Thomas Bunstead

"Through the rich inner lives of two ordinary, unforgettable women, award-winning Spanish poet Elena Medel brings a half-century of the feminist movement to life, revealing the simmering truth that money is ultimately the limiting factor in most women's lives"-- María moved to the city in 1969, leaving her daughter with her family but hoping to save enough to take care of her one day. She worked as a housekeeper, a caregiver, a cleaner—somehow...

What was the greatest goal of all time? Why do the Hungarians have a more philosophical sense of defeat than the Mexicans? Do the dead play soccer? On a planet where FIFA has more members than the United Nations, Juan Villoro's examination of soccer and its 3.5 billion-person fandom has stakes beyond those of such playful questions. Soccer is more than just a game; it is a catalyst for panglobal unity and even, Villoro suggests, the "recovery of childhood."...

"Laid off from his job, Damián Lobo obsessively imagines himself as a celebrity being interviewed on TV. After committing an act of petty theft at an antiques market, he finds himself trapped inside a wardrobe and delivered to the seemingly idyllic home of a husband, wife, and their internet-addicted teenage daughter. There, he sneaks from the shadows to serve as an invisible butler, becoming deeply and disastrously involved with his unknowing host...

"After the IT firm where she works shuts down, Lucía has a vision of her future career as a taxi driver, brought on by the intoxicating opera floating through her apartment's air vent. She obtains her taxi license and meets the neighbor responsible for the music. Calaf, he says, is his name, also the name of the character from Puccini's Turandot and the name of the bird Lucía received on her 10th birthday from her long-since-dead mother. When Calaf...

"In the middle of the Nevada desert stands a solitary poplar tree, covered in hundreds of pairs of shoes. Farther along U.S. Route 50, a lonely prostitute falls in love with a collector of found photographs. In Las Vegas, an Argentine builds a peculiar monument to Jorge Luis Borges. On the run from authorities, a man takes up permanent residence in the legal non-place of Singapore International Airport"--Page 4 of cover.

"Somewhere in Spain, Marc, an avid reader of the Philips Agricultural Guide: 1968, pegs mathematical formulas to clotheslines on the roof of an eight-story building. In London, the artist Jodorkovski spends hours painting tiny vignettes on chewing gum stuck to the pavement. In Miami, Harold spends his days devouring every box of corn flakes that has his ex-wife's birthday as its sell-by date. Meanwhile, in Corcubión, Spain, Antón is working on an...

"After his grandfather dies, avid scholar and budding forensic investigator Cí Song begrudgingly gives up his studies to help his family. But when another tragedy strikes, he's forced to run and also deemed a fugitive. Dishonored, he has no choice but to accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a position that allows him to sharpen his corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce whether a person killed himself--or was murdered. His prowess earns him notoriety,...

"A literary triumph by one of Mexico's most promising young authors, Red Ants is the first ever literary translation into English from the Sierra Zapotec. This vibrant collection of short stories by Pergentino José updates magical realism for the 21st century. Red Ants paints a candid picture of indigenous Mexican life -- an essential counterpoint to cultural products of the colonial gaze. José's fantastical stories tackle themes of family, love,...

Prehistory is all around us. We just need to know where to look. Juan Jose Millas has always felt like he doesn't quite fit into human society. Sometimes he wonders if he is even a Homo sapiens at all, or something simpler. Perhaps he is a Neanderthal who somehow survived? So he turns to Juan Luis Arsuaga, one of the world's leading palaeontologists and a super-smart sapiens, to explain why we are the way we are and where we come from. Over the course...