The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
This topic is about
Faces on the Tip of My Tongue
International Booker Prize
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2020 International Booker Longlist: Faces on the Tip of My Tongue
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Interesting choice - this is the one that caused something of a discussion on the Peirene Press thread (under Favourite Presses) due to the decision to take a 300+ page book of short stories and extract a 100 page or so selection of those stories that are more thematically linked (and also to fit the publishers house style of short books).I enjoyed it as a collection.
Yes - I rather regretted launching that discussionMy review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I rather liked this - was just outside my personal top 13
My biggest issue was with the story about the blindspot hitchhiker which I still can't see made any sense.
Yes that is explained in two of the stories not translated .... probably
I liked it! I was debating of including this but since it is an 'edited' version of the original, I thought it wouldn't be eligible.My review:
https://thebobsphere.wordpress.com/20...
I don't think that is a criteria that applies.Indeed the BTBA in the US has actually shot itself in the foot the other way round a couple of times. They don't accept re-translations - and so have been cases (eg Anniversaries) where a partial translation in the past has rendered a new complete translation ineligible,
Paul wrote: "I don't think that is a criteria that applies.Indeed the BTBA in the US has actually shot itself in the foot the other way round a couple of times. They don't accept re-translations - and so have..."
I was wondering about that as well
I bet this listing will prompt some publisher to commission a new "complete" translation in the next few years. Some books (El llano en llamas, Anniversaries just from our recent discussions) get more than one translation and others don't get any!
I'm nearly done this and quite enjoying it. I've enjoyed most of the stories in and of themselves but the connections and echoes really amplify the experience.Unlike Grumble's Yard, I count Blind Spot among my favourites.
I would be delighted if someone could explain what the hitchhiker actually does
I am not sure I can shed any light in the hitchhiker. I thought this was an interesting book to read and I liked the language and atmosphere. I looked back through my reading history and I do seem to respond well to books that began life in French (there are a couple of exceptions, of course). Not sure if that is down to the source material or the work done by the translators.
She admits she wasn't too happy at first about her book being abridged.
Paul, you mentioned abridged again....
Once I know all of my kids can pay their bills the next few months (unless they decide to sacrifice me for the sake of the economy) I will reward myself with a subscription to Peirene.
WndyJW wrote: "Once I know all of my kids can pay their bills the next few months (unless they decide to sacrifice me for the sake of the economy) I will reward myself with a subscription to Peirene."Same reasoning - when we get through this I'm going to subscribe to Charco.
It’s a reward for us and helps the small publishers.
Does anyone have the original French title of the short story collection this book is taken from? Since I can read French I think I would prefer to read the unabridged version.
Un renard à mains nues
Paul wrote: "Un renard à mains nues"Merci
Louise wrote: "Does anyone have the original French title of the short story collection this book is taken from? Since I can read French I think I would prefer to read the unabridged version."If you can find a cheap version. That was my original plan, but (from Australia) all I could find were second-hand copies that cost a bomb (admittedly, mainly because of delivery charges...).
Just finished this - and the entire longlist, yay!I enjoyed it, but...
Abridged.
This may have been a shortlister for me, but.
No ;)
Tony wrote: "If you can find a cheap version. That was my original plan, but (from Australia) all I could find were second-hand copies that cost a bomb (admittedly, mainly because of delivery charges...)"I got the ebook from my library.
Given my campaign to ban books over 200 pages, which isn't otherwise gathering much support, I should be praising the publisher for taking direct action here.But somehow, no.....
When is this group closing rankings? For the original announcement date or later this year?
Do you mean shortlist rankings - I assume these will stay open until whenever the prize is announced (I have certainly put back reading the rest of the shortlist given the postponement)
Mod
Mod
But somehow, no....."
I wouldn't mind this. But there are still hundreds of old books over 200 pages that I want to have read, so it wouldn't make that much difference for me if several more publishers decided to have years of novellas as they have had years of publishing women. It would just make reading longlists quicker.
Hugh wrote: "Yes, I am happy to keep the shortlist rankings open until the winner is announced."I've just finished writing my thirteenth review (the last two will be published next week), and then I'm planning a series of countdown posts with my final ranking of the whole longlist - I'll add my top six then :)
The Mookse and the Gripes
Books mentioned in this topic
Faces on the Tip of My Tongue (other topics)El llano en llamas (other topics)
Published in the UK in 2019 by Peirene Press. Currently no US edition.
From the Booker Prize site:
https://thebookerprizes.com/books/fac...
Meetings, partings, loves and losses in rural France are dissected with compassion.
The late wedding guest isn’t your cousin but a drunken chancer. The driver who gives you a lift isn’t going anywhere but off the road. Snow settles on your car in summer and the sequins found between the pages of a borrowed novel will make your fortune.
Pagano’s stories weave together the mad, the mysterious and the dispossessed of a rural French community with honesty and humour. A superb, cumulative collection from a unique French voice.