World book night top 100 lets make it a fresh list !!!

04 Aug 2011 25 Comments

by winstonsdad in #translationthurs, A LIFE IN BOOKS, around the world, book awards, book news, questions, reading challenge, thoughts, world book night Tags: , , , , ,

Beside the sea world book night

This years world book night giveaways are to be decided by us the public by choosing our  top ten books .I looked at the current top 100 and have to agree with Meike from Peirene it is a bit bland and from the perspective of winstonsdad the translation choices which there are at this moment ten book are what I would call the ones people think they should read or put in a list even if they’ve not read to look good (sorry needs to be said) .I love Murakami and Marquez but some diffeernt book here would be great open peoples eyes.Well Meike has suggest if we could all choose Beside the sea by Veronique Olmi  it is a lovely french gem and is one of my all time favourite reads any way ,at moment 35 votes will get it in the top 100 I ve vote so 34 would do it come on lets help the nymph and the lovely ladies of Peirene make the list ,all of us bloggers and tweeters know how much effort this publisher puts into social media and interaction with its readers more than any major publisher does .So put your hand up and say yes I want the small guy to win for once because we all love the underdogs in this country lets for once get them there  ,Meike has written a blog post about this too here ,thanks stu .I will be put up for giving away this time as I was too shy to volunteer last year .

My top ten -

Beside the sea by Veronique Olmi – reason a french gem touching and it will make you gasp if you’ve not read it !

Rings of saturn  by W G Sebald reason started my love of translation and it is a book that can be reread and still make you think .

Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes – reason the first novel it has all in it that has followed since a true master piece .

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges reason he was a genius flash fiction avant grade fiction all look at this as a starting point

If on a winters night a traveller by Italo Calvino reason I love it and I know many people hate it but who can’t love a book that talks to you ?

My century by Gunter grass  - reason  short interlocking pieces covering the 20thcentury from the German master not his best but it is a good insight into Germany .

Cities of red night by William S Burroughs  - reason he was a one off writer this book has all a young guy could want from a book and men shou,ld read more !

The last brother by Nathacha Appananah – reason a unheard corner of post ww2 history jewish refugees stuck on a tropical island told touchingly through two young boys tale .

Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves – reason  my favourite memoir war is bad and read this you know it is ,a poets eye goes to war .

Walden by Henry David Thoreau – reason if more people had read this would the world be the way it is the simple life as he spent time in nature thinking whilst living in a wooden hut .

What are your choices ?

#translationthurs round up

19 May 2011 28 Comments

by winstonsdad in #translationthurs, around the world, TRANSLATIONS, twitter week Tags:

Today on twitter it was suggested by two good twitter friend I am Amro and rob around books I start listing books mention on translation thus on the blog   .I start this small meme last year and it is slowly growing and seems a great way to find new books to read if like me .you like world literature .

Blue fox by Sjon – suggest by I will tweet the guy behind Just William ,you should go over and have a look he does better reviews than me and loads of world lit .

Woodcutters by Thomas Bernard – suggested by Amelia atlas ,Bernhard was Austria favourite writer even if he dislike his homelands art scene I ve one of his near to of tbr pile .

Gold by Blaise Cendrars - The renown swiss writer ,a peter Owen edition they publish a few of his books .This was John s. of asylum suggestion ,he reviews a great mix of fiction ,with highly insightful analysis of books  ,a number in translation.

The death of Napoleon by Simon Leys -suggest by great twitter friend Simon from inside books ,from the Belgian writer pierre ryckmans ,Simon Leys is his non de plume  was made into a film called emperors new clothes .

blood sisters by Alessandro Perissinotto – a book I like when I review an italian crime novel suggested by Cazbah88 from Carol’s book corner blog

Memoirs of the duc de saint Simon by Louis de Reuvroy -a french classic ,new to me here is the wiki info   suggest by dave trembley

Lost honour of Katherine Blume by Heinrich boll -from  Meike at Peirene as their writer Friedrich Christian Delius had won the Georg Buchner prize ,germany’s biggest Literary prize ,as had Boll .

THE topless tower by Silivna Ocampo - New Zealand based Tim Jones from tim Joness blog ,The surreal Argentina novel considered a classic

The sleeping Dragon  by Miyuki Miybe -a Japanese mystery by In spring it i s the dawn from the blog of the same Name

The final going of snow by Kristina Ehins -suggest by mpt magazine the poetry translation magazine ,Estonian Poetry in translation .

A void by Georges Perec -the novel that’s a detective novel with a vowel missing all way through the book ,suggest by Gary and Gina here are the blogs Parrish Lantern and Gina Choe  both great world lit bloggers .

