Category: Book Recs

What’s Wrong with Victor? The Root of Frankenstein’s Isolation

November 2, 2016

Isolation, alienation and loneliness are prominent themes in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 classic novel Frankenstein. Some analyses theorize that Victor Frankenstein makes a misguided attempt to create a human being due to his isolation from friends and family. His solitude can be compared with that of Robert Walton, a sea captain on a mission to … More What’s Wrong with Victor? The Root of Frankenstein’s Isolation

Nabokov’s Exploding Book: The Criminal Romp “Despair”

September 27, 2016

I tend to have problems with Nabokov books. I mean the actual, physical books. Years ago, I bought a copy of Bend Sinister and never got a chance to read the damned thing because this particular edition was bound by a barely flexible plastic cover. When I tried to open the novel more than 90°, the … More Nabokov’s Exploding Book: The Criminal Romp “Despair”

“The Bridesmaid” On-page and On-Screen: Rendell Begets Chabrol in a Filthy Basement

September 16, 2016

Today, I’d like to talk to you about The Bridesmaid. No, not Bridesmaids. Not Revenge of the Bridesmaids. La demoiselle d’honneur. Of course, I’m referring to two versions of a story here: The original suspense novel in English by British author Ruth Rendell and its 2004 film adaptation by French New Wave director Claude Chabrol. For a certain period, Chabrol’s … More “The Bridesmaid” On-page and On-Screen: Rendell Begets Chabrol in a Filthy Basement

Patricia Highsmith’s Novels: The Best, the Worst and the Weirdly Intriguing

August 25, 2016

Patricia Highsmith is a literary wildcard. Her work may be considered amateurish by book snobs whose primary concern is high art, and too fully-formed for genre fans whose primary concern is entertainment. But I’ve gotten the impression that neither of these phenomena is the norm. Rather, it seems like readers generally love her for having … More Patricia Highsmith’s Novels: The Best, the Worst and the Weirdly Intriguing

Inio Asano’s Tokyo On-screen: E-reading “Solanin” and “What a Wonderful World!”

July 31, 2016

I discovered manga author Inio Asano years ago through one of the inter-language accidents of fate I love: I picked up Volume One of What a Wonderful World! in a used bookstore, translated from Japanese into French, in an edition that I can today not even find on Amazon.fr. At the time, I didn’t know anything about … More Inio Asano’s Tokyo On-screen: E-reading “Solanin” and “What a Wonderful World!”

A Fairy Tale Day with “Her Father’s Daughter” by Marie Sizun

July 19, 2016

Writing a novel is easy. That’s not my opinion. In fact, it goes against my own now-educated opinion, but it’s the impression you might come away with after reading Her Father’s Daughter by Marie Sizun. To be precise, I’m talking about the translation of Sizun’s novel by Adriana Hunter (who I’ve figured to the best of my … More A Fairy Tale Day with “Her Father’s Daughter” by Marie Sizun

Going Off the Rails with Serhiy Zhadan’s “Voroshilovgrad”

July 7, 2016

Recently, I had a dream that I believe was brought on, at least in part, by the recent English-language release of the novel Voroshilovgrad by Ukrainian lit superstar Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Riley-Costigan Humes and Isaac Wheeler for Deep Vellum Publishing. In this dream, I was working at a job I had years ago, only it wasn’t years ago, … More Going Off the Rails with Serhiy Zhadan’s “Voroshilovgrad”

“The Knight and His Shadow” by Boubacar Boris Diop (translated by Alan Furness)

February 22, 2015

A woman answers an ad for work. The ad is vague, stating simply that the job is part-time and well-paid. She goes to the appointed place, a house in a wealthy residential area. Once there, she’s met by a security guard, who escorts her inside and leaves her alone for a while. He returns and … More “The Knight and His Shadow” by Boubacar Boris Diop (translated by Alan Furness)

-Totally Free Read- Kató Lomb’s “Polyglot: How I Learn Languages”

January 16, 2015

Kató Lomb was a famous polyglot and interpreter. She was also a riot. Lomb, who by her own account was proficient in 16 languages, attempted to explain teacher-driven language learning with an old Hungarian joke. The joke states that coffee in Budapest has no coffee substitute but no coffee bean, either. It therefore also has … More -Totally Free Read- Kató Lomb’s “Polyglot: How I Learn Languages”