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I’d like to wish a happy new year to everyone. I’m looking forward to 2014 and I plan on showing my gratitude to all that stop by here by reinvigorating the blog. I’ve been reading a lot of interesting books lately and have many more lined up to read, so posting will resume soon. As […]
I read a fair share of out-of-print translations that I believe should be more widely available and I thought I would compile a slightly different “Top Ten” list for the year. You should be able to find these with a little digging or if you’re fortunate to have a library that provides inter-library services. There […]
Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden(Viking: New York City, 2012)ISBN: 978-0-670-02332-5 I had planned on reading three nonfiction books on North Korea this winter but everything got shuffled out of order when I impulsively grabbed Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s […]
The Bird that Swallowed its Cage: The Selected Writings of Curzio Malaparte Adapted and Translated by Walter Murch Afterword by Walter Weschler (Counterpoint: Berkeley: 2012) ISBN: 978-1619020610 I’ve written about Curzio Malaparte’s World War II ‘novel’ Kaputt. While I’m waiting for my library to get a copy of the recent NYRB Classics re-release of The […]
In the comments of my post on If This Is a Man Miguel of St. Orberose blog stole my intended opening for Anthony Sher’s performance in Primo: Primo Levi’s book is a monumental exposition of the concentration camp system, and also of the mentalities that developed inside these horrible places; extraordinary what the prisoners had […]
If This is a Man by Primo Levi Translated by Stuart Woolf Introduction by Paul Bailey Abacus (ISBN 978-0-349-10013-5) Primo Levi was 24 years old in the fall of 1943 when he was arrested with other members of the Italian resistance movement. Instead of being shot as a traitor, he confessed to being Jewish and […]
I’ve been reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with the boys and we’ve been having a lot of fun with it. I highly recommend the unabridged Sterling illustrated edition pictured. They enjoy the rich watercolors by Robert Ingpen while I appreciate the quality feel of the book. Oh yeah…we’re enjoying the story, too. There are […]
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson Wheeler Publishing—Large Print edition; 2012; 781 pages ISBN: 978-141-448286 I’ll start with a “thank you” to Cynthia Haven at The Book Haven blog for her many posts on Adam Johnson and this novel. Her last post regarding the novel finally pushed me to look for it at my […]
While I was at Phipps Country Store in Pescadero, California today [sadly, it went out of business shortly after this post] I decided to take advantage of the available heirloom beans (beyond the several pounds I bought). It seemed a fitting setting for Wiesław Myśliwski’s A Treatise on Shelling Beans, forthcoming from Archipelago Books. A […]
We saw yesterday’s matinee of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landryat Shakespeare Santa Cruz and I want to recommend it to readers in the SF Bay area (and anyone visiting during its run). Information on the show can be found at the SSC site: Become the studio audience as just […]