Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween

As I've mentioned before, I take part in "secret santa" exchanges all year long. Halloween, of course, is a perfect excuse for an exchange... bring on the wishlist books!

My secret spook (my friend Milan!) sent me some wonderful stuff:
~ The History of Danish Dreams by Peter Hoeg,
~ Snow by Orhan Pamuk, and
~ The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa,
as well as a few other goodies including The Blue Day Book by Bradley Trevor Greive.

I sent my partner (my friend Rhonda)
~ The Samurai by Shusaku Endo,
~ The Spring Tone by Kazumi Yumoto, and
~ Strange Bedfellows, Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett (eds.)
as well as a few other goodies.

5 comments:

  1. Mmm. Vargas Llosa.

    Shocked you with that one, huh? *grin*

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was so please when I started to suspect ... b/c, well, you know, Milan and I have very similar tastes most of the time so I knew he'd get some good stuff for me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey hon'

    I'm very glad you liked books I've choose for you. When saw that I'm your Secret Spook I was so thrilled and then I looked my bookshelf and thought "Gosh I could send her at least ALL of my books!" LOL

    I had to have some criteria and the main one were swaps you are hosting: "Literature in Translation Swap" and "Non Genre Swap" so I picked up books which will can be used in both and also books and authors which are some of my favourites:
    ~ Hoeg is definitively one of them. "Stories of the Night" is magnificent, maybe even better that "Smila's Sense for Snow". This novel ("History of Danish Dreams") however I haven't read. I'm not sure but I think it has different title in original (if this is his debut novel) something like
    "Understanding 20th Century" and it's not translated in Serbian. But when I saw his name on your WL I knew I have to send you that one. (His latest novel is about to be published in Serbian!) Anyway I've read reviews and I thought it looks quite interesting.
    ~ Vargas Llosa, well his "Los Cuadernos De Don Rigoberto" is just fabulous (yeah I've read it in Spanish too :whistle:)! Have you read that one? Also I loved "The Way to Paradise" (again different translation, in original is "Paradise on the Other Corner") but then I love Paul Gauguin too. I think that Llosa is quite serious candidate for Nobel.
    ~ Which leads us to the "Snow" and Mr. Orhan Pamuk but I don't think there's need for an explanation here :)
    ~ At the end there is "The Blue Day Book"; I really love what Bradley Trevor Greive is doing so I thought it might help when is "raining" (Serbian translation is "Book for Rainy Day")

    And yes I've used this secret exchange to send you Naipaul's novel I owe you for such a long time :blush: sorry but I tried to be practical :)

    Oh well there are so many titles I wanted to send you but there will be lots of occasions such as sunny or (why not?) rainy day...

    ReplyDelete
  4. No worries at all about sneaking in that Naipaul book. I would have done the same exact thing!

    I *loved* everything you picked out for me.

    As you know I love Vargas Llosa (I'd be crazy happy if he got the Nobel... him and Kundera, either would be fabulous). I'm still working on collecting all his books. I have Notebooks, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

    As for the Hoeg: I just love that title - The History of Danish Dreams - it's so poetic. I read something about the book somewhere and it sounded really good.

    Hmmm... if I didn't have so many high priority TBR books I think I'd reserve a week or two just for Pamuk. One day, maybe.

    At the moment I'm thinking that I should bring The Blue Day Book to work and leave it on my bookshelf there so that it'll be on hand when I really need it.

    Thanks again... you did an absolutely fantastic job. hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Llosa and Kundera would be also my choices for Nobel!
    And you've just remind me that I saw Llosa last year in Pamplona during San Fermines craziness. I was there running from the bulls and Llosa was one of the guests of the festival. I haven't met him, only saw (is that counts?).

    My God if he wins Nobel that might mean I'm bringing the luck (after meeting Pamuk...)!
    I should become writer or at least meet our lovely Susan (aka West of Mars) in personal! LOL

    ReplyDelete