Blog with Sidebar - Reading the West

January 24, 2024 In Fiction

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

A wildly imaginative tale of the clash between the Spanish, as represented by Cortes and the American natives, led by Moctezuma. Bloody and violent, this depiction of a tragic historic encounter is enlightening, if grim.

January 20, 2024 In Fiction

Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili

This dark novel set in post-Soviet Georgia by a native of that region now living in the UK speaks with Russian soulfulness of loss and atonement, both recurring themes in the history of this contentious and deeply spiritual people. It is finely written and richly adorned with detail which makes the whole a compelling and engrossing read.

January 15, 2024 In Fiction

Harbor Lights by James Lee Burke

Short stories and a novella from one of the finest living writers of American literature, these grim and gritty tales are propelled by a doomed sense of honor, dignity and justice that always leads to tragedy in the service of truth and right.

January 15, 2024 In Fiction

The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James

A fictionalized family history rife with violence and vengeance, but with ultimate justice and the redemptive qualities of kindness and forgiveness. The finely written and swiftly moving narrative will maintain the reader’s interest throughout. A fine book with greater meaning.