Apr. 23rd, 2014 09:28 pm
Jordi ha arribat!
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muckefuckHurrah! Once again, Amazon came through: When I slipped into the entryway, my St George's Day surprise for the GWO was right there waiting for me and I was able to casually discard my Plan B. As a bonus, he'd gotten too distracted to check the post so there was no risk of him finding out. (They delivered to our neighbour the same day, so there was at least even odds he'd read that label and assume neither package was for us. But I'd rather the sure thing.)
When I brought up the Economist review at the breakfast table, he agreed that Mai Jia's Decoded looked like an interesting read, but he was content to wait for it to come out in paper. That's when I knew he was getting it. Of course, I cannot resist of the lure of Super Saver Shipping, so I slipped in a couple titles for me as well: Pietro di Donato's Christ in concrete and Ben Okri's Famished road.
I'm ready for another English-language novel, having just finished Fulvio Tomizza's Materada. That was a solid read. There's a lot of local colour and affection for his hometown, but the sentimentality us kept nicely in check. I think it helps that the protagonist is older (30s rather than 20s) and the events are so recent (it was penned only five years after his family relocated to Trieste). But while it might be nice to follow it with the rest of his Istrian Trilogy, I know there's no way I'd ever get through that much Italian. (Only the first book has been translated into English.)
It's given me a bit of wanderlust for the languages of the area, particularly Venetian and Friulian. If there were only a bit more support for these languages, I might try learning them for real. (I'm just not really one for poetry these days.)
When I brought up the Economist review at the breakfast table, he agreed that Mai Jia's Decoded looked like an interesting read, but he was content to wait for it to come out in paper. That's when I knew he was getting it. Of course, I cannot resist of the lure of Super Saver Shipping, so I slipped in a couple titles for me as well: Pietro di Donato's Christ in concrete and Ben Okri's Famished road.
I'm ready for another English-language novel, having just finished Fulvio Tomizza's Materada. That was a solid read. There's a lot of local colour and affection for his hometown, but the sentimentality us kept nicely in check. I think it helps that the protagonist is older (30s rather than 20s) and the events are so recent (it was penned only five years after his family relocated to Trieste). But while it might be nice to follow it with the rest of his Istrian Trilogy, I know there's no way I'd ever get through that much Italian. (Only the first book has been translated into English.)
It's given me a bit of wanderlust for the languages of the area, particularly Venetian and Friulian. If there were only a bit more support for these languages, I might try learning them for real. (I'm just not really one for poetry these days.)
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