My blog is really lagging this week. I haven't read my story of the week, haven't made any notes on my reading, and haven't searched for a card. Will try to do something with some of this during the week. No excuse for the blog blahs, it just happens sometimes.
Story: The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut by Mark Twain (on my Kindle)
Card: Ace of Clubs- this should be an interesting search for an image.
online...
More stuff at Three Percent concerning the Two Month Review: a lively podcast featuring Rodrigo Fresán, author The Invented Part, and a fun written-to-formula jacket blurb by Chad Post.
Literature as Life: Sergio Pitol’s “Trilogy of Memory” by Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado
Goodarticle about one of my favorite authors.
Sheesha Ghat by Naiyer Masur; Translated from the Urdu by Moazzam Sheikh and Elizabeth Bell
Short story
The Bones of Louella Brown by Ann Petry from her story collection, Miss Muriel and Other Stories.
A mix-up in a mortuary is more than embarrassing for the undertakers and a prominent family.
from the library...
Reading Writing by Julien Gracq, translated from the French by Jeanine Herman
The Best Minds of My Generation: A Literary History of the Beats
by Allen Ginsberg, Bill Morgan (Editor), Anne Waldman (Introduction)
Saturday, July 29, 2017
July (fourth week) 2017 Reads
We finished it!
The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán, Translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden
This has been an amazing experience. Chad Post of Open Letter Books has led the Two Month slow read of this fantastic novel by providing summaries of each section, broadcasting weekly podcast discussions, setting up a Goodreads group, and publishing a Will Vanderhyden interview with Fresán.
This book was so complex, so convoluted, so full of surprises, so much fun that I can't possibly do it justice here. The best thing is to defer to Chad's great material at the Three Percent blog.
I love this book. It's one of the best things I've read this year. I and look forward to more Fresán.
“Deal Me In 2017!” Story of the week: Joy of Traveling by Jung Young Moon (in A most ambiguous Sunday, and other stories), Translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon
Two men and a woman have agreed to go on a trip together, but one of the men, K, doesn't show up. The others decide to go anyway.
As they drive they have a disjointed inconsequential conversation, make a couple of stops, he takes some pictures.
The narration fills in with how the two met and how they met K, a bisexual. It's not quite clear what the relationships are, we can only guess...
Card: Seven of Spades from Zoe's blog thing: Engineering! Art! Stuff!
The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán, Translated from the Spanish by Will VanderhydenThis has been an amazing experience. Chad Post of Open Letter Books has led the Two Month slow read of this fantastic novel by providing summaries of each section, broadcasting weekly podcast discussions, setting up a Goodreads group, and publishing a Will Vanderhyden interview with Fresán.
This book was so complex, so convoluted, so full of surprises, so much fun that I can't possibly do it justice here. The best thing is to defer to Chad's great material at the Three Percent blog.
I love this book. It's one of the best things I've read this year. I and look forward to more Fresán.
“Deal Me In 2017!” Story of the week: Joy of Traveling by Jung Young Moon (in A most ambiguous Sunday, and other stories), Translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon
Two men and a woman have agreed to go on a trip together, but one of the men, K, doesn't show up. The others decide to go anyway.As they drive they have a disjointed inconsequential conversation, make a couple of stops, he takes some pictures.
The narration fills in with how the two met and how they met K, a bisexual. It's not quite clear what the relationships are, we can only guess...
Card: Seven of Spades from Zoe's blog thing: Engineering! Art! Stuff!
Zoe and another artist started modifying a deck of cards with various designs. They seemed not to have finished the project (the blog hasn't been updated recently). The few displayed are quite fanciful and some are in full color. It looks like a fun project.
This card might describe the countryside the couple (their names aren't given) in the story are driving through. There are rolling hills with vineyards and a rice paddy.
online...
Sequoia Nagamatsu - Stories
The author of the story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone provides links to online publications of his stories. I'm slowly making my way through these links. Some lead to free, full text stories, other stories are available by purchasing online issues. I really enjoyed the ones I could freely access. In some cases I had to use a site's search function to find the story because it had gone to archive. But even if you can't find Nagamatsu's work these links lead to some interesting journals.
Translator as Medium by Charlotte Mandell
What Fourth-Grade Archaeologists Have Found in Their School’s Closet by Eric Grundhauser
The Ghost Villages of Newfoundland: A controversial government resettlement program has left centuries-old fishing villages abandoned by Luke Spencer
A good novel about a holdout of the relocation is Sweetland by Michael Crummey..jpg?1501130258)
In Defense of the Emoji Building and Architecture Being Fun, Sometimes by Rory Stott
The arguments against seem to center around that these are frivolous, that they will go out of date, or that they are sending us down a slippery slope.
Maybe architects have to think that architecture must be serious, timeless, etc., but I come in on the side of being a little playful now and then. I like a building that makes me smile.
Dated? Let's get rid of gargoyles, coats of arms, art deco scrolls and flourishes, or anything else that suggests when a structure was built. Boring.
Slippery slope? What next? Does this open the door for medallions featuring @, #, recycling symbols, and other graphic signs of our times? So what? Shrug.
from my shelves...
Lunar Follies
by
Gilbert Sorrentino
It's not quite accurate to say I've finished this book. I have read all fifty-three items, but I've only read them once. Like poetry, this is the sort of thing -if one likes this sort of thing- to reread. It is, so to speak, a parody of parody. A spoof on almost everything: art, sports, personal names, critics and criticism, writing, itself, four-letter words, and (I suspect) readers of books like this.
It seems oddly appropriate that I got this book in a ten dollar blind grab-bag purchase from the publisher. I also liked the other books in the bag, but this one was the most fun.
from the library....
This card might describe the countryside the couple (their names aren't given) in the story are driving through. There are rolling hills with vineyards and a rice paddy.
online...
Sequoia Nagamatsu - Stories
The author of the story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone provides links to online publications of his stories. I'm slowly making my way through these links. Some lead to free, full text stories, other stories are available by purchasing online issues. I really enjoyed the ones I could freely access. In some cases I had to use a site's search function to find the story because it had gone to archive. But even if you can't find Nagamatsu's work these links lead to some interesting journals.
Translator as Medium by Charlotte Mandell
What Fourth-Grade Archaeologists Have Found in Their School’s Closet by Eric Grundhauser
The Ghost Villages of Newfoundland: A controversial government resettlement program has left centuries-old fishing villages abandoned by Luke Spencer
A good novel about a holdout of the relocation is Sweetland by Michael Crummey.
.jpg?1501130258)
In Defense of the Emoji Building and Architecture Being Fun, Sometimes by Rory Stott
The arguments against seem to center around that these are frivolous, that they will go out of date, or that they are sending us down a slippery slope.
Maybe architects have to think that architecture must be serious, timeless, etc., but I come in on the side of being a little playful now and then. I like a building that makes me smile.
Dated? Let's get rid of gargoyles, coats of arms, art deco scrolls and flourishes, or anything else that suggests when a structure was built. Boring.
Slippery slope? What next? Does this open the door for medallions featuring @, #, recycling symbols, and other graphic signs of our times? So what? Shrug.
from my shelves...
