Read Around The World

[JudeS]

A site where we find books and films  in all the corners of the world, created by those who have lived there.   IMPAC International Literary Awards Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2009   Words Without Borders 2009 Best Translated Book Award Winners Academy Award Winning International Films 100 Greatest Foreign Films Discussion Leader:    Pedln Gee, talk about reading in the morning.  I started reading abookcalled "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova and I can't stop. Although it's not an international book it is about an international topic: Early Onset Alzheimers disease. The boook tells the tale of a 50 year old Harvard Psycholinguist who falls victim to this disorder at the height of her career. I feel so thankful not to have fallen victim to this disorder ,which seems worse than death as described in this brilliant book.. The author herself is a neuroscientist and a gifted author. I have to finish it before getting into "The Book Thief" discussion.

[Frybabe]

I rarely read in the morning. Late afternoon is another story however.

[Babi]

 I remember that book, PEDLN. It was good, as was the movie. As for the
kids, I could read when they were older, and I'm guessing that's when
Your reading escape occurred. When they were small...forget it!

  One of my most heartfelt prayers, JUDE, is that I will be able to
preserve my brain intact, even if somewhat rusty. I can live and be
content with my physical ailments, but I truly don't want to lose my
 mind!

[MarjV]

I've started Mankell's newest novel- Man from Beijing - not a Kurt Wallender mystery.

I'm reading Confessing a Murder by Drayson.   Most interesting novel!  Very different.

Nicholas Drayson is a novelist and naturalist. His first novel, Confessing a Murder, was critically acclaimed in the UK and US, and short-listed for The Age Book of the Year. His essay 'Strictly for the Birds' won the 2003 inaugural international WildCare Tasmania Nature Writing Prize.

Born and raised in England, he now lives in Australia, so instead of newts and sticklebacks in his pond, he now has frogs and galaxias. He is consultant to National Museum of Australia on platypus acquisitions.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/nicholas-drayson/confessing-murder.htm

[JoanK]

Are there birds in the book? If so, it's for me.

[JoanR]

Hi,everyone - I've been sadly neglectful of this area for quite some time and now I find that it's become a rather silent place.  Can we  fix that up?  I think that we really do read more books by foreign authors than we realize - I know that I do.

I've been reading "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and am about halfway through it.  I have previously read his "Shadow of the Wind" and found it to be absolutely marvelous.  So far this one hasn't gripped me quite as much as "The Shadow.." but after all, I still have a lot more of it to read!  Zafon is Spanish and has a big international following.

Our local thrift shop is a good source of inexpensive books - I think this is a pretty well-read town!  I just picked up  Roberto Bolano"s "2666", a very well-reviewed book translated from the Spanish but it's a huge book almost 900 pages long and will turn into a project, I think!  I already have Byatt's new book - The Children's Story - lined up to read next!!  And if any of you have read her"Possession", you know what kind of a writer she is!!!!!

And with all that, I have to keep up with Latin homework.

[Frybabe]

I finished Shadow of the Wind earlier this week.

Two "new" old books I picked up at the used book store: one about Lafayette and the other about Adrienne, his wife. They are both translations, one of which is from German.

At present, I am down to reading one book, The Forgotten Man. Come October, there are Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness and several of the Wallander series to read.

[JoanK]

I know about Sweden only through the Wallender series and "The Girl Who.." series. They both paint a very dark picture of Sweden. Do any of you know other Swedish books? Are they lighter?

[JoanR]

It does seem as if they export mainly crime fiction to us.  Besides Larsson and Mankell, there was the husband & wife team of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.  I used to love their mysteries.
Don't know if you can count Tove Jansson as a Swedish author.  She is Finnish but is Swedish-speaking.  Her Moomin books are wonderful for children (and adults too).  She also wrote "The Summer Book" for adults - a great little book.  I've used it as a gift for several people.  Take a look at it sometime!

