BBD World Lit for May: Russia (the Motherland!)

Okay, "the Motherland" is a joke that nobody but I and.. well, I will get. But crack open the vodka because we're going to Russia this month! Rob welcomes her fellow comrades to Russia with a great post about 20th century Russian writers. The real buzz this month, though, is the Pevear translation of War and Peace, which is what we're tackling for this month's read.

I, personally, got off to a late start with the book because someone in my household was already reading my shiny new copy. Other BBDers have already started to brave the doorstop tome and are finding it brilliant, if unwieldy. Rob posted up some lovely starter info in the discussion thread over at BBD; if you're joining us late for the read, have no fear--some of us read at a snail's pace, so we will be chiming into the discussions for months, I bet!

Next month is China! See you then!

BBD World Lit for March and April: Italy/Sicily and Japan

In March, the BBD took a trip to Italy for the Italian language. Rob posted a great overview of 20th Century Italian literature, and our group read for the month was The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco, suggested by Tinky. Alicia gave the book rave reviews; many of us are still straggling through it, since it's such a long one!

I hosted Japan this month, and I wrote an essay about 20th century Japanese literature, deviating a bit from Rob's usual format. We chose Snow Country by Nobel laureate Kawabata Yasunari as our group read. The discussion is just getting started as of his posting, so feel free to pop in! It's a short read and promises to be compelling.

Updates: BBD World Lit for February and the Group Read

This month, the BBD has been focused on French, Belgian, and Algerian literature as our lit destination. Rob kicked it off with a great post about surrealism, and mentioned a few writers to check out: Raymond Queneau, Georges Simenon, Jean Genet, Jules Valles, Guy de Maupassant, and others. Check out the post to get more information about February's world lit!

Also, we've been in the midst of Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola, our group read for the month of February, suggested by Beth C. The discussion is being led by none other than our lovely Alicia; although yours truly has not gotten her hands on a copy just yet, the discussion has already evoked strong responses from our members. Alicia says, "Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to her first cousin by a well-intentioned and overbearing aunt. Her cousin, Camille, is sickly and selfish, and when the opportunity arises, Thérèse enters into a tragic affair with one of Camille's friends, Laurent.

In his preface, Zola explains that his goal in this novel was to "study temperaments and not characters" and he compares the novel to a scientific study. Because of this detached and scientific approach, Thérèse Raquin is considered an example of Naturalism."

The naturalistic writing approach has stirred up a bit of controversy among our group members--some appreciate it, some despise it! Check out the thread to read more about our group pick this month, and chime in if you've read it!

Spanish/Latin America month, plus our group read: Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

This year, the BBD has decided to go all 'round the world to inundate ourselves with literature from other cultures. Picking up well-publicized foreign authors does indeed happen more often than it used to happen, no doubt about that; still, American readers (myself included) can all-too-easily find themselves in an American reading rut from time to time. This year, the BBD is branching out in search of fine literature that even Oprah may not have read. (We are sticking to 20th century works to give this massive undertaking some sort of scope!)

In our Latin American and Spanish discussion, Rob (my BBD partner in crime from the beginning) gave us a brief overview of 20th century literary trends and a few authors we might like to check out other than the famous Gabriel García-Márquez. Among them are Roberto Bolano (Amulet, By Night in Chile, The Savage Detectives), Alvaro Mutis (The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll), and Adolfo Bioy Casares, whose Asleep in the Sun I'm going to give another go in the spirit of Latin American Lit Month. (If I can find it in my boxes.) Note: The book wasn't bad, I think I just picked it up when I was busy, put it down, and never got back to it.

This month, to kick off All Around the World and the new year, our group read is Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar. Rob describes his style as being an amalgamation of modernist, surrealist, and nouveau roman. The book is unusual in that it is two books in one book; one can either read it straight through, from chapters 1 - 56, for a linear story; or, one can read it starting from chapter 73 and "hop" around the book as Cortázar instructs at the end of each chapter. I'm reading it the traditional way, but many BBDers are taking great pleasure in playing the game. I find Cortázar to be a bit of an Argentinian Kerouac, employing jazz-inspired stream-of-consciousness riffs; we find the main character bumming around Paris, unemployed, with a female companion called La Maga. The scenes in which he is spending time waxing philosophical with the Serpent Club have been described by one of our members as a weird college party where the honors students and the philosophy majors have gotten drunk and are arguing in front of the bathroom, blocking the hallway. I haven't yet finished it, but all in all it promises to be an interesting read. See the discussion thread here.

Set for February is French Literature--if you have any ideas about 20th century French Lit for the thread, pass them along to Rob!