That was the month that was November 22

1. Blue Jewellery by Katharina Winkler
2. Like a Prisoner by Fatos Lubonja
3. What we leave behind by Stanislaw Łubieński
4. What Have You Left behind ? by Bushra AL-Maqtari
5. The Last One by Fatima Daas

I start with my only book for German lit month a Swiss novel about a Turkish Family that moves to Switzerland as the husband abuses the wife and gives her what see calls her Blue jewellery of bruises. Then a collection of short stories from his time in the Albanian Gulags from Albanian writer Fatos Lubonja. Then a n environmental nature book about what we drop and dispose of the plastic waste and its lasting impact on nature. Then a harrowing collection of first-hand accounts from those who had lost family in the Yemeni civil war. Last stop was a French Algerian Women’s account of trying to be a lean and a Muslim in modern France. Well five countries no new countries this month also no new publishers.

Book of the Month

This was such a close month all the books I reviewed were stunning books each for there own reason but this so grab me I sat in town one day in a coffee shop and just drifted into the world of the camp the story of the man losing his cat will stick with me for ever. hope and loss and despair and joy all wrapped up in one story.

The month ahead

I am in a reading slump (as I said these were great books it is hard after five books this good to read anything)  and a blogging slump (just time and a new role at work so should be a bit easier now). So I am not putting any pressure on myself I think it will be reading a number of short books I review and maybe one long book. I usually find the reading clock gets wound up tight near the end of the year it is like wind-up car we had as kids. T his time of year I need to be picked up and wound up.  I am just running out of steam and this month I will be looking at the new year and as ever starting with a clean slate and lots of hope for 2023. I look forward to the new year and great Christmas. What are your plans for the month ahead ?

Non-book events

I finally got around to Andor the latest Star Wars series I had tried it and just not gotten into it straight off. but I sat and gave to another chance to watch it again. This time I was drawn in it has a darker feel and is maybe the best series they have done as it is separate from the other series it has no real connection to the films barring the film that had Andor as a character. I start a new temporary role at work this month which maybe explains the lack of reading I am settling into this is my third week.

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That was the month that was October 2022

1. Discipline is destiny by Ryan Holiday
2. Some prefer Nettles by Junchirō Tanizaki
3. A High wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes 
4. Walking in Berlin by Franz Hessel

I decided to have a good break from the blog by coming back to work after all the time I had off with stress and anxiety this year.  I was on a return to work with shorter shifts but there is a few other things at work that was on my mind so I just wasn’t going to be focused enough to blog I felt. It was good timing as  I happened to have covid as well after two years of avoiding it firstly Amanda test positive and I was still negative so I went to get food Amanda’s meds and other bits and luckily went to get a shop in when I got home that day I felt off it even thou I had tested negative in the morning I was now positive and had a few days I felt rough then a couple more days before I was testing negative again. Anyway, I had just reviewed four books. I started with the master of Stoicism’s latest book about TEMPERANCE a  subject that he lit up with his great examples.Then I reared my three books for the 1929 club firstly in Japan a couple struggles with the fact they really need to divorce. Then a set of children are taken by Pirates and go rouge whilst with the pirates. Then a man walks around Berlin. I also add the number of books read this month. I feel ready to get back to blog and now have my monthly blog planner book.

Book of the month

Wel,l it is a hard one but I choose the Hessel it is just such an engrossing walk around a place and city that has changed so many times since he wrote the book and made me want to visit Berlin. Be my own flaneur in the city.In fact, it will make me look afresh next time I’m in a city or bigger town.(Chesterfield I just know to well, sad our town isn’t so vibrant these days but we have a Waterstones, a record shop (2 one new one second hand ) the weekly flea market and a few great shops around the town here and there. Also The Library which is one of the best for a town this size I think.

