That was the month that was October 2020

1. Segu by Maryse Conde
2. Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
3. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
4. Freetown by Otto de Kat
5. Paula by Sandre Hoffmann
6. The Madness by Narcis Oller

I managed six reviews last month. One new publisher Fun de Stampa the publisher of The madness is a publisher that brings us books from the Catalan region of Spain. I have two more from them to come. I reviewed books from six countries. I went from historic Africa then to Africa more recently just as colonial times have ended. Then a modern classic of Indian fiction a dutch novella. Then a granddaughter recounts her silent grandmother and a family secret. Then a man sees a fellow man that descends into madness in victorian Spain.

Book of the month

I loved this book a granddaughter recalling warts and all her grandmother a woman of silence about events in her past. Sandra hoffmann uses her own personal history this is her family story who was her grandmother.

Non book events

Well I have had a quiet month the highlight would has been last record store day the last after yesterday’s lockdown announcement.

I got a Calexico LP an Americana band I have been a fan of for a number of years a record  by Bob Mould a guy that has been in two great bands Husker du and the Sugar and last and most important Songs for Drella the Lou Reed John Cale collaboration a tribute to Andy Wahrol the Drella of the title he said he was part Cinderella and part Dracula. I have loved this album already have it on cd but loved to get it on Vinyl as well.

I also as of today thanks to the Nordic fiction publisher Nordisk I have a shelf of five books from Norway I have chosen for the new site Bookshop.org here is my shelf of books.

Next month

Well I will be back with a review tomorrow as I have done this round-up today. I will as ever in November be reviewing a few German books for German lit month I have two reads already under my belt otherwise I have a comic Swedish novel and an Italian book about a father and son travelling. I would be back tomorrow a shorter than normal round up as I am not in best of health at the moment a tummy bug.

That was the month that was Sept 2020

1. The marvel of Biographical bookkeeping by Francis Nenik
2. Fire Doesn’t burn by Ralf Rothmann
3. Venice The Lion, the city and the Water by Cees Nooteboom
4. Texts by Helmut Heißenbüttel
5. Journey through a tragicomic century  by Francis Nenik
6. At the end of the night by Friedo Lampe
7. The Great Homecoming by Anna Kim

I have only managed seven reviews this month which means I have fallen behind in trying to get to 100 reviews for the year. But I just seemed to have lost a bit of love of reading the last few months and also a  loss of a routine for blogging If I miss a day or two with doing long shifts it turns into four or five days between reviews. Anyway, there was a strong Germanic feel to this month as all the books were from German bar one the Cees Nooteboom. otherwise there were five from Germany and one from Austria. I am trying to get to 100 reviews of german books. I am now on 79 books which is 6 nearer the total. This month starts with a connection in letters between to poets, then a couple with mid-life crisis problems and an age gap. Then We visit Venice with Cees Nooteboomin his love of the city. Then Experimental work from german and then the second book from Francis Nenik the strange life of Hasso Grabner. Then a banned modernist novel and lastly a germanic take on the Korean war from a Korean German writer. A solid trip this month

Book of the month

Well this was a hard one as every book this month I have really like for various reasons the challenge of Texts , the history of Anna Kims work. Nenik two books a spin of people’s lives all these deserve mentions. But it is the great Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom I loved seeing Venice through his eyes and experiencing 50 years of visiting the Italian city and his constant wanting to discover more around each corner.

Non-book events

 

It was the second drop for this year’s Record story day and I picked up three records first a seven inch of the Wedding Present latest BBC session I’ve been a fan of theirs for thirty plus years I brought the seven-inch last year so did the same again this year.

Then the reissue of the Boys next door which is the first album by Nick Cave and the band that became The Birthday party less rocky and Punky this is another band and Artist I have listen to for many years. This is more pop than his early stuff but one I wanted to get at some point.

The Alarm a live album Celtic Folklore is a companion album to there earlier Album Electric folklore from years ago. Not a big fan but I enjoyed a show about Mike Peters and I saw them years ago a bit of nostalgia.

