Tuesday, May 20, 2014

reading: London stories + Florida novella (+Nebula award winners)



Reading this week: city real life stories, and a magic realism novella with a very real touch. Actually, i read most of both books during the island time... 

The Days and Nights of London Now
Actually, the full title of this book is: "Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now - As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It". And just as detailed and varied as the title are the stories, taking the reader into the macro-cosmos and the micro-worlds that shape a megacity.

This is simply a fascinating and touching read: so many layers! It made me think of the Paris collection I read in 2012: Paris was Ours", and having been to both cities, I hoped it would live up to it - back then, a friend wrote: "life in the city. so much happens around us, unseen, unspoken, unknown. when you were in Paris, you were surrounded by these stories, passed them on the street, sat near them on the metro."
(more about the Paris book, here)

And the same is true for the London collection: so many stories. Like the one about the London Lost + Found office, about all the things that get lot in that city every day - and also, about all the things that got found, and brought there. Maybe even this book.

Reading it also brought back my own travel memories.. here's a collage:


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Wakulla Springs
From the streets of London to the backwaters of Florida, and to the Nebula award: The Nebula shortlist had been announced in March, it included several novellas. One of them was "Wakulla Springs", a story set in Florida.  The publisher Tor put it up free on kindle - the introduction doesn’t really catch it, though. For me, the story isn’t scifi, more a generation story with some magical reality elements, and a dive back into time. It is one of those reads that move deeper than expected, here's a note from the publisher."Ranging from the late 1930s to the present day, "Wakulla Springs" is a tour de force of the human, the strange, and the miraculous."

Here's the link to the story: Wakulla Springs

And a second link.. the Nebula Winners have been announced this weekend: Nebula Award 2013


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Currently Reading + More Reads:

For 2014, i didn't join a specific reading challenge, but i try to read books / authors from different countries and continents, and also follow the “readwomen2014” initiative. Here’s more about it: 2014 - year of reading women

For more reading notes in this blog, click here: life as a journey with books- and a reading list by regions is online at: World Reads by country

Other book blog and their current reads: It's Monday! What are you reading? (join by blogging and adding your link)


2 comments:

Cathy said...

I didn't really understand how Wakulla Springs came to be classed as speculative fiction either, but I enjoyed reading it.

Brona said...

I love how the London book uses the tube colours for its cover :-)