CLASSIC READS: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

At the end of the last year, I´ve proudly announced my new reading project: CLASSIC READS. It is a project in the making for many years, but half-way abandoned due to the lack of time and the many reading temptations I am giving up to during my day. 

My post was supposed to push my commitment and determine me to follow a plan. Which partially happened, as I set up a list and read some books from the list, but still unable to spend enough time reviewing it lately.

But now I am happily breaking the ice and posting my first - hopefully not the last - post from my round the year affair with classical reads.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short - less than 50 pages - novella published in 1892 in The New England Magazine. A bit over ten years later, the author will explain why she wrote the story, largely but not completely inspired by her own story. 

The protagonist of the novella, a woman, writes about her life during a ´retreat´ in a summer home aimed at restoring her mental health. The first person account describes her struggle with the lack of intellectual stimulation, while being forced largely to limit her daily schedule to home-based activities as per the doctor´s advice. And the under-stimulated brain will find her remedy in a Gothic fantasma of women hiding under the decayed wallpaper in her bedroom. 

The world the character belongs to - as the author herself - is a world with strict gender roles and with ´diagnosis´ that are far from following a scientific pathway. Instead, doctors are trying to maintain the social and gender-based distinctions, which was a generic tendency in women´s mental health until few decades ago.

The book raises issues relevant until today and the discussion is always interesting for several aspects. 

From the literary point of view, the episodes of the wallpaper ghosts are the best in terms of the visual effects of the descriptions. I was able to see the shadows and the aparitions from behind the wallpaper in the front of my eyes, hence my reading and re-reading of those passages more than once.

It was a short yet thoughtful read I am glad I had the chance to read it. It just opened up my interest to advance through my classical reads and happily share it on the blog as well. 

CLASSIC READS: Death in Venice/Der Tod in Venedig by Thomas Mann

My next installment of CLASSIC READS is a book I wanted to read for a very long time: Death in Venice/Der Tod in Venedig by Thomas Mann. Mann was an author I admired in my late teenage years and I´ve read most of his books. I loved The Buddenbrooks as I used, and still have, a weakness for books with a social and sociological background. Until now though, I´ve read everything in various translations, therefore my latest ´classical´ was not only a literary challenge, but also a linguistic novelty.

Der Tod in Venedig is a novella that can be easily read within two hours or so. However, I wanted to spend a bit of more time with the text, therefore it took me few days until I was happy with my understanding of the text and ideas.

Let´s talk language though: I´ve seen reviews by native speakers complaining that it is empty and sophisticated on purpose. It could be, but let´s do not ignore that this book was published in 1912. Nowadays, we write and read today in shorter and plain sentences. At the time, literature was a priviledge of the few, therefore it appealed to a very specific category of readers. Unfortunately today, the long and complex sentences in German are rather reserved for highly bureaucratic texts. Inside jokes put aside, if you are reading Proust - another important name on my CLASSICAL READS list - the style, vocabulary and sentence structure is far from the register used in TikTok book reviews. Those were the days.

Back to the novella now: Set in Venice during the 1911 cholera epidemic - that Mann himself experienced while visiting there - it follows Gustav von Aschenbach, a fictional famous author in his 50s, visiting on Island Lido. His stay turns progressively into a deadly obsession as he sees the perfectly beautiful 14-year old Tadzio, who is visiting with his Polish family. The young man is the perfect projection of the ideal of beauty as per Plato´s Phaidros. 

The ambiance and the various locations are described in the smallest details, literally transporting the reader in the 1900s Venice. There are both visual and atmospheric, reflecting at certain extent the emotional troubles Aschenbach is himself going through.

Echoing another novella by Mann, Tonio Kröger - where the main character is progressively acknowledging his status as an artist - Death in Venice is clearly discussing ideas about the role of the artists, as well as his hidden aspirations and aims. Physical beauty therefore is stirring passions, although there are good reasons to compare the novella with Lolita, the gay version, despite the attraction being in Mann´s case purely platonic. I´ve seen some critics mentioning Mann´s homosexual tendencies, but need to read more about it maybe.

