Every book deserves more readers. But independently published books and books from small presses especially deserve more readers.
Armed With A Book has given me the opportunity to shout out five of the best indie books I’ve read. There were plenty of others I could have chosen; I selected these five because I deeply feel that more readers would be rewarded by exploring these authors’ work.
Here is an excerpt from my brief write-up. Apart from the recommended books themselves, of course, this is the most important part of the piece:
The handful of books from big publishers I’ve read in the last few years have left me dissatisfied; I find less messy creativity, less eccentric audacity, as though the sums of money invested incline the publishers to play it safe. Part of the appeal of indie books is that they feel closer to my world, the way indie bands felt more accessible than major label bands back when I was a kid living and breathing underground music. To me, these words are more alive.
In the piece, I am pleased to recommend books by Tucker Lieberman, Kirsten Kaschock, Stella Lei, Palaces (Pascale Potvin), and Zilla Novikov.