“From the wonderful mind that brought us the Moomin series, The Summer Book is a novel that is more mature than the Moomins but no less of a treat. A six-year-old girl, Sophia, and her grandmother, spend the summer together on a remote island in Finland. As the summer weather prompts Sophia to discover the …
“In a recent interview Danzy Senna explained that she wrote half of the stories in You Are Free when single and living in New York City and the others in LA during and after her pregnancy; this time of transistion, conflict and reflection has given her a lot to say about how it is to …
“Aah, spring (well, sort of!). It’s that time of year when some of us feel the pull of wanderlust, while others are content to simply spend more time going on long walks in the sunshine. Whatever your inclination, it’s a time of motion. In this classic and stunningly thoughtful work by a true gentleman of …
“Disclaimer: there is a lot of math in this book, and because I practically break out in hives just balancing my checkbook I almost passed this book over; I’m so happy I didn’t. Set in Japan, the Housekeeper goes to work for the Professor, a brilliant mathematician who, due to a car accident, has a …
“A fantastic and beautiful novel that feels like it’s been chipped away from the hardscrabble history of Newfoundland. The tale follows a lonely fishing village in the 1800’s as it receives an unexpected guest in the form of a strange man found alive in the belly of a beached whale. Compared by many to One …
“Finally, a modern day vampire tale that I can endorse. The Radleys are a family of abstainers. They are vampires, but they try to maintain a normal life by abstaining from human blood. That is until circumstances force them into the light, and they must deal with their supernatural thirst and desire. A page-turner that …
“Few people can geek out like my good man Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His book on waves (traffic waves, ocean waves, light waves, all kinds of waves) is one of my favorite books of all time. And his previous book on clouds shows the art available to every human being on the earth—clouds! This is a companion …
“Antonio Tabucchi is a great Italian writer who is relatively unknown in the US. His novella Pereira Declares sets the standard for narrative technique. He builds the tension and suspense at a perfect pace, drawing the reader into the moral dilemma of the protagonist and anti-hero. The story takes place in post-WWII Lisbon, Portugal during …
“These personal essays involving prostitutes, alchoholism and a gnarly oedipal complex manage to be sweet and comforting, hilarious and so very charming. OK, those are the attention grabbers, but this book is really about an open-hearted artist (and yeah, a mild pervert) finding his way around the world.”—Shana, Ravenna Third Place, Seattle
“This mesmerizing collection of stories and essays unfolds in Bolano’s floating style, which always seems simultaneously to be about everything and nothing. There are no grand pronouncements here, no tidy, utopian views of life; chaos rules and egos run unbound in these vibrant, gritty and elegant stories. The two essays at the end are poignant, …
