Required Reading: How to Sound Smart at the Bookworm Literary Festival
We know our audience is a well-read crowd, but we don't want anyone to show up to this year's Bookworm International Literary Festival without knowing their stuff. So, we're giving you some homework. As promised, with the help of our friends at The Bookworm, we've put together a reading list to help you prep for BLF 2013. Check out their suggestions below and we guarantee you'll blow away the bookish crowd with your clever questions and informed wit.
Sandstorm by Lindsey Hilsum - The British journalist was on the ground in Libya when Gaddafi's regime was toppled. In Sandstorm, Hilsum explains how the strange and brutal dictator finally met his end after decades of unchecked power.
China’s Urban Billion by Tom Miller - As Beijingers, we're plenty familiar with the headaches of urban China: crazy drivers, filthy air, and sardine-like conditions on the subway. Miller examines all of these, but also explains in depth how policies and programs like the hukou system and high-speed rail have influenced the largest migration in history.
China Fast Forward by Bill Dodson - Analyzes the leaps China and Chinese companies have taken to become leaders in R&D, technology, and green industries, and compares the country to its emerging rival, India.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach - Set at a small Midwestern college, the life of a promising young baseball player is turned upside down when a ball veers off course.
The New Republic by Lionel Shriver - A striving novice journalist arrives in a remote Portuguese rebel province to replace a much-loved veteran reporter who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Memoirs of a Porcupine by Alain Mabanckou - For fans of magic realism, the tale of a Congolese boy, his animal double, and their murderous acts.
We the Animals by Justin Torres - The debut novel from Torres centers around about three brothers growing up in upstate New York, sons of a Puerto Rican father and a white mother. The pains of enduring racist townsfolk, neglectful parents, and violence at home are narrated through the voice of a child.
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray - Tragicomic story about the events leading up to the death of a student during a donut eating contest at an Irish boarding school.
Lao She in London by Anne Witchard - Examines the life of one of China's great modern writers, Lao She, and the years he spent in the wild, avant-garde London of the 1920s.
Hanging Devils by He Jiahong - A US-educated lawyer returns to China to defend those without a voice, but finds himself embroiled in a corrupt legal system and series of cover-ups. Read our review here.
The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian - In this novel, a nonagenarian tribal woman from northeastern China looks back at how a century of revolution, modernization, and urbanization have impacted her family.
Jagganath by Karin Tidbeck - Short works of strange speculative fiction, many rooted in Scandinavian folklore.
The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal - Examines the similarities between Nazism and Islamic fundamentalism through the story of two fictional brothers who are faced with the discovery that their father is an ex-SS officer.
Photo: Popmatters.com
