Blog Post
Joseph Mitchell- the quintessential reporter
by Maxine
Today, July 27, is the birthday of New Yorker writer, Joseph Mitchell who was born in Fairmont, North Carolina in 1908. His Southern roots informed his writing although most of his stories were of eccentric characters living on the edge in New York City. He talked with fishmongers, gypsies and Mohawk Indians who worked as riveters on bridges and skyscrapers. He interviewed criminals, politicians and celebrities. He wrote about gin mill owners, con artists and a flea circus operator. Most of his writing is collected in the book, Up in the Old Hotel. Mitchell thought of himself as a good interviewer because "he had lost the ability to detect insanity."
Blog Post
New Spanish books for adults (translated fiction)
by Tara LS
New popular fiction translated into Spanish. Any questions, comments or suggestions on Spanish language materials or any foreign language materials, please e-mail stantont@aadl.org
Cell por Stephen King
A translation of King's popular novel in which a single pulse transmitted through every operating cell phone on the planet turns people everywhere into inhuman killing machines, and civilization grinds to a halt in a terrifying riot of violence. It falls to a small group of survivors to turn the tables and take back the streets--or die trying.
Laberinto de sueno y angustia por Atiq Rahimi
Translated directly from Persian, Rahimi is the Afghan author and producer of the novella and subsequent film "Earth and Ashes".
Tiempo de matar por Lisa Gardner
Translated from English "The Killing Hour", a novel by popular mystery and suspense writer Lisa Gardner.
Blog Post
New Spanish books for adults (Original Spanish works)
by Tara LS
New original Spanish titles from multiple countries. Any questions, comments or suggestions on Spanish language materials or any foreign language materials, please e-mail stantont@aadl.org
Un dulce olor a muerte por Guillermo Arriaga
A murder novel from Mexican author, screenwriter and producer Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams and Babel).
Tortugas acuaticas por Roxana Popelka
A collection of diverse short stories by Spanish poet, critic, screenwriter, and author Popelka.
El mundo se acaba todos los dias por Fernando Marias
A new book "The World Ends Every Day" from the Spanish journalist, author and screenwriter Fernando Marias.
Cielo de tango/Sky of tango por Elsa Osorio
A historical novel of Argentina told by means of the saga of two families on the opposites extremes of the social scale by popular Argentinean novelist Elsa Osorio.
Los Companeros por Marco Antonio Flores
Guatamelan author Marco Antonio Flores' book about failed querilla movements and criticism of Latin American governments and military. This novel is said to have redefined the Guatamelan novel after its publication in 1976.
Blog Post
Redemption in Vermont
by Maxine
In Jeffrey Lent's third book, A Peculiar Grace, Hewitt Pearce, a reclusive metal worker who lives in backwoods Vermont is drawn out of his hermit's existence by Jessica, a troubled waif, who shows up at his door. He then finds out that his lost love, Emily, has recently been widowed. Flashbacks uncover Hewitt's painful family history and time spent under the influence while living in a commune. Hewitt must come to terms with his past while risking a new or rekindled love in the present. Lent is the author of the widely hailed first novel, In the Fall which Library Journal calls "a monumental family narrative."
Blog Post
The "familiar" essay
by Maxine
Anne Fadiman's new book of essays, At Large and At Small is in the familiar vein, meaning each essay is "a confiding, inquiring, and witty reflection on a passionately considered subject." (Booklist). These essays follow the tradition of early 19th century works, not the more contemporary critical or personal essay. Fadiman, also the author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, covers a range of topics, from ice cream and coffee to the adventures of an Arctic explorer, butterfly collecting and a personal account of a tragic whitewater rafting trip. Fadiman's language is meticulous, her insights often humorous and her concern for the larger questions of meaning and truth evident in all she writes.
Blog Post
Small Towns- Great Stories
by Maxine
Today, July 10, is the birthday of Canadian short story writer, Alice Munro who was born in Wingham, Ontario in 1930. This small town that she longed to move away from because no one was interested in literature or writing later held the treasures she would mine for her stories. When she was in her thirties, married and with children, her husband opened a bookstore where she found refuge to write. Returning home to care for her aging father, Munro realized the richness of everyday speech and the depth of story in ordinary peoples' lives. Her many stories are beautifully written, full of compassion and insight into the human drama.
Blog Post
No "Stranger in a Strange Land"
by Maxine
Today, July 7, is the 100th birthday of science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein. Considered by some to be the father of modern science fiction, Heinlein wrote over 50 novels and collections of short stories. He never considered becoming a writer. While serving in the Navy, Heinlein contracted tuberculosis and was at a loss on what direction his life would take. When he saw an ad in a pulp fiction magazine offering $50 for a story, he wrote one but decided it was too good and sent it to a science fiction magazine where it was accepted. And so began his new career. Unlike other science fiction stories at the time that were full of gadgets and imaginary machines, Heinlein's fiction dealt with the world as it was and how it could be imagined realistically in the future.
He was ahead of his time in discussing atom bombs, cloning and how space travel could actually happen.
His most famous book was Stranger in a Strange Land which was about a boy raised by Martians.
Blog Post
What Boomers Want?
by muffy
Publishers Weekly has teamed up with AARP to recommend books "for, by and about boomers and others in the over-50 age bracket", called Books for Grownups.
Each bi-monthly list will include five picks each in fiction, nonfiction and self-help/lifestyle. It will appear on the AARP's book portal, as well as the PW site.
The next one will be out in August.
Blog Post
Czezlaw Milosz
by Maxine
Today, June 30, is the birthday of poet, Czselaw Milosz who was born in Lithuania in 1911. His family eventually settled in Poland. After studying law in college, Milosz worked for a Polish radio station but was fired when he let Jews broadcast their opinions on the air. He also worked for another radio station where he covered the invasion of Poland by the Nazis in 1939. While working as a janitor at a university, he began to secretly write anti-Nazi poetry. His first book of poems, Rescue, was about the mass killing of Jews in Warsaw. After the war, he moved to Paris and then to the U.S. where he taught at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1980, he received the Nobel Prize for literature.
Following is one of his poems:
A Task
In fear and trembling, I think I would fulfill my life
Only if I brought myself to make a public confession
Revealing a sham, my own and of my epoch:
We were permitted to shriek in the tongue of dwarfs and
demons
But pure and generous words were forbidden
Under so stiff a penalty that whoever dared to pronounce one
Considered himself as a lost man.
Blog Post
Coal town blues
by Maxine
In her debut novel, When We Get There, Shauna Seliy describes the coming of age of 13 year old Lucas who in 1974 lives in one of the few remaining coal mining towns in Western Pennsylvania. His large Eastern European family is ruled by Lucas' grandmother, Slats. Lucas' father has recently died in a mining accident. His grief-stricken mother, Mirjana flees and Lucas goes off in search of her. Seliy's novel is a moving and authentic description of a vanishing culture and way of life and the maturation of a young man who faces his losses head on.
For two other novels that expose union busting by coal companies in Kentucky and West Virginia, try Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven and its sequel, An Unquiet Earth.