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You are invited to sample a vibrant and versatile Eastern European literary scene. If you are interested, please select one of these three books:

The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria)
Liquidation by Imre Kertész (Hungary)
At the Lucky Hand: aka The Sixty-Nine Drawers by Goran Petrović (Serbia)

You can vote for the book you would like to read and discuss at this link:
/poll/show/2...

The poll will be open until January 15. The discussion will start on February 15.

Such a great selection from which to choose---thanks, Vesna!

Marc wrote: "Such a great selection from which to choose---thanks, Vesna!"

Wonderful to hear it, Marc. I read many great things about each, it seems all three would be rewarding. And I am thrilled that small independent presses are finding the gems from the region, neglected by major publishers (with a few exceptions). It seems that it's Dalkey Archive that took the lead awhile back and then others followed.

Dalkey is getting a bit of reboot, as well, from what I've seen/heard!

Excellent choices, Vesna. I already read At the Lucky Hand and thought it was a magnificent presentation of magic realism in the Eastern European tradition. Even if it doesn't win the poll, I would highly recommend to read it at some point. The other two books sound very attractive as well.

Joe wrote: "Excellent choices, Vesna. I already read At the Lucky Hand and thought it was a magnificent presentation of magic realism in the Eastern European tradition. Even if it doesn't win the poll, I would..."

Thank you, Joe. Right now Gospodinov leads in the poll and Ellie is already enthusiastically reading it (in her comment at the poll). Either way, I've planned to read Petrović's novel as well. Glad you shared your experience and I love magic realism!

Today is the last day to vote.

The Physics of Sorrow has won the poll! The discussion will start on February 15.

While it's a good opportunity to support a small independent press (Open Letter in this case), the book is also available online from the publisher on Scribd.com if you are subscribed to their service and can be borrowed from most libraries (I use Overdrive for a couple of public libraries and both have it, though it's on the waitlist at one of them).

I read this in 2015 because I would soon be traveling to Bulgaria for a couple of weeks. I suspect I would enjoy it even more if I read it in 2022, but the book is long gone from my possession, hopefully having passed through the hands of many others by now!

LindaJ^ wrote: "I read this in 2015 because I would soon be traveling to Bulgaria for a couple of weeks. I suspect I would enjoy it even more if I read it in 2022, but the book is long gone from my possession, hop..."

Thanks, Linda. This morning I watched an interview with Gospodinov and it was interesting to hear that he started on the novel after reading the Economist survey that Bulgaria is the "saddest"nation in the world. Though there are inevitable flaws in any such subjective "rank-ordering" of countries, it did intrigue him where this collective sadness is coming from (whether in the case of Bulgaria or anywhere else). I don't know about your impressions from your trip to Bulgaria, but the thought that motivated the novel is very interesting. There are the elements of magic realism too and I very much look forward to reading it.

Vesna wrote: "This morning I watched an interview with Gospodinov and it was interesting to hear that he started on the novel after reading the Economist survey that Bulgaria is the "saddest"nation in the world..."

Now I am intrigued! And thanks for the heads up about Scribd.

Ginny wrote: "Now I am intrigued! And thanks for the heads up about Scribd."

Great, Ginny! I hope you'll join our discussion in February.

There is an excellent Canadian animated short film based on The Physics of Sorrow. It's available on YouTube,

I would have waited and posted on the discussion thread when it opened, but videos have a way of disappearing from YouTube just when you want to watch them.

It's also available on Prime for $1.99 to rent.

Vesna wrote: "I don't know about your impressions from your trip to Bulgaria, but the thought that motivated the novel is very interesting. There are the elements of magic realism too and I very much look forward to reading it."

Certainly the country is underappreciated in many ways. The people we encountered were friendly and eager to chat. English was spoken fluently by most everyone under 30 and spoken by few older than 30. There was a lot of surprise that Americans had chosen to visit Bulgaria. There is a lot of history and a lot of beauty. As with many Eastern European countries, the educated of the younger generations were leaving for more lucrative careers in Europe, Australia, and the US.

Whitney wrote: "There is an excellent Canadian animated short film based on The Physics of Sorrow. It's available on YouTube, "

Thank you for this excellent information, Whitney. I'll post your link when the discussion thread opens (if it's still available on YT). I see on another discussion thread that you'll be joining us, fantastic!

Whitney wrote: "There is an excellent Canadian animated short film based on The Physics of Sorrow. It's available on YouTube,

I would have waited and posted on the disc..."

Thank you for the link, Whitney - I even get to practice my spanish while watching it!