Enrique Vila-Matas Interview
When I first read the premise of Room (narrated by a little boy who has only ever lived in a single room) it immediately sounded like one of those dull, clever books that more charitable people might label “high wire acts.” But, Aimee Bender’s review in the New York Times actually makes it sound quite worthwhile . . . continue reading, and add your comments
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The End of Oulipo? My book (co-authored with Lauren Elkin), published by Zero Books. Available everywhere. Order it from Amazon, or find it in bookstores nationwide.
Lady Chatterley's Brother. The first ebook in the new TQC Long Essays series,
 called “an exciting new project” by Chad Post of Open Letter and Three Percent. Why can't Nicholson Baker write about sex? And why can Javier Marias? We investigate why porn is a dead end, and why seduction paves the way for the sex writing of the future. Read an excerpt.Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and direct from this site: Ever wonder what English is missing? Called "a fascinating
 read" by The New Yorker, Translate This Book! brings together over 40 of the top translators, publishers, and authors to tell us what books need to be published in English. Get it on Kindle.
 The Quarterly Convers- |
A group read of the book that either "engenders awe and despair" or "[goads] the reader with obscenity and bigotry," or both. Info here. Buy the book here and support this site.
|
Since I’m privy to a lot of news about new books, and since I try to mention a number of these new books on this blog, I’ve decided it’s worthwhile to keep a curated list of new releases that I find interesting. Hence, Interesting New Books — 2010. The latest title added to that list is Rick Moody’s new novel, The Four Fingers of Death, publishing July 28. It is, as they say, a brick, coming in at 736 pages. . . . continue reading, and add your comments In wondering whether time is, in fact “a line,” the narrator is also announcing the novel’s preoccupation with the relationship of time and memory, whether the latter always conditions the former, or whether it is possible to get an accurate sense of the former while thinking of it as a “line.” The narrator moves in circles recording his own and the Bombardier’s experiences, and the trio themselves essentially move in circles while trying to pin down the location of the Bombardier’s crash. The novel seems to be suggesting that time–or what really happened–is inevitably lost in the attempt to recall it. . . . continue reading, and add your comments Interesting review at the Barnes & Noble Review of Joshua Cohen’s Witz, aka this year’s huge, difficult doorstop-of-a-novel. (For once it’s not a book in translation, unlike last year’s The Kindly Ones and the year before that’s 2666.) . . . continue reading, and add your comments “Human Moments in World War III” is not just vintage DeLillo (appearing in between 1982′s “The Names” and 1985′s “White Noise,” by any sane estimate two of the great novels of the 1980s), but a potent encapsulation of his powers. . . . continue reading, and add your comments It begins when Anna encounters a short line, just forming in front of a closed kiosk. No one knows what they’re waiting for and an animated conversation revolves around what exactly “it” could be. Guesses are modest at first, basic necessities or trivial luxuries that might add a fleeting moment of color to their grim existence. But eventually, as their conjecture becomes a reflection of their innermost desires, Anna becomes enthralled. She tells herself it’s “silly” to waste time in a line without knowing what’s to be gained. But eventually, feeling “entitled to a surprise,” she gives in. . . . continue reading, and add your comments Quim Monzó remains one of the nicer literary surprises I’ve experienced in the past few years. I was introduced to him when Frank Wilson, who was then editor of the Philly Inquirer’s book review section, assigned his novel The Enormity of the Tragedy to me for review. I had no idea who Monzó was (nor of his publisher, Peter Owen Publisher, another nice discovery), but the novel quickly won me over. . . . continue reading, and add your comments Next Tuesday sees the (printed) publication of Steve Stern’s new novel, The Frozen Rabbi, which, indeed, involves a rabbi frozen in a middle-aged husband-and-wife’s basement freezer. Algonquin Books is publishing it as a hardcover, but Tablet Magazine already published it as a ten-week online serial. . . . continue reading, and add your comments Nox is a reproduction of the scrapbook Carson put together after her brother, whom she hadn’t seen for over twenty years, died in 2000, just as she was planning to visit him after a recent reconnection. A collage of words, stamps, old letters, photographs, and artwork in various mediums — all copied with amazing effect onto a continuous accordion-folded length of paper and encased in what transcends its boxy gray cardboard form to become nothing less than a sarcophagus — it’s Carson’s “epitaph” to her lost sibling. . . . continue reading, and add your comments This week sees the publication of an interesting book from Texas Tech Press, which is always good for an interesting novel or two in translation each season. It is Symphony in White by Brazilian writer Adriana Lisboa. Not a whole lot of coverage of this book so far, though I did find this review in Boulder Daily Camera. Ad of course there’s Texas Tech’s info page. There’s also some info on the book on this bio page for Lisboa. |
|
|||
|
Copyright © 2013 Conversational Reading - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
The Names by Don DeLillo (1982)
The Box Man by Kobo Abe (1973, English 1974)
Head in Flames by Lance Olsen (2009)
Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk (2006, English 2010)
The Weather Fifteen Years Ago by Wolf Haas (2006, English 2009)
You Say