James King's Étienne's Alphabet Cormorant Books, 2010 Stephen Chambers has been charged with the task of presenting Étienne Morneau's memoir. (I Googled him, but he is fictional; I fell for it book, spine, and thinker.) Morneau, himself, before he died, had tried for six months to write a conventional autobiography, but he
Rabindranath Maharaj's The Amazing Absorbing Boy Knopf, 2010 "Useless! Completely kissmeass useless nowhereian." That's how Uncle Boysie describes Samuel's father. "Your father was a big inventor in Trinidad, you know...[b]ut the only thing he invent was a scheme to get out of the island." But talk of his father's neemakararam
Farzana Doctor's Stealing Nasreen Inanna Publications, 2007 This debut novel opens with an introduction to Shaffiq, a member of the cleaning staff, working the night shift, pulling a photograph torn in two from the garbage can he is emptying. He is fascinated by "clues and curiosities", shares them with his
Unforgettable design, no? Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers House of Anansi, 2011 So I'm chatting about this book, about the scene with the 'dentist', and I announce that I agree that it's unfair that he doesn't get paid for his 'services', but dismiss it quickly by saying that
You might remember that I've been sampling books from Indie presses that have been shortlisted for this year's ReLit Awards. Not just novels, but short stories, even poetry (which is adventurous for me). For a month of Sundays (at least), I'm Buried in ReLit Print. Krakow Melt, Daniel Allen Cox (Arsenal Pulp) Sample:
