For The Book Obsessed
[ad_1] Halfway through Owner of a Lonely Heart, Beth Nguyen writes: “What would it take to make someone, to make you, to make me—leave everything known? The history of my family is also the history of multiple wars, of colonization, of imperialism, of loss and diaspora.” This line characterizes Nguyen’s full body of work, which … Read more
[ad_1] In The Librarianist, the latest novel from Patrick deWitt—author of The Sisters Brothers, French Exit—Bob Comet, a 71-year-old retired librarian, has chosen to spend the majority of his life reading, sequestering himself cozily in the pages of the world’s great literature. In his younger days, after Bob’s best friend Ethan had a marriage-destroying affair … Read more
[ad_1] A novel Kate Zambreno reads during the first year of the pandemic opens with a description of an apartment walled by windows on all sides. The novel’s protagonist has recently separated from her husband, and she takes this sun-struck apartment for her three-year-old-daughter. Zambreno, a Guggenheim fellow, professor of writing at Columbia University, and … Read more
[ad_1] The dog days of summer are here, and the book releases keep marching on! From high-profile returns from award-winning authors to can’t-miss additions to the genres of memoir, horror, poetry, and more, there’s something for every reader’s taste this month. So grab your towel and one of these 12 new July releases and head … Read more
[ad_1] We’re nearly halfway through the year, and 2023 is looking like a landmark year for books written by Chicago authors. There certainly has been plenty to celebrate, including new releases from Rebecca Makkai, Catherine Lacey, and Jac Jemc just to name a few. But there’s plenty more where that came from! Maybe you’re here … Read more
[ad_1] Some readers may think of Oksana Lutsyshyna’s award-winning novel Ivan and Phoebe, translated from the Ukrainian by Nina Murray, as “supplementary reading” to better understand Russia’s current war against Ukraine. And it could serve in that capacity: the rich contextual detail Lutsyshyna provides creates a fascinating relief map of Ukraine’s complex past, and the … Read more
[ad_1] On a trip to Italy, a woman stuck in a crumbling relationship discovers the city she loves holds a secret that could change her life… “Beneath my sorrows, I hold a city.” Nizar Qabbani She quickly realized they should never have come back. Because she was in a town she loved … Read more
[ad_1] Sarah Viren’s new book, To Name the Bigger Lie, pushes us to re-examine what it means to tell the truth, one gorgeous sentence at a time. The two narratives—one of her high school humanities teacher and his tendency towards conspiracy theories—and the other, a piece about a false Title IX complaint against her wife … Read more
[ad_1] The Translator’s Voice is a new monthly column from Ian J. Battaglia here at the Chicago Review of Books, dedicated to global literature and the translators who work tirelessly and too often thanklessly to bring these books to the English-reading audience. Subscribe to his newsletter to get notified of new editions as well as other notes on … Read more
[ad_1] It’s the start of a hot summer in the 90s, and our unnamed narrator is a 22-year-old Australian who’s taken a job as “matron” at an elite all-girls boarding school in England, only to develop an infatuation with the headmaster’s wife. K Patrick’s Mrs. S is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie meets The … Read more