The Humane Society couldn’t tell us much about Tilly. She was found wandering on the streets and dropped off at the shelter. She had been at the Humane Society for months and the entire staff was positive that they would have to put her down.

Read more of Bryce Weinert's Tilly

Stern captures the complexity of Dortmund's emotions in a number of instances. When his wife, Dinah, chastises her stepdaughter as a terrible mother, Dortmund immediately comes to Melinda's aid. In one case it is explained "he didn't want anyone but himself criticizing Melinda," which resonates with me as an inevitably truthful human contradiction.

Read more of Brian Ellis' review of Richard Stern's The Bliss of Hatred

I’ve been thinking about an economy-sized bottle of Tylenol in my closet for about two weeks now. I probably have every over-the-counter brand of pain killer represented in there. It’s my own little mixture. My roommate is out of town for the next few days, so this is when I’ve been planning to do it. If I take a couple every hour, coupled with some anti-nausea tablets I’ve thrown in, they should build up in my system after a while. I think it will work. Stephen’s short and disenchanted words do well to communicate his mindset after just arriving from Iraq. Not to mention his own apathy when speaking about killing an Arab who turned out to be innocent.

Read more of Katie Hodges' A Father's Daughter