The Pearl of the World

The Pearl
John Steinbeck
Drawings by José Clemente Orozco
Viking Press, 1945
123 pages

This slim book by Nobel-laureate Steinbeck has been called a simple story about simple people. It feels like a very old fable, whose lyrical writing sings in your head as you read it. Wikipedia says Steinbeck heard the tale on a trip to Mexico, and first turned it into a short story, then this novella, and finally a screenplay for a Mexican American movie.

It's the story of an impoverished Mexican pearl diver, Kino, his wife Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito. One day Kino finds a huge pearl, the Pearl of the World. But instead of the good new future he envisions for his family, other people's greed and betrayal overwhelm him and his hopes. The writing is very evocative and affecting. I had a slight feeling of doom throughout, which made it hard to continue reading sometimes.

 

This was my first Steinbeck novel and I loved the writing style, despite the rather downbeat story. I need to add some of his other works to my To Be Read list. I've been trying to read more works by authors who won a big literary prize, e.g., Nobel Prize, Man Booker Award, Women's Prize for Fiction (née Orange Prize), Pulitzer, etc. This my Back to the Classics entry for a classic by an author that's new to you.

Movie Poster for "The Pearl"

Wikipedia says that the movie, La perla (The Pearl) is a 1947 Mexican American film by the acclaimed director Emilio Fernández. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry. I hadn't heard of this Film Registry before, but it is a program of the Library of Congress. On it's web pages it says:

[The National Film Registry] is a list of films deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" that are earmarked for preservation by the Library of Congress. These films are not selected as the 'best' American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture. They reflect who we are as a people and as a nation.

They add 25 films each year to the list. All the titles and many descriptions are listed on the web site. Maybe the start of a To Be Seen list?

World Book Day 2018

Are you ready for World Book Day? Hmmm, I never heard of it before either, but it will be upon us this Monday, 23 April 2018. I'm all for promoting books, reading, and literacy; they have always been a big part of my life. What makes me especially happy is that Amazon.com is celebrating by offering 9 Kindle books for free! The 8 novels and 1 memoir have all been translated into English, and come from a wide variety of languages. Making this more tantalizing for me is that the books are by authors who are prize winners or best sellers in their native countries. Such a good chance to peek into another culture.

But hurry, these books are only free until 11:59 PM on Tuesday night. The time left is shown at the top of the download page, so check it in your local time zone. Here's the page on Amazon.com to get your free ebooks:

https://www.amazon.com/article/read-the-world

This special day was officially proclaimed in 1995 by UNESCO, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and is celebrated by over 100 countries. Except that the UK celebrates it on the first Thursday in March, apparently to avoid conflicts with Easter and school holidays.

According to the UNESCO web page, the full name is World Book and Copyright Day, and many festivities are planned all around the world. In addition, a World Book Capital is named each year, and that city promotes literacy throughout the year until April 23rd of the next year. Athens is the World Book Capital for 2018.

23 April is a symbolic date for world literature. It is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Halldór K. Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
- UN web page

 I am looking forward to reading most of these books, and applying them to the Reading All Around the World Challenge!

Further Reading

* UN: World Book and Copyright Day 23 April
http://www.un.org/en/events/bookday/

* UNESCO: World Book Day
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldbookday

* In Celebration of World Book Day, AmazonCrossing Aims to Connect One Million Readers with Kindle Books in Translation
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/celebration-world-book-day-amazoncrossing-130000539.html

* World Book Day - a British site for their day, 7 March 2018
https://www.worldbookday.com/

* Read the World: Celebrate World Book Day with AmazonCrossing
https://www.amazon.com/article/read-the-world

Reading All Around the World Challenge

One more book challenge has called my name, and I think I can fit it in, as it's another long-term one: Reading All Around the World. This is hosted by Jean of Howling Frog Books and Esther of Chapter Adventures. The goal is to read one book, fiction or nonfiction, from each of 50+ countries, in whatever time frame you choose. Very loose rules! I'm aiming for 100 books in 5 years, but because it can be hard to find good translated books from so many places, I am listing all 197 countries listed on the challenge page. As I find interesting titles, I'll add or subtract from this list. My reviews will be linked here, as well.

My List:

Books I have finished are listed and as I review them, they will have links. Proposed titles or authors are enclosed in [].

