Washington Post fiction critic Ron Charles paid homage to the ever hip Lady Gaga and her headline-making meat dress by wearing a couple of bacon strips across his head while introducing this week’s “Totally Hip Book Review.” Showing off current fashions aside, Charles selected Danielle Evans’ short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self for this video review. During his introduction he said, “Danielle Evans, the young DC-area writer we’re going to talk about today is not the woman from America’s Next Top Model.”
Evans’ collection contains eight short stories. Charles says, “Evans has a wry sense of humor in these melancholy stories…Evans’ greatest talent is her ability to create poignant moments of crisis in the lives of transient people who just can’t seem to connect with those they love.”
Charles’ first video book review starred Mona Simpson’s novel, My Hollywood. He has since reviewed Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, Sara Gruen’s Ape House, and done a round-up of the finalists for this year’s Man Booker Prize.