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Monthly Archives: January 2010
The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (魯迅)
Posted in Read in 2010
Tagged china, julia lovell, lu xun, penguin classics, recommended, short story, translation
A Fitting Place
Computerworld notes the strong presence of e-readers at the Taipei International Book Exhibition.
The only company showing off color e-paper screens at the book fair was Taiwan’s Delta Electronics. The company displayed its new 13.1-inch e-readers made with e-paper technology from Japan’s Bridgestone at the book fair.
Delta plans to start marketing the new 13.1-inch color touchscreen e-reader around the end of the second quarter. The e-reader is the size of an A4 sheet of paper, suitable for viewing business documents. Bridgestone, well-known for its tire business, showed the 13.1-inch e-paper technology off last year at a show in Japan.
Posted in Reading
Tagged bookselling, computerworld, ebooks, publishing, taiwan
First Principles
For the Guardian Tim Adams reviews Martin Amis’s The Pregnant Widow.
Amis starts with a typically arch disclaimer, the suggestion that his tale–like the murder story in London Fields–is another “gift from real life”. “Everything that follows is true,” he drawls, blowing smoke at the reader. “The castle is true. The girls are all true, and the boys are all true. Not even the names have been changed. Why bother? To protect the innocent? There were no innocent…” He has said elsewhere that the novel is “blindingly autobiographical” and, though names obviously have been changed, you half believe him.
Posted in Reading
Tagged book review, guardian, martin amis, tim adams, uk
Too Intimate to Share
In the New York Times, Motoko Rich explores private and communal reading.
Reading might well have been among the last remaining private activities, but it is now a relentlessly social pursuit. Gaggles of readers get together monthly to sip chardonnay and discuss the latest Oprah selection.
Mostly men, I imagine.
Posted in Reading
Tagged bookselling, motoko rich, new york times
Love Before and After Death
Christopher Reid wins the Costa Book of the Year Award.
Posted in Writing
Tagged christopher reid, costa award, poetry, prize, uk
Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya
Recommended with reservations.
Gadget Fatigue
I’m a “pad” skeptic. Yeah, I saw Steve Jobs on stage with the shiniest, newest, coolest tablet computer out there, but I couldn’t help but ask myself, where does this fit into my life?
Eyder Peralta at National Public Radio dismisses Apple’s awkward device.
The Enduring Russia
The appearance in English of this new version of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s best novel, mistranslated as “The First Circle” when it appeared in Britain and America more than 40 years ago, is an exciting literary event that is destined to be little noticed or appreciated in our Twitterized times.
Robert Kaiser of the Washington Post reviews the new version of Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn’s In the First Circle.
Posted in Reading
Tagged aleksandr solzhenitsyn, book review, robert kaiser, russia, translation, usa, washington post