The Reading Book Post, March 30th

The end of March is here. Finally, the sunny days have arrived and I hope that they will continue! But with that it's getting really hard to stay inside and work. Oh well. But let's take a look at all those things that happened the past week in the literary world.  

• As usual, this week's Reading Book Post will begin with some award news. On one side, The Orwell Prize announced its longlist, which includes four first-time authors and other well established political writers. On the other side, The Man Booker Prize announced the shortlist and the winner is due to be made public on May 19th. Lastly, the winners of the 2015 Bancroft Prize were publicized, an award focusing in the field of history.

• Go Set a Watchman is approaching its day of publication and this week it officially has a cover! Which one do you prefer? I like the colours in the US cover, but I like better the UK one. 

• In a similar story, this week the cover for the Illustrated Harry Potter edition was revealed and it's amazing! What do you think? Do you like it? The book will be published on October 6th.

• But this week there were some really sad news too. The Swedish and Nobel-winning poet, Tomas Transtormer, died at the age of 83. He was awarded the Nobel Prize of literature in 2011. Check out his poems, they were wonderful! But his was not the only loss of the literary world. Martyn Goff, literary administrator, author and bookseller died at the age of 91. He contributed to the organisation and popularity of the Booker Prize and he was also known for his efforts to increase literacy in children.

• Clean Reader app, brought some strong protests among the authors. This app applies a filter to the ebooks purchased by its store and changes the profanities, for example, "hell" becomes "heck" and "shit" becomes "crap". But after the protests all the titles of the authors were removed by the application's catalogue. Author Joanne Harris, know for her novel Chocolat, declared that this is "a small victory for the world of dirt". What do you think about that? Do the profanities bother you in a book?

• Although I didn't read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid as a child, I know that elementary and middle-school kids love the series (my nephews and nieces included). If you happen to know such a kid you can make them really happy, because the tenth book of the series will be published on November 3rd. 

• Which Stephen King Character Are You? This fun quiz lets you know which character from the master of horror you are. Take it and let me know which one you got. I got Christine.

10 Book to Celebrate World Theatre Day

Happy World Theatre Day everyone!

Theatre is a form of expression, unique and demanding. In order to watch a play, you have to live in it, to imagine the surroundings, to feel like the protagonists. So, the work of the playwright is a challenging one and this day it's the opportunity to honour all those who offered their effort into this art form. Here is a list of some popular and classic theatrical plays to check out today.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Who can deny the power of Shakespeare's plays? Hamlet, the story of the young prince of Denmark who sees the ghost of his father, was written between 1599 and 1602. Today it's one of the most popular and most performed plays in the world.

The Misanthrope by Moliere

In contrast to the previous play, The Misanthrope is a comedy. It was first performed in 1666 and it satirizes the hypocrisy of the french aristocracy. This play was adapted several times in the modern theatre. 

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright, with important works such as Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler and The Wild Duck, is often called the father of realism and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. A Doll's House was first performed in 1879 and tries to criticize the norms of marriage at the time. It was even considered controversial since its inspiration was the belief that a woman cannot be herself in that society.

Miss Julie by August Strindberg

Miss Julie premiered in 1889 and it's a story about the love between Miss Julie, an heir of an old aristocratic family, and Jean, the valet. It is one of the most performed plays in history.

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

The Cherry Orchard is the last play written by Chekhov. It was first performed in 1904 and that production was directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play to be a comedy, but Stanislavski directed it as a tragedy and up to this day those who wish to perform it has to decide which approach they like best.

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman is one of the finest American plays in the 20th century. It premiered on Broadway in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. It's a satirical play about reality and illusion, as well as the American Dream. 

The Caretaker by Harold Pinter

The Caretaker is the first commercial success by Harold Pinter. It was first performed in London in 1960. The play is a psychological study of the confluence of power among two brothers and a tramp. It mixes both tragic and comic elements and that's the reason why it's also described as a tragicomedy.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee

First performed in 1962 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play that explores the breakdown of the marriage of a middle-aged couple. The title of the play in a pun of the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? from Disney's Three Little Pigs (1933) and the couple sings it several times throughout the play. The dialogue in the first act of the play is often claimed to be the greatest in all American theatre.

Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer

Sleuth premiered in 1970. A mystery writer, Wykes, calls to his house the lover of his wife and convinces him to stage the robbery of his wife's jewellery. This proposal has a chain of events that makes the audience question what is real and what is Wykes' fantasy. It was awarded  the Tony Award for Best Play and it was adapted for the cinema several times.

Amadeus by Peter Shaffer

Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer, the twin brother of Anthony Shaffer and premiered in 1979. It's a fictionalized account of the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. It was inspired by a 1830 short play  Mozart and Salieri by Alexander Pushkin. Shaffer himself adapted the script into a screenplay for the 1984 Academy Award Winning movie by the same title.

So, these are some of my favourite plays. Have you watched/read any of them? Which ones would you add to this list?

Info on Battle Royale

Title: Battle Royale

Author: Koushun Takami

Publisher: Viz, LLC

Date of Publication: 2003

Number of Pages: 617






Summary:

Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence, is one of Japan's best-selling and most controversial novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television.

