Author: Michael @ Knowledge Lost

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin

Posted March 25, 2019 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Short Stories / 4 Comments

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta SchweblinTitle: Mouthful of Birds (Goodreads)
Author: Samanta Schweblin
Translator: Megan McDowell
Published: Oneworld Publications, 2019
Pages: 240
Genres: Short Stories
My Copy: ARC from Netgalley

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle, Wordery (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019

Samanta Schweblin has almost become a household name. Her novella Fever Dreams has been one of the most talked about books in translation in recent years. It won so many awards, including the Shirley Jackson Award (2017), The Tournament of Books (2018), it made the Man Booker International Prize shortlist (2017) and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation longlist (2017). Needless to say, when it was announced Mouthful of Birds was getting an English translation there was plenty of buzz surrounding it.

I first discovered Samanta Schweblin from the New York Review of Books podcast, they were talking about three Argentinean authors about to take the world by storm, Pola Oloixarac, Mariana Enríquez and Samanta Schweblin. Naturally I had to read the three books that came out around the same time. Random tangent, both Samanta Schweblin and Pola Oloixarac have books out this year, so where is the next Mariana Enríquez? Out of the three it was Fever Dreams that got all the attention, but for me Things We Lost In The Fire was the true highlight.

I feel like the buzz now for Mouthful of Birds is just people projecting their love for Fever Dreams onto it. There is something rugged and unfinished about this collection of short stories that did not sit right with me. I think a truly great short story collection have the stories complements each other and often share an overarching theme. Take Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enríquez (also translated by Megan McDowell) for example. Each story delivers a powerful punch and complement the collection as a whole. Now looking at Mouthful of Birds, it does not have that same feeling, it is just a group of stories anthologised for the purpose of publishing.

I see so many people loving this book and it always seems to be referencing the same stories, like the one with the merman. My opinion is they liked the individual stories they reference but nothing is really said about the complete collection. I know what I like and fairytale retellings and mythological based stories are not for me, so this is the main reason Mouthful of Birds did not work for me. I know short story collections are hard to review as a whole collection, so people point out the stories they love. I prefer to read something where the stories all work together and offer so much more than a good tale.

Mouthful of Birds will serve well for the readers interested in the whole creative process. This is a collection of her earlier short stories. There are fragments of ideas that are being explored in Mouthful of Birds that could blossom into future novels. I see elements of Fever Dreams taking form in this collection and get the feeling this collection was only published because of all the hype surrounding Samanta Schweblin. While this was not the book for me, I know many people will enjoy reading more from Schweblin. I personally recommend picking up Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enríquez instead.

The 2019 Man Booker International Longlist

Posted March 13, 2019 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literary Prizes / 0 Comments

This post will serve more as a place to link all my reviews together. Much like last year I do plan to read the entire longlist. I read all by one last year, leaving Going, Went, Gone for later, which turns out might mean never. This was an interesting selection, and I managed to only predict two of the thirteen books. So far I have read two already, which means I only need to read another eleven.

Most of my writing about the Man Booker will be over on Translated Lit before I post them here.

  • Jokha Alharthi (Arabic / Omani), Marilyn Booth, Celestial Bodies (Sandstone Press Ltd)
  • Can Xue (Chinese / Chinese), Annelise Finegan Wasmoen, Love in the New Millennium (Yale University Press)
  • Annie Ernaux (French / French), Alison L. Strayer, The Years (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  • Hwang Sok-yong (Korean / Korean), Sora Kim-Russell, At Dusk (Scribe, UK)
  • Mazen Maarouf (Arabic / Icelandic and Palestinian), Jonathan Wright, Jokes For The Gunmen (Granta, Portobello Books)
  • Hubert Mingarelli (French / French), Sam Taylor, Four Soldiers (Granta, Portobello Books)
  • Marion Poschmann (German / German), Jen Calleja, The Pine Islands (Profile Books, Serpent’s Tail)
  • Samanta Schweblin (Spanish / Argentine and Italian), Megan McDowell, Mouthful Of Birds (Oneworld)
  • Sara Stridsberg (Swedish / Swedish), Deborah Bragan-Turner, The Faculty Of Dreams (Quercus, MacLehose Press)
  • Olga Tokarczuk (Polish / Polish), Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  • Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Spanish / Colombian), Anne McLean, The Shape Of The Ruins (Quercus, MacLehose Press)
  • Tommy Wieringa (Dutch / Dutch), Sam Garrett, The Death Of Murat Idrissi (Scribe, UK)
  • Alia Trabucco Zeran (Spanish / Chilean and Italian), Sophie Hughes, The Remainder (And Other Stories)

