The Bibliophibians Reading Group is now in session. This week: Memoirs of a Polar Bear.
This weekend it’s pouring rain and blazing sunshine, often simultaneously. It takes at least 30 minutes to get a Grab car, and the fare is high, and if you decide to take a taxi the driver blames you for the trouble in the world. Every restaurant you want to try in Poblacion seems to be packed so you end up at the usual, where you should’ve gone in the first place. If you’ve already seen Hereditary and passed a sleepless night leaping out of bed because you think you heard a clucking noise, it’s the perfect time to stay at home and read our Bibliophibian Selection for July: Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada.
Our Reading Group got started over coffee at Commune
and we were so engrossed that we kept on reading over margaritas.
Books and booze, they go together.
Our Bibliophibians Reading Group discussion starts tomorrow. Grab a copy (if you can find one in stores) or get the e-book and join us in Comments. If you don’t have the book, join us anyway. We’d like to hear your thoughts on novels with non-human protagonists, especially animals.
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Monday, 2 July
Roni in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
Roni: It’s like I have stumbled head-first ontp a landscape that’s familiar but not really. I feel kind of like how a blind man feels, seeing Yoko Tawada’s world for the first time, trying to make sense of the colors of things and reconciling it with the way I picture them in my mind. She is leading me by the hand—my guide in this wonderful, bittersweet land.
Tuesday, 3 July
Allan on his way to the office
Allan: I stepped into Memoirs of a Polar Bear knowing nothing much about Tawada or the book itself. I often like spoilers, but in this case I decided to walk in blindly. My assumption had been that the title was just symbolic; even the synopsis on the book’s jacket didn’t disabuse me of that notion. So it was quite a surreal and somewhat jarring experience when I began reading it and was confused for couple pages about what was happening. Then it all clicked in my head. It’s a pretty challenging world to create, one that swings from realism to fantasy seamlessly once you get into it. I’m still in the first part, but it certainly has me intrigued. Plus, polar bears.
Wednesday, 4 July
Joey reading in the woods
Joey: I feel like I’m turning into a polar bear. “If human beings want to possess human rights, they have to give animals animal rights. But how do I justify the fact that yesterday I ate meat?”
Saturday, 7 July
Do not try this yourself. Deo reading while walking on the street where cars pass.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 4th, 2018 at 16:41
I felt every sensation and could visualize every thought as if I were the polar bear.