books@cc.

Miskin, banyak anak, Katolik, di era berkuasanya Partai Komunis Hongaria pada akhir tahun 1960an, itulah gambaran singkat keadaan keluarga Anak Kesembilan. Anak-anak ini—dalam satu hal atau lainnya—mempunyai berbagai kelainan seperti cacat bicara, sering sakit kepala, dan sebagainya. Setelah memenangkan kompetisi Rumah untuk Keluarga Besar yang diiklankan di koran Manusia Baru, mereka membangun dan menanti-nantikan kepindahan mereka ke Rumah Besar.

Ups and Downs memberi gambaran lugas, bahkan cenderung pesimis, kehidupan di Hindia pada akhir abad ke-19 tanpa menonjolkan heroisme pengarang (ataupun alter ego)nya. Dengan setting periode yang berdekatan, Ups and Downs menampilkan potret jujur konflik dan intrik kehidupan di perkebunan Hindia: bergelimang harta, mengadakan jamuan-jamuan mewah dan bertamu-tamuan yang tak kunjung usai.

by Orhan Pamuk (1990)

Embarking on a journey to find his missing wife and her ex-husband, Galip obsessively searches for (and drowns in) endless possible meanings and leads.

by Roberto Bolaño. A collection of short stories, written as if witness to a crime.

by Danilo Kiš (1976)

Seven different yet casually interlinked short stories about revolutionaries, mostly centering around the Russian Revolution

by Orhan Pamuk (1979)

The story of a young Italian savant and his ambivalent relationship his Turkish double in 17th century, their intense struggle of knowledge and power domination

by Ahmadou Kourouma (1981)

A short novel of early post-colonial Africa: the story of Fama, the prince of Horodugu region, ‘the last of the Dumbuya’ who had reigned over the Malinke and his wife, Salimata.

by Edogawa Rampo (1956)

A lucidly-translated collection of short mystery stories by Japan’s most famous mystery writer.

by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

A father and his son wander through a ravaged post-apocalyptic world, where all matter of wildlife is extinct and the rain ashen.

by John Updike (2006)

A post-9/11 novel where a strongly-devoted Muslim boy finds himself prepared as a truck driver to deliver bomb attack.