Then I found these two Blue Aeroplane albums on vinyl I had beat songs on tape years ago they were a band that never quite broke through but had clever lyrics and a unique sound. Have you any of these records or bands in your collection. ?

My other thing this month has been watching the old BBC series Survivor a Terry nation written series that ran for three series in the seventies it imagines a virus that comes from China that has wiped out 95% of the population has died this is very apt given our current situation it is the very apt new age in a way as the people go back to living off the land and rediscovering how to live together I am halfway through the series two.

Next month

Well, I have tried some different books at the end of this month we have club 1956 coming so I have an Indian, Japanese and African novel to review hopefully. I have two more VQ books to review and two books from Catalan read to review so I need to get back in the groove but dark nights will hopefully get me back to reading a bit more. What are your plans for next month?

That was the month that was August 2020

1. A silent Fury by Yuri Herrera
2. The revolt by Clara Dupont-Monod
3. The bitch by Pilar Quintana
4. Ankomst by Gøhril Gabrielsen
5. Catherine the Great and Small by Olja Knezevic
6. Things we lost in the fire by Marianna Enriquez
7. Dark Constellations by Pola Oloixarac
8. An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky
9. The Desert and Its Seed by Jorge Baron Biza
10. Nine moons by Gabriela Wiener

I managed ten books last month I start with a mine disaster in Mexico, then medieval France and Eleanor of Aquitaine and her son strive for power, a dog in Chile is raised then let go by a lonely wife. A woman on a small island is going slightly mad as she waits for her fiance and mulls over her divorce.  A coming of tale age in the Balkans from a female perspective. A collection of ghostly stories from Argentina then a collection of intertwined stories that start in the 18th century then into the dawn of the internet age and the near future when people are tracked. Then a series of lost place items and poems told in some short stories, Then a son tells the story of his mother scared from an acid attack by his father. Then I finish the month off with a collection of essays about a pregnancy.  I managed eight title for women in translation month and for my own Spanish lit month six books.

Book of the month

 

It was a great month for books there was no dud books buut I just loved the concept and ideas in this books and what it made me think of when i had finished reading it. This is a series of things that aren’t an island that may have never been only seen by a few eyes before it was eaten up by the sea. A lost poem.

Non- book events

I had a nice meal with my father and we visited my in-laws this month which was the first time since all this covoid. Then later this month I woke early and nearly had two hours wait for this year’s first of three record store days. I had a lot on my list to get from an early Ben watt album rereleased, the Pogues BBC sessions, A pale saints album that was only available in Japan, a throwing Muses album, The fall and murder capital live and the tenth anniversary of Villagers debut album.  A lot of gems and great listening did you go ?

Next month

The rest of the year may have a German feel I am on 73 german novels under review and I have decided to get nearer 100 reviews. Next month sees the launch of the English arm of Voland and Quist led by the great German translator Katy Derbyshire there first three titles are coming out next month. A quick taste of one tomorrow as I review an earlier book from the same writer. Which Katy had also translated. Here is the website. The first three books all sound great and would be worth a look at !!

That was the month that was April 2020

1. Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
2. Memoirs of a Woman Doctor by Nawal El Saadawi
3. lets give it up for Gimme Lao by Sebastian Sim
4. The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting
5. I.city by Pavel Brycz

I only managed to review five books last month which I think is the lowest in the time I have blogged well. I managed one new country with a book from Singapore and the publisher of that book Epigram. MY journey started in medieval Germany with a jester taking center stage. Then one woman’s journey to being a doctor in post-war Egypt her struggle to get there based somewhat on the Nawal El Saadawi own life experience.   Then the story of post-independence Singapore from one family point of view. Then a new priest ruffles feathers in a small town by trying to take the Stave church and modernize the church and village. Then the story of one town in the Czech republic that in small parts they tell the story of the town of Most that have seen its heart torn out when it was torn down for mining. I edge closer to the 1000 book reviews which I am now 3 reviews short of this total. Which has become my Everest I think once I don this I will return to normal blog-wise. If that makes sense.