Man Booker International Predictions

Posted March 6, 2019 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 6 Comments

There is a part of me that looks down at literary prizes. I have been thinking about this since reading The Parrots by Filippo Bologna (translated by Howard Curtis), the politics that goes into selecting a list and a winner really detracts from literary merits. I agree there needs to be a better balance in representation when making a longlist for a prize, but every judge has their own tastes and opinions, it becomes more about compromise than merit. Is there a perfect solution? No, we have to do the best with what we have.

At the same time, I love to be part of the conversation, I want to read the Man Booker International list and talk about the books selected. Whether it is to just to speculate, or just complain. It is just nice to be part of a community talking about the same books. My love for books in translations, means that it isn’t often that I am able to talk about the same books as other people. This is why I follow a prize like the Man Booker International Prize.

I get the feeling that the longlist will feature the few translations that have actually had more of a commercial success. From the deserving (Convenience Store Woman), to the not so deserving (The Last Children of Tokyo) and everything in between (Codex 1962). Haruki Murakami might make the list for simply having a book translated this year, Killing Commendatore. Olga Tokarczuk won last year’s prize, which could mean Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is longlisted.

After that, there are just some books that will make the longlist because it will help balance things out. For your gritty, hard hitting bro-lit, you might see Vernon Subutex 2 make the longlist. We need a book from the Middle East, so let’s add The Baghdad Clock. There is nothing from the Americas so in goes The Shape of the Ruins. Finally, for something considered high art, add Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants.

Or you can save yourself all some time and just give the Man Booker Prize to the deserving Disoriental. This book feels like the perfect winner. It has a multi-generational story and deals with both immigration and LGBTQI themes. Besides all that, it is just an amazing novel.

I wanted to share my predictions for the Man Booker International prize as well as try to express my opinions about literary prizes in general. This post did not turn out the way I expected, more tongue in cheek than intended but then again, we can take this prize too seriously. I do not know if I will read the entire longlist, but I will try and be a part of the conversation. I hope I have read enough books that make the longlist, to ease the pressure of trying to complete 12-13 books. Also, please do not let Karl Ove Knausgård make the longlist.

Read More

To All The Books I Loved Before

Posted January 17, 2019 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 14 Comments

Dear Jeff Lindsay,

When I first got serious about reading nine years ago, I was never sure what books would interest me. One of the first things I turned to was Darkly Dreaming Dexter, you know, the first book in the series you created. I was loving the television series and I thought reading the books was a natural progression. You wrote a wonderfully complex character, DexterI read the series because of the show but I knew that the books took a very different direction.

When I picked up Darkly Dreaming Dexter, I was so fascinated by Dexter. It is rare to find such a complex character that toed the line between good and evil. A character that you can sympathise with and yet feel totally disgusted by their actions. As you know, Frankenstein was the book that ignited my passion for reading. It was the dual narrative that really stuck with me, there are two sides to every story and Frankenstein used these two characters to explore a range of different ideas but the one that I identified with is the one where society turned Frankenstein’s creation into a monster. This similarity to the Dexter series is what drew me to the show and the books.

I admit, at first I loved the books; Dexter was just an amazing character. I told myself that I wish I could write like this and in many ways it helped shape me. However the writing is so bad, cringe worthy in fact. Turns out it was not the writing I wanted to emulate; it was the great character. I read all eight books in the series because of the writing, but I cannot tell if I improved as a reader, or if you never improved as a writer. The character of Dexter was enough to sustain me through the series but I can never go back. I have moved on in my reading journey and I have no time for this type of writing anymore.

I will admit that I still love crime books, I love a good antihero but I am yet to find a good series that is able to replace Dexter. It is such a shame to see such an amazing character go to waste. I still have Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain and Jim Thompson to sustain my love for crime literature, I do not need formulaic and terrible writing anymore.

