Archive | November 2009
You are browsing the site archives by date.
The Group by Mary McCarthy – A Reappraisal at the Guardian
The Guardian UK has a nice appraisal of Mary McCarthy’s The Group. It is a book I had long heard of but could never really understand what the attraction was. It was an artifact of another time—I still remember her obituary in the NY Times and even then she seemed so distant. I tried reading Memories of [...]
Is the Best American Writing of the Last 10 Years Sexist?
Mark Athitakis reports that what have been called the best novels of the last ten years have all had a similar theme: “Men struggling against a society whose rules and limits are defined by women.” If I had actually read some of these works I could comment, but many have never really piqued my interest. [...]
Translation is a Love Affair – A Novel from Quebec
I haven’t read Translation is a Love Affair yet, but it seems to be popping up all over my radar screen. First Three Percent has posted a review of it and Nick’s Book Club is going to be discussing it Monday, December 28 in Seattle. I am looking forward to reviewing the book soon. I [...]
World War II: Now In HD Color – A Review
I wasn’t sure if the History Channel’s World War II in HD was going to be more over the top disaster/war channel material, the kind of thing that celebrates the extreme nature of the subject, rather than a respectful presentation. But two episodes in, the show seems to be in the latter camp. It is [...]
The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade – A Review
The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War Peter Carroll, 440 pg. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade is the definitive account of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, not only during the war, but the before and after. The book is also a labor of love and it some times [...]
New Antonio Muñoz Molina Book and Excerpt
For fans of Spanish Literature Antonio Muñoz Molina is set to publish a new book and El País has a 25 page excerpt you can read. The breaking and cracking that human beings suffer for the ideological phantasms, in this case the Spanish Civil War, are the geography of the awaited novel from Antonio Muñoz [...]
New Borges in May from New Directions
New Directions is going to publish a new book of Borges. It is unclear weather it has new material in English or is just a different approach at compiling his work. Everything and Nothing collects Borges’ highly influential work – written in the 1930s and ’40s – that forsaw the internet, quantum mechanics, and cloning. [...]
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock n Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music – A Review
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock n Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music Elijah Wald, 336 pg. The title is inflammatory and in many ways does the book a disservice because most of the book has little to do with the Beatles, or even Rock and Roll. The title after the colon is really [...]
Jorge Volpi on the Latin American Noir and Drug Novel
In part five of Jorge Volpi’s excellent lecture on Latin American writing he delves into the world of the narco novel. It is a fascinating list of works and it is a bit of a shame that they won’t make it into English, but since Americans would rather avoid the South than admit they are [...]
New Bolaño Novel and Excerpt from New Directions
New Directions is set to publish Bloaño’s Antwerp in April. If you can’t wait to read it then you can get a sample in Conjunctions:53.
Jorge Volpi – the Historical Novel in Latin America
In part four of Three Percent’s talk from Jorge Volpi, Volpi discusses recent historical novels in Latin America. What is interesting is that after saying there was no Latin American literature, he talks as if there were one. However, he sees in Latin American historical novels a reluctance to deal with the now. The ”historical [...]
Ya Sabes Mi Padadero – Caratas de la Guerra Civil – A Review
Ya Sabes Mi Padadero: La guerra civil a través de las cartas de los que la vivieron Javier Cervera Gil, 483 pg. Ya Sabes Mi Padadero: La guerra civil a través de las cartas de los que la vivieron is a book that will never be translated into English, but for those who are interested [...]
Los Angeles, France, and the Search for a New Noir
Salonica has a great post from Larry Fondation about LA and the search for a writer that encompass the city. What makes it even more interesting is it was published in France as a kind of what Americans should do next. While Noir is a and LA are fascinating as our the American writers of [...]
Jorge Volpi on Bolaño and American Literary Reaction
Three Percent continues its serialization of Jorge Volpi’s comments on Latin American literature. In this section he takes American critics to task for building up a Bolaño myth much like that of Jack Kerouac so they could sell the story of a rebel. In contrast, the Spanish language press has looked at Bolaño more in [...]
Latin American Literature Does Not Exist Anymore – Jorge Volpi
Three Percent posted part two of Jorge Volpi’s thoughts on Latin American Literature, or perhaps better said, writing that comes from Latin America. Essentially, he states what should be obvious with some fore thought: not all writers in Latin America write about the same thing and the Boom and Magical Realism were nothing more than [...]
Jorge Volpi on Latin American Literature
Three Percent is serializing an excellent lecture by Jorge Volpi about Latin American Literature. In the first installment he is talking about Magical Realism and its suffocating history. Well worth the read. [...] Once again we appear as good savages, dominated by superstition and mystery, accustomed to coexisting with the supernatural, or, in the other [...]
