Books I read in October 2026
From Scandinavian epics and classical Roman poetry to modern anthropology, these are the books I read in October.
The Other Death: Borges Marathon, Part 34
Can God change the past? If so, how would it affect our memories? This is the central question that Jorge Luis Borges explores in his story “The Other Death”. The story concerns Pedro Damián, whose recent death the narrator hears…
The Floating World by Ben Eastham
My take on a debut novel set in a near-future European society on the brink of collapse due to climate change and pandemics, in which a freelance art critic gets co-opted into a billionaire's attempt to build his own separate…
The House of Asterion: Borges Marathon, Part 33
“The House of Asterion” is one of the shortest stories by Jorge Luis Borges, composed almost entirely of the interior monologue of a lonely character who lives in a labyrinth. It shares several features of other Borges fictions. Like “The…
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 it's origin myths are wrong, but I also read some good novels and other books.
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, but still one of his most successful stories.
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 figure.
Paris in Turmoil #parisinjuly2026
Parisian writer Eric Hazan shares his memories of Paris interwoven with historical research and beautifully observed urban detail.