Eurovision of books 2013 what to read from the final

Well tonight sees the 2013 Eurovision competition ,I see this as a good chance to do a Europe wide reading guide suggesting a book I’ve read ,A book I want to read (in some cases just this I ve not read books from all 25 countries ).Our entry is from Bonnie Tyler this year ,some I just remember for a huge hit she had in the 1980′s so shall we start I.

France 

Well I ve 25 books under review on the blog from France .I ve chosen is an older review the book is Piano by Jean Echenoz .A very odd book about a man with time running out on his life .

piano jean echenoz

On the radar well there is 2011  Prix Goncourt which I know is being translated into english as we speak .L’art francais de la geurre (the french art of war) contriversal but follows the french in indo china ,I was reminded of the scenes added to apocalypse now with the french in Vietnam .

tonight’s song from france is L’enter et moi sung by Amandine Bourgeis .

Lithuania 

I ve unfortunately not read a book from Lithuania .here is an overview of Lithuania literature I found

So on the radar is this book  The Dedalus Book of Lithuanian Literature  Author/editor : Almantas Samalavicius due out soon to me seems a good place to start .

The song from Lithuania tonight is Something sung by Andrius Pojavis

Moldova 

I have yet to read a book from Moldova .so here is the wiki list of writers from Moldova

So it one for on the radar for Moldova is the piece a year of reading read .I m sure in time we will see a couple of Moldova novel appear in english .there are a short piece in each of the best of European fiction collections as well to try

best european fiction 2010

Moldova song is Omie sung by Alioan Moon

Finland

I have at least read Finnish literature there are 7 Finnish books under review on the blog. The human part by Kari Hotakainen ,seems a good choice a women sells her life story and it is rewritten very much one for this modern world .

On my radar this one isn’t hard it is the next Peirene novel .Mr Darwin’s gardener by Kristina Carlson .Its describe as under Milkwood in Kent and at mr Darwin’s house .

The finnish song for tonight is Marry me by Krista Siegfrids

Spain

Well the most recent review on the blog seems a great choice for Eurovision Night Lost luggage by Jordi Punti covers part of Europe as four half brothers from four countries meet for the first time .

On the radar I think the recent Manuel Rivas novel is one that I will be reading soon .All is silence is about three friends growing up .I have previously read Riva’s carpenter’s pencil it is one of 10 books under review on the blog .

Spains song for tonight is Contigo hasta el final sung by ESDM

Belgium

Well  this is an easy one for me my choice has to be wonder by Hugo Claus one of my all time favourite books a man driven to the edge in post war Belgium by shadowy groups  of neo Nazis .one of three books from Belgium under review

On the radar well an old one but   one I love George Simenon, that Nyrb books are slowly reissuing his books and many available second-hand he wrote so many not even his own estate knows how many as he used many names to write under ,even once writing a book in a bubble over a couple of days .

Belgium’s  song for tonight is Love kills by Robert Bellarosa

 Estonia 

I ve just one book from Estonia under review but it is a very good one Brecht at night by Mati  Unt follows the German writer Brecht as he escapes from Germany to America as he spends time in Estonia and Finland on route .

BRECHT AT NIGHT MATI UNT

On the radar well Dalkey Archive have a couple more books from the late  Mati Unt I so enjoyed Brecht at night I will over time be trying those ,this is the next one that appeals to me is the Diary of a blood donor a retelling of the Dracula story .

Estonia’s song for tonight is Et uus saaks alguse by Brigit

 Belarus 

Belarus is another country I am yet to read a book from .

On the radar is this collection from Dalkey Archive called Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich .This collection follows the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster

The song from Belarus is Solayoh sung by Alyona Lanaskay

Malta

Malta is another place I ve yet to read a book from.

A year of reading read the book happy weekend by Immanuel Mifsud here is her review 

Malta song for tonight is Tomorrow song by Gianluca

Russia 

Well back to places I’ve read books from ,although I do view russia as a bit of an Achilles heel for me in Europe but of recent books I read from Russia it is this one I remember best .The new Moscow Philosophy by Vyacheslav Pyetsukh set over a weekend end a flat become vacant as an old women dies set in today this book has its routes in classic Russian literature .

On the radar well there is one writer I have on my radar big time I ve read one book so far the Light and the dark by Mikhail Shishkin a love affair told in letters over time and distance .Also have his other book Madienhair on my tbr pile .

Russia’s song for tonigh is What if sung by Dina Garipova

Germany 

I’ve  21 books under review from Germany .The most recent seems apt for tonight ,The Mussel feast sees a Germany family sit down for an evening meal ,but this is also just as the new unified Germany is beginning .just as the title for this yearts Eurovision is” we are one “

On the radar is the comic German novel currently being translated Er ist wieder da ,a satire that imagine what happened if Hitler returned to modern Germany .

