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Eine Frage der Chemie (2022) — Erzähler, einige Ausgaben5,062 Exemplare

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In a somewhat underwhelming book, Sykes presents a series of 35 pieces by authors on their favourite books. This is very much a collection of short essays that reflects either the editor’s or her publisher’s commitment to “diversity, inclusivity, and equity,” so we get the views of writers of a variety of shades of skin, ethnicities, and sexual orientations . . . but seemingly more young than older authors. A number of the contributors were new to me—some, like Paris Lees, I judge to be minor, flash-in-the-pan, flavour-of-the-month sorts, who won’t be remembered for long. Based on their rather unremarkable contributions, I feel little inclination to seek out their work or the books that touched them.

The word “favourite” seems to have been interpreted quite loosely here. Some authors focus on formative books from childhood. Others identify recent favourites (e.g., Ann Patchett on Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss) or titles that have influenced their own craft (e.g., Taiye Selasi on Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger and Kit de Waal on Donal Ryan’s The Thing about December.)

Of the 35 short essays, only about a half dozen had any effect on me. William Boyd writes well about Joseph Heller’s ability to capture the absurdity of war in his novel Catch-22, reflecting Boyd’s sense of the Biafran conflict, which he had personal experience of as a young man. Sebastian Faulks discusses an intriguing adult novel he read as a nine-year-old; unfortunately, he has no recollection of the title, and whether his memory can, at this point, even be trusted on the particulars of character and plot is debatable. Deborah Levy’s wonderful and lively voice carries her personal essay on Dodie Smith’s classic I Capture the Castle, and Damon Galgut’s insightful piece on Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams is rewarding—it made me want to read the novella. So did Ali Smith on Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book, which concerns the relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter, a subject dear to my heart. Smith observes that it’s a work of “profound openness, where age knows everything anew and youth is profound experience. Saying this, or trying to describe the book in any way at all, doesn’t come anywhere near what happens when you read it: the calm, the joy, the depth, the understanding, the warmth of this slim little masterpiece about everything.” I’ve long intended to read this, and Smith has motivated to get to it soon.

Aside from these few highlights, Sykes’s book was nothing special for me. I can’t say I’d recommend it. A positive: it’s very short and very quickly read.
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fountainoverflows | 1 weitere Rezension | Feb 19, 2023 |
In this book, 35 writers have responded to a question about a particular book that struck a chord with them, that impressed them and/or inspired them to write.

This is a very short book and I think most pieces would be 2-4 pages in print (I read a library ebook). I'm always curious to read about what authors themselves read and I really enjoyed this but I would love to read a bit more from each contrinbutor.

Most but not all contributors are from and/or now based in Britain or the US, and I think all but one (Franco-Moroccan Leila Slimani) writes in English. The contributors are more diverse ethnically than their chosen books and I note that none of the white writers choose a book by a black/ethnic minority author - this may be partly a result of being asked to choose just one book but the black/ethnic minority writers' choices ssem more diverse. Turkish novelist Elif Shafak is the only one I know of writing in Turkish as well but I believe her more recent books have been written/published in English first - she writes about Virginia Woolf here. Pakistani Fatima Bhutto is the only writer to write about "my bookshelf" rather than one named title, and all/most of the books she mentions are written in English. Four writers mention books they read in translation from other languages.

Editor Pandora Sykes writes an enthusiastic introduction about why she put the book together and includes an assertion of the importance of maintaining public libraries. I borrowed this as a library ebook, but sales proceeds go to support literacy causes.

A lot of the books chosen, and those written by the contributors, are ones I've read or would like to read/reread at some point anyway, but I would like to know more about the Jamaican writer Andrew Salkey, one of the Windrush generation, recommended here by Paul Mendez (which reminds me that his debut novel Rainbow Milk is still on my TBR).

Recommended.
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elkiedee | 1 weitere Rezension | Dec 29, 2022 |

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3
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89
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