It’s been another busy literary month! Surprise, I went hard with the Latinx authors and mixed in a little murder. I also branched into some poetry this month which is always a delight.
Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century
Peter Graham
This book was INSANE. Turns out Anne Perry the murder mystery writer is an ACTUAL murderer. This book details the account of her murder, trial, and subsequent career. It’s pretty grotesque, so be warned, but very interesting. I definitely never want to read any of her books though.
World’s End
Pablo Neruda
Nothing like a little Pablo Neruda to make you laugh, cry, and fall in love all at once. This is a beautiful collection of Neruda’s work in both English and Spanish. Also great if you’re learning one or the other!
Tomb Song
Julian Herbert
This book is a beautiful, eerie portrait of a son reminiscing about his life as his mother is dying. It was mostly good but there were a few parts that were a little crude. Sometimes I feel like male authors are unnecessarily that way when it’s not adding to the plot of feel of the novel. But maybe I’m just being prudish.
Savage Theories
Pola Oloixarac
Savage Theories was my first book by Pola and I am IN LOVE. She’s an Argentine writer who writes in a really complex, philosophical, intellectual way. This book is about the lines of love and hate in the Argentine academic world. It’s definitely a complex novel, but so worth it.
What We Live For, What We Die For
Serhiy Zhadan
I went with my brother’s girlfriend Anya to this author’s poetry reading and it was spectacular. This particular book of poems examines the climate in Ukraine during the war with Russia. It’s beautiful and still very accessible despite the cultural context. It also causes you to think about what we live for an what we die for and if they’re sometimes the same.
The Aguero Sisters
Cristina Garcia
You know I love my Cristina Garcia! This was a fun, easy read but still had all of Garcia’s signature poetic prose. It follows two sisters, one who moved from Cuba to Miami to start a cosmetics empire and one who stayed in Cuba entrenched in their parents’ legacy. It makes you think about familial ties, memory, and what we tell ourselves about our pasts to survive. Highly recommend.
Fever Dream
Samanta Schweblin
Samanta Schweblin is one of my new favorite writers. She’s an Argentine kind of horror/thriller writer. I devoured this book in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down. It’s a creepy dialogue between an elderly woman and a young man who’s not her son. They recap a strange experience they shared years before but it’s unclear what’s real and who to trust. AMAZING. Read it now.
A Beautiful Young Woman
Julian Lopez
Another story about a dead mother? I’m not sure how that happened. It follows a young man in Buenos Aires whose memories of his mother, who was caught up in the Dirty War violence, get convoluted with grief. This leans more to the pretty, poetic side of the spectrum as opposed to Tomb Song, though they both have their merits.
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
This was our book club book this month and wow, it was a struggle. I haven’t read it since high school and as you know I haven’t been reading many white American male authors. This book is a DRAG. I know it’s a piece of our American literary heritage but the style is so dry. Having been immersed in so much other emotive literature, this was a let down.
People in the Room
Norah Lange
People in the Room is a Rear Window-style setup, a woman in the 1950s who is spying on her three spinster neighbors. Things take a turn for the eerie and she becomes an accomplice in their crimes. But, like all good Latin American literature, it’s hard to distinguish what’s real and what’s in the narrator’s mind. Very enjoyable but I ultimately prefer contemporary Argentinian literature.