Waiting out the 1975 Angolan civil war is, for Kapuscinksi, an excuse for some stunningly beautiful character studies.
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Rain Man
Albert Camus, my mother said, lost his way sometimes. Perhaps it was mere absent-mindedness.
Samuel Johnson is Indignant
Davis successfully flirts with the outer fringes of prose limits in this wildly creative collection of stories.
Casablanca
A wife says: "I came the office but you were not there, so I took a walk, alone…"
Spaculation
"Sinically depressed" are the hardest to understand when you're not one.
Leopardi clean
With your Rome roommate, there's clean and then there's Leopardi clean.
Comedy Central
Offer pork chops to a whirlwind and you get… a whirlwind.
Last Night
James Salter's stories are brilliantly composed and shockingly sad.
In the Miso Soup
Kenji does Tokyo sex tours — until he meets American Frank. Ryu Murakami saves the best for last.
How We Are Hungry
The "we" is Dave Eggers, and he's hungry to make up fables and myths to then study them vividly.
The City of Falling Angels
Berendt doesn't always get to the bottom of Venice, but his exploration is vivid, and sometimes charmed.
Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays
How David Foster Wallace explains the world — and other remarkable feats of literary insight and daring.