So as I said with Winston’s covers as this week’s chaos descended in the UK,every night watchingthe news and seeing the youth of this country go on the rampage I turned to a book first Dart by Alice Oswald and then after reading about a river ,I wanted to read a book about being on a river and grab my vintage classic copy of Jerome K Jerome’s Three men in a boat ,so I read about a peaceful english life of drift don the Thames on a boat with two friends and a slightly mad dog (sure Winston would love to go on a boat ,saying that he loves the water ).A different world of simple joys ,the book is very pretty as well as it has illustrations by the british comedian Vic Reeves.
I found this an escape from our current situation .So this is the question
Vyacheslav Pyetsuka is a Russian writer ,he is a trained historian ,he taught russian and world history until the avant grade nature of his fiction lead to him losing his job ,he has since published numerous books in Russia ,and has had a number of his short stories translated ,notably in the new russian writing collection from Penguin .This book came out in Russia in 1989 and is new from Twisted spoon the czech based publisher .
The novel is set over course of a weekend and we follow it from friday to monday as the members of a collective household in Moscow gather and discuss what happened to the old women that had a flat in the building and who will get the space that is now free she isn’t there any more this book has echo’s of crime and punishment by Dostoyevsky ,like that book there is a large cast of people involved in the story telling process fourteen in all .The book is like a russian doll it becomes more and more as we move along we find out that the disappearance of Alexandra Sergeyevena Pumpianskaya (don’t you just love that name ) may have more too it than first thought ,hence the echo to C&P was this a murder ,well we never know this isn’t a crime book it is a book about russian life ,art and philosophy as the tenants talk we see the previous hundred year of russian life and art mention in snippets .
Though it may seem speculative at first if not futile, investigating the relationship between life and what we call literature would be useful at this point .The relationship in question is extremely abtrusive undertaking, but is tempting to try nonetheless .First it’s tempting to ascertain to what degree literature is a game and to what a book of fates , a textbook of life .
The opening of the second part “saturday”
Now this book is a must for any Russian lit fan ,as follows of this blog know I m russian lit light my self but slowly working on this ,so I found this a book that sent me rushing to google at times to find out about this and that as I went a long ,so it gave me more of a passion to discover more russian Literature old and new and any book that makes you do that is always worth picking up .I think the other echo with C&P is the time when C&P was written Russia was a land of uncertain futures and this book in 1989 is the same this is just the time the new age of russia was happening .We also see how important space and station can be in a large city as the people in the building argue over this vacant space .all this and a lengthy discourse between two of them on the nature of what is evil .I must say the translator Krystyna Anna Steiger ,has manage to keep together what is a complex and mutlilayered book ,still hugely readable in English .
A new feature ,in which I feature a pretty book cover or a book that is linked in some way to something that is happening in the world .I ve loads of books so never short of a cover to take a picture of one.This collection I love it is ilustrated by Jonathan Gibbs
So I start here with Dart from Alice Oswald I won this as a set of six poetry first books from Faber from Nonsuch books last year ,as the riots we raging on the tv the other night I decided to find solace in some nature poetry and choose this to read at 48 pages long it took less than two hours to read .It won the T S Eliot award in 2002 .Oswald spent a number of months on the river talking to people who use the river dart which the poem is about .
I was very lucky to get sent the four new reissues from Granta of Bakers work which is good as I ve only read a couple of his book .Nicholson Baker is an american writer he writes both fiction and non fiction and is known for stream of consciousness writing and his voyeuristic style at times ,he got a ba in philosophy from Haverford college .
Vox was Nicholson’s fourth book and was published in 1991 ,the book is a shortish novel at only 167 pages long .the book focuses on two characters that are on the telephone on a telephone chat line ,they decide to go to a private room to chat one to one ,the book is that one to one chat ,things start slowly then as the two open up the conversation and subjects get sexier and sexier ,as they talk about their encounters and dreams .This is not a story if you turn red at steamy scenes on tv as it goes into close details of what they want to do in the bedroom ,so as we find out what Jim and Abbey like we feel a bit like a voyeur or an old stasis agent listening into something private that maybe we shouldn’t be listen to but can’t hang up and in a way its the same for Abbey and Jim as they’re paying a lot for doing this as it is a charging chat line there on .