Book of the month –

I city by Pavel Byrcz

I have always enjoyed the books from Twisted spoon and this is great example of what they do a book that has a different form a town tells its story and that is one of loss and a heart of a city now gone but still carrying on .

The month ahead

I plan to finish reviewing the booker international books I also have one new country with a book from Thailand and that 1000 review book which I am currently reading. I’ve been of this week and am feeling refreshed maybe not read a lot but I have spent time with Amanda so I feel in the mood to read which the last few months I haven’t.

Non book-related matters-

I have brought three CDs from Martin Stephenson that I have had my eye in for a while he is a singer who in the late eighties and early nineties I enjoyed his albums with the Daintees having first heard him on John Peel. Well, I decide to buy a live a re-recording of his debut as an acoustic set and a recent album. So they shall be on in the car as I head to work next month. I have also been listening and downloading The BBC show Stereo Underground which is a local radio show that plays old school indie, punk, and alternative music. I think every show I have to listen to I have had old favorites and a couple that I hadn’t heard since the day. Times are hard here I worked with covioid on the ward I work at and Amanda at home classed as highly vulnerable this has worried me but I love my job and wife which meant I just did my job and took real care. I wish everyone well in these strange times.

That was the month that was Feb 2020

1. Snow, Dog, Foot by Claudio Morandini
2. The siege of Troy by Theodor Kallifatides
3. The Happening by Annie Ernaux
4. A perfect Hoax by Italo Svevo
5. The Salt of the Earth by Jozef Wittlin
6. The roar of Morning by Tip Marugg
7. The Fallen by Carlos Manuel Álvarez
8. This Tilting World by Collette Fellous

This month I read 8 books to take the total to 16 for the year. I read books from 6 countries. One new country Curacao with the book the roar of the morning there was no new publishers but I started in the Italian Alps with a hermit a long-dead foot and a talking dog. Then a greek island during world war two and a teacher retelling a greek classic tho her pupils. Then a woman remembering the horror of a backstreet abortion. A writer is lead astray by a con man and a simple man goes to war but really would rather be on the trains. As a man contemplates his life in those wee hours of the morning when the world is silent and the mind wanders. The matriarch of a family starts having falls the family gets m,ore fragile and cracks appear. Then a lost world of Jews in Tunisia.

Book of the month

Its been a tough month as there wasn’t a weak read but this book had a great flow to it and there was a real sense of a man weighing up his life at the Roar of the morning when the day comes he has drinks in his hands as he looks back on the major events of his life.

Non- book events

Amanda and I are doing a charity swim for the next few weeks. we are trying to do 22 miles the distance of the channel. we are one week in and over 2 miles swam. I also have been listening to Gregg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs solo debut album.

Next month

I am on the three of the books from the Booker longlist. Which has seen me read about two people with the same name in the same town? A man trying to write about his past. Then a ghost talks about her family move to a small village. I have just finished Three night this morning so will be posting reviews I  have eight books left to read which I think will take up this month although I have a couple of other books I need read.

 

That was the month that was October 2019

1. Agnes by Peter Stamm
2. Under pressure by Faruk Šehić
3. The jeweler by Caryl Lewis
4. Faces on the tip of my tongue by Emmanuelle Pagano
5. Bellevue by Ivana Dobrakovoa
6. Vile bodies by Evelyn waugh
7. The Rebels by Sándor Márai
8. Murder at the vicarage by Agatha christie
9. The Funeral Party by Ludmilla Ulitskaya
10. The night circus by Uršuľa Kovalyk
11. Falstaff: Apotheosis by Pierre Senges