Non-book events

We watched the series Becoming you on Apple TV which followed kids around the world in the first 5 years of life. it was amazing how kids grow up in so many different ways around the world. Japanese kid on his first errand a tradition was scary a three year wandering the streets but he was a changed kid after it amazing. Kids in Borneo use machetes to cut fish swimming in the sea an amazing show that shows how different parents are around the world. We also listen to the lifeline drama on radio four (bcc sounds) we missed it earlier this year we have listened to this drama based in an ambulance call centre for the last few years we love to sit and listen to this sort of short drama and podcast the BBC does so we have our evening meal at the table listen to these dramas and discuss our day.

The month ahead

I have two great books from Istros books I am partway through both. I have a pile of books I read this month and didn’t review and also it is German lit month which I will focus on the end of November OI have one book read and hope to get a couple more books to read not sure what yet will make the cut I have a few in mind for this year German book month.

 

That was the month that was September 2022

• The critical case of a man called K by Aziz Mohammed
• Autumn Rounds by Jacques Poulin 
• Co-wives, Co-widows by Adrienne Yabouza
• Artforum by César Aira
• Girl a novel by Camille Laurens
• Something strange, like hunger short stories by Malika Moustadraf
• Pyre by Perumal Murugan

You may notice a change I have removed numbers from what I read and from next year the books read page won’t have numbers I feel reading is a personal journey and figures just gamify our reading it isn’t about how many or how few books you read it is all our own journeys I suggest you maybe do the same I can see on my good read the figures as I use that now to track how many etc not here. Anyway back to the books it has seen me travel from Saudi to a man with cancer in a Kafkaesque nod to the book. Then a love affair is subtle as a man takes a mobile library around the hinterland of Quebec followed by a woman and a circus as a slow-burning love affair unfolds. then we meet a pair of widows trying to keep what should be theirs. Then a man in Argentina obsessed with an art magazine. Then a French girl in a provincial town is set back by her sex and will this affect her as a mother to her daughter. Then a wonderful collection of short stories behind those doors in Morocco a wife flirts is a girl a virgin and a crowded bus. Then yesterday I end with a married couple in a village as her caste and the village clash. Where has your reading journey taken you what waters have you been in? I had one new country this month but I like my books this month I always saying I should read more Arabic and African books and I did this month.

Book of the month

This may be the hardest month of all to pick one but this is a book that should be read it is an insight into a writer that died too young. She tackled the subjects maybe other writers would sex, being a virgin or. not, web sex this is just a collection you should try.

Non-book events

I have posted on the holiday the trip and the books. I also picked a couple of great records this month.

First is Filgree and the Shadow by This Mortal Coil, I had this on cd I love this collective that was run by Ivo Watts Russell that used people from the bands on his record label 4AD. If you not listen to this band I would it is ethereal and unique I love the song the jeweller on this album.

Then Sufjan Stevens the outage album The Avalanche is bits that didn’t make his Illinois album (I wish he had made more than two of the state’s albums he had said he do one for every US state but made two in the end so far) I love his mix of lo-fi, country and art rock he is a real talent.

I ll add this here as I brought this copy of Watt by Beckett yesterday and was shocked I had seen it had a couple of newspaper cuttings I just thought oh it’ll be something like a bookmark or local paper no it was from 1969 and a French paper when he won the Nobel prize such a great find.

A tv show Amanda and I watched was 9/11 : one day in America it is a six-episode series from National Geographic about 9/11 I thought I had seen every clip of 9/11 but this had so many moments of that horrific day captured that I hadn’t seen. Also, so many personal stories it doesn’t seem like 20 years ago how time has flown since that day.

Next month

I have a few books read and hope to review them. I have a couple of books for club 1929 at the end of the month to read. Who knows I read so much on a whim these days. I have the new Pamuk to read before the end of the year. What is your month looking like next month ?

