Hello Gentle Reader
It is the last day, the last day of theories. The Nobel Prize for Literature, will be announced tomorrow; October 10 2013, at 1:00pm Central European Time.
At the beginning of the year, there was a lack of speculation. In fact, Ladbrokes went back to the usual suspects, of who should win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Once again the perennial favourite, Haruki Murakami was at the forefront. Behind, Murakami, came the industriously prolific American author Joyce Carol Oats. After which came the usual suspects. The Syrian poet Adunis; the Hungarian door stop writer, Peter Nadas, South Korean zen poet Ko Un. However, early on this year, it was though probable that a women writer would win this year. Women writers have been, overlooked at times; and are grossly, unrepresented in the Nobel Prize for Literature, canon.
Who could be possible women candidates? I thought of course of the Greek short story writer, poet, and novelist Ersi Sotiropoulos. Then, another thought of another Greek writer, who is only a poet: Kiki Dimoula. Both authoress would offer, an interesting perspective as Nobel Laureates in Literature, with the crisis in Greece; and seeing that both previous Greek writers were poets, a prose writer would shake up that tradition; but also a Greek writer had not been awarded since nineteen-seventy nine. Neither one of these authors appeared on the Ladbrokes list. Much to my disappointment. Still I have hopes for both in the coming futures.
Many speculated in the beginning North African writer, feminist, and film maker Assia Djebar, to be a heated contender, along with Italian novelist, short story writer, and playwright Dacia Maraini. Both authors were hot contenders, in their speculation, earlier this season.
However in the past few days, speculation has increased, and intensified. Belarusian, non-fiction writer, and journalist Svetlana Alexievich, whose most famous book “Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster,” has skipped, ran, and jumped down the betting list. Belarus does not have a Nobel Laureate in Literature; and Alexievich represents, a literary model, that is generally an outsider in the Nobel. Many of the authors write memories, and essays, along with their novels or poems; very few have exclusively written in the journalist/non-fiction format – with the exception of the most recent Laureate Elias Canetti. Horace Engdahl the former Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, had once stated that the authors W.G. Sebald, Jacques Derrida, and Ryszard Kapuściński were all good and noteworthy potential laureates, if it wasn’t for their untimely deaths. Kapuściński was a famous and noteworthy non-fiction writer, and journalist. Speculation holds Svetlana Alexievich in those same regards.
The next talked about author, this year is Jon Fosse. The Norwegian playwright’s, catapult from farther speculation or just mentions, to a serious contender, briefly shut down Ladbrokes, to recalculate and reconfigure. Fosse’s is primarily known as a playwright; a northern Beckett or Brecht. His plays focus on the inability of individuals to communicate, as well as isolation, and alienation. His works is existential and suspenseful. The works are absurd, chilling, and revered and performed throughout the world. Fosse however has also written poetry and prose.
The final author, who has been the buzz, is Alice Munro. Alice Munro is a unique author has she writes primarily short stories. She has not written a novel. Though “The Beggar Maid,” also known as “Who Do You Think You Are?” was considered a novel in stories, and was even nominated for the Booker Prize in Nineteen-eighty. Throughout the Nobel Prize for Literature’s history, there has not been an author awarded the prize for short fiction alone. The closest to this definition would be the first Russian author to receive the prize Ivan Bunin, in nineteen-thirty three. Bunin however also wrote novels, and they were often some of his most renowned works. Alice Munro herself would be the first Nobel Laureate, to be recognized for her achievements, primarily in the short story form. She would also be the first Canadian author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
There you have it Gentle Reader. The last round up. The last bit of speculation. In a few hours, the Nobel Prize for Literature will be awarded. For now only the Swedish Academy knows, who will win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Personally, I am looking for redemption, from last year’s mistake. I am also looking for a bit of a surprise. But who is not looking for a surprise when it comes to the Nobel.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
The German Book Prize Winner
Hello Gentle Reader
Terézia Mora’s novel “Das Ungeheuer,” translated as “The Monster,” or “Monster,” has won this year’s German Book Prize. The novel tells the story of a husband distraught over his wife’s recent suicide. After her death, he discovers from her journals, her abject loneliness, despair, and battles with illness and depression. What follows is a spiritual road novel, of Darius Kopp, to find a home for his wife’s ashes, and a place where his despair belongs.
Congratulations to Terézia Mora on wining the German Book Prize! May we look forward to her translation into English.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Terézia Mora’s novel “Das Ungeheuer,” translated as “The Monster,” or “Monster,” has won this year’s German Book Prize. The novel tells the story of a husband distraught over his wife’s recent suicide. After her death, he discovers from her journals, her abject loneliness, despair, and battles with illness and depression. What follows is a spiritual road novel, of Darius Kopp, to find a home for his wife’s ashes, and a place where his despair belongs.
Congratulations to Terézia Mora on wining the German Book Prize! May we look forward to her translation into English.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
A Look at the German Book Prize Shortlist – A Video
Hello Gentle Reader
Here is: deutschewelleenglish: arts.21; video looking at the shortlist of this year’s German Book Prize.
“The stories this year gloomy; from melancholy, to insanity; death and rumination. The dark depths of the soul are illuminated.”
The following link will take you to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7_wqjYKEpo
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Here is: deutschewelleenglish: arts.21; video looking at the shortlist of this year’s German Book Prize.
“The stories this year gloomy; from melancholy, to insanity; death and rumination. The dark depths of the soul are illuminated.”
The following link will take you to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7_wqjYKEpo
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
European Union Prize for Literature 2013
Hello Gentle Reader
I had been so busy at work, that I failed, to notice the European Prize for Literature, had been awarded, a week ago. Twelve authors, hailing from Belgium; to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to Finland and to Slovenia. The following list is the winners, and a brief blurb, about the author and the winning novel.
Isabelle Wéry – Belgium – Wéry is a playwright, theatrical actress and director for the theatre. She is also an accomplished prose writer. Her debut in the novel format was, “Monsieur René,” a fictional and imaginary biography of the Belgian actor René Hainaux. This year’s winner is “Marilyn Deboned.” This is a novel of romantic encounters. It’s a novel, written in the three acts. About the main character Marilyn. The first act, takes place between ages six and eight – coming to terms with the fact that she is an independent creature. The second act as a young adult. The third act comes in the form of the here and now. It’s a novel of duos and ‘romantic undertakings,’ and the desire to know why we go through them – and why everything from human, to animals and plants – follows this same romantic law.
Faruk Šehić – Bosnia Herzegovina/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – Faruk Šehić comes from the interesting part of South-Eastern Europe. Before the outbreak of the Bosnian War, the author had studied veterinarian medicine. However, after the start of the Bosnian war, Šehić, volunteered with the Bosnian army and became a lieutenant. After the war, the author studied literature – and has gone to become a writer. Šehić’s novel “The Book of Una,” is about the experience of the Bosnian war, and its effect on one man, trying to overcome the personal tragedy of the incident. Yet it is also a book about childhood along the river, and about the city Una.
Emilios Solomou – Cyprus – is not a new prose writer, in Cyprus. His novel “An Axe In Your Hands,” had won the Cyprus State Prize for Literature. His second novel “Like a Sparrow, Quickly You Passed,” has been translated into Bulgarian. His stories have been published in many literary magazines and published in Bulgarian and English. His winning novel “The Diary of Infidelity,” is a novel of excavation of personal memories. The novel chronicles Yiorgos Doukarelis, remembrance of his past and three women in it. He remembers the archaeological find that changed his life; the affair and the divorce of his first wife, and marriage of his second one, and the sudden disappearance of his second wife. This novel connects Yiorgos Doukarelis to the far flung past, by his excavation and find; but also his own personal past, and his strained present.
Kristian Bang Foss – Denmark – Foss at first studied mathematics and physics; however he later graduated from the Danish Writers Academy. Foss’s debut “The Window of the Fish,” was praised for its everyday pursuits and mundane actions; that by linguistic ingenuity transcends the banal. His next novel “The Storm of 99,” is full of black humour, depicts the vipers pit of an everyday work environment; the slanderous games the absurd events that take place within. “Death Drives an Audi,” is his wining book. It’s a road novel. A tour of Europe. But it’s about the situations that are beyond our control. A look into hopelessness and still finding an optimistic glimmer. It is also a race against time and death.
Meelis Friedenthal – Estonia – Friedenthal is known as a speculative fiction writer. His first novel “Golden Age,” won third place in a national, novel competition. It discussed how, history shapes our identities. “The Bees,” is his winning novel. It tells the story Laurentius Hylas, a student in the seventeenth century. As Hylas enters the city of Tartu is known as the city of muses, but all Hylas see’s, is starving people. What follows is the melancholic prone Laurentius Hylas, falls further into a black pit, into a dreamlike disease, where reality and hallucination coexist. It’s a novel, which offers a difficult view of reality. One, about a melancholic
Philosophy student and his questions about reality, and his disease, and the philosophical treatises that permit him to wonder if the real is the unreal.
