Globe Corner Blogs

Three Cups of Tea --by Greg Mortenson

With so much to say about such a remarkable and now so popular story, it’s hard to know where to start. Before he set about single-handedly changing the landscape of northern Pakistan (work that, some contend, will eventually earn him the Nobel Peace Prize), author Greg Mortenson was a climbing enthusiast. It was after a failed and traumatic attempt at K2 that he first stumbled upon the small village of Korphe in the Baltistan region of Pakistan. Touched by the poverty, wisdom and kindness of the Korphe village, Mortenson’s life-path changed literally overnight and he committed himself to building a school for this unknown village. And the rest is history… Well, not exactly.

“The rest” is actually the remarkable story that is retold in Three Cups of Tea. Already from the cover anyone can see that Mortenson accomplished something great – the “#1 New York Times Bestseller” caption is one clue, the Kiriyama Prize Winner seal and the Tom Brokaw blurb are two more. But what the cover doesn’t reveal, and what no friend can properly relay to you (because  by now most know someone that has read this book and felt compelled to talk about it),  is just how hard Mortenson had to work to build the first school, not to mention the subsequent fifty.

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle -by Haruki Murakami

Some time ago, while driving somewhere inconsequential, I found myself doing what I always do in the car: listening to NPR and day-dreaming about my future Talk of the Nation radio personality and all the insightful questions I’d ask my equally insightful guests. And so it was on this otherwise mundane day that I heard a particularly intriguing program about foreign novels: aired on the heels of Jean-Marie Gustave le Clezio’s award for the Nobel Prize in literature, Day to Day hosts interviewed David Kipen. They discussed the choice of le Clezio for the Prize, why many Americans haven’t heard of him, and why in the words of a certain Nobel Committee member, America remains “too isolated, too insular” when it comes to literature.

While this accusation turned many (American) heads, I was more interested in what came next in the conversation.  See, for someone working in a bookstore, constantly surrounded by new releases and newly released editions, books with pretty covers and books with not-so-pretty covers, it’s sometimes hard to decide what to read next. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear Kipen’s list of “The Best Foreign Books You’ve Never Heard Of” and promptly added some to my To-Read list.

Out Stealing Horses -by Per Petterson

I was also happy to hear some titles that I was already familiar with (all thanks to the GCB’s wonderfully diverse Armchair Travel selection). Taken from Kipen’s list, I can only personally recommend three, but I recommend them all highly: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norway), The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt), and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (Japan). We also have autographed copies of Antonio Lobo Antunes’ What Can I Do When Everything’s on Fire? (Portugal).

For the full list, visit this program’s online summary found on the NPR website. Also, feel free to tell us your favorite translated books so they can stop being unheard of and start being read… by us!