Saturday, August 24, 2019

Women in Translation Month, the Inprint Margaret Root Brown Reading Series, and, Yes, Moby Dick






August is Women in Translation Month, an event hosted by Bibliobio. The event is designed to encourage more books by women who live outside English-speaking countries to be translated into English. I finally got around to reading three of my 1001 Children's Books that are written by women and that have been translated into English: Aldabra: The Tortoise Who Loved Shakespeare by Italian author Silvana Gandolfi, A Letter to the King by Dutch author Tonte Dragt, and The Big Sister by Swedish author Six Widerberg.  I have a selfish reason for wanting to encourage more English translations of works by women: many of the 1001 Children's Books (and I'm trying to read all 1001) have not been translated into English. You still have time to join in. Visit Bibliobio to read a book or two before the end of August. 






Yep. Moby Dick. Just 4% to go.

I wrote about Moby this week:


The poll is still open to vote for your favorite Moby Dick character. Vote here: 


I'll be wrapping up Moby Dick this week, with a couple of final posts. 






I'm terribly excited about the 2019-2020 Inprint Margaret Root Brown Reading Series in Houston. Do you recognize any of the faces on this poster? Authors who will be reading from and discussing their writings this year are Ta-Nehisi Coates, Colson Whitehead, Louise Erdrich, Carmen Maria Machado, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Emily St. John Mandel, Natalie Diaz, Carolyn Forché, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Colum McCann. If you live in the Houston area, you can buy season tickets here

The Cybils are coming! It is time to seek judges for the 2019 Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards. Do you love to read and review children's books or young adult books? Apply to be a Cybils judge here.






My sister and her husband and my husband and I have a little film club where we get together at our houses, eat pizza, and watch and discuss a movie together on Sunday evenings. We alternate the responsibility for choosing the movie. Last Sunday I chose Grand Canyon. I had forgotten how violent the story is, but it was as thoughtful a flick as I remembered it being; I'm still thinking about it. The loneliness and isolation of the characters felt tragic and it was only when they took action to connect  with others that things went better for them. Have you seen this movie? What movies would you suggest we show in our film club? I'd love to hear your thoughts.





How was your week?

Did you read any good books? Please share them with us.

What other bookish things did you do? What else is going on in your life?

I'd love to have you to link up here and/or at the Sunday Salon page on Facebook each weekend (Saturday-Sunday-Monday) and let us know what you have been doing. I hope you will visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

If you have other blogging friends, it would be wonderful if you'd tell others about our salon and encourage them to join us.

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.


My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. 


43 comments:

  1. Wow, you'll be finished with Moby Dick before you know it!

    So many great authors are coming to your area. I wish I could see some of them.

    I haven't seen Grand Canyon but am going to look it up. Have y'all seen Black Swan? It's kind of twisted but thought provoking - I think it would be good for discussion.

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    1. We have not seen Black Swan. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  2. A film club sounds like fun! And, the author list is impressive; I'm sure that will be a super interesting event.

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    1. It is fun. We've watched all the Harry Potters (which somehow I missed) plus some individual favorites including African Queen and Midnight in Paris.

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  3. I love the idea of a movie/discussion night.

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    1. We are enjoying it. I'd love to hear more suggestions. Maybe I need to create a poll.

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  4. I love the idea of a film club. I've never seen Grand Canyon and I haven't seen anything good lately, but I'd love to see what other movies you decide to watch. Hope you have a great week!

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    1. New movies have been disappointing to us, so we are drawing on the movies of the past.

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  5. My friends and I used to have a film club too. Miss those days. We usually chose older and obscures films.

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    1. I need to hear others' titles. It's always great to try something outside my small zone of familiarity.

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  6. Love Women In Translation month. If you have a chance, maybe look at some middle eastern women writers. Their books are real memorable for me.

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    1. There is so much great literature that has not been translated, and writing by women is probably the last to be translated. That's a shame, because our world, more than ever, needs to hear each others' voices.

