on the nightstand

Here are a few recent book purchases (I wish I could read all of them at once!) that are on my night stand:


The Lost City of Z by David Grann
I recently read Grann's latest book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, and was enchanted/riveted by the stories that he decided to follow and report on. I'm expecting The Lost City of Z to be another page turner.


Little, Big by John Crowley
Little, Big, originally published in 1981 by Bantam, was reissued in in 2006 by Harper Perennial and became an indie favorite for a new generation of book sellers. Stodgy Harold Bloom called it a "neglected masterpiece" so I think it'll be a good read.



The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
The story just looks intriguing.

In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, Janice Y.K. Lee's debut novel is a tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong. In 1942, Englishman Will Truesdale falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong to work as a piano teacher and also begins a fateful affair. As the threads of this spellbinding novel intertwine, impossible choices emerge-between love and safety, courage and survival, the present, and above all, the past.

Nox by Anne Carson
What an amazing package. Carson's newest book of poetry is a thick fold-out accordion block of pages in a clamshell box; The accordion pages replicate the journal pages Carson filled after the death of her brother.