NYRB Giveaway. . .

I promised a giveaway to celebrate finishing my 50 book NYRB challenge and I'm going to let YOU choose your own prize.  I mentioned that NYRB Classics has an amazing spring list which I'm listing below.  Pick the three books that you'd most like to read from the Spring list, plus two books from their backlist (browse it here) and a lucky winner will get all five plus a snazzy NYRB totebag.  Send me an e-mail at mscott@randomhouse.com  with NYRB in the subject line,  and a list of the 5 books. I'll throw all the names into a hat and pull out the winner. This contest is open to those living in Canada and the U.S. only.  For Canadian readers, please note that several NYRB titles are not available for sale in Canada and so I can't include it in your prize.  If the title doesn't show up on www.randomhouse.ca  then it isn't available in Canada.  Deadline for entering is January 15th, 2011.  NOTE:  This contest is now closed.

So without further ado, here's some of the amazing NYRB books to look forward to this spring. I guarantee there's something for everyone:

The Traveller's Tree by Patrick Leigh Fermor
An exploration of the Caribbean islands by one of the twentieth century's greatest travel writers.

The Doll by Boleslaw Prus, translated by David Welsh
An ambitious classic of Polish literature, a story of money, love and class set in the 19th century Warsaw.

The Ice Trilogy by Vladmir Sorokin, translated by Jamey Gambrell
Contains Bro, Ice and 23,000 - the three parts of Sorokin's trilogy recounting the escapades of the Brotherhood of Light, a group of homicidal fanatics in gritty, violent, contemporary Moscow.

Irretrievable by Theodore Fontane, translated by Douglas Parmee
The story of a couple, happily married for twenty-three years until a certain tension starts to creep in and they slowly start to drift apart.

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach
A fascinating true story about three paranoid schizophrenics who all believed they were Christ and were brought together to live for two years to argue and debate amongst themselves.

Songs of  Kabir, translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
A collection from the Northern India philosopher, satirist and oral poet Kabir, who lived from 1398-1518.

We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
A new unexpurgated edition of this dark "fairy tale for adults", as Ackerley described it.  From the author of My Dog Tulip.  And yes, this also features a German shepherd.

Fair Play by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal

The story of two women, both artists who live, work, love, and argue from opposite sides of a large apartment building.  Jansson is one of my favourite NYRB authors - no one is better at writing about complicated women's relationships.

Dancing Lessons for The Advanced in Age by Bohumil Hrabal, translated by Michael Henry Heim
An elderly rake recounts his life story to a group of sunbathing women who remind him of lovers past.  The whole novel unfolds in one single sentence (don't panic, it's not that long -the book, not the sentence).

The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
A surreal, black comedy about the mother of countless children from several marriages and her relationship with a successful screenwriter.

Fatale by J.P. Manchette, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith
Aimee is a drop-dead gorgeous professional killer who has set her eyes on a backwater town where she plans to manipulate old grudges and play people against each other. A modern detective novel filled with farce and anarchy.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, translated by Donald Rayfield
A new translation of this great Russian classic.

When the World Spoke French by Marc Fumaroli, translated by Richard Howard
From the death of Louis XIV to the Revolution, French was the universal language in Europe. A series of portraits of political and intellectual foreigners who conversed in French regardless of their native language.