Somewhere in the fibers of the book’s skeleton, there is a legitimate philosophical argument about free will or a lack thereof, and in many circumstances, it might be an interesting one.
Sometimes I Lie and Sometimes I Don’t – Nadja Spiegel
There is always the sense that Spiegel’s narrators are learning and relearning the rules of propriety; that they are struggling to negotiate public expectations.
The Things We Don’t Do – Andrés Neuman
The best stories in the collection are similarly masterful examples of the short form, and beautiful expeditions into the nebulous space between self and other.
Vanished [is] a treatise on the responsibilities we have to confront the legacies of occupation, of lies, and to insist on the disclosure of history’s truths.
Silence and Song – Melanie Rae Thon
Silence and Song is Thon’s most radical experiment in form and lyrical expression.
Upright Beasts – Lincoln Michel
Michel displays a Barthelmeian penchant for the absurd and a wicked dry sense of humor.
City on Fire – Garth Risk Hallberg
Hallberg has at least attempted the Great New York Novel, but Hallberg has placed too much trust in the throw-weight of his subject and his pages, so the “great” is less qualitative than quantitative.
The Sleep of the Righteous – Wolfgang Hilbig
It is a real gift to English language readers that finally, albeit posthumously, we have the opportunity to discover and admire a portion of this wonderful writer’s oeuvre.
Who could imagine a US intelligence agent caring about Beckett?
Book Club: The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector – DAY 3
Day 3 of an in-depth dialogic inquiry into Clarice Lispector’s short fiction, in which her embrace of the body, linguistic innovations, and interrogations of gender, sexuality, and the limits of the human are discussed.