 

 

That was the month that was August 2022

1. Mona by Pola Oloixarac
2. Thread ripper by Amalie Smith
3. Chinatown by Thuan
4. Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras
5. The woman in the purple skirt by Natsuko Imamura
6. scattered all over the world by Yoko Tawada 
7. Dry heart by Natalia Ginzburg

I reviewed seven books this month and have reviewed 62 books so far I hope get to 100 reviews this year am a little behind at the mo but my journey this month has taken me to first Argentina and a writer going to maybe win a prize. Then a book that defies pigeonholing a danish novel with computers and tapestry at its heart and woman involved in them both. Then in  Chinatown In Vietnam. we met a woman who married a Chinese man and the man she married and what happened. Then a woman revisited the place the murder happened. Meets a man that works for her husband as she does. Then another woman is followed in her purple skirt a woman in a jumper watches her and sees her as more than she is in a creepy novel. Then a group of people set off to reunite two of the last people that can speak Japanese after the country disappeared and the people were scattered all over the world. Then marriage is told from the wife who married a man that wasn’t in love with him. It was of course won in translation month and every book this month fell into that category as we went from Latin America to Denmark and then Vietnam, France a couple stops in Japan and end up in Italy.

Book of the month

I chose this as it was an experimental novel that uses real people and a lot of threads to talk about woman’s rules in computers as a woman in the present uses her computer to work out her tapestry this is one of those books that remind me why I love books in translation and that is to be challenged as a reader and also to discover books that break the mould of what novels and fiction are and this ticks every box.

Non-book matters

Well I have struggled this month I just run out of steam in the general middle of the month a few family health issues worrying me, the rising cost of living (which we all have issues with), and a loss of confidence at work hit me hard and of course a heatwave again. But in the last week or so I have felt more myself and have started to talk more with those closest to me. I am pleased to have gotten through this and we are looking forward to some great things in the next 12 months in our life. Back to more interesting things I loved a couple of films I saw this month the first still life starred Eddie Marsan ( he was recently in the thief, his wife and the canoe on tv here) a wonderful character actor here he is a council work that deals with people that had died with no families he tries to find them ion not he has services for them a touching story of a man at odds with the new boss. Then a coming of age story jellyfish a young woman looks after her siblings as her mother struggles to get out of bed in Margate one of those faded seaside towns hard-hitting as she discovers her voice as a stand-up comedian. Finally, 5 days at memorial a series on Apple sees the aftermath of Katarina on New Orleans throughout those trapped in a hospital as the levee broke and floods cut them off and meant no water, power or food as they struggle to keep the patients alive based on the bestselling book by Sheri Fink (which had been on my list to get at some point since I heard about it on the New York Times book podcast).

The month ahead

I am off from next week for most of September. So I hope to review a few more books next month I have a book I have just started from a new country to the blog which is always an event these days for me. As I have a couple of weeks of work. we are having a few days in Northumberland which is our only plan. But apart from that we will be at home and the nights are drawing in I tend to read more in the evenings so looking forward to working down a few review books and TBR books. I have a huge book from Japan Well I have two books and one of those is two vols long due to arrival that I am looking forward to getting into at some point.

What have you enjoyed this month and what are your plans for September?

July round up and next months plans

1. 12 birds to save your life by Charlie Corbett
2. The Heeding by Rob Cowen
3. Still born by Guadalupe Nettel
4. The instant by Amy Liptrot
5. Space invaders by Nona Fernández
6. The shape of Bones by Daniel Galera
7. Empty words by Mario Levrero

This month start with how birds saw someone deal with grief and loss and how they can inspire a writer at the hardest of times. Then a collection of poems written during the lockdown that so how nature shone through during that time. Then two woman go there ways with their decisions to have or not have children with a book that questions why  ? Then we have a writer moving to Berlin from Orkney and seeing the beauty of nature in the everyday and also trying to find love at the same time as she rebuilds her life. Then classmates grow as one of their class is the daughter of a high official in the Regime we see how they get over the years. Then a man goes through his old neighbourhood and his past and present start to join together. Then a man struggles to write so he starts a daily writing exercise as we see the results. This month saw me fall back onto translations near the end of the month a few weeks away and I was ready to go back to the usual diet of this blog I will still be reading a few nature books as I do love them so much.I didn’t get to my Spanish lit month books but did manage four other books for the month.

