The Italian Job
12 Jan 2011 23 Comments
in #translationthurs, CURRENT READS, EUROPEAN FICTION Tags: 2011, italy
These are books for my Italian week which I ll be starting to read next week and posting week after and for the year-long books in Italy challenge Have a couple of other Italian Noir novels on way from Library so looking forward to spend time in Italy this month well at least in Books .The two I’m most nervous about are Foucault’s pendulum and if on a winter’s night a traveller .These two are meant to be challenging to say the least .I will also be doing an Italian cooking post about the food and wine I love from Italy .Also at end be talking about the translators and what they brought to the books .
So have you read any of these ?
What yopur favourite Italian dish ?
the long song by Andrea levy
18 Sep 2010 14 Comments
in books from, CURRENT READS, U.K Tags: 2010, booker, booker prize, prize winners
Andrea grew up in britain after her parents came here in the empire windrush in the late 40′s ,a subject she touched on ,in the novel small island .She didn’t start writing til here 30′s and since has had a rise with every novel this is her fifth and is shortlisted for the booker .The novel drifts us back to the Jamaica of the 1800′s where slavery is still in place and the slave July we follow her life from her birth after her mother was raped to her entering service for a vicious english women Caroline Mortimer ,where she is beaten and stab with pins and other things on a regular basis for no apparent reason or little provocation .Meanwhile in the outside world there are great changes underfoot rebellions and just glimpses of freedom for the slaves . to the arrival of a new overseer with a new way of treating slaves ,kindly with is slightly more liberal view of doing the work .
July threw herself upon the floor ,held the dress aloft and yelled, missus ,the dress spoil! Them mash-up your dress .It messed up ,it mess up .Oh beat me ,missus come on beat me ! the dress spoil ,spoil,spoil come tek a whip and beat me I beggin you missus .
July expecting a beating from the violent mistress caroline .
Now this is written in a style of Jamaican english or patois that was spoken by the slaves a relaxed english .July comes across as a highly realistic character that has a hard life and you feel her injustices and triumphs along the way .Levy seems to want to bring some of her own family’s history forward and had done maticlious research for this novel in Jamaica and the uk looking back on records of the time and the slaves life ,Which she described in an interview I heard as a hard task as there was a lot of side information number jobs etc but little or none on how the slaves felt at the time .what Levy has done is capture a young girls struggle to womanhood in the most difficult of circumstances .A book for anyone interested in the history of the time and how slaves lives really were on the plantations
This is one of this years booker shortlist .
ITS COMING HOME -WHAT HAS COME IN THE POST
24 Apr 2010 10 Comments
in BOOK BUYS, CURRENT READS Tags: in the post
world cup is coming
Well I ve had two books through the post this week and brought one myself the books are -
World cup wishes by Eshkol Nevo-the israeli writer is the grand son of a former israeli minister,the book follows for friends to france 1998 ,which was a great world cup the first truly global cup .it follows their journey through the traumas and bonds that have kept them together since they where kids ,Nevo got high praise for his last novel Homesick ,looking forward to this book ,as i start getting excited for the world cup .
Offside by Tom Palmer -this is the third in a series of books that follow Danny Harte a football fan and detective ,this time he travels to Ghana on the case of a corrupt agent ,this book is designed for young readers and the african football angle appealed to me when Sarah at bookrabbit offer it me ,plus i don’t read a lot of teen books so this will be a real change and again is wonderful for world cup build up .
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges -well Argentine is a hot bed of football so ,a book by their greatest writer seemed apt ,Borges wrote truly unique prose hard to classify ,but without a doubt a huge influence on latin american and world lit .
Are you looking forward to the world cup ?
footnote -
Persephone biannually
Also in the post this week was my first ever Persephone biannual .The twice yearly magazine from Persephone books a great short story from Irene Nemirovsky from their new collection out soon ,also was lovely to see Claire at paperbackreader on the bloggers page ,deserved she does so much to promote this lovely company and there beautiful books .
FAB ,FAB FABER
16 Apr 2010 8 Comments
in classics, CURRENT READS Tags: BOOKS
BOOKS IN A BAG
Early this morning ,we were woken to a banging at the door ,my darling wife went downstairs and was greeted by the postie saying take this its heavy ,i ask the wife what it was when she came back upstairs she said oh more books again .I wondered what books it could be as wasn’t expecting any ,then saw Faber on label and remembered i won a comp on twitter a few weeks ago ,as those of you who know me i am on twitter all day every day nearly lol . So i quickly opened the parcel and discovered tho complete collection of the Faber firsts that came out last year to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Faber and Faber .this great collection of Faber’s shows Faber’s wide range of books -
William Golding – Lord of the flies – I read this when young ,but have been wanting to go back to it at some point after hearing about John Carey’s new bio of Golding ,i want to see if the book has change in the twenty years since i read it .
