Jensen Beach's 15 stories are set in Sweden and convey equal doses of wisdom and melancholy.
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A Little Lumpen Novelita
Roberto Bolaño's understated Rome-set novella is a posthumous example of the Chilean writer's genius.
Dissecting America
The stories in Ben Marcus's "New American Stories" place the U.S. on an operating table.
A Cure for Suicide
In Jesse Ball's unsettling novel, suicide has a "cure" of sorts, but the price is profoundly surreal.
Zero K
Don DeLillo's latest future-sprawl, cryonic freezing included, doesn't quite know what it most wants to say.
Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts
Donald Barthelme's controlled zaniness helped paved the way for the likes of George Saunders and China Miéville.
The North Water
Ian McGuire's 1859-set whaling detective story captures the 19th-century spirit of Melville and Poe.
A matter of stardust
Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has written a stunning book about physics, helping to explain the infinite.
The Story of My Teeth
The brilliant and ambitious Mexican Valeria Luiselli tries far too hard in her debut novel.
Eco’s last game
The writer's final novel, "Numero Zero," pokes mischievous fun at the conspiratorial tendencies of Italian media.
Mothering Sunday
Graham Swift's latest novel is a morally generous remembrance of a housemaid-turned-author.
Dirty Snow
Georges Simenon's novel of occupied France revels in the squalor that stands for collaboration.