Review: The Memory Monster

The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a difficult read for me and I'm not sure I quite understand what the author wants the reader to take with them. The narrator is a historian specializing on the Holocaust, and throughout the book gives tours of several camps to school groups and tourists, all of whom hold varying degrees of reverence, knowledge, and interest in the many Jewish people who were killed there. I don't know if the narrator lacks the ability to communicate the horror when he is present with it every day, or if his deep knowledge of the details accidentally comes across as being impressed, but there is definitely something disconcerting or uncomfortable in how he communicates with others. Sometimes it is his anger in how others want to believe it didn't happen, to move on, to capitalize on the horrors. All the while his family is back in Israel, where his son is bullied at school. Memory, memorial...

What isn't addressed of course, is the fact that the author is an Israeli, son of a prominent politician, who served in the Israeli army and worked for the government as a DA and was educated by some of the United States' top schools of government...yet the narrator says nothing about the memory monster of another people's displaced homeland, which to me is inherit and circles back to the narrator's musings on power and victory, whether or not this was his intention.

This is translated from the Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan and is from Restless Books - a publisher I subscribe to precisely because they pull me out of my comfort zone with every read. I would check out a few more reviews because a few people are better able to comment on how this issue manifests in modern Israel and amongst groups of Jewish people worldwide.

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Book Subscription Plans 2.0

After posting an initial list of book subscriptions I knew about, I found out about even more that are out there. Much of this list is thanks to your comments and to reading friends in the Goodreads' Newest Literary Fiction group. Some of these will be UK-oriented but many still ship to the US.

Subscriptions are great gifts for readers because they keep on giving and you can purchase at the last minute!

Asymptote Book Club - This is a brand new service that I am personally very excited about! Their team of editors works in six continents, and all monthly selections will be new world literature titles.

Book Culture - an independent bookstore in NYC that offers several subscription options, including Queer Voices, Poetry, Literature in Translation, New and Noteworthy Fiction, and more

Deep Vellum - International literature in translation. Choose from the 5-book or 10-book subscription.

Peirene Press - European literature in translation, usually the latest and most acclaimed. An annual subscriber will receive a new book every four months. "A beautiful, unexpected surprise."

Persephone Books - UK small press reviving out of print works by female authors. Choose from 6 or 12 month subscriptions (titles are selected by subscriber.)

Soho Press International Crime Club  - Monthly book - ebook or print format. Selections listed ahead of time on their website.

Tilted Axis Press - Founded in 2015 and based in Sheffield and London, a not-for-profit press on a mission to shake up contemporary international literature. Digital or print format

If you know of others, please keep sharing! 

Book Subscription Plans (not boxes)

Some of my friends in the Newest Literary Fiction group in Goodreads have been hunting around for book subscription plans that we can read from together, after having some positive experiences in 2017. I can find a bunch of lists online of book subscription boxes with books plus fun extras, but I had a harder time finding a list of subscriptions just of books, just books, no filler.

Please comment if you know of others and I can post an updated list! None of these are a paid advertisement, by the way, although the link to BOTM does have my account linked to it should anyone subscribe from it.

Many of these are independent publishers, and a healthy amount of them are working in translated work, something I am particularly interested in.

This seems to be a new model many independent publishers are working with. Some offer bundles by season while others just send on a schedule. This can work well for book clubs if you are all going to get the same book in the mail anyway! Might as well read it and discuss it.

And Other Stories - "And Other Stories works with writers and translators to handpick the best international books for its subscribers and all lovers of fine writing. Subscribe for 2, 4 or 6 titles per year." Ships from UK but available worldwide, which is a feature many subscription services lack.

Archipelago Books - "A nonprofit press devoted to contemporary & classic world literature." Choose between a half-year or year subscription, and see the titles in advance. Pro-tip: The year-long eBook subscription (rather than print) is a deal!

Book of the Month - five popular books to choose from each month, plus add-ons that are older titles, and you can add additional titles for $9.99, hard to beat!. Good range of genre plus healthy inclusion of debut titles. Not ideal for my book club since we'd all pick different titles, but vary popular on the internet.

