Literature and Poetry Reviews, Home of the Virtual Poetry Circle
Here’s another few reasons to be thankful, at least for these winners:
Leslie of Under My Apple Tree won the latest U.S. release from Jill Mansell, A Walk in the Park.
Lori of She Treads Softly won Molly Ringwald’s When it Happens to You.
Kathy of Bermudaonion won Thirty Days With Father by Christal Presley.
Congrats to all of you!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating here in the United States today. I want to wish you and your families a great day of good food, conversation, and maybe even reading or at least the sharing of books with your loved ones.
Here’s to a full cornucopia for all of you!
Today on WWI Week at Historical Tapestry, my review of The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry (Second Edition) edited by Jon Silkin and David McDuff.
Mine is just one guest post in a slew of guest posts, reviews, and other activities to remember the 100th Anniversary of the start of WWI.
I hope that you’ll stop by and check out my review and some of the other WWI-related posts between Nov. 4-17.
Many of us bloggers and readers spend a lot of time traveling social media sharing books we find and adding new books to our wish lists and tbr piles. I’ve signed up for GoodReads, LibraryThing, and Pinterest to manage my lists, but Riffle, an app for Facebook users, allows us not only to have shelves of recommendations for our followers, but also visual covers of those books just like Pinterest.
If you’d like to check it out, click on the logo at the top to gain access — TODAY Only!
September is a good month to watch the leaves change, experience the cool down in temperatures, and enjoy the local and not-so-local authors attending the book festivals in the Washington, D.C., area. While most know about The National Book Festival, Virginia’s Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University started this week on Sept. 26 and continues through this weekend. Among the authors expected are Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Rita Dove, Alice Walker, Katherine Boo, Karen Russell, and Amy Waldman. Over six days, readers and writers have the chance to meet 150 authors.
Alma Katsu, whose books (The Taker series) have been reviewed here, will be participating on a literary and genre fiction panel hosted by the National Book Festival that also features novelists Julianna Baggott and Louis Bayard as well as Salon.com founder and critic Laura Miller on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 1:30 p.m. in the Johnson Center on Mason’s Fairfax Campus. In addition to literature, Fall for the Book Festival also offers panels on the election and how to tap political independents and navigate the political landscape as well as a higher education panel to look at the challenges ahead for universities.
Today’s events will be headlined by Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline and The Graveyard Book, and at 7:30 p.m. he will receive the 2012 Mason Award for “extraordinary contributions in bringing literature to a wide reading public.” From memoirists to novelists and short story writers, today’s events offer a great deal for readers to check out, including a screening of The Color Purple at the Johnson Center Cinema and poet Cathy Park Hong.
On Saturday, Sept. 29, readers and families can attend the regional library book sale, a children’s book panel, a superheroes panel, a poetry reading, as well as the opportunity to visit with Laura Lippman, learn about political thrillers, and much more. On the final day of the festival, attendees can hear from Congressman Tim Ryan, check out the George Mason Alumni Reading, and check out writing from student writers at the Falling for the Story event. Check out the full schedule.
In addition to the Fall for the Book festival in Virginia, the D.C. area also can enjoy the Baltimore Book Festival, typically held during the same weekend as last weekend’s National Book Festival, starting today. This weekend, the Baltimore festival brings back Free Friday Feedback at 12 p.m., in which unpublished writers can bring three poems or up to five pages of double-spaced prose for some on-the-spot commentary from published writers. From book sales to performances by the Baltimore Public Schools, the festival offers entertainment focused on books, music, and more.
On Saturday, Sept. 29, during the My America Playwrights panel, Neil LaBute, Christopher Durang, and Lydia Diamond will talk about their roles as writers in theater and what it means to be a playwright. At 12 p.m. a tribute to activist poet Lucille Clifton, sponsored by Little Patuxent Review, will likely draw a big crowd, though it will have to compete for audience with Emily Giffin, whose books have become popular, including her latest book, Where We Belong. And as always, there will be a literary walking tour, local businesses displaying their products and services, and panels on women’s fiction, young adult romance, steampunk, and how to cross genres.
