Globe Corner Blogs

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!

State By State: A Panoramic Portrait of America

I have never known the correct word for someone who lives in Massachusetts and I have never really bothered to find the official name. Is it Massachusian… Massachusettite? The only thing I have ever heard was not very flattering and is something usually yelled at people driving on the Mass Pike.  When asked, I usually start to trip over the word and then just say, “I live in Boston, but I will always be a Washingtonian at heart.”

Yesterday, I was checking out a book new to our shelves: State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America. It is a compilation of 50 writers writing about 50 states with the lofty goal of “explaining America to Americans.” Inspired by the WPA American Guide series of the Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s, the editors of this project commissioned 50 writers, cartoonists, a cook, and a musician to write an essay about their home or adopted home state. (Washington DC is covered in the afterword.) The list of contributers is impressive and includes Dave Eggers (Illinois), Ha  Jin (Georgia), Susan Orlean (Ohio), Anthony Bourdain (New Jersey), and Carrie Brownstein (Washington State).

Each essay is preceeded by some general information about the state (which is great for trivia nights at the pub), such as the state’s capital, nickname, official flower, geographic center, and what to call the residents. That is where I discovered the answer to my question, and now I can say with some confidence that “I am a Bay Stater!”.