Book of the month

Still born was the book that I connected with a lot this month that tale of these two women lives I just got drawn into. That said for me  it was a great months reading and although I read less than last month but I went away we had a heatwave which I worked nights through and the sleeping during the day meant I read nothing for a number of days.

Non – book events

We spent time in Northumberland on Holiday which saw Amanda and I finally get to `holy island  on a nice day. We loved it so much we are going back in a couple of months but we will be going to a few places in Scotland.I watched Only murders in the Building which is a clever comedy that takes a side swipe at true crime podcast. I manage to get an offer for to get Apple TV back so I watch theTom Hanks film finch which Amanda and I loved. I listen to the record store day collection of Patti smith that was compiled on two albums for record store day I have wanted to listen to more of her work since I read one of her books I had horse like most people do but hadn’t looked much further into her albums so this will be a great intro.The blog reviews also passed 1200 books under review

The month to come-

it is Woman in translation m month next month and I have decided to challenge myself as I worked out I had seven books read from woman writers in translation this year and also had a further 7 part read so I decided to try and review a book a day I may fail but I’m going to give it a good go. I was inspired by Simon from stuck in a book who did it the other m month posted 30 reviews in a month.I have no nights next month which usually mess with my reading and reviewing as I get a brain fog during my shifts and for the couple days after so I should’ve a good chance to review as many as I can.

What are you plans? any for woman in translation month?

That was the month that was June 2022

1. To sir, with love by E R Braithwaite
2. Among the Almond trees by Hussein Barghouthi
3. Angel Station by Jachym Topol
4. The blue bedspread by Raj Karmal Jha
5. A cage in search of a Bird by Florence Noiville
6. The young pretender by Michael Arditti
7. The rabbit factor by Anti Tuomainen
8. Ninth building by Zou Jingzhi
9. Cinema stories by Alexander Kluge
10. Copsford by Walter J. C. Murray
11. The Military Orchid by Jocelyn Brooke 
12. Goshawk summer by James Aldred

This month has been a good month for me reading as I have reviewed 12 books which is a total I haven’t hit for a while. The journey starts With being an immigrant in London post-war. Then return home after a lifetime away as a man dies and sees the ghosts of his past. Then 90s Prague and the flotsam and jetsam around a station lives are revealed. Then a woman meets a woman who starts to take over her life. Then a young actor and victim of grooming tries to review his career and escape his past. Then a brother inherits a fun fair and falls in love add to that a mafia angle in a great Finnish crime novel. Then growing up in Mao’s Beijing then being sent into exile to the hinterlands of China. Then Kluge wrote a number of stories about cinema and his world of films. Then a man drops out and collects herb in the first of three great nature books, then a man is obsessed with an Orchid he read about then spends his life hunting orchids and the holy grail of the Military Orchid. Then we have summer during lockdown watching goshawk nest and having a family of chicks in the New Forest. So a month that has seen me here there and everywhere. What has your path been this month through the books you have read?

Trio of the month

Among the Almond trees by Hussein Barghouthi

Hussein’s last days spent in the area of Ramallah where he grew up left and has returned to after a lifetime away he is haunted by his death and the ghost of his past. Very poetic and touching work there is another book from him coming out later this year I can’t wait for that book as this is one of the most touching books I have ever read.

The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen

A brother inherits the mess his brother has left in an amusement park full of odd characters that work there. He also falls for someone that is the polar opposite of the uptight account he is in a crime novel. But is so much more it has comedy romance and a bunch of odd characters and a damaged giant plastic rabbit.

Copsford by Walter J C Murray

A man moves to a derelict cottage and tries to live on the land as he tries to escape the life in London as he learns how to reap the herbs around Copsford. A great book about what has happened in the last few years.

