Long Live the Post Horn! by Vigdis Hjorth (2013), translated by Charlotte Barslund (2020)As I was putting away in my basement lock-up some saucepans that couldn’t be used with my new induction hob, I came across an old diary from 2000. The diary had been a Christmas present and I had written in it for a few months before I got bored. As I hadn’t ( Read more... )

Many People Die Like You: Short Stories by Lina Wolff (2009, 2013, 2017), translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel (2020)

Maurice EchegarayIt didn’t take me long to see that Rebeca and I could never work together. She was just that type, provocative down to the tiniest pore. She’d saunter around the office, holding her cigarette low, ashing on ( Read more... )

The Isle of Youth: Stories by Laura van den Berg (2013)

I felt I was playing a part in a movie with a plot unknown to me.
-YOKO TAWADA, The Naked Eye

AntarcticaThat fall, my brother started his earth sciences PhD at MIT. He kept long hours in the labs, and when he was home, he was engrossed in textbooks. Eve and I spent more time together. She ( Read more... )

Visitation Street: A Novel by Ivy Pochoda (2013)

Chapter SeventeenThe doctors warn Cree that his mother will have some lingering paralysis as well as mood swings. She will cry unexpectedly. He shouldn’t worry if she becomes angry for no reason. The doctors have told her she’s lucky, that she got to the hospital in time. Still, there will be months ( Read more... )

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada (2013), translated from the Japanese by David Boyd (2019)From my start and end dates, he could see that I hadn’t held onto any job for more than a year. I left most of them after about six months. “Please allow me to explain . . .” “I know, it didn’t work out. It’s that simple. Sometimes things click, sometimes they ( Read more... )

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway (Claire DeWitt Novels) by Sara Gran (2013)

EpigraphThe detective thinks he is investigating a murder or a missing girl but truly he is investigating something else all together, something he cannot grasp hold of directly. Satisfaction will be rare. Uncertainty will be your natural state. Much of your life ( Read more... )

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh (2013)

Motivation
Depression Part TwoPerhaps it was because I lacked the emotional depth necessary to panic, or maybe my predicament didn’t feel dramatic enough to make me suspicious, but I somehow managed to convince ( Read more... )