I managed to read eleven books this month and I have got back on course to read 100 books this year. I read books from eight countries and I had books from three new publishers to the blog I start off with a german Novel set in the US a story of a unit in the Balkan conflict. A jeweler that connects with the people who owned the jewels the quirky french countryside a Slovenia girl goes to Southern France for a Job in care. Then it was to the swinging thirties in London then a group of Hungarian schoolkids and back to a small English Village and a Murder in the Vicarage. Then back to the Us and a Russian Emigre dies another set of quirky stories this time from Slovenia and then to finish of a reworking of Shakespears Falstaff’s life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book of the month

I joined the Kickstarter for this book I had read his first book to be translated into English. The book is an interlinking collection of short stories that tell one unit’s time in the Balkan conflict, Faruk himself lead a similar unit so this is a wart and all account of the Balkan conflicts. A great pleasure to see how Kickstarters are able to bring us books in translation maybe a few more publishers should try for those unusual or that second book from a writer.

Non-book events

I have been swimming for the last few months and am now starting to feel the benefit of it and although I am not losing weight I am feeling fitter and healthier. I have also been a fan of a new band last while the band Warmduscher has a wicked single midnight dipper very catchy song. How was your month ?

September 2019 that was the month

1. Welcome to America by Linda Bostorm Knaugard
2. Years like Brief days by Fabian Dobles
3. 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world by Elif Shafak
4. Milena, Milena,Ecstatic by Bae Suah
5. The Marquise of O by Heinrich Von Kleist
6. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
7. Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

Book of the month

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the first time, I have picked a none translated book as my book of the month but this is one of those rare books that is undefinable it is a monster of a read but the rhythm in those lists where she jumps from here to there in them. My reading journey this month saw me head from a chaotic family in America through Costa Rican village, then a dead prostitute in Istanbul relives her life in the last ten mins of her life. Then a Korean filmmaker meets a strange woman. Then a german classic in a new translation as a marquise tries to find the father of her child. Then I finished it off with a Reworking of Don Quixote by Salman Rushdie. I am still behind on the books read this year on 68 books reviewed want to get to 100 this year I will need to pull my socks up a bit but with german lit month soon I feel I can get there hopefully.

Next month

I have a number of novellas to read from around Europe I can’t see me reading the other booker titles they are just too long especially as I have a 900 pages modern german masterpiece and an even longer Italian novel to read before the end of the year.

Non-book events

I had some time off work and visited the Holocaust museum in Nottinghamshire it is very small but touching it has two exhibits one is about the Holocaust and the other follows one ten-year-old boy’s journey through the Kindertransport in recreations of his home school the boat that brought him here. We also went to see Major Oak the 1200-year-old Oak tree that is in Sherwood forest held up it is huge tree. In my nostalgia tv corner, I have been watching the father Downing mysteries which featured Tom Bosley is best known for playing  The father on Happy days he was also a sheriff in Murder she wrote this series sees him as a vicar investigating crime a fan of Sherlock Holmes with his sidekick a streetwise Nun.

 

That was the month that was August 2019

1. A nail and a rose by Madeleine Bourdouxhe
2. Doppelganger by Dasa Drndric
3. And the wind sees by Guðmundur Andri Thorsson 
4. Scar by Sara Mesa
5. The last days of el Comandante by Alberto Barrera Tyszka
6. Transfer window by Maria Gerhardt
7. Shadows on the tundra by Dalia Grinkevičiūtė
8. One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Mrquez

Book of the month

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any ont that has read the blog the last few years won’t be surprised that I have chosen this collection of two short stories by the late great Dasa Drndic. A writer I was lucky to meet and admire more after meeting her and seeing her view of the world which was similar to mine. I still have her last novel, for now, to hope we see more of her earlier books in English.

