This month, we’re reading two unnerving tales that traverse South America and Western Europe. Galápagos: A Novel Fátima Vélez, trans. Hannah Kauders (Astra House, 208 pp., $22, December 2025) The book cover for Galapagos Galápagos makes no secret that it’s a novel about decay. On the first page, Lorenzo, the narrator, feels his pinky nail coming loose “like a baby tooth.” Soon, all his nails have fallen off, and both of his hands are wrapped in pus-soaked bandages that he tries to ignore, like