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★★★★☆ He’s back: after two and a half centuries of being trapped in Rudolph Erich Raspe’s 1786 novel Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, the Baron himself has slipped...
This month each of our critics have highlighted some of their favorite books from this year. From those posts on the Run Spot Run blog, we’re pleased to present a Top 5 for 2016,...
★★★☆☆ Bestselling author Sophie Hannah attempts to capture Agatha Christie’s masterful storytelling in Closed Casket, but Christie was an author who cannot be replicated. Closed Casket takes place at Lady Athelinda Playford’s estate in Clonakilty, County...
★★★★☆ Although not the shimmering, layered masterpiece that is Magda Szabo’s 1987 novel The Door (translated last year to critical acclaim), Iza’s Ballad is an accomplished work of similar emotional weight. Before The Door’s...
★★☆☆☆ The prolific César Aira is a writer of momentum and continuum. He often discusses his work ethic in essays and interviews, explaining how he’s a daily writer and resists editing yesterday’s material. He...
★★★★★ It is highly likely that more people have been persecuted or killed in the name of religion than in all the wars in history. The Murderous History of Bible Translations examines one particular...
★★★☆☆ This short novella about music, family, and business in contemporary China is an alluring introduction to Ge Fei, a novelist of subtle peculiarity and intrigue. The narrator of The Invisibilty Cloak is an...
★★★☆☆ You’ve probably seen “spot illustratings” before but not known what to call them. They’re the “unsung toiler of the magazine page,” illustrations tucked into margins and quietly placed after an article’s paragraphs in...
★★★★★ Wickedly unsettling and alluring, Charles Burns’s graphic novel Last Look was originally published in three separate hardcover volumes between 2010 and 2014: X’ed Out, The Hive and Sugar Skull. Typically, omnibus editions are...
