Book Quote of the Day

“You could be addled, stupefied and generally speaking philogrobolized, a word that should be said at about an octave beneath your normal speaking voice and reserved for the morning after the carnage before. As responses to ‘How are you this morning?’ go, ‘philogrobolized’ is almost unbeatable. Nobody will ever have to ask you what you mean as it’s all somehow contained in the syllable grob, which is where the stress should always be laid. It conveys a hangover, without ever having to admit that you’ve been drinking.”

The Horologicon: A day’s jaunt through the lost words of the English Language, by Mark Forsyth

Book Review: Moranthology

I have just finished reading “Moranthology” by Caitlin Moran.

Moranthology – Caitlin Moran (via Amazon)

This is a book composed of Caitlin Moran’s columns from newspapers over her career with added notes on each article. It covers a range of subjects, from celebrities, television, and feminism, as well as amusing late-night conversations in bed with her husband.

I particularly like how she describes David Cameron as being a robot made of ham, and how she got her trademark hair! As well as the funny bits, there are a few serious bits which make it a well-rounded book.

If you are an avid follower of Caitlin, then you’ve probably already read all these columns, but as i have only really discovered her in the last year or so, i really liked having all these columns in one book! She tells stories really well, and is really funny!

I preferred her first book “How to be a Woman” as that was more of a proper book, but this book is good because you can dip in and out of it, so a good book when you just have a few minutes here and there to read.

I give it 7/10 because it is full of interesting stories and opinions, and i enjoyed it!

Translated Fiction News

Translated fiction has made the news today, well, in the publishing world at least!

Pushkin Press has introduced their new imprint for translated children’s books, which aims to bring “classic and bestselling children’s books from all around the world to British children”, to help change the current situation of around 3% of UK books being translated from another language, and the huge lack of translated fiction in the children’s book market.

I personally will be keeping an eye on these developments because it is about time that more translated books entered the UK children’s markets!

To see the whole article on the Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/07/pushkin-imprint-childrens-books-translation

……………………………….

One thing that bugs me is that during the whole time i was writing my Masters dissertation on Translated Fiction, i couldn’t find a single source for the magical “3% of the UK book market is translated fiction” figure, and then suddenly i find this has decreased to 2.5% according to an article on Publishing Perspectives website! - Books in Translation: It’s time for others to join the fight

The problem is that there aren’t enough books coming into the UK from non-Anglophone markets, and there is a lack of airtime dedicated to translated fiction, unless you know where to find it. I do my best to review translated fiction here on my blog and i have a page dedicated to the reviews of books which i have read: A World Of Randomness – Translated Fiction

……………………………….

Why is Translated Fiction not getting far in the UK market? Well, according to the Publishing Perspectives article Books in translation it’s time for others to join the fight:

1. “The permeating stereotype about books in translation is that they are “too literary” and “too serious” for a general readership in comparison to, say, light and entertaining cook books, celebrity memoirs or the recent publication of “mummy’s porn” Fifty Shades of Grey which was given almost every available space in every paper.”
   
2. “All publishers rely heavily on reviews to capture a market for their titles. And although the days of the British Empire are long gone, it still seems that the mainstream media, even those left leaning outlets which pride themselves on cultural diversity and liberal values, are far too conservative to devote column inches to literature and non-fiction in translation.”
3. “How are we going to convince a reviewer to give it a go if most of them get an instant headache when they can’t pronounce the author’s name?”
4. “Publishing a book in translation is expensive. You are lucky as a publisher if you get a translation grant which rarely covers 100% of the amount it is costing you to get the work done; sometimes you get nothing and you face the possibility of dropping the title from your list altogether because it’s simply too expensive for a small press to cover the translation costs.”
5. “If a publisher decides to take on a book written in a non-English language, the foreign author will be very well established with a few prizes under his/her belt to give the publisher a fighting change of getting the title reviewed at all. And so those books translated into English are often literary, high-brow, and serious.”
6. “It’s common knowledge that there’s no money in publishing books in translation, meaning it’s done by people who are seriously passionate about literature often subsidise the business with their savings or second jobs.”

They are all true and all need to be sorted out if translated fiction wants to have a bigger stake in the UK book market.

………………………………….

Other recent interesting articles on the subject of Translated fiction:

Books in Translation: It’s Time for Others to Join the Fight - http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/02/books-in-translation-its-time-for-others-to-join-the-fight/

British children miss out on foreign bestsellers - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10039917/British-children-miss-out-on-foreign-bestsellers.html

Best Translated Fiction Award 2013 - http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?s=btb

Book Quote of the Day

“The jagged, saw-edge teeth of the Lunar craters stood up sharply against the light of the sun but what Olga had screamed at was the globe of the Earth, swimming there huge and green in the light from that sun embedded in the black curtain of space.

But now its greenness was tarnished. Ugly fiery streaks coursed around the globe. Dense clouds drifted around the disc, giving the whole sphere a ghastly glowing penumbra. The red cracks grew as they watched and so fiery were they that even the thick masses of cloud did not obscure their fierceness.”

- When The Earth Died, by Karl Mannheim

Book Quote of the Day (my World Book Night special!)

“Beech, buche or bok, as it was called in Old High German, was the standard material for writing on. Even when wood was finally overtaken by the new-fangled invention of parchment, the Germans kept the name, and so did the English. Bok became boc became book.”

- The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth

Book Quote of the Day

“You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers – the monsters, the enemies. When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?” 
― Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn

World Book Day 2013

I had almost forgotten about this special bookish occasion until last night! Oops!

Happy World Book Day!

I hope you have found some lovely books to read today, and if not, check out my reviews!

Book Quote of the Day

“Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.”
― Joanne Harris, Chocolat