Nathaniel Rich: The Mayor's Tongue
A quirky first novel about the search for a missing author who may or may not exist. The writing is beautiful and very evocative.
Salman Rushdie: The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel
Another sumptuous novel from Rushdie.
Padma Viswanathan: The Toss of a Lemon
A wonderful novel of the private history of a prominent Brahmin family.
Carlos Ruiz Zafón: The Shadow of the Wind
A haunting, magical realist novel about the passion for secret books.
Rudolph M. Bell: How to Do It: Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians
A fascinating social history of Renaissance self-help manuals covering everything from sexuality, fertility, and how to live with difficult teenagers.
Italo Calvino: Italian Folktales
A Classic! Read one my favorite stories "The Princessess Wed to the First Passerby." There's a great novel in that story.
The Robber with a Witch's Head: More Stories from the Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales Collected by Laura Gonzenbach
More great Italian folktales.
Beautiful Angiola: The Lost Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Laura Gonzenbach
A gorgeous collection of Italian folktales, aptly translated by Jack Zipes.
Luis Alberto Urrea: Into the Beautiful North: A Novel
Inspired watching the movie The Magnificent Seven, a young woman leaves her village in Sinaloa, Mexico and travels north looking for her father and seven Mexican warriors to bring home to small town and save it from the drug lords. A fast and funny novel with a rich cast of characters. Read the longer review here.
Geraldine Brooks: March
A haunting Civil War novel -- told between the lines of a well-known American Classic, Little Women. March, the absent father of the "little women," recounts his experiences in battle, in the bloody hospitals, and in the decaying, corrupt mansions of the post-war South. An extraordinary and moving novel.
Arturo Perez-Reverte: The King's Gold
A terrific new novel of the continuing adventures of 17th c Spain's Captain Alatriste. A veteran of the thirty years war, the Captain is offered a dangerous mission to "liberate" the King's Gold from a secret trading ship. His search for a team of men will include some of Spain's most distinquished veterans as well as some of her most infamous ruffians. One of the best chapters occurs in Seville's notrious prison. Fast paced, witty, and sanguinary. Longer review found here
Flannery O'Connor: Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
A collection of terrific essays on writing from one of America's most compelling short story authors.
Andrea DeJorio: Gesture in Naples and Gesture in Classical Antiquity
A fascinating 19th c study of Neapolitan gestures and their antecedents in Classical antiquity. de Jorio's writing is both scholarly and witty.
Jacqueline Winspear: Messenger of Truth
In this fourth of the Maisie Dobbs mystery series, Maisie undertakes the task of investigating the facts surrounding a brilliant young artist (and tormented veteran of WWI) -- whose accidental death on the eve before an exhibition of what he declared his most important work is questioned by his twin sister. Especially as all the paintings have disappeared. Maisie's reflections on the role of the artist in society are wonderful, and the novel , as the rest of the series, is both poignant and hopeful.
Jacqueline Winspear: Pardonable Lies
Confronted by three independent cases, defending a child accused of murder, discovering the facts around a missing World War I aviator assumed dead, as well information the death of a friend's brotheralso in the war, psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs finds herself unearthing more than the private tragedies of three families. She herself must return to France, the site of some of her most traumatic experiences in the war and confront the horror of those memories once more.
Jacqueline Winspear: Birds of a Feather
Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, sets out to the find the missing daughter of a wealthy industrialist, seeming at first a simple case of a spoiled young woman running away from home. But when a number of her friends are found murdered, and a white feather the key clue, Maisie Dobbs discovers a more tragic history. As always, Winspear delivers a thoughtful and penetrating perspective of post WWI England.
Italo Calvino: Cosmicomics
Calvino's imaginary depiction of the origins of the universe combining mathematics, atoms, dark matter, the moon and planets with sexual awakening, cooking, art, and longing. Gorgeous.
Matthew Pearl: The Dante Club: A Novel
A terrific historical murder mystery set in Boston in 1865. The burgeoning Dante Club, composed of early America's literary elite, Henry Longfellow, James Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes and publisher J.T. Fields find themselves embroiled in a string of gruesome murders that parallel the punishments of Dante's Inferno, which they are in the process of translating. Pearl's writing is rich and detailed, the plot full of twists and turns, and the side commentary on the anguished aftermath of the Civil War, Dante's classic work, and the intellectual community of mid-19th century Boston absolutely engrossing.
I. J. Parker: The Hell Screen
The second in a delightful mystery series has samurai sleuth Sugawara Akitada embroiled in several murder mysteries at once while struggling with domestic troubles as well. Once again Parker creates a vivid impression of 11th century Japan, a first rate detective (aided by a wonderful cast of secondary characters: his ingenious wife and his two raucous servants) and a thrilling chase for a demonic killer.
Rabih Alameddine: The Hakawati
This sumptuous novel (whose title roughly translates as "story teller") by Lebanese author Alameddine combines a richly imagined family history juxtaposed with the great mythic tales of the middle east. It is a celebration of the region's cultural bounty and the powerful bonds of love in one amazing family. Read the full reivew here.
I. J. Parker: The Dragon Scroll
Another fun mystery novel, this one set in Heian Japan. Sugiwara Akitada is the young impoverished nobleman who sets out to make a name for himself on his first official assignment in the country. Assisted by an elderly servant, a brash bodyguard, and his own quick wits, Akitada exposes the corruption of a small silk-farming village. The action is fast and furious, the dialog hilarious at times, and even a bit of smoking romance.
Juan Rulfo: Pedro Paramo
Short and brilliant magic realist novel of Mexico. A man returns home to find his father and finds a town full of ghosts. Eerie and beautiful. Read the full review here.
Angela Villalba: Mexican Calendar Girls: Chicas de calendarios Mexicanos
A gorgeous collection of prints from Mexican calendar art. The text is informative and the art inspiring.
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs
A terrific mystery novel set in the early 1900's in England. It is really about the unique education of Maise Dobbs, the novel's young detective, and her experiences as a field nurse during WWI. Part historical novel, part romance, part thriller. The first of a series.