There is also a movie inspired by the book by Visconti I haven´t watched yet. 

I have mixed feelings about this novella: reading it was definitely a welcomed linguistic challenge, but from the point of view of the topic as such, not too much. The Buddenbrooks remain my favorite Mann´s work. 

On the other hand, I will hopefully be able soon to read and review soon some relevant critique and biographical books about Thomas Mann that may bring more personal details into picture.

CLASSIC READS: Carmen by Prosper Mérimée illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe

I am of course acquainted with Carmen, but through Bizet´s opera representations (and I am not an opera fan at all). Merimée only through Colomba, that I´ve read eons ago but I have no memories whatsoever. But part of my CLASSIC READS Project, I decided to include Carmen, inspired by the oniric illustrations by Benjamin Lacombe. In other words, I came for the story but stayed for the illustrations.

Although, to be honest, after reading the book - a relatively short one, in few short sessions during one day - I left with some literary informations. 

Mérimée is considered a Romantic, therefore expect topics of impossible love, and femmes fatales. Carmen, apparently inspired by real events, was written in a week and belongs to a chapter in the French literature of fascination with Spanish culture. In the first half of 1800s, the author visited Spain several times and showed interest in the Bohemians, to whom Carmen belonged to. 

The illustrated French version I had access to, includes an article written by Mérimée about Roma groups in Spain that definitely is to be considered loaded with stereotypes, but it belongs to l´esprit du temps and it definitely invites to a critical read.

Carmen is an evil seductress, nonchalantly and aggressively playing with men´s hearts, until her games will turn against her and she will be murdered by one of her admirers - who is also the storyteller, explaining the journey of his broken heart. Love is consuming, an evil takeover of everyone´s destiny. Once it occurs, it is a before and an after, that may straigthforward lead to destruction. All common motives for the Romantic literature.

For me, it was not a special read but it was nevertheless a unique encounter with classical reads worth considering it once in a lifetime. 

To be continued...

CLASSIC READS: So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ translated by Modupé Bodé-Thomas

My CLASSIC READS project took me this time a bit farther away: in Senegal. So Long a Letter by French writing Senegalese author Mariama Bâ (translated from the original French version Une si longue lettre by Modupé Bodé-Thomas) was on my reading list for a very long time. As my interest with this project is not only to cover less known ´classical´ - in my own timeline decision until mid-1990s - reads, but also less read world literature, I loved the chance of spending some time with this book.

This book is ´classical´ in its level of literary achievement for the Senegalese literature. It was published in 1979, and it is the only book Bâ - a teacher, Minister of Health, a feminist - published during her lifetime. The book received the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, an annual prize awarded between 1980 and 2009. 

The book is relatively short - read it within few hours - and is written as a letter that Ramatoulaye - whose name is revealed long towards the end of the story, and when uttered by a man - sent to her childhood friend Aissatou. Ramatoulaye is sharing her struggle and survival after being indirectly faced with the announcement that her husband of 30 years and 12 children took a second wife. The second wife, the same age with the older daughter, in the company of whom he met her, was a victim of her circumstances and the desire of her mother to achieve a social status.

The letter starts with the announcement with the sudden death of her husband, as she details the funeral and the mourning ceremonies. The compassionate tone of the beginning is progressively growing into the anger and frustration of the betrayal she experienced. Abandoned, not divorced, she remained faithful to the love of her youth. Offered to be taken as a second wife herself, by a man who used to be in love with her, she refused. The recipient of her lettr, Aissatou refused radically the same option, ending up as a diplomat and educated free woman.

The book is written very insightfully, with delicate observations about social change and the new wave of ideas, from anthropological observations to city planning, social change in Senegal or religious and sexual education for girls.  

Bâ writes with confidence, as someone aware that she has something to say may be. The translation itself mediates the knowledge for the non-French reader.

I am very grateful for having the time and opportunity to read this book. It shows how women realities may be generated individually, nevertheless are so similar in the ways they affect women worldwide.

Introducing...CLASSIC READS

 

Source: Pixabay

Dear ladies and gents, I have...finally...an announcement to make. This announcement was a long time in the making and I am happy that I can make it official. 

