The Shell Collector book by Anthony Doerr
Peter Ibbetson
Anthony Doerr likes to list. It’s a style that becomes quickly apparent in the first few stories of The Shell Collector and then continues throughout his collection. Sometimes the lists…
Fiction
My Name is Red book by Orham Pamuk
While the name Orhan Pamuk may not currently arouse great interest in American literary circles, his Turkish compatriots recognize him as one of their nation’s most important thinkers. His work…
The Same Sea book by Amos Oz
“Life goes on. One way or another everyone gets left alone,” is the prescriptive claim of The Same Sea, stated with a tone of resignation. There is little indignation in…
Conscious And Verbal book by Les Murray
Conscious and Verbal: Poems 1996-2000 signals a change in the verses of poet Les Murray. While traces of the man known for his rugged, political poems can still be found,…
The Death of Vishnu book by Manil Suri
Manil Suri’s first novel, The Death of Vishnu, is a mélange of social commentary, romance-novel lust, the mundane, the comic, and the unbelievable. Blending fantasy and reality, the author focuses…
The Procedure book by Harry Mulisch
In the beginning, Harry Mulisch created The Procedure. And though it sounds much like a John Grisham paint-by-statutes legal thriller, it is something with infinitely greater ambition. Mulisch, author of…
Swift as Desire book by Laura Ezquivel
I was able to finish Laura Esquivel’s latest novel only because I loved her previous one, Like Water for Chocolate, a charming magical realist story about unsatisfied desires. Like Water…
Silence in October book by ens Christian Grondahl
The longing for emotional connection and the difficulty of transcending individuality are central themes of Silence in October. The narrator, a forty-four year-old art historian without a name, addresses feelings…
Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems book by Billy Collins
Billy Collins’ poetry has long been described as “accessible”—a term that has been used as both a compliment and a disparagement. There is no doubt that the simplicity of his…
The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time book by George McGovern
As if to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of one of the most bitterly disappointed presidential campaigns in history, George McGovern, three-term South Dakotan Senator and one-time Democratic presidential candidate, has…