When we discovered that there was a prize created to have more Paraguayan reads translated into English because there were so few available, we knew it might be difficult to find good Paraguayan books. And it really was.
We had high hopes that the prize would have resulted in some great reads. But sadly, in the 10 years since the PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Award for Paraguayan Literature has been offered, we only found one award-winning book that has actually been translated & it’s only available as an ebook so didn’t qualify for the club. (We require both ebook & paperback versions in order to ensure that more people can read the club books.) However, the book does seem to be a unique read if you’re interested.
While awarding the prize to this book included here, the judges noted that: “To enter the pages of Mr. Bedoya’s book is to travel a territory both reassuringly familiar and alluringly original, one which seduces the reader with its lexicon of the luminous ordinary, then assaults him or her in moments of fierce unsparing humor.”
But going back to the topic of choosing Paraguyan books for the vote this month…
Something New
We found few Paraguayan books even after the 3 of us searched for many days. We expected this to happen with other countries in the future, but not with Paraguay which has a higher literacy rate than the US. We’re still not sure why so few books are available, but we were happy to at least have come up with some though the reads are different than our usual choices. For example: You’ll see that my suggestion & one of Ivor’s (the moderator) hearken back to subjects we enjoyed in school—cultural anthropology for me & developmental psychology for Ivor.
Furthermore, we only received 1 new suggestion from club members this month. Usually, we’d then add in another book to the list to ensure we’d be able to vote on 6 books, but we didn’t feel that either of two additional Paraguayan books we found were good choices for the club. You can be the judge though for yourself. Check out the other 2 Paraguayan books we found on Amazon:
So because of this, the vote this month will only include 5 books.
Now onto that vote.
THE VOTING
You can vote from now until Sat., Aug. 22 11:30PM on which book you’d like the club to read next. (That's NYC time. See this converted to your local time below.)
To participate:
1. Review the books.
2. Then, click here to vote.
We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards so you can get the book in advance.