NEW FRENCH BOOKS IN OUR STORE

« Indignez-vous », by Stéphane Hessel, $ 8

« Engagez-vous », by Stéphane Hessel, $ 11

« Kosaburo, 1945 », by Nicole Roland, $ 23

« HHhH », by Larent Binet, Prix Goncourt du premier roman, $ 12

« Oú j’ai laissé mon âme », by Jérôme Ferrari, Prix Roman France Télévisions, $ 25

« Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d’éléphants », by Mathias Enard, Prix Goncourt des Lycéens 2010, $ 25

« Nagasaki », by Eric Faye, Grand Prix du Roman de l’Académie française, $ 20

« Le Montespan », by Jean Teulé, $ 11

« Apocalypse Bébé », by Virginie Despentes, Prix Renaudot, $ 30

« Le chagrin », by Lionel Duroy, Grand prix Marie Claire du roman d’émotion 2010, $ 14

« L’Entreprise des Indes », by Erik Orsenna, $ 33

« Mathématiques congolaises », by In Koli Jean Bofane, Grand prix littéraire de l’Afrique Noire 2009, $ 13

IL GIORNO PRIMA DELLA FELICITA'

Cos'hanno in comune "Cutting for Stone" di Abraham Verghese e "Il giorno prima della felicita'" di Erri De Luca? A prima vista, quasi nulla. Nel primo siamo in Etiopia e il narratore e' uno di due gemelli identici, britannico-indiani, cresciuti nel mondo della medicina coloniale. Nel secondo siamo a Napoli, nel dopoguerra, e il narratore e' un orfano, la cui madre adottiva lo iscrive a scuola ma non si fa vedere e che cresce da solo in uno stanzino di un palazzo.
Eppure punti comuni ci sono. I narratori sono entrambi orfani (anche se il padre dei gemelli Shiva e Marion non e' morto, ma solo sparito al momento della loro nascita), ma trovano in una figura maschile diversa dal padre biologico un vero padre, un maestro ed una guida.
La guida dello Smilzo e' Don Gaetano, il portiere, che gli porta una pietanza calda la sera e gli scalda una tazza di latte al mattino. Don Gaetano, cresciuto orfano anche lui ("pero' in orfanotrofio, non come me che stavo libero nel palazzo e uscivo per la citta'"), gli racconta della guerra, dell'ebreo nascosto in un rifugio sotterraneo e delle "quattro giornate di Napoli", quando la citta' in rivolta caccio' i tedeschi prima dell'arrivo degli americani.
E' ancora Don Gaetano a facilitare l'iniziazione del ragazzo al sesso, mandandolo a fare lavori di riparazione dalla vedova del secondo piano, e a regalargli quel coltello che gli sara' utile quando l'amore per Anna, la ragazzina del terzo piano ormai diventata la donna di un camorrista, lo mettera' in pericolo.
Inevitabile e necessaria e' la fuga, dopo che lo Smilzo uccide il fidanzato di Anna. "Non potevo continuare la vita che m'era cresciuta, pronta come una pizzella nell'olio di frittura. Mi aveva girato e rigirato, infarinato e poi buttato dentro il tegame nero", dice amaramente lo Smilzo, quando Don Gaetano lo accompagna al porto e gli consegna il biglietto per l'Argentina. Forse tornera', come Don Gaetano aveva fatto anni prima, o forse no."Ora scrivo le pagine sul quaderno a righe mentre la nave punta all'altro capo del mondo. Intorno si muove o sta fermo l'oceano...".

The Tragedy of Korosko, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Nile, Then and Now

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Tragedy of Korosko" tells a century-old tale of radical Islam and Western appeasement that's eerily familiar.

Follow the link below to read the excellent review by Christian Rocca

http://www.camilloblog.it/archivio/2011/02/10/the-nile-then-and-now/

MY LATEST READING: CUTTING FOR STONE

Encouraged by the enthusiasm of my daughter, soon-to-be a medical student, I opened "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese. The three opening paragraphs of the Prologue were enough to hook me to the book and I simply could not put it down.
It is a story of love and betrayal, of medicine and miracles, of dedication and adventure, set in a mission hospital in Ethiopia and then in New York City.
Marion and Shiva are identical twins born of the secret love between a beautiful Indian nun and a British surgeon, whose odd personality and behavior can be understood only in the last pages of the book. Their mother dies in giving birth and their father, unable or unwilling to take care of the babies, disappears. The twins are raised by Hema and Gosh, two doctors also working at Missing Hospital, with extraordinary love and dedication. Inseparable and almost indistinguishable at the beginning, they develop very different personalities and gradually grow apart; never completely apart, though, because they always "know" when one is in need.
We follow them through childhood and adolescence, witness their deep but different fascination with medicine and share their sorrows and successes. The historic events in Ethiopia, from life under the Emperor, to the Eritrean revolt, to the Menghistu years, provide the background, but also play a role in determining the fate of the twins. Marion is the narrator and we follow him through medical school, an internship and residency in the Bronx and the surprising twists of his life in the US.
I see a series of circles in the story: something happens at the beginning, then events develop and you almost lose track of that beginning, but then comes closure, be it in love, family relationships or friendship. Even the unhappy ending seems somehow right, a form of closure too.
I must admit that I raced through the detailed descriptions of medical conditions and surgeries, of which there is a certain abundance. A bit too much for the non medically disposed. But not enough to deter from the beauty of the story!

IL SUCCESSORE di Ismail Kadare'

Vi ricordate l'Albania dei primi anni 80? L'immagine di un paese in preda ad un cupo terrore, ora nemico della vicina Yugoslavia, ora amico della Cina, poi abbandonato da quest'ultima, dominato da un dittatore sanguinario di ortodossia stalinista, riemerge con la lettura di questo libro del grande scrittore albanese Ismail Kadare'.
Prendendo spunto da un avvenimento reale ( la morte del primo ministro Mehmet Shehu, "suicidato" o piuttosto ucciso per ordine del dittatore Hoxha), Kadare' costruisce un romanzo che si legge come un giallo. Chi ha ucciso il Successore? Naturalmente nessuno crede alla versione ufficiale del suicidio e cosi' tutti si spiano alla ricerca di indizi che aiutino a capire cos'e' realmente successo nella notte di quel 13 dicembre.
L'assenza degli emblemi del lutto, le notizie contrastanti, le riunioni del plenum che danno luogo ad esumazioni successive del cadavere, creano un'atmosfera di panico nella popolazione e nei personaggi piu' vicini alle alte sfere del potere. Nessuno si fida di nessuno perche' anche in famiglia c'e' chi tradisce.
Il libro e' scritto in uno stile essenziale e particolarmente efficace. La soluzione del giallo c'e', naturalmente alla fine, ma non sorprendera' molto il lettore, ormai immerso nell'atmosfera di intrighi e tradimenti del regime.
Una lettura consigliata.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

SULLE STRADE DI BARNEY, A Journey in Mordecai Richler's World, by Christian Rocca takes the reader into the world of Barney Panofsky, the fascinating protagonist of the book "Barney's Version" and into the Montreal of its author, Mordecai Richler.
In 2002, one year after Richler's death and on the wave of the extraordinary success of the book in Italy, Rocca traveled to Canada, to the streets and places so vividly described in Barney's Version. Looking for Barney, he found Mordechai Richler and vice versa.
"I never met Mordechai Richler" - writes Rocca in the opening paragraph - "but I feel like we served in the military together". He read all his writings and everything that was written about him; he met his wife, his children and his friends; he walked in "his" streets, ate in "his" restaurants and drank his beloved Macallan.
His fascination with Barney began when "Barney's Version" was published in Italy and the newspaper Rocca was working for, "Il Foglio", began an enthusiastic campaign promoting the book. "Il Foglio" (and his editor, Giuliano Ferrara) loved it, because it was funny , fascinating, romantic, rough, melancholic and politically incorrect and, above all, it was a great love story. The Italians loved it too and the book became a bestseller, selling over three hundred thousand copies.
"Sulle strade di Barney" comes at the moment when interest in the story is revived by the opening of "Barney's Version", the movie. In Rocca's book you will meet Richler's wife ("Florence Richler IS Miriam Panofsky"- writes Rocca), his children and friends; the more you read, the more you are convinced that Barney Panofsky is Mordechai Richler. And the fascination with the two only grows. It will push you, like it happened to me, to read other Richler books, to know more about this author and his world.
Rocca is a very good journalist, his articles and his blog (camillo.it) are a pleasure to read and "Sulle strade di Barney" is no exception. Hopefully an English translation will be available in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy the Italian version and read again "Barney's Version"!

"Sulle strade di Barney - Un viaggio nel mondo di Mordechai Richler" is published by Bompiani.

FESTIVAL OF NEW FRENCH WRITING

French and American writers in conversation under the banner of a “Festival of New French Writing”: enough to attract the attention of an Upstate bookseller with a mission (promoting “books from the world”) and with an undisguised love for the French language. So I went. Three days of conversations at New York University tested my stamina, but were worth the effort.

There were good writers to discover out there, of diverse origin and style but all sharing the same language. From Abdourahman Waberi, the Djibouti born writer who masters the use of satire, to Marie N’Diaye, Olivier Rolin, Emmanuel Carrère, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Frédéric Beigbeder, Marie Darrieussecq, David Foenikos, Chantal Thomas.

Iranian born Marjane Satrapi, author of the graphic novel and memoir Persepolis (subsequently made into a movie) delighted the audience with her witty exchanges with American graphic novelist Chris Ware. And BHL (yes, Bernard-Henri Lévy) was true to his self as “a man of many facets in French and international intellectual society”. His duet with Mark Danner got stuck on the question whether Bin Laden and consorts were “fascists” or not, as if that made a difference to the reality of the jihadist threat.

Other “duets” were also monothematic, a fact that annoyed, for example, E.L. Doctorow. Q&A sessions would have helped move forward some discussions and shift the focus to other subjects.

The American counterparts were equally interesting. Different personalities, often well matched to the French writers because of some similarities in their writing. My favorite was Philip Gourevitch (his book about the Rwandan genocide is a must), but Francine du Plessix Gray, Francine Prose, Siri Hustvedt, E.L. Doctorow and Chris Ware were also stimulating and engaging.

Bios of all the participants and of the moderators can be found on http://www.frenchwritingfestival.com/.