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  7. So CLOSE. Your completion of Moby Dick will be quite a feat!

    I hope you have enjoyed it.

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  8. Ta-Nehisi Coates? Not even counting all the other great authors, I'm super jealous. Hope you enjoy.

    I like the idea of a film club. Years ago, we had a neighbor who set one up. Mostly, they were funny movies, from what I remember. If you're looking for one based off a book (at least loosely and another Steve Martin movie), Roxanne is a good one. I haven't seen it in years, but it always sticks with me as one of my favorites.

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    1. I'm so excited about the Inprint season. A group of us meet up to eat before the author reading and then go together to hear the author speak.

      I will look for Roxanne.

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  9. I’m sure you will be glad to be done with Moby Dick!
    Hmm, movie ideas.. Hello My Name is Doris, The Zookeepers Wife, The Lady in the Van

    Have a great reading week

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    1. I have not seen any of these. I will look for them. Thank you!

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  10. I loved the movie Grand Canyon. I used to have the DVD, but when I moved, not all of my movies made the cut. Sigh. I'm going to search for it on Amazon Prime...I'm in the mood to see it again. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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    1. I loved it, too. I remembered it after all these years.

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  11. I found Grand Canyon on Prime...and I'm watching it now!

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  12. Go you for getting to the end of your Moby Dick marathon:)). And oh my goodness! There are some real heavyweights in that lineup of authors... I hope it's a really successful event. I hope the coming week is a good one for you, Deb:)

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    1. I feel like I should celebrate with margaritas and confetti.

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  13. Congrats on finishing Moby Dick. After ten years of volunteering for the Cybils, I'm taking a break. My weekly update.

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  14. Wow I'm so impressed with the great authors coming your way! Love the movie night idea.

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  15. Congrats on finishing Moby Dick. I read your Why Everyone Should Read Moby Dick and I'm jsut still not convinced.

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    1. I think everyone should read it, but not until she feels ready.

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  16. The one thing I miss about the city where I live now is a dearth of author events by authors I am familiar with. I like everything else about my home though - even Minnesota weather. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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    1. I wonder if other Minnesotans love the weather as you do.

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  17. In my youth we hosted evenings where we would watch NFB short films with a projector and big screen in our living room. I'm not sure we have the projector anymore. After each film we would have conversations about them.
    I love reading translated picture books. I'm lucky to be in Canada so many French titles are regularly made available to English audiences. About a year ago I discovered the work of Tejima, a Japanese picture book author and illustrator. I hope you are able to find his work as it is spectacular.

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    1. It would be fun to watch and talk about movies with kids.

      Canada is lucky to have so many translated books.

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  18. We have a pizza night on Fridays with my oldest son and his wife, we either watch a movie, play games, or just spend the night talking. I haven't seen Grand Canyon so I'll be looking for it.

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  19. What a laudable idea to encourage women in translation for children's picture books. I am sure we miss out on many wonderful stories when they are not translated.

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  20. Moby Dick- you're in the homestretch! I admit I've never read it, but probably should.

    I remember seeing Grand Canyon and quite liking it. Nice cast and a thoughtful story, for sure. It's funny how little some things have changed all these years later. I often think that when watching movies which make you think- a lot of issues are still with us years later.

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  21. Sending my friend your blogs way because she is just about to start Moby Dick and I was like, oh this is PERFECT! Haha. Here's to hoping this week treats you well!

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  22. I had to click over to read your But What is Moby Dick About? Why Everyone Should Read Moby Dick... post. My husband talks a lot about Moby Dick and I've always meant to read it (but just never got around to it). One of the things I miss about taking or teaching a literature class is all the discussion about themes and the opportunity to listen to everyone's take on it. And Grand Canyon is one of those movies that hubby and I watch every few years. We also have some quotes from it that we repeat on a regular basis. I seem to get something different out of it each time I watch it. :) Thanks for all the shares and I hope you have a wonderful reading week, Deb!

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