Bad Romance: Madame Bovary, Translated by Lydia Davis 8

Given Flaubert’s obsession with style and craft, any translation of Madame Bovary into English requires not merely competence but a touch of full-on windmill-charging madness.  Lydia Davis has this madness, tempered by a Flaubertian fastidiousness and dedication to language.  The results are exhilarating.

A Year in Reading by Andrew Saikali 2

Splendid Things Gleaming in the Dust by Andrew Saikali 5