Sunday, July 12, 2015

New Books - favorite imprints

It's no secret that I have long been drawn to Europa Editions and New York Review Book Classics --(2) of my favorite imprints (but, yes I have other favorite imprints as well--more on that at another time).

Adding to my already large collection are (3) new books that I purchased last week and am looking forward to reading.  Has anyone read them?


  • Sleepless Nights; Elizabeth Hardwick (NYRB) - 2001  ----In Sleepless Nights a woman looks back on her life—the parade of people, the shifting background of place—and assembles a scrapbook of memories, reflections, portraits, letters, wishes, and dreams. An inspired fusion of fact and invention, this beautifully realized, hard-bitten, lyrical book is not only Elizabeth Hardwick's finest fiction but one of the outstanding contributions to American literature of the last fifty years.
  • Divorce Islamic Style:; Amara Lakhous (Europa) - 2012 ---It's 2005. The Italian secret service has received intel that a group of Muslim immigrants based in the Viale Marconi neighborhood of Rome is planning a terrorist attack. Christian Mazzari, a young Sicilian who speaks perfect Arabic, goes undercover to infiltrate the group and to learn who its leaders are. Christian poses as Issa, a recently arrived Tunisian in search of for a job and a place to sleep. He soon meets Sofia, a young Egyptian immigrant dressed in a burqa who lives in the neighborhood with her husband Said, a.k.a. Felice, an architect who has reinvented himself in Italy as a pizza cook.
  • Asleep in the Sun; Adolfo Bioy Casares (NYRB) - 2004 ---Lucio, a normal man in a normal (nosy) city neighborhood with normal problems with his in-laws (ever-present) and job (he lost it) finds he has a new problem on his hands: his beloved wife, Diana. She’s been staying out till all hours of the night and grows more disagreeable by the day. Should Lucio have Diana committed to the Psychiatric Institute, as her friend the dog trainer suggests? Before Lucio can even make up his mind, Diana is carted away by the mysterious head of the institute. Never mind, Diana’s sister, who looks just like Diana—and yet is nothing like her—has moved in. And on the recommendation of the dog trainer, Lucio acquires an adoring German shepherd, also named Diana. Then one glorious day, Diana returns, affectionate and pleasant. She’s been cured!—but have the doctors at the institute gone too far?

Asleep in the Sun is the great work of the Argentine master Adolfo Bioy Casares's later years. Like his legendary Invention of Morel, it is an intoxicating mixture of fantasy, sly humor, and menace. Whether read as a fable of modern politics, a meditation on the elusive parameters of the self, or a most unusual love story, Bioy's book is an almost scarily perfect comic turn, as well as a pure delight.

6 comments:

  1. I think I've only read one Europa book. Always intend to look for them but never seem to come home with any. Should probably just order some!

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  2. All three new to me and all look interesting. Thanks for the mini synopsis on each.

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  3. These all look pretty good. I'd never heard of any of them before now.

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  4. We've never heard of those either but they do sound interesting.

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  5. I haven't read any of these, but always enjoy Europa Editions and New York Review Book Classics. Will look forward to your thoughts.

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  6. All three are new to me. They all sound interesting, especially Asleep In The Sun.

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