Readux Books: 10 books

BERLIN ON THE BRINK OF MODERNITY In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act expanded the Berlin's borders to their present state, doubling its population and increasing its area by a factor of 13. In 1919, on the eve of that change, Arthur Eloesser published a series of essays examining the evolving concept of...

These five darkly comic vignettes are absurd modern fairy-tales, full of Chaplinesque slapstick and ominous imagery. Their tragicomic heroes must navigate adolescence and family life, poverty and humiliation, love and ambition - and perhaps even emerge with their dignity. From her break-out debut collection,...

When Miles sees Nicole at the airport, he's captivated. “He thinks maybe they'll share a row, between them an empty seat of separation—let fate do the introductions—and they'll spend the cross-country flight moving beyond What do you do?'s, and Traveling for why?'s, and onto Who could have predicted?”...

A LEADING GERMAN AUTHOR EXPLORES BERLIN'S TRANSFORMATION IN THE PAST 15 YEARS At the end of the last millennium, David Wagner visited various Berlin locations and described what he saw - people, businesses, architecture, food, flora, the tempo of life. He then revisited them in 2013 and cast the same...

These two high-spirited essays present a pedestrian's-eye-view of 1920s Berlin, a city that is simultaneously down-on-its-luck and booming. Francophile writer and translator Franz Hessel brought the role of the flâneur to the streets of Berlin, capturing the rhythm of city life in his perceptive...

Some students will drive even the best-intentioned teachers to the breaking point. Ingrid is one of those students. The Lesson is a nuanced portrait of the struggle between two wills, crackling with psychological tension and simmering with emotion.

A COMING-OF-AGE STORY FROM ONE OF SWEDEN'S HOTTEST YOUNG AUTHORS A story of desire, innocence, and experience unfolds against the beautiful backdrop of southern Sweden's coast. When the narrator arrives in a small town to visit his dying grandmother, he meets a young woman eager to share a secret with...

“Maybe I'm a philosophical person—the crucial question is: how deep can a person dive with a single breath?” Termann is a free diver. He's come to the island, accompanied by journalists and his crew, in hopes of setting a record. The pressure mounts as the dive approaches, but Termann must remain...

AN ENTERTAINING TOUR-DE-FORCE IN THE VOICES OF RURAL AMERICA In Pocahontas, Mississippi, the Hong Kong Buffet is more than just a place to eat. Glory Ellis Higgins swears by it three times a week, but as editor of the Junior League Cookbook, Ruth Delaney knows that it isn't of the finest quality; she...

Nicholas Moore and Ivan Blatný were 20th-century poets whose stars burned bright in their youths, Moore in England and Blatný in Czechoslovakia. Then both men were battered by history and individual fate. The Marvel of Biographical Bookkeeping is a formally innovative book that explores their life...