Magnificent Octopus

What sold me on Salki , by Wojciech Nowicki, was a review in the Los Angeles Review of Books , and the comparisons it draws to other writers...

Helena came home from school one day recently all excited to tell me about palindromes. There'd been a substitute teacher that day, and ...

My copy of The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise , by Georges Perec, finally arrived! This slim little volume is exquisite! The title ha...

Shop talk I know the readership here to be smart and varied, so on the off chance some of you may actually be interested in this sort of th...

(Or, French books by guys mostly named Georges.) Madame Bovary , Gustave Flaubert A readalong brought to you by Frances (Nonsuch Book), ...

Non frustra vixi. Life A User's Manual (Georges Perec) is so, so much the book I wish I would write. I love how difficult it was t...

I am currently unavailable as I am finishing reading Georges Perec's Life A User's Manual . Caravana de recuerdos (Richard) Apri...

Daddi, after he'd got back from his holiday in the country, had appeared to all of them like someone completely dazed. It was as if he w...

Users' manuals are hard to write. (I know — I've edited translations of some.) Their point is to clearly and simply describe (not ne...

I was relieved to find that Life A User's Manual is about 100 pages shorter than I thought, if you think it's OK, and I do, to subt...

I was all excited about returning to the arms of Thomas Mann after having set aside The Magic Mountain back in January, and I had a wonderf...