The Dirty Dust – Máirtín Ó Cadhain
There are no philosophers or historians in the dirty dust, only gossips and fabulists.
The canon of world literature should not just reflect a liberal-humanist position.
Virginia Woolf: A Portrait – Viviane Forrester
A heady blend of cod Freudianism and prurient psycho-sexual sleuthing, compelling and objectionable in equal measure.
The Mountain and the Wall – Alisa Ganieva
But the greatest loss were the bronze statuettes, cast millennia ago, of bare-breasted, full-buttocked nude female figures, laughing horsemen with dangling legs.
Another Man’s City – Ch’oe In-ho
In-ho’s great challenge is to dream up the sinless man.
If there is any form that this strange yet beautiful book nods to more than any other, it is the diary, and death is everywhere in its pages.
The Old Man and the Bench – Urs Allemann
It’s not spoiling anything to say that the old man’s twaddle does eventually stop.
The Fall of Language in the Age of English – Minae Mizumura
The kids don’t read enough, but even if they do, they don’t read the good stuff.
The Foundling’s War – Michel Déon
An underreported entrance into the forum of American letters.
Of Walking in Ice – Werner Herzog
Anyone who’s lived through a long, punishing winter knows the extent to which it can isolate you.