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Books
Kids Books for the Holidays
This year’s selection includes new titles that feature stunning artwork, as well as some updated classics.
Great Books for The Holidays
This year’s recommendations come from writers and journalists including Granta editor John Freeman and writer Yiyun Li.
Stieg Larsson’s View of Scandinavia’s Far Right
Swedish author Stieg Larsson depicted the world of far right extremists in his fiction.
World Books Debate: The Best Translated Book Awards
Here’s the 25 book long list of the fiction finalists for the 2011 Best Translated Book Awards for listeners and readers to comment on, augment, and generally kick around. The point of the BTBA is not simply to recognized high merit (in fiction and poetry), but to expand the consciousness of the reading public. This is one of the few prizes in the country that honors original works in translation; at the very least, it should stimulate conversation about the importance (and neglect) of literature in translation.
What do you think?
Best selling book in France
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A political essay by a 93-year-old former diplomat and resistance fighter has been at the top of the best seller list in France for weeks. The essay calls on French citizens to get outraged about social injustices. Anchor Lisa Mullins talks to the author, Stephane Hessel. Download MP3
World Books podcast: E.C. Osondu
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Nigerian-born writer E.C. Osondu explores the tragicomedies of cultural misunderstanding in his new short story collection Voice of America. The title is playfully ironic: the tales probe, with impish humor and sardonic urgency, the pratfalls of delusion: Africans dream of an impossible American plenty, while Americans fantasize about a non-existent African reality. Download MP3
Ukraine rewrites history books
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Ukraine’s new Russia-leaning government is re-writing history. It’s put out a new curriculum and history textbooks that omit the Orange Revolution of 2004. Correspondent Brigid McCarthy has the story. Download MP3
Grossman talks about his latest book
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In a country that reveres its great writers, Israeli novelist David Grossman stands out. He is often referred to as “the conscience of the country.” The World’s Matthew Bell met with Grossman at his home outside of Jerusalem to talk about his latest novel, “To the End of the Land.” The book tells the story of a woman terrified of losing her son in the army. Grossman’s own son was killed while in the military. Download MP3Iraqis rediscover the joy of reading
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Iraqis used to be great readers of books but government censorship under Saddam Hussein caused many Iraqis to mistrust the written word. Now there’s a freer flow of information into and out of Iraq and Baghdad’s bookstores are showing new signs of life. Susannah George went browsing for us. Download MP3World Books Podcast: Filipino author Miguel Syjuco
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For many readers, Filipino literature is about local color, lush descriptions of an exotic and often dreamy landscape. Miguel Syjuco challenges that pastoral vision with his first novel, Ilustrado, which recently won the Man Asian Literary Prize. An ambitious meditation on turbulent decades of Filipino culture and politics, the novel includes emails, blog entries, news reports, and extracts from the fiction and journalism of an imaginary literary lion. His mysterious death triggers a quest to find his final manuscript, which is rumored to be an explosive tell-all. World Books editor Bill Marx spoke to Syjuco about what his complex novel says about the past and future of the Philippines. Download MP3
John Burdett’s Bangkok
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The stand-off in the southeast Asian nation of Thailand continues today. Leaders of the so-called “red shirt” demonstrators said today they’re ready to accept mediation from a group of Thai senators. But the government says it won’t negotiate with the red shirts until they end their rally in the capital. Marco Werman talks to British novelist John Burdett about the story behind the headlines from Thailand. Burdett’s series of crime thrillers are set in Bangkok. Download MP3
World Books Podcast: Eshkol Nevo’s novel “Homesick”
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When it was published in Israel in 2004, Eshkol Nevo’s novel “Homesick” tackled a taboo topic in his homeland. The story, which is set in a small neighborhood outside of Jerusalem, includes a sympathetic look at a Palestinian construction worker who becomes obsessed with entering the home his family was evicted from in 1948. To Nevo’s surprise, “Homesick” became a best-seller and is now assigned reading in high schools and universities around Israel. An English translation of the book (by Sondra Silverston) is now available from Dalkey Archive Press. World Books editor Bill Marx spoke to Nevo about his novel’s surprising reception in Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East. Download MP3
The sweet smell of literature
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In the not too distant future the majority of readers might read their books electronically, on Kindles, iPads, and the like. In the meantime, though, the paper kind populates bookstores and libraries. And the older a book is, the smellier it is. The World’s Alex Gallafent explores those odors for us. Download MP3 (Photo: Alex Gallafent)World Books Podcast: Of Naked Maidens and Sea Serpents
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The Italian Renaissance epic “Orlando Furioso,” was once a hot volume, at least among the literati, such as Shakespeare, and musicians, such as Scarlotti and Haydn. But Ludovico Ariosto’s long tale of knights and monsters duking it out largely dropped off the radar screen in the 20th century, though it was Italo Calvino’s favorite work of literature. Translator David R. Slavitt wants to rectify that with his English translation of the poem, the first in 30 years. World Books Editor Bill Marx talks to Slavitt, a veteran translator of over eighty volumes of poetry and fiction, about how his playful version reflects the giggly, surrealist mischievousness of the original. Download MP3
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