Last month

I managed to review eight books on the blog from eight countries from seven publishers a mix for Women in translation month and Spanish lit month. I also did thirty covers from women in translation from all around the world past and present. My reading took me from Belgian housewife in the inter-war years, two stories with mirroring themes one a doomer love affair between an older couple. Then two stories one capturing a second in Iceland as a woman in dotty dress cycles by and then a warped internet love affair. Then death from the last years of the late Venezuelan l,eader Hugo Chavez after that I had a story from a woman in the futuristic hospice than the last two books a lost tale of a woman’s Gulag years and a family saga set in Macondo in the Jungle in Columbia.  An interesting month

Non-book events well I have been listening to the debut album by the punk band Black midi another new band for this year my end of year record review for this year will be interesting as caught many new bands this year

 

That was the month thart was the half way point june 2019

1. The train was on time by Heinrich Boll
2. Prague by Maude Veilleux
3. Selfies by Sylvie Weil
4. Jalaleddin by Raffi
5. Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain
6. Red dog Willem Anker
7. A gun for sale by Graham Greene

I managed just seven reviews last month and got to 45 books reviewed so far this year. I read books from six countries one new press Sophene which is a new press that are publishing works from Armenia.I still feel I will get to hundred books reviewed this year I just need pick the pace up with an extra book a month plus I always blog more in the winter months and have Spanish and Portuguese lit month next month.

Book of the month

I loved this collection of interlink short stories all themed around a piece of art and other things that reminded Sylvie Weil of events in her own life a clever framing device and some more interesting autofiction from France also another great title from Les Fugitives that is publishing the best of female french writing.

Non book events

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it has been a quiet month, on the whole, I have just had a lovely day in the sun as we had the warmest day of the year, as you see I have come over all summery. In the last week, I have found a number of Joseph Conrad books second hand I have brought them as he seems to be a writer that isn’t as well regard as he was when I was younger. I know his works maybe aren’t as PC as other but he was still an influential writer and I am looking forward to trying some of his less known works.

Looking forward

I am just about to finish my first book for Spanish lit month and then have a 600-page Spanish novel called Homeland by Fernando Aramburu that has been called a new war and peace. I also have a couple of Portuguese books lined up for the month!

that was the month that was Sept 2018

books read –

1. in every wave by Charles Quimper
2. Endless blue sky by Lee Hyoseok
3. Lost Empress by Sergio De La Pava
4. Drive your Plow over the bones of the dead by Olga Tokarczuk
5. Explosions by Mathieu Poulin
6. Eleven Prague Corpses by Krill Kobrin
7. Everyday life by Lydie Salvayre
8. The dog by Kerstin Ekman

I managed to review a number of books from seven countries and from all around the world. I traveled from a man struggling with the passing of his daughter then to Korea and  Manchuria in the pre-war years. A dazzling novel of modern America and two people at different ends of modern America. People turn up dead in a valley in a distant area of Poland. Then we imagined that Michael Bay is actually a visionary and challenging filmmaker with themes behind his films. Then an expat Russian in Prague solves a number of deaths in the city. A city he isn’t a fan of either. Then a secretary sees a new arrival as her enemy or is it more than that is she losing her mind !! Then a feral dog grows from a pup to an adult away from man but is slowly drawn back by one man and his old grey dog.No new publishers but a real selection of styles of writing and types of fiction from short Borges stories through Poetic prose of suffering and then the chaos of modern America caught on the page through various forms of writing.

Book of the month- In every wave by Charles Quimper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This short but powerful book has a man trying to capture what happened when his daughter drowned. His marriage then falls apart and he only feels at home and near her on his sailboat as he tries to relive that day to see if it could have ended differently.This is one of the most touching books of recent years.

Discovery of the month-

My non-book discovery is the Sky arts series treasures of the British Library where a number of Stars four so far have visited the library. They get to choose six items that relate or have inspired them from people they admire or events they what to visit and the library have found piece connect to them. Like Nicola Benedetti when she gets to touch Beethovens tuning fork an item that has been touch by many great figures in classical music.A series that show the power of Libraries and preserving the past.

Next month-

I  am struggling with life at the moment so have found reading hard the last week or so but I am planning to read a couple of NYRB books for Lizzy Siddal’s  NYRB book fortnight. Then a couple for German Lit month. I have the Latest Javier Marias on order from the Library and have a few old Dalkey books to read. I just want to get my general Mojo back and my reading back to normal.