Other events this month-

I  finally got to watch for the second time the series The story of Film an Odyssey. I had been given it as a present at Christmas and hadn’t got to it yet but this last month I watch the first two-discs of Mark Cousin history of cinema that encompass all of the worlds he just makes you just want to watch so many books. I watch the new series of Obi-wan on Disney which was a great series as it fills in some timeline gaps in the Star Wars story and I rewatched Only Murders in the Building ready for the second series of the comedy series is a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of true-crime podcast. I also went to the extra record store day middle of the month which had two records which I had to want but were delayed. The two I had on cd but wanted Beth Orton’s two LPs on Vinyl Central reservation and Trailer park her lo-fi acoustic sound is a great summer night sound I will love listening to them this summer.

The month ahead I am reading a little less translation for the foreseeable future I say this then go down a rabbit hole and see this and that book here I think the passion is there just a Little less over summer but it is the 10th Spanish and Portuguese lit month I will be reading the two books I had mentioned for the month plus a few extra. Plus work my way through the Wainwright longlist which I have all but three books now from the library. Amanda and I are off on Monday for a short break in Northumberland again we can’t wait as it means a visit to the wonderful Barter books which means a pile of books from our Holiday and some pictures of our trip.

What have you done last month or planned next month ?

That was the month that was May 2022

1. The people opposite by Georges Simeon
2. Canzone Di Guerra by Daša Drndić
3. Cigarette by Per Hagman
4. Solo Dance by Li Kokomi
5. Standing Heavy By GauZ

Well I had returned to work and had a week off with Amanda this month so it was going be a short trip of the books IO read we started with a Early Simeon that is his most political work that came after a visit to the Soviet Union at the time. Then a woman tries to trace her father past and the past of Croatia and those that left from her home in Canada. Then a slice of being young and living your life to the max. Then a Taiwan office workers life as she tries to balance her past and her present and hiding her sexuality at work. Then those guards we see but never think about in a debut novel from a writer for Ivory Coast his first of many I hope. A slow month. Elsewhere we announced the Shadow winner of the Booker International and I decided it is time to move on after ten year I will be bring a new spin to it all myself with a new idea. I am trying to be more open to what I read and much keener on trying books I have missed.

Book of the Month

It was a hard month I read five books and they are all great books but I love Dasa work and this is another gem from the late great Writer that tackles the years from the end of the world war tow the Tito year and the Yugoslavian war the knock on effect of trying too escape and form a new life in Canada but also what were the traditions and past of your own personal history.

Other things

Well I visited York, Cheshire, and the cotswolds this month when we had time off together so did lots of small trips. Elsewhere I am nearing the end of watching all the Grantchester series which I’ve slowly been working through for a few month a bit of comfort tv which is good as  I returned to work end of last month,  so I’ve been taking things slow after 10 weeks off I am nervous about returning it is slowly lifting but this is third week of being back to normal shifts. So I now feel settled back somewhat and hope to get to normal with work.

Next month

Although my reviewing has been slow this last couple of months I have actually read 54 books this year so I have 18 books to review so I will be ramping up my reviewing this month I have seen how the blogger Simon at the blog  stuck in a book has done a book a day all this month on his blog. Now I Don’t think I can do that but I am inspired to try and up the amount of reviews next month . I will be reading a mix of  old and new books as I Tend to more these day in my reading. As this approach will suit the  couple of challenges I have set myself  not to complete just to add a few books on the edge of what I would normally read like crime like some older books and those modern classics I never got too back in the day. Reading is such a wonderful journey we are like yachts tacking as the wind fills are sails and then sometime drops and we have change the sail so it is with my reading ring the high seas of world literature!!

What are your plans next month ?