Germany’s song for tonight is Glorious sung by Cascada

Armenia 

I ve not read any books from Armenia

so on the radar I found this book  Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian a book about the Armenian genocide .

The Aremnia song for tonight is Lonely planets sung by Dorians

Netherlands 

Well I have read quite a few Dutch books .My recent favourite has been Amsterdam stories by Nescio ,a collection of short stories in and around Amsterdam a businessman imagines what his life might have been had he chosen different paths .this is one of eleven books under review here .

On the radar is the book mention in an interview as it is one I hope to see in English and this is J. J. Voskuil,’s Het bureau ,the office a  seven novel cycle following thirty years in an office .

The Dutch song for this year is Birds sung by Anouk

Romania 

Well I do have a Romanian writer but Herta muller is more often counted as german ,but her books are set Romania ,of the few books by her I’ve read I suggest starting with Nadirs her short story collection it is short and isn’t maybe as intense as her novels tend to be .

One book that is one my radar by a writer still in Romania is The Fifth Impossibility: Essays on Exile and Language (Margellos World Republic of Letters)  by Norman Manea ,he was expelled from Romania in the sixties ,a collection of essays following his life .

The Romanian song for tonight is Its my life sung by Cezar

United Kingdom

Well to us, as Bonnie Tyler is Welsh I ve decide to choose a Welsh novel that just happens to be a translation .The life of Rebecca Jones By Angharad Price .Follows a family in a valley ,we meet Rebecca and her three blind brothers .

Well I m not doing a on the radar for the UK as there are lots of blogs dealing with English fiction that know a lot better than be what to read from the UK .

Our song is Believe in me by Bonnie Tyler

Sweden

I’ve read four books from Sweden of those I m going suggest a Non-fiction Title Stieg Larsson my friend by Kurdo Baski ,a fellow journalist a good friend of the later thriller writer ,lifts the lid on his crusading Journalism ,he was a fierce anti fascist as well as a great thriller writer .

Next up for me from Sweden I think will be the new Roslund and Hellstrom  called Two soldiers it is about the gang culture in Sweden and stars Ewert Grens that was a character in the earlier book by them I read Three seconds .

The Swedish song for tonight is You sung by Robin Stjernberg

Hungary

Well I ve mention Satantango a lot so I will pick the epic Parallel stories by Peter Nadas , here as my choice it starts with a dead body and takes you through life in Communist Hungary .One of the most extraordinary books in translation of recent years and showing how wonderful  Hungarian fiction is .

On my radar is one I ll be reading this week in fact be reading it on Monday on my train journey down to London ,The book is Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi a book that follows a young girl in 1900 Hungary .

Hungarys song for tonight is Kedvesem sung by Byealex

Denmark

Not much Choice  on the blog Denmark I have only read one title from there and that is The Murder of Halland ,the longlistee for the Independent foreign fiction Prize this year .Follows a wife as she copes with the her husbands death .A interesting new angle on the crime novel .

On my radar well this is a hard on I must admit I know very little about Danish fiction but have had Peter Hoeg the woman and the ape on my tbr pile for a long time .A story following the connection of a wife of a scientist and a 300lb ape .

The Danish song for tonight is Only teardrops sung by Emmelie de forest

Iceland 

I have one choice for Iceland Sjon and two books I review by him so Ill pick the whispering Muse .The tale of Vladimir a first class bore that runs a magazine about fishing .As he takes a voyage with what may be the reincarnation of one of Jason and the Argonauts crew .

On my radar is a wonderful short story collection from Comma press The stone tree by Gyoir Elfasson a very Icelandic collection of stories .a school boy goes to a chess competition ,sister reading a book .

Iceland’s entry for Eurovision is Ég á Líf  by Eythor Ingi

Azerbaijan

I not read a book from Azerbaiijan

Here is a year of readings post for Azerbaiijan .I hope there is so more books from here soon this one seems very interesting .A love story set against the backdrop of modern Azerbaijan .

There song for Eurovision is Hold me by Farid Mammadov

Greece

I ve read two books from Greece this one seems quite apt set in modern Greece  Ashes by Sergios Gakas .an actress , African family and the landlord all drawn in by a fire .lots of tension and a very noir feel .

Well I’ve just finished a great novel from Greece called What lots wife saw by Ioanna Bourazopoulou it won the Athens prize in Greece .Set in a dystopic future a Crossword setter is trying to find out where a addictive salt called purple salt comes from .

The Greek entry for Eurovision tonight is Alcohol is free sung by Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovdis

Ukraine

I ve review two books from Ukraine both written by Andrey Kurkov .I have to pick the classic Death and the penguin ,a man ends up with a penguin and is writing obituries for men that seem to keep dying ,Very dark satire .

 

I am currently working through another Ukrainian novel The raven by Vasyl Shkliar set in 1921 we follow the Ukraine’s as the try to stop there country being taken over by Russia . Based on Kgb reports of the time Shkliar is one of the most outspoke writers from Ukraine .