Spring in Fialta by Vladimir  Nabokov -suggest by Nia Polly from her blog and literature across frontiers comms manager a great site link lit in europe ,not read this Nabokov but he was one of the best writers in the 20th century wrote in russian and english .

STEFAN ZWEIG

The post office girl by Stefan Zweig -by new york based writer Katie Kitamura  writer of longshot ,post office girl is a study of class I loved it when I reviewed it here on winstonsdad .

The Lusiads by Luis vaz de Camoes – by themselves  Oxford world classics ,a Portuguese classic about them discovering the world .

Cibernectica e fantasmi in une pietra sopra by Italo Calvino -suggest by sam tweets books ,loved every Calvino I ve read so sure this will be good .

Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan Van Mersbergen -Peirene press no 4 ,I finish it last week out 7th June well worth reading one hell of a ride like grabbing the bull by the horns .suggest by tony from tony reading list 

Memoirs of a porcupine by Alain Mabanckou- a book narrate by said porcupine of the title loved broken glass reviewed here on winstonsdad ,suggest by the publisher serpents tail

Traveller and Innkeeper by Fadhill al-Azzawi- by Arablit great blog for all arabic lit ,set in Iraq follows a secret policeman published in 70′s in Arabic

Redbreast by Jo Nesbo -by little reader who has recently returned to blogging ,the third in the Harry hole series I read snowman from this series a well written taut crime novel ,of nordic noir style .

Kamchatka by Marcelo Figureas suggest by Rob from Rob around books my favourite IFFP read ,reviewed here on winstonsdad .

well that’s them for this week ,we had books from every where and every age and genre just shows what you can find in translation if you look .

 

Whats your favouite translation ?

31 Mar 2011 15 Comments

by winstonsdad in around the world Tags: , ,

I m wanting to do a 100 best translation list ,I ve seen various hundred best  list but not seen one solely of translations  I ve a lot ideas for  books to be on the list  ,but thought I d throw the floor open and take suggestions .I often get ask for suggestions where to start with world lit so thought a list of hundred books would be a great starting place for readers .So what have been your favourite books from round the world ?

 

who wants to help ?

20 Sep 2010 23 Comments

by winstonsdad in #translationthurs, african fiction, around the world, asian fiction, TRANSLATIONS Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

I would love some people to help me out with the around the world challenge have a basic format but ideas and offers of help most welcome .THE IDEA SO FAR IS 11 CATEGORISE no order but a year-long challenge ,thinks I need help with are using mister linky ,making a button for blogs to show any help or offers of support be most welcome . here is what the categories would be -

  1. EUROPE (NORTHERN) -ie Germany ,Holland ,Sweden ,Denmark , Finland,Russia ,Poland ,uk ,Iceland ,Ireland ..
  2. EUROPE(SOUTHERN)-ie spain ,Portugal,Italy ,Greece,Turkey Balkans …
  3. AFRICA (FRENCH AFRICA) The west of africa mainly Senegal ,Cotes de Ivorie including books in other language from these areas in english.
  4. AFRICA (ENGLISH SPEAKING ) southern and eastern africa IE Kenya ,Ghana ,South Africa also books in other languages translated in to english
  5. ARABIC books from the arabic world Algeria ,Egypt etc
  6. ASIA  (Korea ,Japan and China )
  7. ASIA rest of asia
  8. AMERICAS (NORTH) US AND CANADA BOOKS
  9. AMERICAS (CENTRAL) plus Caribbean
  10. AMERICAS (SOUTH )
  11. AUSTRALIA ,NEW ZEALAND AND OCEANIA

There are categories I ve in mind and let people read in what ever order they want but one a month for challenge leaving spare month as we all have things crop up and may need time in hand .

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

I want this to be fun my personnel goal was to read books from 52 countries this year I ve nearly done that in twelve months ,its given me such a scope of books ,I just in a little way want to pass that on to other people in a fun way ,all the best stu and winston .

LIFE A USER’S MANUAL ART AND WRITING

05 May 2010 4 Comments

by winstonsdad in around the world, books from, EUROPEAN FICTION, france Tags:

 

a pair of life a users's manual

I was in Sheffield a couple of months ago when they where setting up this exhibition which takes its title from the book so i m going to review the book and connect it to what i saw in the exhibition .the book follows a painter as he takes a tour of a french apartment through the rooms every item is detailed the people who live there are described ,the idea came from the knight’s tour of a chessboard where it is possible to move a knight and touch every square on the board Perec was known for his clever word play and one of the leading lights of modernist writings .along the tour we meet a mirade of characters of all ages and classes ,Bartlebooth and Moreau having two of the biggest apartments in the building ,Bartlebooth is aged and has a team of servants .We even see the inner workings of the building  the lifts and stairs .Perec gives wonderful descriptions of the object in the apartments such as book paintings and postcards we also learn a little bit of history about some of these objects  and this is one of the first connections i can make to the exhibition -

susan hiller

 