If you are following this blog, especially in the last years, you noticed how often I post and how diverse my interests are. The diversity covers not only the topics though, but also the geographical diversity - as I am trying to represent as much as I can all literary realms - and linguistic too. This year, I´ve reviewed intensively in French, but also Spanish and and Italian. More languages to come in the next months - Portuguese especially.

But what I am about to announce has to do more with the timeline of my reads. I do love a contemporary book with topics pertaining to daily life and topics - especially social media, influencers, hacking etc. As much as I do love to feel at ease in the historical ambiance of the story, I also feel that I do miss some classic references and reads. I miss because not revisited or simply haven´t read yet. 

For few years I was trying to start the massive project of re-reading Proust (in original, obviously). As a teenager, I´ve read it, but being completely opaque, if not adverse to the book - as it was compulsory lecture recommended by my mother - of blessed memory. I couldn´t finish it because I had a very limited motivation for doing it - and so so many great reads on my TBR. 

Probably, I needed a larger commitment, eventually made public and traceable. Also, I needed a list and - excuse my German - a bit of structure. After a bit of research of what I actually missed from the world literature heritage and what I would love to revisit or read - also the reasons why I haven´t done it to date (like an oncle nauseating obsession with Moby Dick)-, the list was done. And my motivation of starting this project also get higher. Although I have to be thankful to Proust for this! (and indirectly to my mom, I suppose).

And...here we are: new year, new list, although as for now I already started a book that would be probably be reviewed in the next days. This new project will add on to other readings that will be featured as usual: interesting blog tours, international contemporary reviews, many ARCs that are waiting for a bit too long...

As usual, I may not know what the future brings in business or everyday life, but books will always be my trustful companions.

Thank you for reading my blog and come back to discover with me the classical gems I am about to introduce you to.

My Bookish 2021

As I usually celebrate my New Year in autumn, I don´t count too much on the ´normal´ end or beginning of the year. However, symbolically at least, the end of the 12 months are important for many organisatorical, legal and economic reasons therefore, although I tried to ignore al the fuss around it, I cannot ignore any more its milestone meaning.

After all, it is not so bad to have more than one New Year, as you have the chance more than once to start anew, but also to look back with less anger. Soon, there will be another year´s end and you still have the chance to make things better.

My bookish 2021 was a fantastic year. Probably the best year as a book blogger, with many posts, new authors every couple of days, representing a wide array of countries and topics. Although my focus - my lifetime mission - was more on reading German books by German-speaking authors (for the first time, I had the chance to cover a lot of titles from the short and long list of Deutscher Buchpreis 2021 and I still have some interesting authors to feature until the next edition of Germany´s most prestigious literary competition), I offered more space for French authors, read in the original language. 

My library bag was heavier and heavier, and the list of ARCs acquired via various editions of NetGalley, Edelweiss oder directly from authors and edition houses is very long.  

Another achievement was to read more poetry and fill my time with many interesting audiobooks. 12 months ago I was less inclided to give a chance to this book format, but I started slowly with nonfiction books and was able to focus my attention to cover complex novels. 

Part of my blogging time was dedicated to taking part of awesome blog tours, organised by the talented queen of books Anne Cater and also by the very brave Corylus Books. It was such a honor and priviledge to be considered for taking part to those tours that brought me often out of my comfort zone and opened my eyes and my soul to new topics and authors.

Although travel was nonexistent in my life - and I was one of those free people that used to be out of their city at least two times the month - and therefore, participation in person to literary events was impossible, Zoom and the power of social media brought me close to authors, topics, literary critics and books that I am interested in. 

With so much time spent at home, or around the home, watching movies filled those long dry hours when I was longing to see other worlds. I went at least once round the world through a very eclectic collection of movies, featuring less known film directors and their movies. As books, films are equally eyes opening and help at a great extent to understand not only individual humans, but their cultural and historical context as well. 

