Thank you!

Hey OT folks!

I want to thank you for all the commenting you have been doing on each other's blogs, and checking out the OT reviews that the other members have posted!! You all are really helping me out. My initial goal was to comment on every OT review, and I guess it is a good sign, but I keep falling way behind. You all are crackin' out those international reviews like crazy. So, keep up the good reviewing and the commenting. I love the community feel that it breeds. LOVE IT! Keep it up. Thank you all so much.


Stay posted, I will host a giveaway, Guess that Author game soon ( thanks Richard for the idea from your Juan Rulfo giveaway). So keep checking, I'll get it up in the next couple days!

Juan Rulfo

Congratulations to One Swede Read, who correctly guessed that Mexico's own Juan Rulfo (above, with pre-columbian friend) was the name of the author in this week's trivia contest! Rulfo (1917 or 1918-1986) is primarily famous for two works, his 1953 short story collection El llano en llamas (The Burning Plain) and his 1955 novel Pedro Páramo, but he's almost universally revered in Latin American literary circles for his contributions to the craft of writing. Jorge Luis Borges, for example, called Pedro Páramo one of the best novels ever written, and Gabriel García Márquez has claimed that reading that same novel helped him break the writer's block he was suffering early on in his own career--a breakthrough that would soon lead to the creation of García Márquez' own classic Cien años de soledad (100 Years of Solitude). Rulfo has lately begun to receive a lot of posthumous attention for his wonderful photography, and photographic compilations of his work are now available in both English and Spanish as well as online. The Prize: One Swede Read, please get in touch with me to claim your prize: a copy of El llano in llamas (The Burning Plain) or Pedro Páramo in either Spanish or English. One final note: OT host Bethany somehow managed to guess the author's identity on the very first day of the contest, but she took herself out of the running so that others could have a chance at the prize. How about a round of applause for her sportsmanship? Thanks to everybody who participated in the trivia contest--we'll do another one down the road if you thought it was fun!

A Spanish-language version of Rulfo's classics

An English version of the novel

One of Rulfo's more ethereal photographs: two dancers on a plain in Mexico

"Guess the Name of the Author" Book Giveaway Contest

To help get April's Orbis Terrarum reading off to a fun start, I'm giving away a free paperback (author and title to be revealed later) to the first OT challenger who can guess the name of the mystery man above (no resemblance to the actual author, of course!). All OT contestants are welcome to play, and the only rule is that you should limit yourself to one guess a day (no anonymous entries) in the comments box until the writer's identity is revealed. I'll provide a new clue here daily until a winner is declared, but here are three to start you out. P.S. Given that these clues may apply to more than one person, don't get too mad if you guess the "wrong" writer based on a similar description. I know who the right one is!

• The author in question, one of the most influential of his times by many accounts, was a writer and a photographer.
• English was not the author's native language.
• A son of the author is a filmmaker.
• (Bonus clue) Jorge Luis Borges, no stranger to talent himself, was a huge fan of this writer's work.
• (Latest clue) Although this celebrated short story writer and novelist did write in Spanish, he wasn't born in either South America or Spain.

Can you guess the name of this author?

April OT Books Read:

Here is the Mr. Linky for April, where you can post your links to the reviews you have written the month for the OT challenges. I am going to post one mr. linky for all of the OT challenges so make sure that you specify in your review what challenge (or challenges if there is overlap) you are posting the review for.

Be sure to include the nation of origin (or where he/she resides or resided or if you are choosing to go with where the author was born) of the author, as well as the title of the book. For example: (Absent by Khedairi- Iraq)or (Half of a Yellow Sun - Nigeria)

Make sure you head over to each other's reviews to comment! We all love comments :)