Books: New Murakami, what After ‘The Girl on the Train, ‘ a forgotten surrealist and more
I’ m back! I’ m Carolyn Kellogg, books editor of the L.A. Times, returning after a few staycation days away. We have some delightful book reviews for you this week.…
THE BIG STORY
Haruki Murakami is a literary phenomenon, a bestselling author in Japan as well as one of the world’s most beloved innovative novelists. But his new book, “Men Without Women, ” isn’ t a novel at all; it’s short stories. Do his tales of alienated men (and, often, cats) work as short fiction? Find out in our review from Jeffrey Renard Allen, the acclaimed novelist and award-winning short story writer.
AFTER ‘THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN’
Paula Hawkins had a worldwide bestseller on her hands with “ The Girl on the Train, ” which she has now followed up with “Into the Water, ” another thriller with all new characters and a new setting. “I know a lot of people struggle when they are writing something on the back of a big success, ” she tells the Times. “But actually, the pressure to write the book — that came from myself.” Find out about her new book in this interview with Lauren Christensen .
AN OVERLOOKED SURREALIST GENIUS
If you don’ t recognize the name Leonora Carrington, don’ t worry, you’ re not alone. Best known as the lover and muse of painter Max Ernst, Carrington had a long, full creative life in her own right, as both an author and artist. Two new books shine a much-deserved spotlight on Carrington. Joy Press, our former book editor, returns to our pages writing about Carrington’s startlingly original short fiction, collected by the independent press Dorothy in “The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington, ” along with her life and harrowing escape from Europe during World War II as described in her memoir from NYRB Classics, “Down Below.