When I don´t read, read about reading or watch movies, I learn languages. For very strict professional reasons, German took most of my time this year and I am relatively satisfied with the results but with some exciting literary translation projects in sight, I tried to spent time with my beloved French as well. Spanish was lucky to get a bit of more attention than usual, and once in a while I tried to pay attention to some Portuguese grammar here, some funny Italian- or Hebrew-spoken movies there, some Arabic poetry once in a while (bad news, one of my favorite Iraqi poet Lamia Abbas died unfortunately this year). 

What´s Next?

I wish I can keep the same pace of intensive and immersive reading for the next 12 months. There are a couple of book tours landing to my page in January and February, and hopefully many more in the making. I have some extraordinary books coming out soon, that I can´t wait to review soon, among which Shahriar Mandanipour and many authors from the Middle East, Carribean and less known literary realms. 

In terms of movies, I want to be even more curious to explore particularly those areas that rarely make it the news. Discovering new, less popular, film directors is also one of my priorities, and hopefully I can share more and more fantastic finds soon.

I promise to keep my ratio of German authors read in original, but I have some important - for me - French project, which is to re-read A la recherche du temps perdu by Proust, a book that has for me a very familiar scent of a lost time. I rarely revisit old books, but this one is relevant for me for more than one reason and I can´t wait to observe where this experience will lead me to. 

On my TBR, there are a couple of classical reads that for various reasons I haven´t read until now, and hopefully I will find the right mood to go through them. I gave myself around 24 months for this project, that includes some Shakespeare´s plays or Ulysses by James Joyce.

I am ready for more poetry and I want to use my time even better the next year. I don´t have necessarily a list, but I do have some books and authors that I hope to add to my bibliography soon. Some works of critical literature and reading more reviews will probably help me hone my own reviewer skills as well.

After being fully vaccinated, me and those I love to have in my life, I hope to be back on the road again, and thus, have a more diverse bookish experience soon, including my taking part to book festivals and other person-to-person events. However, I do count on Zoom meetings as well as a very smart way to connect from anywhere, anytime. This is a habit I will be happy to maintain further in my life.

Although I wish to be more strict with my language diet - Monday: German, Tuesday: Portuguese, Wednesday: Spanish etc. - I know myself too well for being sure that it will be rather chaotic: For example: Monday: One page in Portuguese, and some German writing, and maybe some little Spanish conversation with my friends...I plan to improve significantly a language that I randomly started to learn this year - more details one day, and maybe start anew a language different from all the languages I´ve learn before - Asian language, the easiest one. I would be keen to learn about various Spanish dialects - spoken in Spanish-countries around the world, or to be able to spent more time conversing in Ladino or doing some translations from Yiddish - I´ve produly read the Communist Manifesto in an Yiddish translation recently, don´t blame me. Time is a high commodity and my time is very limited, split between my personal life, my busy work, my books and my loved ones. 

On purpose, I haven´t add anything about writing. Except professional emails in German and book reviews, my writing was almost non-existent and I am not worried about it. With so many changes on all plans, words need a break until figuring out the new realities. I haven´t professionally published in a very very long time, either books or articles or anything at all. I am ready to be back in the writing loop, but not sure how and when. The experience of the last two years is to give myself time and space and all good things will come at the right moment.

As for now, I am happy to be alive, and healthy and surrounded by the best people in my life.

Cheers to a better and kinder 2022!

In the paradise of books: Leipzig Book Fair

Relatively disappointed after visiting the Frankfurt Book Fair two years ago, I was recommended to try Leipzig Book Fair/Buchmesse. My big problem at Frankfurt was that I was ready to buy as many books as possible but found out that such trade is not the main aim of the gathering, but the facilitation of contacts between publishers and editions houses from all over the world. Leipziger Messe instead, my advisers said, is the place where you can see the latest titles, buy them at a good price and enjoy interesting discussions and meetings with authors. As the market is very much focused on Germany I needed some time to be sure that my German is well enough to understand the discussions. Last but not least, I also needed time to go, an achievement that was not possible till this year.

I arrived in Leipzig, a city I visited often in the last months part of my travel writing projects, on a very sunny day. Compared to other occasions, the book spirit was everywhere in town, not only in the bookstores and main bars and libraries or at the university, announcing literary events but also on the street. Switzerland, the guest of honour at the fair, brought to the fair a wise mix of tourism, literary and cultural branding aimed to take the best opportunities of visibilities for the country in Germany. 

After a little bit of wandering in the city, part of my travel writing projects, I took a tram to the North of the city, direction: Fair Trade/Messe. The tram, arriving every 10 minutes, instead of the usual 20 minutes, was packed with book lovers, and the European Babel tower of languages was the indication that I am on the right way. 

Close to the fair location, a mass of people going to the Messe, from all ages, backgrounds and interests. If got lost, there was always a chance to find someone speaking your language helping you for directions. It was the first of the four days of fair, and many schools and even kindergarten from the city and neighbouring areas, including Berlin, organized special day-trips. Seeing so many young people curious about books gave me a good feeling.

For me, the entrance was delayed for another 15 minutes, not only because I wanted to spend some time taking pictures of the revolutionary metal-and-glass building, but also because I needed to register as a journalist to an office situated quite far away from the main entrance. Compared to other registration processes, this one was the easiest and in less than 5 minutes I was holding my accreditation pass.

Let's say that my first direct encounter with Leipziger Messe was rather exotic.It reminded me of the surprise I had at Frankfurt, where I was not having enough of looking at the colourful costumes of the Manga lovers. My year in Japan was still fresh in the memory and didn't know what is going on with me. Since then, I learned that manga comics are extremely popular in Germany, with dedicated fans all over the country. Due to the fact that at the previous Book Fair, almost 27% of the events had a connection with this culture, the organizers of the fair decided to set up a special Manga Convention whose first edition I was honoured to cover as a blogger. 

Besides the colourful costumes and creative outfits, featuring favourite manga heroes, the 20,000 sqm. of the area dedicated to Manga was set for four full days of events, presentations, workshops and discussions. 

Book presentations about fashion and manga life style were under way, attended by a curious and informed audience. For the Cosplay - costume play - two photo booths were installed for keeping the memory of the event.

For the more classical guests, as me, there were also classical kimonos, with beautiful and classical patterns. 

Plus, a culinary corner. Many participants were ready for the next professional challenges, and when they were not answering questions about their works, they were making sketches for their next books.

Apparently, it seemed that every part of the Asian culture was brought to Leipzig, including the traditional game of Go, that is getting popularity in Germany. Some time ago, I attended some demonstrative presentations at the Chinese Institute in Berlin, being told that there is an increased interest for this old strategy game in the country.

As my time in Leipzig and at the Fair was quite limited, I left the Manga Convention, ready to see the real world of books in the German language. After Frankfurt, Leipzig is the second largest book fair in Germany and the most important spring event for the publishing industry. 

This year agenda  of the Leipzig Reads/Leipzig Liest festival included over 2,800 events in more than 365 locations all over the city. The main themes featured were literature, children and adolescent literature, book art, education and knowledge, speaking arenas for authors. Another interesting and relatively of interest politically speaking was tranzyt, focused on Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, with meetings, discussions, photo exhibition and meetings between authors and publishing houses.

Goethe Institut Network plays an important role in promoting the German culture abroad, especially through translations. In the last year, more than 250 German authors were translated in more than 38 languages. The translation processes goes also in the other way, with the latest editions of famous authors in France, US but also Russia, Central and Eastern Europe or Chine being published in translation the day their works are launched in the original language. 

This goes equally with the children literature. Was extremely pleasant to watch the little children listening to book lectures in the playground spaces especially created for the little book lovers. 

Germans are usually reluctant when it comes to embracing new technologies, but this doesn't include the audio-books, where there is an interesting high demand for audio versions. My local library has a very rich updated section where I can find the best titles not always available on print. At the Leipzig fair, there was a huge booth with the latest productions. 

During the fair, many edition houses launched special prices for their books or handbooks or audio language guides. For instance, I was able to purchase as a present a French language audio course for 5 Euro, instead of 20. Many edition houses, including some audio books, offered free issues too. 

The Antiquarian Book Fair was integrated into the Leipzig fair in 1995. At the time, it was considered the first such event, shortly introduced on the program of other book fairs from around the world.

Illustrations are an important part of the book publishing industry, and some of the authors were having their own booths and events in Leipzig.

In Germany, some design schools are preparing book designers and illustrators, thus, schools from the East part of the country were introducing their concepts.

Old printing industries were also presented, with demonstrative tests offering information to the new generation about how the books used to be produced in the old times. Due to its trade history, Leipzig always had its own special place in the European geography of early book production. 

In parallel with the Manga Convention, the curious German public of the comics was offered a delightful introduction to the world of comics. The specialized edition houses presented their latest works, many of them made by local graphic novels authors. One of the most important editorial event was the launch of Comic Atlas Finnland, by the small Berlin edition house Reprodukt, on the occasion of the events promoting Finland as the guest of honour at Frankfurt Book Fair this year. An independent fair was held at the end of the week in Leipzig, gathering most important authors and self-published personalities of the comics world.

The Nordic countries participated with a common booth, but also with separate representative offices of the cultural institutes. A lecture in Icelandic, with German translation was under way during my visit. One of the most active participants was Finland, whose institute in Berlin covering besides Germany also Switzerland and Austria are promoting the branding program Finnland.Cool. For the fair, there were over 30 events hold in more than 10 locations either at the fair or in the city. Due to the diversity of the public, the branding program is covering a variety of activities in different locations: dance, design, book readings for diverse age categories, including YA and children books, fashion, media. At least in the case of Berlin, many of the guests are expat Fins living in Germany or in the capital city. "The program is trying to answer the needs of the region", outlined Marion Holtkamp, the press and PR relations representative of the Finish Institute in Berlin, during an earlier discussion. 

The Asian countries and institutes tried to bring more than books and authors, creating home cultural environment, as in the case of Korea, which has a strong support base among the German public.

Switzerland brought his best publishers and booksellers for increasing the visibility of the German speaking literature in Germany. As usual, the country always introduce itself with an unitary message, also covering tourism and natural diversity. 

Another important moment of the fair was the designation of the winners of the fair, for three categories: literature - the Bosnia-born Sasa Stanisic, whose book How the Soldier repaired the gramophone I strongly recommend; Helmut Lethem, for essay; and Robin Detje for translation. 

Time goes fast when you have books around. And I needed to say good-bye. The monumental rose in the front of the exhibition hall, created by Iza Genzhen in 1997, is a reminder of the fragility and ephemerality of life. Back in the city, everything looked different. People with luggage and maps, looking for bookstore locations were everywhere on Nikolaistrasse. Sign that books can change not only people, but also the inner life of cities. 

A Year of Many Beautiful Books

By far, 2017 was the best year ever of my 7-year old bookish baby blog. With over 250 books I've read and reviewed on Amazon.com and Goodreads, tons of good books obtained via NetGalley.com and a lot of individual collaborations with beautiful writers and their books, the last 12 months were an amazing bookish experience. 

My best Books of the Year

My pleasure of reading reached new levels, with new ways of reading and understanding the written word and its challenges. I've started the year with a great lecture, which reminded me of the classical A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. The reading list continued with better and better books: Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien and Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, beautiful saga of identity, or the inspiring life  journey of Henrietta Lachs. The Patriots, by Sana Krasikov was a book that brought back a lot of personal memories, and the promise that maybe one day I will be able to put on paper that novel I am sometimes dreaming too much about. I enjoyed a lot of thrillers, but as usual, those with a political layer or connections are always my favorites, therefore I loved reading Siren, by Annemarie Neary, dealing with post-conflict stories in Northern Ireland. For the sake of the intense intellectual musings, The Idiot by Elif Batuman was my number one choice. The short stories from Rotten Row by Petina Gappah opened to me the African storytelling worlds. My last - but not least - favorite reads of the year were the captivating page turning YA novel Rosemarked, by Livia Blackburne and the emotional poetry book by my dear Monica Bhide, Telltales, my first review of poetry ever - but hopefully not the last one. Celeste Ng, with her Everything I Never Told You was my revelation too, and can't wait to read her newest book in the next days too. 

In addition to the book reviews, I also often participated to book tours, published interview with writers and guest posts by authors. Because I am also a travel writer, I included in many of my adventures on the road, visits to libraries, some of them being appreciated not only for their bookish richness, but also for their architectural exquisitiveness, like the Stuttgart Public Library. 

2018 Will Get Even Better

I want to believe that it is up to me to make 2018 even better. Besides NetGalley.com, I am now  receiving also books via Edelweiss and Librarything.com, all of them considered top releases for the coming year. For the month of January, I am already having two important book tour scheduled, and at least 20 interesting book reviews ready to be published. I am also decided to offer more space to poetry, but also to revisit and read some classical literature books. 

As a subscriber to the French and German languages editions of NetGalley, expect to have more books written by non-English authors too, read in the original language. I do have my secret plan to get to know as many local authors as possible from non-English speaking countries and I will do my best to advance my knowledge about writers from other worlds too. I would also love to feature more German authors and insights about the local publishing industry. 

I am looking forward to new collaboration, getting to know new authors and their books and who knows, maybe this year I will be able to finally join again the NaNoWriMo writing competition for my first fiction novel. Meanwhile, I do have 4 non-fiction books coming up, after a long writing hiatus of almost 4 years. 

My social media presence, as for now, will be mostly limited to blogging, sharing my posts on Twitter where I also connect to writers, publishing houses and readers and my usual sharing on Google+ groups, Amazon.com and Goodreads. I am not giving any change yet to Instagram or Facebook, as for now I am already struggling hard to improve my audience with two other blogging projects. 

As usual, hard work, consistency and reliability will be my main directions, with a lot of planning and long hours invested in every single blog post. I am looking forward to new bookish adventures!

Until then, a successful, healthy and very bookish 2018, to me and you, my dear readers!

Le Suspendu de Conakry: An Easygoing Slowpaced French Mystery

Since coming back from France/Toulouse, less than one month ago I can't stop thinking about the overwhelming feeling of being home in the language. Ten years of Germany and many others across the world that brought new languages and cultures into my life did not change at all the familiarity I have with the French language and the easiness of feeling at home anywhere on the French territory. Compared to Germany, no one is asking me where I am coming from because I am automatically considered a local and using the language outlines this belonging.

Although I do not believe in New Year's resolutions, I wish to myself more French books and more trips to France in the next month, because this conundrum of culture and civilization is an important part of my identity and personal history.

I brought from France a couple of books not necessarily belonging to the Top 10 - and definitely no Houllebecq - but that caught my attention for very specific reasons. Among them, Le Suspendu de Conakry by Jean-Christophe Rufin, member of the French Academy and one of the founders of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders). The catch: the short presentation on the cover about a Romanian consul that helped to solve a mystery. 

This Romanian, Aurel Timescu is a hilarious creature: speaks French with a bad accent - got his position in Quay d'Orsay - the headquarters of the French diplomacy - due to a good marriage connection, is semi-alcoholic (he loves Tokay, as partly Hungarian) and a bit psychotic and used to play piano in a brothel before. While working in consular affairs at the French Embassy in Conakry, Guinea, he is isolated and constantly humiliated professionally. While on professional assignment outside the embassy he dresses completely indequate, with an old world touch that adds even more awkwardness to the character. Flashes of his Romanian past during the communist times are constantly sparkling during the story, and they integrate well into the bigger narrative.

Completely on himself, and without informing his superiors, he is solving the riddle of the killing of a French national whose body was found hunging in the port of Conakry. By using almost medium skills and lucky connections with the locals, plus a bit of intuition, he's able to find the solution, but justice after death will not be delivered though. Aurel Timescu is that hilarious anti-hero which is following his own way but his satisfaction is mostly personal. No upgrade of his peculiar diplomatic status either.

The book is one of those airplane or weekend reads that you finish in one reading. It has some traits of the classical mysteries, with out-of-the blue hints that only the author can predict. As a reader, one feels like a passive receiver of information but regardless how much you know you will never manage enough to solve the case yourself.

Also, it has way too many aesthetics which beautifully add some literary drama to the story but it is not necessarily what I am looking for in a mystery. 

