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Is Achilles possible with powder and lead? Or the Iliad with the printing press, not to mention the printing machine? Do not the song and the saga and the muse necessarily come to an end with the printer’s bar, hence do not the necessary conditions of epic poetry vanish? But the difficulty lies not inContinueContinue reading “The Perfect Nine, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o”

The rare contemporary novel that is not overhyped — it really is that good. It’s a brilliant and thought-provoking satire, a daring and complex speculative fiction, and also a wonderfully vivid and poignant story. I only distantly remember Huck Finn, so I couldn’t fully appreciate the interplay between the texts, but I relished the smartContinueContinue reading “James, Percival Everett”

This is a terrific book — a lucid, clear discussion of the various reasons people have for not wanting — or wanting! — children, but also, a really powerful account of just how much pressure women face to procreate. Olmo really nails the condescension people direct at anyone who confidently declares that they don’t wantContinueContinue reading “I Don’t Want to be a Mom, Irene Olmo”

When I was in Warsaw last summer, I noticed, perhaps for the first time, a monument smack dab in the middle of city center, across the street from a giant mall. What was so striking to me about it were the various layers of meaning: firstly, that it marked a spot where 102 people hadContinueContinue reading “Porcelain War”

I guess this was my subconscious way of going to New Orleans, since I’m missing MLA this year. This is a strange little novel — it’s a really cool invocation of place (19C NOLA), but not via sensory detail. It’s more like someone arriving to a new place and looking around and noticing all theContinueContinue reading “Season of the Swamp, Yuri Herrera, tr. Lisa Dillman”

The first section of this book held me completely in its thrall: it’s stunningly good; narrating the experiences of an injured soldier in the First World War and flashing between past, present, and future with dazzling fluidity. It should be confusing but you’re so utterly in it that it feels completely natural. The prose isContinueContinue reading “Held, Anne Michaels”

I’m running out of ND Storybooks, which is a problem, because they’re such a perfect little treat for holidays (like New Year’s Day). This one is especially fun because it’s a collection of three stories that are interestingly different from each other — each with a slightly different tone and worldview, though they seemingly followContinueContinue reading “Early Light, Osamu Dazai”

I love Best Of lists, and when they start coming out in December I feel a strong compulsion to go read a bunch of the things listed to decide if it belongs on my list. In the past, I’ve managed this stress by making a Top 10 Books that I am looking forward to readingContinueContinue reading “Best of 2024”

I loved the mass and heft of this book — square, fat, heavy, thick paper densely covered in swirls of black ink. It feels like the labor of love that it clearly is — a memoir, a family history, and an often arduous effort to understand and connect to a complicated past. Tessa Hulls’ grandmotherContinueContinue reading “Feeding Ghosts, Tessa Hulls”

I love the strangeness of Téa Obreht’s work; her play with genre; the way she surprises you at every turn. Right when you think you have a sense of what the novel is doing, it wriggles away into some totally unexpected direction. The Morningside might be the strangest of her books, and maybe the leastContinueContinue reading “The Morningside, Téa Obreht”