Library Loot (21 February 2012)

February 22, 2012

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire fromThe Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

So the state of California has decided that libraries are no longer need funding.“In the 1999/2000 fiscal year, libraries received $56.8 million from the state. That was a good year. By the 2008/2009 year, libraries were only getting $12.9 million. That was a bad year, but, in retrospect, still pretty good. Libraries now get nothing.”

I’m not sure how this will affect my library (which is part of the Alameda Country Library system), but I do hope to find out how I can help. Does visiting and borrowing more books count?

Anyway, on to the loot!

Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything – David Bellos

Well I figure that since I’ve been reading all these translated books, I ought to look at the art (science?) of translation as well. This book has been nominated for the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Funny and surprising on every page, Is That a Fish in Your Ear? offers readers new insight into the mystery of how we come to know what someone else means—whether we wish to understand Astérix cartoons or a foreign head of state. Using translation as his lens, David Bellos shows how much we can learn about ourselves by exploring the ways we use translation, from the historical roots of written language to the stylistic choices of Ingmar Bergman, from the United Nations General Assembly to the significance of James Cameron’s Avatar. Is That a Fish in Your Ear? ranges across human experience to describe why translation sits deep within us all, and why we need it in so many situations, from the spread of religion to our appreciation of literature; indeed, Bellos claims that all writers are by definition translators. Written with joie de vivre, reveling both in misunderstanding and communication, littered with wonderful asides, it promises any reader new eyes through which to understand the world.

In the words of Bellos: “The practice of translation rests on two presuppositions. The first is that we are all different: we speak different tongues, and see the world in ways that are deeply influenced by the particular features of the tongue that we speak. The second is that we are all the same—that we can share the same broad and narrow kinds of feelings, information, understandings, and so forth. Without both of these suppositions, translation could not exist. Nor could anything we would like to call social life. Translation is another name for the human condition.”

The Last Brother – Nathacha Appanah

Finally, I get to read one book in the Morning News’ Tournament of Books

As 1944 comes to a close, nine-year-old Raj is unaware of the war devastating the rest of the world. He lives in Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, where survival is a daily struggle for his family. When a brutal beating lands Raj in the hospital of the prison camp where his father is a guard, he meets a mysterious boy his own age. David is a refugee, one of a group of Jewish exiles whose harrowing journey took them from Nazioccupied Europe to Palestine, where they were refused entry and sent on to indefinite detainment in Mauritius.

A massive storm on the island leads to a breach of security at the camp, and David escapes, with Raj’s help. After a few days spent hiding from Raj’s cruel father, the two young boys flee into the forest. Danger, hunger, and malaria turn what at first seems like an adventure to Raj into an increasingly desperate mission.

This unforgettable and deeply moving novel sheds light on a fascinating and unexplored corner of World War II history, and establishes Nathacha Appanah as a significant international voice.

Delirium – Laura Restrepo

In this remarkably nuanced novel, both a gripping detective story and a passionate, devastating tale of eros and insanity in Colombia, internationally acclaimed author Laura Restrepo delves into the minds of four characters. There’s Agustina, a beautiful woman from an upper-class family who is caught in the throes of madness; her husband Aguilar, a man passionately in love with his wife and determined to rescue her from insanity; Agustina’s former lover Midas, a drug-trafficker and money-launderer; and Nicolás, Agustina’s grandfather. Through the blend of these distinct voices, Restrepo creates a searing portrait of a society battered by war and corruption, as well as an intimate look at the daily lives of people struggling to stay sane in an unstable reality.

Girls of Riyadh – Rajaa Alsanea

I realised that while I’ve been reading works in translation, most of it has been Asian (China, Japan) or European. So here is something from the Middle East.

When Rajaa Alsanea boldly chose to open up the hidden world of Saudi women—their private lives and their conflicts with the traditions of their culture—she caused a sensation across the Arab world. Now in English, Alsanea’s tale of the personal struggles of four young upper-class women offers Westerners an unprecedented glimpse into a society often veiled from view. Living in restrictive Riyadh but traveling all over the globe, these modern Saudi women literally and figuratively shed traditional garb as they search for love, fulfillment, and their place somewhere in between Western society and their Islamic home.

All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque

My first read for the War Through the Generations Challenge!

Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other–if only he can come out of the war alive. “The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first trank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking – Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François

I recently made the No-knead crusty white bread from the King Arthur Flour website. This book was apparently the inspiration for the recipe, so I can’t wait to see what else I can make! Maybe an olive bread, mmm…

And as usual, books for wee reader. Once again they had just stocked the shelves when we got there, so yay!

Opposites – Sandra Boynton

Giggle, Giggle, Quack – Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin

The Best Mouse Cookie – Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

W Is for Wombat: My First Australian Word Book – Bronwyn Bancroft

The Going-To-Bed Book – Sandra Boynton

Alligator, Bear, Crab: A Baby’s ABC – Lesley Wynne Pechter

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? See more Library Loot here.

Written by olduvai Posted in 2012, Books, library loot, Non-fiction, Reading, Translated, translated Tagged with books, library, library loot, reading