171 ratings | 78 reviews | avg rating:4.13

Bruce’s Year In Books

Bruce’s 2025 Year in Books

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Tripp

777 books | 93 friends

Eileen

258 books | 12 friends

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178 books | 578 friends

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Bruce Overby

Goodreads Author

Born

in San Jose, CA, The United States

Website

https://bruceoverby.com

Twitter

BruceOverby

Genre

Fiction, Contemporary

Influences

Elizabeth Strout, Margaret Atwood, Dan Chaon, Saul Bellow, Sherwood An ...more

Member Since

July 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/bruceoverby

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Born in California's Santa Clara Valley long before it became the Silicon Valley of today, Bruce Overby both participated in and keenly observed the transformation and evolution of an insular place that many still fail to understand. His fiction has appeared in several literary journals, and his story Bookmarks won First Prize in the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. He holds an MFA in Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and continues to live in Northern California with his wife Caroline. The Cyclone Release, a finalist in the Madville Publishing Blue Moon Novel Competition, is his first novel. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Bruce Overby It’s not exactly my own life, but it is my family history: There was an 11-year-old boy who would have been my great uncle—he was my grandfather’s bro…moreIt’s not exactly my own life, but it is my family history: There was an 11-year-old boy who would have been my great uncle—he was my grandfather’s brother, but he died before my grandfather was born. Around 1911, my great-grandfather became angry with this boy on a freezing Minnesota winter’s night and punished him by not allowing him back into the house. The boy froze to death that night, and dozens of questions about that boy would make a fascinating mystery: What did he do to make his father so angry? Was he found dead, or was there even a sliver of a chance of saving him? Did he scream and cry to be allowed back into the house, or did he accept his punishment quietly, even as he was freezing to death? What interactions with the authorities were there, if any, after this mysterious death? How did my great-grandmother and the other 3 children in the house at the time respond to the death? And on and on…(less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Bruce Overby I actually don’t experience writer’s block that often (knock wood), but when I do, I do one of two things: Either I grab my laptop and go out to a pub…moreI actually don’t experience writer’s block that often (knock wood), but when I do, I do one of two things: Either I grab my laptop and go out to a public place to write, or I grab a pen and paper and start writing in freehand. The effect is that of slowing things down and giving the sentences a little more room to stretch and take form.(less)

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Bruce Overby’s books

Average rating: 4.67 · 21 ratings · 14 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

The Cyclone Release

4.67 avg rating — 21 ratings — 3 editions

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Bruce’s Recent Updates

Bruce Overby liked Tripp's review of Y: The Last Man, Book 1: "I see now why this series earned rave reviews not only in the comic book press but in the mainstream press, as well. Effective use of flashbacks and jump cuts, interesting character relationships, pointed but subtle social commentary, and exceptional" Read more of this review »
Nov 29, 2025 12:00PM · see review
Bruce Overby liked Tripp's review of Hazel Says No: "On the first day of her senior year in a new high school, Hazel Blum is propositioned by the school's principal and the novel examines how complexly this terrible action ripples through the small town in Maine where the Blum family moved from New Yor" Read more of this review »
Sep 06, 2025 07:01AM · see review
Bruce Overby rated a book it was amazing The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The Remains of the Day is a novel of remarkable depth and breadth that has stood the test of time since its publication in 1989. The smoothness of the writing is in itself a master class. Ishiguro moves in and out of story present and memory meti ...more
Jul 13, 2025 02:09PM · 1 like · like · see review
Bruce Overby rated a book it was ok Dissident Gardens (Vintage Contemporaries) by Jonathan Lethem	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dissident Gardens is a multi-generational saga of a Jewish-American family from Sunnyside, Queens, whose strident communist beliefs underpin a range of personal struggles and scarred relationships. The opening of the book, in which the central pr ...more
Jul 08, 2025 05:08PM · like · see review
Bruce Overby rated a book really liked it Scratching the Head of Chairman Mao by Jonathan Tel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In the book fair at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in L.A. in March, I had a conversation with Ruth Greenstein, the Publisher and Editorial Director of Turtle Point Press, during which she was kind enough to listen t ...more
May 07, 2025 08:12AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Bruce Overby rated a book really liked it Too Early to Know Who's Winning by Karla Huebner (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Full disclosure: I decided to read Too Early to Know Who's Winning after meeting the author, Karla Huebner, at this year's Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in L.A. The novel I'm currently pitching is a political novel, ...more
May 05, 2025 01:12PM · 3 likes · like · see review
Bruce Overby entered a giveaway One of Us by Dan Chaon (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 05, 2025 01:10PM · like · see giveaway
Bruce Overby rated a book really liked it Orbital by Samantha Harvey	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Orbital by Samantha Harvey, winner of the 2024 Booker Prize, is an expertly written meditation on our earth and its contours and climate, on family in all its various dimensions, and on what it means to be, or not to be, truly free. The story pla ...more
May 05, 2025 09:34AM · 3 likes · like · see review
Bruce Overby wants to read Scratching the Head of Chairman Mao by Jonathan Tel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 05, 2025 09:31AM · like
Bruce Overby wants to read Too Early to Know Who's Winning by Karla Huebner (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 05, 2025 09:31AM · like