Interviews Renee H. Shea Monique Truong / Photo © Haruka Sakaguchi Monique Truong, who came to the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Vietnam, began exploring untold and ignored histories in her first novel, The Book of Salt (2003), told through the voice of Binh, the cook of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris. Her autobiographical second novel, Bitter in the Mouth (2010) is a coming-of-age story set in North Carolina. In her most recent novel, The Sweetest Fruits (Viking, 2019), Truong tells the story of Lafcadio Hearn from the perspective of three women: his mother, Rosa; his first wife, Alethea; and his Japanese wife, Setsu. Shea: At its core, The Sweetest Fruits is a story about storytelling—and it’s Russian dolls of narrative! It’s not only that three different women have their say about Hearn and their relationship with him, but each is telling her story to a specific audience—so issues of mediation and agency add further complications, as do oral vs. written stories and translation. How did you arrive at this approach instead of just telling the story in the voice of one person, then the next, then the next? Truong: This question is a Russian doll of inquiries! You’re absolutely right that the novel is interested in the different ways that stories are transmitted to us: oral vs. written, in our mother tongue vs. in translation, private story vs. public history, women’s voices vs. men’s, face-to-face vs.... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 13:54:26 UTC ]
Mohr, who translated such German novelists as Alina Bronsky, chronicled the Berlin music scene in a 2018 book, and helped bring to life a number of musicians’ memoirs, died at his home in Brooklyn on March 31. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-04-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Mohr, who translated such German novelists as Alina Bronsky, chronicled the Berlin music scene in a 2018 book, and helped bring to life a number of musicians’ memoirs, died at his home in Brooklyn on March 31. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-04-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Read these new trans historical fiction books in support of the 2025 Trans Rights Readathon. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-03-26 11:30:00 UTC ]
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In general, consumers should take all bold claims about health with a degree of skepticism. In the corners of social media dominated by wellness content, influencers recommend an assortment of treatments and products to support weight loss, fight exhaustion, or promote other desired health... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-03-24 16:15:37 UTC ]
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The goal of censorship is to control what people think by controlling what they can read and learn. Book bans target and affect the most at-risk members of society. That's not a coincidence, either. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-03-19 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Historical fiction’s popularity has remained solid since the 19th century, when Romanticism inspired writers to look to the past. Exploring the human ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-03-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Sepideh Gholian’s diary of prison life came out four years ago. Next month, she will publish a cookbook to honour her fellow inmatesMaziar Bahari used to feel sceptical when people talked of the way that books can change lives. Such statements always seemed like so much hyperbole to him.But when... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-03-09 12:00:03 UTC ]
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Somehow, it’s March already. I know; I’m baffled, too. But even if the year feels like it’s already slipping by ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-03-05 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Andrea Barrett on why writing fresh historical fiction means more than cosplaying the past. | Lit Hub Craft Bookstore owner Brad Johnson reflects on the total destruction, by fire, of East Bay Booksellers (and its rebirth!). | Lit Hub Bookstores Michael Hiltzik on how California made Ronald... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-26 11:30:54 UTC ]
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“You see, but you do not observe.” –Sherlock Holmes, “A Scandal in Bohemia” * It all started with a book that made me curious. I was on a house call in Georgetown, invited to browse the personal book collection of a woman who used to be a professional rare book dealer like me. I spent […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-19 10:58:39 UTC ]
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I know some people like to march to the beat of their own drum and aren’t really interested in what ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-18 13:30:00 UTC ]
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Sophie Lewis chronicles the rise and fall of #girlboss feminism: “The funeral for ‘trickle-down feminism,’ eerily, keeps repeating itself, suggesting that, every time we report that the girlboss is dead, we’re being wishful.” | Lit Hub Criticism Rebecca Romney on unearthing a legacy of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-18 11:30:57 UTC ]
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Three dynamic queer characters carve a place for themselves among Gilded Age New York's elite in Olivia Wolfgang-Smith's MUTUAL INTEREST. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-14 12:30:00 UTC ]
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I don’t know about you, but 2025 has felt like the longest year known to humankind. When I’m stressed out ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-05 13:00:00 UTC ]
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This week, the book-reading internet was apparently in a mild uproar over six redesigns of Jane Austen novels, which will be published—with new introductions from popular contemporary YA romance novelists like Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey—by Puffin, Penguin UK’s children’s imprint, in March.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-04 14:47:27 UTC ]
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Historical fiction centering *The* Woman behind the Harlem Renaissance, a tropical rebel gets her duke, and more of this month's best book club books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-04 13:30:00 UTC ]
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From forgotten historical disasters to pioneers of culture and technology, these historical fiction books about little known history bring the more obscure sides of history to light. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-22 14:00:00 UTC ]
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