The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

New press started in 2020. I wanted to get a few of their "books" under my belt before posting about them.

isolarii

"FROM THE EDITORS

The humanism of the past five hundred years is dead. Believing man was exceptional, it opened the abyss of extinction. A new approach is needed to re-enchant the world and establish the commonality of all life on Earth. This is not just the task of politics and philosophy. It requires the effort of all those who tear down convention in order to preserve what is meaningful. That is, the preservation not just of environments, but myth, irrationality, autonomy, and joy—whether by direct or poetic means. New islands—of thought, literature, art—are already emerging. They are the necessary minimum for this re-beginning. We find these points of orientation, mapping a scattered community that spans continents and disciplines. To represent a world of many worlds, not a globe.
Our books revive the extinct genre of the same name—the ‘island books’ that emerged at the start of the Renaissance. Bound together were poems, stories, and artworks—each a supposed island, a space that held a singular idea. Although this spatial form of literature was eclipsed by the novel, it continued to inspire writers from Thomas More to Georges Perec. As the historian George Tolias writes, isolarii “seem to reflect an ‘underground’ geographical culture...that flourished in the experimental and tolerant climate of the Renaissance but has now slipped out of our grasp.”

Six hundred years after the first isolarii were published, we take up this genre-bending format to navigate the turbulence of our times. Each book is a ready-to-hand island. Together, they are a growing archipelago. Islands from which to view the world anew."

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They currently have four books out. Each is about the size of a deck of cards. And the forewords for the books are on the publisher's website and almost function as companion pieces or complimentary dialogues (e.g. Warren Ellis's foreword consists of a 45-min. soundscape he created while reading Can Xue's stories in Purple Perilla).

- Salmon: A Red Herring (nonfiction by Cooking Sections)
- F Letter: New Russian Feminist Poetry
- Purple Perilla (Can Xue)
- Street Cop (Robert Coover & Art Spiegelman)
- Modern Animal (Yevgenia Belorusets)
- The Archipelago Conversations (Édouard Glissant and Hans Ulrich Obrist)
- In the Face Of War (Yevgenia Belorusets, Nikita Kadan, and Lesia Khomenko)
- Ever Gaia(James Lovelock & Hans Ulrich Obrist)
- A Book of My Own (Scholastique Mukasonga)
- Under the Wings of the Valkyrie (Sjón; book not yet added to GR)

isolarii books has a live War Diary by Yevgenia Belorusets here:
https://www.isolarii.com/kyiv

Thank you Marc

Thanks Marc

Thank you, Marc. Do we need to subscribe to read the diary as it’s updated?

Just click on the link and you'll get the most current entry, which is March 1.

Thank you.

The war diary got published as isolarii's latest release in combination with some contributing Ukrainian artists' work.

Am I correct that only GR librarians and authors (limited to their own works) can add books to GR?

I’ve added books to GR, Marc. If you know the ISBN you can add book. I even uploaded photo of the cover.

I tried importing it using a URL that contained title, author, and ISBN, but GR told me it couldn't be imported. Is "Import Books" the best option?

Marc wrote: "The war diary got published as isolarii's latest release in combination with some contributing Ukrainian artists' work.

Am I correct that only GR librarians and authors (limited to their own works..."

Used to be everyone but think they've now restricted access or are about to,

Thanks. I thought I remembered seeing a more obvious option to add books in the past...

I’ve added it. Pretty sure you have to have librarian status to do so.

In the Face Of War

Thanks, Lee!

I know I’ve added books, less than 5, but one wasn’t that long ago. I don’t remember now how I did it, but I think I did a search for the title, it wasn’t found and so gave me the option to add it.
As Alwynne and Lee said that might have changed.
I just saw that Goodreads has removed the fields for recommending books to specific members or listing the person that recommended the book you’re reviewing. I never used that, but I wonder why they removed it.

GoodReads is always tinkering with things that shouldn't need to change. I thought non-librarians were allowed to create books and editions, but not to edit them, and in any case that could have changed in the years since I gained librarian status.

It changed last month.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks Lee! I have now joined the Librarian Group, not as a librarian but to find useful information!

isolarii seem to be leaning towards mostly nonfiction with their last 4 books fitting that category. The most recent is a dialogue between Hans Ulrich Obrist and the scientist James Lovelock (Ever Gaia; not yet added to GR as far as I can tell; someone does have the first 6 books at part of a "series" on here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/3438...).

Intro from the latest book here:
https://lithub.com/daisy-hildyard-on-...

isolarii's latest is a nonfiction book:
""A book on exile, migration, Rwanda, identity and memory from the legendary Mukasonga"

My copy arrived last week. Not yet added on GR.

During the pandemic and their slight publishing hiatus, the pressed branched off into presenting streaming DJ sets...
https://sunset.isolarii.com/

I have been meaning to try some of Sjón’s writing and this slim piece (isolarii’s 10th publication) makes for an easy start:

https://www.anothermag.com/design-liv...

I want to read more Sjón, the only book I’ve read is The Whispering Muse.