How to Make a Woman by Marie Darrieussecq
My review of a French coming-of-age novel narrated from two separate and sometimes contradictory perspectives.
Books I read in July 2026
The best book I read this month was a historian's account of how the concept of the West came about and why…
Emma Zunz: Borges Marathon, Part 32
My thoughts on this short story by Jorge Luis Borges, which is an outlier in terms of the plot and main character,…
The Three-Cornered Hat by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón
In this 19th-century Spanish novella, a miller and his wife have their love tested by the scheming of a corrupt local authority…
Paris in Turmoil #parisinjuly2026
Parisian writer Eric Hazan shares his memories of Paris interwoven with historical research and beautifully observed urban detail.
Books I read in June 2026
From a Booker winner to a nineteenth-century vision of a future socialist utopia, here's a roundup of the books I read this month.
A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz: Borges Marathon, Part 31
Are our lives really defined by a single moment? And what happens when that moment involves seeing yourself in someone else? Borges…
Natives of My Person by George Lamming
My review of Barbadian novelist George Lamming's complex allegory of colonial psychology.
Books I read in May 2026
From contemporary fiction to a classic search for human meaning, here are the books I read and enjoyed in May.