Review: Operation Monsoon

Operation Monsoon, by Shona Ramaya, was my selection for the Spotlight Series Graywolf Press tour.  (For all participating books and blogs, see the schedule here.)

Operation Monsoon is a collection of five short stories, all of which revolve around upper-class life in India (and more specifically, Bengal.  I think) in the early 21st century.  Many of the stories have very interesting premises.  The first story, Gopal's Kitchen, is about live organ trafficking.  Another is about a polio-stricken woman who runs a highly successful match-making service.  The title story is about the impact a Naxalite terrorist had on a woman.  Another story is told entirely through email exchanges.  The fifth is about a woman doing her dissertation on the concept of belief.

Unfortunately, I didn't particularly enjoy this collection.  This will seem like an odd statement to make to people who aren't familiar with Indian literature, but once I realized these stories were mostly set in Calcutta (a city in the Indian state of Bengal), I had to steel myself.

TSS: Is that book a Pamela or a Shamela?

Well, it has been a very long time since I have done a Sunday Salon post.  Mostly because I didn't have much to say, but also because I was out of the country.  But now I have an idea for a group of themed Sunday posts to share with you all for... as long as I can think of posts that go with the theme.  I shall start that next week, unless I forget to do so.  In which case, I shall start it on a different Sunday.

But back to today's post!

First, did you know that we have chosen another small press for the Spotlight Series?  We are highlighting Graywolf Press, which is a publisher in the great state of Minnesota!  Not only is it a fabulous small press that focuses on poetry and works in translation (among other more traditional book types), but it's also a non-profit publisher!  So if you participate in this series, you will be doing good twice over.  First by giving attention to a small business, and then by helping out a non-profit!  A win-win, isn't it?  So I highly recommend you mosey on over to the sign-up post by June 30th and get in on the action.  The series will take place between July 18 and 31.  Get pumped!

Now to the bulk of my post!  The other day on Twitter, I was discussing The Hunger Games, and then that led to discussion (however brief) of Twilight.  I said that if nothing else, Twilight did give a lot of people the opportunity to practice satire, and perhaps some of that satire will live on as classic literature in the future, the way that Shamela did for Pamela.

If you do not know the story of Pamela and Shamela, it is this.  Pamela (heavy-handedly subtitled Virtue Rewarded), written by Samuel Richardson in the 18th century, is an epistolary novel about a serving maid who must keep her innocence and her wits about her while her lecherous employer tries to seduce her.  This goes on for hundreds of pages of Pamela trying desperately to be chaste and virtuous while staying employed.  Pamela was a huge hit in England when it came out.  Everyone read it.  Including the famous Henry Fielding, who did not understand what all the fuss was about.

Fielding was so disturbed by the book's popularity that he promptly skewered it with satire, writing An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews, (and then writing an even longer satire of it, Joseph Andrews), in which Shamela is not defending her virtue, but trying very hard to throw it away so that her master will marry her.  And her letters are written in hilariously colloquial language (virtue = "vartue").

And now it is Shamela and Joseph Andrews that are the classics, and no one reads Pamela, even though it was so popular when it came out.

Are there contemporary books that you can see in similar scenarios?  Is there a book that's so popular out there, and you just don't get it?  One that, were you a satirical genius like Henry Fielding, you would skewer with your mighty pen?  What would it be?

PS- Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Review: Memoirs of an Anti-Semite

I must admit that sometimes when I read, I feel very intelligent.  Sometimes this is because of what I am reading.  For example, when I read and enjoyed Dead Souls, I was pretty impressed with myself.  Have you ever felt that way about a book?  That it raised your library cred just a little bit?

I admit that part of the reason Memoirs of an Anti-Semite appealed to me was because I thought it would raise my library cred and make me seem erudite and worldly and classy.  It  has all the criteria I look for in a "brainy book."  An interesting title.  An original premise.  An eloquent voice.  Memorable characters.  Symbolism.  It is definitely a library cred book.  And, had I understood any of it, I would feel really smart right now.

Have you ever read a book and felt wildly, completely lost?  The kind of lost where you are frantically reading, hoping comprehension will dawn, but it does not?  That is how this book felt for me.  I must admit that I am not as intelligent a reader as I sometimes like to believe.

Review: An African in Greenland

Yay, it's Spotlight Small Press Week!!  I'm very excited to help put the spotlight on another great small press publisher this week, and I hope by May 22nd, you can all immediately recognize the very distinctive covers that New York Review Books Classics has.

As I already told you why NYRB Classics is absolutely amazing in my post yesterday, I shall get straight to my review today.  I chose to review two books for this Spotlight Series, and the first one is An African in Greenland.  Sometimes, when browsing books online or in a store, I come across one with a very catchy title and must immediately take it down from the shelf (or click through, if it's the internet) and learn what it's about.  That was exactly the case with An African in Greenland (and the other book I chose to review).  What an intriguing title!

And it was definitely an intriguing book as well.  An African in Greenland follows Tete-Michel Kpomassie on his journey from Togo to Greenland in the 1950s, and then from the southern part of Greenland to the northern part.  Kpomassie was 16 when he came across a book on Greenland and decided that he must travel there.  He set off with remarkable speed on this journey, spending eight years trying to get from Togo, through northern Africa and Europe and then ending up in Greenland.  There, he spent a year living with the Inuits, learning their culture, and thoroughly enjoying himself.

TSS: Spotlight on NYRB Classics

The Spotlight Series is back!  We did really well in our first two-week series featuring Unbridled Books in March.  This time around, we're doing one targeted week in May- the 16th-22nd- and putting the spotlight on New York Review Books Classics!

NYRB Classics is one of my favorite publishers in the world.  They publish books that are often not quite full-length novels, but are not short stories, either.  This is often an overlooked length in the story format, and I love publishers that highlight these works.  NYRB also re-issues many books from earlier periods that were undeservedly forgotten or lapsed into obscurity.  And when I say "earlier periods," I don't mean prior to the 20th century.  One of my personal favorites, Wish Her Safe at Home, was published in the 1980s but didn't get a lot of attention until NYRB picked it up to publish recently.

So I'm really excited we're spotlighting NYRB Classics!  And I feel you should all be excited, too!  Not only are the books published of a manageable length to read, but there are also so many titles!  Really, participating in this series will help you achieve almost any reading challenge you are currently participating in.  There are books by people of color, people from nations all over the world, authors new and old, across almost any genre, and all with very distinctive and stylish covers.  NYRB is a publisher for book lovers and collectors and if you have yet to discover this fabulous press, then I hope you participate in our series.  Sign-ups are open through the end of the month over on the Spotlight Series blog.  Sign-up early and for as many books as you'd like!

There will be swag!

Review: Rain Village

Rain Village, by Carolyn Turgeon, was my choice for the first ever Spotlight Series on Unbridled Books!  The story piqued my interest immediately.  Tessa Riley is a very small 12-year-old living in a Kansas farming village with her very tall family.  Her parents are very religious and don't think that Tessa or her siblings need to know anything besides how to farm land and sew.  But Tessa is so small that she cannot help with the farming.  So instead, she starts working with the new librarian, the sexy and fascinating Mary Finn.

Mary helps Tessa find herself, discovering a deep core of strength and self-esteem.  Mary teaches Tessa to read and tells her stories about her home, Rain Village, and her stint as an acrobat in the Velazquez circus.  These hours with Mary help Tessa deal with difficult conditions at home, but eventually Tessa must set out on her own.  She does so, escaping to join Mary's former circus troupe and making a home for herself there.  But even after making a new life for herself, she finds she can't quite keep the old life out.

The Spotlight Series is Here!!

Some time ago, Amy, Chris and I began chatting about how we can use our blogs to do good in the world of books (we're idealistic, I know).  We came up with the idea to start a Spotlight Series,.

On a rotating schedule, we will put the spotlight on a small press publisher that we feel sets a standard. We'll let you know the publisher several weeks (that's what I'm doing right now!) before the spotlight goes on so that you can browse the catalog and choose a book to read and review on your blog.

Then, over a two-week period, all participating bloggers will post their reviews of books by that publisher and word will spread from there!  Note that you do not have to be a blogger to participate in the Spotlight Series.  Anyone who wants to take part can, and if you want to write up a review of a bok and don't have a blog to post it on, we can put it on the Spotlight Series blog for you.

The Spotlight Series blog will serve as the HQ- it will have links to your reviews, information on the publisher, author and publisher interviews, contests, prizes and conversation.

Our first spotlight publisher is (drum roll, please)

UNBRIDLED BOOKS!  

Many bloggers are familiar with this publisher as it has lovely cover art on all its titles and publishes very popular books such as Cranioklepty, Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, and 31 Hours.  Last year was fantastic for Unbridled as so many of its books won recognition in print media and on blogosphere.

We are very excited to bring the spotlight to Unbridled Books and we hope that you will participate, too!  As this is a voluntary series, not done for profit, neither Unbridled nor the Spotlight Series will be able to provide you with copies of books to read.  Please look into libraries, bookstores, online outlets and friends to participate in the Spotlight Series!  We strongly believe that Unbridled Books publishes excellent works, and they are well worth the hunt to find.

The Spotlight on Unbridled Books will take place between March 14th and March 27th.  If you would like to participate and help bring attention to a fantastic publisher (and possibly discover one of your top reads of the year!), please sign up here.  Choose your book and we'll let you know in a few weeks when to post your review.  This is a great way to meet a lot of other bloggers and open up a relationship with an excellent publisher.  We hope to see you there!

You can also follow Spotlight Series on Twitter @spotlightsp.

And if you've already reviewed a book published by Unbridled, just link to it in the comments and we'll tweet about it :-)

Thanks again, everyone!