Five New Recommendations
from the 57th Street Books Staff
October 20th, 2009 by Editor
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A dash of true crime enlivens Dickey’s fascinating account of skulls as secular relics and objects of scientific inquiry. A motley cast of romantics and charlatans, scientists and metaphysicians plays out a gripping drama of stolen heads, feuds, and deceptions, with the mortal remains of such luminaries as Joseph Haydn and Emanuel Swedenborg occupying center stage. [Andrea] |
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Travel the literary underbelly of 1950s Barcelona in a lyrical and complex tale of the person vs. the persona. Tragic and compelling, this novel’s richness reminds me of the dark chocolate you want to let melt ever so slowly in your mouth. [Angela] |
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One of the most important written works to come out of World War II; a journal kept by a young German woman as Berlin began its fall on April 20th, 1945. Over the next eight weeks, we get a brutal and candid account of the atrocities inflicted upon a largely female population by an invading force. Meticulous and unselfconscious. [Javier] |
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Landscape in Concrete tells the story of Gauthier Bachmann, a man of such ambiguous morality and obvious insanity that he could only be a Nazi. Declared psychologically unfit for duty, Bachmann roams the Reich’s conquered territories desperate to return to combat. But here Lind’s basic humanism shines through this bleak tale—cruelly abused by legions of venal and self-interested monsters, Bachmann’s insane and hopeless pursuit of Life and Love is the only thing left to admire in a world gone to the dogs. [Jeff] |
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The second volume in a trilogy—and there’s no reason to read them in order—The Conqueror is a brilliant work deserving of a far higher profile in the English-speaking world. Many things at once, the novel traces the life of Jonas Wergeland practically every step of the way from his youth through the heights of celebrity up until the murder of his wife. Yet, it is much more than that: a social history of Norway and Norwegian ideas; an examination of what actually makes up a life (the individual moments or how they play into the larger story?); a critique of the cult of celebrity in the waning days of the last millennium. Complex, compelling, intelligent, and very, very readable: this is without a doubt one of the best books you will encounter any time soon. [Tom] |
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