“what are you wearing ?” he asked.
she said “I m wearing a white shirt with little stars,green and black stars ,on it ,black pants ,and socks the colour of the green stars ,and a pair of black sneakers I got for nine dollars .”
“what are you doing ?”
“I m lying on my bed ,which is made .That’s unusual thing .I made my bed this morning .A few months ago my mother gave me a chenille bedspread,exactly the kind we used to have ,and I felt bad that it was still folded up unused and this morning I finally made the bed with it ”
The opening of the book and you jump in the middle of the conversation
As you can see Baker’s style is a little different to many writers you don’t get any intro ,no here you jump straight in .So what did I think I loved it ,ok at times the sex scenes described are very sexy and made me go red but it is a book you just want to keep reading like being on the bus and sat behind people as there having a juicy conversation about people you don’t know but you just want to sit there and catch it even if you miss your stop .The book is also more famous for supposedly being the book a Monica gave a very famous Bill ,now if that story is true I had no doubt Bill knew what was on Monica’s mind after reading this book it wouldn’t be a book you’d give to the other sex without expecting a reaction from the person you had given the book too .the book has a wonderful new cover from Village green design that have done the four new covers for these books .
how unbelievable there is that many people who don’t want to find the joy of books and reading absolutely shocking ,this comes from a face book page title I hate reading ,how sad that is ! .there are 400,00 plus people out there that miss out on the joy of book .There is a move into using text speak and shorten words by a section of the public out there ,that seem to have not interest or joy in the spoken or written words instead opting for some slang language that will keep them from moving on in life .What is even sadder is the pages for I love reading has 97,000 likes 🙁 .How do we pass the joy of books on?
thanks to Joe the publicist for pointing this out yesterday on twitter
Well I am a funny soul only last week ,I said I didn’t want to do much with book blogger appreciation weeK on twitter ,but must say who ever runs bbaw twitter needs to reply to people numerous mentions and no reply !! that does annoy but as they say a week is a long time in politics in my mind its a lifetime now I want to take full part I may not want to be a part of a certain type of blogging but want meet new bloggers and learn about blogging more and BBAW can help with that .so if you like my little blog nominate me if not don’t lol .I hope to maybe find some new blogs and also get some fresh ideas for the blog of late I ve seem to have got stuck in the mud in my head I need something to spark the blog of again so maybe BBAW will help me get some spark back in the blog .That and the return of my favourite blogger rob of robaround books should see the old dog rise again .I ve nominated already I ve told people I’ve nominate already .
so have fun and as a publicist said on twitter today #ilovereading and I do
Åsa Larsson is a swedish crime writer ,she worked as a tax lawyer before becoming a full-time writer .This is her fourth book to be translated into english .Her grandfather was a famous Swedish skier and she has host radio shows in her native Sweden this book features Rebecka Martinsson as have some of her earlier books .She won the best Swedish crime book in 2004 for Blood spilled another from this series ,also the first book in the series Solstorm was made into a film in Sweden .
So Rebecka Martinsson is a Prosecutor in the far north of Sweden ,this job is a cross between our C.I.D and the crown prosecution service they direct the police how to investigate criminal cases deciding when arrests need to be made in the case her police officer is another women Anna-Maria Mella .They are investigating the murder of a young women called Wilma Peterson her body appeared in the river as the spring thaw began .Their investigation draws them to a plane that went missing in the 1940’s people working with the germans during the second world wae ,a pair of brothers that made a lot of money at the time ,these brothers were very intimating to the locals and still via the sons have an influence in the area the crime happen ,a weird local that knows more than he is saying ,the attitude of the male colleagues towards them and also the friction in the own relationship all add to this book being a real page turner.Why were Wilma and her boyfriend where they were is there a missing crashed german plane from the war all these are questions you find the answer to in the book .
On sunday someone phoned the police station in Kiruna to say that he had information about the two kids who had featured in the late night news bulletin the day before .He said his was Goran Sillfors .
