Seuss in Translation

How do you think the rhyming scheme sounds in Hebrew? My guess is awesome.

Book of the Month/Books in Translation

Even with the amount of press that Roberto Bolaño has had over the last couple years, even from us, and with Horacio Castellanos Moya's- an author who's books She-Devil in the Mirror and Senselessness I consider to be a couple of the best books I read last year- article Bolaño Inc. damning North American press as being "squeezed dry", I would like everyone to read Monsieur Pain, the latest of Bolaño's novels to be released from New Directions.

My reasoning is this: Bolaño has been over marketed in the United States, primarily for Savage Detectives and 2666, both of which I found to be unstructured and a little to rambling for my liking and both of which I felt seemed a little unfinished.

But Bolaño is a master. He knew that his short fiction, short stories or novels, had to be exact and precise. This is the Bolaño that New Directions has been putting out since his death in 2003. These are books where every word matters, every action, description, and character planned out. They are books that deal with love, death, paranoia, and corruption. Monsieur Pain is no different.

Monsieur Pain is trying to cure César Vallejo, the Peruvian poet, who is on the verge of hiccuping himself to death from an undiagnosed illness. Meanwhile Pain is wandering through Paris trying to tie up the mystery that surrounds him.

If you want to read the true Roberto Bolaño, read Chris Andrews' amazing translations from New Directions...and why not start with Monsieur Pain? I guarantee you'll like it.

Books In Translation...

To continue with my books in translation series I realized that I hadn't written about the last three books that I had finished, not to mention that they are all recent works in translation from New Directions...

The first was put out in the beginning of February- Bad Nature, or With Elvis In Mexico. It is part of their New Directions Pearls Series, containing short works in a small and sleek format for around ten bucks. Others in this series have been Federico García Lorca's In Search of Duende, Tennessee Williams' Tales of Desire, and the forthcoming Everything and Nothing by Borges...

Bad Nature is a short novel by the amazing Spanish novelist/journalist/translator of major English works into Spanish, Javier Marías. Marías is best known for his three volume trilogy Your Face Tomorrow (each word is a link to each volume) also published by New Directions...

Bad Nature is a quick read, and definitely larger than its 57 pages. It is narrated by a young Spanish kid working on Elvis' 13th film Fun In Acapulco. It is short so I don't want to give anything away but this is a great read (and inexpensive at that).

Stay tuned next Sunday when I will talk about either one or both of the latest Roberto Bolaño novels to be put out by New Directions; Monsieur Pain and The Skating Rink.

Books in Translation

This week's featured book in translation is by Nobel Prize-winning Herta Müller. The Passport is a dark and lyrical journey through post-World War II Romania.

I have been entranced by this book for the last few days. It is a tough look at Romanians trying to leave a country destroyed by war.

While The Passport is a dark and sad tale, it's written in short and brilliant chapters. Müller has an understanding of human nature that is both insightful and scary.

Follow Windisch as he bicycles through his town trying to find an escape to Germany for him and his family.

Müller's writing is dark and beautiful, showing the lives of a town trying to escape their past. It is a short, dark book. . .but one that is worth reading.