Keen On

Pity the novelist. In a year which brought us the unbelievable non-fiction of a second Trump victory and the establishment of Luigi Mangione as an American folk hero, what can novelists do to stretch our imagination? But according to the LA Times literary critic, Bethanne Patrick, novelists do, indeed, still have something to tell us. And to make her case, she discusses her five favorite works of fiction of 2024 from masterful novelists like Percival Everett, Yael van der Wouden and Danzy Senna. Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner