Topic: July 2006
IN MEMORIUM
Belgian writer Hubert Lampo died on July 13 at the age of 85. Lampo authored 21 novels, including the infamous The Coming of Joachim Stiller, as well as numerous novellas and short stories. He was an award-winning author writing from the vantage of his experiences in World War II, and he incorporated elements of magical realism in much of his writing. He was considered a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize.
CALENDAR
[07.14.06]—Reading for disaster relief anthology, In the Arms of Words, Amy Ouzoonian, editor. To be held 7:30p at Writer's Voice of the West Side YMCA, 5 W. 63rd Street (between Broadway and Central Park West), Manhattan. Free admission. Free wine. Info: graucher@ymcanyc.org
BOOKS
[07.14.06]—Cellophane by Marie Arana—Writes Ashley Simpson Shires for the Rocky Mountain News—"[L]like [Garcia] Marquez and Allende, her writing invokes the term 'magical realism.' Arana eloquently derides this term, though, in a 1999 feature for the Washington Post Book Club. She contends that ghosts, levitations, and strange possessions of the soul are 'deeply Latin American preoccupations, forged over centuries by the fusion of indigenous American, Spanish and African faiths.' The supernatural is a way of life, she argues, not a literary device but a constant presence in the mindset." The Dial Press, 2006
[07.12.06]—Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Penguin) was Renee's Book of the Day this week.
[07.09.06]—The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin) rated #14 on the New England Booksellers Association trade paperback fiction list this past week.
MIXED MEDIA
[07.11.06]—Obaba, or the Hidden Land—Writes Anna Bello for the Romanian daily, NineO'Clock—"An investigative trip to a mysterious, isolated Basque hill town populated by eccentrics (and a fair dash of lizards) becomes a mesmerizing and evocative experience for protagonist and viewer alike in [director] Montxo Armendariz’s wonderful screen treatment" of the Bernardo Atxaga novel, Obabakoak. "The film carefully unlocks the past to study its effect on the present. The production’s fresh vision and fusion of regional charm with magic realism should ensure art house interest from viewers." With Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Barbara Lennie; distributed by Transylvania Film.
A LITTLE LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING…
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