This is a collection of 305 postcards from unknown artist brought together by Susan Hiller ,the postcards all deal with high tides and waves crashing into seaside towns round the uk .one of the themes in the objects in the book is detectives plays books about them and suppose the book itself is like a giant investigation . The book also interconnects the characters past and present it ends up like being a fragile spiders web of connections and it is not til the end of it you see the full picture .there was also a series of paintings connected like the book -

This work is called spirit of Uhyst by Katerina Seda it follows a piece of paper as it was passed round a small german village ,copied each time after you see the finished work develop a bit like the book you don’t see the full picture until the end .I enjoyed this book so much it is very different to anything else and could be the springboard to so many other spin of stories .it reminded me of a 3D chess game i once played engrossing and challenging but in the end deeply rewarding .

katerina seda

Madame Moreau hated Paris

In 1940 after her husband’s death ,she took over the factory .It was a very small family business which he had inherited after the 1914-18 war which he’d run in relaxed prosperity with three cheerful woodworkers at his side whilst she kept the books in a big black -cloth-bound registers with ruled paper and pages she had numbered in violet ink …..

finding out about madame moreau  .

a must read book that’s my reccomendation a book that i will reread a few times over the years .

world cup of writers

27 Apr 2010 16 Comments

by winstonsdad in around the world, world cup of writing Tags:

world cup of writers

I am a huge football fan and the world cup is one of my favourite things to watch so over the last few weeks i ve been thinking of a way to combine my love of reading and football so i decide on a tour of the countries qualified for the world cup .The idea is to highlight writers and also add my own memories of watching the team in the world cup .Now with a few of the qualifiers i ve not read anything so i will note this on the post  and do research in to writers there .I may also ask some fellow bloggers to write posts for me .so the qualifiers are -

  1. Australia
  2. Japan
  3. North Korea
  4. South Korea
  5. Honduras
  6. Mexico
  7. U.S.A
  8. Denmark
  9. England
  10. France
  11. Germany
  12. Greece
  13. Italy
  14. Holland
  15. Serbia
  16. Slovakia
  17. Slovenia
  18. Spain
  19. Portugal
  20. Switzerland
  21. Algeria
  22. Cameroon
  23. cotes de ivorie (ivory coast)
  24. Ghana
  25. Nigeria
  26. South Africa
  27. Argentina
  28. Brazil
  29. Chile
  30. Paraguay
  31. Uruguay
  32. New Zealand

A wonderful selection of writers have already sprung to my mind to Highlight and many memories of matches watched .I m starting soon even thou it is a few weeks away the world cup its going to take some time to work through all 32 teams on at a time .

Can you suggest any writers from any of the qualifers ?

The purple violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Andreas

12 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment

by winstonsdad in african fiction, around the world, Namibia Tags: , ,

the purple violet

notes-This is another one of Heinemanns wonderful african writer series ,it is the debut novel from Neshani Andreas a Namibian ,she is trained as a teacher and currently works in the education field in Namibia ,she is working on her second novel .she was born in Wavis bay but her family originates from the northern area of Namibia that this novel is set.she also worked for five years as a teacher in this rural area of Namibia .

The book-The book is about a young married girl Kauna and told in the whole from the perspective of her best friend and confidant Mee Ali a slightly older married girl in the village they live .The book starts with Kauna seeing the one of the elder ladies in the village and telling her about her abusive relationship with her husband Shange ,she is told in no uncertain terms this is the way things are and to grin and bare it ,this discussion was meant to be private but soon becomes common knowledge in the village ,shortly after this Shange unexpectionally dies .At first people are reassuring to Mee kanua but over a period of time she becomes suspect of being a witch and causing Shanges death ,she ends up with nothing as all Shanges property reverts to his family ,Mee Ali tries to help her friend the best she can as she sees her world fall apart .

It is that time of year again .The season when our village Oshaantu ,camouflage its self in a rich green carpet and provides a breathtaking sight ,especially from our homestead,which is built on an incline .I wish time would stand still .We had goo rains this year and are promised plenty to eat .

the opening lines of the purple violet of Oshaantu .

My view – I really wanted to read this book when i saw it at the library ,as i sometime work with a relief member of staff at work that originally comes from Namibia , this book has a number of levels it a story of a close friendship between to women ,an insight into village life ,an example of how females fit into Namibian society ,which is quite low by the novel .It slotted in nicely after reading Damon Galgut book set in Namibia ,that was about city life were as this book is about rural life .

link-

An interview with Neshani Andreas

Question-

Have you read any other Namibian writers ?

