The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, translated by Michael Glenny

5/5 stars

What's it about? The devil and his entourage descend on Moscow and wreak havoc. Margarita becomes entangled in Satan’s doings in order to save her beloved master, who’s devoted his life to writing a book about Pontius Pilate. Bulgakov pokes at the elitists of 1920s Russia in a satire that delivers a very good time.

How’d I find it? A long ago boyfriend once encouraged me to read this book, and I carried this copy around with me for at least ten years before finally cracking the cover. And I’m so glad I did.

Who will enjoy this book? If you appreciate Kundera or Kafka, you’ll want to give this a try.

What stood out? The Master and Margarita is ripe with absurdity and humor; I particularly enjoyed the nude vampire performing chores and Satan’s ball, not least because Margarita leans fully into her new witchiness. The chapters on Pontius Pilate and the execution of Jesus contain spellbinding writing that will linger with the reader and get one on Margarita’s side all the more.

Which line made me feel something? I laughed out loud at this exclamation of Margarita’s, which loses its strangeness in later translations: “Hurray for the cream!” It’s up to you to read that chapter and enjoy it just as much.

It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken

5/5 stars

What's it about? An undead woman processes her losses, both physical (her body is literally falling apart) and otherwise, in an apocalyptic reality. A beautiful elegy to existence as we know it.

How’d I find it? My favorite bookfluencer turned me on to this read.

Who will enjoy this book? For my fellow lovers of zombie lore, It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over will scratch the itch.

What stood out? An existential zombie book that clocks in at a mere 120 pages? Count me in. De Marcken’s small masterpiece swings for the big questions—what is existence and why does it matter?—while probing the minor mysteries, like our species’ obsession with naming. You know you’re in for something special when the book starts off with this energy: “I lost my left arm today.”

Which line made me feel something? “Things in rows and ranks are mournful. Trees planted to pulp. Soldiers or their gravestones. Multiplicity and order reveal sameness and variation. The limitations of our individuality. That we can be felled.”

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

5/5 stars

What's it about? On his fourteenth birthday, John debates the state of his soul as an awakening slowly overtakes him. A masterpiece work of history, faith, and family.

How’d I find it? All of Baldwin is required reading, but I found this particular paperback at a library sale. That pulp paper still smells delicious.

Who will enjoy this book? If you liked William Faulkner’s Light in August or Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, you’ll appreciate Go Tell It on the Mountain.

What stood out? I love how Baldwin builds momentum in a scene, especially if it involves a service at Temple of the Fire Baptized (see below). The religious setting of the novel brings into relief its other themes, including the complexity of family and the impossibility of salvation for people of color in a racist America. A book one will want to revisit.

Which line made me feel something? “Someone moved a chair a little to give them room, the rhythm paused, the singing stopped, only the pounding feet and the clapping hands were heard; then another cry, another dancer; then the tambourines began again, and the voices rose again, and the music swept on again, like fire, or flood, or judgment.”

What Is The Grass by Mark Doty

5/5 stars

What's it about? In essays both personal and intellectual, poet Mark Doty celebrates the impact of Walt Whitman — his spirit and his work — on the development of his own craft and identity. A rich, endearing read.

How’d I find it? Whitman seems to find me.

Who will enjoy this book? Fellow Whitmanians will gobble up this one. Those interested in contemporary poetics should find much to appreciate.

What stood out? It isn’t quite right to think of What Is the Grass as criticism. It’s more inspiration in action. Doty discusses echoes of Whitman in his life through a fusion of memoir, analysis, and praise, extolling the America imagined by Whitman in Leaves of Grass, a groundbreaking force. Swaths of Whitman’s work anchor each essay, inviting readers to revisit the source material. What Is the Grass argues for poetry’s possibilities.

Which line made me feel something? “What does being on earth ask of us? The world wants to be rescued from evanescence, to be translated into an immaterial realm that does not perish because it was never exactly alive. To become, in other words, poetry”. Shivers.

Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus

5/5 stars

What's it about? An accomplished ship captain impulsively allows her crew to swim in the sea, and everything that comes after goes awry. Most concerning: the voyage started with twenty sailors—now there are twenty-one. An eerie page-turner.

How’d I find it? I picked up a few titles from a display of short reads at Powell’s, and all have been bangers. Admittedly, this cover played no small role in my purchase.

Who will enjoy this book? The disjointed narrative and dreamy prose of Ultramarine recall Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea.

What stood out? Mariette Navarro knows what she’s doing. The shifting realities of Ultramarine keep the reader tense, but the siren effect of its atmospheric language make the discomfort worthwhile. That uneasiness lingers, even though the book is brief and can be consumed in one captivated sitting. The ocean is very scary.

Which line made me feel something? A representative example of Navarro’s beautiful writing: “They’ve left the sounds of the earth and of the surface: they discover the music of their own blood, a drumming to the point of jubilation, percussion that could lead them to a trance. Dark sound of held breaths, symphony of lightness.”

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

5/5 stars

What's it about? Isabel goes to work at the public library in Portland, nurses an impossible crush, and attends a party. Those are the happenings in this trim, satisfying novel that captures perfectly an ambivalent twentysomething circa 2010.

How’d I find it? The staff picks at Powell’s rarely steer me wrong.

Who will enjoy this book? The library link and worry about climate change in Glaciers make this reader suspect that Jenny Offill was heavily inspired by Smith’s work in writing Weather. Either way, the two books pair nicely. For another read that takes place over one day, try A Simple Man by Christopher Isherwood.

