The Reading Book Post, March 2nd

Hello eveyone! This post is a part of a new column where each Monday I will post the most interesting literary news and articles I've found all week.

• First of all, is anyone else also a big fan of romance? Then, you will be glad to learn the shortlist of The Romantic Novelists' Association Awards which were announced earlier in February. This gallery has all the nominees and the covers of their books. Interestingly there are 3 men among the 36 nominees in 6 different categories. Which is your favourite romance sub-genre? Have you read any of the books that were shortlisted? Personally I prefer the historical romance. 

• Although it's against the rules, let's talk about The Fight Club. To be precise, The Fight Club 2 which the author Chuck Palahniuk gave the six first pages to the Playboy. The novel will be published in 10 issues and the first one will be available to public on May 27th.

• The most interesting news of the week though are those concerning Catwoman. The DC superhero in the latest issue Catwoman #39 is revealed as bisexual. Genevieve Valentine, who is currently scripting the issues, wrote about it on her blog stating that "She's (Catwoman) flirted around it - often quite literally - for years now; for me, this wasn't a revelation so much as a confirmation".

• Any Harry Potter fans here? This week J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013 was published by Bloomsbury. The book contains a lot of behind-the-scenes stories as well insights in the process of writting and editing the Harry Potter series. Interesting, right? 

• Last but not least, a recent study at The Guardian has shown that JRR Tolkien books have dropped from the popular list of the teenagers in the UK. I am one of those that as a child grew up with The Lord of the Rings and I've always considered it to be one of the most suitable books for every child. That doesn't mean though that the popular books right now aren't that suitable, it will be a lie if I said that I didn't enjoy them too. Anyway, it's an interesting study to see how the tastes are evolving.

• And a very fun quiz to make your day! Can you guess to which classics refer those 1-star Amazon reviews? I have to admit that some those took me by surprise.         

A Death by Stephen King

I'm so thrilled because The New Yorker has given us another surprise! Yesterday they published a new short story by the master of horror, none other than Stephen King. It's called A Death and it will appear this fall in a new collection of short stories under the name The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

So, you can read the short story here, at The New Yorker

Check it out and let me know what you think! 

Plus, an interview of the author talking about this short story. 

Info on The Bone Clocks

The sixth novel of David Mitchell was published in 2014.

Summary: 

One drowsy summer's day in 1984, teenage runaway Holly Sykes encounters a strange woman who offers a small kindness in exchange for "asylum". Decades will pass before Holly understands exactly what sort of asylum the woman was seeking...

The Bone Clocks follows the twists and turns of Holly's life, from a scarred adolescence in Gravesend to old age on Ireland's Atlantic coast as Europe's oil supply dries up - a life not so far out of the ordinary, yet punctuated by flashes of precognition, visits from people who emerge from thin air and brief lapses in the laws of reality. For Holly Sykes - daughter, sister, mother, guardian - is also an unwitting player in a murderous feud played out in the shadows and margins of our world, and may prove to be its decisive weapon.

The author discusses the book

David Mitchell reads an extract from The Bone Clocks:

Review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

The fifth novel by David Mitchell is a historical one. The hero is a Dutch clerk working in Japan at the beginning of the 19th century, a country also called the Land of the Thousand Autumns. So, these are, in a sense, the unwritten memoirs of clerk de Zoet of all those years he spent in the Orient. And what story do these memoirs tell!

Japan at the end of 18th century, when our hero arrives, is a very closed country. In fact, the Dutch are the only Europeans "allowed" in Nagasaki. The truth is that they are strictly prohibited from entering Nagasaki or have any kind of relation to any local, apart from the interpreters. Moreover, upon their arrival they have to give to the authorities any kind of religious symbol, any Bible, cross or rosary they might possess. Under such circumstances Jacob meets Orito Aibagawa, a japanese midwife who is one of the apprentices of dutch medicine. 

If a romance should develop between those characters, it should be pretty impossible too. A dutch could not marry a local, he could only have a concubine. Miss Aibagawa was a scholar, from a family well-established in the japanese status, so such thoughts were unacceptable. Despite all those obstacles Jacob proposes to her, with the help of an interpreter, and then the least possible thing happens: she disappears! 

This is the point where the novel gets complicated. It's more like a crossroad between two different timelines. The first, which unravels in the second part of the book, is related to what happened to Orito Aibagawa and the second storyline, which returns with the third part of the book, follows Jacob's actions and a conflict with a british frigate. This is also the part when I was most disappointed with this book. Although both of the storylines where interesting and thrilling and I genuinely wanted to know what happens next I was torn in half. Jacob didn't appear in the story of Orito, although I was waiting for it and eventually he was the one that gave her her life back. For me the catharsis didn't actually happen. The resolution was determined through the course of events and chance (once again in a David Mitchell novel), not from the initiative of the hero.

When eventually everything ends the story goes a decade later. Jacob is still in Japan, he had a son with a local and became chief of the dutch establishment in Nagasaki. The mother of his son though isn't Orito, in fact he hasn't met her up to this day. And when they do meet, it's just for a few minutes and a brief explanation from Jacob's part as to what had happened. 

Then we go another five years later and we find Jacob on a ship leaving Japan. It's quite an emotional chapter, it devastated me to be honest. He will never return to Japan or meet his son again. Back in the Netherlands he will make another family and spend his days wishing he could find some time to write his memoirs. And when he finally dies the last image will be that of a japanese woman with a half burnt face.

The world is a vale of tears.

I would consider this novel the most difficult one comparing it to the others of David Mitchell. The author's language reminded me of that in various japanese novels I have read from time to time. The descriptions of Japan and of this particular era were amazing. Furthermore there were some of my favourite characters in this book. I adored Dr. Marinus with his scientific ways and his groundbreaking ideas for the japanese minds and Lord Abbot Enomoto is one of the most interesting villains I have encountered in literature. 

All in all, this is a novel strongly recommended for those who love both demanding and devastating reads. But if you haven't read anything by David Mitchell before I would advise to turn to his other novels first. 

So, my advice is...

A historical thriller to exercise the brain!

      

The Versatile Blogger Award

First of all thanks to Ranu @ The Bookish Life for nominating me. It's always nice when you feel your work is appreciated, so check her blog out! I loved it!

If you are nominated by someone, then you have been awarded the Versatile Blogger Award and there are some simple rules that you have to follow.

• Thank the person that gave you this award, it's the simplest thing you have to do!
• Include a link to their blog, it will surely be aprreciated
• Select 15 bloggers that you've found out recently or that you regularly follow
• Nominate those 15 bloggers
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself 

So, here are my nominees:
Shanny @ Shanny Reads
Maisha @ Books Equal Awesomeness
Carina @ My Addiction: Books
Jane @ Beyond Seventeen Reviews
Jennifer @ The Bibliofile
Carole @ Carole's Random Life
Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Kaitlyn @ One Night Book Stand Blog
Sophie @ A Cheeky Book Addict's Thoughts
Eli @ Dragonsworn
Cristy @ Lady in Read
BookAddict @ Rendezvous With A Romance
Vamp @ Dorky Girl
Maddy @ Portals Within Pages
One Curvy Blogger


7 things about myself:

• I am a huge anime and manga fan.
• I'm also very fond of games (I own a Wii and a Nintendo 2DS).
• I love all things DIY, the past 2 years I wear all jewels made by myself.
• My mother language is Greek, and apart from English I also speak French and Spanish.
• I studied audiovisual arts.
• I am a huge cinema fan. A nice, touching film always gets me!
• My favourite sport is tennis, although I don't know how to play very well.