BELOVED, John Steinbeck s heartbreaking
THE GRAPES OF WRATH, and George Orwell s frighteningly relevant
1984.
Pre-lockdown, I wrestled with Argentine writer Rodrigo Fresán s
THE DREAMED PART (Open Letter Press, translated by Will Vanderhyden), the second in a trilogy. Like its predecessor,
The Invented Part, this massive, challenging, nonlinear tome about an unnamed writer takes you on a freewheeling, literary joyride.
Probably not surprisingly, much of my year s reading concerned music. An utter delight was Austin native Kathy Valentine s heartfelt
ALL I EVER WANTED: A ROCK N ROLL MEMOIR (UT Press), which traces her life growing up locally, playing in Austin punk bands, and following her dreams to L.A. to find R&R stardom with the Go-Go s. She really makes you feel it all: the ups, the downs, the parties, the drugs, the heartbreaks, the thrill of being family in a groundbreaking, hugely successful band.
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Our Favorite International Reads of 2020 (and What We’ll Be Reading in 2021)
Editor
This year, I m keeping my recommendations to the Southern Cone, perhaps out of the wistful recollection that as we face gray, blustery afternoons here in New York, warmer climes hold elsewhere.
Daniel Tunnard s
Escapes(Unnamed Press), set in a world in which competitive Scrabble is a globally televised craze under the thumb of the Scrafia (yes, a Scrabble mafia), is an uproarious novel staked on the final encounter between former world champs Florence Satine and Buenaventura Escobar in Argentina s Tigre Delta. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Satine and Escobar as they seek to flee the Scrafia s long arm, this clever novel reads something like the imagined result had Piglia turned his attentions to competitive board games. Tunnard s book is a satisfying read that takes Alfred Mosher Butt s tame pastime and turns it into a brisk, riveting jaunt across languages, crime scenes, and
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