Reading the World discussion

From: https://lonesomereader.com/blog/2019/...

... “The Book of Riga”. This includes short stories from a range of authors who write in a number of different styles, but each story centres around the city of Riga. One of the most beautiful parts of Riga is their relatively new National Library which sits right on the river. The story ‘Wonderful New Latvia’ by Ilze Jansone focuses on the character of Katrina who is a librarian in this library (and exhibits the typical introverted Latvian trait where she shies away from having much contact with actual readers.) The story describes how many Latvian citizens have emigrated to other countries over the years, but since the country achieved its independence there’s a refreshing level of new opportunities for people.

Please go to the website to see the picture of the library. ASTOUNDING

That is one nifty looking library! Anyone else here love going to the local libraries when they go to new cities just to check out the architecture and vibe?

Definitely planning to read this one.

Amanda, Great!!

I am not a lover of short stories but this is a nice little collection that well reflects the chaotic history and tentative national allegiances of Latvia and Riga. Multiple stories reference Russian then Soviet then Nazi then independent governments and the result is not an intense patriotism for the New Latvia but a cynical, skeptical approach to life that clearly will continue to have its ups and downs. Languages also reflects the passing of history. They appear to swear in Russian and exclaim in German. The overall tone is slightly bitter and slightly humorous with many of the stories centered on the day to day living with the strange quirks of being in Riga. Some of the stories reference the better life that might be had in Ireland or elsewhere. The new library is the center of one of the stories, a family in disarray the center of another and the whole little book ends with a supernatural story that is a stand in for the stoic acceptance of death. Worth the read and it caused me to go to Riga on Google Earth and that was well worth the trip.

Gail wrote: "I am not a lover of short stories but this is a nice little collection that well reflects the chaotic history and tentative national allegiances of Latvia and Riga. Multiple stories reference Russi..."

Thank you Gail. Looking forward to reading this too.

Yeah I just read this one at the airport yesterday and enjoyed it as well. It had that beautiful sense of the joy in the misery about it that I tend to love about Eastern European literature. Also agree with Gail that the collection does a great job of showing the history of different occupations of the country, and through that the natural remnants of cultural fusion as well (as with the German and Russian language leftovers for example).

The story about the building of the library and its themes of modernisation and what that means was great.

Also really enjoyed the magical realism elements of many of the stories (especially the first one where the man in the tower is whisked away by the magic Scandinavian sledge.)

The second one with the decaying apartment full of birds seemed particularly poignant in conveying that sense of reframing the good and potential out of the struggle and destruction.

I felt this one was worth the read, and it was cool to find out this was a series that exists for many other cities: something that might be worth looking into for some of the other countries on the list for me.