Best of luck in the future

Michael

Dear Haruki Murakami,

What has happened to you? Has fame gotten to you? I rather enjoyed some of your older novels in the past, but now it feels like you have decided an editor was not for you…or maybe you just know whatever you write will sell. I have no idea what 1Q84 was meant to be but I have a hard time appreciating anything about it. In fact, I do not know if any of your more recent works are even worth reading. Sure, I did enjoy Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage as a palate cleanser but I used to turn to you for the surreal and the Kafkaesque.

I know your most notable novel is the very straight-laced Norwegian Wood, so I wonder if you are just trying to relive the success but do you have to continuously remind us of your obsession with younger women? It is getting to the point where we have to wonder if you suffer from Lolita syndrome. I know it is not just you, there are so many writers that make me cringe every time they write about a woman, Ken Follett and Mario Vargas Llosa both come to mind. Maybe it is just an old man writer kink.

I want to read about the surreal, to explore the inner workings of someone’s mind, or even look at the concept of loneliness. You did this so well in the past, Murakami, but now I think it is time for me to move on with my life and find a new author to satisfy my needs. Do you have any suggestions?

I hope you find pleasure in the books you write because I cannot bring myself to read you anymore.

Michael

Dear John Green,

Honestly, I must have gotten sucked into the hype. I very much enjoyed Looking for Alaska, and The Fault in Our Stars made me cry. But when you think about it, it is a little weird for a thirty year old man to read about the romantic endeavours of teenagers. To enjoy reading the characters like Hazel and Alaska, on reflection, makes me cringe. I do not know how you feel about writing these books, you are older than I am. I know they have made you a lot of money and you have single handily revolutionised both Young Adult literature and YouTube, so you should be proud of that.

As for me, I cannot read your books anymore, I liked them in the past, but I was a young reader, I was exploring the world of literature and trying anything and everything. I even read Twilight. I have recently started to find my own niche in the world of books but I am very away that I will have to continue to pay attention to the rest of the literary world. I just will not be reading more of your books.

The concept of Young Adult literature is amazing, it gets people reading and it allows them to explore interesting concepts. In fact I once wrote a blog post about Twilight and tied it to literary theories. I am pretty proud of my review I wrote about Divergent. I have grown as a reader and I am pretty sure Young Adult literature will be left behind. There may be some in my future, the sequel to Grasshopper Jungle perhaps but I am not the right demographic for these books anymore.

There is an obvious discussion to be had about people that never progress pass these books, but it is not one I want to explore here. Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars no longer have a place on my shelves, I need to make room for books I love and plan to re-read. So goodbye John Green and good luck

Michael

I have grown so much as a reader, it is clear that there will be plenty more books that I enjoy now that in the future would make this list. I wrote this as a way to show that I grew as a reader, and while I enjoy a book, it does not mean that it will remain well loved. I think it is important to remember that growth is a part of the reading journey. Let us not be ashamed of the books we have loved in the past, but reflect on them and see just how much we have grown.

New Translated Lit Project

Posted January 10, 2019 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 4 Comments

I have been wanting to do more to promote translated literature for a very long time. I have a blog, a podcast and have even attempted BookTube. My obsession grew from the need to step away from reading just American authors. My reading stats told me 95% of the reading I was doing was American, and I am an Australian. Starting with the 1001 Books list I quickly discovered Russian classics and then French philosophy. Soon I was challenging myself to read 20, then 50 percent translations.

It wasn’t until last year when I told myself ‘no reading goals’ that I discovered just how much I loved books in translation. I am exclusively reading world literature and if it wasn’t for book club, I might have avoided books originally written in English all together. So, with this newly found obsession, I began trying to learn more about the world of translated literature. I quickly discovered, for an outsider, it was difficult to know what was happening. The common statistic talked about when it comes to world lit is, 3 percent of all books published (in the English-speaking world) are translations. However, for an outsider just getting into translated lit, it felt smaller. To me it felt like most of that was classics; I was not aware of how much contemporary literature was being translated.

With this thought in mind, I started trying to think of ways I could help promote translated lit. I kept coming back to this idea of having a resource where I could find news and information about the world of translated lit. Granted there are sites out there doing their part but places like LitHub, Electric Literature and Book Riot only had a small focus. What if there was something similar but just for world lit?

I believe that we are on the verge of a break out when it comes to books in translation. So many people are trying to understand the world we live in, and people are reading more in translation as a result. The Man Booker International Prize (in its current form) is relatively new, and last year the National Book Award added a prize for translated literature. People are starting to take notice, and what happens when the need to learn more about what is happening in this corner of the literary world? It was with that in mind, the idea was formed for Translated Lit.