Afghanistan    [The Bookseller of Kabul,  Åsne Seierstad]
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola    [A General Theory of Oblivion, Jose Eduardo Agualusa]
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina    [Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Manuel Puig]
Armenia
Australia    [The Ladies of Missalonghi, Colleen McCullough]
Austria  [A Whole Life, Robert Seethaler]
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium    [War & Turpentine, Stefan Hertmans]
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia    [Our Dead World, Liliana Colanzi]
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil    [The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector, trans. by Ben Moser]  [Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, Jorge Amado]
Brunei
Bulgaria    [The Physics of Sorrow, Georgi Gospodinov,]
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon    [It shall be of Jasper and Coral ; and, Love-Across-A-Hundred-Lives: Two Novels, Werewere Liking]
Canada - The Long Way Home, Louise Penny
Central African Republic (CAR)
Chad
Chile
China    [Notes of a Crocodile, Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie]
Colombia    [Gabriel García Márquez]
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo        [Blue White Red, Alain Mabanckou] [Black Moses, Alain Mabanckou]
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia    [The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, Dubravka Ugresic]
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic - Too Loud a Solitude, Bohumil Hrabal
Denmark    [The Keeper of Lost Causes, Jussi Adler-Olsen]
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt    [The Queue, Basma Abdel Aziz] [An Oriental Dance, Khalid Al-Bari]
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Faroe Islands     [Windswept Dawn, William Heinesen; trans. by W. Glyn Jones]
Fiji
Finland
France    [The Kites, Romain Gary]
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany - Mr. Summer's Story, Patrick Süskind
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary    [The Last Wolf & Herman, László Krasznahorkai]
Iceland    [Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller, Guðbergur Bergsson; trans. by Lytton Smith]
India
Indonesia
Iran        [The Blind Owl, Sadegh Hedayat, trans. by Naveed Noori]
Iraq
Ireland
Israel    [All the Rivers, Dorit Rabinyan]
Italy      [Baudolino, Umberto Eco]  [Ties, Domenico Starnone]
Jamaica
Japan    [Tale of Genji, Ladi Murasaki]  [Memoirs of a Polar Bear, Yoko Tawada]
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia        [A Spare Life, Lidija Dimkovska]
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico    [Carlos Fuentes]
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco    [A Life Full of Holes, Driss ben Hamed Charhadi, recorded and translated by Paul Bowles]
Mozambique
Myanmar (Burma)
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway  -  Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru    [Conversation in the Cathedral, Mario Vargas Llosa]
Philippines
Poland    [Stone Upon Stone, Wieslaw Mysliwski] [Enemies, A Love Story Isaac Bashevis Singer] [Flights, Olga Tokarczuk, trans. by Jennifer Croft]
Portugal  [The Cave, José Saramago]
Qatar
Romania     [The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter, Matei Calinescu]
Russia    [Novels, Tales, Journeys,  Alexander Pushkin, trans. by Pevear & Volokonsky]
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal    [Doomi Golo, Boubacar Boris Diop]
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea    [Please Look after Mom, Kyung-sook Shin]
South Sudan
Spain -  Celestina, Fernando de Rojas
Sri Lanka
Sudan    [Hunter of the Chrysalises, Amir Tag Elsir] [French Perfume, Amir Tag Elsir]
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, Fredrik Backman
Switzerland     [To the Back of Beyond, Peter Stamm]
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey    [The Museum of Innocence, Orhan Pamuk]  [Snow, Orhan Pamuk]
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
United Kingdom - The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, Alan Bradley
United States of America - Stone Quarry, S. J. Rozan
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe - Adore: a Novella, Doris Lessing


Let the adventure begin!

Speed Review: Mr. Summer's Story

Mr. Summer's Story
Patrick Süskind
Knopf, 1993 translation by John E. Woods
German original "Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer", 1991
116 pages

[Note to self: writing this review will NOT take longer than reading this short novella, 2 hours.]

I came upon "Mr. Summer's Story" in a roundabout way: in 2014 someone posted its entire 335-word opening sentence in a comment to a blog post, which I happened upon last week. That sentence piqued my interest and I ordered the book from my library.

This slim story - tale, allegory, fable - is a reminiscence told by a man about some incidents that happened to him when he was a little boy in a tiny rural village. He talks about his life at home, at school, and at the mean piano teacher's house, as well as his adventures with bikes and trees.

In the village lives a strange local man known only as Mr. Summer, who wanders the village and the countryside all day everyday, in weather good or bad. No one knows why, nor cares to find out. Several times over the years, the little boy briefly crosses paths with Mr. Summer. At the end, Mr. Summer disappears from the village. And that's basically the whole story. But as in all good tales, there are clues to partially piece together Mr. Summer's story, and the reasons that the narrator remembers him all these years later.

Patrick Süskind has penned a very charming tale, accompanied by pretty watercolor illustrations from Jean-Jaques Sempé, in a small gift-book format. In addition to the wonderful opening sentence, the book is nicely written, with good touches of small boy logic. And it leaves one with things to ponder, all of which I appreciated on yet another cold, wet, grey, pseudo-spring day.