At National Public Radio, Heller McAlpin reviews Shalom Auslander’s Hope: A Tragedy.
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Humor as Both Sword and Shield
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, heller mcalpin, npr, shalom auslander
Hard, Physical Evidence
Many readers suffer a tormented relationship with book jackets or, as most people call them, dust jackets. I certainly do. In my youth, I admired the private libraries of writers and professors who discarded these garish and easily torn outer coverings from their books, leaving only the subdued cloth bindings. As a result, serried rows of soft blue and faded burgundy lined their substantial mahogany shelves. To my youthful eyes, such personal libraries looked grown-up, serious; the books were clearly tools rather than icons or decorative objects for furnishing a living room. Nonetheless, en masse they still conveyed a welcoming, clubbable warmth suggestive of leather chairs and brandy.
Michael Dirda of the Washington Post reviews G. Thomas Tanselle’s Book-jackets: Their History, Forms, and Use.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, g thomas tanselle, michael dirda, nonfiction, washington post
Reflections in the Floodwaters
In the Observer, Alex Preston reviews Jon McGregor’s This Isn’t the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You.
The 30 fiercely imagined stories in Jon McGregor’s collection share an extraordinary topophilia: each bears as its subtitle the name of a fenland town or village, and even in tales that range widely across space and time we never lose touch with the flat Lincolnshire landscape.
Posted in Reading
Tagged alex preston, book review, jon mcgregor, observer, short story, uk
Little Openings
For The Nervous Breakdown Shannon Elderon reviews Gary Lutz’s Divorcer.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, gary lutz, shannon elderon, short story, the nervous breakdown, usa
Contaminated Air
From Ulysses to Martin Guerre, the story of the delayed return speaks to the ineffectual wish that our stories will not all end tragically. Hoping that a disappearance is only a long absence, we continue to expect miracles, less impossible in our frightened minds than the finality of an unknown death.
In the Guardian, Alberto Manguel reviews Purgatory by Tomás Eloy Martínez.
Posted in Reading
Tagged alberto manguel, argentina, book review, guardian, tomas eloy martinez, translation
Almost Too Believable
At National Public Radio, Michael Schaub reviews Chan Koonchung’s The Fat Years.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, chan koonchung, china, michael schaub, npr
Moving Away from What Happened
The narrator’s account is an odd mix of confidence and uncertainty: there’s little she can pin down, yet her narrative moves steadily, firmly along, and she seems largely untroubled by all the uncertainty in her life; she accepts it as an almost natural condition.
Michael Orthofer reviews Iosi Havilio’s Open Door.
Posted in Reading
Tagged argentina, book review, iosi havilio, michael orthofer, translation
A Different Sort of Swindle
Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times reviews Thomas Frank’s Pity the Billionaire.
(Bonus: Fake Kakutani on Twitter.)
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, capitalism, michiko kakutani, new york times, nonfiction, politics, thomas frank, usa