Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Jackson's reply:
I'm reading Among the Sinner: a novel by Karen von Kunes, published in 2013. Karen is Czech, escaped in her teens, and writes from a deep human experience. After invoking the meaning of "zazemÃ" (what one needs in life, background, education, position) the novel follows the live and struggles of Milena. Karen teaches Czech and is a colleague and friend at Yale.Learn more about Machado de Assis at the Yale University Press website.
--Marshal Zeringue