Lunar Follies
by
Gilbert SorrentinoIt's not quite accurate to say I've finished this book. I have read all fifty-three items, but I've only read them once. Like poetry, this is the sort of thing -if one likes this sort of thing- to reread. It is, so to speak, a parody of parody. A spoof on almost everything: art, sports, personal names, critics and criticism, writing, itself, four-letter words, and (I suspect) readers of books like this.
It seems oddly appropriate that I got this book in a ten dollar blind grab-bag purchase from the publisher. I also liked the other books in the bag, but this one was the most fun.
from the library....
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Kindle edition)
Somewhat innovative way to tell a story, too bad there wasn't much of a story. Lost souls wandering in the 'Bardo" of a Georgetown Cemetery, trying to pretend they aren't dead, try to convince the newly arrived Willie Lincoln that he should immediately move on to a better place. Gimmickry, maudlin--a graphic novel without any pictures. It's listed as having 368 pages, but there is a lot of white space so it didn't take me long to read it.
Blacklands (Exmoor Trilogy #1) by Belinda Bauer
Somewhat innovative way to tell a story, too bad there wasn't much of a story. Lost souls wandering in the 'Bardo" of a Georgetown Cemetery, trying to pretend they aren't dead, try to convince the newly arrived Willie Lincoln that he should immediately move on to a better place. Gimmickry, maudlin--a graphic novel without any pictures. It's listed as having 368 pages, but there is a lot of white space so it didn't take me long to read it.
Blacklands (Exmoor Trilogy #1) by Belinda Bauer
Stand alone mystery/suspense. Young boy seeks answers to a long ago crime. Although the protagonist is eleven years old, this is not a kids book. Bauer's more recent Rubbernecker is a much better book so I won't give up on this author. But I won't be reading Parts 2 & 3 of this trilogy.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
What Else I Read Whilst Reading "The Invented Part"
Wednesday afternoon (July 26. 2007) I caught the tail end of Chad Post et al on WXXI's Connections There was a discussion on what to read after you've read a terrific book like The Invented Part. Does it spoil you for anything - everything - else? Not for me, but maybe it's time to reread Tristram Shandy. Or maybe I should finally read some Proust or Joyce. Or that Icelandic thing Chad keeps mentioning. Or binge watch Twin Peaks. Or listen to the Kinks. Or just go sit on the dock of the Bay.
When we started the two month read I wondered what I would whilst reading the book, I didn't even think about after. I always read more than one book at a time and I decided I'd just go on as usual. Since I read about sixteen books a month (love retirement) I figured I would probably read around thirty other books during the slow read. I actually read about twenty-three. I also read my usual of amount of online short stories, articles, etc.
Did my reading of the Fresán book influence my other reading? In some cases yes, others not so much. And did my other reading influence my reading of the Fresán book? Maybe, maybe not. I think I'll go back and unread all those books and see if it makes a difference.
So here a list of what I read, with a few notes that may or may not address these questions.
most of these are covered elsewhere on the blog but I wanted to view them altogether
* indicates translated work
RF = Ricardo Fresán
TIP = The Invented Part
Date is date I finished the book, I was usually reading two or three concurrently.
*The Magician of Vienna; Pitol, Sergio: Jun 5
I think my enjoyment of Pitol's adoration of Chekhov was enhanced because I was reading RF--or maybe I my enjoyment of RF's comments on Chekhov was enhanced because I was reading Pitol.
I had already started this before starting TIP. This was a slow (2 week) read for me, but I was much slower with the first two volumes of Pitol's "Trilogy of Memory"- Spent 11 months with The Art of Flight and five months with The Journey. The speedier read on this one had nothing to do with TIP, it was just that I was in more familiar territory than I was with the other two.
Death of an Airman; St. John Sprigg, Christopher: Jun 7
vintage mystery--love these for interim reads
In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs; Blauner, Andrew (ed.): Jun 9
I went to a bookstore event for this; came home; picked up RF's book and he was mentioning the Beatles.
This sort of thing happened a lot, for example:
My daughter suggested that I look at MST3K Jonah's Kaiju Rap (Every Country has a Monster) which includes the line "Chupacabra's chewin' up cattle down in Mexico." This was the first I had heard of Chupacaba but, of course, he turned up in TIP a couple of hours later.
I mentioned RF's comment on Alice Monro getting the Nobel. Assuming TIP was done before the 2016 prize was announced we wondered what RF would have to say about it. After reading the Bob Dylan part of TIP, I still wonder what RF thinks about the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Today we were having lunch at an outdoor restaurant. A boy, about nine years old, was running down a ramp and across the gravel parking lot and I thought of RF (p. 13 mirrored on p. 540)
*The Reader; Schlink, Bernhard: Jun 12
One book that informed my reading of this was *In My Brother's Shadow: A Life and Death in the SS by Uwe Timm which I read in 2014.
The Last Boy and Girl in the World; Vivian, Siobhan: Jun 13
A so-so YA. I would have thought that even if I hadn't been reading a bunch of good books. Be kind--it's a debut work. ARC
The Genius of Birds; Ackerman, Jennifer; Jun 13
Non-fiction ARC
*The Piper by Yoko Tawada (short story); and some poems in Two Lines 23; Evans, C.J. (ed):Jun 16
I had already read the rest of this issue.
Two Lines 26 had an excerpt from TIP but I didn't read it. I don't like to read excerpts when I know for sure that I'm going to read the complete work.
*Journey by Moonlight; Szerb, Antal: Jun 19
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country and Other Stories; Gass, William H.: Jun 20
A Gentleman in Moscow; Towles, Amor: Jun 21
An enjoyable read from my local public library on (shh...) Kindle. Actually I like ebooks if they are fairly straightforward narratives or short stories. Not so much for things I want to deep read. My Deep Vellum Press subscription includes both ebook and paper editions, but I always wait for the paper edition.
*What are the Blind Men Dreaming?; Jaffe, Noemi; Jun 22
A mother/daughter diary/memoir/essay. The diary part is a translated work.
*The Naked Eye; Tawada, Yōko: Jun 25
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby; Wolas, Cherise: Jun 29
A book about an author who loses her will to write. Huh? No comparison to TIP. A totally different (and predictable) approach. ARC
*Killing the Second Dog; Hłasko, Marek: Jul 02
Varieties of Disturbance; Davis, Lydia: Jul 2
Short stories, flash fiction. Library book
*The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao; Batalha, Martha: Jul 05
ARC
*The Private Lives of Trees; Zambra, Alejandro: Jul 05
The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination; Coles, Robert: Jul 06
Non-fic. published in 1989, a little dated and somewhat elitist. Some good stuff about William Carlos Williams. I think my TIP reading did influence my opinion of this book, making Coles' Harvard students seem naive and not particularly well read. But it was 1989 and Holden Caulfield and all.
The Frangipani Hotel; Kupersmith, Violet: Jul 08
short stories, think Saki, not RF
Worlds from the Word's End; Walsh, Joanna: Jul 12
short stories, lots of word play, compare to Lydia Davis
*Elsewhere; Weinberger, Eliot (ed): Jul 14
14 poems. The brilliant use of language in TIP increased my appreciation of the poetry I read in this book and online. That goes for both translated into English and originally in English poetry.
Last Night at the Lobster; O'Nan, Stewart: Jul 15
A totally undemanding read which I read because it is set in a neighboring town. I've gotten lost in New Britain, CT more often than anywhere else in the world. I didn't get lost in this book.
*Summer Before the Dark; Weidermann, Volker: Jul 15
Non-fic Nothing like reading about writers when you're reading about writers. This was a good one to read when I was finishing TIP.
Lunar Follies; Sorrentino, Gilbert: Jul 23, 2017
And this was a perfect final read. It's been sitting on my shelf for ages--maybe it was waiting for me to need something great to read after TIP. How did I miss Sorrentino? And they say this isn't his best...
Final note: Everything informs everything. Everything I've ever read enters everything I'm reading or will be reading. Even the works I barely or can't consciously remember--like the one where the dog dies.
When we started the two month read I wondered what I would whilst reading the book, I didn't even think about after. I always read more than one book at a time and I decided I'd just go on as usual. Since I read about sixteen books a month (love retirement) I figured I would probably read around thirty other books during the slow read. I actually read about twenty-three. I also read my usual of amount of online short stories, articles, etc.
Did my reading of the Fresán book influence my other reading? In some cases yes, others not so much. And did my other reading influence my reading of the Fresán book? Maybe, maybe not. I think I'll go back and unread all those books and see if it makes a difference.
So here a list of what I read, with a few notes that may or may not address these questions.
most of these are covered elsewhere on the blog but I wanted to view them altogether
* indicates translated work
RF = Ricardo Fresán
TIP = The Invented Part
Date is date I finished the book, I was usually reading two or three concurrently.
*The Magician of Vienna; Pitol, Sergio: Jun 5
I think my enjoyment of Pitol's adoration of Chekhov was enhanced because I was reading RF--or maybe I my enjoyment of RF's comments on Chekhov was enhanced because I was reading Pitol.
I had already started this before starting TIP. This was a slow (2 week) read for me, but I was much slower with the first two volumes of Pitol's "Trilogy of Memory"- Spent 11 months with The Art of Flight and five months with The Journey. The speedier read on this one had nothing to do with TIP, it was just that I was in more familiar territory than I was with the other two.
Death of an Airman; St. John Sprigg, Christopher: Jun 7
vintage mystery--love these for interim reads
In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs; Blauner, Andrew (ed.): Jun 9
I went to a bookstore event for this; came home; picked up RF's book and he was mentioning the Beatles.
This sort of thing happened a lot, for example:
My daughter suggested that I look at MST3K Jonah's Kaiju Rap (Every Country has a Monster) which includes the line "Chupacabra's chewin' up cattle down in Mexico." This was the first I had heard of Chupacaba but, of course, he turned up in TIP a couple of hours later.
I mentioned RF's comment on Alice Monro getting the Nobel. Assuming TIP was done before the 2016 prize was announced we wondered what RF would have to say about it. After reading the Bob Dylan part of TIP, I still wonder what RF thinks about the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Today we were having lunch at an outdoor restaurant. A boy, about nine years old, was running down a ramp and across the gravel parking lot and I thought of RF (p. 13 mirrored on p. 540)
*The Reader; Schlink, Bernhard: Jun 12
One book that informed my reading of this was *In My Brother's Shadow: A Life and Death in the SS by Uwe Timm which I read in 2014.
The Last Boy and Girl in the World; Vivian, Siobhan: Jun 13
A so-so YA. I would have thought that even if I hadn't been reading a bunch of good books. Be kind--it's a debut work. ARC
The Genius of Birds; Ackerman, Jennifer; Jun 13
Non-fiction ARC
*The Piper by Yoko Tawada (short story); and some poems in Two Lines 23; Evans, C.J. (ed):Jun 16
I had already read the rest of this issue.
Two Lines 26 had an excerpt from TIP but I didn't read it. I don't like to read excerpts when I know for sure that I'm going to read the complete work.
*Journey by Moonlight; Szerb, Antal: Jun 19
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country and Other Stories; Gass, William H.: Jun 20
A Gentleman in Moscow; Towles, Amor: Jun 21
An enjoyable read from my local public library on (shh...) Kindle. Actually I like ebooks if they are fairly straightforward narratives or short stories. Not so much for things I want to deep read. My Deep Vellum Press subscription includes both ebook and paper editions, but I always wait for the paper edition.
*What are the Blind Men Dreaming?; Jaffe, Noemi; Jun 22
A mother/daughter diary/memoir/essay. The diary part is a translated work.
*The Naked Eye; Tawada, Yōko: Jun 25
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby; Wolas, Cherise: Jun 29
A book about an author who loses her will to write. Huh? No comparison to TIP. A totally different (and predictable) approach. ARC
*Killing the Second Dog; Hłasko, Marek: Jul 02
Varieties of Disturbance; Davis, Lydia: Jul 2
Short stories, flash fiction. Library book
*The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao; Batalha, Martha: Jul 05
ARC
*The Private Lives of Trees; Zambra, Alejandro: Jul 05
The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination; Coles, Robert: Jul 06
Non-fic. published in 1989, a little dated and somewhat elitist. Some good stuff about William Carlos Williams. I think my TIP reading did influence my opinion of this book, making Coles' Harvard students seem naive and not particularly well read. But it was 1989 and Holden Caulfield and all.
The Frangipani Hotel; Kupersmith, Violet: Jul 08
short stories, think Saki, not RF
Worlds from the Word's End; Walsh, Joanna: Jul 12
short stories, lots of word play, compare to Lydia Davis
*Elsewhere; Weinberger, Eliot (ed): Jul 14
14 poems. The brilliant use of language in TIP increased my appreciation of the poetry I read in this book and online. That goes for both translated into English and originally in English poetry.
Last Night at the Lobster; O'Nan, Stewart: Jul 15
A totally undemanding read which I read because it is set in a neighboring town. I've gotten lost in New Britain, CT more often than anywhere else in the world. I didn't get lost in this book.
*Summer Before the Dark; Weidermann, Volker: Jul 15
Non-fic Nothing like reading about writers when you're reading about writers. This was a good one to read when I was finishing TIP.
Lunar Follies; Sorrentino, Gilbert: Jul 23, 2017
And this was a perfect final read. It's been sitting on my shelf for ages--maybe it was waiting for me to need something great to read after TIP. How did I miss Sorrentino? And they say this isn't his best...
Final note: Everything informs everything. Everything I've ever read enters everything I'm reading or will be reading. Even the works I barely or can't consciously remember--like the one where the dog dies.
Saturday, July 22, 2017
July (third week) 2017 Reads
Not much to add to the reading log this week. Continued with the slow read of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part with Chad Post's Two Month Review by reading "Meanwhile, Once Again, Beside the Museum Stairway, Under a Big Sky" (The Invented Part, Pages 405-440). Also reading Chad's comments and listening to the podcast about this section. And, as usual, spending a lot of time Googling because Fresán has so many literary and pop culture references. I'm lovin' it.
Next week will be the final section. The next slow read is Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith. My copy arrived in the mail on Monday.
This week...
Story: Collection by Camille Meyer (flash fictions)
There are eight very short, interrelated stories in this collection. They read a bit like primitive attempts to explain how giants came to Earth or, perhaps, little stories made up by an older child trying to entertain a younger sibling. Or maybe those stories that develop from a party game in which one person says the first sentence and then each person in the circle adds to it. The results can be an interesting, but not very cohesive, story.
At Big Bridge, "a webzine of poetry and everything else...." Fun to explore.
Card: Eight of Clubs from Demon Deck by Ukrainian artist Egor Klyuchnyk. I'm not sure that I'm seeing what was intended here, but this looks a bit like shrubbery and that fits the story because plants play an important part in the giant's adventures.
online...
Cartoons magazine. v.10:pt.2 (1916). Linen Islands Sea by Helena Smith-Dayton
A light commentary on the dining habits and conversation circa 1916.
Smith-Dayton is particularly amused by the gentlemen.
I found this because of a comment Katherine Nabity made on my post last week. I had a lot of fun with this and ended up reading more than the article relevant to Katherine's comment.
The "Cartoons" of the magazine title is used in the "political cartoon" sense--there are a lot of political articles and a lot of European war news and commentary. This was before the USA entered the war.
An Entire Family Disappears by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
Another excerpt from the story collection Knots. (I also read one of these last week.)
Three Principles of Architecture as Revealed by Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' by Osman Bari
These next two pieces discuss Lima-based architect Karina Puente's project to illustrate each and every "invisible" city from Italo Calvino's 1972 novel.
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated by James Taylor-Foster (6 images)
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated (Again) by AD Editorial Team (16 images)
This Drone Video Captures the Mesmerizing Geometries of The World's Most Vertical City by AD Editorial Team
Presentation of an eight minute film from architect Mariana Bisti exploring Hong Kong by drone videography. "Not limited to vantage points accessible to humans, the video zooms and pans deliberately over, across and into the city’s enormous residential blocks..."
Seven Questions for Lytton Smith on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson
Scott Esposito interviews Lytton Smith. Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is the next book we will be reading for Chad Post's Two Month Review project.
from my shelves...
Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann; translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway.
Stefan Zweig reunites with his estranged friend Joseph Roth in Ostend, Belgium in 1936. At the time Ostend was a quiet refuge where a group of exiles and soon to be exiles joined together in a fragile social circle. Lots of booze, affairs, and rivalries mixed in with the really serious decisions that they must make about their futures in a crumbling European society.
A must read for anyone interested in Zweig, Roth, or European culture in the interwar years.
Next week will be the final section. The next slow read is Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith. My copy arrived in the mail on Monday.
This week...
 |
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
There are eight very short, interrelated stories in this collection. They read a bit like primitive attempts to explain how giants came to Earth or, perhaps, little stories made up by an older child trying to entertain a younger sibling. Or maybe those stories that develop from a party game in which one person says the first sentence and then each person in the circle adds to it. The results can be an interesting, but not very cohesive, story.
At Big Bridge, "a webzine of poetry and everything else...." Fun to explore.
Card: Eight of Clubs from Demon Deck by Ukrainian artist Egor Klyuchnyk. I'm not sure that I'm seeing what was intended here, but this looks a bit like shrubbery and that fits the story because plants play an important part in the giant's adventures.
online...
Cartoons magazine. v.10:pt.2 (1916). Linen Islands Sea by Helena Smith-Dayton A light commentary on the dining habits and conversation circa 1916.
Smith-Dayton is particularly amused by the gentlemen.
I found this because of a comment Katherine Nabity made on my post last week. I had a lot of fun with this and ended up reading more than the article relevant to Katherine's comment.
The "Cartoons" of the magazine title is used in the "political cartoon" sense--there are a lot of political articles and a lot of European war news and commentary. This was before the USA entered the war.
An Entire Family Disappears by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
Another excerpt from the story collection Knots. (I also read one of these last week.)
Three Principles of Architecture as Revealed by Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' by Osman Bari
These next two pieces discuss Lima-based architect Karina Puente's project to illustrate each and every "invisible" city from Italo Calvino's 1972 novel.
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated by James Taylor-Foster (6 images)
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated (Again) by AD Editorial Team (16 images)
This Drone Video Captures the Mesmerizing Geometries of The World's Most Vertical City by AD Editorial Team
Presentation of an eight minute film from architect Mariana Bisti exploring Hong Kong by drone videography. "Not limited to vantage points accessible to humans, the video zooms and pans deliberately over, across and into the city’s enormous residential blocks..."
Seven Questions for Lytton Smith on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson
Scott Esposito interviews Lytton Smith. Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is the next book we will be reading for Chad Post's Two Month Review project.
from my shelves...
Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann; translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway.Stefan Zweig reunites with his estranged friend Joseph Roth in Ostend, Belgium in 1936. At the time Ostend was a quiet refuge where a group of exiles and soon to be exiles joined together in a fragile social circle. Lots of booze, affairs, and rivalries mixed in with the really serious decisions that they must make about their futures in a crumbling European society.
A must read for anyone interested in Zweig, Roth, or European culture in the interwar years.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
July (second week) 2017 Reads
A lot of short stuff this week. Two short story collections, a poetry anthology, forty-two pages of The Invented Part (Life After People, or Notes for a Brief History of Progressive Rock and Science Fiction, pages 361-404), a short novel, and some online things including the Deal Me In story for the week.
The story:
The Gay Old Dog. By Edna Ferber (on Gutenberg in The Best Short Stories of 1917)
This story tells of the ups and downs of Jo Hertz, a successful man in the leather business but in a bind with his family and romantic life. It seems he made a deathbed promise to his mother: he won't marry until his sisters are taken care of. He does meet someone, but she isn't willing to wait for the sisters to find mates. Jo ends up a lonely and resentful loop-hound ("a man who frequents it [the Chicago Loop] by night in search of amusement and cheer is known, vulgarly, as a loop-hound.") Note: back when this was written "gay" was not synonymous with homosexual.
"He was the kind of man who mixes his own salad dressing. He liked to call for a bowl, some cracked ice, lemon, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil, and make a rite of it. People at near-by tables would lay down their knives and forks to watch, fascinated. The secret of it seemed to lie in using all the oil in sight and calling for more."
The card: Seven of Diamonds. The "beer card" in bridge and other trick-taking card games. Sorry I didn't know about this tradition back when I played this sort of card game.
Design by Christina Berglund, a graphic designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
" Seven of Diamonds Brewery is based on the beer card tradition. As the tradition goes, when a player wins the last trick of the hand with this card, his opponent must buy him a beer."
also online...
Alan Bean Plus Four By Tom Hanks
When I read that actor Tom Hanks has a story collection (Uncommon Type) coming out in October, I found and read this story in the October 27, 2014 New Yorker.
"Astronauts in the Apollo era had spent thousands of hours piloting jet planes and earning engineering degrees. They had to practice escaping from launchpad disasters by sliding down long cables to the safety of thickly padded bunkers. They had to know how slide rules worked. We did none of that, though we did test-fly our booster on the Fourth of July, out of Steve Wong’s huge driveway in Oxnard, hoping that, with all the fireworks, our unmanned first stage would blow through the night sky unnoticed."
What fun! I do want to read the stories in Uncommon Type.
It’s Raining in Love by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson)
On a more serious note, a visit with a terminally ill friend. From another story collection I want to read: Knots.
Stadium Club by Mark Mulroney
On the art of chasing down baseball player autographs. A great memoir piece in Victory Journal, "a print and digital publication devoted to the intersection of sport and culture. Rather than engage in statistical analysis or partisan squabbling, Victory spotlights the drama of sport and the enduring glory of athletic pursuits the world over."
Another Gutenberg find...
Little Songs of Long Ago The original tunes harmonized by Alfred Moffat; Illustrated by
H. Willebeek Le Mair; published in 1912.
Words, music, and wonderful illustrations of thirty nursery rhymes. Sound files of the tunes played on the piano are available.
From my Shelves...
The Frangipani Hotel by
Violet Kupersmith
Kupersmith's short stories start out with seemingly normal and familiar scenes and situations. There is a run-down Vietnamese hotel, a night shift in a Houston market, a delivery driver on his regular run--nothing strange here, is there? But then there is a shift and weird things happen. I don't like this sort of comparison but I kept thinking of the stories of Saki (H.H. Monro). This book has been sitting on my shelf since March 2014 when I won it on the blog Books à la Mode - sorry I let go unread for so long. I really like it.
Contents: Boat story; The Frangipani Hotel; Skin and bones; Little brother; The red veil; Guests; Turning back; One-finger; Descending dragon.
Worlds from the Word's End by
Joanna Walsh
Joanna Walsh has a way with words and the reader gets carried away into a convoluted world where meaning has words. I love these stories and their clever wordplay. "The story of our nation will be entirely true, and it will be a good story, despite its being true."
Contents:Two; Bookselves; Postcards from Two Hotels; Worlds from the Word's End; Like a Fish Needs a…; Exes; Travelling Light; Femme Maison; Dunnet; Two Secretaries; Enzo Ponza; The Suitcase Dog; The Story of Our Nation; Blue; Simple Hans; Me and the Fat Woman --
Joanna Walsh; Reading Habits; Hauptbahnhof.
From my subscription to And Other Stories Publishing.
Elsewhere by Eliot Weinberger (Editor)
Fourteen poems (translated into English) by fourteen international poets musing on travel and/or displacement. A perfect anthology for a former ex-pat (ex-ex-pat? re-pat-ex-pat?), displaced Californian (new-New Englander?) like me. First of all: the subject matter interests me; secondly: there is a variety of viewpoints (time, place, nationality of poet, etc.); and, most importantly: the poems can be read on several levels--taken at a superficial face value, delved into a little deeper for my and the authors' emotional responses to the situations, and even more deeply for the universality of the material.
From my subscription to Open Letter Books.
from the library...
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
This is not just last night at the Lobster, it's The last night. A few days before Christmas and manager Manny and his crew are serving up the last lunch at a New Britain, Connecticut Red Lobster. The chain has decided the location is not getting enough business. At least they have a little advance warning and manager Manny and four others are getting transferred. Why do the others even bother to show up? Well, Manny holds their final pay checks and there is also some team loyalty (or not). One shows up and leaves after lunch committing some acts of vandalism on his way out. Some lunch customers show up in spite of a snowstorm. Manny copes and even tries some lame attempts to revive a failed romance. A quick read about a bittersweet night.
|
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
The Gay Old Dog. By Edna Ferber (on Gutenberg in The Best Short Stories of 1917)
This story tells of the ups and downs of Jo Hertz, a successful man in the leather business but in a bind with his family and romantic life. It seems he made a deathbed promise to his mother: he won't marry until his sisters are taken care of. He does meet someone, but she isn't willing to wait for the sisters to find mates. Jo ends up a lonely and resentful loop-hound ("a man who frequents it [the Chicago Loop] by night in search of amusement and cheer is known, vulgarly, as a loop-hound.") Note: back when this was written "gay" was not synonymous with homosexual.
"He was the kind of man who mixes his own salad dressing. He liked to call for a bowl, some cracked ice, lemon, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil, and make a rite of it. People at near-by tables would lay down their knives and forks to watch, fascinated. The secret of it seemed to lie in using all the oil in sight and calling for more."
The card: Seven of Diamonds. The "beer card" in bridge and other trick-taking card games. Sorry I didn't know about this tradition back when I played this sort of card game.
Design by Christina Berglund, a graphic designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
" Seven of Diamonds Brewery is based on the beer card tradition. As the tradition goes, when a player wins the last trick of the hand with this card, his opponent must buy him a beer."
also online...
Alan Bean Plus Four By Tom Hanks
When I read that actor Tom Hanks has a story collection (Uncommon Type) coming out in October, I found and read this story in the October 27, 2014 New Yorker.
"Astronauts in the Apollo era had spent thousands of hours piloting jet planes and earning engineering degrees. They had to practice escaping from launchpad disasters by sliding down long cables to the safety of thickly padded bunkers. They had to know how slide rules worked. We did none of that, though we did test-fly our booster on the Fourth of July, out of Steve Wong’s huge driveway in Oxnard, hoping that, with all the fireworks, our unmanned first stage would blow through the night sky unnoticed."
What fun! I do want to read the stories in Uncommon Type.
It’s Raining in Love by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson)
On a more serious note, a visit with a terminally ill friend. From another story collection I want to read: Knots.
Stadium Club by Mark Mulroney
On the art of chasing down baseball player autographs. A great memoir piece in Victory Journal, "a print and digital publication devoted to the intersection of sport and culture. Rather than engage in statistical analysis or partisan squabbling, Victory spotlights the drama of sport and the enduring glory of athletic pursuits the world over."
Another Gutenberg find...
Little Songs of Long Ago The original tunes harmonized by Alfred Moffat; Illustrated byH. Willebeek Le Mair; published in 1912.
Words, music, and wonderful illustrations of thirty nursery rhymes. Sound files of the tunes played on the piano are available.
From my Shelves...
The Frangipani Hotel by
Violet KupersmithKupersmith's short stories start out with seemingly normal and familiar scenes and situations. There is a run-down Vietnamese hotel, a night shift in a Houston market, a delivery driver on his regular run--nothing strange here, is there? But then there is a shift and weird things happen. I don't like this sort of comparison but I kept thinking of the stories of Saki (H.H. Monro). This book has been sitting on my shelf since March 2014 when I won it on the blog Books à la Mode - sorry I let go unread for so long. I really like it.
Contents: Boat story; The Frangipani Hotel; Skin and bones; Little brother; The red veil; Guests; Turning back; One-finger; Descending dragon.
Worlds from the Word's End by
Joanna WalshJoanna Walsh has a way with words and the reader gets carried away into a convoluted world where meaning has words. I love these stories and their clever wordplay. "The story of our nation will be entirely true, and it will be a good story, despite its being true."
Contents:Two; Bookselves; Postcards from Two Hotels; Worlds from the Word's End; Like a Fish Needs a…; Exes; Travelling Light; Femme Maison; Dunnet; Two Secretaries; Enzo Ponza; The Suitcase Dog; The Story of Our Nation; Blue; Simple Hans; Me and the Fat Woman --
Joanna Walsh; Reading Habits; Hauptbahnhof.
From my subscription to And Other Stories Publishing.
Elsewhere by Eliot Weinberger (Editor)
Fourteen poems (translated into English) by fourteen international poets musing on travel and/or displacement. A perfect anthology for a former ex-pat (ex-ex-pat? re-pat-ex-pat?), displaced Californian (new-New Englander?) like me. First of all: the subject matter interests me; secondly: there is a variety of viewpoints (time, place, nationality of poet, etc.); and, most importantly: the poems can be read on several levels--taken at a superficial face value, delved into a little deeper for my and the authors' emotional responses to the situations, and even more deeply for the universality of the material.
From my subscription to Open Letter Books.
from the library...
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan This is not just last night at the Lobster, it's The last night. A few days before Christmas and manager Manny and his crew are serving up the last lunch at a New Britain, Connecticut Red Lobster. The chain has decided the location is not getting enough business. At least they have a little advance warning and manager Manny and four others are getting transferred. Why do the others even bother to show up? Well, Manny holds their final pay checks and there is also some team loyalty (or not). One shows up and leaves after lunch committing some acts of vandalism on his way out. Some lunch customers show up in spite of a snowstorm. Manny copes and even tries some lame attempts to revive a failed romance. A quick read about a bittersweet night.
Saturday, July 08, 2017
July (first week) 2017 Reads
We actually had a couple of really nice weather days--nice enough on Monday to go for a drive to a library we usually don't visit, combined with an outdoor lunch at a favorite seafood place. And on Wednesday another outdoor lunch at a place closer to home. Then on Friday it poured all day so I got some reading in.
The Deal Me In story this week is non-fiction
Life in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan by Linda Dorigo
A photo essay on this disputed region. Brief, but informative.
The card I found has nothing to do with the essay. It's so silly. Yep, it's Freddy Mercury! It's part of Long Live Queen Freddie!. This series by artist, illustrator/cartoonist, and game designer Chuck Knigge features Freddie as various other famous queens. Knigge has other fan art and some comics on the site. Fun to explore.
Elsewhere Online...
The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away, by Bushra al-Fadil; translated from the Arabic by Max Shmookkler. This is the winner of The Caine Prize for African Writing. There are links to both text (pdf) and sound (soundcloud) files of this and the other four shortlisted entries on the Caine Prize Shortlist website.
Home is a Cup of Tea by Candace Rose Rardon
The story of a search for the meaning of home told through words and sketches of habitations and teas. This illustration is from her first stop in England. Her travels also take her to New Zealand, India, Canada, Spain, Guatemala, Norway, and Uruguay where she now lives.
From the Library...
Varieties of Disturbance: stories by
Lydia Davis
A good collection. Many are super short, there are a few longer ones.
The cover doesn't display very well, but that fly on it really bugged me. Whenever I put the book aside, I put it with the front cover down.
Loved the stories--Hated the fly...
From my Shelves...
Killing the Second Dog by
Marek Hłasko; translated from the Polish by
Tomasz Mirkowicz; introduction by Leslie Chamberlain
The woes of two Polish con men in Tel-Aviv. Their mark is an American tourist. Problems ensue when she turns out to have a bratty son and a (possibly) dangerous brute of an ex-husband.
My copy through New Vessel Press subscription.
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha; Translated from the Portuguese by Eric M B Becker
A bored Brazilian housewife tries to find interesting ways to amuse herself but is stymied by her "no wife of mine is going to..." husband. Things get better when her run-away sister returns to the fold with a son and tales of a marriage gone bad. Not great literature but an interesting look at Brazilian life from the point of view of women.
Advance review copy through LibraryThing giveaway.
The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra; translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
This short novel (104 pages) takes place in a single night while a Chilean man and his step-daughter wait for the mother to come home. Once the bedtime story is done and the child is asleep the man becomes increasingly anxious about his wife's lateness and begins examining the familial relationships in detail.
|
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
Life in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan by Linda Dorigo
A photo essay on this disputed region. Brief, but informative.
The card I found has nothing to do with the essay. It's so silly. Yep, it's Freddy Mercury! It's part of Long Live Queen Freddie!. This series by artist, illustrator/cartoonist, and game designer Chuck Knigge features Freddie as various other famous queens. Knigge has other fan art and some comics on the site. Fun to explore.Elsewhere Online...
The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away, by Bushra al-Fadil; translated from the Arabic by Max Shmookkler. This is the winner of The Caine Prize for African Writing. There are links to both text (pdf) and sound (soundcloud) files of this and the other four shortlisted entries on the Caine Prize Shortlist website.
Home is a Cup of Tea by Candace Rose Rardon
The story of a search for the meaning of home told through words and sketches of habitations and teas. This illustration is from her first stop in England. Her travels also take her to New Zealand, India, Canada, Spain, Guatemala, Norway, and Uruguay where she now lives.
From the Library...
Varieties of Disturbance: stories by
Lydia DavisA good collection. Many are super short, there are a few longer ones.
The cover doesn't display very well, but that fly on it really bugged me. Whenever I put the book aside, I put it with the front cover down.
Loved the stories--Hated the fly...
From my Shelves...
Killing the Second Dog by
Marek Hłasko; translated from the Polish by
Tomasz Mirkowicz; introduction by Leslie ChamberlainThe woes of two Polish con men in Tel-Aviv. Their mark is an American tourist. Problems ensue when she turns out to have a bratty son and a (possibly) dangerous brute of an ex-husband.
My copy through New Vessel Press subscription.
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha; Translated from the Portuguese by Eric M B Becker
A bored Brazilian housewife tries to find interesting ways to amuse herself but is stymied by her "no wife of mine is going to..." husband. Things get better when her run-away sister returns to the fold with a son and tales of a marriage gone bad. Not great literature but an interesting look at Brazilian life from the point of view of women.
Advance review copy through LibraryThing giveaway.The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra; translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
This short novel (104 pages) takes place in a single night while a Chilean man and his step-daughter wait for the mother to come home. Once the bedtime story is done and the child is asleep the man becomes increasingly anxious about his wife's lateness and begins examining the familial relationships in detail.
Sunday, July 02, 2017
Ridiculously Long List for Library Browsing
Placed on blog for easy (and shared) access when in various venues...I probably won't read most of this...list is subject to frequent revisions.
At D:
The square of revenge / Aspe, Pieter
Flora : a novel / Godwin, Gail
A dual inheritance : a novel / Hershon, Joanna
Pure / Miller, Andrew
At R/M:
The accordionist's son / Atxaga, Bernardo
How to build an android : the true story of Philip K. Dick's robotic resurrection / Dufty, David F. Chronicle of a last summer : a novel of Egypt / El Rashidi, Yasmine,
A Bintel brief : love and longing in old New York / Finck, Liana
Sea room : a novel / Gautreau, Norman G
Gutshot : stories / Gray, Amelia
Stillwater / Helget, Nicole Lea
The line of beauty : a novel / Hollinghurst, Alan
Montecore : the silence of the tiger / Khemiri, Jonas Hassen
American meteor / Lock, Norma
Redemption in indigo : a novel / Lord, Karen
All that is solid melts into air / McKeon, Darragh
The city & the city / Miéville, China
Confessions : a novel / Minato, Kanae
In her absence / AMuñoz Molina, Antonio
A teaspoon of earth and sea / Nayeri, Dina
Boundaries / Nunez, Elizabet.
You & me : a novel / Powell, Padgett
In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts. English / Ruge, Eugen
Naomi / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
The death of Ivan Ilyich : The Cossacks ; Happy ever after / Tolstoy, Leo
The dragon behind the glass : a true story of power, obsession... / Voigt, Emily (639.3747 VOI)
Landfalls / Williams, Naomi J
A happy marriage : a novel / Yglesias, Rafael
Arctic summer / Damon Galgut.
Embracing defeat : Japan in the wake of World War II / John W. Dower. 952.03 DOW
O.brien, flann complete novels
At Meri:
The piano teacher / Jelinek, Elfriede
Sepharad / Muñoz Molina, Antonio
The bridge of beyond. Schwarz-Bart, Simon
The pinecone : the story of Sarah Losh, forgotten romantic heroine... (BIO LOSH)
At W:
The spy's Little Zonbi / Alpaugh, Cole
Camouflage : stories / Bail, Murray
Eucalyptus : a novel / Bail, Murray
Ten white geese : a novel / Bakker, Gerbrand
Silent day in Tangier / Tahar Ben Jelloun ; Ben Jelloun, Tahar
Horses of god / Binebine, Mahi
The collected stories of Lydia Davis / Davis, Lydia
Portrait of the mother as a young woman / Delius, Friedrich Christian
The book of memory / Gappah, Petina
An elegy for easterly : stories / Gappah, Petina
Skookum summer : a novel of the Pacific Northwest / Hart, Jack
My lady of the bog / Hayes, Peter
At the mouth of the river of bees : stories /Johnson, Kij
All the rage : stories / Kennedy, A. L.
Sweet nothing : stories / Lange, Richard
The facades : a novel / Lundgren, Eric
McGregor, Jon / anything by him
Sea room : an island life in the Hebrides / Nicolson, Adam
White is for witching / Oyeyemi, Helen
The secret history of the Lord of Musashi ; and, Arrowroot / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
The misfortunates : a novel / Verhulst, Dimitri
This Is Not an Accident : Stories and a novella / Wilder, April
A corner of the world / Fernández Pintado, Mylene
No stopping train : a novel / Les Plesko.
Other Libs:
The Transylvanian trilogy : Volume I, book one : They were counted /Bánffy, Miklós
The Transylvanian trilogy : Volume II, book two, : They were found wanting ; Book three : They were divided / Bánffy, Miklós
The timeless land / Dark, Eleanor
Life of a counterfeiter : and other stories / Inoue, Yasushi
Odessa : genius and death in a city of dreams / King, Charles
Eléctrico W /Le Tellier, Hervé,
Bells in winter / Miłosz, Czesław. (Old/say891.857 MILOSZ))
The opposing shore / Gracq, Julien, E.Ly
A manuscript of ashes / Muñoz Molina, Antonio
Happiness, like water : stories /Okparanta, Chinelo
Blue : the history of a color / Pastoureau, Michel
Soundtrack of the revolution : the politics of music in Iran / Seyedsayamdost, Nahid; Ham/Miller New Nonfiction 780.955/SEY
The sasquatch hunter's almanac : a novel / Shields, Sharma.
The whispering muse / Sjón
The moon in its flight / stories by Sorrentino, Gilbert Ham/Ml
A cat, a man, and two women : stories / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
Some prefer nettles /Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
The key / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
Memoirs of a polar bear / Tawada, Yoko Ham/Mil
Time on my hands / Vasta, Giorgio
At D:
The square of revenge / Aspe, Pieter
Flora : a novel / Godwin, Gail
A dual inheritance : a novel / Hershon, Joanna
Pure / Miller, Andrew
At R/M:
The accordionist's son / Atxaga, Bernardo
How to build an android : the true story of Philip K. Dick's robotic resurrection / Dufty, David F. Chronicle of a last summer : a novel of Egypt / El Rashidi, Yasmine,
A Bintel brief : love and longing in old New York / Finck, Liana
Sea room : a novel / Gautreau, Norman G
Gutshot : stories / Gray, Amelia
Stillwater / Helget, Nicole Lea
The line of beauty : a novel / Hollinghurst, Alan
Montecore : the silence of the tiger / Khemiri, Jonas Hassen
American meteor / Lock, Norma
Redemption in indigo : a novel / Lord, Karen
All that is solid melts into air / McKeon, Darragh
The city & the city / Miéville, China
Confessions : a novel / Minato, Kanae
In her absence / AMuñoz Molina, Antonio
A teaspoon of earth and sea / Nayeri, Dina
Boundaries / Nunez, Elizabet.
You & me : a novel / Powell, Padgett
In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts. English / Ruge, Eugen
Naomi / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
The death of Ivan Ilyich : The Cossacks ; Happy ever after / Tolstoy, Leo
The dragon behind the glass : a true story of power, obsession... / Voigt, Emily (639.3747 VOI)
Landfalls / Williams, Naomi J
A happy marriage : a novel / Yglesias, Rafael
Arctic summer / Damon Galgut.
Embracing defeat : Japan in the wake of World War II / John W. Dower. 952.03 DOW
O.brien, flann complete novels
The piano teacher / Jelinek, Elfriede
Sepharad / Muñoz Molina, Antonio
The bridge of beyond. Schwarz-Bart, Simon
The pinecone : the story of Sarah Losh, forgotten romantic heroine... (BIO LOSH)
At W:
The spy's Little Zonbi / Alpaugh, Cole
Camouflage : stories / Bail, Murray
Eucalyptus : a novel / Bail, Murray
Ten white geese : a novel / Bakker, Gerbrand
Silent day in Tangier / Tahar Ben Jelloun ; Ben Jelloun, Tahar
Horses of god / Binebine, Mahi
The collected stories of Lydia Davis / Davis, Lydia
Portrait of the mother as a young woman / Delius, Friedrich Christian
The book of memory / Gappah, Petina
An elegy for easterly : stories / Gappah, Petina
Skookum summer : a novel of the Pacific Northwest / Hart, Jack
My lady of the bog / Hayes, Peter
At the mouth of the river of bees : stories /Johnson, Kij
All the rage : stories / Kennedy, A. L.
Sweet nothing : stories / Lange, Richard
The facades : a novel / Lundgren, Eric
McGregor, Jon / anything by him
Sea room : an island life in the Hebrides / Nicolson, Adam
White is for witching / Oyeyemi, Helen
The secret history of the Lord of Musashi ; and, Arrowroot / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
The misfortunates : a novel / Verhulst, Dimitri
This Is Not an Accident : Stories and a novella / Wilder, April
A corner of the world / Fernández Pintado, Mylene
No stopping train : a novel / Les Plesko.
The Transylvanian trilogy : Volume I, book one : They were counted /Bánffy, Miklós
The Transylvanian trilogy : Volume II, book two, : They were found wanting ; Book three : They were divided / Bánffy, Miklós
The timeless land / Dark, Eleanor
Life of a counterfeiter : and other stories / Inoue, Yasushi
Odessa : genius and death in a city of dreams / King, Charles
Eléctrico W /Le Tellier, Hervé,
Bells in winter / Miłosz, Czesław. (Old/say891.857 MILOSZ))
The opposing shore / Gracq, Julien, E.Ly
A manuscript of ashes / Muñoz Molina, Antonio
Happiness, like water : stories /Okparanta, Chinelo
Blue : the history of a color / Pastoureau, Michel
Soundtrack of the revolution : the politics of music in Iran / Seyedsayamdost, Nahid; Ham/Miller New Nonfiction 780.955/SEY
The sasquatch hunter's almanac : a novel / Shields, Sharma.
The whispering muse / Sjón
The moon in its flight / stories by Sorrentino, Gilbert Ham/Ml
A cat, a man, and two women : stories / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
Some prefer nettles /Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
The key / Tanizaki, Junʼichirō
Memoirs of a polar bear / Tawada, Yoko Ham/Mil
Time on my hands / Vasta, Giorgio
Saturday, July 01, 2017
June (fifth week) 2017 Reads
Still reading The Invented Part and I started The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas. Oops...maybe not a good idea to juggle two 500+ page books about writers and the writing process. But they are very different and I'm enjoying them both so I'll see if I can manage, if my wrists hold up.--Actually, it was a good idea. I finished the Wolas book and it was a complementary read (see below).
I also read a great novel by a Japanese author who lives in Europe and writes in both Japanese and German. This book is translated from German and is about a Vietnamese immigrant in France. Just the sort of international work I love.
Not much other reading this week except, of course, the short story challenge...
The Story: The Wild Pandas of Chincoteague by Gregory J. Wolos
A man, a boy, and an infant on a wintry vacation to the Outer Banks. They seem well prepared, but things go wrong. There's the odd landlady, the power outage, two dead batteries (car & phone) and the thing in the shed. They are left with stories to tell.
The Card: Two of Clubs: The story had a kind of Charlie Brown quality to it (though its protagonist is a bit more optimistic than Charlie) so I liked this card from a Peanuts deck.
This is how I picture the guy when he gets his phone back and calls his wife to tell her the story.
The story is in Post Road Magazine, an online journal that is new to me. I did a bit of browsing to see what else is there. I read another story -The Room Where Elizabeth Bishop Slept by Paola Peroni. In this one a translator is at a writer's retreat and isn't having a great time of it. I liked this story better than the panda one. (A telephone also has an important role in this story.)
Post Road is a print magazine published twice yearly by POST ROAD, Inc. in partnership with the Boston College Department of English. It features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, short plays and monologues, and visual art. Only a part of its content is available online. I enjoyed browsing the current issue and the archives.
more online...
The Person You Are Trying To Reach Is Not Available by Andrea Chapela; translated from the Spanish by Andrea Chapela
A daughter deals with her mother's illness in a future time when when people can live very long (with replacement parts).
In the 26 June 2017 issue of Samovar "a quarterly magazine of and about translated speculative fiction. We publish fiction and poetry in their original language and in English translation. We showcase the work both of writers and also translators, who we have to thank for opening doors to new worlds.
Our definition of speculative fiction is broad, and includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, and other genres that may not fit neatly into labels. We also publish reviews, essays and interviews."
The American Experience in 737 Novels Susan Straight discusses and maps her experience reading American regional literature.
from my shelves...
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas
An interesting novel to read in tandem with The Invented Part: both are about authors and their writing, but this one has a much more straightforward story line. While Fresán talks a lot about the loneliness of the author, Wolas protagonist just wants to be alone to get on with her writing. Beyond that one can't really compare the two, Fresán is a master, this is Wolas first novel.
Free advance review copy from publisher
The Naked Eye
by Yōko Tawada, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky
Excellent novel about what is is to be an illegal immigrant. While in East Berlin to present an essay, a North Vietnamese girl is abducted and taken to West Germany. In an attempt to escape she boards what she thinks is a train to Moscow but ends up in Paris. She is befriended by several people and has a rough time since she cannot work or go to school as she has no visa. She becomes fascinated with the films of actress Catherine Deneuve and watches them over and over. She doesn't know French and often doesn't understand the films. Some of the best passages in the book are where she misinterprets the film and relates it to her own life. I loved this book.
I also read a great novel by a Japanese author who lives in Europe and writes in both Japanese and German. This book is translated from German and is about a Vietnamese immigrant in France. Just the sort of international work I love.
Not much other reading this week except, of course, the short story challenge...
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| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
The Story: The Wild Pandas of Chincoteague by Gregory J. Wolos
A man, a boy, and an infant on a wintry vacation to the Outer Banks. They seem well prepared, but things go wrong. There's the odd landlady, the power outage, two dead batteries (car & phone) and the thing in the shed. They are left with stories to tell.
The Card: Two of Clubs: The story had a kind of Charlie Brown quality to it (though its protagonist is a bit more optimistic than Charlie) so I liked this card from a Peanuts deck.
This is how I picture the guy when he gets his phone back and calls his wife to tell her the story.
The story is in Post Road Magazine, an online journal that is new to me. I did a bit of browsing to see what else is there. I read another story -The Room Where Elizabeth Bishop Slept by Paola Peroni. In this one a translator is at a writer's retreat and isn't having a great time of it. I liked this story better than the panda one. (A telephone also has an important role in this story.)
Post Road is a print magazine published twice yearly by POST ROAD, Inc. in partnership with the Boston College Department of English. It features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, short plays and monologues, and visual art. Only a part of its content is available online. I enjoyed browsing the current issue and the archives.
more online...
The Person You Are Trying To Reach Is Not Available by Andrea Chapela; translated from the Spanish by Andrea Chapela
A daughter deals with her mother's illness in a future time when when people can live very long (with replacement parts).
In the 26 June 2017 issue of Samovar "a quarterly magazine of and about translated speculative fiction. We publish fiction and poetry in their original language and in English translation. We showcase the work both of writers and also translators, who we have to thank for opening doors to new worlds.
Our definition of speculative fiction is broad, and includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, and other genres that may not fit neatly into labels. We also publish reviews, essays and interviews."
The American Experience in 737 Novels Susan Straight discusses and maps her experience reading American regional literature.
from my shelves...
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas
An interesting novel to read in tandem with The Invented Part: both are about authors and their writing, but this one has a much more straightforward story line. While Fresán talks a lot about the loneliness of the author, Wolas protagonist just wants to be alone to get on with her writing. Beyond that one can't really compare the two, Fresán is a master, this is Wolas first novel.
Free advance review copy from publisher
The Naked Eye
by Yōko Tawada, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky
Excellent novel about what is is to be an illegal immigrant. While in East Berlin to present an essay, a North Vietnamese girl is abducted and taken to West Germany. In an attempt to escape she boards what she thinks is a train to Moscow but ends up in Paris. She is befriended by several people and has a rough time since she cannot work or go to school as she has no visa. She becomes fascinated with the films of actress Catherine Deneuve and watches them over and over. She doesn't know French and often doesn't understand the films. Some of the best passages in the book are where she misinterprets the film and relates it to her own life. I loved this book.
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