“The place I like best in this world is the kitchen.” Chapter 1: Kitchen The novel opens with Mikage Sakurai, a young woman who has recently lost her […]
Japanese literature
On Parole
“A man released from prison is like a ghost—neither fully alive nor entirely dead.” Chapter 1: Release Shiro Kikutani, a middle-aged man, is released from prison after serving […]
Russian literature
My Little Leniniana
“Lenin is always with us, especially when we drink.” My Little Leniniana is a satirical and absurdist work by Venedikt Erofeev, blending dark humor with Soviet-era ideological critique. […]
American literature
Libra
“What has become unthinkable is the act not of destruction but of assent.” Part One: The Assassin The novel opens with Lee Harvey Oswald’s troubled childhood, marked by […]
American literature
The Bean Trees
“There is no point treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, ‘There now, hang on, you’ll get over it.’ Sadness is more or […]