“I don’t know if what I have to tell you is all that significant” ,he said , “But you said yourselves ,rather a call too many tan one too few ,so i thought..”
A lead on the case maybe ?
So what did I make of until thy wrath be past the title being a quote from the bible well ,I ve read other nordic crime books over the last few years and this one needs to sit near the top of the pile in the leads Rebecka and Anna Maria she has two different female characters one smart that has worked to be were she is ,the other has a family both have men in their lives ,she makes them leap of the page into flesh and blood .I also loved the way she brought the north of Sweden to life describing the scenery so beautifully .
Frozen puddles and frostbitten moss crackled beneath our feet alanen Vittangivaara loomed to our left
or
frost had nipped at every blade of grass,every twig ,making them brittle and crispy white .Sprays of lingonberry and stunted juniper bushes were a dull shade of wintry green .
lingonberry
She catches the interaction between characters so well the slight tension between the women .The way they can be dismissed by their male counter parts in the police .The fear the brothers cause then and now .The crime is realistic which is more than I can say of some of the other nordic crime novels I ve read .I enjoyed reading female leads that I could get on with as a male reader I sometimes struggle with female leads but these two were wonderful ,also as a coffee drinker I must note they like their lot of coffee . So better tha Harry hole for me ,yes she is the other Larsson but Rebecka is not another Lisbeth Salander she is a new face for Nordic crime .and this is part of a series but makes great reading by itself .
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 .
Juan Pablo Villalobos is a Mexican writer ,the studied marketing and spanish literature ,he has an interested in the avant grade having written about Cesar Aira ,he currently lives in Barcelona in Spain .This is his Debut novel and has already been translated into 8 languages since it came out last year ,including this English Translation ,that marks the start of a new Press in translation” and other stories ” .They’ll be so happy this was also the first book named on Guardians first book 2011 long list .
So what is this book about well ,dear me I gave a bit away in the title this about Tochtli a child ,well may I say this child is in some ways a normal child wanting thing he can’t have and telling us about his family ,cute you ‘re thing ,well er no cause Tochtli (this means rabbit in mexico main native language ) is the son of a notorious Mexican drugs baron and is well how do I put a little different to normal kids his age he has the real swords and a real guillotine his house is full of the underworld characters hit men ,prostitutes and dodgy politicians so when he turns round one day and says he wants a Liberian Pygmy hippopotamus for his collection of animals ,the people round his father’s luruxy hideout start finding a way to do this ,do they succeed well the best way to find out is to rush to the book shop and buy this thrilling ride of a book .
Today Paul Smith ,who hasn’t been to our place for a really long time ,about three months,came round .I found out I actually know fifteen people and not fourteen or fifteen .The thing is I wasn’t sure if Paul smith was still a person or if by now he was a corpse .I had my doubts because of one of Yolcaut’s enigmatic phrases,which he had said when asked once why Paul Smith didn’t come round any more .
“if he’s smart he’ll come back ,if he’s an asshole he won’t ”
You have to give a dark laugh as this is how Tochtli sees the world .
So this book is short seventy pages but hell it packs a punch in those seventy pages .We enter Villalobos dark comic world ,this is black comedy at it’s best Tochtli is a perfect glimpse into the surreal world of the Mexican drug barons as we see his day-to-day life we catch a little glimpse of what is happening in his fathers world and maybe why there at the hideaway at this time as he father tries to step up in his world .Tochtli rabbit hole is a place you wouldn’t want a kid to be but it is his rabbit hole and if he wants something no matter how odd it seems because of his rabbit hole being what it is he may just get it in the end .So I commend And other stories on a great first choice for the press ,these books were chosen as a result of reading groups with people reading books in the original spanish .I first came across via a e-mail to me fro Stefan from and other ,so have mention them before for their reading groups here .the translation is crisp and also a nice glossary of some words used in the text at the end which is handy .&other stories allow you to subscribe and via this you can have your name in the future book s
Have you a book you heard of that you think should be translated ?
Would you read a book in another language to decide if its right for english translation ?
