Olga Grushin controls reality, and Russia of the late 80s, in this remarkable first novel.
Read More
Varieties of Disturbance
Lydia Davis' stories include Kafka cooking dinner for himself. Enough said.
His raging prose
Norman Mailer was our Gangsta rapper. We seem sure he left us messages.
Gold
Only Dan Rhodes could pull off Miyuki Woodward, a Japanese-Welsh lesbian with a secret.
Kitty & Virgil
The meeting between a proper Londoner and a refugees yields Paul Bailey's magic.
13 Ways of Looking at the Novel
Jane Smiley's takes her novel-writing skills to crafting a story about the craft itself.
Ghost
A man named David Kurweil sees a ghost. Or does he? Alan Lightman is mystified.
The Name of the World
Michael Reed's life is falling apart (he's over 50, after all); cometh a younger woman. Johnson saves this from the maudlin.
Curious Beppe
Severnigni is an owl-eyed little man wearing granddad’s oversize overcoat.
Gentlemen of the Road
Chabon's novella is all myth, lacking the kind of characters that support his major work.
How I Became a Nun
Argentine novelist César Aira is a master of relentless and enchanting misdirection.
The Panama Hat Trail
Tom Miller's vintage tale is part Ecuador travelogue, part all about the Panama hat.