On Sunday, Sept. 30, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) will showcase the winners of the annual Individual Artist Awards for playwrights, and the Hope Family Choir will offer the soothing sounds of contemporary gospel music. At 2 p.m. there will be a musical library tour, and Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall, the creators of Ivy and Bean, will unveil the latest book in the series, Ivy and Bean Make the Rules. Maryland native Michael Tucker, former L.A. Law attorney Stuart Markowitz, returns to talk about his debut novel, After Annie. And if you miss Laura Lippman at the Virginia Fall for the Book Festival, you can catch her in Baltimore. Check out the full schedule.
This weekend is shaping up to be the best in books and reading all year.
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First, I wanted to reach out and thank those who came to the translation reading, including my wonderful book club. Second, the day began with an incredible baking spree, so I’d like to thank Anna’s daughter for all of her expert assistance. We spent a great deal of the morning mixing and mashing and baking Danish and Norwegian treats for the readers and the audience. The recipes I chose were Danish Apple Cake, Danish Butter Cookies, and Norwegian Spice Cookies. All of these recipes were easy to follow, so we made these easily with a few modifications, such as no cardamom (which is outrageous at $15+ at the supermarket) and no nuts.
We set up a circle of chairs for an intimate reading at Novel Places, put the goodies out at the front table, and waited. Books were ready and soon too were the poet and the translators. K.E. Semmel read first from The Caller by Karin Fossum (you may be able to get a translator signed copy if you contact the local bookstore), which he translated for the U.K. market originally before it was published here in the United States. I think he read just enough to get everyone interested in the Norwegian author’s mystery novel, which he later said offers some of the most harrowing scenes a parent could read. He also told the audience that he translated both The Caller and Jussi Adler-Olsen’s The Absent One without any direct contact with the authors. Given that he is well versed in Danish and Norwegian, he didn’t seem to have any problems.
Following a short reading from Semmel (A BIG THANK YOU to Semmel for the video, since my idiot camera died), the floor opened up to Carsten René Nielsen, the Danish poet of House Inspections, and his translator David Keplinger, a poet and director of the American University MFA in Creative Writing program. Nielsen would read the poem in its original Danish form and then Keplinger would then read the translation. They read about six poems from House Inspections and one or two poems from a previous collection.
Following each reading, the translators were asked questions about their process and experiences, as well as about what makes a good translation. Keplinger and Nielsen work collaboratively on the poems, with Nielsen sending English literal translations to Keplinger, who does not speak Danish, to fiddle with to make the content, music, and essence of the poem shine through in the English version in the best way possible. Keplinger said that he offers Nielsen a few different options when translating the poems, allowing Nielsen to pick the one he likes best. In terms of “Wistfulness,” Keplinger and Nielsen said it took them a while to capture the meaning of the Danish word properly. Keplinger said it is just one of the poems in the collection that he can read over and over and never be tired of it. (Photo at the right: Danish poet Carsten René Nielsen speaks with audience member Susi Wyss, author of A Civilized World)
It was great to mingle with fellow translation enthusiasts, eat some goodies, buy some books, get some autographs, and chat. It seemed like the audience, which was mostly my own book club (thanks guys and gals), had a good time and learned some interesting things about translation. What surprised me the most was that it seemed as though the poetry books may have outsold the fiction thrillers!
September is a big literary month here in the Washington, D.C., especially with the largest reading events of the year — The National Book Festival, the Virginia Festival of the Book, and the Baltimore Book Festival.
Even before these big festivals get kicked off, starting with The National Book Festival this weekend, Novel Places in Maryland is celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit. Tonight at 6 p.m. readers will descend on the bookstore in Clarksburg to celebrate the book and the Tolkien legacy. With moss hanging from the rafters of the upstairs bookstore in Clarksburg’s historic district, patrons are encouraged to dress up as their favorite characters from the books and take in the atmosphere as they walk through Bilbo Baggins’ door into the shire. There’s even a prize for best costume.
Bookstore owner Patrick Darby says of The Hobbit, “It was the late 70’s when I picked up the The Hobbit, which is about the time Dungeons & Dragons rose to fame. It shaped my ‘personality’ when I role-played different characters and creatures. Even though The Hobbit is written as a children’s book, the descriptions of scenery and character interaction is brilliantly detailed. Its somewhat simplistic plot, where it was just an adventure with no reason for starting the quest, made a good primer to the intrigue of the ring in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.” To learn more about the celebrations of Tolkien’s 75-year-old book, go here.
