{"id":207857,"date":"2025-10-12T13:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207857\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T13:00:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T13:00:19","slug":"the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-book-marks-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207857\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2039 The Best Reviewed Books of the Week Book Marks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Pynchon\u2019s Shadow Ticket, Francesca Wade\u2019s Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, and John Banville\u2019s Venetian Vespers all feature among the best reviewed books of the week.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fiction<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

1. Shadow Ticket<\/a> by Thomas Pynchon
(Penguin)<\/p>\n

Article continues after advertisement<\/p>\n

11 Rave \u2022 6 Positive \u2022 6 Mixed \u2022 4 Pan<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s late Pynchon at his finest. Dark as a vampire\u2019s pocket, light-fingered as a jewel thief, Shadow Ticket capers across the page with breezy, baggy-pants assurance\u2014and then pauses on its way down the fire escape just long enough to crack your heart open \u2026 Pynchon may not have lost a step in Shadow Ticket, but sometimes he seems to be conserving his energy. His signature long, comma-rich sentences reach their periods a little sooner now \u2026 For most of the way, though, Shadow Ticket may remind you of an exceptionally tight tribute band, playing the oldies so lovingly that you might as well be listening to your old, long-since-unloaded vinyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013David Kipen (The Los Angeles Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Venetian<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Venetian Vespers<\/a> by John Banville
(Knopf)<\/p>\n

6 Rave \u2022 4 Positive \u2022 1 Mixed
Read an excerpt from Venetian Vespers here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMaps out a territory halfway between Banville\u2019s supreme fictions and his more forthright entertainments \u2026 An intricate thriller that is also a slyly fashioned work of art; a pastiche that is also indisputably the real thing. John Banville, up to his old tricks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Kevin Power (The Irish Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Near<\/p>\n

3. Near Flesh: Stories<\/a> by Katherine Dunn
(MCD)<\/p>\n

3 Rave \u2022 2 Positive \u2022 2 Mixed<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collection is a welcome reminder that literature can be not only a showcase for polished, refined sentiment but also an arena in which both reader and writer grapple\u2014with imminent challenges, with their own psyches, with the uncertainty of survival \u2026 Dunn\u2019s pieces have an almost irrepressible kinetic energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Alexandra Kleeman (The New York Times Book Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Nonfiction<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Gertrude<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife<\/a> by Francesca Wade
(Scribner)<\/p>\n

9 Rave \u2022 3 Positive \u2022 3 Mixed
Read an excerpt from Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe structure\u2026allows its readers to understand something that usually goes unmentioned in literary biographies. A writer is not merely the sum total of known events that occurred to her between birth and death, she is also the network of readers created by her work during that period and afterward \u2026 When Wade is confronted by writing she doesn\u2019t understand, curiosity rather than resentment wins the day \u2026 The superiority of Wade\u2019s approach can be measured by the insights into Stein\u2019s work that she gleans from it \u2026 Thoughtful and thorough, with insightful interpretations of her work embedded in a compelling narrative of her and Toklas\u2019s life, Wade\u2019s biography makes a convincing case that, while her status as a cultural figure is secure, her writing remains, if anything, underrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Ryan Ruby (Bookforum<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"38<\/p>\n

2. 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England, and a Nazi in Patagonia<\/a> by Philippe Sands
(Knopf)<\/p>\n

7 Rave
Read an excerpt from 38 Londres Street here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cRemarkable \u2026 It is the relentless pursuit of this hidden and repulsive past that gives 38 Londres Street its startling originality, turning it into a tour de force that extends its reach far beyond what we typically envisage from a book about human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Ariel Dorfman (New York Review of Books<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Paper<\/p>\n

3. Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America<\/a> by Beth Macy
(Penguin)<\/p>\n

4 Rave \u2022 3 Positive
Read an excerpt from Paper Girl here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth wide-ranging and strikingly intimate, Paper Girl is an affirmation of faith in humanity, and Macy lights the way ahead, even as the darkness stretched before us threatens to swallow our conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Vanessa Willoughby (BookPage<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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