Coffee House Press - An indie press plus arts non-profit, they offer bundles by year. $100 gets you a season of books. The current season is Fall 2017 and contains 11 books. 

Dorothy Publishing Project - Not really a subscription but you can get all current titles in one bundle. I did this last January and just have a few left to read. All fiction by women, many titles translated, all with beautiful cover art.

Homeward Bound Paperback Originals - from Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, NC. "Hand-curated by the booksellers of Malaprop's, we'll pick a new paperback original every month -- fiction or creative non-fiction, a book we find to be notable for its literary quality and its appeal -- and mail it to your home." They also have a local version for slightly less money where you can pick the books up. This is a bookstore an hour from me, so I've been a subscriber for a while now, and can attest to the range of the books.

Milkweed Books Subscriptions - Milkweed just celebrated the first anniversary of their storefront bookstore, and now have several subscription options. "The original Read This Next! subscription (six books per year) features the most exciting new voices in literature. The Indie Spotlight subscription showcases the vital work of our fellow independent presses and the six books per year will introduce you to the most compelling and eclectic books we've encountered. The Long Live Books subscription combines the previous two." I'm tempted by Indie Spotlight myself.

New Vessel Press - "independent publishing house specializing in the translation of foreign literature into English." Their subscription goes by seasons, where you pay a set amount for a set of books. My favorite book from them is Some Day by Shemi Zarhin.

NYRB Classics Book Club - Each month, editors select a book from their newest titles (often classics or obscure titles being revived.) Annual membership is $150* for the twelve books, plus a bonus book—Balzac’s The Unknown Masterpiece, translated for NYRB Classics by Richard Howard.


Open Letter Books - "newest and greatest international literature in English translation." Subscribe for 6 or 12 months.

Restless Books - "independent, nonprofit publisher devoted to championing essential voices from around the world, whose stories speak to us across linguistic and cultural borders." For $10/month, you end up with six of their titles in a year, one of which you choose from the backlist and the others are chosen for you. I have my eye on this one. They recently published four volumes of Cuban science fiction!

Two Lines Press - world literature in translation. 2017's subscription was $50 for 6 titles.

Ugly Duckling Press - "a nonprofit publisher for poetry, translation, experimental nonfiction, performance texts, and books by artists." Subscriptions are part of the support level for donations, so you can choose an amount and will receive books accordingly.

New books in, February 2017

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Sula by Toni Morrison
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
Follow Me Into the Dark by Felicia C. Sullivan
No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa
Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani
Island Home by Tim Winton
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Not pictured:
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

The Book of Etta (The Road to Nowhere #2) by Meg Elison

Daughter of a Thousand Years by Amalia Carosella

I feel like my book acquisition is changing! Most of these are either review copies or subscription services, all except two.

The Adichie, Morrison, and Bennett came in a review copy of the Quarterly.co fiction box, which I'll review as a set soon (I've read 2/3 of the books.) I was happy to end up with a copy of the Bennett due to its position on the Tournament of Books shortlist, and I had not selected it when it was a Book of the Month option.

The Sullivan and Winton came directly from the publishers, which was great (and Sullivan herself contacted me when she saw I was reading another book from Feminist Press, Black Wave. The Saunders, Elison, and Carosella are all audio review books from their respective publishers.

Sheffield was a gift from my Litsy postal book swap for Valentines Day and I'm looking forward to reading it! It's been on my TBR list forever. The Khalifa is a book I wanted to buy in January for my borders reading project, but it was out of stock on Amazon for at least a month. It is set in Aleppo and I don't expect it to be exactly a light read.

The Kimani was the February selection for the Malaprops subscription, and the Wilson and Lee were selections through Book of the Month. I had a few bonus credits so I picked two this month. Have I read them yet? Nope. Ha.

New Books in October 2016

This was a lighter book buying month, and really the only two new books to arrive were from subscriptions (one from Malaprops, one from Book of the Month.) That's how busy my October was, no time to even buy books! Luckily there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska
The Fall Guy by James Lasdun

I don't know much about either of these so stay tuned to hear what I think!