Powers of Darkness – Bram Stoker & Valdimar Ásmundsson
MAKT MYRKRANNA is not precisely a translation of Dracula; or at least, it’s not what could be termed a good translation of Dracula.
Bye Bye Blondie – Virginie Despentes
Like Chris Kraus in I LOVE DICK, in this book Despentes too seems to have set out to solve the problem of heterosexuality.
It’s not the truth behind the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that’s important here. What’s important are the bodies, the violence, the people that are at stake in this truth.
When Watched – Leopoldine Core
Core is skillful at conjuring modern life without ceding to signposts like smartphones or social networks.
I’ve Got a Time Bomb – Sybil Lamb
In the absence of any kind of fair political structure and the resources to establish successful radical communities, we rely on who and what we can, hoping that small groups, friends, and lovers can sop some of the ache gushing out of our collective political void.
Experimental Animals: A Reality Fiction – Thalia Field
By subordinating the male voices to a woman speaking to another woman, Field complicates the over-presence of the male voice in the history that Experimental Animals documents.
Landscapes: John Berger on Art – John Berger
Berger attempts to navigate the expectations of art criticism — its perpetual parade of posh-ish poseurs and dilettantes — vis-à-vis his own Marxism.
Moshi Moshi – Banana Yoshimoto
Grief is a full-body experience, but so too is joy.
White Elephant – Mako Idemitsu
It’s Japanese, obviously, but, this character is too close. Too much home. Too much — ugh, if I say she’s too much like me I’ll sound like I don’t know how to read books.
Me Against the World – Kazufumi Shiraishi
Cancer is suicidal, we learn. Ghosts are only capable of uninteresting platitudes.