Bargain @ 99 cents from HarperCollins e-books (non-couponable; available in Canada & US; linkage goes to Kobo but likely price-matched everywhere else):
In Rough Country: Essays and Reviews by National Book Award (as well as Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award, among others) winner Joyce Carol Oates (
ISFDB,
Wikipedia), consisting of her critique of and views upon assorted literature.
In Rough Country is a sterling collection of essays, reviews, and criticism from Joyce Carol Oates that focuses on a wide array of books and writers—from Poe to Nabokov, from Flannery O’Connor to Phillip Roth. One of our foremost novelists, National Book Award and PEN/Malamud Award winner Oates demonstrates an unparalleled understanding and appreciation of great works of literature with In Rough Country, and offers unique and breathtaking insights into the writer’s art.