Review by Susanne Karine Gjønnes South Korea has gone through an unprecedented journey from a developing country to one of the world's largest economies in only a few decades. This transformation has led to generations growing up and living completely different realities and lives. Please Look After Mom shows these disparities through vivid, emotional stories, …
Becoming: Michelle Obama
“When I was a kid, my aspirations were simple. I wanted a dog. I wanted a house that had stairs in it—two floors for one family. I wanted, for some reason, a four-door station wagon instead of the two-door Buick that was my father’s pride and joy.” Simple beginnings indeed for one of the most …
Rebecca: Daphne du Maurier
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” That one sentence is so evocative of this book, partly thanks to the 1940 Hitchcock film with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. There is something haunting about Rebecca—both the book and the title character. Rebecca is narrated by a young woman, whose name we never learn: …
Wife of the Gods: Kwei Quartey
Set in Ghana, this is the first in a series featuring Detective Inspector Darko Dawson. Gladys Mensah is found dead in the forest near Ketanu. Her body, seemingly untouched, is discovered by Efia, a trokosi or a “wife of the gods”. In reality, Efia is one of the wives of Togbe Adzima, the local priest. …
Fly Already: Etgar Keret
Translated from Hebrew by Sondra Silverston, Nathan Englander, Jessica Cohen, Miriam Shlesinger and Yardenne Greenspan A child encourages a man to jump off the top of a building, believing that the man is a superhero and will fly. A man keeps the compacted wreck of a car in his living room. A goldfish comes down …
Inspired by Mexico: An Interview with Kat de Moor
Kat de Moor is a writer, who has just published her first two books, Anatomía de una entrega (translated into English by Robin Myers as Chronicle of a Longing) and Querido Miércoles. Kat was born in Belgium where she studied translation and interpretation. Fluent in English, French, Spanish and Dutch (Flemish), she writes in Spanish. …
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Feminine Ingenuity—How Women Inventors Changed America: Anne L. Macdonald
“Although women have invented since the beginning of time, it seems as if full recognition of their role has been painfully slow.” When you think of inventors, who do you think of? Usually it is men like Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers and Giovanni Marconi. Seeing that women make up nearly half of the world’s …
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The New Wilderness: Diane Cook
This book is set in a dystopian future in the United States at a time when all the natural resources have been used up by humans. Cities are polluted, the air is almost unbreathable, and children are dying as a result. One of these sick children is Beatrice’s five-year-old daughter Agnes. Beatrice’s partner Glen sees …
The Desert and the Drum: Mbarek Ould Beyrouk
Translated from French by Rachel McGill “There was no moon, no stars. The light has been drained away, the sky left mute. I could distinguish neither colours nor shapes. Dunes and trees had been engulfed by the universe, sucked into its sidereal blackness. … I welcomed the obscurity; a gift from nature. It would make …
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The Bone Readers: Jacob Ross
This is a thoroughly enjoyable whodunit from a Grenadian writer. Michael Digson (“Digger”) is out of work, living on the island of Camaho.[1] He is the illegitimate son (“outside child”) of a maid and her employer, the Commissioner of Police. Digger is haunted by the death of his mother, who was shot during a demonstration …
