Hidden Histories

Just finished Granta #85. My favorite bits:

"Tiger's Ghost" by Jennie Erdal: Her life as a ghostwriter for a flamboyant fashion designer who wanted his name on thinly-disguished novels about him and his sex fantasies.

"A Religious Conversation" by Orhan Pamuk: What the title says. I don't want to give anything away.

"Eight Pieces for the Left Hand" by J. Robert Lennon: A set of hilarious and wacky very short stories. I keep meaning to pick up one of his novels.

"Put Not Thy Trust in Chariots" by Jonathan Tel: A simple but engaging story that explores the personal tensions between a Jewish and an Arab family in Jerusalem.

Except for Tel's story, the rest are, in effect, plugs for books. Since it took me a year to get around to reading this issue of Granta, the books should have hit the shelves by now.