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We're really excited to announce that, beginning in September, The Booksmith will host monthly get-together-discussions for members of The Rumpus' fab new book club (and those who may want to become members of that cool club).
These in-person gatherings are in addition to members' on-line chats with the author, and afford continuing discussion about writer and book. Rumpus founder Stephen Elliott will participate in many of these evenings.
More information soon, but save the dates!
Found in
Translation: A Unique Book Group
Last year at the Booksmith we started a new book group –
Found in Translation. While our reader
community is comprised mostly of
Our next book group meeting is on Tuesday July 20th and we will be discussing French writer Honore de Balzac's book Eugenie Grandet. So, put your DVRs on record, log out of Facebook and join us to meet other book lovers.
Praveen: How did you become passionate about
translated literature?
Scott: It's pretty
simple: I love great literature, and I always read the books that seem the most
innovative and most exciting. Over the past few years, more and more of those
books have been literature in translation. I like a lot of
Praveen: Where do you learn about new translations?
Scott: I work at a local nonprofit called the Center for the Art of Translation, which is all about publishing and promoting great new literature in translation. In addition to that, I review books for places like the Los Angeles Times and edit an online book review. So between those things, publishers and translators are constantly telling me about the best new books out there.
Praveen: There were over one million new books
published in the
Scott: That's the thing about translations--of those million books, only a few hundred were novels in translation. I like to think of translations as the survivors, those few, hardy books that are so compelling for one reason or another that they overcame the odds and actually got into print in the U.S.
Here's what I mean: the first thing to note about those million books is that the bulk of them books are self-published, most of which is outright garbage. No offense to self-published authors, but unless you're a complete genius you need a good editor, as well as friends and colleagues to help push that manuscript further.
In other words, filters help us readers get the best book
possible. And translations have been through more filters than any other kind
of book. First they had to beat out all the other books vying to get published
in their native language. Then they had to be a success in their home country.
Then they had to get noticed by a translator and be compelling enough for a
So the quality is generally very high, and because each nation and region has a different history and writing tradition you get a huge amount of diversity in terms of plots, styles, characters, etc.
Praveen: What are some upcoming books the book group
is planning to read?
Scott: I'm pretty
excited about our October book, titled Broken Glass. It's a new release by an
author many consider the
The Boston Globe just reviewed Broken Glass, and this quote speaks for itself: "Like all the bar patrons, [the protagonist] Broken Glass is captivated by a marathon urinating contest between Robinette, a plump, likeable prostitute, and Casimir, a dapper, mysterious man."
Not all of the group's books are quite this bawdy. In August
we're reading The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga, the leading writer of
And in September we're doing a book by one of the
Praveen: Who are some of the regular participants in
the book group?
Scott: We have all kinds of passionate readers. One is a young woman who just moved here from the East Coast, and she joined because she was looking for other book-lovers in the area to get to know. Another member is a freelance writer and all-around bibliophile whose work you can read up at The Rumpus. And then there's a retired gentleman who by his own admission reads far too slowly to read most of the group's books--he just loves to hear the discussion about the books and uses it to find new things to read.
Praveen: What
commitment do new participants need to make in order to join the book group?
Scott: The commitment is very low--in fact, strictly speaking you don't even have to read the book. We just want people eager to meet other readers and interested in finding out about great new books. If you can say that, then you're perfect for us!
Inspired by Elmore Leonard's ten rules for writing fiction, the Guardian (UK) asks a slew of other writers to chime in. They provide some commonsense directives, some very funny suggestions, some honestly inspiring words, and certainly enough reading to effectively postpone one's writing...Read 'em all here.
A colleague notes the Wordcount website. At first look, the minimalist look belied the often fascinating "nearness" of words to one another. (For examples, read the About section -- then enter a word and check the ones appearing immediately before and after. Could become addicting.)
If you're word-inclined further, take the plunge and subscribe to Anu Garg's A.Word.A.Day email. They are sometimes spectacular, sometimes odd, and always full of actually useful information, including origins and usage. (And you'll receive a weekly recap once each week, perfect for archiving for reference!)
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Dispatches from the BEA (from Rachel M.)
The only thing worth schleping out to the Javits Center, a huge wasteland of a convention center in NYC on 11th avenue (did you even know New York had an 11th avenue?) is for Book Expo America. And schlep we did. So here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come over the next few months, reported in no particular order and tied together solely by the fact that I’m crazy about these books. Keep an eye out for them as the come down the pipeline; they’re worth waiting for.
by David Grossman
Knopf, September 2010
When Ora’s youngest son leaves to take part in a major military operation in Lebanon at the end of his Israeli army service, Ora takes to the hills—literally—with a close childhood friend to escape the possibility of bad news. Like Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking, To the End of the Land uses the logic, thought patterns, and sentence construction of trauma to force the reader close and closer to what it feels like to live in the suspended state of enormous loss. Hoping that both her constant motion and the telling of Ofer, her son’s, life story will keep him safe, Ora and Avram embark on a journey driven by “magical thinking” across the country that all three of them have sacrificed enormously to protect. Grossman, as always, writes brilliantly about the psychological, social, and familial effects living in a state perpetually engaged with the threat of war has on its people—be they the aggressors or the victims. I read this 630-page novel in a frenzied day and a half. I couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t think about anything else. To the End of the Land does what truly great books do: it changes you; when I finished reading it the world was the same but I was different.
by Lan Samantha Chang
Norton, September 2010
Set at a renowned writing school, two young poets, Roman and Bernard are drawn into orbit around a brilliant, harsh, and captivating professor and poet, Miranda. As both men strive to win her attention and respect, “the boundaries between mentorship, friendship, and love are blurred.” Once they leave school, Miranda’s presence continues to cast a shadow on their lives and their art, serving to illuminate the different paths that they’ve chosen as they each labor to reach the heart of their ambitions and art. A fierce, captivating gem of a novel. Lan Samantha Chang is a stunning and under-read writer. All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost is destined to make her a household name.
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Scribner, November 2010
A not-just-readable but riveting “biography” of cancer. Mukherjee writes about cancer from virtually every way possible—from its first documented case thousands of years ago to the patients he is serving today. And he comes at his subject with a researcher’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s infatuation. Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Mukherjee’s book will totally change not just who is reading science or medical literature but how it is being read. On every level, this book is a game-changer.
by Nicole Krauss
Norton, October 2010
If you read The History of Love you’re already familiar with Krauss’s dexterity of voice-driven, intertwined, first person narratives (and if you haven’t read The History of Love you will put this down right now, go rustle up a copy, and not come back until you’ve read it—trust me, you’ll thank me later). Great House employs all of those techniques again but because they are being employed by a master, it really doesn’t matter that we’ve seen that routine before. The novel tracks four narratives, connected across time and place by the appearance and disappearance of looming, bulky desk, which was supposedly owned by Lorca at some point in its past. Like her previous two novels, Krauss focuses on nothing less than the struggle to create meaning out of madness, and the enduring and, at times, suffocating power of memory.
Rachel M. 5/27