Tag: around the world 52

A Winter Book by Tove Jansson

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 A winter book is a collection of wintery themed book from the writer Tove Jansson ,perhaps best known for her moomin books for children although not a huge fan of the moomin books i did enjoy the cartoon series of the moomins .well the stories span a life time from childhood in finland to being a grown up ,letters  .The writing has been wonderfully translated from Swedish ,the stories are simple and powerful .you get a real feel for Jansson as a person .Out of the stories the ones that really gripped me where –

 The squirrel ,a wonderful short tale of a tame squirrel that ventures on to an island where the writer lives and brightens what is a quiet tranquil place with its liveliness and antics

correspondence ,a group of letters from a japanese person  to Tove ,the beauty of these is how it shows a writer can touch people all over the world how tales wrote in a small island in finland can travel and engross a reader in japan .This showed me why my around the world project matters to me as to be touch by voices round the world is one of the greatest joys of reading

One windless day in november, near sunrise,she saw a squirrel at the landing-place .It was sitting motionless near the water, scarcely visible in the half-light , but she knew it was a real live squirrel and she hadn’t seen a living thing in a long time .You can’t count gulls:they’re always leaving:they’re like the wind over waves and grass.

a quote from start of the squirrel by Tove Jansson ,a winter book is published by sort of books

B.I.P WEEK ONE

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Hi there well I ll introduce my self to start with I m Stuart ,I live in north Derbyshire where I work supporting people with learing disabilities ,reading is my past time a way to get away from work ,last year I started Winston’s dad ,Winston being my dog .I hope to meet fellow bloggers via bip and improve my blog .

what i decide to do was ask people what they thought I could improve on the blog ,and on the whole three things came up so here are what they are and how i feel i ve improved them this week –

  1. appearance of winstonsdad ,to be truth I was never happy with my theme so did a try of different theme,s and choose one with two sidebars so I could have a side bar for images to brighten up winstonsdad .also upload a photo of books from around world challenge to make a custom header to the blog
  2. categories ,i thin out and made sure every post had both a category and tag now ,also add a category widget to the very top of sidebar .
  3. tweaks loads of little bits I did ,add a google meta key ,update blog roll ,add current and next read image boxes .

i hope these have improved winstonsdad feedback welcomed

The belly of the atlantic by fatou diome

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            As the african cup of nations drew to a close at the weekend this book from the around world challenge seemed just perfect .Set on a small Senegalese island of Niodior and france it follows ,what one may call the modern african dream of playing football in the rich european leagues .

          The story itself centres on the brother and sister Sallie and Madicke ,Sallie is struggling in france whilst her brother still in Niodior dreams of following her and becoming the next african star in europe .whilst he does so he is a school with his idealistic teacher/football coach Ndetare and in his village there is Moussa a broken man who did persue his dream by being picked up by a french club travelling to france to then find his dreams shatter end up in a poor job in france .Madicke seems oblivious to this as he watches the world cup unfolding on the tv entranced by the italien team and his hero maldini as they play the french in the final ,his dreams are heighten by Senegals great run in the world cup too . The book is wonderfully written and is gripping from start to finish ,as a football fan i loved it but feel any thats not would it is really about the struggle of life in modern africa and the immigrant experience in france .

The  golden goal ! screamed Garouwale in the midst of the uproar,imitating the commentator .”Henri Camara”!He’s scored again! It’s the gtolden goal !Senegal’s beaten Sweden! It’s there ticket to Osaka!The lion of Teranga are through to the quarterfinals of the world cup ! it’s unbelievable!

a quote from book as Madicke watches the world cup .

What is you favourite novel involving sport ?

Do you enjoy african fiction ?

books that defined me

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i decide to do this meme post after reading a brilliant post by Claire at paperback reader ,the rules where as follows –

1.Go to your book cases

2.Choose books with your eyes closed

3.Choose ten at random ,use all of your bookcases or piles of books

4.Use the book to tell us about yourself where and when you got them ,who got them for you ,what the books say about you etc .etc….

5.Have fun be imaginative .doesn t matter if you ve not read them all

6.Cheat (i choose 14 )

Book one travels with a donkey in the Cevennes by R L Stevenson ,i got this about ten years ago ,from Chesterfield’s great flea market .I have always enjoyed travel books and also Stevenson’s books this is a lovely book and gave me a great couple of days reading ,ot is from the 30s and show my love of old books

Book two poems of Rimbaud (everyman pocket edition) apart from reading mainly novels poetry has always been a great love i got this book in a small independent bookshop that was open in Alnwick in 94 when i brought this sad to say the shop has long gone Rimbaud is one of france greatest poets alongside the like Baudelaire ,my old school teacher turn me on to poetry reading us poems by Keats Yeats and  Lawrence ,i ve read about two-thirds of the poems but always think a book of poems is for life

Book three the bad seed by william march this was a chance buy in Alnwick wonderful barter books got this shortly after it opened i had a feeling it had something to do with nick cave giving his band the name the bad seeds not sure if its true still but it is about a death and a psycho so it might of done ,i do impulse buy some times it pays sometimes it doesn t ,this time it did william march won the national book award with this in 1955 .

