Book Subscription Box

This June, we showcase two brilliant books that we are very excited about! One is a new release of a Latin American classic out on June 10 (but we are working on getting it earlier for you), and the other is a wonderful English classic that is finally being reprinted and so we can feature it in this upcoming box. Both books have been published by two of our beloved publishers: NYRB Classics and Archipelago.

The Cost of Living 
Mavis Gallant

Canadian writer Mavis Gallant is often called one of the greatest short story writers of our time and has inspired the likes of Jhumpa Lahiri and filmmaker Wes Anderson (who even made a film based on one of her stories). She valued her autonomy and privacy as a writer and moved to France to be able to fully devote herself to writing fiction. Her book The Cost of Living is just the book for our times.

From NYRB:

Mavis Gallant is renowned as one of the great short-story writers of our day. This new gathering of long-unavailable or previously uncollected work presents stories from 1951 to 1971 and shows Gallant’s progression from precocious virtuosity, to accomplished artistry, to the expansive innovatory spirit that marks her finest work.

Set in Paris, New York, the Riviera, and Montreal and full of scrupulously observed characters ranging from freebooters and malingerers to runaway children and fashion models, Gallant’s stories are at once satirical and lyrical, passionate and skeptical, perfectly calibrated and in constant motion, brilliantly capturing the fatal untidiness of life.

Praise for the Book/Author

“One of the great story writers of our time.”
— Michael Ondaatje

“The irrefutable master of the short story in English. She is the standout. She is the standard-bearer.”
— Fran Lebowitz

“One of the finest practitioners of the short story in the English language.”
— The New York Times

Mafalda Book One
Quino

We have been waiting (and waiting) for Mafalda to be released in the U.S. And it’s finally releasing on June 10. An Argentinian classic comic created by renowned Argentinian cartoonist Quino, it counts among its fans writers Gabriel García Márquez , Umberto Eco and Julio Cortazar. In the early 1970s Cortázar was asked what he thought of Mafalda. His answer? “That does not matter at all. What is important is what Mafalda thinks about me.”

From Archipelago:

Six-year-old Mafalda loves democracy and hates soup. What democratic sector do cats fall into? she asks, then unfurls a toilet paper red carpet and gives her very own presidential address. Mafalda’s precociousness and passion stump all grown-ups around her. Dissident and rebellious, she refuses to abandon the world to her parents’ generation, who seem so lost.

Alongside the irascible Mafalda, readers will meet her eclectic entourage: dreamy Felipe and gossipy Susanita, young-capitalist Manolito and rebellious Miguelito. You can clearly see Mafalda is small, when she is dreaming in bed or soaring on a swing — “As usual, as soon as you put your feet on the ground, the fun finishes,” Mafalda grumbles — but her hopes for the world and her heart are as huge as can be. Generations of readers have discovered themselves in Mafalda’s boundlessly adventurous spirit, and learned to question, rebel, and hope.

Praise for the Book/Author:

“Each Quino book is happiness.”
— Gabriel García Márquez

“Mafalda is a hero of our time.”
— Umberto Eco

“An acerbic 6-year-old skewers societal foibles . . . With its forthright, articulate, and frequently bickering cast of children, comparisons to Charles Schulz’s Peanuts are inevitable . . . Mafalda rails against Argentinian leadership, decries wars and social crises abroad, and stands as a staunch advocate for women’s rights . . . A historical comic strip with ongoing relevance and plenty to laugh about.”
— Kirkus Reviews