The Ukraine entry for tonight is gravity sung by zlata ognevich

Italy 

Well I have reviewed 20 books from Italy ,I could choose Italo Calvino or The leopard ,but I decide on the recent collection I reviewed Ten by Andrej Longo .As one of the stories involves a singer .

One on my radar is my next Italian read Italian  Outsiders stories is a collection of short stories .that was  originally published in Italian newspaper and features the likes of Carlo Lucarelli ,Roberto Saviano and wu ming to name three .

The Italian song for tonight is L’essenziale sung by Marco Mengoni

Norway

Well The book of the moment is the epic My struggle the six part fictionalized autobiography of Karl Ove Kanusgaard  This is both my choice and on my Radar I ve read part one death in the family Karl Ove growing up  and am not awaiting part two  a man in love the story of his early romances from My library .

 

The Norwegian song for tonight is I feed you my  love sung by Magaret Berger

Georgia 

I ve not read anything from Georgia

But Dalkey archive have published a book of contemporary Georgian fiction which feature   work by Mariam Bekauri, Lasha Bugadze, Zaza Burchuladze, Teona Dolenjashvili, Guram Dochanashvili, Rezo Gabriadze, Kote Jandieri, Irakli Javakhadze, Davit Kartvelishvili, Besik Kharanauli, Mamuka Kherkheulidze, Archil Kikodze, Ana Kordzaia, Zurab Lezhava, Maka Mikeladze, Aka Morchiladze, Zaal Samadashvili, Nugzar Shataidze, Nino Tepnadze, and David Dephy.

 

The Georgian song for tonight is Waterfall sung by Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani

Ireland 

Well finally we reach the end and Ireland ,which I never read enough from recent years having read a lot in my youth .I choose a William trevor of the two Irish stories I ve review but Cheating at canasta is maybe how Uk has fely about Eurovision cheated but I don’t it is great fun I hope you have enjoyed this trip through the books and songs off Europe and Eurovisiong 2013 .

I won’t suggest any books as lots of great blogs with Irish lit on I suggest Kim of reading matters .My next read will be next year when I plan to read an review all of joyce over next couple of years .

 

 

 

 

 

The President,s hat by Antoine Laurain

The president’s hat by Antoine Laurain

French literature

Original title – Le chapeau de Mitterrand

Translator Gallic books (the four main characters stories were translated by three translators )

Source – review copy

Antoine Laurain is a Parisian born writer ,he has won a number of prizes and has written four novels .The president’s hat is his first book to be translated into English .

I am dining next to the president of the republic ,Daniel kept repeating to himself ,trying to convince himself that , irrational as it seem ,it was really happening to him .He barely noticed the taste of his first oyster ,so preoccupied was he by his new neighbours .

Daniel is eating when Mitterrand comes into the Brassiere he is in

Well this is a strange one I had picked this up a week earlier in the bookshop when it came out attracted by the cover and also the story as it was set during the eighties .So when I got chance to review it from Gallic books I jumped at the chance .The book follows a hat ,the hat happens to belong too President Mitterrand .The hat goes on an adventure after being left behind by the president in a Parisian restaurant and being picked up by Daniel Mercier ,this dull officer worker is in two minds to take the hat and when he does the hat seems to have some magic effect on him giving him a new air of confidence ,he subsequently loses the hat it then passes through Fanny ,Pierre and Bernhard all are touched or change when the hat comes into their lives .Meanwhile Daniel is trying to regain the hat and regain its powers as he sees it .What is Mitterrand doing about his lost hat ? why didn’t he go back  for it .

The black felt brim acted like a visor ,compressing the space around her and marking out a distinct horizon .In Batigonelles ,a man did a double take as he passed her .What kind of image was she projecting ,walking along in the moonlight in her denim mini-skirt ,high heels ,silver jacket and black hat ?

Fanny finds the hat after Daniel she is a 80′s hip girl in her own words

This book isn’t high French lit ,but it is fun lighter reader  .For me its from that part of the French psyche that produces films like Amelie ,which this book really remind me of that fuzzy warmness I got form that film ,That light-hearted Gallic humour  of misadventures  ,Like the box that Amelie finds the hat is a framing devices and a talisman to all the come in contact with and in some way changes everyone’s life  .In the back of the book is an interview with Antoine Laurain where he said he came up with the idea after losing his own hat and imagining after he had returned to the restaurant and their was no sighting that it had fallen into the hands of a beautiful women .Her choose the 1980′s as he want to go back to a simple period of French life ,Nick Lezard in his Guardian review talks of a new sub genre of  ” pre mobile phone literature” ,I agree in part but part of me thinks that anyone of a certain age in both UK and France looks back at the 80′s as a golden age in a way the last time before the world started to speed up due to so much information and internet . When people still read papers ,houses still had  phones or minitel in Frances case .Even our news seemed different we know who Mitterrand was we saw him on our tv on the news regularly as the world has sped up the last twenty years or viewing of the news has changed so we know less about our French neighbours current leader than we did in the 80′s which is a shame .This book is a fast read I finished it in a little over a night and it was a book that when I put it finally down I was smiling and a little upset that it had finished as I loved the world I had been in between the covers .

