Lipsyte's acidic and pitch-black satires keep getting better—The Ask, about a middle-aged failure called Milo, was one of the best books of 2010. His new collection, The Fun Parts, contains many of the short stories he's published in The New Yorker and elsewhere, and exhibits the crackling dialogue and casually misanthropic messes he’s so good at crafting.
The next three months sees a wide variety spring book events. Punk legend Richard Hell makes two appearances to discuss and read from his autobiography for those who want to relive, or vicariously experience, the gritty New York of old. Gary Shteyngart (Super Sad True Love Story) and Etgar Keret debut new works at the Selected Shorts series, while the minds behind the Broadway showThe Motherfucker with the Hat and the Pulitzer Prize—winning Ruined share pieces of their work.
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