Monthly Archives: September 2012

International Translation Day

Happy International Translation Day everyone, or what’s left of it. 30th September is the feast day of St Jerome, the patron saint of translators, but until last year, I wasn’t even aware of it. This year, however, my Twitter timeline … Continue reading

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Fantastic Mr Dahl

Fils cadet and I just got back from spending the morning at fils aîné‘s school where we were joining in with a reading café to celebrate 30 years of the BFG. The children were invited to dress as a favourite … Continue reading

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Gee thanks, Sir Peter!

According to Sir Peter Stothard, chairman of this year’s Booker Prize panel, my blog and all the hundreds of others like it are killing literary criticism. It’s nice to feel liked, isn’t it? “It is wonderful that there are so … Continue reading

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Tu/vous and all that jazz

Most of the time I’m entirely happy that English long ago lost the thou/you distinction – it’s more democratic, it’s easier to learn and so on. But there are times when my life as a translator would be so much … Continue reading

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Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey

Fils aîné‘s newest book isTraction Man and the Beach Odyssey by Mini Grey. A great introduction to the comic book style, the Traction Man books are picture books for slightly older children and feature, as the name suggests, Traction Man, … Continue reading

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There Are No Cats in this Book

I’ve mentioned before how much the whole family enjoys There Are Cats in this Book by award-winning illustrator Viviane Schwarz. It’s a wonderfully interactive picture book that’s still popular with fils aîné  and which fils cadet is now getting really … Continue reading

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The Yacoubian Building – Arabic vignettes by Alaa Al Aswany, translated by Humphrey Davies

I’ve been reading Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building lately. It’s not very long, but it’s taken me a while to get through it as I’ve been continually distracted by other things. I picked it up because it sounded interesting, … Continue reading

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10 Little Penguins

It’s fils cadet‘s birthday today. After recovering from the shock of  my baby turning three, we’ve been enjoying working our way through his new stash of books and jigsaws. One of the biggest hits so far has been 10 Little … Continue reading

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