Have you read the book ?

Best of the world under 40 in English translation

Best writers under 40 2013 list

~(not British but from round the world )

Well as one would expect the chance of the best of British under forty list coming out today from Granta in the new magazine has been eagerly awaited and discussed .So I decide I try to do a list of writers from round the world that have been published or shortly due to be published in English.This is actually quite a task ,because usually you have to be a acclaimed or won a prize to catch the eye of a editor commissioning  translations ,this means the writers I consider newish to use in english say Santiago Gamboa ,Christoph Simon or Mickhail Shishkin all fall out side the under forty classification .But in the end I have found some wonderful writers from round the world myself and a few suggested by Tony as well .

Winstonsdad rest of the world best writer under 40

Valeria Luiselli

reviewed he début in English Faces in the crowd and have read a follow-up collection of non fiction pieces sidewalks ,she is my new writer crush for sure she loves wandering round like myself .She is definitely one to watch .An interview with her 

Andres Neuman

well short-listed for both  the IFFP and BTBA this year with this novel .Is one thing but the other he is actually considered a great short story writer as well ,we have a lot to come from Andres here is my review and Gary’s interview with him.

Patrico Pron

I first mention Pron when he was one of the writers and other stories was working with in the first year .but he was taken up by Faber who are publishing his first novel in English later this year -”my fathers ghost is climbing in the rain “a writer returns home as  his father is dying .here is a piece he wrote for paris review .

 

Matias Nespolo

He is a another talented Argentinian writer ,his book Seven ways to kill a cat was translated by the wonderful Frank Wynne .Here is a piece from Granta about him 

Daniel Kehlman

Now this is one that shocked me I have yet to read him but his books been on my radar for a good while and shocked he was eligible ,here is a piece he wrote praising  his translator Carol brown Janeway .

Sasa Stansic

Is one of the new breed of German writer to have come to Germany from Eastern Europe in his case Bosnia and start writing in German .Both Rob and Lisa loved this book ,Here is an interview with him from rumpus

Juli Zeh

Juli is another German writer I had on my radar for a while she is among a group of talented female German writers Judith Herrmann and Jenny erphenbeck being other they both just fell outside the under 40 ,here is a review and interview with her tanslator  from Lizzie

Helene Hegemann

Now this is a controversial choice as by this piece in the new york times shows  ,I did like the book it has a strange arc and is quite unique and she is so young here is my review of Axoltl roadkill.

Tristan Garcia

I think we all admired the style and subject of  hate a romance on last year IFFP prize ,Tristan is not just a writer but also a philosopher as this piece shows and here is a review of hate from my blog .

Laurent Binet

Well he missed our IFFP shortlist but this début from him HHhH has set people talking about what makes a novel and also set many heads turning with its stunning cover .here is my review and interview from the new statesman

Roberto Saviano

Yes he is under 40  ,I know Gomorrah his debut has been round for quite a long time ,the best non fiction writer from Italy at the moment here is my review of beauty and the inferno from last year ,and an interview from huff post .

Joumana Hadda

A lebanese poet and writer I first read about online via arablit via this profile  I think ,but n=known for poems and essays on the arab experience I hope to review her soon rather than later .oh and she is just over 40 but want to add a female arabic writer .

Faiza Guene

Another young writer of French Algerian origin she has had two books translated so far to English ,I hope to read her later this year as she has been on wishlist for a good while .she writes about growing up poor in paris her is a piece from the guardian about her 

Ali Bader

Another writer I had on radar since I read a piece on the wonderful Arab lit again(if you’re not following this blog you are missing the chance to find the Arab lit world opened up ).two of his books have been translated in to English .The last was published in 2011 .

Risa Watya

IS a female Japanese writer ,she has women the Kenzaburo Oe prize with her most recent book isn’t it a pity ,which will be coming to us in English soon .I ll thank Tony for this one I not to sure but a nice piece from the official j lit site her about her 

Hitomi Kanehera

A high school drop out  from Japan published her first book age 21 ,best known for Autofiction which I have had from library but never got to ,this is another from Tony .a profile from a few years ago that isn’t behind paywall of ny times .

FFlur Dafydd

A Welsh language writer and singer ,she is best known for a piece for the Seren collection of tales from Mabinogion series from the famous Welsh myth  her is a profile of her from Seren .Thanks again to Tony for this one .

Well there you go I given you a few alternatives from Wales to Japan ,from Algeria to Argentina also I link to three list .

Granta spanish writers list 

Granta best brazilian link

Beirut 39

Though some of these writers haven’t had a full novel published in English it is worth noting them for the future .

