Richard Ford

The Lay of the Land is a 2006 novel by American author Richard Ford. The novel is the third in what is now a four part series, preceded by the novels The Sportswriter and Independence Day; and followed by Let Me Be Frank With You, a collection of "long" stories. Each of these books follows a portion of the life of …

A definitive compilation of short fiction written during the second half of the twentieth century and beyond features more than forty stories, including works by T. C. Boyle, Raymond Carver, Sherman Alexie, John Cheever, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Junot Diaz, John Updike, Grace Paley, Donald Barthelme, and other …

It's hard to imagine a book illuminating the texture of everyday life more brilliantly, or capturing the truth of human emotions more honestly, than Ford does in his account of an alienated scribe in the New Jersey suburbs. Frank Bascombe, Ford's protagonist, clings to his almost villainous despair in a way that …