P D James – Cover her face – Not read any James ,I have enjoyed the tv versions of her work over the years .
John McGahern - The barracks – This is a new name to me I ve read the blurb on the back of the book and its set in Ireland ,and sounds quite good .
Sylvia Plath – The bell jar – This is one i read as a teenager as well and had mislaid my copy over the years so is a welcome edition to my bookshelves
Peter Carey – Bliss – I feel bad I ve not read this as a huge fan of Carey’s work I feel iI should have read his debut ,so this is going near top of tbr ,expect a review soon
Kazuo Ishiguro - A pale view of the hills – i had this on tbr pile after reading nocturnes last year i decide to read some more of his books again ,
Paul Auster - new york Trilogy – i read this last year from library the same edition and like the cover design so will be please to have it on my shelf as i really enjoyed it as i have with many of Auster’s books ,this book set in new york a collection of three stories with a detective theme .
Orhan Pamuk - The White castle – I read this last year also ,an italian sailor is sold as a slave in arab world ends up educating a sultan ,wonderful storytelling ,I would recommend this book to any one .
Hanif Kuriesh - The Buddha of suburbia – I ve not read any Kureishi ,I remember catching a couple of the tv version of this years ago as David Bowie had written the music for it . shall see if the book is better than the show ,which bar the music was a little silly at times .
Rohinton Mistry - such a long journey - The debut of the Canadian based indian writer ,i ve enjoy one of his other books ,so will be reading this as well .
MANY THANKS FABER .
IN THE POST THIS WEEK -
09 Apr 2010 2 Comments
in CURRENT READS Tags: ARAB FICTION, around the world 52, FUTURE READS
IN THE POST THIS WEEK
There been few parcels ,this week at Winston towers .a great selection of books -
The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner & contributions to annuals and gift books by James Hogg
These were both sent to me by the lovely bookrambler ,Jannette edit the contribution book by James Hogg was a poet and novelist and one of Scotland’s treasures ,I have only read a slim volume of his works ,and am looking forward to these a true classic scotts writer .
Young Hitler by Claus Hant
This is a non fiction novel by a german scriptwriter Claus Hant ,who has work on this over a number of years ,whilst working on a hugely successful tv show der bulle am Tolz (the bull from bad Tolz ) a comic police show .I m sure this book is going to cause some controversy ,but Hant says he wants to discover what made Hitler the monster he became .
The queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
A debut novel set in Missippi in the early sixties it involves race secrets growing up in the segregated era ,this partly comes from Rose’s own experience as a child growing up in the sixties .
Beiruit39-
This book is part of a project from hay festival and Beirut ,the project involved writers from all over the arab world submit work ,they only had to be under 40 ,this project follows the successful bogota39 project which help launch the career of Junnot Diaz among others .link to the hay page -beirut39
LIBRARY LOOT (AGAIN)
30 Mar 2010 2 Comments
in CURRENT READS Tags: around the world 52, library
books books books
After reading the books i got a few weeks ago i decide to call in again return the books i ve read and found the translated fiction stand was still there so got a lot more books to read with a group of nights coming up ,i need some nice short novels to read every night .the books i got fit in to three categories
- japanese
- the sailor who fell from grace with the sea by Yukio Mishima -this reads a bit like lord of the flies mixed with peter pan and is part of the vintage east series .
- scandal by Shusaku Endo – this is probably japan’s second most well-known writer behind Murkami ,a catholic writer is accused of visiting ladies of the night most enter seedy Tokyo to face his own demons
- african
- The purple violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Adreas -a debut novel part of the Heinemann african writer series this book is about women and village life in Namibia ,which will be interesting i work with some one from Namibia .
- Neighbour the story of a murder by Lila Momple -a novel set in Mozambique about a raid from south africa and how it affects life this book is also from the African writer series .
- the beautiful screaming of pigs by Damon Galgut - A conversation on twitter remind me to seek this guy out a south african ,up and coming ,this was his breakthrough novel and strangely also set partly on Namibia about a man facing his past and actions he has done .
- classics
- Le Bal by Irene Nemirovsky -I read suite franciase a few years ago ,this is set in the parsian society of the 1930′s about a girl trying to ruin her mother whom she hates
- the actual by Saul Bellow it must be ten years since i read a bellow a beautiful writer and one of the great post war american writers ,this is the story of Harry Trellman a complex character .
A great selection ,some new names and some old names .
windmills for the mind
23 Mar 2010 4 Comments
in CURRENT READS Tags: windmill books
windmills for the mind
late last week i won a competition on windmills book blog it was to match a drink to a book ,my tagline was “reading on the road to a string of espresso’s ” .The prize was a six of windmills great books -
- Thing I’ve been silent about by Azar Nafisi – growing up in iran during islamic revolution ,I think this will be a great follow on to Tehran lipstick and loopholes I read earlier this month .
