Aly Monroe's Blog, page 13
February 10, 2010
Home Cooking
When I first lived in Cadiz, people would invite me to their homes and, very often, I would find that they had gone out of their way to serve me something 'from your country' - to remind me of home. This was really very kind and touching, but the results were often unfortunate. I remember smiling gratefully as, at a New Year celebration, after a delicious meal of fish and seafood, I dutifully consumed yet another, very dry and unappetising version of what my hostess - really an excellent cook...
January 27, 2010
Audio Rights for Washington Shadow
As well as the large print rights, Isis have now acquired the Unabridged Audio Rights for Washington Shadow.
January 18, 2010
Inspector Proust
At Christmas, my husband gave me the last part of Javier Marías' three part novel Your Face Tomorrow, translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
I have now read the three volumes of the novel first in Spanish and then in English. As an editor said to me – 'awfully good but an awful lot of words'.
And it is true. As Marías has aged, he has written very much longer. More to see, more to describe.
When younger he could almost be brief. A Man of Feeling – it always reminds me of Nabokov's novel about a ches...
I have now read the three volumes of the novel first in Spanish and then in English. As an editor said to me – 'awfully good but an awful lot of words'.
And it is true. As Marías has aged, he has written very much longer. More to see, more to describe.
When younger he could almost be brief. A Man of Feeling – it always reminds me of Nabokov's novel about a ches...
January 10, 2010
Large Print Rights- Washington Shadow
January 5, 2010
Fair's Fair, Very Rare - The Value of Translators
A few days ago I saw a video of an interview with Javier Marías. The publication in English of the third part of his three part novel, Your Face Tomorrow, has finally seen widespread recognition of his very considerable talents.
It can take an extraordinarily long time for a fine writer to gain recognition in another language. If I remember correctly it took about twenty years for Gabriel García Márquez' s A Hundred Years of Solitude to get through to a wide audience in the UK, much less time ...
It can take an extraordinarily long time for a fine writer to gain recognition in another language. If I remember correctly it took about twenty years for Gabriel García Márquez' s A Hundred Years of Solitude to get through to a wide audience in the UK, much less time ...
Fair's Fair, Very Rare
A few days ago I saw a video of an interview with Javier Marías. The publication in English of the third part of his three part novel, Your Face Tomorrow, has finally seen widespread recognition of his very considerable talents.
It can take an extraordinarily long time for a fine writer to gain recognition in another language. If I remember correctly it took about twenty years for Gabriel García Márquez' s A Hundred Years of Solitude to get through to a wide audience in the UK, much less time ...
It can take an extraordinarily long time for a fine writer to gain recognition in another language. If I remember correctly it took about twenty years for Gabriel García Márquez' s A Hundred Years of Solitude to get through to a wide audience in the UK, much less time ...
December 27, 2009
Mussel Soup
I first ate mussels many years ago as a student in Granada, when a neighbour came over to prepare us a paella. While it was cooking we were given a tapa of fresh mussels, very simply prepared - just placed in a covered pan (if you like, with a dash of white wine), heated until the shells open (any that do not should be discarded), then eaten directly from the shells with a squeeze of lemon juice. They were absolutely delicious.
Excellent mussels are available from good fishmongers in many plac...
Excellent mussels are available from good fishmongers in many plac...
December 21, 2009
Something For My Christmas Stocking
Very nice to receive today, a cutting from The Mail on Sunday (December 6th) in which Simon Shaw, in his paperback reviews, says:
"Most promising newcomer this year was Aly Monroe, whose debut wartime thriller, The Maze of Cadiz is an atmospheric tour de force."
Happy Christmas to all.
December 20, 2009
Of Gardeners and Butlers.
About fifteen years ago, my husband came back from lunch with a publisher who had said he would be remiss in his job if he did not keep an eye on the business models used by pornographers – 'because they are always the first to react to market conditions.'
Apparently the latest development in the business then was the death of the stars and the advent of 'normal people' as protagonists - what was called either 'amateurism' or 'democratisation'. This was accompanied by a great expansion of what...
Apparently the latest development in the business then was the death of the stars and the advent of 'normal people' as protagonists - what was called either 'amateurism' or 'democratisation'. This was accompanied by a great expansion of what...
December 13, 2009
Lionel Davidson (1922-2009)
Last year (Sunday 30 November 2008) I wrote a blog on Lionel Davidson, pleased that Faber and Faber had brought out a collection of all eight of his books for adults published between 1960 and 1994.
Lionel Davidson died at the age of 87 on 21 October 2009. You can check the obituaries in the Guardian, Times and Daily Telegraph but here I'll repeat that he was the youngest of nine children of a poor Polish-Jewish tailor (who died when he was two), that later, when the family moved from Hull to ...
Lionel Davidson died at the age of 87 on 21 October 2009. You can check the obituaries in the Guardian, Times and Daily Telegraph but here I'll repeat that he was the youngest of nine children of a poor Polish-Jewish tailor (who died when he was two), that later, when the family moved from Hull to ...