[pedln]

JoanR, I don't think you've been sadly neglectful at all.  Rather, it's more likely that this site has outlived its usefulness or purpose.  RATW started several years ago on SeniorNet because there was a feeling that we were not reading or even learning about books  published in other countries or written by authors from other than the US, Canada and the UK.

Now that is no longer the case. The Swedish books certainly are household words among readers, but so are authors like Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Muriel Barbury.  My daughter gave me Norwegian Jo Nesbro's Nemisis for Christmas, and my f2f Mystery group is reading The Exception by Danish writer Jungeren(?).  And I'm sure everyone here can name a host of others.

It's great.  We pick our choices by their appeal, not by where they were written or published.

[JoanK]

I have enjoyed this group very much over the years. but it was more useful when we had two or three discussions going at once. I hope we won't forget to have books by authors from different countries in our regular reading rota. Sadly, I know readers who won't read anything that is not American.

[roshanarose]

JoanK - That is tragic about so many people only wanting to read American books.  I think I am fortunate that so many people on this site are interested in the Australian and English books that I and my compatriots promote.  My favourite crime writer is John Connelly, and he is Irish.  Per capita Australia has many excellent writers, we are lucky in that I guess.  If anything Australians are more inclined to read overseas writers rather than Australian.  Oh well - life Is a Funny Old Duck.

[Gumtree]

Roshanarose - we sure are lucky in having so many first rate authors even if many of them are not so well known overseas. I agree in that in general Australians are more likely to read 'foreign' writers rather than Aussie ones - maybe because the overseas ones are more heavily promoted than the local variety. Nonetheless I am constantly astonished by the number of American regional writers mentioned in these SLearn discussions who are new to me and sometimes not available here.

JoanK[ I always enjoy reading the RATW pages and have missed it of late. Good point about having a few discussions going at once. Of course to make that work we probably need more willing and able DLs to share the load and enough interested members participating in the discussions - I know I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here - well maybe not my grandmother! 

[PatH]

Good point about having a few discussions going at once. Of course to make that work we probably need more willing and able DLs to share the load and enough interested members participating in the discussions - I know I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here - well maybe not my grandmother! 

You've put your finger on the problem, Gumtree.  At the moment we don't have enough people to do more.  I'm hoping we'll build up a bigger base again.  Got any friends for us?

[pedln]

JoanK, those readers don’t know what they’re missing.  We can all think of books we’ve read recently that were either a translation, such as a mystery by  Arnaldur Indridson or an Enlish language book set in another country, such as The Kite Runner, and if not on a best seller list at least became popular by word of mouth.

This site has brought forth many titles recommended by all of you.  I know my reading has been enriched by reading such books as A Pigeon and a Boy, and by being introduced to writers like  Phillip Kerr and Louise Penney and a host of others.  Rooftops of Tehran is on my TBR list, as is Cutting for Stone, which I never did get to read earlier.  Thanks to Jude’ tipoff of it being 600+ pages, I’ve downloaded it to my Kindle.

RATW will soon be archived.  Usually when something ends or closes, you start out saying “I’m sorry to announce .   .  .  “  But such isn’t the case here.  I’m happy to say again that this site has outlived its usefulness.  Our reading has become more international. More globalized ?   We talk about books (and films) like these all over the place.

 I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this such a good site, with your suggestions, your votes, your participation in the discussions.  It wouldn’t have happened without you.

[JoanR]

You're right, Pedln - I've noticed that more books from all over the world are being talked about - even in the PBS mystery discussions.  Perhaps we'd better start posting more of our book talk in the "Library" - that's the area for talk about books in general, I understand.

[PatH]

RATW will soon be archived.  Usually when something ends or closes, you start out saying “I’m sorry to announce .   .  .  “  But such isn’t the case here.  I’m happy to say again that this site has outlived its usefulness.  Our reading has become more international. More globalized ?   We talk about books (and films) like these all over the place.

Of course the good groundwork on this site is partly responsible for that.