 

Where I left my soul by Jérôme Ferrari

Where I left my soul by Jérôme Ferrari

French Fiction

Original title - Où j’ai laissé mon âme

Translator – Geoffrey Strachan

Source Review copy

Now sometimes you read a book love it but it unsettles you in some ways ,this is what happened with Where I left my soul ,I read it late last year ,but decide to sit on it and let the book settle in my mind as  it is quite a powerful book that unsettled me but one that I feel people need to read  .Now one has to admire Christopher Machlehose and his team for yet again getting a great book out for the writer to then win a major prize Jérôme Ferrari latest book in France last year won the Prix Goncourt ,this book had won four  literary  prizes in France  and one of my tips for this years IFFP .Jérôme Ferrari is a rising star of French fiction , by day he is a philosophy lecturer ,he has live in Corsica and Algeria and is currently professor of Philosophy at the French school in Abu Dhabi .So to where I left my soul .

He sat facing Tahar .

“We won’t touch you ,you know “

“I ask no favours ,Capaitaine .I’m ready to receive the same treatment as my Comrades “

“It’s not a favor .It’s nothing to do either favors .It’s a matter …. a simple matter of Logic ,you see .You can’t denounce yourself ,can you ?

The first exchange between the Capataine as Strachan has chosen to keep him from Tahar’s view and Tahar .

 

For the book Ferrari has chosen Algeria where he has lived before ,but to an earlier and more turbulent period in the country’s history and the year  is 1957 ,this falls in the middle of the war for independence from france .the setting is a french army camp and the interrogators have got a Algerian freedom fighter Tahar an idealistic  man willing to do anything for his country and willing to face the consequences is the rebel leader and called” the Pure  ” .The French are represented by two main characters Captain Degorce   he is an older French solider that has been impression and interrogated himself and was also impression in Vietnam ,Then the is the younger Lieutenant Andreani also served in Vietnam with the captain ,but this man has a very vicious streak .What follows is a tale of three men and what war makes people do and except as being caught .The events in the book take part over three days as we see what happens between the three men and how they end up there  .

Your contempt does not matter any more  than mine ,mon capitaine ,it is powerless against the force of this love I have never managed to eradicate from my heart ,for it has been rooted there like a weed ,full of vitality ,and I know nothing will eradicate it .

powerful words from  Tahar near the end of the book

The heart of this book is beliefs truth and how to stay human in war .Thou set in 1957 during what is regard as the most violent and hard-fought war of the 20th century the war of independence of Algeria .The title is even a play on the mind of you as a reader as who has left their soul? ,who has soul?  ,who hasn’t  it ? and maybe can a pure soul be defeated ?.It’s a story of three men and how even thou the captain and Tahar are from different sides and he has seen what the lieutenant has   to the man they call Tahar the Pure .Ferrari has said he want the book to show” the moment we open our eyes to Horrors ” and this is what trouble me I have read accounts of torture before but something in this book had touched me .But it is a timely remind of the fact that eye for an eye tactics in war ,don’t really work and when we casually use words for torture it is maybe remove the effect on the people being tortured and also those doing it in the long-term .One is remind of the main times you hear of torture on the news at present it is sryia but as the book shows it is a harrowing experience .

Have you read any books set during the Algerian war ?

The Eleven by Pierre Michon

The Elven by Pierre Michon

French Fiction

Translators Jody Gadding and Elizabeth Deshays

Original title Les Onze

Source  Review Copy

Pierre Michon is one of the most highly regarded writers in France raised by his mother ,he studied literature at Clermount -Ferrand ,he then decide to join a travelling theatre company travelling .He entered the world of Literature at the age of 37 with the book small Lives ,a collection of interlocking stories looking at eight lives  also published by Archipelago .This book the eleven is his twelfth novel  and even thou it is a short book at just 97 pages it is one that Michon spent fifteen years working on .It won the French Grand prix prize from the French academy .

We know he was born in Combleux in 1730.
It is just upriver from Orléans with its visible church towers, and
it bathes gently on both branches of the Loire. Overhead of course
are those French Poussinian skies, which he rarely painted, and from
one steeple to the next following the levee the length of the river,
those islands, willows, rushes where as a child, one would have loved
to hide, and the sudden flights of birds. The Loire carried boats at that
time: and it is because of the boats, and what carried them, that the
creator of The Eleven was born on the shores of the Loire.

