Translated from Spanish by Edith GrossmanPublished by Farrar Straus & Giroux / Faber & Faber, 2007, 376 pages. Original version published in 2006. Review by Susanne Karine Gjonnes Do you believe in endless, unconditional love? The answer to this question is likely to shape one’s opinion of The Bad Girl. Mario Vargas Llosa is a …
Continue reading The Bad Girl (Travesuras de la niña mala): Mario Vargas Llosa
Series published by Sphere. Monks and murder in the Middle Ages—an irresistible formula! Maybe it's the mixing of piety and nefarious doings that makes it so attractive. And a reason why this is one of my favourite crime series. It is set in Cambridge in the 14th century, and the detective is Matthew Bartholomew, a young physician …
Continue reading The Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles: Susanna Gregory
Translated from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence KilmartinPublished by Penguin, 2003, 496 pages. Original version published in 1913. Marcel Proust had always struck me as the quintessential snob’s choice; pretentious, devoid of action and inundating readers with impenetrable vocab. All of these concerns proved spot-on as I laboured my way through endless …
Continue reading In Search of Lost Time; Volume 1: The Way by Swanns (Books 1 & 2): Marcel Proust
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