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Articles by Jason Mott
A Daring New Novel About a Black Cop Breaks All the Rules
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. THE OCCIDENTAL BOOK OF THE DEAD, by T. Geronimo Johnson “The Occidental Book of the Dead,” by T. Geronimo Johnson, is a strange book.
A book that tells a story beyond its pages
Literacy specialists and advocates for more equitable representation in book publishing frequently use the metaphors of mirrors and windows to discuss literature’s power to connect with diverse readers. Fiction can provide opportunities for readers or listeners to reflect on their own experiences (mirrors) and to gain perspective on others’ experiences (windows). They are useful metaphors for promoting a diverse array of stories and perspectives.
'People Like Us' is one of the year's best novels
The title of Jason Mott's oddly riveting "People Like Us" refers to several groups: Black people (like its three narrators), Europeans, writers, Southerners, Americans, those who feel left out. "I wonder what it feels like to be somewhere in this world and not feel like an outsider," says a guy named Dylan in a poignant exchange late in the novel.
Characters That Leave a Mark: 6 Literary Fiction Reads
in Books to Read if You Like..., eBook, Literary Fiction, News Characters That Leave a Mark: 6 Literary Fiction Reads Step into the lives of six unforgettable characters, each facing their own struggles and moments of growth. These novels explore their inner worlds with depth, emotion, and nuance. Their stories will linger in your mind long after you close the book. by Hari Hyde Release Date: July 9, 2025 What is life? A biochemist mischievously reimagines the lives of the cell’s biomolecules.
Memoir On a Hill: Finding the Best Way to Tell the Story of America
“What this country needs right now is The Great American Memoir!” said no one. “It needs a memoir that will not only unify the fractured American spirit, it’ll douse wildfires and lower sea levels. It’ll make homeownership affordable. Hell, it might even lead to a new Outkast album.” Article continues after advertisement How could I not answer the call? Most days, I work over at the Fiction Dealership. I sell the best new and Certified Pre-Owned novel-length falsehoods I can get my hands on.
People Like Us | Bookreporter.com
HELL OF A BOOK was one of my favorite books of 2021, and apparently I wasn't alone. It was the recipient of the National Book Award for Fiction that year, which is cheekily referenced throughout Jason Mott's latest effort, PEOPLE LIKE US, including on its book jacket. Although readers will delight in some callbacks to HELL OF A BOOK, this new one still can be enjoyed on its own.
5 new must-reads
An old literary friend — Sherlock Holmes — is back this month. Perhaps you’d like him to join you in an air-conditioned setting? Holmes returns to solving cases in Nicholas Meyer’s “Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing,” the latest in his series of supposedly newly discovered adventures of the great detective. But if you’re looking for something a little less sunny to balance the blazing days, how about a novel about a possible cannibal?
5 new must-reads
BOOKS An old literary friend — Sherlock Holmes — is back this month. Perhaps you'd like him to join you in an air-conditioned setting? Holmes returns to solving cases in Nicholas Meyer's "Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing," the latest in his series of supposedly newly discovered adventures of the great detective. But if you're looking for something a little less sunny to balance the blazing days, how about a novel about a possible cannibal?
Book Club Discussion Questions for People Like Us by Jason Mott
Book Club Discussion Questions Print PDF In a book club? Subscribe to our Book Club Newsletter and get our best book club books of 2026! For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The National Book Awards and our BookBrowse Review of People Like Us. Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers! 1. "People like us" is a refrain said by characters time and time again throughout the novel. What do the characters mean when they say it to The Author?
Summary and Reviews of People Like Us by Jason Mott
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers! 1. "People like us" is a refrain said by characters time and time again throughout the novel. What do the characters mean when they say it to The Author? Why do you think he always repeats the phrase back as a question? 2. "And, just like that, there I was. Freshly minted. A bona fide Author of Some Renown." The Author tells us this when he wins an important literary award, The Big One, near the beginning of the book.
People Like Us | ReadingGroupGuides.com
The riveting new novel by the author of the 2021 National Book Award winner and bestseller HELL OF A BOOK. PEOPLE LIKE US is Jason Mott’s electric new novel. It is not a memoir, yet it has deeply personal connections to Jason’s life. And while rooted in reality, it explodes with dreamlike experiences that pull a reader in and don’t let go, from the ability to time travel to sightings of sea monsters and peacocks, and feelings of love and memory so real they hurt.
PEOPLE LIKE US | Kirkus Reviews
A meta-novel that stings and touches the reader. Impudent humor, dark farce, and the looming threat of violence somehow merge in jittery tandem in this novel, along with a pair of storylines about Black writers on book tours—and in personal upheaval.
