In my ongoing project of reading all of Chekhov’s stories, I am more than halfway along, and I have come upon this small gem about Ognev and Vera.
Verotchka
Joy Williams in The New Yorker
I should have been smart enough to realize something most peculiar was up if I had noticed that the title page of Joy Williams short story in the Sept 30th New Yorker was all in small caps, both title and author’s name. That can be taken as a signal of formal innovation, an expectation that is most often disappointed, only not in this case.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
The Memory Police approaches Kafka in its literary excellence, which is a startling surprise. It’s as dark as dystopian gets, but sensitive and extremely precise in its dark matter energy.
Berta Isla by Javier Marias
Those who love the country of books and the provinces of language, as Javier Marais clearly does, will love this book.
Oscar Cásares Talks About “Where We Come From”
Dennis: Thanks very much, Oscar, for talking about Where We Come From. It’s a textually rich book. There’s a lot happening on each page and your characters have an exceptional memorability. Let’s start with the title. Who is “We”? Who is included in that word? And are they coming from a place or a state of mind? If so, what is it? People who are coming from somewhere are going somewhere. Where is that?
Where We Come From – Six Questions About Oscar Cásares’ Novel
Oscar Cásares’ distinguished yet understated novel provoked a lot of questions in this reader’s mind-especially because of the restraint with which it dealt with volatile issues connected with illegal migrants. The story keeps to the human scale and has a rare eloquence. In the ‘book club’ of the mind, these are the questions I would like to ask.