Book four Walt whitman selected poems (penguin popular poetry ) i brought this on a day in Leeds with my step mother shortly after seeing dead poets society where whitman features heavily in the plot line ,i love these poems like the film itself there is something about america of this time Thoreau, whitman,Melville and Emerson are all favourites of mine

Book five Saki shorts (phoenix) i have a few Saki collections one of my earliest memories is at my grandparents looking at there shelves and always be amazed by the name Saki when i was old enough i read them ,my grand mother was a english teacher and loves turn of century fiction saki is ther one of the best short story writers his stories make me laugh  ,he is surely due a revival at some point ,reading his stories bring back memories of great summers around the east neuk of fife with my brother and grandparents .

Book six in the heart of the sea Nathaniel Philbrick i got this because of the connection to moby dick ,and sad to say never read it i will now place it back on tbr pile as it had got shelved away in a bedroom ,adventure stories was a great passion in my teens from Willard price on to jack london ,then Melville .The sea has always drawn me and i love boats but have not sailed much except through books

Book seven the rebel Albert Camus ,my father brought this book for me when i lived in germany in the early nineties .a phone call for books and some promptly came a surprise at my father’s choice as he tends to read pulp thrillers and westerns ,Camus ‘s prose are lovely and was a great companion when i was in germany ,i remember been sat by the Rhine reading this book as the boats drifted by

Book eight the leopard Tomasi di Lampedusa this is one of my around the world reads for this year ,looking forward to reading it then watching the film to compare them .It is a perfect example of why i choose to do the round the world challenge to increase my own knowledge of world lit and strength my love of translated fiction .It will also remind me of my late grandfather who fought in italy but after the war spent nearly every summer there on holiday

Book nine white teeth Zadie smith i got this when it came out in paperback in Sheffield ,it seemed to encapsulate a start of the twenty-first century in our fair land pre 9 11 it is a truly great book and one i feel sure i will re read at some point ,it also mark the emergence of a great new talent in Zadie smith ,i spent a lot of time recommend this book to people

Book ten essays George Orwell ,this collection was a present from my parents ,they know of my love of Orwell and this collection is so diverse i spent christmas to new year reading it .reading Orwell was my first introduction to politics in writing as a thirteen year old reading animal farm ,over the years i ve read most of his books and think i will always go back to him

what do your books say about you?

does every book have a memory for you ?

the passport by herta muller

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the fourth on the around the world is this book from Romania .I first came across Herta Muller about a week before last years nobel prizes were announced when @milestyle Stewart from world lit forum mentioned her as a possible winner .Being the sort person that loves to find out about new writers i google her and looked on amazon for her books to find little or none in print ,then she went on to win this years nobel prize for literature ,and both granta and the lovely serpents tail choose to reissue books from her .

  the book its self is a mere 90 pages long  set in the small german speaking enclave in Romania and follows a small village miller as he struggles for a passport ,but by no means a simple read as there is no real start to end narrative ,other than a thin thread about Windisch the main characters quest for a passport .In parts the book verges in to the surreal with dreams of dry frogs and an owl that settles on roofs as a harpenge of death .In other places you sense the corruption of the Ceausescu regime with Windsche having to bribe officials with corn and flour .also there are deep sexual and religious undercurrents with a tree being burnt for being possessed by the devil .Muller has a wonderful way of describe the surrounding weather it badly painted walls or the smell of the apples exploding in the fire .for the most part this novel is obviously autobiographical as Hertha herself had to wait to travel to west germany ,grew up in a small village in the same area as the novel is based .Windisch and his wife spooky echo millers own parents as her father was a solider and her own mother had spent time in a soviet work camp .

The priest had stood behind the apple tree ,praying loudly .the church choir stood alongside the boxwood hedge, singing the long songs .it was colds and the breath of the songs was drawn in to the sky .the women ad children prayed quietly.

a scene just before they burn a devilish apple tree .

the cover is a green photo of a cyclist the passport is the english title the translation of the german title is “man is a great pheasant in the world ” which is maybe more intriguing .this was published late last year by serpents tail

fado andrzej stasiuk

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 This is the third in my around the world challenge ,from Poland and is the first i ve read by a polish writer .Stasiuk is considered Poland’S foremost writer winning numerous awards in his homeland with his novel nine.The collection of essays  describes as a slavic road trip .The road trip is invoked by the short stories being set all over former eastern europe the stories range from the present-day to the past ,dreams Stasiuk beauty is in the eye for detail he has that straight away lead you to small town cafe ,to slavic writers , the most touching is a story about his own grandparents and ecological issues ,a lament for simple times when things werent  so available so families made do and used everything . Staisuk manages to catch the spirit of post communist times in these essays the searching for new indentys that people have had to do with the changing times ,having spent time in the early nineties working alongside Albanians ,Bosnians and Serbia i felt Stasiuk has really nailed the people of this region .A must read for any one interested in the changing face and map of europe .