This is a huge project and what I would love to see is a resource that help guide people into this world. With news about what is happening, information about literary prizes, recommendations and even long form essays and reviews. A project like this will need voices from around the world, people passionate about translations that want to help share their passion and promote world literature. We need contributors and I do think with enough people, we can help guide anyone interested, we can be a resource for world literature.

My personal goals for 2019 were to write better and to promote translated literature. This felt like the best way to achieve both these goals and the reason for this site was to encourage others to participate. I don’t want this to be considered my site, I want this to be a collaboration and a tool for the people interested. I am still a newcomer to books in translation and I hope this will become a valuable tool for me as well.

With a few people already helping out, I believe we are off to a great start. I hope we can promote many aspects of world lit, offer the latest in news and even recommendations. I personally have ideas I would like to see happen on here, including a way to explore the site by country or publisher. Sometimes you want recommendations for a country, and this could be a way to help with that. Also, there are so many great small presses out there publishing books in translation, we want to be able to support them by promoting their books.

With that in mind, welcome to Translated Lit and please consider becoming a contributor. For established bloggers out there, if you have any essays or reviews that you would love to share, we would love to have that opportunity. We are still working on the design of the site and we want to be able to promote the writers as well as the content. This is to allow others to discover bloggers to follow based on their writing and literary tastes. Any help would be appreciated, and we look forward to making this the start of something great.

Check out Translated Lit

My Favourite Reads of 2018

Posted January 1, 2019 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 15 Comments

I went into 2018 with no real reading goals; I wanted to see where that would lead me. It, in fact, pushed me into my own corner of the bookish world. I love translated literature and I want to promote it more than I already do. Reflecting back on the year, all my favourite books were works of translation. Just over 75% of my reading was translations and it probably would have been higher if it was not for book clubs. From that 75%, I did focus on trying to keep a gender balance and it seems that I achieved that, with 52% being women in translation. I am happy with the direction of my reading in 2018 and I am hoping to see a continuation in 2019.

Now is that time where people start posting their favourite lists. I am tempted to do a count down with music, films and television shows but I am unsure those lists will be as interesting as this post. So, for now here are my favourite reads from 2018.

15. The Door by Magda Szabó (translated by Lex Rix)

Episode four on my podcast, my wife and I listened to the audiobook while on a road trip. Magda Szabó is a great writer and I loved the way she blended auto fiction with what I read as an allegory of the state of Hungary under a collapsing Soviet rule. I am yet to pick up more Szabó but I know she is someone that I need to get back to in the near future (but I am sure I could say the same about many authors.

14. Purge by Sofi Oksanen (translated by Lola Rogers)

I had read Sofi Oksanen in the past and I found her writing overly complex, to the point where I almost dismissed her for the future. Not that When the Doves Disappeared was a bad book, I just felt like I was not smart enough and the writing fragmented in a weird way. Purge, on the other hand, was a much better book; a literary thriller, which is right up my alley, which you will soon discover from the rest of this list.

13. Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Jennifer Croft)

Winner of the Man Booker International Prize means this book hopefully is getting the attention it deserves. I read this while trying to complete the entire longlist and what drew me to this novel is the unique blend of travel writing and philosophical musing. Sure, this is a work of fiction in the loosest way possible, but who cares, this was just a joy to read. I have my next Olga Tokarczuk ready and waiting, and I have high hopes, 2019 is going to be a great reading year.

12. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (translated by Anne McLean)

Can I call 2018 the year of Juan Gabriel Vásquez? I read two amazing novels by this author and I now consider myself a huge fan. There is something about the way he writes himself into his novels about Colombian history. In The Shape of the Ruins we get to learn about the political history of Colombia, and The Sound of Things Falling explores the effects the cartels had on him and Colombia. I am now watching Narcos just to learn more.

11. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

A book I still think about and it pleases me that it has plenty of literary buzz around it. I am not sure if this is auto fiction but I know Sayaka Murata worked in a convenience store, that is beside the point. Keiko Furukura is happy in her role as a convenience store woman, but social pressures expect more from her. This book challenges social expectations and tries to remind us that we should never judge anyone, not even a fictional character.

