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Five Reasons You Should Read “Standard Deviation.”


Katherine Heiny’s debut novel centers around Audra Cavanaugh, a woman whose good-natured cheer is so strong it has gravitational pull, attracting oddball dinner guests, wedding invites from near-strangers, and even her husband’s first wife. It’s all a bit much for Graham Cavanaugh, who’s starting to wonder if he made the right choice.

Here are five reasons to invite Audra Cavanaugh into your life:

1-You loved Heiny’s short story collection, “Single, Carefree, Mellow,” and snacking on her witty, wry voice made you hunger for a whole meal.

2-You think the best fiction is smart, fun, and surprising.

3-You haven’t fallen in love with a book since “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” and you’re ready for a story that’s grown up without being stodgy, that takes domestic life seriously without being heavy.

4-Heiny’s ear for dialog and knack for turning the mundane into drama makes her a joy to read. She also has a gift for metaphor-“When he finally took a break from the kitchen and joined his guests in the living room, the atmosphere was less like a party and more like a group of strangers stranded at a bus station.”

5-You’ve been married a while and you want your secret self reflected by someone who understands… or you’re a newlywed and want to know what you’re in for.

About Author

Aaron Curtis is a mixed-race member of the Akwesasne Nation, half of his mother’s Mohawk (Kanien’kehá:ka) Indian and half of his father’s Scotch-Irish. The first book Aaron read for pleasure was Stephen King's "Christine" in the third grade; he's enjoyed reading books he's not supposed to ever since. He had a monthly column at Moxxi Magazine called "Book Junky" and wrote about books (and sundries) for Miami blog collective The Heat Lightning. His essay "Past the Flesh" appeared in The Sun Sentinel's City Link Magazine, and his love-letter to Florida - "It Grows on You" - was published in World Book Night's first ebook. He has performed for Lip Service, and for WLRN's Under the Sun as part of Lip Service, five times, and his story "We Are More Than These Shells" was included in the book "Badass - Lip Service: True Stories, The Double Album" from Lominy Press. Aaron has worked at Books & Books Coral Gables since 2004.

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