somanybooks24.bsky.social
@somanybooks24.bsky.social
Translator & Book Lover
“‘Trip’ is a combination of narrative and dogma, ultimately playing out to a conclusion of indifference in the face of self-destruction.”
In The Metropolitan Review‬‬, Emma Foley reviews Amie Barrodale’s debut novel, “Trip” - metropolitanreview.com/a-novel-in-t...
A Novel in the Bardo: On Amie Barrodale's Trip - The Metropolitan Review
I discovered the writing of Amie Barrodale in my college English class while reading an old Los Angeles Review of Books interview with Ottessa Moshfegh, whose short story collection, Homesick for Anot...
metropolitanreview.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:48 PM
“This is not true crime, but fake true crime, as one critic dubbed it: The crime happened, but Malcolm’s thoughts and reactions are Burnet’s imagining.”
In @theglobeandmail.com‬‬, Ian Brown reviews Graeme Macrae Burnet’s new novel, “Benbecula” - www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
In Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Benbecula, everything is real – even when it’s not
The crime in this novel actually happened, but the main character’s thoughts and reactions are Burnet’s imagining
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM
“The tension she sustains – between reverence and satire, irony and submission – gives the book its austere charge.”
In @lrb.co.uk‬‬, Josie Mitchell reviews Kate Riley’s debut novel, “Ruth” - www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Josie Mitchell · Abridged Cow Skeleton: Kate Riley’s ‘Ruth’
In Ruth, Kate Riley layers two views of the church: on the one hand, a hidden but unquestionable authority, ‘like some...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
“The narrative functions both as wish-fulfillment and an act of mourning.”
In @worldlittoday.bsky.social‬‬, Hiranmoy Lahiri reviews Akiyuki Nosaka’s newly translated novella, “Grave of the Fireflies” - worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/book-re...
Repentance and Moral Reckoning: Akiyuki Nosaka’s Grave of the Fireflies, by Hiranmoy Lahiri
Hiranmoy Lahiri reviews Ginny Tapley Takemori’s new translation of Akiyuki Nosaka’s 1967 story, Grave of the Fireflies.
worldliteraturetoday.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:09 PM
“Matsuda’s work fits within an aesthetic of the strange that runs through Japanese fiction, and especially Japanese women writers.”
In @fullstopmag.bsky.social‬‬, Kaelie Giffel reviews Aoko Matsuda’s newly translated short story collection, “The Woman Dies” - www.full-stop.net/2025/11/21/r...
The Woman Dies – Aoko Matsuda
The Woman Dies circumvented my critical brain: it made me laugh, shocked me, revealed my tastes to be safe rather than incisive.
www.full-stop.net
November 23, 2025 at 1:28 PM
“Throughout the stories in ‘The Pelican Child,’ death and environmental destruction are the two truly inescapable facts of modern life.”
In @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social‬‬, Gideon Leek reviews Joy Williams’s new short story collection, “The Pelican Child” - lareviewofbooks.org/article/our-...
Our Reigning Prophet of Doom | Los Angeles Review of Books
Gideon Leek reviews Joy Williams’s latest story collection, “The Pelican Child.”
lareviewofbooks.org
November 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
“After a series of cathartic events, Beckett longs for exactly the same mundane daily routines that once trapped him. As in an existentialist play, there is no way out.”
In @reviewcanada.bsky.social‬‬, Russell Smith reviews Ian Williams’s new novel, “You’ve Changed” - reviewcanada.ca/magazine/202...
Triangle of Sadness | A review of “You’ve Changed” by Ian Williams | Literary Review of Canada
Russell Smith reads Ian Williams latest novel, “You’ve Changed,” a cryptic, circular story about a crumbling marriage.
reviewcanada.ca
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 PM
“The novel, in general, is very much an exercise in memory, both its composition and its reading”
In @wwborders.bsky.social‬‬, Jack Rockwell reviews Solvej Balle’s newly translated novel, “On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)” - wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...
“Stranded in Time”: Memory and Repetition in Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) - Words Without Borders
One of the basic tricks of narrative writing is assigning multiple functions to details. Under the guise of plot, we get characterization. Apparent description begets foreshadowing. Readers, by now we...
wordswithoutborders.org
November 20, 2025 at 1:25 PM
“While the poems tend to favor concrete images (building up tidy cairns of them), his poetry’s simplicity is something of a deception.”
