THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
TTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD is a collection of eight modern fairy tales. In each of the novellas, a sense of the fantastic intertwines with the mundane, sometimes enchantingly, sometimes crudely but still beguilingly.
The title story, for instance, transports the reader into the midst of a women’s gulag during Soviet rule where the inmates suspiciously eye the newcomer, Olga. She might, after all, be an informer. But the talk of the day is about her hair which is either “horrible” or “magnificent” depending upon the prisoner opining.
November 2, 2009
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Judi Clark · 
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Tags: Europa Editions, Fairy Tales, Schmitt · Posted in: Allegory/Fable, France, Short Stories, Translated
POISONVILLE by Massimo Carlotto
Set in the industrialized northeast region of Italy, Poisonville begins with the brutal murder of lawyer Giovanni Barovier, fiancée of Francesco Visentin, another lawyer and son of the area’s second richest family.
October 17, 2009
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Europa Editions, Greed & Corruption, italy, Massimo Carlotto, Murder Mystery · Posted in: italy, Mystery/Suspense, Noir
GOURMET RHAPSODY by Muriel Barbery
In Muriel Barbery’s bestselling novel, THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG, Renee Michel, the concierge, disdains the fourth-floor resident, restaurant critic Pierre Arthens, as “an oligarch of the worst sort.” She continues, “Can one be so gifted and yet so impervious to the presence of things?” Yes, apparently he can, and in Barbery’s new “companion” volume, GOURMET RHAPSODY, the curtain of mystery is drawn back from him, and he shows us exactly how he does it!
August 25, 2009
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Tags: Europa Editions, Food · Posted in: France, Translated, World Lit
THE PROOF OF THE HONEY by Salwa Al Neimi
The nameless seductress of THE PROOF OF HONEY declares, “In my life I have been addicted to beds and stories.” She has studied the classical Arabic erotica of al-Suyuti and al-Nafzawi, as well the Kama Sutra and Western works by Casanova, Henry Miller, and Georges Bataille. She also makes wild and saucy claims of having taken numerous lovers of both genders. These then form the bases of her addictions and a discernable core to her wandering writings about sex in the Near East.
August 8, 2009
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Arabic World, Europa Editions, Iran, Unreliable Narrator · Posted in: Class - Race - Gender, Debut Novel, Iran, Translated, Unique Narrative, World Lit
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANCIENT ROME by Alberto Angela
This extraordinary voyage of exploration, guided by Alberto Angela with the charm of a born storyteller, lasts twenty-four hours, beginning at dawn on an ordinary day in the year 115 A.D., with Imperial Rome at the height of its power.
June 21, 2009
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Ancient Rome, early a.d, Europa Editions · Posted in: Facing History, Non-fiction
