my bug bear !!!!!

What is one of your literary pet peeves?  Is there something that writers do that really sets your teeth on edge?  Be specific, and give examples if you can.?

WELL that is this weeks Literary Blog Hop question as hosted by the girls at the blue bookcase .

This is my bug bear it is the high-minded attitude of certain People ,Publishers and bloggers to the world of translation ,The people I talking about are what I call the its mine not yours brigade ,the ones that moan at the three percent translated in english from other Languages ,In other global markets the translation of english books account for 50% of the market , in Serbia it is as high as 70% .We should hold our collected heads in shame books in translation aren’t some gold level of book they are just the same as every other book but just from another place ,we need to start think reading a book from here there and everywhere is normal not some form of high thinking !! .It ain’t I m just a normal guy with a basic education ,but a passion for reading ideal target market for publishers really ,only difference is my father is a bookworm and my gran taught english and ran a school ,so I ve had that as my background but hated school when young .anyway drifted of topic when in a recent twitter chat told by a publicist at a large publishers they don’t really bother with translation probably due to the stick it on a pedestal brigade .MY reviews are simple personnel and hopefully make people want to try a work in translation as there not like other that can make it seem like a task to read them ! sorry to go on it really makes my blood boil .and was my main reason to start #translationthurs on twitter to get people talking simply about book in translation lifting the veil and getting people interest for the books not the prestige of reading them .

Books to watch out for in 2011 .

Well here are a few books out next year that have caught my Eye for next year .

Peirene Numbers 4,5 and 6 – earlier in the year in an interview on winstonsdad Meike mentioned these titles and her descriptions of their year of men titles are much better than mine .I’m looking forward to these as the first three titles have all been of such a wonderful high standard .

Paris metro tales -another in the OUP collection of city tales ,translated and selected by Helen Constantine ,stories in and set round the Paris Metro due out March 2011 .

Never any end to Paris by Enrique Vila -Matas – maybe the perfect companion to the metro tale a novel set in Paris involving the writers of the nouveau Roman movement .The writer is described as the greatest ;living Spanish writer by Bernardo Axtaga and that is he praise this is due out on new directions May next year .

Tyrant Memory by Horacio Castellanos Moya –A novel following a tyrant in El Salvador in the thirties the action takes place in a month between a coup and a strike .Moya was described by Bolano as the only writer of my generation who knows how to narrate the horrors ,the secret Vietnam that was latin american was for a long time .out in May on New directions ,

Love virtually by Daniel Glattauer –Now a german friend told me about this a while ago a very inventive german novel .A love affair told in E-mails ,but will it survive in real life when they meet ? out feb on Machlehose press .

Trieste by Dasa Drndic -A Croatian novel about a mother being reunited with her son that was stolen by the germans sixty years earlier this is meant to be a touching novel .out in april on Machlehose press .

As though she were sleeping by Elias Khoury –I read Yalo by Khoury earlier this year ,this book is different set in the 30’s in Beirut should be wonderful has a arabic poetic edge to it by a wonderfully talented writer ,this is out may 2011 by Machlehose press .

SPLITHEAD BY Juyla Rabinowitz –a German coming of age story about a seven-year old girl who grew up in russia and then came to the freedom of Vienna .a vibrant new voice in german writing .out in february from Portobello books .

Lovetown by Michal Witkowski – growing up queer in Poland under communism ,a book set in the 70’s and 80’s then in modern Poland .Out april on Portobello books

Gargling with tar by Jachym Topol – A book set in the aftermath of the invasion of 1968 .This book caught ny eye when I first heard about it .out in June by Portobello books .