Who would have thought we have a third part added.
Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou. Again this is part of my Read around the world, the author is from Congo-Brazzaville. And its a translated work as well, so that should be helping my overall statistics.
The burb from the Guardian which caught my attention: LONG-LISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
A rollicking new novel described as "Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa" (Les Inrockuptibles) from "Africa's Samuel Beckett . . . one of the continent's greatest living writers" (The Guardian).
I have high hopes for this that I even added a second book by the same author.
Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou.
Book description: Alain Mabanckou’s riotous new novel centers on the patrons of a run-down bar in the Congo. In a country that appears to have forgotten the importance of remembering, a former schoolteacher and bar regular nicknamed Broken Glass has been elected to record their stories for posterity. But Broken Glass fails spectacularly at staying out of trouble as one denizen after another wants to rewrite history in an attempt at making sure his portrayal will properly reflect their exciting and dynamic lives. Despondent over this apparent triumph of self-delusion over self-awareness, Broken Glass drowns his sorrows in red wine and riffs on the great books of Africa and the West. Brimming with life, death, and literary allusions, Broken Glass is Mabanckou’s finest novel — a mocking satire of the dangers of artistic integrity.
As part of my reading goals I want to read more works in Spanish. With that in mind the following books are in Spanish as first language and some might not have an English translation. The following part is going to show a mix of languages.
Todo esto sucede bajo el agua by Rodolfo JM. (In Englsih it would say Everything happens underwater). This is a work published by Fondo cultural de economia and Tierra Adentro which are organization trying to promote literature from Mexican/ local authors. It is not easy to locate even in Spanish at least not from USA. So I will go ahead and say there is no translated work available.
This is short story collection- it includes 8 of them. It is a contemporary, sci-fi and exploring the meaning of life. So it sounds like its going to have a wide range of topics.
I ordered it from Amazon but it will take awhile to get here. It is not found in Kindle as eBook option which sucks, and it was not showing up in Scribd or Anyplay catalogues.
There was another book by him La vida amorosa de las cigarras which can be roughly translated to 'The cicada's love life'. Another 7 story collection.
Original book description: Mosaico rocambolesco, La vida amorosa de las cigarras construye una ficción coherente y compleja a través de siete cuentos y un apéndice que retratan una escena de la pornografía en México, con sus antecedentes, su auge, su descomposición, sus secuelas y un puñado de testimonios. Revistas, películas, casas productoras, actrices, actores y cines especializados aparecen en unos cuentos como asunto principal y en otros como sórdido escenario. Rodolfo J.M. entrega un libro con sentido unitario, pero también rico en matices: del diálogo ágil y alburero a la aguda exploración de los motivos y las penurias de sus personajes, pasando por la descripción puntual de una cierta decadencia, los cuentos engarzados de esta obra invitan al lector a imaginar una verosímil distopía de perversión y violencia.
I'm going to go ahead and summarize this - Its a social commentary about our the porn industry be it film, literature- touching in the producers, actors and actresses and its affects on the public in general.
Hay un dinosaurio en mi sopa!: Una guia rapida sobre evolucion biologica by Alvaro Chaos Cador ( in English this would be 'There's a dinosaur in my soup!: A Quick guide on biologic evolution'). I don't need to defend my choice, my focus on science and nonfiction literature hopeful will continue strong throughout the year instead of getting sent to the backburner like it normally happens.
Book description from the back cover: A vuelo de pájaro pero sin renunciar a la observación detenida, esta obra nos guía por el fascinante paisaje de la evolución de los seres vivos. El itinerario arranca desde el propio autor, considerado como miembro de una especie biológica, y llega hasta la copa de los árboles, pasando por los dinosaurios y las aves, las hormigas y las neuronas, los procesos de especiación, la genética de las poblaciones, el costo reproductivo del sexo y algunos monstruos de fábula. Con una acertada mezcla de información sobre procesos evolutivos, temas históricos y asuntos culturales, sus brevísimas secciones no dan respiro al lector en este recorrido por la biología de la evolución. La obra está destinada a un público amplio, que disfrutará la precisión del científico profesional con una mirada propia y fresca, un fino sentido del humor y una prosa que fluye sin obstáculos. ¡Hay un dinosaurio en mi sopa! obtuvo el II Premio Internacional de Divulgación de la Ciencia Ruy Pérez Tamayo.
This book caught my attention after it won the international science divulgation Ruy Perez Tamayo. We need to promote the works that try to bring science to the masses. Its huge time to have information be accessible to the general public. It is best to have information available - letting people choose to reach for it or not - than to have the information hidden away with only academics of specific research fields as the only possible public.
Agua by Manuel Guerrero Legarreta (English translation: Water). This is a nonfiction work that describes the definition of water, composition, the greatly varied uses and the importance to life as we know it but discussed in a very accessible language.
This is another work published by the Fondo de cultura Economica. Hope it would b more accessible but for now I only found it in Scribd and Kindle eBook but it is only in Spanish. No tranlstion avaialble and there is not one likely to be published either.
Book description from the back cover: La presencia cotidiana del agua en la vida diaria nos impide reflexionar sobre su naturaleza e importancia para la vida en el planeta. Sin embargo, la problemática ecológica ha convertido a este líquido en un tema de actualidad. Puesto que el agua es una necesidad fundamental para la conservación de la vida, se impone un conocimiento a un nivel más profundo sobre el tema, y este libro es una aportación en ese sentido.
Ok so lets take a look now that my list is finally complete. We have the goal of reading 37 new to me books and then we have 2 rereads so that gives us a total of 39 books. Based o the arbitrary idea that we have 5 weeks in the month that means we need to read 7.8 books per week which is pretty close to my original idea.
In numbers looks very doable but not sure its going to be as easy. I have a few things coming up in the next weekend, the next one after that so I need to figure out a way to read them from Monday to Thursday weeks which takes out a big hunch from my available time. It might prove to have been a very big mistake to have such huge TBR. We'll see.
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