Corvallis e-News | January 2025
In this issue: New Council takes office, the FYI about PFAS and Phthalates, new city service fee rates, and more! (View this newsletter in your browser.) The new 2025-2026 Corvallis City Council will be sworn into office at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the year on January 6, 2025. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Rohnert Park-Cotati Library news
All libraries will be closed Monday February 19 Adult and Teen Programs Telling Our Stories through Ethnic Studies Panel Discussion (Adults, teens) Sun. Feb. 18, 2-3:30 p.m. Join Sonoma County education and community leaders to discuss the importance of ethnic studies for K-12 students and the value of seeing our lived experiences reflected in the books we read. In partnership with SCOE and the NAACP Santa Rosa/Sonoma County branch. Rohnert Park Adult Book Club (Adults) Tue. Feb.
Award-winning author Jason Mott to visit Nashua in fall
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Celebrate Black History Month: New Fiction and Nonfiction by Powell's Staff
We’re celebrating Black History Month in our favorite way: with books! Below, we're highlighting recent releases by Black authors that are all about Black voices, Black history, and Black lives. You'll find books that reckon with trauma, colonialism, systemic racism, Black womanhood, marginalization, late capitalism, and the legacy of slavery, but you'll also find books about love and joy, forgiveness and adventure, punk rock and catharsis.
HELL OF A BOOK by Jason Mott Read by JD Jackson Ronald Peet
by Jason Mott | Read by JD Jackson, Ronald Peet Fiction 9.75 hrs. Unabridged © 2021 If ever there was a piece of fiction suited to becoming an audiobook, this is it. The novel's two protagonists tell distinct but interlocking stories of what it is like to be Black in America. Narrator JD Jackson's inspired portrayal of an unnamed author on a boozy book tour has the sandy sadness of a man coming to terms with fame, race, and death.
Celeste Ng on Our Missing Hearts: ‘People should know that racism happens all the time’
Celeste Ng didn’t mean to write a dystopian novel. When she first started working on Our Missing Hearts six years ago, right after her runaway bestseller Little Fires Everywhere came out, it was an arguably simpler story about a mother and son and how they navigated her creative endeavours. “I was interested in that dynamic,” Ng, 42, tells me.
Long Runs Can Drag On. These Staff-Picked Audiobooks Help the Time Fly
Runner's World; Courtesy Viola Davis, J. R. R. Tolkien Running to music is great, but running to audiobooks is better. There, I said it! Allow me to make my case: While I do utilize playlists for shorter and faster efforts, when it comes to any longer workout, stories have the power to transport me to lands far away from the beloved but sometimes tedious task at hand (or in this case, at feet). Audiobooks are a welcome distraction during long runs I'd rather cut short.
Summer Reading Goals
08/05/2022 01:50PM ● By Jennie Lay Steamboat Springs, CO - Read to prepare yourself for the return of Literary Sojourn this fall. Or just stockpile this list for the year’s best books to pile by your bedside. Steamboat’s beloved literary festival is going live again, and it’s a lineup of heavy-hitting authors whose collective works create a diverse and delicious summer reading list. Here’s a look at five of the featured writers.
Hell of a Book | Washington Independent Review of Books
Hell of a Book is many things: part send-up of the publishing industry, part road-trip comedy, part metafictional sleight of hand. But at its core, the novel is a harrowing and powerful meditation on racial injustice and its effects on the human psyche.
8 Novels That Explore The Pros And The Cons Of The Writerly Life
Writing fiction is not about conjuring up a new life. Rather, it’s the reinvention of a life we have already lived. By writing fiction we more meaningfully engage with our lived experiences and make sense of them. However, the life of a writer is far from glamorous and is rife with highs and lows. How feasible is writing as a career? Is it a financially viable option? How much of our craft do we owe to others? When do we start calling ourselves a writer?
Win A Copy Of The Paperback 'Hell Of A Book: A Novel' By Jason Mott
In Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book, a Black author sets out on a cross-country publicity tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives Hell of a Book and is the scaffolding of something much larger and more urgent: Mott’s novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour. As these characters’ stories build and converge, they astonish.
Must-Read Books about Books
Literary-themed books are perfect for book lovers; what can be more enjoyable than reading a book about books, or a modern retelling of a classic? From books about Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis, to an author’s book tour, to stories about the power of books to transform lives, these 11 novels demonstrate the importance of books in our everyday lives.
Washington Independent Review of Books
Adam Schwartz’s debut collection of stories, The Rest of the World, won the Washington Writers’ Publishing House 2020 prize for fiction. His stories have won prizes sponsored by Poets & Writers, Philadelphia Stories, and Baltimore City Paper and have appeared in numerous publications. His nonfiction has appeared in the Forward, New York Daily News, Sewanee Review, Baltimore Sun, and elsewhere. 2 entries by Adam Schwartz
THE courage of the Black and gifted
Fact: The point of Black History Month (BHM) is to teach what we don’t know about the accomplishments Black people have achieved over time, here and around the world. However, in a way, any book by and about people of African descent in America is a BHM book because it nearly always describes courage in the face of situations resulting from racial oppression, as these books demonstrate.
