Recent content by Johnny

No problem, really great post on Sara Danius.

Great post and a reminder what a great loss Sara Danius’ untimely passing was to literature. Small correction Banville is Irish, not British.

Agreed, still Via Gemito remains high on the TBR. Maybe I’m being cynical but 6 different books in 6 different languages from 6 different countries from 3 continents looks like literary merit may not have been the only consideration.

Was it not Gospodinov with Time Shelter?

Agreed, seems a light enough list. The 2 standouts for me are Solenoid and Praiseworthy. Both authors seem to be getting a lot of recognition at the moment. I haven’t read Alexis Wright yet and only Blinding by Cartarescu which I thought was outstanding. Has anyone read Solenoid?

Yes I agree the Starnone book jumped off the list for me as the most interesting, also. I’ve read him before and liked his writing a lot. Also Kadare is kind of fascinating, if he won I believe he’d be the first repeat winner( he was the very first winner when the prize was awarded for a body of...

I just bought Mourning by Halfon, will be very interested to see if it’s as good. Cancion is on the Dublin International literary longlist ( shortlist to be announced in a few weeks) as is Crooked Plow.

Haven’t read any of them, disappointing not to see Cancion by Eduardo Halfon on the list, just finished it and it’s great, will post a review when I get a chance.

Merci beaucoup Nagisa for taking the time to write such a wonderful commentary on Gracq. Ah if only I could read him in French!

Thank you for your response and I will indeed read those reviews. I found it very interesting your reference to patience and a demanding read. The Peninsula in the edition I have is small, pocket sized and just over 100 pages. I thought I would read it in a few sittings but it took we well over...

The Peninsula, Julian Gracq I know very little about Gracq but I found this book very impressive. A man waits for his girlfriend / mistress at a station, she telegrams to say she’ll be late and he spends the day driving around rural Brittany revisiting his old childhood holiday spots. That’s it...

I thought Summertime was the best of the trilogy. Highly innovative, written by a fictional biographer of the now deceased Coetzee who visits old lovers and friends as well as fragments of Coetzee’s diaries in researching his biography. Again a very unflattering portrait of the artist. A truly...

Thanks for posting. I’ve only read The Tempest which I can strongly recommend. Great writer and very interesting guy.

Damion Searls reads the Forum, it doesn’t get much cooler than that!

Let’s hope so, this is on the short term TBR list for me. It would be great if he can go out with a masterpiece, the interview he just did seems to suggest this will be his last book.