That was the months that were March and April 202

 

1. Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree
2. The Land of Short sentences by Stine Pilgaard
3. Happy stories mostly by Norman Erikson Pasaribu
4. Heaven by Mieko kawakami
5. The book of mother by Violaine Huisman
6. After the sun by Jonas Eika
7. Paradais by Fernada Melchor
8. More than I love my life by David Grossman
9. Burning grass by Cyprian Ekwensi
10. Phenotypes by Paulo Scott
11. The New men by CP Snow
12. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
13. Contempt by Alberto Moravia 
14. The emigrants by George Lamming 
15. After Midnight by Irmgard keun

I missed Marchs round up just embarrassing how few books I reviewed I am reading more than ever but in march my reviewing slip and I reviewed just 6 books mainly from the booker international list I just wasn’t in a reading or reviewing mood  this follows  a long time off work with stress that start in Feb.That has only seen me return to work in the last ten days after a couple of months any way  enough about that I have a job that  has a lot of stress so sometimes you need a break. I am onwards and upwards and actually  am feeling less stress and roaring to face my 50s and so new challenges on the blog.I feeling more like blogging as  march has carried on I felt the old rhythm returning and also my own passion has returned I cover most of the booker internationals list books I am just wanting to read a wider variety of books in translation a lot of backlist and older classics the rest of the year with of course a few new titles. The books in the last few months Have taken me to India ,Brazil, Nigeria, Indonesia , France , Barbados , Germany, Israel, Mexico, Denmark, Japan, Us and Uk so I read a book from every continent over these two months I think I loved most of the books I read for me the reading highlight was 1954 club I love these clubs based around a year twice a year and the four I read this time had all been on my shelves for a good while.I am looking forward to the rest of the year and now a lot less stressed if anything the best for a long time.

As for a few stats there hasn’t been any new countries these months. The was also no new publishers. I have read 42 books so far this year I’m aim to read 120 books this year and am on course. I have reviewed 31 books so far this year.

Books of the month

February

I loved the book of mother for me this is a perfect example of French Auto fiction a daughter paints her. other warts and all in a book that captures a woman whose spirit swung from tot to heart warming her ;life was of extremes.

March

Edited in Prisma app with Thota Vaikuntam

 

It was much closer for my march read book of the month as thew four books I read for club 1954 were all great books and any other month would have been a book of the month but this book has been so hard for me to review as I love it so much the subtle tale and the way it flows with its word play and the fact it captures a world not often told of an older female and at that an older Indian female add to that a realistic trans character you have a great book one of my all time favourite books.

Other none reading things-

I took a rabbit hole of you tube a lot this year I even had thoughts of blogging but now I’ve decided that this is my main aim to blog I just haven’t the confidence in myself to vlog there are some great vlogs out there I may do a post on the ones I loved one day but at moment my two favourites are better than food and leaf by leaf. I just didn’t watch a lot the last couple of months that has stuck with me. I did watch Cinemania which I had watched years ago the tale of a group of New Yorkers that just watch films all day every day often 6 or 7 a day. I also watch a number of the early carry on films on Brit box.Amanda and I spent a weekend in Stratford upon Avon which was a great break and just what I needed as it was with family we cruised the river I brought some books and we had some great food.

The Month Ahead

I am back reading Multiple books I just want read as many books as I can these days so this seems be a way of adding more pages a day anyway I have Archipelago week from the 9th I have a couple of books to read for that other wise it is the last off the booker list I haven’t read then it will be a mix of old and new I am reading Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann after that I have a book by Emile Zola lined up as for new books I am just reading The people opposite Georges Simenon most political novel.  then I have the first Chinese novel from Hanford star. I just feel it is onwards and upwards from here. What are your plans for the next month or the rest of the year ?

