Translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn Published by Simon & Schuster, 2008, 180 pages. “Truth has a habit of being ambiguous... If it were exact, it wouldn’t be human.” This is my first book of the reading challenge and what a wonderful way to begin! A whimsical, lyrical story about truth and memory. The book …
Continue reading The Book of Chameleons: Jose Eduardo Agualusa
The challenge for 2014 is to widen our reading horizons. To do this, we're forming a group of readers who will, between us, attempt to read a book from nearly every country in the world. The list of countries with suggested/potential authors has been created as a Google doc. The link will be emailed to …
I know I've already asked for this via Facebook, but we have more space here and not everyone is on FB. Respond in a post rather than in a comment on my piece. Mine are: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail—Cheryl Strayed; Snake Ropes—ess Richards; Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier; The Imperfectionists—Tom Rachman; …
Review by Usha RamanTranslated from Spanish by Edith GrossmanPublished by Alfred A. Knopf / Penguin, 1997, 304 pages. Original version published in 1996. Okay, this book sat on my bedside table for over a month, waiting to be finished. I finally speed-read it. Not what I would usually do, but this is not the kind …
Continue reading News of a Kidnapping: Gabriel García Márquez
Published by Bond Street Books / Penguin, 2013, 624 pages. This book seems to have made it to pretty much every list of the best books of 2013. The premise is interesting: if you could live your life over and over again until you got it right, would you actually get it right? The main …
Thought I'd share the NYT's list of notable books of 2013. I've just read one: Kate Atkinson's Life after Life. But have a few of these on my list. Thanks, Kris and Joannah, for sharing this. Image: John Kelly
Give me Herman Wouk any day. Now I definitely want to reread "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance". --Kamakshi
Published by Thorndike Press / Penguin Random House, 2012, 315 pages. This is an amazing book about a woman’s journey to heal herself. Cheryl Strayed’s world collapses when she loses her beloved mother to cancer. Her marriage to a man she loves breaks up. And without her mother to hold them together, her family drifts …
Continue reading Wild—From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail: Cheryl Strayed
Published by Little, Brown, 2012, 512 pages. This is about as far as you can get from the magical world of Harry Potter. There are no Dumbledores or Hagrids here, much less any wizardry. The book takes you to a small unmagical town (Pagford), with small self-absorbed people who lack empathy or wisdom. Depite this, …
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