- Red dog red dog by Patrick Lane -a book set in the fifties follows a family over the course of a week as secrets unfold ,on the backdrop of depression and a tough life .
- Land of marvels by Barry Unsworth – the booker winners latest book follows Somerville an archaeologist on a dig just a the first world war starts ,sounds great
- The finest type of english womanhood – Rachel Heath – two girls meet in south africa in 1946 one from a quiet background the other from a wold background they find there lives changed as they spend time together
- Good to a fault by Marina Endicott Clara’s life is changed by a family ,this is a new writer to me and a new voice from Canada.
- last off is -bad vibes by Luke Haines which i have read and reviewed on here
many thanks Harvey and windmill books for this prize .
bad vibes by luke haines
10 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in CURRENT READS, favourites, non fiction, U.K Tags: music
this biography / music history book is about the band the auteurs and his project badder meinhof and starting of second group black box record .As soon as i saw this book was out i want to read it having considered this time as a time i was buying records including the auteurs and his other band black box record .
Luke has a very dry and wryly funny way of describing the time ,which evoke memories in myself he talks about his band starting and the hype that surround the first album new wave which i remember as they seemed to have been a favourite if the nme at times ,and the band having a sound vaguely similar to suede .At times you will laugh out as he takes broadsides of the contemporary’s of his time suede ,blur and oasis all cleverly put down .Haines details the hard life of touring and recording which is the treadmill of the modern performing artist .In places i was surprised like how much he didn’t want to tour with 80′s indie group the the ,yet at the time i thought this was a great idea them touring as they both have quite maverick personalities and quirky lyrics .there is also a great deal about the album they made with the great Steve Albini which is my favourite album of Haines the wonderful after murder park .In the end you learn that luke is a probably the last of the groups from this era to still be going . If you liked his music you ll love this book in places it is funny and a great reminder of a wonderful time in british music .
the old women in my head who sifts through the files that contains memories that fill these pages needs a rest. so , as we reach an approximate halfway point in proceedings ,why not tell the old dear put her feet up for a few minutes as we examine that thing they call Britpop . we hav at some point why put of the inevitable ?
the start of the chapter old women midway in the book .
the book is published by William Heinmann .
dinner at the homesick resturaunt
27 Feb 2010 2 Comments
in books from, classics, CURRENT READS, U.S.A Tags: NEW BOOKS, NEW VOICES
This came to me via a loan from bookrambler after a lament from myself earlier in the year that i don’t feel i read enough female writers last year and to be honest in general this was Jannette suggestion ,this is one of Anne Tylers most popular novels and i can see why it is beautifully written ,it follows the ups and downs of the Tull’s family a single parent family with the matriarch pearl and her band of kids Cody ,Ezra and jenny you get to see them grow up and develop ,the main thing i loved is the Tyler write exactly how real families are warts and all there is no beautifying at all .The characters are well drawn particularly pearl and her wayward son Cody a lad that most rebellious teens would recognize .the story is told in snippets as pearl lays dying and recalls the family growing .
while pearl Tull was dying ,a funny thought occurred to her .It twitched her lips and rustled her breath ,and she felt her son lean forward from where he kept watch by her bed .”get . . . “she told him “you should have got . . . “
you should have got an extra mother ,was what she meant to say …………………
have you read Tyler do you have a favourite ?
the unnamed by joshua ferris
20 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in around the world, books from, CURRENT READS, U.S.A Tags: around the world 52, neuro novel, NEW BOOKS, penguin
This is probably one of the most eagerly waited books this year as ferris follows up his hugely successful then we came to the end ,with this the unnamed the novel centres on tim Farnsworth and his family .the novels starts with tim a successful lawyer in an up and coming law firm just about to talk his biggest case .When he suddenly starts to walk and wander off been unable to stop the compulsion to walk.at first this just happens from time to time ,but as the book moves on the frequency increases ,until in the end Tim has to walk all the time just grasping food and sleep from time to time .The family tries to support tim helping in a battery of test for what is an unknown and thus unnamed condition .The book is beautifully written i did find it a little predictable in places and had echos later on of scenes from into the wild where the main charcater in that wanders alaska.but is compelling story of how families can struggle and break under problems like this . It also falls into what Marco Roth in nplus1 called the neuro novel ,the trend for the main charcater to have a mental or psychological condition .
Hands and feet are cold .Leg is hurting .Stomach is empty and would like some food .he was assailed night and day by such complaints .they were crude and unimpeachable .he was accustomed to accommodating his body ,so defiance had to be deliberated ,disciplined, as zen like as possible .
quote from late on as tim struggles with problems caused by constant walking