That was the month that was August 2021

1. The return of the Caravels by Antonio Lobo Antunes
2. Some kind of company by Nan Ostman
3. Childhood by Tove Ditlevsen
4. The Liquid land by Raphaela Edelbauer
5. The Innocence of Memories by Orhan Pamuk
6. Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro
7. The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Selim Özdoğan
8. The Others by Raül Garrigasait

This month saw me read and review 8 books I am still on course to reach the 100 reviews for the year. We started with a novel that saw the great figures from Portugal’s past return to the post-Salazar Country and what had happened over time. Then I had released when I reviewed these two books for Woman in Translation month these two Nordic novels sort form a tale end of lives the first a look at that “Emptynester” world of people when their that sees the home is empty and they have to get on or not. Then a rough and poor childhood. Then a quirky novel from Austria a hidden village a grieving daughter that gather all isn’t well in the village as they just carry on. Then a companion piece to Pamuk’s novel follows a film he made about his Museum that was based on the novel or came because of the novel. Then a crime novel or more a novel about a mother finding out about her daughter’s death and what really happened and why? Then a childhood in Turkey is the first of three books following a guest worker’s life from when she grew up in Turkey and then in Germany. Then the last is a Prussian officer in a Spanish war Historic novel that has a fourth-wall-breaking narrative.

Book of the month

I just loved all the books this month but this book by Pamuk gripped me I loved the novel The museum of innocence about a doomed love affair is about that but also an ode to a lost city that isn’t there a city of dark alleys and uncertain places that has now gone as the city grew.

Other non-book events

We had a few trips to the peaks this month. But the main event in my life was a new car I had my late stepmother’s old car as my first car which although 15 years old had a low mileage it broke down just before my nights but was better than in the morning after a night shift. So after a visit to the garage we decided the cost of repairs was too much so with help from family I have a newer car yet unnamed but I have Suzuki Baleno which I am loving driving. But miss my first car as it had a large sentimental value to me and memories of Amanda and I trips out since I started driving a couple of months ago.

Next Month

Well as there isn’t anything in particular in the blogging world unless I have missed something so I have a lot of new books to read as I near the 2000th post on the blog which is 19 posts away. So I have a number of books from Eastern Europe near the end of the month I am taking a trip to Scotland for a welcome break after the last 18 months. what plans do you have ?

April 2021 that was the month that was !!

1. The Employees by Olga Ravn
2. The war of the Poor by Eric Vuillard
3. In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova
4. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
5. The Perfect Nine by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
6. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez
7. I Live in the Slums by Can Xue

I read all the books this month were on the Booker Longlist which came out at the end of March. So I went from Denmark with a sci-fi novel that questions humanity and what it is to be human through a series of interviews then a french novella about a german religious reformer The A Russian family and the artistic movements are remembered when aunts flat is cleared and a set of family memories pout out. Then a story of a women’s death is told from then and rediscovered in the now as just a footnote in history. Then tribal history is recalled in a novel in verse from a great writer in later work. The dark short stories that sometimes are very close to the bone from a Latin American writer that is a rising star. The collection of short stories that capture the ebb and flow of modern china and the migrant. The month saw one new publish Lolli editions no new countries. I had hoped to review more but time caught up with me a lot this month.

Book of the month

For one month only as these are on the longlist and we are discussing the list I will leave this let’s say there are two books from one publisher on the list and they would maybe be near the top.

Non book events

I have just caught the oscar-winning film Nomadland which I had been waiting all month to watch. A film that captured a sort of modern Steinbeck trip across the country like the grapes of wrath for a modern age The record shop opened this month so I have brought a number of new records some old favorite a Fall album a brilliant corners album. Then new records from BC Camplight and Katy J Pearson that I have heard championed on Mark Rileys radio show. THen A Marianne faithful spoken word poetry album and a retro of the works of the electro pop band Yello an interesting mix and a fair few CDs which is maybe why I have read a bit less As I had been listening to more music this month. We ventured out to the peaks a few times and I returned to swimming after a break due to lockdown. We have just had our first zoom meeting for the shadow booker which saw us join in from Australia, the US, India, and Here in the Uk but the great thing is to put a voice to people

Next month

I have a mountain of review books also just got a couple of Czech novels that have caught my eye so one of them will appear I’m sure we will be sorting the Booker shadow shortlist.

How was your month reading-wise?