Andrew Roe

Andrew Roe is the author of The Miracle Girl (Algonquin Books). His fiction has been published in Tin House, One Story, The Sun, Glimmer Train, Slice, The Cincinnati Review, and other publications, as well as the anthologies 24 Bar Blues (Press 53) and Where Love Is Found (Washington Square Press). His nonfiction has been published in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Salon.com, and elsewhere.

Recently I asked Roe about what he was reading. His reply:

I’m going through one of those fickle phases where I’m reading more than one book, bouncing back and forth, simultaneously enjoying the variety and freedom while also feeling a little weird and unfaithful, like I can’t fully commit.

So here’s some of what’s currently on my reading rotation: Jonathan Evison’s This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, which will be published in September by my publisher Algonquin Books and chronicles the life of the 79-year-old title character, who re-evaluates her life in the wake of her husband’s death (I wasn’t planning on reading this one yet, but I picked it up this past weekend and couldn’t stop); Sean Wilentz’s Bob Dylan in America, which puts a historical and cultural lens on Dylan and his work, focusing on key points in his decades-long career; and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, which came out a few years ago but I somehow haven’t managed to read until now, even though Whitehead is one of my favorite writers.

The last book I finished was The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor (another Algonquin author). You might know Pitlor as the series editor for Best American Short Stories, but she’s also an accomplished novelist. The Daylight Marriage is her second novel, and it’s a devastating excavation of a stalled marriage as well as a gripping page-turner. I dare you to read the first chapter and not keep going.

Visit Andrew Roe's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Miracle Girl.

The Page 69 Test: The Miracle Girl.

--Marshal Zeringue