Katri Lipson – Finland – Lipson studied as medicine, in Sweden, and has practiced as a doctor both in Sweden and Finland, as well as Africa. However, Lipson has always been a writer. She has written everything from poetry, to short stories, even fairy tales. She debuted as a novelist with “Cosmonaut,” and was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize; and it went onto win the Helsingin Sanomat Debut Book. Her winning novel “The Ice-Cream Man,” is a playful novel about inventive reality and its place within reality – and the possibility of that fictional reality taking over. The novel is about a film crew, and director, who decide to make a film with a lack of script. The actors themselves therefore must create and invent characters and stories. What is presented is a fictional reality that borders, and threatens to take compete with the real reality. Lipson shows that life and reality are made up of historical events, which mix with the present. That history is made up of stories, and details of all the lives around it.
Marica Bodrožić – Germany – Bodrožić, moved from the former Yugoslavia, at the age of ten. She learned German, and has used her ‘second mother tongue,’ as her literary language. Her debut novel “A Cherrywood Table,” has won this year’s prize. In Germany it has been praised of its poetic evocations of memory and remembrance. Bodrožić deals with the civil war of the former Yugoslavia. The novel traces the main characters memory, of childhood, the escape to Paris to study philosophy; but it also discusses the loss of her homeland. Around the cherry wood table, inherited from her grandmother, the personal and the political of the twentieth century, intertwine, as the past and the present share a dialogue, around the cherry wood table; where memories are spread out.
Tullio Forgiarini – Luxembourg – Forgiarini’s father was Italian, while his mother was Luxembourgian; this explains his odd last name. He writes in French, and is inspired by the dark crime and noir novels; which have tinted his novels and stories with a black gloss. “Amok. A Luxembourg love story,” is written in seventeen short chapters. It tells the story of an adolescent youth on the search for love, recognition, and a place within the contemporary and forever changing society. It’s a novel that is crude with poetic economy of words. It depicts the lives one rarely sees in the media. The reader is thrust into an unmanageable reality, and the escape attempts the protagonist, creates in order to escape. It’s a harsh book that is socially conscious, of a divided and marginalized society.
Lidija Dimkovska – Republic of Macedonia – Dimkovska is known to English readers of poetry, by her poetry collection “\pH Neutral History,” a poetry collection, of spitfire linguistic showmanship, that pins readers down, like insects on a pin. Her first novel “Hidden Camera,” won the Writers’ Union of Macedonia award, it was also shortlisted for the Utrinski Vesnik award for the year. Her next foray into prose is “Backup Life,” and it has won this year’s European Union Prize for Literature. Dimkovska recounts the life of Srebra and Zlata (a play on the words silver and gold), and their quest for individuality – but they are Siamese twins; conjoined at the head. From nineteen-eighty four until two-thousand and twelve, the story is narrated. The girls play fortune telling. They talk of who they’ll marry, how many children they’ll have, and which city they will live in. Then the former Yugoslavia split, and the joint regions and republics. What comes’ after is darkness, guilt, death, and funerals marriage, and separation. A historical and political allegory in some regards, but also personal and poetic.
Ioana Pârvulescu – Romania – Pârvulescu has won the award for her novel “Life Begins on Friday.” It’s a story set a hundred years ago. Yet in its core, it reverberates with our own hearts, and our times, as the human conditions, most basic principles are forever untouched by time. The story follows the various characters through the last thirteen days, of eighteen-ninety-seven. The discovery of an unconscious boy, in the outskirts of Bucharest, leads to speculation of how he got there, and is the centre of the web. Yet the most important character of this novel is Bucharest itself. It’s a novel of an almost forgotten time, and often romanticised time as well. Yet, with this novel it solidifies the fact that the past lives on into the present.
Gabriela Babnik – Slovenia – Babnik has published two novels prior to “Dry Season.” Her debut was “Cotton Skin,” and received the Best Debut Novel by the Union of Slovenian Publishers. Her next novel “In The Tall Grass,” was shortlisted for the Kresnik Award. “Dry Season,” has won Babnik this year’s award. “Dry Season,” is set in Africa, a place that holds a special interest with Babnik. The story itself is the unusual love affair of Anna, a sixty two year old designer from Central Europe; and Ismael, a street twenty seven year old African, who has been raised on the streets, in which he was routinely abused. What connects these two is a loneliness of the flesh; a tragic childhood and the dry season – the time in which neither nature, nor love can hope to flourish. Anna comes to realize the difference between herself and Ismael is not, by the colour of their skin; but by her belonging to a western culture. The very one in which she had abandoned. It’s a novel fused with magical realism, and true political realities of Africa.
Cristian Crusat – Spain – The final author comes from Spain. Crusat teaches Spanish language and literature abroad. His essays on translation and comparative literature have been published in periodicals all over Spain and in Latin America. “Brief theory of travel and the desert,” is a collection of six stories. Set around the world. The stories showcase, characters searching, and exploring the plausibility and possibility of an epiphany or a revelation. It may never come or comes and is never noticed. Yet the characters isolated in a concrete modern desert – of hotels, parkades, roads. Then accidents and incidents of the most mundane, or ordinary happen, that reveal the characters true isolation and slow death of immobility.
There you have it Gentle Reader. The European Prize for Literature twenty-thirteen’s winners. Novels that trace the divides both culturally, geographically, and historically. The personal is at the backdrop of the historical. The political mingles with the personal tragedies. Playful novels, about fictional realities and dreams, that compete with the physical reality in dominance of perspective.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
I had been so busy at work, that I failed, to notice the European Prize for Literature, had been awarded, a week ago. Twelve authors, hailing from Belgium; to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to Finland and to Slovenia. The following list is the winners, and a brief blurb, about the author and the winning novel.
Isabelle Wéry – Belgium – Wéry is a playwright, theatrical actress and director for the theatre. She is also an accomplished prose writer. Her debut in the novel format was, “Monsieur René,” a fictional and imaginary biography of the Belgian actor René Hainaux. This year’s winner is “Marilyn Deboned.” This is a novel of romantic encounters. It’s a novel, written in the three acts. About the main character Marilyn. The first act, takes place between ages six and eight – coming to terms with the fact that she is an independent creature. The second act as a young adult. The third act comes in the form of the here and now. It’s a novel of duos and ‘romantic undertakings,’ and the desire to know why we go through them – and why everything from human, to animals and plants – follows this same romantic law.
Faruk Šehić – Bosnia Herzegovina/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – Faruk Šehić comes from the interesting part of South-Eastern Europe. Before the outbreak of the Bosnian War, the author had studied veterinarian medicine. However, after the start of the Bosnian war, Šehić, volunteered with the Bosnian army and became a lieutenant. After the war, the author studied literature – and has gone to become a writer. Šehić’s novel “The Book of Una,” is about the experience of the Bosnian war, and its effect on one man, trying to overcome the personal tragedy of the incident. Yet it is also a book about childhood along the river, and about the city Una.
Emilios Solomou – Cyprus – is not a new prose writer, in Cyprus. His novel “An Axe In Your Hands,” had won the Cyprus State Prize for Literature. His second novel “Like a Sparrow, Quickly You Passed,” has been translated into Bulgarian. His stories have been published in many literary magazines and published in Bulgarian and English. His winning novel “The Diary of Infidelity,” is a novel of excavation of personal memories. The novel chronicles Yiorgos Doukarelis, remembrance of his past and three women in it. He remembers the archaeological find that changed his life; the affair and the divorce of his first wife, and marriage of his second one, and the sudden disappearance of his second wife. This novel connects Yiorgos Doukarelis to the far flung past, by his excavation and find; but also his own personal past, and his strained present.
Kristian Bang Foss – Denmark – Foss at first studied mathematics and physics; however he later graduated from the Danish Writers Academy. Foss’s debut “The Window of the Fish,” was praised for its everyday pursuits and mundane actions; that by linguistic ingenuity transcends the banal. His next novel “The Storm of 99,” is full of black humour, depicts the vipers pit of an everyday work environment; the slanderous games the absurd events that take place within. “Death Drives an Audi,” is his wining book. It’s a road novel. A tour of Europe. But it’s about the situations that are beyond our control. A look into hopelessness and still finding an optimistic glimmer. It is also a race against time and death.
Meelis Friedenthal – Estonia – Friedenthal is known as a speculative fiction writer. His first novel “Golden Age,” won third place in a national, novel competition. It discussed how, history shapes our identities. “The Bees,” is his winning novel. It tells the story Laurentius Hylas, a student in the seventeenth century. As Hylas enters the city of Tartu is known as the city of muses, but all Hylas see’s, is starving people. What follows is the melancholic prone Laurentius Hylas, falls further into a black pit, into a dreamlike disease, where reality and hallucination coexist. It’s a novel, which offers a difficult view of reality. One, about a melancholic
Philosophy student and his questions about reality, and his disease, and the philosophical treatises that permit him to wonder if the real is the unreal.
