Yep, Yesterday I posted about those two novels that contain myth, legend, and fantasy and in this morning's email there was a new post from Annabel's House of Books about a related challenge. Of course, like Annabel, I rarely do challenges but...
The thing is, the two books I posted about yesterday re-sparked my mind to read more fantasy so I checked out the challenge and it's really quite flexible and I think the posts by the participants will lead me to some interesting reads.
So here it is Once Upon a Time VIII
"Friday, March 21st begins the eighth annual Once Upon a Time Challenge.
This is a reading and viewing event that encompasses four broad
categories: Fairy Tale, Folklore, Fantasy and Mythology, including the
seemingly countless sub-genres and blending of genres that fall within
this spectrum. The challenge continues through June 21st and allows for
very minor (1 book only) participation as well as more immersion
depending on your reading/viewing whims."
There are several levels, and I'm not sure which I'll aim for. I'm not even sure it makes much difference since my goal is to see what everyone else is reading. Still, I should share.
Think I'll go for
Quest of the First: "Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time
categories. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or
mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four
genres."
and (since I love short stories)
Short Story Quest: "This quest involves the reading of one or more short stories that fit
within at least one of the four genres during the course of any weekend,
or weekends, during the challenge. Ideally you would post about your
short story readings on Sundays or Mondays, but this is not strictly
necessary."
As usual for me, the Reading is not the Challenge. The posting is.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Serendipitous Reading
Sometimes these things just happen. Two (or more) books that just seem to go together appear on my reading stand at the same time. This can be an uncomfortable coincidence (see my last post) or it can be fun.
Here's a fun one. At the library a couple of weeks ago I picked up The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine because I liked his Unnecessary Woman so much. At about the same time The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker showed up on my online library holds. So there they sat, one on my Kindle and one on my side table, both with similar due dates.
So when I finished my grim IFFP reads, I turned to these two sensing that they would be a little lighter.
These two books go together. I alternated between them until I got a notice that the Wecker book was almost due. So I finished it first because it can't be renewed and the other one can. I'm halfway through through The Hakawati.
The similarities:
Both books deal with Middle Eastern legends and magic. Jinni and other mythical creatures abound, often out of their elements.
The differences:
The Wecker book is a pretty straightforward fantasy novel, set in New York in the late 1800s with flashbacks to earlier times in the desert. Alameddine's novel is somewhat autobiographical and is set in modern day Beirut with the old tales interspersed with the narrator's family history. The narrator has come to Beirut from his current home in Los Angeles to see his dying father.
The verdict:
A Hakawati is a story teller and these two authors are really good story tellers. This is Wecker's first novel (she took seven years to write it) and it is a well polished debut novel. I hope to see more from her.
Alameddine had already made his mark when he wrote this novel. It was written before An Unnecessary Woman and, other than both being set in Beirut, there is little similarity between the two. Hence, it is impossible to say one is better than the other. But this variety is what makes me want to read more of his work.
Both books are great reads and provided the hoped for relief from the darkness of Back to Back and The Dark Road.
Here's a fun one. At the library a couple of weeks ago I picked up The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine because I liked his Unnecessary Woman so much. At about the same time The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker showed up on my online library holds. So there they sat, one on my Kindle and one on my side table, both with similar due dates.
So when I finished my grim IFFP reads, I turned to these two sensing that they would be a little lighter.
These two books go together. I alternated between them until I got a notice that the Wecker book was almost due. So I finished it first because it can't be renewed and the other one can. I'm halfway through through The Hakawati.
The similarities:
Both books deal with Middle Eastern legends and magic. Jinni and other mythical creatures abound, often out of their elements.
The differences:
The Wecker book is a pretty straightforward fantasy novel, set in New York in the late 1800s with flashbacks to earlier times in the desert. Alameddine's novel is somewhat autobiographical and is set in modern day Beirut with the old tales interspersed with the narrator's family history. The narrator has come to Beirut from his current home in Los Angeles to see his dying father.
