The Deal Down Under ‘Books Alive’ in Australia, Fresh French in Holland, And a Greco-Dickensian Fable Some call it preaching to the choir, but preliminary results are in on Australia’s inaugural two-week, federally-funded, book-buying bonanza called Books Alive, which is aimed at luring “occasional, lapsed, and young readers” back into the literary fold with a…Continue Reading
One Flew Over Oslo Norway’s Fossum Gets Real, Sweden Goes Hard-Boiled, And Luna Rises Over Argentina Sweden has veered “disturbingly close to reality” in recent months as Norwegian author Karin Fossum takes the nation on a harrowing journey right up to the belfry of The House of the Insane. The book, which has been on…Continue Reading
Beat the Devil Coelho Back in Brazil, Mortier in the Netherlands, And Pleijel Shakes Up Sweden Brazilian high priest of letters Paulo Coelho has conjured up The Devil and Miss Prym after two years of soul searching, and the result is a half-million-copy catechism that’s been deemed a “parable in which the characters show all…Continue Reading
