Around August 4th of this year, Elie Wiesel’s childhood home in Sighet, Romania was vandalized. The vandal spray-painted public toilet and Nazi Jew lying in hell with Hitler and Anti-Semite pedophile across the outside walls. Going through my news app, I spotted the headline, but I probably wouldn’t have read the article, because I’m not… Continue reading Book Review: Night by Elie Wiesel
Category: World Literature
World Literature, World fiction, European literature
The Dreamers by Gilbert Adair
In 1968, the Cinémathèque Française in Paris stood as one of the few government-funded and operated tributes to cinema in the world. Henri Langlois, who cofounded the organization in the 1930s, still ran it. During the 30s, he built up a large film library, and during World War II, as Germany occupied Paris, he smuggled… Continue reading The Dreamers by Gilbert Adair
Book Review: The Long Day’s Evening
It’s been a goal of mine–unsatisfactorily fulfilled–to include in these pages reviews not only of novels from my own country, but also those written overseas. A culture can become myopic if it views the world only from its own perspective. We read world literature not only to experience how vast and different the peoples of… Continue reading Book Review: The Long Day’s Evening
Book Review: The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
To use a trite, overused, but descriptive phrase, Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman is a page turner. Once I picked up the novel and began reading it, I didn’t want to set it down, no matter how tired I felt, how hungry, how many other things I needed to do, and how many other pastimes I neglected.… Continue reading Book Review: The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
Book Review: Under the Skin by Michel Faber
Though homely in the face and wearing the largest glasses most people have every seen, Isserley has large breasts. They’re modeled after the breasts of a centerfold model, and in all her travels, she had never encountered another woman with a pair that even approaches her size. She needs them because she has a difficult… Continue reading Book Review: Under the Skin by Michel Faber
Erotic Literature: The Diary of a Chambermaid
After finding and losing eleven jobs in two years, Célestine, a domestic maid, took a new position in the country. In an effort to understand her failure to find stability, as she began working for Isidore and Euphrasie Lanlaire, she purchased a diary to record her daily life and reflections of her personal history. In… Continue reading Erotic Literature: The Diary of a Chambermaid
An Atheist Reads The Bible: An Introduction
I became an atheist at the Cathedral of Avila in Spain. Standing in the cathedral, staring at the gilded alter, I overheard one of my travel companions say: “Just think. While this was being built, millions of Europeans were starving to death.” It was a simple comment, not directed at me, but it inspired something… Continue reading An Atheist Reads The Bible: An Introduction
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
“Who’s your favorite writer?” people sometimes ask me. “What’s your favorite novel?” I shy away from answering. I distrust absolutisms, and favorite implies an absolute status. But some writers I keep coming back to–Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Styron, etc.–and Thomas Hardy is one of these writers. Since I do not read English writers often, perhaps it’s fair… Continue reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Destiny and Desire by Carlos Fuentes
The fault, I confess, lies with me. I couldn’t get into Carlos Fuentes’ Destiny and Desire. Though I read the book from the first page to the last, it was a struggle. I’m not sure why. I have no doubt that it is a great book, and I know others have enjoyed reading it, but… Continue reading Destiny and Desire by Carlos Fuentes
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
“I like long novels,” I overheard a bookstore clerk say years ago. “I like long novels that span years and in which characters change and grow.” Though I don’t believe she was talking about Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, she could’ve been. This is a family saga that spans several generations, but it mostly focuses… Continue reading The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood