Bookworm, no. 90

Emily Mernin reviews Jean Giono’s “Fragments of a Paradise.” Ray Reid on “Between Composers,” edited by Brian Cherney. Poetry by Shana Ross. Inside the April issue.

Everything Is Blue for Him

Fragments of a Paradise
Jean Giono
Translated by Paul Eprile
Archipelago Books
216 pages, softcover and ebook

In July 1940, two ships set sail from France toward the Tropic of Cancer. “We’re leaving so we won’t be turned into beasts,” one of the captains reveals in his diary, after he locks his boat’s radio in a cabinet. The crews h…