Katri Lipson – Finland – Lipson studied as medicine, in Sweden, and has practiced as a doctor both in Sweden and Finland, as well as Africa. However, Lipson has always been a writer. She has written everything from poetry, to short stories, even fairy tales. She debuted as a novelist with “Cosmonaut,” and was nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize; and it went onto win the Helsingin Sanomat Debut Book. Her winning novel “The Ice-Cream Man,” is a playful novel about inventive reality and its place within reality – and the possibility of that fictional reality taking over. The novel is about a film crew, and director, who decide to make a film with a lack of script. The actors themselves therefore must create and invent characters and stories. What is presented is a fictional reality that borders, and threatens to take compete with the real reality. Lipson shows that life and reality are made up of historical events, which mix with the present. That history is made up of stories, and details of all the lives around it.
Marica Bodrožić – Germany – Bodrožić, moved from the former Yugoslavia, at the age of ten. She learned German, and has used her ‘second mother tongue,’ as her literary language. Her debut novel “A Cherrywood Table,” has won this year’s prize. In Germany it has been praised of its poetic evocations of memory and remembrance. Bodrožić deals with the civil war of the former Yugoslavia. The novel traces the main characters memory, of childhood, the escape to Paris to study philosophy; but it also discusses the loss of her homeland. Around the cherry wood table, inherited from her grandmother, the personal and the political of the twentieth century, intertwine, as the past and the present share a dialogue, around the cherry wood table; where memories are spread out.
Tullio Forgiarini – Luxembourg – Forgiarini’s father was Italian, while his mother was Luxembourgian; this explains his odd last name. He writes in French, and is inspired by the dark crime and noir novels; which have tinted his novels and stories with a black gloss. “Amok. A Luxembourg love story,” is written in seventeen short chapters. It tells the story of an adolescent youth on the search for love, recognition, and a place within the contemporary and forever changing society. It’s a novel that is crude with poetic economy of words. It depicts the lives one rarely sees in the media. The reader is thrust into an unmanageable reality, and the escape attempts the protagonist, creates in order to escape. It’s a harsh book that is socially conscious, of a divided and marginalized society.
Lidija Dimkovska – Republic of Macedonia – Dimkovska is known to English readers of poetry, by her poetry collection “\pH Neutral History,” a poetry collection, of spitfire linguistic showmanship, that pins readers down, like insects on a pin. Her first novel “Hidden Camera,” won the Writers’ Union of Macedonia award, it was also shortlisted for the Utrinski Vesnik award for the year. Her next foray into prose is “Backup Life,” and it has won this year’s European Union Prize for Literature. Dimkovska recounts the life of Srebra and Zlata (a play on the words silver and gold), and their quest for individuality – but they are Siamese twins; conjoined at the head. From nineteen-eighty four until two-thousand and twelve, the story is narrated. The girls play fortune telling. They talk of who they’ll marry, how many children they’ll have, and which city they will live in. Then the former Yugoslavia split, and the joint regions and republics. What comes’ after is darkness, guilt, death, and funerals marriage, and separation. A historical and political allegory in some regards, but also personal and poetic.
Ioana Pârvulescu – Romania – Pârvulescu has won the award for her novel “Life Begins on Friday.” It’s a story set a hundred years ago. Yet in its core, it reverberates with our own hearts, and our times, as the human conditions, most basic principles are forever untouched by time. The story follows the various characters through the last thirteen days, of eighteen-ninety-seven. The discovery of an unconscious boy, in the outskirts of Bucharest, leads to speculation of how he got there, and is the centre of the web. Yet the most important character of this novel is Bucharest itself. It’s a novel of an almost forgotten time, and often romanticised time as well. Yet, with this novel it solidifies the fact that the past lives on into the present.
Gabriela Babnik – Slovenia – Babnik has published two novels prior to “Dry Season.” Her debut was “Cotton Skin,” and received the Best Debut Novel by the Union of Slovenian Publishers. Her next novel “In The Tall Grass,” was shortlisted for the Kresnik Award. “Dry Season,” has won Babnik this year’s award. “Dry Season,” is set in Africa, a place that holds a special interest with Babnik. The story itself is the unusual love affair of Anna, a sixty two year old designer from Central Europe; and Ismael, a street twenty seven year old African, who has been raised on the streets, in which he was routinely abused. What connects these two is a loneliness of the flesh; a tragic childhood and the dry season – the time in which neither nature, nor love can hope to flourish. Anna comes to realize the difference between herself and Ismael is not, by the colour of their skin; but by her belonging to a western culture. The very one in which she had abandoned. It’s a novel fused with magical realism, and true political realities of Africa.
Cristian Crusat – Spain – The final author comes from Spain. Crusat teaches Spanish language and literature abroad. His essays on translation and comparative literature have been published in periodicals all over Spain and in Latin America. “Brief theory of travel and the desert,” is a collection of six stories. Set around the world. The stories showcase, characters searching, and exploring the plausibility and possibility of an epiphany or a revelation. It may never come or comes and is never noticed. Yet the characters isolated in a concrete modern desert – of hotels, parkades, roads. Then accidents and incidents of the most mundane, or ordinary happen, that reveal the characters true isolation and slow death of immobility.
There you have it Gentle Reader. The European Prize for Literature twenty-thirteen’s winners. Novels that trace the divides both culturally, geographically, and historically. The personal is at the backdrop of the historical. The political mingles with the personal tragedies. Playful novels, about fictional realities and dreams, that compete with the physical reality in dominance of perspective.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Two of Tabucchi’s
( I ) — “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,”
When Antonio Tabucchi passed away, in March of two-thousand and twelve; the literary world was devastated by the loss of a giant of world literature. Italy itself was forced to say farewell and thank-you to their greatest living writer; who had taken up the mantel of Italo Calvino. Yet to say that Tabucchi and Calvino were similar in every aspect would be misleading. Where Italo Calvino was generally seen as apolitical – after his youthful ideology years, in which he belonged to the communist party; Tabucchi was engaged in the social and political sphere. One of Tabucchi’s most well-known books “Pereira Declares,” (or “Pereira Maintains,”), which discusses the awakening of an overweight journalist to the difficulties and arbitrary inhumanity of Salazar’s, Portuguese dictatorship. This is just one example of Tabucchi’s politically engaged work. “Pereira Declares,” was often used as a symbol of resistance, against the Italian president and convicted fraudster, Silvio Berlusconi and his subsequent government. Further separation came from Tabucchi’s love of Portugal, after his discovery of the poet Fernando Pessoa. Tabucchi even wrote a book in Portuguese, to celebrate his admiration of Pessoa, and love for Portugal.
“The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,” was the first book to be published in English translation, after Tabucchi’s death. It was published by the amazing Archipelago Books. It’s a small square pocket book. It fits naturally in the hands. It’s a small book of stories. Tabucchi himself had called them: “drifting splinters, survivors of some whole that never was.”
The titular story “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,” is the first sweet taste of the beautiful splinters that Tabucchi, divulges. It’s a gentle tale; a wistful charismatic fable. That portrays an Italian monk in a monastery, in the poignantly warm and time of dusk, collecting onions. While fulfilling his duty, this monk – who will become the greatest fifteenth century painter; encounters a large bird. A large bird with different coloured feathers: orche, yellow, deep blue and emerald. Reminiscent of the prismatic kingfisher. Other such birds, visit. While the monk is sleeping in his cell, a dragonfly visits him. He commands the monk to paint his visitors.
In this same vein, Tabucchi has done what the monk has. He has taken dream like impressions and solidified them with ink, and words. Other splinters and fragments of stories are letters. Emotional betrays and subtle details all mixed in with flights of fancy and fantasy. Calypso writes to Odysseus. There is the prince of Portugal, whose deep seated love becomes an adequate form of revenge. Mademoiselle Lenormand also makes an appearance. The famed fortune teller, of the Napoleonic Era. The mystic herself, offers a monologue on the perpetual dusk of her own shadow world. A place that she best describes as a dream, in which you are well aware is a dream. Where truth is all that more pure; and reality is so much sharper. This short monologue had to have been one of my favourites.
All the brief sketches, in this small book, are vignettes and simply written short reflections. The only one that best be described as a short is the titular “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico.” Still these lactescent stories, offer a glimpse into the authors own preoccupations, with identity, mystery, history and other personal obsessions. These fragments. Memories of dreams. Impressions and nostalgic laments. Each of them carries a small weight to their punches. Yet their depth surpasses the superficial minimalism of their surface.
( II ) — “The Woman of Porto Pim,”
I once saw a picture of the Azores Archipelago. I saw a verdant hill, populated by few trees, surrounded by the ocean and the mist. In the background was Mount Pico. A shark tooth of a mountain. It appears to rise out of the sea; pushing through the mist and haze of the ocean and obstinately jab its peak right towards the heavens. I never knew about the Azores, until I started reading “The Woman of Porto Pim.” Still, we never gave much thought, to the Falkland Islands until the short Falkland war was started and resolved. Much like “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,” – “The Woman of Porto Pim,” is a small pocket book of stories, its small, and fits comfortably into the hands of any reader. “The Woman of Porto Pim,” is best described as being inspired by Tabucchi’s travels within the Azores Archipelago. These small volcanic islands under the stewardship of Portugal – Tabucchi’s inspirational and adopted home.
