2015 Book Log, part 2

[yendi]

I've picked up some PW reviews for non SF/F/H sections this time, and if it weren't for a publisher mess-up (the reason it stops at 16 and not 17), would actually have four different PW sections represented on this list. Anyway, only three books I can really talk about:

Book 11: Unnamed PW Review

Book 12: Unnamed PW Review

Book 13: Bluets, by Maggie Nelson. This is a mix of a prose poem, memoir, and a series of short essays on the color blue, complete with observations ranging from banal to ribald. But in the end, it's really about someone who loves the color blue, and wants to write about it. Well worth reading.

Book 14: Near Enemy, by Adam Sternbergh. I loved Shovel Ready, the first book in this series. This second one, in which the oh-so-blunt and terse Spademan deals one again with hackers, conspiracies, and a devastated near-future New York City, is a blast. If you're a fan of neo-noir SF, you need this series.

Book 15: The Rabbit Back Literature Society, by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen. I'm rooting for a Helsinki Worldcon, and it's writers like Jääskeläinen (and Hannu Rajaniemi) that are a part of the reason. This book starts with a substitute teacher discovering that the town library's copy of Crime and Punishment somehow contains a scene in which Raskolnikov is shot to death by Sofia. The same teacher, an aspiring writer, is then offered the chance to join the mysterious titular society, a group of writers who have all found success in different fields, all of whom seem to possess dark secrets. This is a fucking fantastic book, and well worth hunting down. Great job of translating by Lola Rogers here (and yes, this has been out in the UK for a while, but we just got it here this year).

Book 16: Unnamed PW Review

Book 16.5 Unnamed Beta Reading Novel.

Book 17: Unnamed PW Review.

Comments

[jmfunnyface.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to pick up The Rabbit Back Literature Society. It sounds like a perfect read for me.

[yendi]

I'd love to hear your thoughts once you've read it!

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

My wife - who's Finnish - says that Jääskeläinen is a very fine writer (and used to win an annual short story competition by Portti, the Finnish SF magazine, every year), but that the translator is a bit odd, particularly with names and idioms. The title of the book is a case in point; the "rabbit's back" is a literal translation of an idiom which means "in a hurry", and is actually a hare. It's usually used in the negative, as in "you're not on a hare's back".

That said, I've bought the translation, since I read Finnish only very slowly and with extensive use of a dictionary, and I like most Finnish SF I've read. Thanks for the pointer!

[yendi]

There's another translation of him by the same person in short story form: http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/letter-to-lethe (I haven't read it yet, but ''song cautions me that it's sad).

Other than Jääskeläinen and Rajaniemi, any names (in English translation) worth keeping an eye out for?

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Johanna Sinisalo's Not Before Sundown is excellent. That's the only one I know of off the top of my head, but I'll ask this evening about others.

[yendi]

Thanks! Just requested it from the library (where it appears to be "Troll: A Love Story" for US readers, but I can't imagine it's a different translation).

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I am smug about pushing all three of those books at you. :)

[yendi]

Fine, take some credit. :-)

[cissa.livejournal.com]

So- how did you get the PW reviewing gig? :)

[yendi]

After I'd been writing for Bookslut and a few other places online, I saw a call for reviewers for the PW part of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and after working for them, someone mentioned that PW was looking for regular reviewers. The next time I hear about there being openings, I'll be happy to let you know!