Stuart Rojstaczer's Blog, page 13
July 27, 2014
A mere two days left
July 22, 2014
July 18, 2014
Early review of The Mathematician’s Shiva in Russian
can be found here. He likes it. A big hurdle with writing this book was that the cultures I was examining – Russian, Polish, math, deeply religious – were all at least a little bit of a stretch for me. I haven’t heard Russian or Polish commonly spoken since I was about five. I know some fairly advanced math and sat in on graduate level classes in mathematical physics, but I wouldn’t at all call myself a mathematician. I haven’t spent time in an Orthodox synagogue or in Torah study since I was fourteen.
My goal was to try to be authentic enough that someone well versed with any of these cultures would find the book enjoyable. There would be small glitches, no doubt, because the task of getting every detail right, even with fact checking by others better versed in these cultures than I am, would be impossible. But I was obsessed with rooting out as many as I could, partly because I’ve thrown American books against the wall when cultural glitches (not just with facts, but with mood and attitude) have been simply too big and annoying for someone in the know, and partly out of personal pride.
I’ve heard from mathematicians who like TMS. I’ve heard from rabbis who like TMS. And now I’ve heard from one Russian. It feels good, let me tell you, to know that all the dull but necessary work done to get the emotional mood and details as authentic as possible seems to have paid off. I can’t wait for the book to come out in six weeks.
July 7, 2014
My crazy book tour so far
August 17th, 3:00 PM, Litquake Palo Alto, Debut Novelist Panel, Oshman JCC, Palo Alto, CA
September 3rd, 7:00 PM, Books Inc., Reading/Discussion/Book Launch Party!, Palo Alto, CA
September 6th, 7:00 PM, Third Place Books, Reading/Discussion, Ravenna Store, Seattle, WA
September 8th, 7:00 PM, Powell’s Books, Reading/Discussion, Portland, OR
September 9th, 7:00 PM, Highland Park Public Library, Reading/Discussion, Highland Park, IL
September 10th, 7:00 PM, Boswell Books, Interview, co-sponsored with the UWM Stahl Center, Milwaukee, WI
September 11th, 7:00 PM, Regulator Bookshop, Reading/Discussion, Durham, NC
September 13th, 7:00 PM, Curious Iguana, Reading/Discussion, Frederick, MD
September 14th, 7:00 PM, Kramer’s Books, Reading/Discussion, Washington, DC
September 15th, 7:00 PM, Book Passage, Reading/Discussion, Corte Madera, CA
September 16th, 7:00 PM, Vroman’s Books, Reading/Discussion, Pasadena, CA
September 18th, 7:30 PM, Warwick’s Books, Reading/Discussion, La Jolla, CA
October 23rd, 7:00 PM, Jewish Learning Works, Reading/Discussion, San Francisco, CA
October 24th, 7:00 PM, Booksellers Trade Show, San Francisco, CA
July 2, 2014
Canadian giveaway of TMS
Canadians can sign up for a giveaway (looks like they’re retail copies) of The Mathematician’s Shiva on Goodreads. 10 copies available. Maybe I’ll get up to TO and give a reading (fingers crossed).
Sign up is here.
June 28, 2014
Penguin online giveaway of TMS galleys
Just in time for the summer beach reading season. Lots of typos (these are galley copies), but all the good stuff is there, too. 25 galley copies available. Deadline July 1st. US only. Canadians will get a crack at free copies next month. Form is here:
June 26, 2014
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Talks Up The Mathematician’s Shiva
on the Rationally Speaking podcast. A lot of interesting discussion on the role of philosophy in modern science, and then during the last few minutes, novelist/philosopher Dr. Goldstein talks about why she likes my novel (she also volunteered to provide a blurb for the book jacket). I don’t know her. I admire her work, though, and it’s probably true that without it, I would have dismissed the idea that I could sell a novel about mathematicians (which includes some real math) to a major publisher. As I suspected all along, she has excellent taste in novels!
June 24, 2014
ALA galley giveway of The Mathematician’s Shiva
Booth 449 at the ALA in Las Vegas, June 26 – July 1. Don’t know the date and time of the giveaway. I hope, of course, that librarians love the book. Details on all the giveaways at the ALA can be found here:
June 23, 2014
Publishers Weekly’s Review of The Mathematician’s Shiva
Thank you for such a super-sweet review!
June 23, 2014
High math, Eastern European history, and American culture converge in this hugely entertaining debut from geophysicist Rojstaczer. After Rachela Karnokovitch, a Polish émigré and University of Wisconsin professor regarded as her generation’s leading mathematician, dies from cancer in 2001, her middle-aged son, Alexander, a meteorologist also known as Sasha, is tasked with organizing the shiva for her. Though his family is challenging enough, Sasha’s real difficulties begin when dozens of his mother’s colleagues descend on Madison to pay their respects. Brilliant, awkward, lovable, and selfish, these superstar mathematicians prove to be less interested in mourning Rachela than in uncovering her secrets – particularly her rumored solution to one of math’s most famous enigmas, the Navier-Stokes problem. The ostensible mourners rip up floorboards, hold séances, and even read meaning into a 40-year-old parrot’s squawks, all the while discussing the charms and pitfalls of Eastern European identity and the perpetual shock of life in America. Counterbalancing their antics are flashbacks to Rachela’s childhood flight from Poland during World War II. These passages, presented as excerpts from her memoir, add depth to an already multilayered story of family, genius, and loss.
