The Canterbury tales

The task of adapting Geoffrey Chaucer's timeless classic of mediaeval literature into a graphic novel may seem like an impossible undertaking.


In rich and rhythmic Middle English, Chaucer's original 14th-century magnum opus follows the sojourn taken by 24 pilgrims to the Canterbury Cathedral. They decide to organise a story-telling contest to while away the time spent on the road.

Chaucer himself takes on the rather metaphysical role of an omniscient narrator; his colorful observations of human nature are peppered with ribald humor. Not a single pilgrim is spared, from the nun to the knight.
So illustrator and designer Seymour Chwast's bold adaptation of the Tales may come as something of a shock to purists.

Chwast has taken each of Chaucer's tales and pared them down to their bare bones. He has done away with Middle English, choosing to imbue his characters' speech with a more modern vernacular - 'Hey babe, let's party'.

Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives In North Korea

New York - The world scanned last Wednesday's closely guarded funeral for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, seeking more clues about the politics of the most closed society on Earth. But readers looking for insight into North Korea have better options.

The most acclaimed recent book on the country is Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, a foreign correspondent for The Los Angeles Times. It was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award and took home the Samuel Johnson Prize in Britain.

In his review of the book in The New York Times, Dwight Garner wrote: 'Ms Demick's book is a lovely work of narrative non-fiction, one that follows the lives of six ordinary North Koreans, including a female doctor, a pair of star-crossed lovers, a factory worker and an orphan. It's a book that offers extensive evidence of the author's deep knowledge of this country while keeping its sights firmly on individual stories and human details.'


In the same review, he considered The Hidden People Of North Korea: Everyday Life In The Hermit Kingdom by Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh (US$32.53, Amazon.com), saying it was 'wonkier than Ms Demick's and less reader-friendly, but it covers more ground'.

SORRY by Zoran Drvenkar

By Zoran Drvenkar, translated from German by Shaun Whiteside




Sorry is an ingenious and thought-provoking thriller that should be read for the reasons that make it hard to read.

First is German writer Zoran Drvenkar's use of the second-person point of view. In the beginning, this seems a clumsy conceit meant to make readers sympathise with the serial killer antagonist. Later, it proves to be a brilliant red herring that masks the speaker's identity until the very end.

Second is the book's theme. Like authors from Reginald Hill to the late Stieg Larsson, Drvenkar has an agenda. He writes mystery as a mirror of the world, reflecting in fiction the dark truths readers often choose to ignore in real life.