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William Norris who is twenty-nine, is a graduate of Drew University and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. He teaches writing and literature at Hofstra University and is the curator of the Emerging Voices Reading Series at New York's KGB literary bar. He lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn. His website is www.williamnorris.net.
Snapshots
We first meet the Mahoney family in 1997, when the four grown children return to their childhood home on the Jersey Shore for Christmas. Then their story begins to unfold in reverse, going deeper into the past, until we are at the same beach house in the summer of '72. The journey back in time reveals the secrets and lies that shaped who the Mahoneys are, as well as the truth about their individual struggles with alcoholism, mental illness, sexual orientation, and all the temptations and pressures of daily life. A "promising debut" that "beautifully captures the intimacies of family life" (Kirkus Reviews); Snapshots draws a complex portrait of an ordinary suburban family and the joys, sorrows, and strengths that unite them.
William Norris's Summer Reading List
Prague
by Arthur Phillips
A stunning debut novel that is technically dazzling as it follows the lives of four expat Westerners in 1990s Budapest, but that also has enormous heart. I love it for refusing to rely on irony.
The Year of Ice
by Brian Malloy
A debut novel about a teenager dealing with his mother's death, it takes place over the course of a year and is focued on a fragile father/son relationship. I had the pleasure of hearing Brian Malloy read from this book and can't wait to read it.
Wild Ginger
by Anchee Min
A novel set during China's Cultural Revolution. I loved her memoir, Red Azelea, and look forward to cracking this novel.
Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish
by Richard Flanagan
This book's getting a lot of attention and it seems to deserve it. Set in Van Diemen's Land in the 1830s, the book follows a convict as he paints Tasmania's native fish during his prison term and reveals his life story. This seems to be on of those books that really defies description. I'm going to have to read it.
The Voyage Out
by Virginia Woolf
The first of Woolf's novels, and the only one I haven't read. I mean to fill that hole this summer and also spend some time filling holes in Dickens, the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen.
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