In early May, I spoke to Karen Shimmin and Willy Nast of All Write Already! about the new novel, dismemberment, The Borrower, and nine-year-olds with scissors. After the intro, you can hear me read a chapter of the new book (about which I’ll have news on this site in a few days)…
Here it is: The Borrower in Russian! At least I think it’s The Borrower. How would I know, really? (A side note: I will henceforth only answer to the name Pebekka Makkan.)
The Borrower is now available in Spanish from Ediciones Maeva, as El Devorador de Libros (The Devourer of Books). And even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can enjoy the fabulous trailer they made.
I’ll be reading from The Borrower at the Cook Memorial Library in Libertyville, IL on Tuesday, September 4th at 7:00 pm. Event details and free registration are here, and library details and location are here. Books will be available from Lake Forest Book Store.
The Borrower was highlighted recently in the regular “Six Favorite Books” column in the magazine The Week. Author Carol Rifka Brunt writes, “Take one well-meaning librarian, one possibly gay 10-year-old boy, and one road trip across the country, and you have the wonderful and witty story of The Borrower. The moral ambiguity of so many of the decisions made along the way was what kept me thinking about this book long after the last page.” See the whole article here.
The UK (and world English language) paperback version of The Borrower is now available, and has been chosen for Waterstones Summer Book Club (not posted here yet, but coming soon). Many thanks to Windmill Books at Random House UK for all their lovely work and a gorgeous cover!
Flavorwire named The Borrower one of the top ten debuts of 2011, saying it is “filled with lovely but unsentimental writing — something of a feat considering the material.” Read the full writeup here!
Long Island Press has generously listed The Borrower as one of the top five books of 2011, calling it “charming and un-put-downable.” (It’s true that Ian is 3% more charming when you read his dialogue in a Brooklyn accent.)
Chicago Magazine has chosen The Borrower as one of the four best works of Chicago fiction of 2011. Remarkably, its author was overlooked yet again for both the Best New Chef and Best Doctor lists, so this will have to suffice.
Booklist‘s new issue (out October 15th) names The Borrower as one of the top ten debuts of the past year (and has borrowed Lucy’s car for their nifty heading graphic)! See the full list online here.
