Books to Look For (December): History

When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 288 pages, December 2)

With the news that the Nazis were burning millions of books in Europe, the U.S. countered with a program designed to get millions of books into the hands of American soldiers. Thus, 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks that could fit in one's pocket were published and sent overseas. I heard about this book on NPR and found the story fascinating, so this is definitely on my TBR list.




A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion, ed. by Louis J. Parascandola and John Parascandola (Columbia University Press, 360 pages, December 16)

Collected here are stories, poems, essays, and more about Coney Island from writers like Whitman, Crane, Marti, Gorky, Singer, cummings, and Whitehead. After all, "moody, mystical, and enchanting, Coney Island has thrilled newcomers and soothed native New Yorkers for decades." I think most of us have at least heard about Coney Island, even if we've never been there. This book looks like it'll convince me to make the trip.

Review: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu

Review on the Speculative Fiction in Translation site

From the TBR Shelf #35: Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson

Consider the Fork (2012) by Bee Wilson

I had heard great things about this book, but never thought I'd be interested in a history of how we cook and eat. Well, Bee Wilson showed me just how fascinating knives, refrigerators, and peelers can be.

You might be thinking, "wut, that sounds so boring," but believe me, it's anything but. Wilson takes us around the world and across the centuries, exploring how different cultures have used such technologies as forks, knives, spoons, graters, coffee-makers, and saucepans to develop their own unique style of eating and serving meals. We learn about the evolution of the hearth into the kitchen, and how the Cuisinart was born when an American businessman with a love of French cooking adapted a machine he discovered while visiting the country.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

This recommendation comes from Nigel Xavier. You can follow him on twitter @XavierNigel.


A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) by Mohammed Hanif

"Intrigue and subterfuge combine with bad luck and good in this darkly comic debut about love, betrayal, tyranny, family, and a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen. Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's suspicious death, which the government calls a suicide.Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistani. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known."

In Translation: December Fiction

Well, 2014 is coming to an end, and many of us are taking stock of our year’s reading by glancing at our bookshelves or listy spreadsheets.
One thing you should definitely ask yourself: have I read any translated fiction this year? If not, or if you wish you’d read more, get a jump-start on 2015 with these three newly-translated titles from Mexico, Japan, and Iceland. Consider this my holiday gift to y’all.

Taiwanese Novels in Translation

I met some wonderful people during my time as a grad student, many of whom taught me about their home countries’ rich histories and cultures. One of my very closest friends was born and raised in Taiwan, and after having spent many years in America, she wound up returning to her birthplace to teach and spend more time with her family. I miss her like crazy, but we still keep in touch. AND she can keep me up to speed regarding the book culture over there.

I recently asked her to recommend some Taiwanese novels in English translation, and here are the four she suggested. They were all published by Columbia University Press under the series title “Modern Chinese Literature From Taiwan.” Enjoy!

Books to Look For (December): Literary Fiction

How To Be Both by Ali Smith (Pantheon, 384 pages, December 2)

This experimental novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, so it must be doing something very right. According to its description, How To Be Both is a "fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions." Sign me up.








Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz (Harper, 304, December 9)

Ooooooo, Professor Moriarty! *rubs hands* He's so...bad and...brilliant and...Moriarty! With the blessing of the Conan Doyle estate, Horowitz has written a "nail-biter" of a novel exploring what happened after Reichenbach Falls. Once people believe that Moriarty is dead, criminals come out of the woodwork to fill his place, and it's up to a Pinkerton detective and a student of Holmes's methods to catch the latest Moriarty wannabe. Oooooooooooooo...

From the TBR Shelf #34: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin

I am admitting, right here and now, that I had never read an Ursula K. Le Guin novel before. I know. I had, though, read a couple of her short stories, most notably "Schrodinger's Cat," which I found strange and wonderful and perplexing.

I'd apply those same adjectives to The Left Hand of Darkness, a novel that is unlike anything else I've read. Its exploration of how gender and environment shape culture is fascinating and made Winter/Gethen so real, I felt chilly the entire time I was reading the book.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker

This recommendation comes from Geoff. Lamb. You can follow him on twitter @Onceatenor.

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (2012) by Joel Dicker

"August 30, 1975: the day fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan is glimpsed fleeing through the woods, never to be heard from again; the day Somerset, New Hampshire, lost its innocence. Thirty-three years later, Marcus Goldman, a successful young novelist, visits Somerset to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country’s most respected writers, and to find a cure for his writer’s block as his publisher’s deadline looms. But Marcus’s plans are violently upended when Harry is suddenly and sensationally implicated in the cold-case murder of Nola Kellergan—whom, he admits, he had an affair with. As the national media convicts Harry, Marcus launches his own investigation, following a trail of clues through his mentor’s books, the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, and the hidden history of Somerset’s citizens and the man they hold most dear. To save Harry, his own writing career, and eventually even himself, Marcus must answer three questions, all of which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? What happened one misty morning in Somerset in the summer of 1975? And how do you write a book to save someone’s life?"