Prizewinners Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (Liveright Publishing Corp., 2022). Translated by Angela Rodel. This year’s International Booker Prize winner, Time Shelter, recalls the work of W.G. Sebald, who often wrote from the point of view of a traveler receiving the stories of enigmatic and suffering post-war characters. Sebald’s great novel Austerlitz was reportedly inspiredContinue reading “Recent Reads – October”
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Recent Reads – September
Independent Bookseller Edition Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang, translated by Karen S. Kingsbury (Anchor Books, 2016) As the summer of our thirtieth wedding anniversary comes to an end, I can frame my experience with visits to three independent bookstores in three different states—one old favorite, and two that are new to us. WheneverContinue reading “Recent Reads – September”
Recent Reads – August
Showcasing Catholic writers with ties to Milwaukee, Part Two: Infinite Regress by Joshua Hren (Angelico Press, 2022) In last month’s post, we left the heroine of Liam Callanan’s When in Rome at the bottom of a hole on the grounds of the fictional Convento di Santi Gertrudis. Oddly enough, Infinite Regress also involves two charactersContinue reading “Recent Reads – August”
Recent Reads – July
Showcasing Catholic writers with ties to Milwaukee, Part One: When in Rome by Liam Callanan Liam Callanan is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Liam Callanan’s fourth novel, When in Rome (Dutton, 2023), takes place at a crossroads. For years, Claire and her best friend Monica have helped religious orders sell orContinue reading “Recent Reads – July”
Recent Reads – June
This month: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver In many ways, a book review is composed of someone else’s work of art: in giving a sketch of my reading, I borrow the author’s achievement and channel her voice with quotations. At this point, I have a stake in her work; I want to see it succeed.Continue reading “Recent Reads – June”
Recent Reads – May
The Famished Road by Ben Okri, Seren of the Wildwood by Marly Youmans, and I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai Before Easter, I picked up Nigerian writer Ben Okri’s 1991 Booker-Prize-winning novel, The Famished Road (Jonathan Cape), and was promptly drawn into a spellbinding world of spirits, family hardship, and tectonic socialContinue reading “Recent Reads – May”
Recent Reads – April
It’s been an eclectic month of reading. I want to start with Sonnez Les Matines, a one-act verse play by Jane Clark Scharl just published by Wiseblood Books. On Mardi Gras night in 16th-century Paris, three young friends who are soon to be giants–protestant reformer John Calvin, Jesuit founder St. Ignatius of Loyola, and ribaldContinue reading “Recent Reads – April”
Recent Reads – March
After all those long reads, it was time to plump up my list of books with some good novellas. I waited a long time for Claire Keegan’s Foster to come in at the library, but it was well worth it. A young Irish girl is sent to live with a childless couple for the summer,Continue reading “Recent Reads – March”
Recent Reads – February
With apologies to Cynthia Ozick, I have a confession to make. A few weekends ago, I picked up a copy of Foreign Bodies–Ozick’s 2010 retelling of The Ambassadors by Henry James–at Milwaukee’s Downtown Books. The blurb on the back looked great: at the behest of her overbearing brother, a divorced schoolteacher travels to Paris toContinue reading “Recent Reads – February”
Recent Reads – January
In 2022, I gave myself credit for finishing 62 books. I used a few indulgences to arrive at this number: I counted reading an issue of Ploughshares cover to cover, along with the unpublished manuscript I read for my beta reader (more on that delightful exchange later). I also counted shorter things that are completeContinue reading “Recent Reads – January”