In @ocreviewofbooks.bsky.social‬‬, Eric Bies reviews Jean Follain’s newly translated poetry collection, “Earthly” - ocreviewofbooks.org/2025/11/08/j...
Earthly
Earthly By Jean Follain Translated by Andrew Seguin The Song Cave. 2025. Reviewed by Eric Bies Death is a kind of cleaving; it separates and binds. Case in point: Sylvia Plath left her children beh…
ocreviewofbooks.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:12 PM
“Wielding his own badger’s gray brush, Carr shows the distance across centuries being bridged by literally the thinnest of strands.”
In @publicbooks.bsky.social‬‬, Daniel Hack revisits J. L. Carr’s novella “A Month in the Country” - www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-j-l-...
B-Sides: J. L. Carr’s “A Month in the Country” - Public Books
The impact of the novel’s silences and enigmas is amplified by the enigma that is Carr himself.
www.publicbooks.org
November 18, 2025 at 12:48 PM
“The persistent tension between timeless gods and transient humans mirrors Pavese’s own struggles with despair and isolation”
In Reading in Translation‬‬, Elena Borelli reviews Cesare Pavese’s newly translated story collection, “The Leucothea Dialogues” - readingintranslation.com/2025/11/10/c...
Elena Borelli on Myth in Cesare Pavese's "The Leucothea Dialogues"
Cesare Pavese uses myths as a framework for meditations on fate, death, suffering, and the fraught relationship between gods and humans.
readingintranslation.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:06 PM
“The fatalism with which the characters view their own lives is complicated by their lack of regret.”
In Asymptote Journal‬‬, Maya Rubin reviews Terao Tetsuya’s newly translated short story collection, “Spent Bullets” - www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/11...
Not a Bit of Regret: A Review of Spent Bullets by Terao Tetsuya - Asymptote Blog
Each of the stories . . . is a universe in and of itself, a crystalline snapshot of a life.
www.asymptotejournal.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:07 PM
“The Inn…’s conceit is clever, its detailing macabre even while larded with a knowing absurdity.”
In Buzz Magazine‬‬, Noel Gardner reviews Cledwyn Hughes’s newly reissued novella, “The Inn Closes For Christmas” - www.buzzmag.co.uk/inn-closes-c...
A choice piece of CLEDWYN HUGHES' postwar gothic fiction is reprinted
Could a new edition of The Inn Closes For Christmas, a novella published in 1947, germinate a rediscovery of Welsh author Cledwyn Hughes?
www.buzzmag.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
“It is almost a philosophical novel, but one that overflows with character, beauty, and wit.”
In @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social‬‬, Ben Woollard reviews Yoko Tawada’s newly translated novel, “Archipelago of the Sun” - asianreviewofbooks.com/archipelago-...
“Archipelago of the Sun” by Yoko Tawada
Yoko Tawada’s Archipelago of the Sun, translated by Margaret Mitsutani, is the third and final instalment of a trilogy. The first two volumes—Scattered All Over the Earth and Suggested in the Stars…
asianreviewofbooks.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:19 PM
“Dying, ageing and the remembrance of things past are the book’s themes, and yet elegiac isn’t quite the right word for its tone.”
In @financialtimes.com‬‬, Shahidha Bari reviews Salman Rushdie’s new short story collection, “The Eleventh Hour” - www.ft.com/content/3919...
Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Eleventh Hour’ — mischievous, wise tales with the sense of an ending
Aged 78, the writer wryly addresses mortality and remembrance in this collection of death-infused short stories
www.ft.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:13 PM
“Murnane wants us to look into some small, dark place within ourselves, find what’s living there, and maybe even find a way to speak with it.”
In Rain Taxi Review‬‬, Sam Tiratto reviews Gerald Murnane’s newly reissued novel, “Barley Patch” - raintaxi.com/barley-patch/
Barley Patch
Australian author Gerald Murnane isn’t known for sticking to convention, yet his recently republished 2009 novel addresses a quite conventional question: Why do writers write? Reviewed by Sam Tiratto
raintaxi.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:24 PM
“Her prose displays a dazzling imagination—full of bizarre characters, jarring actions, and promising, humorous setups.”