10. The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich (translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)

There is not enough translated non-fiction on my list, and I know I need to read more. The Unwomanly Face of War was such an amazing book, but my love for Svetlana Alexievich might make me bias. I really like the way Alexievich collects stories from the people to create a narrative. In this one, we explore just how many women helped Russia in World War II despite the amount of criticism they received from the men around them. Truly these are the unsung heroes of war, stepping up to serve and help in any capacity possible.

9. La Bastarda by by Trifonia Melibea Obono (translated by Lawrence Schimel)

Episode five on my podcast, & quite possibly on of my favourite episodes, but maybe that is because my wife & sister-in-law did most of the talking. The first novel by an Equatorial Guinean woman to be translated into English is an accomplishment alone, but to have this book explore the queer journey from an African view point makes it extra special. I do not know much about Fang culture, their struggles are not that different to those of a Westerner. Even looking at coming of age journey from a western perspective, there is so much to get from this novel.

8. Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz (translated by Sara Moses and Carolina Orloff)

I have probably talked about my love for Argentinian literature too much, but this short little novel is a great example of why I love it. In under 150 pages Ariana Harwicz was able to pack so much more raw emotion into her book than I thought was possible. This is so intense & emotional, it will hit you hard, but I think it is worth it. I have never experienced post-natal depression/psychosis, but I now have a small idea of what it must feel like. Female Argentinian writers are doing amazing things for the literary world, I recommend you pay them attention.

7. Aetherial Worlds: Stories by Tatyana Tolstaya (translated by Anya Migdal)

Yes, this was another episode of my podcast (episode seven), thank you for noticing. Tolstaya must be living in the shadow of her family name, can she ever compare to Leo Tolstoy? She has proven to me at least that she can carry this huge legacy. Her stories are unique in the way it combines her own thoughts with the aetherial world. The highlight in this book will have to be Smoke and Shadows, it really brings out her wicked sense of humour.

6. Fever and Spear (Your Face Tomorrow 1) by Javier Marías (translated by Margaret Jull Costa)

This may only be book one in the Your Face Tomorrow trilogy but there is something about the writing that makes me want everything ever written by this author. I love a good literary thriller but there is so much more to this novel. It is a metaphysical novel with some of the most elegant writing I have ever read in a thriller-like novel. At times you are not sure if you are reading a spy novel or a work of philosophy and I loved every moment I had with this book.

5. Disoriental by Négar Djavadi (translated by Tina Kover)

If you ask me, the wrong book won the first National Book Award for Translated Literature. Disoriental was my pick and I did read the entire longlist. Not to argue but if you are going to debut a new literary prize, your first winner really speaks to the tone of the award. Obviously, Flights could never win because the National Book Foundation needed to distinguish themselves apart from the Man Booker, but you picked the same author that won the inaugural Warwick Prize for Women in Translation last year. I am not bitter about this choice.

4. Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli (translated by Christina MacSweeney)

Yes, this was episode two on my podcast, do you see a trend? I think I just love being able to talk about books with people. This book feels like it is diving into the world of translating and as you can see, I read a lot of books in translation. You can see plenty of trends in my reading from this list along, women in translation and Latin American literature for example. When the first page has a line like “I worked as a reader and translator in a small publishing house dedicated to rescuing ‘foreign gems.’ Nobody bought them, though, because in such an insular culture translation is treated as suspicion. But I liked my work and I believed that for a time I did it well.” I know I am hooked.

3. The Seven Madmen by Roberto Arlt (translated by Nick Caistor)

This Argentinian classic has an afterword by Roberto Bolaño, which gives you a sense of the style and was the reason I picked this book up. The gritty pulp-like writing, is one of my favourite styles of writing to read. What elevated it to the top of my list is just how relevant this book is, ninety years later. Exploring the fanaticism of extremist politics, the book is described as “an uncanny prophesy of the cycle of conflict which would scar his country’s passage through the twentieth century” but really this feels prophetic to the rest of the world as well.

2. Sphinx by Anne Garréta (translated by Emma Ramadan)

I have a top fifteen list prepared for the end of the year, but then I read Sphinx and good bye Out by Natsuo Kirino (trans. by Stephen Snyder). I was so close to putting this at number one, it is that good. Sphinx is a non-binary love story from one of the few female members of Oulipo. I love experimental literature and Garréta challenged my gender expectations by never revealing the gender of the narrator or their love interest. Impressive, but can you imagine trying to avoid genders when you write in French?

