Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish

David Rakoff is probably best known for his performances on the radio show This American Life. Last August he died of cancer, but not before completing a whimsical and utterly original novel in verse. The author of three essay collections, Rakoff’s only work of fiction is a sequence of interconnected portraits that spans a century and is written in anapestic tetrameter. Rakoff’s verse is lovely, to say the least, and is incredibly fun to read out loud. Mere weeks before his death, he recorded the audiobook for Love, Dishonor.... His voice is strained and not as nimble as it once was, but he performs with no shortage of his usual humour and grace. Give it a listen if you want your heart to live in your throat and your thoughts to run in verse.