Corentin  early life and origins described

So the Eleven the title is taken from a painting a fictional painting that was supposed to have been painted during the height of the French revolution .The Artist Corentin is brought in to compile a painting the one of the title the eleven ,this  title refers to the eleven members of the  committee of .WE see how this painting was made from a number of angles ,we learn of the artist ,how he came to do the painting his thoughts whilst he is painting the paint ,the people in the painting .First Corentin this guy is a man who rose through the society he lives in, due to his talent as a painter .He rises  from his humble beginnings in Limousin region a rural area of France  .The committee well to mention a couple of names -Robespierre and Saint – Just two names that even I had heard of in regards the French revolution  .The struggle of Corentin in how he is to portray these men on the canvas with his feeling for them and how they want to be shown on the canvas .He is also comission to paint before this the mistress of louis XIV . So we see where his conflict comes from

Can you see them, Sir? All eleven of them, from left to right: Billaud,
Carnot, Prieur, Prieur, Couthon, Robespierre, Collot, Barère, Lindet,
Saint-Just, Saint-André. Unchanging and erect. The Commissioners.
The Great Committee of the Great Terror. Four point thirty by three
meters, a bit less than three.

The painting described and who starred in it

Corentin is maybe a representation of a number of artist that probably painted during the French revolution and how they maybe struggled at times with the art and the subjects they were painting   .Well as you see this is one of those French books that is very French(that sounds wrong ,I  mean in a publishing context ) I  can hardly see a British publisher taking a chance on a slim book about a fictional painting and painter  that has very little happen in it yet so much this is one of those books that makes you think .I was reminded at times of the Robles novel I read last year ,as this book has the same feel of themes on top of themes a web of ideas ,The eleven is rereader a book that I ‘m sure you get more from after every time you read it .The main theme is of course the connection between art and politics ,well the power of politics and politicians.I mean how often do we see the dictators round the world surrounded by images of themselves painting sculptures  .Also how often has art been used to capture a moment in time , I mean some of the most famous paintings from France  that I remember are paintings that fall in that category The raft of the Medusa being one of them also Delacroix liberty leading the people an image also from the French revolution  .We see the turmoil of the artist doing these paintings of these figures who hold the power but have let the power get to them .

Have you a favourite novel on art ?

Link to the publishers site .

The A26 by Pascal Garnier

The A26 by Pascal Garnier

French Noir fiction

original  title L’a 26

Translator by Melanie Florence

Source – Review copy

I mention a lot about the late french writers Pascal Garnier’s life in my first review of his debut in english translation .I would add this is the third book by Gallic  fiction ,I ‘ve been sent and I so pleased they did send me all three because Pascal Garnier was a writer that it is impossible to compare with any other writer ,he seems to be a true one-off .

Yolande could have been anywhere from twenty to seventy .She had a blurry texture and outline of an old photograph.As if she was covered in a fine dust .Inside the wreck of an old woman there was a young girl .

She had been in the house so long she hadn’t aged it seemed.

 

So when this his latest translation into English  fell through my door, two things flashed in my mind reading the blurb on the back first was hitch-hiker guide to the Galaxy (mainly the not wanting a road to be built which is of course the starting point of that book ),the other was league of gentlemen,the UK comedy series and the characters Tubbs and Edward ,they live together like Yolande and Bernard in this book and are also brother and sister .In fact that isn’t where the comparisons end Yolande has been stuck in the house since world war two ,it turns out she had a liaison with a german solider and that made her exclude post war so she got more and more of a recluse her only out look on the world is the little peephole or “arsehole on the world ” as she calls it .So since 1945 she hasn’t been out and now the diggers bulldozers are bearing down into her world (the exact time of this event isn’t clear but one feels it is in the last twenty years ,this would be about right as the road is a link from central France to the port of Calais and a lot of work was done to this road in the nineties as it is the main road people use from the channel tunnel .so does the road get built that is up to Bernard Yolande’s brother a retired train worker ,who himself is terminally ill (people dying or on the verge of death finding new lease of life is a recurring theme in Garnier’s books his other book how’s the pain that I read last year and will be reviewing next month also had a similar theme ) but this fight has given him ,a new darker lease of life defending his sister from the road builders .

As he was about to get back into the car ,Bernard felt as if someone’s gaze was burning into the back of his neck .The moon pierced the clouds like a cigarette hole in a black-hole curtain .As with Maryse ,the moon was full .Pure chance.But that wouldn’t stop them talking of a serial killer ,the full-moon murder .

What is he up too ?Bernard at night in the dark

Well as you can see another darkly odd piece of the French world ,this could almost be a documentary you see on channel Four “the French recluse and the road builders “.Garnier was a clever writer we see as little as possible apart from the main characters and the plot there is no fancy dressing in this story ,so all this is squeezed into a mere 100 pages .This book will to appeal to fans of League of Gentlemen I feel as I said this is a French cousin of theirs ,Yolande and Bernard are very much a French Edward and Tubbs .The great thing is translating his French wiki page  via google shows that in the twenty five years he was writing Garnier produce quite a few other books that will hopefully reach us in English . .

Have you read his book ?,

 

 

 

The confidant by Helene Gremillon plus Helene’s favourite books

The confidant by Helene Gremillon

French Fiction

Translator – Alison Anderson

Source review copy

Helene Gremillon is a French writer born in the late seventies  ,she studied both literature and history at university ,she then worked for le Figaro the French newspaper .This was her debut novel ,she is now a full-time writer ,she lives in Paris with the well-known French singer Julien Clerc.

