21st Century Literature discussion
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Nominations for October 2024 Open Pick
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I had noticed this post late, and it did not show up new in my notifications as seems to happen with frequent Goodreads posts lately. Since there were no nominations, I suggest we extend the deadline or simply let one of the moderators assign a book. With end of summer holidays and school beginning perhaps people have been too busy, but I hope we can generate interest for our October read.
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I nominate The Last Pomegranate Tree by Bachtyar Ali. Bachtyar Ali Muhammed, also spelled as Bakhtiyar Ali or Bakhtyar Ali, (Kurdish: Bextyar Elî -بەختیار عەلی) Ali was born in the city of Slemani (also spelt as Sulaimani or Sulaymaniy), in Iraqi Kurdistan (also referred to as southern Kurdistan) in 1960. He is a Kurdish novelist and intellectual. He is also a prolific literary critic, essayist and poet. Ali started out as a poet and essayist, but has established himself as an influential novelist from the mid-1990s. He has published six novels, several poetry collections as well as essay books. He has been living in Germany since the mid-1990s (Frankfurt, Cologne and most recently Bonn). In his academic essays, he has dealt with various subjects, such as the 1988 Saddam-era Anfal genocide campaign, the relationship between the power and intellectuals and other philosophical issues. He often employs western philosophical concepts to interpret an issue in Kurdish society, but often modifies or adapts them to his context.
I read the only other of his novels to be translated into English I Stared at the Night of the City and have been waiting for another ever since .
The Last Pomegranate Tree is a mosaic of entangled stories of journeys; journeys inside journeys that are sometimes connected by coincidence to form one, main holistic story. It is a modern fable with a historical backdrop, that feeds the events and surreptitiously determines the destiny of its characters. The story is told by the narrator, Muzafar-i Subhdam, who, after all that has happened, has embarked on his last journey away from his own story, or rather towards its end. In an almost one-thousand-and-one-night way, the narrator keeps his boat trip companions – and we the readers – awake and attached to the story by giving us clues of what is to come, while starting a new story of a new journey, or jumping from the middle of one to the middle of another. In some other way, the general feel of the reading resonates with the works of Italo Calvino, especially when now and then the author suddenly talks directly to the reader, breaking the so-called fourth wall.
I am not nominating this month, having had recent nominations selected, but will instead support another nominee and looks like these are both excellent choices.
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The poll is here and will be up through midnight on the 21st:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
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Hugh wrote: "Tell Me I'm Worthless won the poll. David - are you happy to lead the discussion?"Yes - should be a good one.
21st Century Literature
Books mentioned in this topic
Tell Me I’m Worthless (other topics)The Last Pomegranate Tree (other topics)
I Stared at the Night of the City (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Alison Rumfitt (other topics)Bachtyar Ali (other topics)
Nominating guidelines:
- Fiction (original & translation, if applicable) first published between January 1, 2000 and October 1, 2023. For translations the latter date must be an English edition.
- One nomination per person (please do not nominate or vote for a book unless you are certain you can read and discuss if it wins)
- A book this group has not yet read (see the group bookshelf or the Index of all Group Reads here)
- A book that is not better suited to the wild card (genre) category
If you are nominating, please begin your post by stating "I nominate [name with hyperlink to book]"
The discussion will start on October 1st