Junot Diaz on Colbert Report

Junot Diaz was on Stephen Colbert last week. I didn't know that the Pulitzer was like a Peabody... interesting :-p

Even More Junot Diaz

Fresh Air is currently running older episodes. It recently aired an interview with Junot Diaz, who wrote The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Regular Dear Reader readers may recall I really enjoyed this book. In this Fresh Air interview, they describe Oscar as the “ghetto nerd at the end of the world.”

Diaz speaks about his book, his upbringing and the Dominican Republic. He even does a reading from his novel.

One thing I thought was interesting was his discussion about the different languages in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. There were parts I didn't understand whether it was Spanish or SciFi references I didn't get. Diaz notes that he wanted there to be one language chain that the reader doesn't get. "I wanted everyone to know what it felt like to be an immigrant," he said.

I’m currently reading Brother I’m Dying – a memoir by Edwidge Danticat. It’s interesting to read about the other side of the island – Haiti, which similarly to the Dominican has a history of unrest.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90111248&ft=1&f=1032

More Junot Diaz

I’m almost done raving about The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (I promise!). I had to mention this great interview Amazon has with author Junot Diaz.

Junot Diaz, You've Just Won the Pulitzer ... What Are You Going to Do Now?

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/04/junot-diaz-youv.html

Best Books of 2007

Bookmarks magazine has compiled multiple best books of 2007 lists and created a handy score card. Now those of you at home keeping track of these things, can learn that The Yiddish Policeman's Union and The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao tied for the most mentions - 11 each.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bookmarks, it compiles book reviews, summarizes reviewers comments and gives them an overall score. There's also feature articles and news. I think it's geared towards librarians and those purchasing large numbers of books. Geeks like me find it a great source for reading ideas.

Some highlights --Tree of Smoke also was on 11 lists. Away by Amy Bloom was on eight lists. (This is on my to read list.) On the non-fiction side, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, got eight nods. Brother I'm Dying - another one I have my eye on -- received six mentions.

Happy reading!

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I just finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and am happy to report that it deserved all the hype. I don't want to have any spoilers because you MUST run out and get this book. Oscar is a hapless, lovelorn nerd. He dreams of being like JRR Tolkein and having a girlfriend. (I did find myself wishing I remembered my Spanish better because I feel like I did miss some things. )

"Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody's always going on about -- he wasn't no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jack."
****
"He wanted to blame the books, the sci-fi, but he couldn't -- he loved them too much."
***
"Love was a rare thing, easily confused with a million other things, and if anybody knew this to be true it was him."

Stepping back, Oscar's story and that of his family's is intertwined with the Dominican Republic and Trujillo. His grandfather is tortured and imprisoned for allegedly saying something negative about Trujillo. His family's history in the Dominican Republic is told in flashbacks with Trujillo's regime casting a long, poisonous shadow.

Junot Diaz just won a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts.

If you liked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I would also recommend In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, which is a fictional account of the Mirabel sisters. The novel was inspired by three sisters who were murdered after participating in a failed plot to overthrow Trujillo.

Reading Update -- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I finally got a chance to start reading the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. As I mentioned earlier, there was quite the waiting list for this at the library. It was a pleasant surprise when I went to the library and found out it had arrived. :) So far, swoon. It’s one of those rare books that almost immediately sucks you in. (Although apparently some critics disagree with me on that point.) It was met with critical acclaim, winning the National Critics Circle Award for fiction and was number one on Time’s Top 10 Fiction Books. (http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686244_1691840,00.html)

Oscar is an overweight nerd, who role plays, cries watching anime, has Star Trek figurines, and dreams of finding love.

“Everybody else was going through the terror and joy of their first crushes, their first dates their first kisses while Oscar sat in the back of the class, behind his DM’s screen, and watched his adolescence stream by. Sucks to be left out of adolescence, sort of like getting locked in the closet on Venus when the sun appears for the first time in a hundred years.”

Some morsels on The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao:

http://www.junotdiaz.com/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130350

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article3485935.ece

http://nymag.com/guides/fallpreview/2007/books/36501/