In @olreview.bsky.social‬‬, Brock Covington reviews Alla Gorbunova’s newly translated short story collection, “(Th)ings and (Th)oughts” - openlettersreview.com/posts/things...
(Th)ings and (Th)oughts by Alla Gorbunova — Open Letters Review
A collection of stories from the prize-winning Russian poet
openlettersreview.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:54 PM
David Szalay has won the Booker Prize 2025 for his novel “Flesh” - thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...
The Booker Prize 2025 | The Booker Prizes
The winner of the Booker Prize 2025 will be announced on Monday, 10 November
thebookerprizes.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:55 PM
“Perhaps the real theme of the novel is forgiveness. What Harold fears is being found out. Being judged. What Castro does is refuse to judge him.”
In @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social‬‬, Hugh Foley reviews Jordan Castro’s new novel, “Muscle Man” - thelondonmagazine.org/review-to-go...
Review | To Go Through the Raskolnikov Process by Hugh Foley - The London Magazine
Hugh Foley reviews Muscle Man by Jordan Castro, 'a distinguished survivor of probably the last avant-garde grouping in US letters'.
thelondonmagazine.org
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
“Couto’s novel reminds us of the mind games we play with our memories, often distorting the truth to accommodate our discomfort.”
In @worldlittoday.bsky.social‬‬, Elaine Margolin reviews Mia Couto’s newly translated novel, “The Cartographer of Absences” - worldliteraturetoday.org/2025/novembe...
The Cartographer of Absences: A Novel by Mia Couto
Trans. David Brookshaw. New York. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2025. 320 pages.
worldliteraturetoday.org
November 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
“Making a living largely teaching English, he sometimes appears uncertain about what Japan means to him besides a place of escape.”
In @japantimes.co.jp‬‬, Grace En-yi Ting reviews Bryan Washington’s new novel, “Palaver” - www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025...
‘Palaver’: A queer story set in Tokyo searches for a home for the heart
A finalist for this year’s National Book Award for Fiction in the U.S., Bryan Washington’s “Palaver” is a gentle exploration of leaving and arriving.
www.japantimes.co.jp
November 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM
“A labyrinthine fun house, the collection is altogether firmly in the tradition of Jorge Luis Borges.”
In @necessaryfiction.com‬‬, Rick Henry reviews Fabio Morábito’s newly translated story collection, “The Shadow of the Mammoth” - necessaryfiction.com/reviews/the-...
The Shadow of the Mammoth – Necessary Fiction
necessaryfiction.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
“Through careful attention to the gaps in the present, even an irrecoverable past can become a life-affirming resource for the future.”
In On the Seawall‬‬, Daniel Kraft reviews Gábor Schein’s newly translated poetry collection, “Beyond the Cordons” - www.ronslate.com/on-beyond-th...
on Beyond the Cordons: Selected Poems by Gábor Schein, translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mullet & Erika Mihálycsa – On the Seawall
www.ronslate.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:44 AM
“With Simone, Burroway has created a character who is present and absent simultaneously throughout the novel, both to the reader and to herself.”
In @thirdcoastrvw.bsky.social‬‬, Patrick T. Reardon reviews Janet Burroway’s new novel, “Simone in Pieces” - thirdcoastreview.com/lit/2025/11/...
Review: The Fracturedness of a Life, <em>Simone in Pieces</em> by Janet Burroway | Third Coast Review
Nearly six decades earlier, in 1940, out of the deep blackness of the shore of German-occupied Belgium, Simone walked...
thirdcoastreview.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
“In Choudhary’s world, masks are more than simply masks; they are life. They are placed on the city, the body, and the soul.”
In @thehooghlyreview.bsky.social‬‬, Wani Nazir reviews Rajkamal Choudhary’s newly translated novel, “The Dead Fish” - thehooghlyreview.com/translating-...
Translating the Ache in The Dead Fish: Mahua Sen and the Many Voices of Rajkamal Choudhary – THE HOOGHLY REVIEW
thehooghlyreview.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM