February (fourth week) 2018 Reads

I enjoyed all this week's reading, but am just not in the mood to write comments.

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Eight of Spades and the story is The Gentleman from Cracow by Isaac Bashevis, Singer (in Singer Collected Stories I, Library of America) translated from the Yiddish by Martha Glicklich and Elaine Gottlich. 

from my shelves...

Because She Never Asked by Enrique Vila-Matas; translated from the Spanish by Valerie Miles

The Proof by César Aira: translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor

Lullaby Road (Ben Jones #2)by James Anderson
Advance review copy through Goodreads.

February (third week) 2018 Reads

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Queen of Spades and the story is G-text by Răzvan; translated from the Romanian by Alistair Ian Blythe. (in Best European fiction 2015). Growing up in Ceausescu 's Romania. There is some word play with the letter G--mostly with proper names.

some online things...

This Medieval Walled Town with a Storied History Shows How Traditional Urbanism Can Support High Density by Kaley Overstreet at Arch Daily
Saint-Malo--one of my favorite places.

Plagiarism software pins down new source for Shakespeare's plays
by Alison Flood at The Guardian

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens 
A poem on The Art Divas, the blog of author Rabih Alameddine
(no longer available)

The Other Middle East
Franck Salameh, Associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Boston College, discusses Arab language based identity on the Yale University Press blog, Yale Books Unbound.

from the library...

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini
Bio-fic of Ada Lovelace told in the first person. Interesting but a bit slow moving at times. I think I'd rather read a biography.

The House at the Edge of Night (Kindle Edition) by Catherine Banner
Family saga set on an island off the coast of Sicily. Covers three generations beginning a few years before World War1 and ending around 2008. Very good read.

from my shelves... 

The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela; translated from the Spanish by Enrique Munguía; Introduction by Ana Castillo
A novel of the Mexican Revolution.

February (second week) 2018 Reads

Started Season 4 of the Two Month Review: The Physics of Sorrow and I'm really liking this Bulgarian novel by Georgi Gospodinov.







This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Ace of Spades and the story is On the Steppe by Samanta Schweblin (in The Future is Not Ours). So far, this one of the best stories from  my 2018 Roster.

from the library...

The Island (A Grand & Batchelor Victorian Mystery Series, #4) by M.J. Trow
A stand alone run-of-the-mill mystery. Rather disjointed, several red-herrings, Mark Twain tossed in for no particular reason, muddy motives, too many characters...etc.

from my shelves...

Never Any End to Paris  by Enrique Vila-Matas; translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
No, there really isn't any end to Paris and no Paris is like any other Paris. I like this "fictional memoir" of Vila-Matas.

Fat City by Leonard Gardner
The life of two fighters at the lower end of the 1950s boxing world. One is a has been who works as a laborer in the fields and orchards in order to survive. The other is an up-and-coming youth, who works in a gas-station. This classic is set in Stockton California. Excellent! How did I miss reading this years ago?