As for the Timescu guy, he has a unique personality, but it is the kind of people I usually avoid both in my real and literary lives, as it has 'looser' written all over.

There are another 2 books that will be part of the series but most likely would love to try another new French author instead.

De gustibus, after all...

Rating: 3 stars 

Book Review: Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir translated by Sandra Smith

Intro: Can I pinch a bit myself? Me, practically a no one, with no literary training, I am reviewing - although for a very very small audience - sure 1, hopefully at least 5 -, Simone de Beauvoir? That Simone whose books were my inspiration for my rebelious teenage years. The Simone de Beauvoir whose Tous les gens sont mortels or The Third Sex or The Mandarins were my bread and butter and the red wine of my teenage years. I even dreamed one day to have a life partner so smart and famous like Sartre - not the case any more. Who I am to scribble out in the air my thoughts and bits of self-made literary criticism? I asked the wind. No one, comes the answer back, but still do it because it´s your mission to write and there is nothing else you can do better, anyway.

Inseparables translated from French by Sandra Smith, a story of a teenage friendship inspired from a real-life female friendschip, by Simone de Beauvoir was published this September, 35 years after de Beauvoir´s death. I rarely read French novels in translation but I was so eager to get this particular novel that I made an exception. Smith who translated, among others, all the books by Irène Némirovosky as well as Camus and Maupassant, offered an excellent English rendition that reads as fluently as an original version.

The novel was initially finished in 1954. De Beauvoir made no secret in have written it, as she mentions in her memoirs of having showed it to her lifetime companion, Sartre, who ´held his nose´ after reading it. She recognize herself that the novel is not worth publishing it and ignore it. 75 years later, her adopted daughter and companion for over 25 years, Sylvie le Bon de Beauvoir in charge with her literary legacy - who wrote the postface of my edition adding some letters exchanged between Simone and the female inspiration of the character of Andrée - discovered it and published it. 

Is this fair to risk such a publishing decision? Although there is no explicit mention in de Beauvoir´s will regarding the publishing of this book, doing it without the explicit agreement of the author may affect the literary legacy as such. Maybe a critical, annotated edition will be important in order to create the proper context and eventually avoid a negative reflection on her literary works. Was she really convinced that Sartre´s rejection was deserved or just accepted it for intellectual connivence reasons? We would definitely not have the answers to this questions, and one can speculate that Sartre tried in fact to belittle her - and probably he did it more than once - but as for now, that´s all we have, speculations...

But we have something else as well, which is Inseparables, labelled in France as ´a tragic lesbian love story´. A short - around 200 pages long - book about the friendship between Sylvie, a shy Catholic schoolgirl, and the rebelious Andrée Gallard. They met - in the book - as they were ten and stayed friends until Andrée´s death of encephalitis shortly after her 21st birthday. The model of this friendship was inspired by Simone de Beauvoir´s own relationship with Zaza, Elisabeth Lacoin, who died of the same malady as a young woman. Andrée´s fiancé, Pascal, is inspired by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, another important existentialist French philosopher at the time.

For me, personally, the book was a pleasure, my Proustian Madeleine as the style and the topics, as well as the approach in building the story and the characters reminded me of the times when I couldn´t wait to find my voice - as a woman and writing-addict. The meeting between the conventional - Sylvie - and the unconventional - Andrée - and the efforts towards outliving a social system based on caste and prestige, inamovible and rigid, is a typical feature of many novels written at the time, particularly by women. De Beauvoir herself developped such topics in her memoirs and novels. 

Reading such novels with the eyes of the 21st century, used with literary complexities and fine constructions of stories and characters may lead to the conclusion that books like this belong to the past. Many of the constraints and approaches of the characters, women characters, are obsolete and awkward and there is no fine style take to be found. 

However, a contextualisation of the story - in terms of mentality and social evolution - may prove that although maybe Inseparables is more ´intimate´ than a literary achievement, it is a novel shaped according to the classical literature matrix which does have something to say to an out-of-time audience. About women, about love, about what we expect from each other. 

Rating: 3.5 stars (but stars are largely relative in this case)