I got a letter one day ,a long letter that wasn’t signed .This was quite an event ,because I’ve never received much mail in my life .My letter box had never done anything more than inform me that the sea-was -warm or that the-snow-was-good ,So I didn’t open it very often maybe once a week.When I hoped a letter would change my life completely …

the opening of the book and how it does for Camille .

So the confidant has two timelines in 1975 we see Camille ,who has just dealt with her mother dying .When she happens on some letter among the effects for the funeral .These letters make up the second time line coming from France the dark clouds of the second world war are in the background of this letter ,but this letter is not sign so it draws Camille in to who was this person sending this letter to her .but then the following week another letter arrives on a Tuesday and then every Tuesday Camille gets more info from the past  ,we start to find a love story in pre war and then world war two France Louis and Anne story of love comes to Camille across time .But then they are separated by war and we see Anne,she meets a baron and this innocent young women is drawn into a world or jealousy and revenge ..Also a child that Anne had  to help a childless couple during the war .Meanwhile part of this story starts to ring bells with Camille back in 1975 .

Dear Camille

With those words in my heart in my throat .Oddly it was at that moment I knew I was Louis .I unwrapped the brown paper.Inside was an exercise book .I opened it

Louis handwriting ,as always ,more cramped and more vigorous ,but this time ,writing someone else’s words

One of the notes Camille’s gets later in the book .

This novel may appear to be on the surface similar to other books over the last couple of years I mean the dual storyline in  different times has appeared in a couple of books over the last few years .I review the tiger wife which in some ways have similar sort of feel to this book  as it is about secrets , families and love .It is also easy to compare to various books in recent times that have been runaway success that have involved the second world war ,books such as suit Francaise ,the reader and alone in berlin books that open the personnel lives at war .But  in a large way this is a French book at its heart complex and deeper than it appears on the surface .It’s about secrets and what people will do to cover the truth up ,also about love between two people .Motherhood is another theme in this book ,also the modern question of surrogate motherhood ,which we see as a modern question is really an age-old question .I found this a complex but rewarding read that shows the best of French fiction also a wonderful twist on the Epistolary form of novel as half the book is made up of letters  .I was going to be doing an interview with Helene but with recent events I didn’t get time but she has kindly told me her six favourite books .which are below -

Belle du Seigneur by Albert Cohen
A love story to enchant the romantic at heart.

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson
The last very good thriller I read.

Medea by Jean Anouilh
A text of stunning beauty which revisits what is for me one of greatest ancient myths.

An Anthology of French Poetry, which is always good to lose oneself in…

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The loss and despair of an extremely brilliant little boy, who lost his father in the 9/11 attacks. For me, completely original writing.

The Notebook by Agota Kristof
A trilogy about the lives of two twins, a short, effective and sharp story. Poetic and despairing.

Many thanks for Helene for sharing her favourite books .I will be try the Cohen at some point .This is part of a blog tour for Gallic books this week

Monday was Davids post

Tuesday was Novelicous which had Helene writing room pictured

today well its me lol

Thursday tomorrow is cornflower books .

Pimp my book the Patagionian hare in pictures

Claude Lanzmann A life his biography the Patagionian hare  translated by Frank Wynne

Three strong women by Marie NDiaye

French fiction

Prix Goncourt winner 2009

Translator – John Flethcer

SOURCE – review copy

Marie Ndiaye is one of the most exciting voices in french literature in recent years .She grew up in france with her french mother ,her father is from Senegal ,she meet him a few times in her teens and traveled to Senegal but didn’t get a real connection to africa  .Her brother is a well-known french historian .When this won the Prix Goncourt in 2009 according to a french website she was the most read french writer that year .

I ve been looking forward to this book since it won the prix Goncourt three years ago ,I looked at a few french reviews translated into in english and thought this is an important book .So when MacLehose said they had the rights I was waiting eagerly ,but such is my backlog of books to be reviewed I read this in june and now in august getting to it .So Three stong women is what it says on the cover the story of three women .This is Marie Ndiaye as the voice of multicultural france telling the story of three women at different stages and places but all with connections to Africa .Norah is the first story a working women in france she is raised by her mother and then gets a call to visit her father in africa in Senegal (it is easy to see this first story as having quite autobiographical overtones ).Norah finds a different man and situation from what she expect ,her african family is in chaos and at each other  .The second story is a wife coming from Senegal to france and adjusting to french life ,Rudy the husband is an ex teacher that you feel is on a downward spiral he is now a kitchen fitter but not a very good one .The marriage is doomed but then something from Rudy’s past crops up just as the wife Fanta seeks a way out .The tone in this story is of forbidding doom rather like some of those great american suburban short story writers that show men on the edge of the abyss and Rudy is one of them  .

