The Pirates Laffite
Homeland Security is nothing new, if your consider the pirates of New Orleans.
The Adventures of Augie March
Bellow's masterpiece, while all about mid-century America, was actually written mostly in Rome — and it shows.
Ravelstein
Paris, Rome, Chicago; jet-setting or shooting the breeze, Abe Ravelstein is never at a loss for words.
This Peace
Thomas Mann's presaging of cultural laziness and war to come is still stinging.
The Dream Life of Sukhanov
Olga Grushin controls reality, and Russia of the late 80s, in this remarkable first novel.
Varieties of Disturbance
Lydia Davis' stories include Kafka cooking dinner for himself. Enough said.
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.