Io non ho problemi ad ammetterlo: leggo per il piacere delle storie. Ma il narrare storie è ben più di una perdita di tempo: è un volano che ci permette di andare oltre la nostra vita e il nostro orticello per volare più alto.

Oggi lo conferma anche la scienza: una rivista di rilievo come lo Scientific American pubblica un articolo sul potere della narrazione, ricordando che il raccontare storie è uno dei pochissimi tratti condivisi da tutte le società umane in tutto il pianeta, e cercandone la ragione.

Il tempo delle storie è diverso dal tempo reale, si espande a inglobarci anche quando “non abbiamo tempo”. (Scrive Pennac: “Il tempo per leggere è sempre tempo rubato. Come il tempo per scrivere, d’altronde, o il tempo per amare”. E anche se non ha lo stesso valore, anch’io sto”rubando” il tempo di scrivere questo post.) Ne ha scritto recentemente Roy Peter Clark, riflettendo sul rapporto tra narrazione forte e giornalismo.

Non dimentichiamo che la narrazione non sono solo i libri. Alle altre forme di narrazione è stata dedicata un’edizione dei Weekly Geeks qualche tempo fa. E uno degli interventi che mi sono piaciuti di più parlava della narrazione orale e della sua magia. Da quanto non vi fate raccontare una storia?

July Book Blowout book #6:

The book: Tefkros Michailidis, Delitti pitagorici (Pythagorean crimes), Italian translation by Andrea Di Gregorio. Written in modern Greek. As far as I could understand, it has not been translated into English.

The story: a detective story were everything revolves around maths. A mathematician is killed. His best friend, and a fellow mathematician, recalls the story of their lives, of how they first met at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900, of how their respective research (and their role as on-lookers on the great history of mathematics) was at the basis of their friendship. Was it also a motive for the murder?

My thoughts: This novel has great potential, it brings the history of mathematics to life. The idea was a great one. Unfortunately, it has too didactic a take and it alternates two lines of narration with long explicative parts. Not only do the readers loose all interest for the crime story, they are also bored to death, as the author feels he needs to explain even the most obvious bits of information. From the Greek translator of Denis Guedj, I expected much more. Rating: 3/10.

July Book Blowout book #7:

The book: Claude Bleton, I negri del traduttore (The Translator’s Ghostwriters), Italian translation by Paola Carbonara. The book was originally written in French and has not been translated into English either, as far as I can tell.

The story: during a drinking night, the narrator, a true weaver of stories, is summing up his life (and going through different versions of it as the night goes by). Basically, the story is that of a man who, finding himself not able to be a writer, decides to be a translator: “The best solution was to copy what others had written. It was the beginning of a true vocation for idleness: I would become a translator.” Unfortunately he is not the best model of translators. ***WHAT FOLLOWS IS A COMPLETE SPOILER*** He starts to write his “translations” and to impose them on the writers for them to “re-create” the “original”. And when his writers (his ghostwriters) start to rebel against him and threaten to unmask him, he starts to kill them one by one. In the end, an avid reader, a retired policemen who reads his translations with the same interest he would dedicate to a murder case, finds out the truth and writes everything in a series of newspaper articles.

My thoughts: If you are already wary of translations, this is not the book to read. That is the only issue I have with this book, that there are already so many people who are wary of translators, that to depict one of us like that is not at all helpful for the category (Bleton is a translator himself, this is his first novel as author). That being said, the book is hilarious, an exceptionally good read. The characters are continuously changing face, so that you never know how much of the story is true. But I do know how difficult it is to make oneself a name in the translation and publishing world, and the new ways the narrator keeps inventing to boost his career are very funny to read about, to say the least. Rating: 8.5/10

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July is over, and so is the

For the July Book Blowout I had challenged myself to read 7 books. I know that is not much, but it seems to be more or less my average. Actually, I not only met that challenge but went a very little bit further at 8.5 books:

• Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran, translated by Alberto Bracci Testasecca (1)
• Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, My Life with Mozart, translated by Alberto Bracci Testasecca (2)
• Aminatta Forna, Ancestors Stones, translated by Katia Bagnoli (3)
• Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth, translated by Federica Oddera (4)
• Gregory Maguire, Wicked. The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, translated by Michele Piumini (5)
• Tefkros Michailidis, Delitti pitagorici (Pythagorean Crimes), translated by Andrea Di Gregorio (6)
• Claude Bleton, I negri del traduttore (The Translator’s Ghostwriters), translated by Paola Carbonara (7)
• Bill Bryson, Shakespeare (7.5, counts as half because I had started it before July 1st)
• Frank Schaetzing, Il mondo d’acqua (Water World), translated by Roberta Zuppet (8, counts as half because I read exactly half of it and then had to return it to the library)
• Dulce Maria Cardoso, Campo di sangue (Field of blood), translated by Daniele Petruccioli (8.5, counts as half because I am still halfway through)

Top three best books of the month:

1. Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth
2. Bleton, I negri del traduttore
3. Schmitt, Monsieur Ibrahim

Worst of the month:

• Michailidis, Pythagorean Crimes

I am way behind with reviews, but will post comments soon.

And now, Mrs S. has offered us some questions as a close. Here we go.

1. Did you discover a new author?

Well, yes and no. I read several books from authors I had never read before (Bleton, Maguire, Michailidis, Cardoso, Schaetzing, Forna), but all of them were on my reading list previous to the challenge. Unfortunately I had very little time to blog during this month, so I almost never checked other participant’s blogs. This didn’t give me a great chance to discover new authors through the challenge, did it?

2. Where was the most unusual place you found yourself reading?

Can’t think of one. I kept reading in the same old places: on the train, in bed, on the couch. Oh, maybe the most unusual was reading on the balcony after sunset, using the remaining light of the day. That was nice!

3. Did you read more than usual?
4. Did you give up anything in order to read more?

Nope. I was somewhat on a strict schedule. And I actually tend to read less during summer, as I try and enjoy the warm weather.

5. If you won the Amazon voucher what would you spend it on?

I haven’t given it a thought yet. I’d probably use the chance to order something from my wishlist in OV, as most of the time I am reading translation… Probably I’d try and pick some French Canadian author. (Although, if I have to order from amazon.com, most of the voucher would go towards shipping expenses, I’m afraid. Amazon.fr seems to be my only choice for ordering abroad.)

6. Would you like to see a 2009 Book Blowout?

Yes, definitely, but maybe not in July. I’d appreciate a winter book blowout. Or maybe an August book blowout, as I normally am on vacation during August and have more time for reading.