What stood out? Smith nails time to the wall, writing into a moment when rising sea levels and the war in Iraq joined the search for intimacy as prime concerns for young adults. Glaciers presents a tiny time capsule, made all the more potent by Isabel’s nostalgia and need to preserve the past as well as the possible. The novel ends with a circle of partygoers swapping stories; it’s an elegant departure from the focus on the individual and sticks its landing.

Which line made me feel something? This bit of banter between Isabel and her friend Leon: “Who darns socks? Girls nobody tells stories about.”

Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer

5/5 stars

What's it about? At long last it’s here—and it’s real good. In this prequel to the Southern Reach series, we return to the Forgotten Coast at three points in its history: twenty years before Area X, eighteen months before Area X, and at the start of Central’s first expedition (in a section narrated by Lowry, its only survivor). Absolution introduces Old Jim, the piano player at the village bar, and lifts the curtain on Central’s nefarious dealings that brought about Area X. VanderMeer cranks up the horror in this installment; “Dead Town,” the book’s first section, will ruin white rabbits for you.

How’d I find it? I couldn’t wait for the release of Absolution. In fact, I attended the book launch at Powell’s and asked VanderMeer if this book would be as weird as Dead Astronauts. “Weird, but in a different way,” he said. Indeed—I haven’t read anything quite like Absolution.

Who will enjoy this book? Lovers of Alex Garland, who directed the film adaptation of Annihilation, the first book of the series, will appreciate the creepiness and tension in VanderMeer’s work.

What stood out? The book’s three sections read like linked novellas, each with a distinct perspective on the mystery of Area X. I came away wanting to revisit the whole series (a massive feat for a prequel) to see how the reveals influenced my appreciation of the other books. Absolution is all momentum and culminates in Lowry’s account of the first expedition, a foulmouthed, drug-addled rant that leaves the reader as twitchy and anxious as Lowry himself. VanderMeer keeps his readers in the palm of his hand, and it’s a wild ride, even knowing how the story ends.

Which line made me feel something? “Worse, because too often there was so little emotion there, or the emotion flared up again raw, and then banked almost into ash, and wasn’t that awful? Wasn’t that the wrong kind of oblivion? While thinking, If you cut someone out of your life that way, hadn’t you become, for a time, a kind of monster? DIdn’t that deserve the ash?”

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

5/5 stars

What's it about? When a unicorn realizes she may be the last of her kind, she embarks on a quest to find the others. A whimsical and profound tale of the grappling between greed and love.

How’d I find it? The animated film has been a favorite of mine since childhood. What a delight to find that much of the dialogue in the movie was lifted straight from the book.

Who will enjoy this book? This is a fantasy classic and therefore a must-read for fans of the genre.

What stood out? The tone of the writing—dark, full of import—elevates the story to fairy tale status. I especially enjoyed the portion of the book that takes place in King Haggard’s castle. The unicorn’s turn as human creates a palpable strangeness.

Which line made me feel something? This description of a wizard’s power: “The wind was cold and rank, a wet, hooty marsh wind, and it leaped here and there in the room like a gleeful animal discovering the flimsiness of human beings.”

The Body in Question by Jill Ciment

5/5 stars

What's it about? C-2 gets involved with F-17, a fellow juror on a high-profile murder trial in which an adopted teen is accused of killing her baby brother. Even this brief escape from caregiving doesn’t relieve C-2 of her life at home with her aging husband. A sharp little novel with heart.

How’d I find it? I found this at Powell’s, and the bookseller who checked me out fussed over this writer. I now understand why.

Who will enjoy this book? This had the tone of the fantastic 2002 film Unfaithful.

What stood out? Ciment takes us into the sexuality and morality of adult womanhood. It’s raw, genuine, and a thrill to read. The wrench thrown into the works by the health of C-2’s husband, a much older man who depends on her, provides a compelling contrast to the isolation of jury duty and C-2’s affair.

Which line made me feel something? “Grief doesn’t feel as if a rug has been pulled out from under her. There is no rug. There is no floor on which to lay a rug. There is no ground on which to build a floor to lay a rug.”

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

5/5 stars

What's it about? In the second installment of the Time Quintet, Meg Murry must team up with Calvin, her nemesis/old principal Mr. Jenkins, and some mysterious new partners to pass a series of tests that determine the fate of a rapidly ailing Charles Wallace. A perfect little book that explores the miracle of being with whimsy and wisdom.

How’d I find it? Since rereading A Wrinkle in Time, I’ve been excited to see what the Murrys get into next.

Who will enjoy this book? Reading Madeleine L’Engle is like being in front of a cozy fire on a drizzly winter day, all warmth and weight. If you relish such a tone (for me, it’s like an injection of Christmas spirit), this book is for you. Think Everything Everywhere All at Once.

What stood out? L’Engle pitches out the rules of reality as we know it and writes a more daring, imaginative possibility. The mysterious farandolae, the mattered form of a cherubim, the song of the universe—delights for the mind. The fascinating cast, including the terrifying and annihilating Echthroi, propels with velocity this quest that is just as much physical as spiritual. Meg is a Namer!

Which line made me feel something? Mr. Murry makes a brief cameo to deliver this whopper on hope: “There are still stars which move in ordered and beautiful rhythm. There are still people in this world who keep promises.”