Well as the year ends I always tend to try to look for any books that may have slip under my radar for next year IFFP , I decide to order two from the library that had caught my eye in recent months and had both been on the IFFP before David Grossman , his latest book a mix of poetry prose and a play like dialogue .I do wonder if this will be entered for the IFFP , but Falling out of time sees bereaved parents looking for there lost children starting in a small village and meeting the folk that live their .The other book is by Per Petterson I refuse a story pf two boys one lost his mother that has gone the other with his own parents , sounds a bit like he is on his usual ground but I have enjoyed his other books .
Now the strange thing is as I order one Nordic novel and collect the Petterson than on the next two days I have two more nordic novels arrive in the post the following two days ,it must be winter calling !
Now the fist is The wandering Pine by Per Olov Enquist , a third person account of his own life and the strange events that have happened to him ,events such as lost days and partying .The mention of this being as elliptical as Karl Ove Knausgaard is exhaustive another remarkable sounding book from Sweden .
Then today this dropped through the letterbox .The winter war by Philip Teir a Finnish writer that writes in Swedish .The book follows the Paul Family the husband Max is about to turn 60 and what on the top seems a great live when under the surface is actually just about to crack open a wife he doesn’t love and kids with problems , what caught my eye on this is comparisons to Yates and Updike but with a cooler Nordic temperament mmm sounds good .Any way that some recent arrivals I’ve been offline over a week just spending time with family my mum visited , Amanda and I had a couple of days off together and just spent time together , I shall catch up on comments etc this week .I’ll be back tomorrow with a new review of a great French translation from Algeria . Have you had any gems through your doors recently !
Have read a couple of reviews of The Winter War ….it sounds great .
Oh good
I just read the Per Petterson and reviewed it on my blog (even though I don’t usually do reviews per se). He is one of my favourite writers and common ground it might be, but it is darker, broader in scope and much more a novel of middle age, not youth. I will look forward to seeing what you think.
I Refuse sounds excellent. I’ve been meaning to read Petterson for a while although I guess I ought to start with Out Stealing Horses.
Lovely stuff Stu – you always read such a wide variety of titles! 🙂
I hope you’ll like The Winter War. I saw it compared to FRanzen and think it’s not a bad comparison.
I read a review of The Winter War yesterday and when catching up on podcasts I listened to an old World Book Club about Per Petterson and on the strength of that have just bought Out Stealing Horses. If I enjoy that will look for more by him.
I am always envious, but happy for you, that translated books come so easily into your hands from the library. I’ve been keeping my eye out for books which I think may have slipped under the radar for the IFFP as well, but I’m not as adept at finding them as you are. xo