Despite this romantic title, “The Woman of Porto Pim,” is not about women – as it is about whales and whaling. I remember reading a children’s version of “Moby Dick,” when I was younger. A shocking moralistic fable of a book; about mans’ ever intense quest for revenge; and how revenge consumes all. At the time, from my faded orange tinted sepia photographs of memory; I can’t say that I was entirely shocked by the desire to get revenge for loosing ones leg. Yet now that I am older, I can now understand the quest for the death of the white whale, was nothing shy of a tale of our inhumanity, and personal vendettas; and the adequate consequences that are sure to be fall all of us. The only reason that I bought “The Woman of Porto Pim,” was because Antonio Tabucchi himself had written it. Without his name attached to the book, I would have seriously reconsidered, not buying this book. If only because it dealt with whaling. What Tabucchi has done though is created quite a neat and fascinating book of stories, which traverse between travel diary, and fiction.
At first these stories appear like puddles. Without thinking twice; gumboots and all – we find ourselves jumping into a pothole of a sea. What lies hidden beneath the casually small and short surface is a world we never thought about looking at twice. Take for instance the titular story of this collection. It’s about a mysterious woman, who lives beneath her means in a hut. Then comes along the naïve sailor. He sings her a song to get her attention. With this story Tabucchi writes some of his most gorgeous prose:
“The moon was coming up in a veil of red, a summer moon. I felt a great longing, the water lapped around me, everything was so intense and so unattainable, and I remembered when I was a child, how at night I used to call the eels from the rocks: then an idea came to me, I couldn’t resist, and I began to sing that song. I sang it very softly, like a lament, or a supplication, with a hand held to my voice.”
One can picture the eels crawling out between the crags of the rocks. Called out like children, to the pied piper. The way the warm water cradles, someone, like the amniotic fluid of the womb. What comes from this man’s song; is much like the eels. A varied experience of: wonder, betrayal and violence. Though of course with every fragment that Tabucchi has written, one is left absent minded, and drifting about on the waters. Constantly mulling over what we have just read, and what it pertains to what is left unsaid and unanswered. We constantly look for the certainties, of the world. The salt sea water; the gentle southern breeze. The way sailors praise the new land or the old land, the way they feel the warmth of the home; find salvation in the rum bottle. So do we. We try to find answers in their now still sails. Their forgotten songs that only the eels remember. We rub our hands on the deadwood barnacle, covered shipwrecks. We cradle the forgotten mermaid. We hold her scarred salted face to our chest. We tell her we will love no other. Just divulge your history. We scour the empty rum bottles, littering the beach; smashed up on the rocks. Yet still we circle the unknown, and the uncertainty. Just as we grasp at the reflection of the moon in the water – we never truly hold it; and so is the same with Tabucchi’s fragments and reflections. We scoop up the reflections. We listen to the ripples. Yet it is still what has already been stated before. This is what makes Tabucchi such a wonderful writer. He never tells. He never condescends by feeling that all answers must handed over. We are left to read the text, mull it over, and spin our own inclusive theories.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
When Antonio Tabucchi passed away, in March of two-thousand and twelve; the literary world was devastated by the loss of a giant of world literature. Italy itself was forced to say farewell and thank-you to their greatest living writer; who had taken up the mantel of Italo Calvino. Yet to say that Tabucchi and Calvino were similar in every aspect would be misleading. Where Italo Calvino was generally seen as apolitical – after his youthful ideology years, in which he belonged to the communist party; Tabucchi was engaged in the social and political sphere. One of Tabucchi’s most well-known books “Pereira Declares,” (or “Pereira Maintains,”), which discusses the awakening of an overweight journalist to the difficulties and arbitrary inhumanity of Salazar’s, Portuguese dictatorship. This is just one example of Tabucchi’s politically engaged work. “Pereira Declares,” was often used as a symbol of resistance, against the Italian president and convicted fraudster, Silvio Berlusconi and his subsequent government. Further separation came from Tabucchi’s love of Portugal, after his discovery of the poet Fernando Pessoa. Tabucchi even wrote a book in Portuguese, to celebrate his admiration of Pessoa, and love for Portugal.
“The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,” was the first book to be published in English translation, after Tabucchi’s death. It was published by the amazing Archipelago Books. It’s a small square pocket book. It fits naturally in the hands. It’s a small book of stories. Tabucchi himself had called them: “drifting splinters, survivors of some whole that never was.”
The titular story “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,” is the first sweet taste of the beautiful splinters that Tabucchi, divulges. It’s a gentle tale; a wistful charismatic fable. That portrays an Italian monk in a monastery, in the poignantly warm and time of dusk, collecting onions. While fulfilling his duty, this monk – who will become the greatest fifteenth century painter; encounters a large bird. A large bird with different coloured feathers: orche, yellow, deep blue and emerald. Reminiscent of the prismatic kingfisher. Other such birds, visit. While the monk is sleeping in his cell, a dragonfly visits him. He commands the monk to paint his visitors.
In this same vein, Tabucchi has done what the monk has. He has taken dream like impressions and solidified them with ink, and words. Other splinters and fragments of stories are letters. Emotional betrays and subtle details all mixed in with flights of fancy and fantasy. Calypso writes to Odysseus. There is the prince of Portugal, whose deep seated love becomes an adequate form of revenge. Mademoiselle Lenormand also makes an appearance. The famed fortune teller, of the Napoleonic Era. The mystic herself, offers a monologue on the perpetual dusk of her own shadow world. A place that she best describes as a dream, in which you are well aware is a dream. Where truth is all that more pure; and reality is so much sharper. This short monologue had to have been one of my favourites.
All the brief sketches, in this small book, are vignettes and simply written short reflections. The only one that best be described as a short is the titular “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico.” Still these lactescent stories, offer a glimpse into the authors own preoccupations, with identity, mystery, history and other personal obsessions. These fragments. Memories of dreams. Impressions and nostalgic laments. Each of them carries a small weight to their punches. Yet their depth surpasses the superficial minimalism of their surface.
( II ) — “The Woman of Porto Pim,”
I once saw a picture of the Azores Archipelago. I saw a verdant hill, populated by few trees, surrounded by the ocean and the mist. In the background was Mount Pico. A shark tooth of a mountain. It appears to rise out of the sea; pushing through the mist and haze of the ocean and obstinately jab its peak right towards the heavens. I never knew about the Azores, until I started reading “The Woman of Porto Pim.” Still, we never gave much thought, to the Falkland Islands until the short Falkland war was started and resolved. Much like “The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico,” – “The Woman of Porto Pim,” is a small pocket book of stories, its small, and fits comfortably into the hands of any reader. “The Woman of Porto Pim,” is best described as being inspired by Tabucchi’s travels within the Azores Archipelago. These small volcanic islands under the stewardship of Portugal – Tabucchi’s inspirational and adopted home.
Despite this romantic title, “The Woman of Porto Pim,” is not about women – as it is about whales and whaling. I remember reading a children’s version of “Moby Dick,” when I was younger. A shocking moralistic fable of a book; about mans’ ever intense quest for revenge; and how revenge consumes all. At the time, from my faded orange tinted sepia photographs of memory; I can’t say that I was entirely shocked by the desire to get revenge for loosing ones leg. Yet now that I am older, I can now understand the quest for the death of the white whale, was nothing shy of a tale of our inhumanity, and personal vendettas; and the adequate consequences that are sure to be fall all of us. The only reason that I bought “The Woman of Porto Pim,” was because Antonio Tabucchi himself had written it. Without his name attached to the book, I would have seriously reconsidered, not buying this book. If only because it dealt with whaling. What Tabucchi has done though is created quite a neat and fascinating book of stories, which traverse between travel diary, and fiction.
At first these stories appear like puddles. Without thinking twice; gumboots and all – we find ourselves jumping into a pothole of a sea. What lies hidden beneath the casually small and short surface is a world we never thought about looking at twice. Take for instance the titular story of this collection. It’s about a mysterious woman, who lives beneath her means in a hut. Then comes along the naïve sailor. He sings her a song to get her attention. With this story Tabucchi writes some of his most gorgeous prose:
“The moon was coming up in a veil of red, a summer moon. I felt a great longing, the water lapped around me, everything was so intense and so unattainable, and I remembered when I was a child, how at night I used to call the eels from the rocks: then an idea came to me, I couldn’t resist, and I began to sing that song. I sang it very softly, like a lament, or a supplication, with a hand held to my voice.”
