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?

 

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.