This month in prose: The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories — Mehvesh Murad & Jared Shurin(eds) (2017) A collection of new and traditional tales of the Djinn. Several of these are excellent. One is a commonly reprinted bit of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods where the Djinn is a taxi driver. Other stories range from …
Author Archives: lara
The Books of April
Cutting for Stone — Abraham Verghese (2009) The book is very long. I started it in March and it took me most of April to finish it. The twins (Marion and Shiva Stone) at the center of Cutting for Stone come into the world in a messy and peculiar way. Their mother, a shy Indian nun, …
Books of March
Fiction: The Bear and The Nightingale: A Novel — Katherine Arden (2017) Best fairy tale I’ve read in a long time. I was skeptical at first. But the heroine is more than a pretty face with an interesting fate. I can’t be sure, as I am no expert, but the story seems to be more …
The Books of February
Slade House — David Mitchell (2015) Fans of Mitchell’s recent work will enjoy the little bumps against his Bone Clocks. I won’t spoil it by telling you how it ends but you’ll enjoy the frisson of recognition. Once every nine years a house appears in Slade Alley and one special person is allowed to enter. …
Books of January
More book reviews. I know you’re excited about that! Best American Essays 2016 — Jonathon Franzen ed. (2016) Franzen’s stated criteria for choosing the essays was whether or not the writer was taking a risk. Okay — risky writing is often good writing but I don’t think it makes a sound criteria for choosing the best …