One can picture the eels crawling out between the crags of the rocks. Called out like children, to the pied piper. The way the warm water cradles, someone, like the amniotic fluid of the womb. What comes from this man’s song; is much like the eels. A varied experience of: wonder, betrayal and violence. Though of course with every fragment that Tabucchi has written, one is left absent minded, and drifting about on the waters. Constantly mulling over what we have just read, and what it pertains to what is left unsaid and unanswered. We constantly look for the certainties, of the world. The salt sea water; the gentle southern breeze. The way sailors praise the new land or the old land, the way they feel the warmth of the home; find salvation in the rum bottle. So do we. We try to find answers in their now still sails. Their forgotten songs that only the eels remember. We rub our hands on the deadwood barnacle, covered shipwrecks. We cradle the forgotten mermaid. We hold her scarred salted face to our chest. We tell her we will love no other. Just divulge your history. We scour the empty rum bottles, littering the beach; smashed up on the rocks. Yet still we circle the unknown, and the uncertainty. Just as we grasp at the reflection of the moon in the water – we never truly hold it; and so is the same with Tabucchi’s fragments and reflections. We scoop up the reflections. We listen to the ripples. Yet it is still what has already been stated before. This is what makes Tabucchi such a wonderful writer. He never tells. He never condescends by feeling that all answers must handed over. We are left to read the text, mull it over, and spin our own inclusive theories.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Booker Prize ‘Doomed,’?
Hello Gentle Reader
I had stated in my announcement of the Booker Prize shortlist for this year that “after the Booker Prize crisis of two-thousand and eleven, it would appear that the award is back on track.” However new revelations, have revealed that my comments were premature. The crisis of two-thousand and eleven, was a mere appetizer to the current, shocking news. Whereas the former Booker Prize controversy, arose when the judges had chosen readability over literary merit; and the subsequent public relations meltdown, where that years chair of judges (Stella Rimington) compared, the critics to the former KGB. It was a rather disappointing, year for the Booker Prize. Before that though there was the Man Booker International Prize, controversy. Which began with, one Chairman – Jonathan Taylor; had gone on to state that the Booker Prize, had reached a more global status, then that of the Nobel; which he called “Political at best.” Then there was the Man Booker International Prize, going to the absent figure of Philip Roth. Earlier John le Carre, requested his name be removed from the shortlist. Then Carmen Callil, abdicated her seat from the judging panel after the award was given to Philip Roth. This all happened, before the usual Booker Prize, had started its own controversy. It was a grand head on collision. The kind of collision, and wreck, one cannot turn away from; yet watches with absent glee and restrained horror; and a steady supply of disbelief. That being said, you can’t help but roast marshmallows, over the flames, and eat popcorn, watching the mess continue to unfold. Yet two years later, the shortlist has been praised for its variety, and its integrity for taking in all factors; from gender, to nationality to literary merit.
Now a new controversy has been set a flame. The Booker Prize, which has been exclusively, awarded to a novel from the UK, Commonwealth countries, as well as Ireland and Zimbabwe; is now opening its doors, to any, English language publication (as long as it has been published in the UK). In other words, the prize is now open to include American authors. This has people dived straight down the middle. Some claim that the Booker Prize can now truly live up to its horn tooting “most important literary award in English-Speaking world.” Others however call it a complete and utter mistake; that has doomed the integrity of the Booker Prize.
It is hard not to see the future of the Booker Prize being dominated by American literature. Not by America’s literary taste, but simply because America has a vast quantity, of books published, and would flex that economic-super power muscle; dominating the newly revised prize. Just look at previous awards: The former Orange Prize, now Women’s Prize for Fiction, the winners has been dominated by American authors. The Man Booker Prize international has been awarded twice in a row to American authors. This is not, The Russian Booker Prize, or the German Book Prize, or the Man Asian Literary Prize, nor is it the Camões Prize, or Miguel de Cervantes Prize, or the Akutagawa Prize. This is the Booker Prize. The very prize, that has taken the place of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Yet now it might as well be called the Pulitzer Version 2.0.
The Booker Prize is a crowded horse race as it is. Now it is far more crowded, the possibility of the judges reading, all nominated novels is now, certainly impossible. Now what it comes down to, is what novels are going to be overlooked, by the sheer quantity of the novels, and prize going to well established writers. The fact is, this ‘makeover,’ comes over, on attempt at showing that English speaking countries, are a bit more international, then they are given credit for. It’s an attempt rivalling other prizes; and being a bit more international. Still the feeling is, that the Booker is losing its own credibility. It’s now just become a glorified game of literary bingo, if you win you win, hip hip hurray. Though it’s too early to see how this new format, will change the prize itself, it does leave one feeling a bit on the uneasy side. As if this is just an attempt, at more favourable marketing, in a changing globalised world.
The entire, change however, comes in an interesting time, as the literary world is shifting. Publishers are leery of publishing. Writers are self-publishing – for free; if it’s popular with the reading public, then it’ll be considered to be published by an actual publisher. Literary merit is on the decline. Libraries are shutting down. Google’s prospect of claiming copy-right of out of print books. In fact the ‘profession,’ of writer may as be called a thankless hobby at best. Prizes like The Booker Prize, and other awards, are trying to stay afloat. One can only wait and see if the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, will take the same route – if they take the same route.
For further reading:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/sep/18/booker-prize-us-writers-end
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/18/man-booker-prize-allow-us-american-entries
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jun/30/booker-prize-international-embarrassment
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
I had stated in my announcement of the Booker Prize shortlist for this year that “after the Booker Prize crisis of two-thousand and eleven, it would appear that the award is back on track.” However new revelations, have revealed that my comments were premature. The crisis of two-thousand and eleven, was a mere appetizer to the current, shocking news. Whereas the former Booker Prize controversy, arose when the judges had chosen readability over literary merit; and the subsequent public relations meltdown, where that years chair of judges (Stella Rimington) compared, the critics to the former KGB. It was a rather disappointing, year for the Booker Prize. Before that though there was the Man Booker International Prize, controversy. Which began with, one Chairman – Jonathan Taylor; had gone on to state that the Booker Prize, had reached a more global status, then that of the Nobel; which he called “Political at best.” Then there was the Man Booker International Prize, going to the absent figure of Philip Roth. Earlier John le Carre, requested his name be removed from the shortlist. Then Carmen Callil, abdicated her seat from the judging panel after the award was given to Philip Roth. This all happened, before the usual Booker Prize, had started its own controversy. It was a grand head on collision. The kind of collision, and wreck, one cannot turn away from; yet watches with absent glee and restrained horror; and a steady supply of disbelief. That being said, you can’t help but roast marshmallows, over the flames, and eat popcorn, watching the mess continue to unfold. Yet two years later, the shortlist has been praised for its variety, and its integrity for taking in all factors; from gender, to nationality to literary merit.
Now a new controversy has been set a flame. The Booker Prize, which has been exclusively, awarded to a novel from the UK, Commonwealth countries, as well as Ireland and Zimbabwe; is now opening its doors, to any, English language publication (as long as it has been published in the UK). In other words, the prize is now open to include American authors. This has people dived straight down the middle. Some claim that the Booker Prize can now truly live up to its horn tooting “most important literary award in English-Speaking world.” Others however call it a complete and utter mistake; that has doomed the integrity of the Booker Prize.
It is hard not to see the future of the Booker Prize being dominated by American literature. Not by America’s literary taste, but simply because America has a vast quantity, of books published, and would flex that economic-super power muscle; dominating the newly revised prize. Just look at previous awards: The former Orange Prize, now Women’s Prize for Fiction, the winners has been dominated by American authors. The Man Booker Prize international has been awarded twice in a row to American authors. This is not, The Russian Booker Prize, or the German Book Prize, or the Man Asian Literary Prize, nor is it the Camões Prize, or Miguel de Cervantes Prize, or the Akutagawa Prize. This is the Booker Prize. The very prize, that has taken the place of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Yet now it might as well be called the Pulitzer Version 2.0.
The Booker Prize is a crowded horse race as it is. Now it is far more crowded, the possibility of the judges reading, all nominated novels is now, certainly impossible. Now what it comes down to, is what novels are going to be overlooked, by the sheer quantity of the novels, and prize going to well established writers. The fact is, this ‘makeover,’ comes over, on attempt at showing that English speaking countries, are a bit more international, then they are given credit for. It’s an attempt rivalling other prizes; and being a bit more international. Still the feeling is, that the Booker is losing its own credibility. It’s now just become a glorified game of literary bingo, if you win you win, hip hip hurray. Though it’s too early to see how this new format, will change the prize itself, it does leave one feeling a bit on the uneasy side. As if this is just an attempt, at more favourable marketing, in a changing globalised world.
The entire, change however, comes in an interesting time, as the literary world is shifting. Publishers are leery of publishing. Writers are self-publishing – for free; if it’s popular with the reading public, then it’ll be considered to be published by an actual publisher. Literary merit is on the decline. Libraries are shutting down. Google’s prospect of claiming copy-right of out of print books. In fact the ‘profession,’ of writer may as be called a thankless hobby at best. Prizes like The Booker Prize, and other awards, are trying to stay afloat. One can only wait and see if the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, will take the same route – if they take the same route.