In those days ,in the village there were no trash containers.there was also no trash .People brought all kinds of things,but not much was left after they were cosumed.Sugar was sold in paper bags that afterwards could be burned in the stove or reused .Bottles that had contained vinegar,oil and vodka could be sold back at the store for decent money

Stasiuk in the essay tranquilly talking about his grandparents village

The cover is a retro style cover that looks like it might have come from the seventies ,fado is published by the non-profit publisher dalkey archive late last year .

have you read polish fiction ?

what other books do you think examine the changing fac of europe ?

THE PATIENCE STONE by atiq rahimi

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The patience stone is the second book in my around the world in 52 books challenge ,its written by Atiq Rahimi and set in afghanstan .The story centres on a young wife as she attends her comatozed husband ,feeding and caring for him as she does so her mind drifts away into the past and what a brutal life she has had as the story progess she opens more and more to her patience stone revealing her innner most thoughts for the first time .this is only broken by the daily routine of tending the husband and evening shots and fear of rape and attack from marruading soilders .

 the book was orginally in french and translated wonderfully by polly mclean she seems to have kept the poetic spirt of the book thaty so captured french audience leading to mthe book winning the prestigous goncourt prize who previous winners have been proust and littell .there is a lovely introduction by Khaled Hosseini

 this is a truely thought provoking book thou it is only 140 pages long it made me hold back the tears at the brutality that is considered normal for females withinn afgan soceity ,at no point does Rahimi try to hold back and the story is so much more compelling for this ,to use a cliche THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ

 She  sits up ond returns to her place on the matress,next to the man’s head,and puts her right hand back on his chest .Begins another cycle of the prayer beads .

A scene from early on in the patience stone

the cover design is a lovely mix of a women at window with a flight of birds over laid over the first picture making a dreamlike cover for the book .The book is published by chatto & windus and is out on the 14th jan 2010

list so far for around world in 52 books

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here’s the books so far no order

1.A winter book by Tove Jansson (finland)

2.The siege by Ismail Kadare (albania)

3.Artic chill by Arnaldur Indridason (iceland)

4.Cafe europa by Slavenka Drakulic (croatia)

5.The witches of portobello by Paulo Coellol(brazil)

6.The harmony silk factory by Tash Aw (malaysia)

7.The unnamed by Joshua Ferris(U.S)

8.The women and the ape by Peter Hoeg (denmark)

9.Blueprint for a prophet by Carl Gibeily (lebanon)

10.Zlatas diary by Zlata flipovic (bosnia)

11.Popular music by Mikael Niemi (sweden)

12.The bad girl by Mario Vargas Llosa(peru)

13.My life as a fake by Peter Carey (australia)

14.Autonauts of the cosmoroute by julio cortazar (argentine)

15.Potiki by Patricia Grace (new zealand)

16.2666 by Roberto Bolano (chile)

17.An African in Greenland by Tete -michel Kpomassie (togo)

18.Fado by andrzej stasiuk (poland)

19.Penguin lost by Andrey Kurkov (ukraine)

20.The passport by Herta Muller (romania)

21.Divisadero by Michael ondaatje (canda)

22.Senselessness by H.C Mayo (el salvador)

22.The carpenters pencil by Manuel Rivas (spain)

23.The intergation J.M.G Le Clezio (france)

24.Snow by Orhan Pamuk (turkey)

25.Intimate stranger by Bryten Brytenbach 9south africa)

26.Dream story by Arthur Schnitzler (austria)

27.Tranquility by Attila Bartis (hungray)

28.Wonder by Hugo Claus (beligum)

29.The eagles throne by Carlos Fuentes (mexico)

30.From the diary of a snail by Gunter Grass (germany)

31.The leopard by Tomasi Di Lampedusa (italy)

32.Tales from firozsha baag by Rohinton Mistry(india)

33.My fathers war by Adriaan Van Dis (netherlands)

34.Balzac and the little chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie(china)

35.The boat by Nam Le (vietnam)

36.The master and margarita(russia)

37.Collected stories by Gabiel Garcia Marquez (colombia)

38.Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga(zimbabwe)

39.The blind owl by Sadeq Hedayat (iran)

40.The Dalkey archive by Flann O Brien(ireland)

41.Tales of freedom by Ben Okri(nigeria)

42.First as tragedy,then as farce by Slavoj Zizek(Slovenia)

43.The belly of the atlantic by Fatou Diome(sengal)

44.A bend in the river by V.S Naipaul(Trinidad)

45.Awild sheep chase by Haurki Murkami(Japan)

46.The patience stone by Atiq Rahmi(afghanistan)

47.The snowman by jo nesbo(norway)

48.Brecht at night by Mati Unt(estonia)

49.Brokem Glass by Alain mabanckou(congo)

50.sleepwalking by  Mia Couto (mozambeque)

thats it so far need 11 more hope to get them by end of january

My 2010 book challenge -around the world in 52 books

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

Over the last few months i ve been weighting up how many books i d read from different countries and it didnt  seem a lot so i made my self a reading challenge so like philleaus fogg i m going round the world not in order but through 52 books each from a writer in a different country .I will start on 1 jan 2010 and finish before 31st december 2010 .Any suggestions welcome i ve about 25 books ready so need some ideas globe