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4+ Works 594 Members 16 Reviews 3 Favorited

About the Author

Laren Stover is currently editor-at-large of Contents and was associate creative director at Bergdorf Goodman

Includes the names: Laren Slover, Laren Stover

Image credit: Laren Stover author photo by Marion Ettlinger

Works by Laren Stover

The Bombshell Manual of Style (2001) 259 copies, 8 reviews
Pluto, Animal Lover (1993) 59 copies, 4 reviews

Associated Works

Fiddler's Green 8: Idyl Hearts (vol. 2, no. 4) (2021) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Stover, Laren
Birthdate
1964
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Places of residence
New York, USA
Education
University of Maryland
Maryland Institute, College of Art (B.F.A.)
Johns Hopkins University
Occupations
Story teller
journalist
essayist
poet
short film producer
Relationships
Stover, Dr. Leon (father)
Awards and honors
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant (Fiction)
The Dana Award (Fiction)
Hawthornden fellowship
Yaddo fellowship
Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award Finalist
Agent
Inkwell Management
Short biography
Laren Stover deconstructed the incandescence of Bohemians in Bohemian Manifesto, A Field Guide to Living on the Edge (Bulfinch, 2004). Her novel, Pluto, Animal Lover (HarperCollins, 1994), was a finalist for the B & N Discover Great New Writers Award, and continues to be a cult classic, recently reviewed by Carlos Dews.
Laren’s book, The Bombshell Manual of Style (Hyperion), was pivotal in exploding iconic Bombshell consciousness into a popular genre of its own when it was published in 2001, The Bombshell Manual is referenced as a Trivial Pursuit question and made a cameo appearance on HBO’s “Sex and the City.”
Laren has been sought out as a style expert with readings/interviews on NPR with Leonard Lopate, The Early Show, CNN, The Caroline Rhea Show, WOR-TV, Oxygen and more, and her work widely reviewed from The New York Times and The New York Post to US Weekly and Italian Vogue.
Laren has received fellowships to Yaddo and Hawthornden Castle. Her awards include the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation grant for fiction and the Dana Award. She was also named finalist by Anne Tyler for The Loft National Prize.
She has written for The New York Observer, The New York Times, Bergdorf Goodman Magazine, Bomb, German Vogue and mrbellersneighborhood.com. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in various literary magazines, her plays performed at venues throughout Manhattan and her libretto, Appalachian Liebesleider, premiered at Carnegie Hall to a standing ovation.
Nick Tosches writes: “Reading Laren Stover is an engagement of the senses…a seduction of the senses—transporting you to the magical and softly illuminating place whence she writes.”

Members

Reviews

Sort of a life philosophy. I quote Auntie Mame, "Life is a feast and some poor suckers are starving to death."

 
Flagged
koharteh | 7 other reviews | Sep 19, 2018 |
Definitely not for the squeamish or (despite the title) for animal lovers.
 
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reesetee | 3 other reviews | Sep 18, 2014 |
Laren Stover is often a dazzling writer. At the outset she tells us she is a bohemian, but this doesn't deter her from seeing the humor in bohemians and their sometimes wildly unsuccessful experiments in living. In the end though, the allure of the bohemian world and its alternative perspective is opened for readers, possibly to sample themselves. The illustrations also enrich the book. She captures the aesthetic aspects of bohemianism well.
 
Flagged
bkinetic | 3 other reviews | Oct 15, 2010 |
I loved this little novel! It's a short little book that tells the dark and disturbing tale of Pluto who is, as the title suggests, an animal lover. He loves animals so much, he values them more than humans. He loves them so much, he's willing to...put them out of their misery when they are mistreated by humans. If you haven't caught on by now, Pluto is plum crazy.

Pluto, Animal Lover delves deep into the mind of a madman, who's thought process is so twisted and mangled it's almost logical at times. I would be reading it with wide eyes as I read some of the horrible thoughts that entered this disturbed man's mind...but, most scary, on occasions I would read something he was thinking and find myself nodding. I'd realize my head was bobbing and I'd think "NO! Did I just agree with that guy!?" He's so crazy he's almost more sane than the rest of us.

The book was a little hard to read at times. There are scenes that feature animal cruelty and abuse that, as an animal lover, I found a little hard to stomach. I think many of my fellow readers will feel the same but I would still highly recommend this one. It's a quick read and, although it is dark and a tad morbid, I found the book incredibly enlightening.

Another eerie aspect of the book for me: I actually adopted a dog from the pound 2 days before reading it. Kind of a strange coincidence!
… (more)
1 vote
Flagged
Ape | 3 other reviews | Mar 20, 2010 |

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Statistics

Works
4
Also by
1
Members
594
Popularity
#42,287
Rating
3.9
Reviews
16
ISBNs
9
Languages
2
Favorited
3

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