In 2021, the first English translation was published of The Copenhagen Trilogy, a series of memoirs by the prolific Danish writer Tove Ditlevsen. The book became a major bestseller and introduced English speaking readers to an incredible talent, whose work was still deeply resonant decades beyond her tragic death. This month, English speaking readers have… Continue reading Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes
Category: Classics
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
“Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you”, are the first lines of the diary that has washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox on the coast of an island in British Columbia,… Continue reading A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion
“What makes Iago evil? some people ask. I never ask”, begins Joan Didion’s classic novel, Play It as It Lays, which both rejects and engages in the exploration of evil. The novel’s anti-heroine is Maria Wyeth, a model and actress separated from her rising star filmmaker husband, Carter, with whom she had her daughter, who… Continue reading Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “I was surprised to find how little there was about servants written by servants, given that a sizable proportion of people in this country were employed in service right up until the Second World War. It was amazing that so few of them had thought their lives worth recording.… Continue reading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Purchase a copy for yourself here! Salman Rushdie’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Midnight’s Children, first published almost 40 years ago in 1981, is a novel that is always worth revisiting, but feels especially relevant in the current political era. The novel tells the story of the life of Saleem Sinai, a boy who is born at… Continue reading Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick
Purchase a copy for yourself here! The Ugly American is widely considered to be a landmark text in American political science, one that altered the face of American diplomacy after its publication in 1958. The novel was a smash-hit when it was first published, and eventually turned into a film starring Marlon Brando in 1963.… Continue reading The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick