An end of week recap

“Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.”
– Gabriel García Márquez

A short one this week, I’m afraid. Profuse apologies to everyone.

This is a weekly post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the nightstand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings.

CHATTERBOOKS >>

If you are planning a reading event, challenge, competition or anything else likely to be of interest to the book blogging community, please let me know. I will happily share your news here with the fabulous array of bibliowonks who read this weekly wind up.

* Irresistible Items *

Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I generally make a point of tweeting my favourite finds (or adding them to my Facebook group page), but in case you missed anything, here are a selection of interesting snippets:

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The Guardian: Margaret Atwood to publish ‘highly personal’ collection of short stories – “When it is published next year Old Babes in the Wood will mark the author’s first return to fiction since 2019’s The Testaments.” 

The New Statesman: Why are so many literary prizes closing? – “As several prizes are forced to pause or shut down, writers in the UK say they are losing a ‘lifeline’, reports Ellen Peirson-Hagger. 

The New York Times: The Life and Death of Daniel Auster, a Son of Literary Brooklyn – “Memorably depicted in his father’s books, he struggled with drug addiction through a life that put him close to a notorious murder and came to an end in a family tragedy.”

Public Books: The Text: Do Not Disturb – Does loving a work of literature mean seizing it? How should critics feel about their feelings toward a text? Yoon Sun Lee attempts to answer these questions.

Vox: How to fall back in love with reading – “Even,” insists Alissa Wilkinson, “when your brain feels like mush.”

LARB: “Writers Are the Middlemen Between the Human Race and Immortality”: A Conversation with Yuri Andrukhovych – The Ukrainian novelist, Yuri Andrukhovych, speaks to Kate Tsurkan about “the role of language in Ukrainian society, especially in the context of war.”

The New Yorker: The Reclusive Giant of Australian Letters – “Gerald Murnane’s new book, billed as his last, surveys the rest of his output.”

The Center For Fiction: Announcing The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize Longlist – The longlist for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize has been revealed.

Air Mail: Under the Influence – “Jumi Bello was on track to be a major writer—until her debut novel was dropped amid rumors of plagiarism. What happened is a tale as complex as anything she appropriated,” says Johanna Berkman.

ProPublica: Patrick Radden Keefe Gets to the Bottom of It – “The author of Rogues talks [to Ava Kofman] about craft, cracking cold cases and his aversion to “cinematic” journalism.”

Brisbane Times: ‘It feels pretty bloody good’: Jennifer Down wins Miles Franklin Award – At the age of 31, Down is one of the youngest winners of Australia’s premier literary fiction award.

Sahan Journal: Mary Taris couldn’t find enough books with Black characters for her children. Now, she’s opening a bookstore in downtown Minneapolis. – “Mary Taris couldn’t find enough books for her children featuring Black characters, so she founded her own publishing company–Strive Community Publishing.”

PEN Transmissions: Books, Books, Books – “Julian Barnes on reading books, collecting books, and annotating books.”

Pop Matters: Translation As a Tool of Power: An Interview with Novelist R.F. Kuang – “Award-winning author, translator, and academic R.F. Kuang’s newest novel, Babel, dives into the depths of deception wrought by colonialism, empire, and language.”

Literary Hub: When Journalists Turn to Fiction: A Reading List – “Katie Hafner recommends Anna Quindlen, Geraldine Brooks” and others.

Cup of Stars: On Writing and the Business of Writing – Carmen Maria Machado explains how “the book isn’t done, until it is.”

Words Without Borders: 8 Poetry Collections in Translation to Read in 2022 – WWB rounds up “recent and forthcoming collections of poetry in translation that you won’t want to miss this year.”

The Atlantic: Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky – Mikhail Shishkin cannot understand “why people hate all things Russian now.” Their literature, he argues, “did not put Putin in power or cause this war.”

Evening Standard: Booker Prize 2022 longlist features oldest and youngest nominees – “The winner of the prestigious prize will be announced on October 17 at London’s Serpentine Pavilion,” reveals Ellie Iorizzo.

Taiwan News: Taiwan literature faces different publishing climates in Europe – “Translation project leaders share experiences with French, German and Polish publishing markets.”

The Asian Age: Book Review | Novelist’s craft transforms the Jallianwala Bagh story – “The truth of fiction is different from the truth of history,” says Namita Gokhale. “It searches different registers, touches different chords.”

The Rumpus: Between the Lands of the Living And The Dead: When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo – As “the St. Bernard women in Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s debut novel When We Were Birds have understood from generation to generation, the dead need to stay dead,” writes Keishel Williams. 

BBC Wales: Call for LGBTQ+ books in Welsh language studies – “There is a lack of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representation on Welsh literature courses in schools, it is claimed.”

Vanguard: Toasting Babes with Onitsha Market Literature – According to Maxim Uzoatu, “the sweetest words and phrases were made in Onitsha,” a city located on the eastern bank of the Niger River, in Anambra State, Nigeria.

The Smithsonian: Why Hitler and Stalin Hated Esperanto, the 135-Year-Old Language of Peace – “Jewish doctor L.L. Zamenhof created Esperanto as a way for diverse groups to easily communicate,” finds Joshua Holzer.

The Charlotte Observer: NC bookstore owner: Online trolls are trying to ruin my business. I won’t back down. – Bookstore owner Alissa Redmond has been “the target of online trolls and boycotts because she supports equality and Black Lives Matter.”

Esquire: The Crypto Revolution Wants to Reimagine Books – “Several startups believe that web3 technologies will upend how authors make a living—and how we define who owns a story,” reports Elle Griffin.

Arts Hub: Discovery of WW1 graphic novel might re-write history books – “A German cartoonist’s account of life in an Australian WWI internment camp is being claimed as the world’s first-known autobiographical graphic novel.”

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FINALLY >>

If there is something you would particularly like to see on Winding Up the Week or if you have any suggestions, questions or comments for Book Jotter in general, please drop me a line or comment below. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I wish you a week bountiful in books and rich in reading.

NB In this feature, ‘winding up’ refers to the act of concluding something and should not be confused with the British expression: ‘wind-up’ – an age-old pastime of ‘winding-up’ friends and family by teasing or playing pranks on them. If you would like to know more about this expression, there is an excellent description on Urban Dictionary.

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: Books, Gabriel García Márquez, Reading