9 February 11 | Chad W. Post | Comments [1]

One of my all-time favorite books is Georges Perec’s Life: A User’s Manual, and for months years, I’ve been meaning to reread it.

Well, starting sometime soon, Conversational Reading will be hosting a Big Read of Perec’s classic novel.

No real info up there yet, but as soon as the schedule is announced, I’ll post it here. It’s been ages since I participated in an online book club, and I’m a bit psyched . . . Mostly just to reread Life, but also because Scott does such a great job of getting interesting content about the title under discussion. (I’m not-so-secretly hoping to contribute something myself.)

If you’re interested in joining in, be sure and get a copy of Godine’s revised edition of the book. This version contains some corrections, etc.

For more info about the new edition, and Perec in general, be sure to check out this interview Scott conducted with Godine editor Susan Barba.

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Basti
Basti by Intizar Husain
Reviewed by Rachael Daum

The Urdu word basti refers to any space, intimate to worldly, and is often translated as “common place” or “a gathering place.” This book by Intizar Husain, who is widely regarded as one of the most important living Pakistani writers,. . .

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The Whispering Muse
The Whispering Muse by Sjón
Reviewed by Vincent Francone

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Mundo Cruel by Luis Negrón
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Selected Translations by W. S. Merwin by Various
Reviewed by Grant Barber

“South”

To have watched from one of your patios
the ancient stars
from the bank of shadow to have watched
the scattered lights
my ignorance has learned no names for
nor their places in constellations
to have heard the ring of. . .

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LoveStar
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Reviewed by Larissa Kyzer

When Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason first published LoveStar, his darkly comic parable of corporate power and media influence run amok, the world was in a very different place. (This was back before both Facebook and Twitter, if you can. . .

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Hi, This Is Conchita and Other Stories
Hi, This Is Conchita and Other Stories by Santiago Roncagliolo
Reviewed by Tiffany Nichols

When starting Hi, This Is Conchita and Other Stories, Santiago Roncagliolo’s second work to be translated into English, I was expecting Roncagliolo to explore the line between evil and religion that was front and center in Red April. Admittedly, I. . .

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City of Angels, or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud
City of Angels, or, The Overcoat of Dr. Freud by Christa Wolf
Reviewed by Josh Billings

Christa Wolf’s newly-translated City of Angels is a novel of atonement, and in this way the work of art that it resembles most to me is not another book, but the 2003 Sophia Coppola film Lost in Translation. Like that. . .

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