A bildungsroman, ghost story, and revenge novel all rolled into one, Before has won Reforma’s “Best Novel Published in Mexico” award and the Xavier Villarutia Prize for Best Mexican Novel. Here, Boullosa explores the end of innocence through one woman’s return to the scenes of her childhood.
In the Hope of Virgins by Jamal Naji, translated by Paula Haydar (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 400 pages, July 26)
The End of the Dark Era by Tseveendorjin Oidov, translated by Simon Wickhamsmith (Phoneme Media, 168 pages, July 12)
Oidov, an acclaimed poet and painter,
offers us here a collection populated by horses, eagles, and intangible
things like darkness and empathy. Included in this volume are 32 of
Oidov’s abstract line drawings.
Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra, translated by Megan McDowell (Penguin Books, 128 pages, July 19)
Award-winning Chilean writer Alejandro
Zambra wishes to give us a test: we’re asked in this book to complete
language exercises and analyze narrative passages (all via multiple
choice). And yet, it is about much more than that: Zambra meditates
(through these questions) on love and family, the past, and how we are
trained to obey and repeat.
(first posted on Book Riot 7/18/16)
(first posted on Book Riot 7/18/16)
Thank you, Rachel, for your amazing blog! I just stumbled across it and am transfixed by the breadth of your reading tastes! BTW - Found your blog while wandering Pinterest & saw your wonderful Dead Poets reading list. Again... Thank you!!! You're amazing. -M. McInnis
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