1. The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet (translated by Sam Taylor)

Have you ever read a book and thought this was written just for me? This is how I feel about The 7th Function of Language. This is a literary thriller that explores the world of literary criticism. Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Julia Kristeva all play a role in this book and I love the way Binet explores literary criticism without making it difficult for the reader to follow along. I am sure a literary expert might get annoyed by all the explanations of literary theories, but I really appreciated it.

How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard

Posted December 28, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Non-Fiction / 2 Comments

How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre BayardTitle: How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read (Goodreads)
Author: Pierre Bayard
Translator: Jeffrey Mehlman
Published: Granta, 2009
Pages: 176
Genres: Non-Fiction
My Copy: Library Book

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Wordery (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Recommended for lovers of Translated Non-Fiction, or Books about Books

There are many books out there about how to be a better reader. The whole books-about-books sub genre is filled with both reading journeys and strategies to improve the way we read. There is only one book I know of that focuses on how to talk about books without having read them. Pierre Bayard’s How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read teaches us the art form of not reading.

“Because I teach literature at the university level, there is, in fact, no way to avoid commenting on books that most of the time I haven’t even opened. It’s true that this is also the case for the majority of my students, but if even one of them has read the text I’m discussing, there is a risk that at any moment my class will be disrupted and I will find myself humiliated.”

Pierre Bayard adopts the persona of a literature professor who is not interested in reading. While I do believe it as a persona, you must wonder how close the truth it might be; he is in fact a professor. He breaks up the books we have not read into four categories. Books You Don’t Know, Books You Have Skimmed, Books You Have Heard of and Books You Have Forgotten, taking the time to give the reader tips on how to talk about books, whether you have read them or not.

 “When we talk about books…we are talking about our approximate recollections of books… What we preserve of the books we read—whether we take notes or not, and even if we sincerely believe we remember them faithfully—is in truth no more than a few fragments afloat, like so many islands, on an ocean of oblivion…We do not retain in memory complete books identical to the books remembered by everyone else, but rather fragments surviving from partial readings, frequently fused together and further recast by our private fantasies. … What we take to be the books we have read is in fact an anomalous accumulation of fragments of texts, reworked by our imagination and unrelated to the books of others, even if these books are materially identical to ones we have held in our hands.”

While Bayard has adopted a tongue in cheek approach to this book, there is a lot of useful information to be found within the pages. The key here is to develop the confidence to talk about books in general. Look at the BookTube community, one of the staples of that is the book haul. Here people discuss the books they have brought recently, most of which have not read been read yet. The idea is to develop the skills and the confidence to talk about these books. For example, if we talk about a book we have not heard of, we can make assumptions about the text based on the author, cover and many other aspects; we do this all the time when in a bookstore. We see a book and determine if it is something we want to read without knowing anything about the content. Books we have skimmed or forgotten about still mean we have valuable things to say, why did we skim? Why was it so forgettable?

While this was a lot of fun to read, the true message of the book really spoke to me. This idea that we need to develop the confidence to talk about books even when we have not read them or forget major points. I read a novel recently and I somehow skipped a very important event, while talking to my wife it became clear I missed it. Embarrassing? Yes, but it proves just how easy it is to forget or skim over an important part of the book. I know I need to develop more confidence to talk about books, and How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read served as a reminder of this fact. I joined a book club, started a BookTube channel, and even a podcast because I want to talk about books, but I know I still have a long way to go in building my confidence in talking about books in general, not just the ones I have read.

I Want To Do More

Posted December 18, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in What I Think About When I'm Not Blogging / 8 Comments

I have been talking about my future in blogging and other mediums for a while now. I still do not know what the right answer is. As my reading has shown, I want to spend more time talking about books in translation. I am so passionate about my new-found niche that I keep having thoughts of killing my blog and rebuilding it with a focus. Although I think this is a bad idea, I keep wanting to find new ways to promote world literature, because I think it does not get enough attention. It has improved in the past few years but there is a long way to go.

One of the reoccurring thoughts was to build something like Book Riot, Electric Lit or Lithub but have it focus solely on promoting books in translation. However, this idea is just far too big for one person and would require others to help. My past experiences with trying to get others involved have taught me that something like this rarely works unless everyone has the same level of passion. Which has led me to try and come up with new ideas to promote books in translation.

