Many of us are well aware of major literary awards such as The Booker, The Pulitzer, The Orange Prize, etc. Some of these awards are only open to residents of a particular country. Others are a broader, accepting works published in English no matter where they come from. It probably fair to say that the winning books are more likely to be written by a Westerner or where English is the author’s first language. Our readers and the books they have on their bookshelves are the best testament to the popularity of the subject of Africa. But I wonder …
May 28th marks the 70th anniversary of retaliations for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (also known as “the Butcher of Prague”). You might be wondering why we are writing about this at TheReadingRoom.com. Just a few weeks ago we saw the release of a very interesting literary take on the “Operation Anthropoid” and we thought we would bring it to the attention of readers who are interested in historical novels (in particular on the subject of the WWII) and readers who are forever fascinated with the changing form of literary genres. HHhH by a young French writer Laurent Binet has …
We really got into a wave of World War II books recently and after reading the harrowing stories contained in A Train in Winter one really need a bit of the distance and a less graphic take on this subject. Next to Love penned by a Ellen Feldman carries a lot of credibility since she has written about the world War II before, but it also shines with a confident voice of an author who was previously nominated for the Orange Prize. It is a book that will particularity appeal to women as the main three characters are three close …
It has been 67 years since the end of World War II, but in the last couple of years it seems like WWII has started to loom in our imaginations on a much larger scale. Publishers have been playing a part in this trend, releasing quite a few new books that have become bestsellers (think; Unbroken, The Hare with Amber Eyes, A Winter Train, Band of Brothers, In the Garden of Beasts, and most recently HHhH). I have been pondering why this sudden popularity and I have come to the conclusion that there are two major reasons. First, as the …
No matter how much we roar our terrible roar and gnash our terrible teeth… he boarded his boat and sailed away. Maurice Sendak died on the 8th of May 2012 leaving us with a magical world that generations to come will discover and cherish in the way that many of us have done to date. Who knows how many millions upon millions of children and adults throughout the world can quote from Where the Wild Things Are. Why? Because Maurice Sendak let the children be who they really are; full of conflicts, rages, fears but also hope, …