Brecht at night by Mati Unt

29 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment

by winstonsdad in around the world, Estonia, EUROPEAN FICTION Tags: , ,

BRECHT AT NIGHT MATI UNT

This Book is part of dalkey archives Baltic literature series .the book is set in the early 1940′s and follows a journey the German playwriter Bertolt Brecht took in 1940 fleeing germany en route to the U.S.A he had to stop in finland for a while whilst awaiting visa clearance to travel to U.S.A .the book unfolds like a docu drama with two main  strands Brecht’s journey and time in Finland and also a history of Finland and Unt’s own Estonia during the war years .We find that Brecht a socialist ,is what maybe termed nowadays a champagne socialist ,that when even fleeing his own country on the run so to speak still really wants the creature comforts ,as well as a mistress a fling with an older women a well-known Finnish playwriter  .In the other strand of this novel we discover the soviets land grab during the second world war grepping Finland ,with a short and bloody warwith Finland that the soviets wrongly considered a soft target, and the Baltic states including Estonia .what happens once this has taken places the book banning by russians and new rules ,a new governor for Estonia named M.Unt no relative to the writer Unt points out ,we also get little glimpse of what happens in germany the oddness of the german leaders and what lead to Brecht leaving his homeland .This book is a wealth of info and pin points a small event i n a great writers life ,it isn’t the easiest book to read but is rewarding in the end .It brings to a wider audience Unt’s undoubted talent and unique style of writing ,and the translation is wonderful by Eric Dickens .

 Brecht decides :I’m taciturn by nature . i won’t reveal anything about myself or my plans.he remembers that Ibsen came from somewhere up here ,and said ………yes,what was it he said ? something about silence, and something about being on your own -you where stronger alone – and silent .If Ibsen did say something like that,he refuted it later on .

Brecht just about to arrive in Finland .

best european fiction 2010 1

25 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment

by winstonsdad in around the world, best european fiction 2010 Tags: ,

best european fiction 2010

This is dalkey archives collection of short stories from all round europe ,it was edited by american Bosnian Aleksandar Hemon .he was given about four or five stories from each country and decide to choose one from each country  ending up in 35 stories from 30 countries ,as some countries have two languages and different parts like the uk .i ve decide to write short reviews for each story over the next few months to give this wonderful project its due .

  • 1. Albania -(extract from) The country where no one ever dies by Ornela Vorpsi 

ornela vorpsi

  • This story is about the experience of growing up as a young women and girl in Albania ,how important being a virgin is how men perceive women in Albania  ,how well looked after she was when she was sick and how she want to be sick again to have strawberry jam .the story is only 8 pages but gives a brief glimpse into a relatively unknown country .My personal experience with Albania was a summer in the early nineties working alongside a Kosovo Albanian in a factory in Germany a wonderful guy who had worked in tv in his own country ,he ended up in germany as he was intermidatted by the mainly Serbian police in Kosovo .I have read some Ismail Kadare as well who like Vorpsi writes in another language other than Albanian .

 have you read any books from Albania ?

a sun for the dying by Jean Claude Izzo

24 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment

by winstonsdad in around the world, books from, EUROPEAN FICTION, france Tags: , ,

Jean Claude Izzo -A sun for the dying

I got this from local library as part of their translated fiction month .A great find it turned out to be .Izzo was primarily a thriller write ,but this book is something completely different more a keen to an updating of down and out in paris by Orwell .The novel follows Rico a down and out ,as the book opens we find him in Paris with his good friend Titi ,who dies of exposure on the station .This leads Rico to decide to leave the cold north of france and head to Marseilles where he grew up .Along the way Rico bumps in to numerous characters a african security guard who helps him out by staying on a building site .a Bosnian hooker who he befriends ,an argument with a french ticket collector and police .till he arrives in Marseilles  you find out why he left .Izzo has brought french life warts and all to life .It seems as thou its the immigrants that help Rico along the way rather than the french .The book was Izzo last as he died in 2000 the book was published in 1999 in france and 2008 in english.The book is wonderfully translated from the french by Howard Curtis .

Rico reckoned Titi must have been a teacher , a professor something like that .he d read lots of books and was always referring to them in conversations .one afternoon they were sitting on a bench in the sun ,on square des Batigonolles - one of their favourite meeting places – and Titi said you know , when I was a teenager , i read a lot of Burroughs ,Ferlinghetti and Kerouac …

Rico and Titi

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