Carlos Maria Dominguez was born in Buenos Aires in mid 50’s he has written a number of fiction and non fiction books ,he currently lives in Montevideo Uruguay ,he won the Juan Carlos Onetti prize .This book is one of those wonderful books about book s and people a short book at only a hundred pages it took me an evening to get through ,it is accompanied by wonderful illustrations ny Peter sis who’s cartoons appear regularly in Time and Newsweek .The action starts with the death of Bruma Lennon in Cambridge a unopened package a book then sends a friend on a long trip to Argentina after a book eccentric Carlos Brauer how lives in a house filed with books and a highly personal filing system ,in the end the action draws us to Montevideo and a great climax .
Books change people destinies .some have read the tiger of Malaysia and become professors of literature in remote universities.Demian converted thousands of young men to eastern philosophy ,Hemingway made sportsmen of them ,Alexander Dumas complicated the lives of thousands of women ,quite a few of whom were saved from suicide by cookery books .Bluma was their victim .
from the opening page the touching power of books .
This book is in the grand Argentina tradition from Borges and Manguel ,they always love dissecting books and people ,this book is about the love and lust of owning books ,how this can sometimes drift into obsession and crime ,it also seems a personnel journey for the writer himself ,maybe he is retreating his own reading and people he had come across .There is a fable like quality as well .A definite movie book (like a good movie can be read in a couple of hours ).THE translation is great on of the best from spanish, I’ve read and was by Nick Caistor who has work on translation of a lot of the major latin american writers in recent years .
Ooohhh sounds fascinating! Especially how books are a part of it. Thanks for the review Stu.
it is lovely little book ,a chance pick up at library that I really enjoyed ,all the best stu
I’m not familiar with this one, but it sounds really good!
yes it was new to me when I saw it at library ,it is great short novel thou ,thanks for first comment ,all the best stu
WOW. I am so excited about this book. Thank you for blogging about it! Ugh, this looks so great.
Also, I love the image on the cover.
the cover is wonderful same guy does the pictures inside the book ,all the best stu
This sounds wonderful and like Emily, I love the cover of the book as well.
it is Iris ,all the best stu
I’m not familiar with the author at all, so thanks for reading and reviewing he book. Add to my TBR pile.
was new to me caught my eye in library due to cover ,all the best stu
I LOOOOOOVE this teeny weeny book. I treasure it so much. Doesn’t it speak so much to us, the book-obsessed?
VERY MUCH SO CLAIRE A LOVELY VOL ,I LOVE HOW ARGENTINA IS SO BOOK OBSESSED ,ALL THE BEST STU