The verdict:
A Hakawati is a story teller and these two authors are really good story tellers. This is Wecker's first novel (she took seven years to write it) and it is a well polished debut novel. I hope to see more from her.
Alameddine had already made his mark when he wrote this novel. It was written before An Unnecessary Woman and, other than both being set in Beirut, there is little similarity between the two. Hence, it is impossible to say one is better than the other. But this variety is what makes me want to read more of his work.
Both books are great reads and provided the hoped for relief from the darkness of Back to Back and The Dark Road.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
About Those Longlists
Whew! I've just finished two of the books from the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Two very bleak and dark tales.
Back to Back by Julia Franck and translated from the German by Anthea Bell (Harvill Secker) and The Dark Road by Ma Jian and translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew (Chatto & Windus).
I'm too spent to make comment about either one, except to say that of the two I thought The Dark Road was more well written.
It didn't help that I was also finishing Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter by Sally Armstrong. This is a discussion of the progress on women's rights around the world. Another difficult read.
These were such heavy narratives that it was a relief to take breaks and read the pretty much plot-less A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard and translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker). This one is on both the IFFP list and the BTBA list. I'm taking it in small doses and probably won't finish it before the library reclaims it. Knausgaard tells me more than I ever wanted to know about one man. I find him much more interesting when he writes about literary topics than when he writes about himself and his rather mundane day-to-day activities.
I've made no progress on the Baileys Women's Prize longlist. Right now I want something light and fluffy.
Back to Back by Julia Franck and translated from the German by Anthea Bell (Harvill Secker) and The Dark Road by Ma Jian and translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew (Chatto & Windus).
I'm too spent to make comment about either one, except to say that of the two I thought The Dark Road was more well written.
It didn't help that I was also finishing Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter by Sally Armstrong. This is a discussion of the progress on women's rights around the world. Another difficult read.
These were such heavy narratives that it was a relief to take breaks and read the pretty much plot-less A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard and translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker). This one is on both the IFFP list and the BTBA list. I'm taking it in small doses and probably won't finish it before the library reclaims it. Knausgaard tells me more than I ever wanted to know about one man. I find him much more interesting when he writes about literary topics than when he writes about himself and his rather mundane day-to-day activities.
I've made no progress on the Baileys Women's Prize longlist. Right now I want something light and fluffy.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Ancient History
Maybe not "ancient" in terms of human history, but I'm talking Internet here.
Here are the remnants of something I started back in the late 1990s when I was still a working librarian. It was in response to a recurring school assignment. I can't remember if it was a high school or community college assignment but students kept asking for books translated into English from another language. No specific language, but the book had to have literary merit.
At that time, there was no Google , no search engines, there was barely an Internet, I started this before graphical interface. See what I mean by "ancient"?
These requests usually came to me because I was the person on the staff who read the most "foreign" fiction. I remember having a difficult time getting the rest of the staff to agree to ordering translated works. So this was a tough assignment since the material had to be accessible as well as literary. So I started a list and as soon as free web sites were available I put it on Tripod (now Lycos).
Fast forward a few years and the list was no longer necessary since we had an online catalog, better search engines, etc. And then I retired. So I updated it sporadically. It was no longer necessary to limit it to books available in a specific library system. Nor did the books have to be of interest to a specific student group.
Now it's a real mess, since Goodreads, Library Thing, Riffle and other such sites make it much easier to do this sort of thing. But it's still a list of translated works, geographically arranged, that may be of interest. So I won't totally erase it. But I probably won't bother to add to it or correct the typos and poor formatting.
So here it is for what it's worth: The Geographical Reader
Here are the remnants of something I started back in the late 1990s when I was still a working librarian. It was in response to a recurring school assignment. I can't remember if it was a high school or community college assignment but students kept asking for books translated into English from another language. No specific language, but the book had to have literary merit.