For further reading:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/sep/18/booker-prize-us-writers-end
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/18/man-booker-prize-allow-us-american-entries
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jun/30/booker-prize-international-embarrassment
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
The German Book Prize Shortlist
Hello Gentle Reader
As well as the Booker Prize Shortlist being announced so have the six finalists of the German Book Prize. Three men and three women. The prize’s previous contenders include Nobel Laureate in Literature Herta Müller for her novel “Atemschaukel,” – published in English as “The Hunger Angel,” and “Everything I Posses I carry With Me,” or “Everything I won I carry With me.” Austrian writer, Clemens J Setz for his novels “Indigo (Translated as “Indigo,”) and “Die Frequenzen,” Translated as “The Frequencies.” Stephan Thome for “Fliehkräfte,” or “Centrifugal Forces,” and “Grenzgang,” translated as “Border Walk.” Austrian Marlene Streeruwitz for her novel “Die Schmerzmacherin,” translated as “The Huntress,” or “The Painmaker.”
Previous winners include:
Eugen Ruge – “In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts,” translated as “In Times of Fading Light.”
Kathrin Schmidt – “Du stirbst nicht,” translated as “You’re Not Going to Die.”
Melinda Nadj Abonji – “Tauben fliegen auf,” translated as “Falcons without Falconers,”
Ursula Krechel – Landgericht Translated as “Regional Court,” or “Court of Justice.”
This year’s shortlisted authors are as follows; along with a slight blurb about author and their respective novel. Each author is in the running for the most prestigious German language literary award.
Mirko Bonné – “Nie mehr Nacht,” translated as “Never Again Night.”
According to the German Book Prize website, only serious literary readers will recognize Mirko Bonné’s name. Bonné, the forty-eight year old author; writes about a man, who takes a trip to the French coast, with his nephew. The character is sent by a magazine to do a report on the bridges of Normandy, which was a decisive victory for the allies. Yet the main character flees the tragic death of his sister – one who he shared a relationship beyond, the confides of platonic sibling love. In this novel Bonné writes about the personal and historical.
Reinhard Jirgl – “Nichts von euch auf Erden," translated as “Nothing of You on Earth.”
Life on mars, may not be a pipe dream or science fiction concept after all. With an independent Dutch company, looking to put people on Mars to start a colony, it would appear space colonization maybe in our futures. Reinhard Jirgl writes about our desire for conquest – over the odds, over the elements, the environment and ourselves. In this dystopian novel, Jirgl writes about, a drugged populace left on earth; others enslaved on Mars in an underground city run by higher and more influential and wealthy people. The goal? To make Mars an inhabitable space. Jirgl writes a novel that forces us to look into the mirror and question everything.
Clemens Meyer – “Im Stein,” translated as “In Stone.”
The Austrian writer Meyer is often called the Enfant Terrible of Austrian Literature. Meyer’s is literature that breaks free from constraints. He creates a collage of inner monologues, and dreams, detailed descriptions, and a vast overload of information. In his novel “In Stone,” Meyer writes about the shadowy and morally incompetent world of prostitution and pimps. What he creates, is a novel that is ripe and full novel about love and romantic endearment.
Terézia Mora – “Das Ungeheuer,” translated as “The Monster.”
Terézia Mora is a Hungarian writer, whose literary language is German. She is one of this year’s favourites to win. Mora writes about, the personal tragedy of Darius Kopp an IT specialist, whose wife has committed suicide, after he loses his job. What Kopp discovers via his wife’s diary a world of loneliness, and humiliation, along with volatile affairs. Kopp travels to Hungary (where his wife grew up) and seeks answers and dredges up memories.
Marion Poschmann – “Die Sonnenposition,” translated as “The Position of the Sun,”
Marion Poschmann, was primarily a poet. According to the German Book Prize website, it shows with this novel. It’s a slim down refined language, with an economy of precise words. The book turns on the axis of a rundown castle. Its populated by a group of bizarre characters. With bold free association of language and imagery, Marion Poschmann shows the poets affinity with language in a novelistic form.
Monika Zeiner – “Die Ordnung der Sterne über Como,” Translated as “The Order of the Stars above Como,”
Monika Zeiner has written a six hundred page debut. It concerns itself with the intricate romantic triangle of three people living in an apartment. Monika Zeiner has a PhD in medieval poetry and is a singer in an Italian swing band. Her language is melodic; as is the speech that melds with the music that hangs over the novel. (Again according to the German Book Prize website). A novel of youth and lightheartedness.
There you have it Gentle Reader, The German Book Prize shortlist. From the personal to the historical. Poets turning to prose; and different ways of using language. The writers contemplate our potentially doomed futures, and our scared and tragic pasts. It’s a fascinating and diverse shortlist. It’ll be exciting who wins.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
As well as the Booker Prize Shortlist being announced so have the six finalists of the German Book Prize. Three men and three women. The prize’s previous contenders include Nobel Laureate in Literature Herta Müller for her novel “Atemschaukel,” – published in English as “The Hunger Angel,” and “Everything I Posses I carry With Me,” or “Everything I won I carry With me.” Austrian writer, Clemens J Setz for his novels “Indigo (Translated as “Indigo,”) and “Die Frequenzen,” Translated as “The Frequencies.” Stephan Thome for “Fliehkräfte,” or “Centrifugal Forces,” and “Grenzgang,” translated as “Border Walk.” Austrian Marlene Streeruwitz for her novel “Die Schmerzmacherin,” translated as “The Huntress,” or “The Painmaker.”
Previous winners include:
Eugen Ruge – “In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts,” translated as “In Times of Fading Light.”
Kathrin Schmidt – “Du stirbst nicht,” translated as “You’re Not Going to Die.”
Melinda Nadj Abonji – “Tauben fliegen auf,” translated as “Falcons without Falconers,”
Ursula Krechel – Landgericht Translated as “Regional Court,” or “Court of Justice.”
This year’s shortlisted authors are as follows; along with a slight blurb about author and their respective novel. Each author is in the running for the most prestigious German language literary award.
Mirko Bonné – “Nie mehr Nacht,” translated as “Never Again Night.”
According to the German Book Prize website, only serious literary readers will recognize Mirko Bonné’s name. Bonné, the forty-eight year old author; writes about a man, who takes a trip to the French coast, with his nephew. The character is sent by a magazine to do a report on the bridges of Normandy, which was a decisive victory for the allies. Yet the main character flees the tragic death of his sister – one who he shared a relationship beyond, the confides of platonic sibling love. In this novel Bonné writes about the personal and historical.
Reinhard Jirgl – “Nichts von euch auf Erden," translated as “Nothing of You on Earth.”
Life on mars, may not be a pipe dream or science fiction concept after all. With an independent Dutch company, looking to put people on Mars to start a colony, it would appear space colonization maybe in our futures. Reinhard Jirgl writes about our desire for conquest – over the odds, over the elements, the environment and ourselves. In this dystopian novel, Jirgl writes about, a drugged populace left on earth; others enslaved on Mars in an underground city run by higher and more influential and wealthy people. The goal? To make Mars an inhabitable space. Jirgl writes a novel that forces us to look into the mirror and question everything.
Clemens Meyer – “Im Stein,” translated as “In Stone.”
The Austrian writer Meyer is often called the Enfant Terrible of Austrian Literature. Meyer’s is literature that breaks free from constraints. He creates a collage of inner monologues, and dreams, detailed descriptions, and a vast overload of information. In his novel “In Stone,” Meyer writes about the shadowy and morally incompetent world of prostitution and pimps. What he creates, is a novel that is ripe and full novel about love and romantic endearment.
Terézia Mora – “Das Ungeheuer,” translated as “The Monster.”
Terézia Mora is a Hungarian writer, whose literary language is German. She is one of this year’s favourites to win. Mora writes about, the personal tragedy of Darius Kopp an IT specialist, whose wife has committed suicide, after he loses his job. What Kopp discovers via his wife’s diary a world of loneliness, and humiliation, along with volatile affairs. Kopp travels to Hungary (where his wife grew up) and seeks answers and dredges up memories.
Marion Poschmann – “Die Sonnenposition,” translated as “The Position of the Sun,”
Marion Poschmann, was primarily a poet. According to the German Book Prize website, it shows with this novel. It’s a slim down refined language, with an economy of precise words. The book turns on the axis of a rundown castle. Its populated by a group of bizarre characters. With bold free association of language and imagery, Marion Poschmann shows the poets affinity with language in a novelistic form.
Monika Zeiner – “Die Ordnung der Sterne über Como,” Translated as “The Order of the Stars above Como,”
Monika Zeiner has written a six hundred page debut. It concerns itself with the intricate romantic triangle of three people living in an apartment. Monika Zeiner has a PhD in medieval poetry and is a singer in an Italian swing band. Her language is melodic; as is the speech that melds with the music that hangs over the novel. (Again according to the German Book Prize website). A novel of youth and lightheartedness.