I currently have podcast called Lost in Translations dedicated to talking about books in translation, but I want to do more. I need ideas. I would love to grow the brand and offer more but I need to think smaller. I have decided to do more on the blog that is less reviews and more in the style of essays. Maybe I can incorporate my desire to improve my writing with my passion to promote translations. Maybe I need to start writing those articles promoting world literature but post them on my blog. I do not know, my desires to do more are far greater than my personal abilities. I have big ideas but need to focus on my capabilities.

I hope to be blogging more in the future, it really is my favourite medium and I have tried many. I love my podcast, which needs guests if anyone is interested, but I do think writing might be my primary focus. Next year makes ten years blogging and I hope it will be a successful year for my writing. I write this to communicate the thoughts circling in my head lately and help get myself back into blogging. Between being made redundant and then NaNoWriMo, I have not dedicated much time to writing for the blog. I hope to do more, I miss it. It is almost like an addiction. If I am not posting something it feels like I am not writing, which is not always the case. I guess I just like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I post my writing on my blog.

I think in 2019 I will try transforming my blog more into a media type site, focusing more on writing articles and keeping people informed about world literature. I am not sure what this will look like, if this will mean a name change or anything else. I will just do my part to work towards creating the content I would like to see.

Organising My New Book Shelves

Posted December 13, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 4 Comments

My new bookshelves

A week ago, I was made redundant, a feeling from which I have still not fully recovered. For the last four weeks I was told that I had to show up to work and prepare for this transition. It is meant to be a time where the company can offer support and help try and find new work. Basically, it is a period of time where you are stuck feeling unwanted, not wanting to do any work and waiting to exit from the company. I thought that maybe I could use this time to write and catch up on my blogging or reading but this was not the case. The emotional rollercoaster left me feeling like I was in a slump and not wanting to do much of anything. Every call I got to check up on my felt like I was on suicide watch. It was far more difficult that I could even put into words.

However, I knew I did not want to be there, I was somewhat excited to leave this company. I have been there for twelve years and it felt like the only way I would step out and try something new. So I was excited for the change as well as constantly feeling unwanted. It was a weird cocktail of emotions. It was never really worried about my future, I think I have a plan, I just have to see how it plays out. It was never about the unemployment, I was actually looking forward to some time off, and I had plenty of tasks I wish to complete. It was just the complete combination of everything else and not really knowing how to express everything going on in my head.

Writing about it is not even helping. Usually I find that I am able to fully understand my thoughts when I try to write them down. I have often realised that I felt a particular way while writing. It is weird to discover an emotion you did not know you were having. I am just not very good at expressing myself. Maybe growing up as an outsider has dulled my ability to fully understand my emotions. I know I am not very good at social interactions, so maybe there is a connection.

One of the main tasks for the first week of my redundancy was to sort out some bookshelves. My wife gave me a new bookshelf for my birthday and I had decided to use the two bookshelves in the study as my primary shelves. These are the shelves you see when I film a video for BookTube, so maybe I should fill them with all my books in translation. Obviously, I am new to this niche, so I have combined it with books I love and books I know I want to read. However, the majority of the books on these shelves, I have not read yet, so it pretty much my TBR shelves. I do have a priority pile of books to read in the bedroom, but these are all the other books I want to read. Let’s call it my aspirational reading list.

I added all these books to the shelves in alphabetical order, and it filled up quicker than I expected. The plan is to cull the English books first, but I am hoping this will be a way to start building my library. In other words, if all my other books were to be culled, I would be okay with that. These are the ones I want to keep more than the others. Obviously, I am not going to cull my other books, there are three other shelves full of books, but I am planning to do a major purge. I know I have changed as a reader, and some of these books are never going to be read.

This is my starting point, and I already realise there are gaps that need to be filled. I am missing some Bulgakov, Dostoevsky, and Bolaño. These are authors I love and want to read everything they have written. I have discovered books I have completely forgot about, books I want to re-read right now and books that bring back good memories. A collection of John Keats poetry that remind me of my honeymoon, a Dashiell Hammett novel that I read in Paris, or a beautiful edition of Frankenstein that my wife gave me for our wedding anniversary. These memories and books are all safe together.