The Most Popular In-Demand Books in U.S. Libraries: October-December 2021
Each quarter, Panorama Picks takes a deep dive into the data about ebook use at libraries across the U.S. It’s a fascinating look at not just the most popular ebooks in public libraries — they don’t stray too far from what you’d expect of the bestseller lists — but also at the books that are seeing uniquely high demand at libraries. These are books which are seeing a lot of interest but haven’t necessarily stayed atop bestseller lists for months and/or books with particular interest locally.
The Best Books of 2021
We were thrilled to discover so many great books in 2021, from long-awaited titles from Pulitzer Prize–winning authors to debuts that stunned up. We’ve gathered together 17 of our favorites, including eye-opening memoirs, twisty thrillers, and thought-provoking fiction. In his latest novel, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See transports readers to the past — as well as the present and the future.
JASON MOTT - HELL OF A BOOK: A Novel
Author: Jason Mott Book: HELL OF A BOOK: A Novel Publishing: Dutton (June 29, 2021) https://kscj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Jason_Mott_to_air.mp3 Synopsis (from the Publisher): ***2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER*** ***THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER*** Winner of the 2021 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction Longlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal Fiction, the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the 2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! One of Washington Post‘s...
FIRST CHAPTER | US National Book Award-winner Hell of a Book – ‘I was invisible!’ | News24
Hell of a Book by Jason Mott. (Supplied) Jason Mott won the 2021 US National Book Award for his novel Hell of a Book (Trapeze). The judges of the award, seen as a prize “by writers for writers”, described Hell of a Book as a “highly original, inspired work that breaks new ground”. The novel, they said, “weaves together three narrative strands – an unnamed author, a boy named Soot, and a figure known as The Kid – into a masterful novel.
Holiday Gift List: Books for Book Lovers
Photo: Sven Hagolani / GettyImages 10 books for bibliophiles about reading, writing and the literary life / BY Nathalie Atkinson / November 25th, 2021 Bookmark this list of 10 great new books about reading, writing and the literary life – because a bibliophile can always make room on the shelves for a few more titles. Obsessive Book Buyers: Zoomer editors have carefully curated our book coverage to ensure you find the perfect read.
Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist Announced
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2021 National Book Award Finalists Announced
The National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for the 2021 National Book Awards. The winners will be announced live on November 17 at the 72nd National Book Awards Ceremony, which will be held exclusively online. According to the NBF, of the 25 nominees, five writers and two translators have been previously honored by the National Book Awards: Hanif Abdurraqib, Anthony Doerr, Nona Fernández, Lauren Gross, Kekla Magoon, Leri Price, and Natasha Wimmer.
Penguin Random House:
Read the books everyone is talking about. Not a Happy Family By Shari Lapena “Lapena is a master of manipulation.
Press Play on These 10 August Audiobook Favorites
AudioFile (www.audiofilemagazine.com) is the magazine for discovering more about audiobooks. It reviews and recommends the best listening, most interesting performances, and what audiobooks are worth your listening time. AudioFile reviews about 50 audiobooks per week, features narrator profiles, and awards exceptional performances with AudioFile’s Earphones Awards. AudioFile publishes in print, newsletters and a blog, and podcasts daily recommendations on "Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine."
Review | In ‘Hell of a Book,’ an author and his imaginary friend go on a book tour
Jason Mott’s “Hell of a Book” is a novel that confounds the normal parameters of storytelling. What starts out as a relatively straightforward tale about a Black author’s cross-country tour for his novel, also called “Hell of a Book,” soon meanders into a broader meditation on imaginary friends, mental illness, alcoholism and deep, deep grief.
Hell of a Book
ISBN: 9781398704657 In Stock Included in Win Stuff, Top Good Reading Fiction Book Reviews , Fiction, Modern & Contemporary Fiction, Synopsis What we do know about him is he's an author. He moves from airport to bookshop to chain hotel, on tour for his new bestseller HELL OF A BOOK. And, as people keep telling him, it's a hell of a book. Some of these people may or may not be real - because the other thing to know about him is he has, let's say, an overactive imagination...
Washington Independent Review of Books
Just over a third of the way into Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book, the narrator describes the wood-burning heater in his childhood home as having “more tricks than a carful of monkeys.” One could say the same about Mott’s wonderful new novel itself. Hell of a Book is many things: part send-up of the publishing industry, part road-trip comedy, part metafictional sleight of hand. But at its core, the novel is a harrowing and powerful meditation on racial injustice and its effects on the human psyche.
