'll never want to put this novel down."

Better Luck Next Time (2020)
Julia Claiborne Johnson
"Do you want to read something funny? Let’s say, a novel set at a divorce ranch in Reno in the 1930s? A book with memorably eccentric characters, sparkling dialogue, a satisfying plot twist, and some romance and sex? A feel-good literary comedy/western? Here it is, then, the book you've been looking for: Julia Claiborne Johnson’s Better Luck Next Time."

The Sun Collective (2020)
Charles Baxter
"Only the supremely talented Charles Baxter could write a novel that combines blistering social critique with humor, mysticism, passion, and grief. The Sun Collective speaks directly to the unsettled time in which we live. The characters in this brilliant, beautiful, and deeply insightful book will live on in your imagination for years."

Chronicles of a Radical Hag (2019)
Lorna Landvik
"A comic love letter to journalism and literature, Lorna Landvik’s newest novel is smart, funny, and intimate, with a terrifically memorable cast of small-town characters. Read the book, then head for the kitchen and start baking. Delicious!"

Never Coming Back (2017)
Alison McGhee
"Alison McGhee returns to the landscape of the Adirondacks in this beautifully devastating novel about the things that remain unspoken between parent and child. Clara Winter’s need to know what lies on the other side of her mother’s Alzheimer’s-induced silence drives this book toward its ferocious conclusion. Never Coming Back is an exquisite book, brim-full with nostalgia, love, regret, humor, yearning--and unforgettable prose."

More recommendations

Anthologies containing stories by Julie Schumacher

The Best American Short Stories 1983 (1983)
(Best American Short Stories)
edited by
Anne Tyler

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