My other shelves were never organised in any way and I just love looking through the shelves not knowing what I will discover but with these new shelves I did want the organisation. During the process of sorting the books, I left a whole shelf for a letter that I expected to fill up quickly, like the M’s and N’s but it was never those selves that took up so much space. It was the K’s or the B’s that I was surprised to find the most books. I know it is going to be a lot of work to sort when adding new books to the shelves, but part of the pleasure is going through my shelves.

My dream would be to sort my books out by continent, but I do not own enough books for that, yet. I would easily fill a bookshelf of North American literature but my focus in books in translation would be neglected. I know Europe would be easy to manage but I never want to forget about the rest of the world. I have been focusing on South America lately, but I think more of the books I have read came from the library. Which I will have to start to do more now I do not have a regular income, but these two shelves are there to remind me that I need to read these books and that I need to start filling the gaps. Which will mean, eventually I will need more bookshelves and then I may have enough to sort by continent. These are dreams and goals with my books, I might even have to go through and categorise all these books like a library. Keep track of them in a database, I have the time to do that.

One of the things I love to do is to go to my shelves and look at the books, I know it does not help me keep to my own reading plans, but I just like to be distracted by other books. I am that kind of nerd that is obsessed with literature. You know I am just looking for new ways to talk books with the world.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi

Posted October 19, 2018 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literary Fiction / 8 Comments

Disoriental by Négar DjavadiTitle: Disoriental (Goodreads)
Author: Négar Djavadi
Translator: Tina Kover
Published: Europa Edition, 2018
Pages: 338
Genres: Literary Fiction
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle, Wordery (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Shortlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature 2018
Longlisted for the BTBA 2019

Normally I am not a fan of multi-generational stories but there is always an exception to the rule and Disoriental is just that. My major problem is that there is never enough time spent with the characters. In this novel we follow Kimiâ Sadr who fled Iran with her mother and sisters at the age of ten. They join their father in France in the hopes for a better life. Now fifteen years later Kimiâ is overwhelmed with the memories of her ancestors.

What I loved about this novel is the way Négar Djavadi focuses specifically on one person but uses her as the foundation to look at the ancestry of her family. The constant waves of memories and stories are the driving force of Disoriental which allows the reader to explore the cultural history of Iran. From her great-grandfather Montazemolmolk, who had a harem of fifty-two wives, to Kimiâ, a queer woman sitting in a Parisian fertility clinic.

The inner flap refers to this novel as a kaleidoscopic story and I cannot think of a better way to describe Disoriental. We experience many key moments in Iranian history from the perspective of the Sadr family. We look at the cultural changes, the politics and the family throughout. The difference between Kimiâ and her great-grandfather are vastly different. A key element I found fascinating was the treatment of the LGBTQI community. A place where losing your virginity before marriage, having an affair, or abortion, or even a drug addiction is better than being a homosexual. I was surprised to learn that sex changes are legal in Iran, it is better to change your entire gender identity than be same sex attracted.

This whole history makes up the struggle for Kimiâ in the fertility clinic. She is torn between family traditions and her own ‘disorientalisation’ as a modern woman. While this might sound like a bleak novel and in many ways it really is, Négar Djavadi offers so much tenderness to the whole experience as well. We look at the history, we see the family dramas but we also see the triumphs as well. Living in Paris where Kimiâ has more freedom than she may have had in an alternate life. There is so much more to explore within Disoriental but for me this was a novel of identity. Her family’s past defines Kimiâ Sadr as much as her own identity.

I found so much tenderness within such an important book. It was the little moments in their lives that really helped along the way. For example at the beginning of the novel Kimiâ’s father Dirius never took the elevator. He say they were for ‘them’ and by ‘them’ he meant the citizens of France. In this little anecdote we see so much about the attitude he had as an immigrant. Without going into the bleak backstory we know Dirius Sadr sees himself as a second-class citizen not wanting to do anything that might offend the people around him. This small tale says so much without going into specifics. It is this kind of storytelling that allows Négar Djavadi to write about so much about the world without adding to the bleakness.

I am very impressed with Disoriental. I love a novel that can explore important subjects and deal with the current start of the world without making the whole reading experience feel like a chore. I assume that this novel is semi-biographical but I am only speculating. Négar Djavadi has done an amazing job and it is important to have novels like Disoriental in the world. Tina Kover did a wonderful job translating this book which allows me to understand a little more about the world I live in. I highly recommend Disoriental, and it is my pick to win the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2018.