Wilmington area writer Jason Mott uses Black experience in 'Hell of a Book'
"I don't have much use for reality in my line of work," writes local author Jason Mott in his latest novel "Hell of a Book." Indeed, all three of Mott's novels to date -- "The Wonder of All Things," "The Crossing" and the New York Times best-selling "The Returned" -- have revolved around elements or fantasy, the supernatural or the paranormal. Yet reality has a way of creeping in. In "Hell of a Book," Mott demonstrates that fantasy, or magical realism, is sometimes the best way to confront it.
This Week in Books: NYC Reads, Jasmine Guillory, and More
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The Impossible Question at the Heart of Every Book Tour
It’s late summer 2013 and half past 10 pm and I’m at 30,000 feet somewhere over the West Coast of the United States. I’ve been on the road selling my novel for about three weeks straight and the longest time I’ve been at home in those three weeks was 18 hours and I haven’t slept in, well, hell if I know.
Win A Copy Of 'Hell Of A Book: A Novel' By Jason Mott
Home > Free Books > Free Giveways > Win A Copy Of ‘Hell Of A Book: A Novel’ By Jason Mott RedCarpetCrash June 23, 20212021-06-23T15:59:45-05:002021-06-23T15:59:45-05:00 In Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book, a Black author sets out on a cross-country publicity tour to promote his bestselling novel.
2022 Summer Reading Roundup — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER
On day number who-can-even-remember-anymore of the pandemic, I lie on the hardwood floor of my home office with an ice pack tucked beneath my lower back. I hold both arms above my head and furiously text regrets to an author friend whose book launch party is happening across town. As my sciatic nerve telegraphs displeasure between my hip and knee, I have a hard time believing I am the same person who bounded between numerous live book events all over metro Atlanta just a couple of years ago.
These are this summer's best books, from beach reads to conversation starters
Whether you’re looking for a beach book with a Southern belle or two, an adventure with a pirate on North Carolina’s coast, or literary fiction that you can discuss at the next barbecue, local booksellers and publishers have plenty of suggestions for a summer read for you. What makes for a good summer read anyway? “I think it’s different things to different people,” said Jamie Fiocco, owner and general manager of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill.
OPINION, Jason Mott: A letter to all struggling to understand
What we are witnessing now, regrettably, is nothing new. America is not suddenly in turmoil any more than the tide suddenly rises. How did we get here? One day the sun sets with a black man’s throat being crushed by a police officer’s knee, and the next morning the sun rises on a country in turmoil. Streets clogged with protesters. City shadows dancing by the firelight of its buildings ablaze. News journalists arrested on national television. The laundry list of chaos goes on.
These are this summer's best books, from beach reads to conversation starters
Whether you’re looking for a beach book with a Southern belle or two, an adventure with a pirate on North Carolina’s coast, or literary fiction that you can discuss at the next barbecue, local booksellers and publishers have plenty of suggestions for a summer read for you. What makes for a good summer read anyway? “I think it’s different things to different people,” said Jamie Fiocco, owner and general manager of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill.
These are this summer's best books, from beach reads to conversation starters
Whether you’re looking for a beach book with a Southern belle or two, an adventure with a pirate on North Carolina’s coast, or literary fiction that you can discuss at the next barbecue, local booksellers and publishers have plenty of suggestions for a summer read for you. What makes for a good summer read anyway? “I think it’s different things to different people,” said Jamie Fiocco, owner and general manager of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill.
The Dangers of Idealizing Personality Type
On the 16-type scale, I type as an INFJ. This is one of eight introverted types, and it’s not a common type of Introvert. Yet do an internet search on “INFJ,” and you’ll see that it’s promoted as the holy grail of personality types. The way some commentators describe my personality, you’d think it transcends humanity itself! It’s not just INFJ, either. Many types have this hyperbolic appeal to them. It’s their relative rarity that gives them their appeal.
THE CROSSING by Jason Mott
As the world falls apart around them, orphaned twins Virginia and Tommy trek across the country to witness the launch of a rocket, hoping to find life while fleeing the draft for a war almost certain to bring death. After their parents died when they were 5, Tommy and Virginia refused to be separated. Virginia is blessed and cursed with the ability to remember everything she experiences, completely and forever—“I don’t forget any of it. Not a single moment.
Jason Mott’s ‘The Crossing’ due out May 15
Southeastern North Carolina’s own Jason Mott has been posting photos online of the cover of his new novel, “The Crossing,” due out May 15 from Park Row Books. The dystopian tale follows twin orphaned teenagers who take to the road to survive as society plunges into both a world war and a devastating plague.
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