Review: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Buried Giant placed in a post-Arthurian era is filled with dragons, ogres, pixies and fiends. No, they are not the main theme of the novel, but they are part of the scenery. Moreover, every dragon has its knight, whose mission is to kill him. The she-dragon of this book is not an exception, there is a knight, a warrior and even villagers and small kids who wish her dead. Up to this point, this book isn't anything different from the typical fantasy novel. There is though an interesting twist to it. The protagonists, Axl and Beatrice, the knight, Sir Gawain and even the she-dragon herself, are all advanced in age. This fact adds more obstacles in their ways and different kind of worries. 

Although the age is a major factor in this novel, the most important thing is what the elderly couple call the mist. There is something in the land that steals everyone's memories, both the good ones and the bad. People wander the land without remembering the purpose for it and they forget even their once beloved ones, like their children. Through this mist one morning Axl remembers his son and so he begins a journey with Beatrice to go and find him in the village he lives, which is a few days away. On their way, while they take shelter of a sudden storm they meet a boatman. He informs them that there is an island, in which a lot of couples wish to go together, but only those who can prove the strength of their love can do it. The proof seems quite simple, they have to share with the boatman their most happy memory they possess with their partner and the boatman judges the strength of their bond. Beatrice becomes troubled with the news since the mist prevents them from remembering almost anything from their past.

Later on their journey they meet a Saxon warrior named Winstan, who takes a curious interest in Axl. He declares that he remembers him from when he was a little child, being a man of authority among the Britons, but Axl doesn't remember being anything else other than a farmer. Their party is complete with a 12-year-old Saxon boy, Edwin, who is rescued from his villagers after been bitten by some ogres. Although they form a strange party, they travel together until they reach a monastery. On their way, they meet Sir Gawain, an old knight and cousin of King Arthur, who was charged with the duty to slay the she-dragon, Querig, and has failed to do for many years. The party eventually breaks and everyone goes on his way, but they meet again before the dragon's lair, where everyone has a different reason to see Querig dead.

When Arthur was alive he tried to make the war between the Britons and the Saxons end, without much success. Then Merlin cast a spell on Querig, so that her breath would steal the memories of the people. That way the hatred that was cultivated would cease and peace would come to the land. But with her gone the people would remember and Saxons would seek vengeance once more. As Winstan says "The giant once buried, now stirs. When soon he rises, as surely he will, the friendly bonds between us will prove as knots young girls make with the stems of small flowers". The main question of this book is whether it is best not to remember sometimes the past and let the buried be undisturbed. Even a couple who appears happy is threatened by the past. The end of this book left me numb.

The characters in The Buried Giant weren't the most loveable I've encountered in literature. Axl's devotion to Beatrice was touching and his way to approach such different people was astonishing. But Beatrice seemed at times unnatural, although it was she that suggested the questions of this book, in order to get answered by Axl much later. Edwin really got on my nerves, most of the times his motives were obscure and his actions careless. Winstan was one of the most likeable characters, caught between his feelings and his duty. Sir Gawain although at first seemed like a coward his role in the story is an important one and I won't spoil it. 

The main problem of the book is that I never really connected with the protagonists. When finally I started to feel something about them, it was near the end of the book and as I've already said this left me numb. I would also like to learn more about each one's past. We learn some fragments of the long forgotten past of Axl and Beatrice, but when the mist is finally lifted and we hope to know some more we are disappointed.  

To sum things up, The Buried Giant is an interesting read. Its ideas and questions are sure to trouble you for quite some time and the writing is good. At times, it even has the feel of a myth. The characters are mostly unrelatable and that spoiled it for me. So my advice is...

Turn the pages with caution!  

The Reading Book Post, March 23rd

I can't believe how quickly the weeks pass! It's almost the end of March, but it's still rainy here. While waiting for the spring to finally come, let's see what happened in the literary world the past days.

• Let's start with some award news, as usual. The National Book Critics Circle announced the winners of the Awards in 9 categories. Moreover, the shortlist for the Kate Greenaway Medal were made public, a unique award since it deals with illustrated books. The illustrations in some of those books look absolutely amazing!

• A new book by Stephen King! I know you're not surprised, but this one is a collection of short stories. Before each story, the author will write an introduction, in which he will explain how and why he wrote it. It will be a great way to get insight on the writing process that King follows. The book is called The Bazaar of Bad Dreams and it'll be published November 3rd.

• Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire rejoice! There is strong hope that the sixth book of the series Winds of Winter will be soon completed. George R. R. Martin admitted on his personal blog that he will not attend any conventions unless he completes and delivers the long-awaited novel.

• Harry Potter fans now get the chance to see the Hogwarts Express in the Warner Brothers Studios. It's a 78-years-old train, who was rescued in 1997 and was repainted to be the train we watched in the movies.

• Two final works of Terry Pratchett will be published later this year. A Discworld novel named The Shepherd's Crown, although there is not yet a fixed date of publication. The second novel will be published in June and it's called The Long Utopia.

• The Doctor Who script City of Death by Douglas Adams will be turned into a novel by James Goss. The author has already written two other Doctor Who novels. The book will be published by BBC Books on May 21st.

• Nick Cave has a new book. To be precise, an epic poem called The Sick Bag Song, in which he describes his travels with his band across the United States. The book can be found only on the official website, http://thesickbagsong.com/

• It's the time for the last and fun post of the week: Which Kind of Reader Are You? To find out take out this quiz. I got Altruistic Reader.