Book Reviews Apala Bhowmick The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die (John Murray, 2019), by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, translated from the original Bangla by Arunava Sinha, is a fast-paced thriller about the rescue mission around the flagging finances of an erstwhile-affluent Bengali family who open a shop in the city that sells sarees. The narrators consist of three women of different generations of the family, lending the plot a delightful tripartite divide. It is a tale about the tenacity of the human spirit to withstand hardships and about human relationships that endure. This translation—of a difficult text to translate—possesses the rare quality of being appealing to both the English-speaking reader and to the audience who can understand the Bengali language. I’ve had a chance to read the original Bengali text as well, and the work has been successfully transferred, cultural flavor and all, into a rather curt and mercantile language like English. Speaking of mercantilism, the reader will be afforded a sidelong glance at upper-middle-class Bengali sentiments, at least at a certain point in the history of this community, toward professions like the merchant’s or the petit bourgeois shopkeeper’s. Words like shaashuri and Pishima have been retained, and the name Chakor Mitra, which the reader will encounter on the very first page, is phonetically funny but also funny when you know the implications of the first name when it’s used as a noun in... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-03-10 15:47:11 UTC ]
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Amazon's taken a number of steps to bring different types of content to the Kindle Store, and it's now venturing into an area that has a long history with the internet: fan fiction. The company's today announced Kindle Worlds, a new publishing platform that promises to pay writers royalties for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dutch writer Gerbrand Bakker has won this year's £10,000 Independent Foreign Fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Several new high profile interactive fiction titles have been released so far this year, suggesting that publishers and readers may finally be ready for the medium. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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According to a new report by the Association of American Publishers, children's and young adult books experienced a sales jump driven by hardcover sales of Suzanne Collins' trilogy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Women’s fiction blog Novelicious is to launch a new digital imprint. Novelicious Books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#digital imprint
A "daring" novel which explores the plight of foreign workers in Gulf countries has won... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#arabic fiction
The Kwani? Manuscript Project, a new one-off literary prize for unpublished fiction from African... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canadian writer A S A Harrison, whose debut novel The Silent Wife (Headline) is due for worldwide... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new Gimbal app, launching Tuesday at the London Book Fair, features translated short stories for commuters that allows you to explore a city through fiction. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Half of the novels shortlisted for this year's International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Titles from Frances Lincoln, Templar, Walker and Random House UK have been shortlisted for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new report on the ebook market in 2012 shows the continuing dominance of fiction, with fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Non-fiction projects with an international reach are in high demand ahead of this year’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sure, the age of browsing for books and checking them out may be coming slowly to a close, but the idea of a library can adapt rather than fade away. These five locations are doing just that. When I took a high school class in "library science," the primary innovation I learned about was the... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The death of novelist Chinua Achebe has been confirmed. A statement from The Wylie Agency... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling novelist James Herbert has died. Herbert, described by his editor Jeremy Trevathan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Classicist Natalie Haynes has turned her hand to novels, with Atlantic imprint Corvus set to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dorling Kindersley is taking a new direction, publishing a list of narrative non-fiction books... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith and Barbara Kingsolver are among the finalists for the $45,000 Women's Prize, known formerly as the Orange Prize, which released its longlist today. Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith and Barbara Kingsolver are among the finalists for the $45,000 Women's Prize, known formerly... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new prize for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, the Petrona Award, has announced its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#scandinavian crime