Pixies, Dragons, and Buried Giants: Kazuo Ishiguro Visits Houston

It should have taken forty-five minutes, but it took an hour and a half.

Though I was a few minutes late, the ushers still let me in. I didn't miss anything; the program was late starting. Soon author Kazuo Ishiguro (he likes to be called "Ish," we were told) was introduced. He moved from Japan to England when he was five. Ishiguro has written six novels including The Remains of the Day, The Artist of the Floating World, and Never Let Me Go. He read from his latest novel, The Buried Giant, for about thirty minutes.

 Then there was a thirty minute question-answer session. Author Robert Cremins from UH interviewed Ishiguro. Ishiguro said that he began Buried Giant with the idea of remembering and forgetting. When he had finished his first draft, he gave it to his wife to read. She said, "None of this can survive." 

Interviewer Robert Cremins said Ishiguro has been said to "familiarize the strange."

 Ishiguro said he is influenced by the figure of the cowboy: he doesn't fit in, but he continues to press on with his mission. 

The Buried Giant. Here's my review. Thank you, Inprint and Kazuo Ishiguro, for a great evening.

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week.  It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.