There you have it Gentle Reader, The German Book Prize shortlist. From the personal to the historical. Poets turning to prose; and different ways of using language. The writers contemplate our potentially doomed futures, and our scared and tragic pasts. It’s a fascinating and diverse shortlist. It’ll be exciting who wins.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
The Booker Prize Shortlist 2013
Hello Gentle Reader
On September tenth, the Booker Prize shortlist, for twenty thirteen had been announced. It has so far been called one of the most varied and most interesting shortlists, since two-thousand and four’s shortlist. What is unique about this year’s Booker Shortlist is that it has, more women writers to the ratio of men. That being said, the soon to be retired, Jim Grace is, in the running with his novel “The Harvest.”
The shortlist is as follows:
“The Harvest,” by Jim Grace
“We Need New Names,” by NoViolet Bulawayo
“The Luminaries,” by Eleanor Catton
“The Lowland,” by Jhumpa Lahiri
“A Tale for the Time Being,” Ruth Ozeki
“The Testament of Mary,” by Colm Tóibín
Robert Macfarlane the chair of this year’s Booker Judges, has called this years, Booker Prize short list the most diverse in recent memory. After the Booker Prize crisis of two-thousand and eleven, it would appear that the award is back on track. The writes, are from New Zealand, Canada, Zimbabwe, Ireland and England. A Diverse list indeed, with strong and various women contenders.
Congratulations to the judges, for picking a diverse and interesting list.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
On September tenth, the Booker Prize shortlist, for twenty thirteen had been announced. It has so far been called one of the most varied and most interesting shortlists, since two-thousand and four’s shortlist. What is unique about this year’s Booker Shortlist is that it has, more women writers to the ratio of men. That being said, the soon to be retired, Jim Grace is, in the running with his novel “The Harvest.”
The shortlist is as follows:
“The Harvest,” by Jim Grace
“We Need New Names,” by NoViolet Bulawayo
“The Luminaries,” by Eleanor Catton
“The Lowland,” by Jhumpa Lahiri
“A Tale for the Time Being,” Ruth Ozeki
“The Testament of Mary,” by Colm Tóibín
Robert Macfarlane the chair of this year’s Booker Judges, has called this years, Booker Prize short list the most diverse in recent memory. After the Booker Prize crisis of two-thousand and eleven, it would appear that the award is back on track. The writes, are from New Zealand, Canada, Zimbabwe, Ireland and England. A Diverse list indeed, with strong and various women contenders.
Congratulations to the judges, for picking a diverse and interesting list.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
Monday, 9 September 2013
Ladbrokes Nobel Odds
Hello Gentle Reader
The season has now started. Autumn is the season of the awards and prizes. The Booker Prize, the German Book Prize – and the most lucrative literary prize and most prestigious (if a bit eccentric one) The Nobel Prize for Literature. The betting site Ladbrokes has now offered, their own rough estimate, of who has the odds to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
One again, the Japanese pop literature novelist is the front runner to win the Nobel Prize for literature, with an estimated chance of 3/1. I personally don’t think Murakami has the qualifications to win the award. That being said; some of have argued with the release of his monumental novel “1Q84,” he was able to leave his own, town of talking cats; and begin to really expand as a writer. That still being said, I don’t think personally he has the qualifications. Murakami is an interesting – if a bit entertaining writer; but I don’t think the merit is all there just yet to be honest. Then again I certainly do not think last year’s winner had any merit whatsoever either.
The next runner up is Joyce Carol Oats. She’s a factory of mass production of writing. This brings into question quantity over quality. She has written most likely well over a hundred novels. Does an author have anything uniquely say, when they’ve written so much? Do they risk repeating themselves, over and over and over again? Many feel that Joyce Carol Oates does not have a chance; based on her large catalogue of novels, short story collections, poetry collections, essays and memories, and other novels and works written under her pseudonyms. Oats odd are 6/1.
Peter Nadas is next in line. The Hungarian novelist is known for large, and philosophically drenched, and demanding works. His novel “Parallel Stories,” is a phone book! It runs to about one thousand, one hundred and fifty two pages. “A Book of Memories,” runs to seven hundred and twenty pages. That being said, Peter Nadas is known for an interesting, oeuvre of work. A strong high quality of writing, and philosophical discussion. He is one of Hungary’s leading writers. The odds for Nadas: 7/1
Perennial poet and highly speculated South Korean poet Ko Un, runs in at 10/1. There is not much I can say about the poet, that I have not already said. I own his collection of poems “Three Way Tavern,” and am surprised by his interest in the exterior world, not the interior world – and his ability to use poetry as a form to tell other peoples stories – not just his own observations.
Here comes Canada’s best bet to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature: Alice Munro. A master of the short story; whose only true rival in to that claim is William Trevor. I personally hope for Alice Munro to win – for a few reasons; but to see the short story being taken more seriously not just as the poor cousin of the novel. Munro’s odd are 12/1.
Further down the line is Irish short story writer and novelist William Trevor at 33/1. Seamus Heaney, Ireland’s living Nobel Laureate, recently passed away. Is William Trevor going to pick up the mantle? – I sometimes like to fantasise, Trevor and Munro sharing the award.
At 14/1 is Adunis, the Syrian poet, and the grandfather of Modern Arabic poetry. Syria has been in the news a lot, over the years. With its rising civil war, the alleged use of chemical weapons, and increased pressure from western nations to cease fire – while some are calling on strikes; and others saying any illegal strike, will be met with the regime being supported by other nations. It’s a tricky diplomatic situation.
Assia Djebar is also at 14/1. Many feel she is a strong contender. She’s from a North African country, she is female, and feminist and political oriented body of work. I have not read anything by, Assia Djebar but I know she won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in nineteen-ninety six.
Next comes the usual bemoaned bride’s maid, of not getting the Nobel, Philip Roth. Roth has been actively seeking the Prize. In fact it’s such a touchy subject with him, that he has not won the Prize (‘yet’,) that interviewers are often advised, at not referring to the contentious discussion, with the begrudged author. Some have called on the Swedish Academy, to award the prize to Roth, as a ‘retirement gift,’ – but then again missing the universal squabbling and outrage of an American not winning the award, and the “Who?” that follows, would be sorely missed.
Amos Oz is at 16/1 as well. The liberal Israeli thinker, and writer, just won the Franz Kafka Prize in two-thousand and thirteen. Maybe it’s his year.
Ngugi wa Thiog’o is at 20/1. Speculation has been on the rise that a African will win this year, after the death of Chinua Achebe. That and Africa (as a continent) is seriously lacking in representation.
Then there is the American conspiracy theorist, postmodern satirist – and in my opinion, overhyped, red eyed, psychedelic odd ball Thomas Pynchon, with his odds set at 20/1.
Milan Kundera, another perennial Nobel contender, comes in at 25/1. His greatest literary weight rests on “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”
At 40/1 comes Dacia Maraini, an Italian feminist, novelist and playwright. She was also the companion to Alberto Moravia. With such high speculation, that a woman will win this year, many are looking at Dacia Maraini. It has been over a decade since Italy won a Nobel in Literature – and it went to a dud Dario Fo. I do not know a lot about Dacia Maraini. She’s not that well represented in English – and what is, is out of stock, usually.
Nuruddin Farah the Somalian writer is at 40/1 in his odds. This may change as we get closer to the Nobel time.
From there on out, big name novelists, compete against lesser known, on slots, from 50/1 odds all the way to 100/1 odds. Bob Dylan is also included. But his odds (should be) are slim, to non-existent.
There you have it Gentle Reader the Nobel Prize for Literature, speculaton by Ladbrokes. I am hoping for a bit of a surprise this year, with the award, much like Herta Müller was when she had won the prize.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
To view the full list, go to the following link:
http://sportsbeta.ladbrokes.com/2013-Nobel-Prize-in-Literature/Awards-N-1z0xxrmZ1z10gli/
The season has now started. Autumn is the season of the awards and prizes. The Booker Prize, the German Book Prize – and the most lucrative literary prize and most prestigious (if a bit eccentric one) The Nobel Prize for Literature. The betting site Ladbrokes has now offered, their own rough estimate, of who has the odds to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
One again, the Japanese pop literature novelist is the front runner to win the Nobel Prize for literature, with an estimated chance of 3/1. I personally don’t think Murakami has the qualifications to win the award. That being said; some of have argued with the release of his monumental novel “1Q84,” he was able to leave his own, town of talking cats; and begin to really expand as a writer. That still being said, I don’t think personally he has the qualifications. Murakami is an interesting – if a bit entertaining writer; but I don’t think the merit is all there just yet to be honest. Then again I certainly do not think last year’s winner had any merit whatsoever either.
