I got a strange book recommendation from Amazon.com today:
"As someone who has purchased or rated books by John Sandford, you might like to know that Como Tranformar El Hombre Interior will be released on March 4, 2008."
Strange title for a book from one of my favourite thriller writers. A little digging suggests the book is actually by John L. Sandford, editor of the gripping mysteries "Statistical Methods for Physical Science, Vol. 28" and "Biology of the Mycobacteria, Vol. 1". (Once you put it down, you'll never pick it up. No. Wait...)
Simple database mistake on Amazon's part, I'm sure. Funny thing is, it's long been an ambition of mine to be proficient enough in another language to read a book in it. When I was in Bahrain I worked with a guy from Pakistan who lent me his English language copy of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'. He'd written definitions of words he didn't understand all over the margins. I asked him about it and he told me it was the first English language book he'd ever read and had improved his understanding of the language no end. Amazing.
Since, over the course of life I've attempted and failed to learn Gaelic, French and Spanish, it's probably not going to happen for me, but I like to think that one day I'll find the time to get back to it. Amazon sending me this link made me think, 'Sandford would be an easier place to start than Gabriel Garcia Marquez'. Hilariously, these
customers are massively insulted. I mean, how dare Amazon even think they'd consider reading a book in a language other than English? 'Just what are Amazon trying to imply? That we studied languages in School?'