Winstonsdads reads of 2019

~ winstonsdad

Well, 2019 has been a slow reading year than recent I just managed 90 reviews so I’ve chosen my ten books of the year in no particular order here are my top ten books of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Die, my love by Ariana Harwicz I was sent three books by Charco press all could have been on the list but this fits the rest of the list as it is fragment glimpse of a wifes world falling apart in rural france a strong female voice.
  2. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin I had the first chance to double review a book in a new translation. Hofmann version brought to life the world of Franz Biberkopf as I said if John dos Passos Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski has a bastard child it would be Biberkopf and his world.
  3. One clear ice-cold January morning at the beginning of the twenty-first century by Roland Schimmelpfennig Germany leading playwright writes a debut novel that is a state of the nation glimpse of modern Germany from those who have come to the city from around the world.
  4. Fleeting snow by Pavel Vilikovsky, a novel about memory and how it works in interlinking stories that twist around each other as the five tales in this book can and may not be linked it is a wonderful fluid book that is a unique book.
  5. The blind spot by Javier Cercas a collection of essay around fiction but the title piece about the blind spot we never see in books mainly around Moby dick is an interesting essay.
  6. Zero by Gine Cornelia Pedersen I have a soft spot for books that chart the decline in peoples lives and this is a wonderful female voice we follow fragments of her life from her teens to his twenties in modern Norway.
  7. In every wave by Charles Quimper if I had a book of the year this is it and a theme in these books it is fragment narrative this is the story that follows a family break down following the loss of there daughter by drowning.
  8. Tell them of battles, kings, and elephants by Mathias Enard a wonderful meeting of east and west in old Constantinople we follow Michelangelo on an imagined journey there.
  9. River by Ester Kinsky One German woman’s time in London walking along a river leads her into the past and other rivers another book of fluid and fragment proses.
  10. The Last days by Jaroslavas Melinkas A collection of stories that echo a Soviet past. Where in the tales rooms disappearing, a woman aging the wrong way an interesting discovery

Published by winstonsdad

new year new start 2010 ,i m stu j allen i try to review every book i read here at winstonsdad also twitter news and things in the book world

20 thoughts on “Winstonsdads reads of 2019”

  1. Some good ones there 🙂 Here’s hoping 2019 is an even better year – both for reading and everything else 🙂

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  5. Die, My Love and Flights are two of my favorites as well. There is nothing like translated literature, is there, Stu. Everything else pales in comparison.

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  7. A great list, Stu. I didn’t read as much translated fiction as I would have liked this year, so this list will come in handy for ideas of what to try in 2029. I’m most intrigued by Fleeting Snow and One Clear ice-cold January Morning at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century!

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  10. As always, a really interesting collection of books Stu, most of which I don’t know. If only I could carve some time for some more translated fiction. The Quimper and Pedersen sound particularly interesting to me.

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  12. Great to see Die, My Love there – my introduction to Charco Press. Last year I particularly loved Fish Soup.
    River is one that’s been recommended to me by more than one person.

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