Recommendations Creatively structured, well-executed epic novel of rural South Africa from 1950 - 2000. Takes on a lot and lives up to it magnificently. Highly recommended.
-
A book that's an interview about the book you're supposedly holding in your hands. Creative, potent, and full of life. Just what metafiction should be. Read my post on it.
|
|
 About a Mountain — Read ItShare
Since I’m currently reading John D’Agata’s book-length essay, About a Mountain, for an upcoming review, I don’t want to say too much about it. But, I will recommend it most emphatically. Without in any way, shape, or form implying that a style as interesting as that which D’Agata has summoned . . . continue reading About a Mountain — Read It
 An Idea Every Independent Bookstore Should StealShare
Last Friday I helped host the “bookswap” at San Francisco independent bookstore The Booksmith. (I also do a translated fiction reading group there; if you’re in town, think about joining us.) It’s something I think a lot of indie bookstore could learn a lot from, and I’ll explain why. . . . continue reading An Idea Every Independent Bookstore Should Steal
New Review in the LA TimesShare
It’s not every day you review a Nobelist in your hometown paper: my review of Kenzaburo Oe’s The Changeling in this week’s LA Times Book Review.
It’s a solid book, both different from and similar to other Oe I’ve read.
Pass it on:
 On Roth, Houellebecq, and HedonismShare
Most of the time when I see something about Michel Houellebecq, I sigh deeply, read the first couple paragraphs, and then completely lose interest. He’s always seemed like the kind of writer that would interest me, but most of the criticism concerned with his writing tends to follow the same cliches . . . continue reading On Roth, Houellebecq, and Hedonism
The Travails of TranslationShare
I saw Erica Mena’s extremely generous take on an awful situation linked to at Constant Conversation, and I wanted to put it up here too:
Which brings me to the second thing. I was notified yesterday that I will not be allowed to publish my translation of the book Tres. As I alluded . . . continue reading The Travails of Translation
 What African Fiction Is Good ForShare
So Penguin is starting up a line of African fiction titles. Great news, right? Not according to Akin Ajayi in The Guardian, who says the first 5 titles are far too old to be useful, since none of them were published in the past 15 years.
Matt Cheney has other thoughts. . . . continue reading What African Fiction Is Good For
Recommended Books SidebarShare
If you look to the left, you’ll see that I’ve put up a sidebar where I’ll occasionally be listing books that I’ve recently liked and am recommending. I’d like to try this out as another way to help readers of this site discover some of the books that I’ve recently found to be . . . continue reading Recommended Books Sidebar
 Macedonio Fernandez Intro Serialized at Three PercentShare
This week Three Percent is serializing Margaret Schwartz’s introduction to The Museum of Eterna’s Novel. I think this is well worth checking out, as Museum has to be one of the most interesting, most difficult new books I’ve seen in a while.
“Difficult” gets thrown around way too often by . . . continue reading Macedonio Fernandez Intro Serialized at Three Percent
 Read Marias As Quickly As PossibleShare
That’s Andrew Seal’s advice for budding readers of Javier Marias:
My advice for reading Marías is to read him as quickly as possible, with as few breaks as possible. Despite a moment in All Souls where the narrator refers to his “general state of disequilibrium,” what marks Marías’s prose is an . . . continue reading Read Marias As Quickly As Possible
 Against the Short Novel, Even When Don DeLillo Is the AuthorShare
Lately I’ve been pushing Cesar Aira on people, which means I’m having a lot of conversations these days about how Americans don’t respect short novels. They’re insubstantial. They offend our sense of value, always measured by the gross poundage we get per dollar. Let’s just . . . continue reading Against the Short Novel, Even When Don DeLillo Is the Author
|
|
You Say