For 15 years Kathryn Scanlan poured over a stranger’s crumbling diary.

She had rescued the little book from the trash after an estate auction. No one thought it was worth saving. But Scanlan found something special in the 86-year-old diarist’s minimalist entries. She compulsively read and reread the journal, typing out and rearranging its sentences into poetically conceptual art pieces.

With only one or two sentences per page, the resulting work reads like an even more minimalist Raymond Carver, telling the story of an elderly couple confronting aging, grief, and the practicality of life in late 1960s rural Illinois. Aug 9 – Fog is an unusually spare book but one that rewards slow, careful reading.