Just as earlier that morning when Fanta had defied him by something she said (or perhaps by her silence ,he could no longer remember which ) he could feel welling up inside him again that hot ,almost gentle .almost cordial anger which he knew he should resist but which ,too , it felt so nice ,so good ,so comforting not to impede in any way

Rudy is a lonely man who gets a wife he wants to be quiet and proper , but then she stands up for herself a bit

But for me it was the third story that struck me hardest ,a heartbreaking story of Khady a young women forced to leave her native Senegal to travel illegally to france ,this is the start of her troubles as she gets caught up in the sex trade by mistaking a man for being helpful when he wanted her for something else ,she worked for Norah’s uncle in France and her cousin is Fanta the young women that travelled to marry Rudy in the second story .

She remembered her three years of marriage not as a time of serenity ,because the longing ,the terrible desire for a child ,had made each month a frantic climb towards a possible benediction then ,when her period came ,a collapse followed by gloomy despondency before hope returned

Khady remember her brief marriage that forced her to leave her homeland .

Marie Ndiaye has tried to show the varied outcomes for French Africans in france ,It is easy to read in to the first story being her own in some ways ,she  did struggle when she returned to Senegal  for a visit ,the second story could have parts of her parents story thrown in her mother is a teacher and her parents did meet in France .Now comparing this books to similar English fiction would be something like White teeth or Brick lane that had portrayed asian experience in Britain and how families work there is a lot about family ties in this book and men weak men dominant men and yes these women have to be strong in there own ways .You could also look at books  By Andrea Levy about the Caribbean experience in Britain .But none of these books has gone  as far as NDiaye ,has in this books description of young women caught up in the sex trade ,This does happen in the UK to people coming to Britain  .This book would be worth it just for Khady’s story which I feel is one of the most heart rendering piece of writing I ve ever read ,but to have Norah and Fanta’s stories as well is a true bonus .

Have you read this book ?

Do you have a favourite french female writer ?

 

Where tigers are at home by Jean-Marie Blas De Robles

Where tigers are at home by Jean-Marie Blas De Robles

French fiction

Translated by Mike Mitchell

Source – review copy

When this fell on my doorstep from the publisher I was a bit daunted ,but managed over ten days or so , earlier this year to read this complexed novel .Then I’ve spent a few months sitting on reviewing it I get so stuck with large books on how to cover them well .So This book is by the French writer Jean-Marie Blas de Robles ,he is French writer who was  born in Algeria , but moved to France in his youth ,he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne ,then spent many years travelling around the world .But since the 1990 has split his time between joining in archaeological digs and writing this was his third novel and took many years to write this epic book 700 plus pages  and when it was originally published in France won the big French lit prizes and was shortlisted for both the Goncourt and European book award .

Once more Elezard leafed through the first chapter of the life of Athanasius Kircher,rereading his footnotes and certain passages as he did so .God .wasn’t the opening terrible! nothing more irritating than the stilted tone

Elezard near the start on his book

 

Any way too” where the tigers are at home “,now this book is split into thirty-two chapter and then between each chapter is an extract of a book been worked on by the main character Eleazard Von Wogau a french foreign correspondent ,he is living in a distant town in North east Brazil drinking in the bars and getting very friendly with some of the locals  ,meanwhile his ex-wife and some of her students  are in the middle of jungle on an expedition with his daughter in tow  she  has a drug problem .So the book unfolds between these main characters and there friends and enemies  this interwoven with Von Wogau biography he is writing on the 17th century scholar Athanasius Kircher the Jesuit priest and scientist ,he wrote on varied subject such as science ,the bible ,technology and medicine ,he has been called Borges before Borges for the breadth of his interests (this adds to my feeling that anything worthwhile is some how touched by or connected to Borges ) .Umberto Eco has also written about Kircher .So through the extracts of Von Wogau’s book  ,we find a lot out as we get the snippets of the life of Kircher and some how they echo what happens in the present .This is a place full  of corrupt officials and ex pats , I felt a lot of the people we meet there where the sort of people who where trying to escape there lives elsewhere or have got caught in this places . We also capture Von Wogau in his  thought as we see the notes he has scribble to himself in his notebooks .

Kircher fascinates me Because he’s a crank,a veritable artist at failure,at sham .His curiosity was exemplary but it took him to the very edge of fraud … how could peirsec continue to trust him ? (write to Malbois to check details on Mersenne etc.)

A bit from Von Wogau notebook

This book is truly epic in scale and is one that probably will never be read by the majority of people in English ,which is a great shame,as  its complex ideas and narrative threads make it a rewarding read up there with the most challenging writers in English or any language  .This would have  made a great film in the series of films Werner  Herzog made in Latin america in the seventies ,I somehow had that image in my head as I read of a wild place full of life and dangers at the same time  .I think it is shame this was largely uncover in the national papers when it came out and just a few weeks ago in the TLS .This is probably one of the most French feeling books  I’ve read even though it is set in Brazil .

Have you read this book ?