16.04.08 How to Solve Global Warming: Buy More Books!
April 16, 2008
In today's environment-conscious world, they also have another valuable function. "Books are the original insulator. A shelf of books along an outside wall works well to prevent heat escaping," says Joel Rickett. "If all the books were removed from the homes in Britain, our energy bills would rocket."Works for me!
via Bookshelf
Give Me (Songs for Lovers) – Irina Denezhkina
April 14, 2008
Irina, a pretty girl in her early twenties, is already an international acclaimed writer. The short stories are located in nowadays urban Russia and the recipe used is not at all sophisticated. The main ingredients are teenagers, rock and roll, cheap alcohol, violence, swear words, sex and occasionally, love
The storytelling is more appropriate for sketches rather than stories, in which she fools around with her creative toolbox, it’s a little bit like taking a photo and playing with it in photoshop for a while, applying different filters and effects just to see what comes out.
One story called ‘Vasya and the Green Men’ stands out from the crowd, a very sweet cream of whimsical fantasy.
The English translation, Give me: (Song For Lovers) doesn’t leave in your mouth any special aftertaste, however, reading the original Russian version might be a completely different cup of coffee.
Death at Intervals, Jose Saramago
April 14, 2008
It was when I realized that it gets more and more difficult to choose a book from the bookstores when the idea of Literary Agenda was born. Too much emphasis on the cover, on all those “A brilliant masterpiece, says Famous Newspaper” bling-bling paragraphs on the front cover, back cover, first pages, everywhere.
After I felt in several ‘compelling’ traps and paid some good money on disco-books (I’m not saying that books are expensive, just that I paid too much for some products that did not satisfy my expectations), I decided it must be me. I am not in touch with the latest literary news.
Literary Agenda is still in its early days, but it did help me slalom through the new releases and chose better.
It makes me happy to find out that Jose Saramago gives us a new novel, Death at Intervals
It doesn’t come as a complete novelty that Saramago deprives his characters of a vital function. After an pandemic of blindness
The discovery that death is still a possibility in a neighbouring country gives rise to nocturnal border-crossings. Language ceases to fulfill its descriptive function: “New Year, New Life” is hardly appropriate on 1 January, when death itself has died. [The Independent]
Having concluded that simply snatching mortals away without warning is not only cruel but also leaves a lot of loose ends, she begins to send little violet warning letters. The population’s reaction is predictably hysterical and the handwriting analyst contracted to examine the letters concludes, brilliantly, that death has the handwriting of a serial killer. [The Guardian]
Mario Vargas Llosa – The Language Of Passion
April 8, 2008
First of all, don’t get turned off by the title. The Language of Passion it’s not another book about love. And this is not a novel either. Llosa is a guy who was always keen to make his political and social opinions public. This book is a collection of essays and editorials – grouped under the title ‘selected commentary’ – which appeared in El Pais (and a few other affiliated publications) during the nineties and, as himself notes in the opening page, covers a broad range of topics. So he’s not only dwelling with political issues – undoubtedly his favorite – but also with social, moral, religious, historical, economical or geographical ones.
Each piece was written in a different country and city, as a reflection of his thoughts on a given subject, into which he, apparently just stumbled at that time. They don’t look like newspaper articles, but rather like small pieces of literature. Maybe that’s the trick, to take the reader onto a journey he/she usually only experiences while reading an entire novel.
For people used to his books this will definitely show a completely different face of the author. He’s a witty, smart, feet on the ground person, unlike the characters in his books and his reasoning is always straightforward, whether or not the public is willing to agree with him. As a politician, to be fair we should better call him an ex-politician, the way of exposing sickness, crime, discrimination, hatred, stupidity, prejudice, falsity will always be picturesque and easy to follow. At the same time, as a gifted writer he can transcend his own inner feelings of happiness, sorrow, sympathy or pity into stories that reach a wide public, as the audience of a big newspaper is. Therefore, if you are interested in seeing how this famous writer actually thinks outside his fiction books, this collection is definitely a nice experience.
Third World, Carlos Fuentes
April 8, 2008
Carlos Fuentes, one of the most famous Spanish-American writers, today almost 80 years old, dislikes George W. Bush, takes part in political debates and promises that when American presidency campaign will rich the hottest phase, he will start writing political essays against Republicans. Reason? They are bad for the world. Bush’s time has to be finished. “I’ve started to criticize him already when he was a presidential candidate. And I’m doing it till now – said the writer. I’ve always known that his tenure as president will end up as huge disaster.”
Fuentes is castigating Americans for the reason that they don’t respect their neighbors, suffer from lack of empathy and conquer the entire world. The writer also takes part in Mexican debates – the most recently is for drugs legalization. Says: “When drugs become legal, won’t be so attractive and a spate of crimes will be declined”.
Everybody recons with his word. Worldly newspapers seek for his essays, like “El Pais” where he regularly publishes his comments. Few years earlier we were reading his “Eagle’s Armchair”, a political fiction about fights for authority in Mexico in 2020,his essay “Contra Bush/against Bush