The next runner up is Joyce Carol Oats. She’s a factory of mass production of writing. This brings into question quantity over quality. She has written most likely well over a hundred novels. Does an author have anything uniquely say, when they’ve written so much? Do they risk repeating themselves, over and over and over again? Many feel that Joyce Carol Oates does not have a chance; based on her large catalogue of novels, short story collections, poetry collections, essays and memories, and other novels and works written under her pseudonyms. Oats odd are 6/1.
Peter Nadas is next in line. The Hungarian novelist is known for large, and philosophically drenched, and demanding works. His novel “Parallel Stories,” is a phone book! It runs to about one thousand, one hundred and fifty two pages. “A Book of Memories,” runs to seven hundred and twenty pages. That being said, Peter Nadas is known for an interesting, oeuvre of work. A strong high quality of writing, and philosophical discussion. He is one of Hungary’s leading writers. The odds for Nadas: 7/1
Perennial poet and highly speculated South Korean poet Ko Un, runs in at 10/1. There is not much I can say about the poet, that I have not already said. I own his collection of poems “Three Way Tavern,” and am surprised by his interest in the exterior world, not the interior world – and his ability to use poetry as a form to tell other peoples stories – not just his own observations.
Here comes Canada’s best bet to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature: Alice Munro. A master of the short story; whose only true rival in to that claim is William Trevor. I personally hope for Alice Munro to win – for a few reasons; but to see the short story being taken more seriously not just as the poor cousin of the novel. Munro’s odd are 12/1.
Further down the line is Irish short story writer and novelist William Trevor at 33/1. Seamus Heaney, Ireland’s living Nobel Laureate, recently passed away. Is William Trevor going to pick up the mantle? – I sometimes like to fantasise, Trevor and Munro sharing the award.
At 14/1 is Adunis, the Syrian poet, and the grandfather of Modern Arabic poetry. Syria has been in the news a lot, over the years. With its rising civil war, the alleged use of chemical weapons, and increased pressure from western nations to cease fire – while some are calling on strikes; and others saying any illegal strike, will be met with the regime being supported by other nations. It’s a tricky diplomatic situation.
Assia Djebar is also at 14/1. Many feel she is a strong contender. She’s from a North African country, she is female, and feminist and political oriented body of work. I have not read anything by, Assia Djebar but I know she won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in nineteen-ninety six.
Next comes the usual bemoaned bride’s maid, of not getting the Nobel, Philip Roth. Roth has been actively seeking the Prize. In fact it’s such a touchy subject with him, that he has not won the Prize (‘yet’,) that interviewers are often advised, at not referring to the contentious discussion, with the begrudged author. Some have called on the Swedish Academy, to award the prize to Roth, as a ‘retirement gift,’ – but then again missing the universal squabbling and outrage of an American not winning the award, and the “Who?” that follows, would be sorely missed.
Amos Oz is at 16/1 as well. The liberal Israeli thinker, and writer, just won the Franz Kafka Prize in two-thousand and thirteen. Maybe it’s his year.
Ngugi wa Thiog’o is at 20/1. Speculation has been on the rise that a African will win this year, after the death of Chinua Achebe. That and Africa (as a continent) is seriously lacking in representation.
Then there is the American conspiracy theorist, postmodern satirist – and in my opinion, overhyped, red eyed, psychedelic odd ball Thomas Pynchon, with his odds set at 20/1.
Milan Kundera, another perennial Nobel contender, comes in at 25/1. His greatest literary weight rests on “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”
At 40/1 comes Dacia Maraini, an Italian feminist, novelist and playwright. She was also the companion to Alberto Moravia. With such high speculation, that a woman will win this year, many are looking at Dacia Maraini. It has been over a decade since Italy won a Nobel in Literature – and it went to a dud Dario Fo. I do not know a lot about Dacia Maraini. She’s not that well represented in English – and what is, is out of stock, usually.
Nuruddin Farah the Somalian writer is at 40/1 in his odds. This may change as we get closer to the Nobel time.
From there on out, big name novelists, compete against lesser known, on slots, from 50/1 odds all the way to 100/1 odds. Bob Dylan is also included. But his odds (should be) are slim, to non-existent.
There you have it Gentle Reader the Nobel Prize for Literature, speculaton by Ladbrokes. I am hoping for a bit of a surprise this year, with the award, much like Herta Müller was when she had won the prize.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
To view the full list, go to the following link:
http://sportsbeta.ladbrokes.com/2013-Nobel-Prize-in-Literature/Awards-N-1z0xxrmZ1z10gli/
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
We find its September Again
Hello Gentle Reader
A few days ago, each of us woke up. To our awoken eyes, it is September again. The past few days of August, had been filled with a fluttering anxiety. The kind of anxiety that prey feels when it’s suspicious of being watched, with prowling eyes and empty stomachs, is at its most intense. Autumns orange eyes had been viewing the last days of summer keenly. Stores are packed with mothers and their grumbling children. Paper, pencils, pens – they take what they need. The kids try on clothes. Through the years, it’s becoming more personalized, with individual style. Still each of them is aware of their own ending freedom. Summer and time has betrayed them yet again. There is a tree in the back garden. It’s been anxiously awaiting the end. Turning its leaves yellow prematurely. The wild grass has lost its green waxy sheen. It is now thin and gold. Tuffs of oat like seeds, crowning their heads. Everything is sensing the impending, hibernation. The coats of animals are thicker and darker. Cows are fatter. Fields are beginning to ripen. Local corn is being sold. A golden vegetable, that each of us enjoy, during this special time of year. Still with baton of, yellow kernels, autumn is approaching. Its slipped its foot in the doorway. By October it will have taken residents.
Someone told me, a few days ago: “I hope we have a long fall [autumn].” I didn’t have the heart to tell, that person, that it doesn’t matter, if it’s a long autumn or not. Winter will take its debt either way. It’ll shorten the spring or it will shorten the autumn.
This last long weekend, was the last long weekend of summer. The last chance to go camping. The last change to enjoy those final moments of freedom. It’s the last hurrah. Hopefully it was spent well.
Kiki Dimoula wrote a poem titled: “Incompatibles.” – It’s a fitting poem for the current change in the season, and the restlessness that, one feels in the diming lights. The early dusks. The cooler evenings. The last fires of summer. The changing leaves of green to yellows fears and red eyes. To be discovered as translucent brown ghosts in the following spring.
“Incompatibles,”
All my poems about spring
remain incomplete.
Spring is always in a hurry,
my mood always long delayed.
That’s why I’m compelled
to complete
almost every poem I write about spring
with an autumn season.
By Kiki Dimoula, from “In Absentia,” (1958) – collected in “The Brazen Palagrist: Selected Poems.” -- All rights to Kiki Dimoula.
Its only in autumn do we truly miss spring.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
A few days ago, each of us woke up. To our awoken eyes, it is September again. The past few days of August, had been filled with a fluttering anxiety. The kind of anxiety that prey feels when it’s suspicious of being watched, with prowling eyes and empty stomachs, is at its most intense. Autumns orange eyes had been viewing the last days of summer keenly. Stores are packed with mothers and their grumbling children. Paper, pencils, pens – they take what they need. The kids try on clothes. Through the years, it’s becoming more personalized, with individual style. Still each of them is aware of their own ending freedom. Summer and time has betrayed them yet again. There is a tree in the back garden. It’s been anxiously awaiting the end. Turning its leaves yellow prematurely. The wild grass has lost its green waxy sheen. It is now thin and gold. Tuffs of oat like seeds, crowning their heads. Everything is sensing the impending, hibernation. The coats of animals are thicker and darker. Cows are fatter. Fields are beginning to ripen. Local corn is being sold. A golden vegetable, that each of us enjoy, during this special time of year. Still with baton of, yellow kernels, autumn is approaching. Its slipped its foot in the doorway. By October it will have taken residents.
Someone told me, a few days ago: “I hope we have a long fall [autumn].” I didn’t have the heart to tell, that person, that it doesn’t matter, if it’s a long autumn or not. Winter will take its debt either way. It’ll shorten the spring or it will shorten the autumn.
This last long weekend, was the last long weekend of summer. The last chance to go camping. The last change to enjoy those final moments of freedom. It’s the last hurrah. Hopefully it was spent well.
Kiki Dimoula wrote a poem titled: “Incompatibles.” – It’s a fitting poem for the current change in the season, and the restlessness that, one feels in the diming lights. The early dusks. The cooler evenings. The last fires of summer. The changing leaves of green to yellows fears and red eyes. To be discovered as translucent brown ghosts in the following spring.
“Incompatibles,”
All my poems about spring
remain incomplete.
Spring is always in a hurry,
my mood always long delayed.
That’s why I’m compelled
to complete
almost every poem I write about spring
with an autumn season.
By Kiki Dimoula, from “In Absentia,” (1958) – collected in “The Brazen Palagrist: Selected Poems.” -- All rights to Kiki Dimoula.
Its only in autumn do we truly miss spring.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
*And Remember: Downloading Books Illegally is Thievery and Wrong.*
M. Mary
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