Also this weekend is the two-day book extravaganza that promotes reading not only among adults but kids as well. The National Book Festival is in its 12th year. I can hardly believe it’s been that long since the first one. This year, I won’t be attending the first day of the festival, Saturday, Sept. 22, because my book club meets for our discussion of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield at Novel Places. But I do plan to attend some poetry readings, meet Charlaine Harris of Sookie Stackhouse fame, and generally relax with books around on Sunday, Sept. 23, the second day of the festival. Please check out the rest of the goings on at the festival this year, plus the new online interactive media the festival is using this year. So even if you don’t live in the D.C. area and cannot make the trip for your favorite authors, you can still hear them speak through the Library of Congress Website.
In addition to our book club meeting at the store, we’ll be attending a reading and discussion from two great translators, one of whom I consider a friend, and a poet whose work was translated. If you are in the Clarksburg, Md., area, please stop by Novel Places to interact with Danish Poet Carsten Rene Nielsen and his translator David Keplinger as they talk about their work on House Inspections.
My friend, K.E. Semmel also will be on hand to talk about his two translations that came out in August, which I’m sure you’ve heard me go on and on about. Hopefully, he can forgive me for not reading The Caller by Karin Fossum and The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen ahead of the event. They are on the to-read list and I had hoped to be finished with the book club pick sooner, but life gets in the way as worries about my dad and his surgery occupied my mind to distraction.
You probably thought I was done, but we also have two more festivals to look forward to next weekend: The Baltimore Book Festival, which always showcases some great local authors and businesses and Virginia Festival of the Book, which I have yet to attend but receives rave reviews ever year. Both of those festivals are the weekend of Sept. 28. I’ll let you know more about those next week.
What bookish plans do you have for the weekend?
The newest U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry was announced as Natasha Trethewey, author of the award-winning collection Native Guard.
Last week, I was able to head into Washington, D.C., to the Library of Congress with a friend and see Trethewey give the inaugural reading for the literary season. She read from her latest collection, Thrall.
There is nothing like hearing a poet read from their own collection to make you want to buy it and read it for yourself and see the words drape the page. If you’re interested, here are my impressions of the event.
Welcome to today’s discussion of “The Mapmaker” from Thaisa Frank’s collection of short stories in Enchantment.
I selected “The Mapmaker” because its one of the longer stories in the collection and follows the passage of a “map” throughout the hands of a family. The story is broken down into different parts:
“Ninevah”
“Dime Store”
“Sandra Greenaway”
“A Hidden City”
“The Journey of the Map”
“My Father’s Study”
“The Antique Writing Chest”
“A Walk in the Snow”
“Eating”
“A Visit to Ninevah”
“The Post Box”
“The Magician’s Eye”
“The Tibetan Book of the Dead”
“Mildred”
“Ashes”
“The Map”
I hope everyone has had a chance to read all of the sections for today’s discussion. I wanted to start everyone off with a few things to talk about. Please be aware there could be spoilers.
1. There seems to be a line drawn in this story between myth and reality, where the enchantment of the “fairy tale” is cracked or shattered.
2. At the same time that the masks are taken down and reality reveals itself, the narrator sometimes continues to believe in a better place, a shining world where dreams are reality.
3. Do you think that families are like countries, in that each person has their own boundaries and their own cultures that can sometimes clash and more?
OK, that’s enough from me. Let’s get this discussion started…
Also, if you want to discuss another short story in October, let’s pick a date that we’re all available and see what story we all want to discuss.
Some very special winners of Enchantment by Thaisa Frank are:
Audra of Unabridged Chick
Ellie
Jessie of Ageless Pages Reviews
These winners, myself, Anna from Diary of an Eccentric, and Janel of Janel’s Jumble welcome you to join us in a special September 18th event!
We’ll be gathering here all day to discuss the short story “The Mapmaker” from Enchantment, and our special guest will be Thaisa Frank herself!
We hope that you’ll grab a copy of the book and come join us!
At this point, the book club has been humming along, and we’ve come down to a name of Eclectic Bookworms as far as I can tell. At this past meeting, we selected books for the end of this year and through May 2013.
As usually, when I post the reviews of these books, I’ll be sure to add the book club’s thoughts on each and a spoiler warning.
What’s your book club reading?