At that time, there was no Google , no search engines, there was barely an Internet, I started this before graphical interface. See what I mean by "ancient"?
These requests usually came to me because I was the person on the staff who read the most "foreign" fiction. I remember having a difficult time getting the rest of the staff to agree to ordering translated works. So this was a tough assignment since the material had to be accessible as well as literary. So I started a list and as soon as free web sites were available I put it on Tripod (now Lycos).
Fast forward a few years and the list was no longer necessary since we had an online catalog, better search engines, etc. And then I retired. So I updated it sporadically. It was no longer necessary to limit it to books available in a specific library system. Nor did the books have to be of interest to a specific student group.
Now it's a real mess, since Goodreads, Library Thing, Riffle and other such sites make it much easier to do this sort of thing. But it's still a list of translated works, geographically arranged, that may be of interest. So I won't totally erase it. But I probably won't bother to add to it or correct the typos and poor formatting.
So here it is for what it's worth: The Geographical Reader
Friday, March 14, 2014
Best Translated Book Award Longlist
Read six, loved three of those, didn't like three. Have one more in hand to read. Have easy access to six more. That leaves twelve that I might not see for months, if ever.
The ones I've read:
Tirza by Arnon Grunberg - Liked it, 5 star liked it.
The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra by Pedro Mairal - One of my favorites- 5 star
The Infatuations by Javier Marías - A real struggle
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura - Loved it! 5 star
In the Night of Time by Antonio Muñoz Molina - Slogged through, not a favorite
City of Angels, or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud by Christa Wolf - Don't understand the fuss, just not my kind of thing
Next to read:
My Struggle: Book Two by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Just got from library, haven't started it.
Available from local libraries:
Horses of God by Mahi Binebine
Textile by Orly Castel-Bloom
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
Seiobo There Below by László Krasznahorkai
Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
The Whispering Muse by Sjó
If I want to read any of the rest, I'll have to beg, buy, or search libraries out of local system. Which are worth buying or tracking down? Maybe a couple will show up in local library now that they are on this longlist.
Blinding by Mircea Cărtărescu
Sleet by Stig Dagerman
Her Not All Her by Elfriede Jelinek
The African Shore by Rodrigo Rey Rosa
Through the Night by Stig Sæterbakken
Commentary by Marcelle Sauvageot
Leg Over Leg Vol. 1 by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq
The Forbidden Kingdom by Jan Jacob Slauerhoff
The Devil’s Workshop by Jáchym Topol
The End of Love by Marcos Giralt Torrente
Red Grass by Boris Vian
The ones I've read:
Tirza by Arnon Grunberg - Liked it, 5 star liked it.
The Missing Year of Juan Salvatierra by Pedro Mairal - One of my favorites- 5 star
The Infatuations by Javier Marías - A real struggle
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura - Loved it! 5 star
In the Night of Time by Antonio Muñoz Molina - Slogged through, not a favorite
City of Angels, or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud by Christa Wolf - Don't understand the fuss, just not my kind of thing
Next to read:
My Struggle: Book Two by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Just got from library, haven't started it.
Available from local libraries:
Horses of God by Mahi Binebine
Textile by Orly Castel-Bloom
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
Seiobo There Below by László Krasznahorkai
Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
The Whispering Muse by Sjó
If I want to read any of the rest, I'll have to beg, buy, or search libraries out of local system. Which are worth buying or tracking down? Maybe a couple will show up in local library now that they are on this longlist.
Blinding by Mircea Cărtărescu
Sleet by Stig Dagerman
Her Not All Her by Elfriede Jelinek
The African Shore by Rodrigo Rey Rosa
Through the Night by Stig Sæterbakken
Commentary by Marcelle Sauvageot
Leg Over Leg Vol. 1 by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq
The Forbidden Kingdom by Jan Jacob Slauerhoff
The Devil’s Workshop by Jáchym Topol
The End of Love by Marcos Giralt Torrente
Red Grass by Boris Vian
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