That was the month November 2024

1. Hotel Cartagena by Simone Buchholz
2. Brightly Shining by Igvild Rishøi
3. Twenty two day or Half a lifetime by Franz Fühmann
4. The ring is closed by Knut Hamsun
5. The ways to Paradise by Peter Cornell
6. The book against Death by Elias Canetti 
7. The Seed by Tarjei Vesaas     
8. the sea in the radio Jurgen Becker

I managed 8 books this month, I started at a hold-up and hostages at a hotel min Hamburg that had a connection to events in Latin America many years before. Then a tremendous heartwrenching piece of Christmas writing about a family struggling in Norway. Then an East German wandered Budapest as a way to the last forty years in Germany from Nazism to Communism and what effect it has had on his life whilst discovering Budapest. Then a man comes full circle, trying to not be his father but never escaping the small village he came from no matter how far away he went, the past and the present always connect. Then, two books, one a collection of pieces found after a Swedish academic died he had spent forty years in the library, and this is an espresso shot of his thoughts. Then Elias Canetti spent years trying to fight death, collecting thoughts on death from himself and other writers. Then, one of the best Norweigan writers, Tarjei Vesaas, in a less-known book about a man who kills a girl he is mentally unwell, but the island turns on him. Then we finished off with a piece of experience writing a bare-bones journal from a writer who sadly recently died and was a member of the Gruppe 47 post-war writers.

Book of the month

I LOVED THE FEEL MOPF THIS YOU CAN TEWLLIT HAD BEEN WRESTLED WOITH FOR YEARS I said it had been trimmed and trimmed to this was what a very clever man had left a collection that could easily set you forth on a lifetime of connecting the dots he wrote about even further.In your mind, it is a project that I think a few people may take, going down the rabbit hole, and that is this book of ideas.

Non-book events

We watched one great film, Blitz, by Steve McQueen, which had a young boy in the central role who played the main character. He had a real presence and the ability to speak volumes in silence. Then we watched a series from a few years ago, Cold Call, about a woman and man who tracked down the people who took the money she had just got from selling her house. It was on Channel Five a few years ago, but we missed it the first time around. Music wish, I think I had mentioned the new Cure album last time, which I did eventually get on vinyl, as well as these records this month.

First up is the latest from Father John Misty, a singer I have been into since he was in Fleet Foxes many years ago. He had an early album out as J Tilman and has gone by the name Father John Misty since then. This is good, I didn’t connect with his last album that had the 30s feel to it this went back to the style I used to from him. Then two from my local record shop where they sell two for 30 after a while i got the Bright eyes collection of early demlos I have most of Bright eyes and Conor Oberst who is the singer and band really. Then, Richard Dawson is from Newcastle and evokes the area and this reminds me of the years I spent in  Northumberland, with an epic forty-minute track from him. Then I was looking for something else entirely and saw these two on offer on the Mute website the last two albums from the reformed Crime and the  City solution. The reformed band well Simon Bonney and a new group of Musicians This band should have been as big as Nick Cave, really but they never quite matched them as they tried a similar path in Berlin in the early 80s and both Australian singers .

Next month

I think the two books I showed in yesterdays post will be reviewed and i have another two novellas. I am struggling with the blog , the fact that I feel it now is something to be proud of, and I feel that I move forward. I need a new challenge. I mentioned just reading classics next year, which may still be on the cards, but I feel I need a new challenge to wrestle. I have long talked of trying to work this all into some sort of guide to world lit where a theme could be shown to connect books about war, villages, coming of age, being parents, etc. This has been on the back burner for years as it is an interesting way of grappling people and giving them some exciting books from around the world. I had, for a while yesterday, made the blog private. My mind is always working around the blog, but my time to blog seems less, and so is my reading time. I need to spend less time daydreaming around the blog and just blog. One of the problems with being neuro v=diverse is a constant thinking around the reading and the blog. Yesterday I just was drained and annoyed as i hadn’t a book to review time of year etc. Oh well, that is enough of drifting in my mind. I need to get these new ideas and challenges off the ground and see where I end up. I can be very flighty, but for me, my neurodiversity makes me great at my day job as I am just the same when I working with someone I am always working and looking at their life as a whole and what we can do to help often disappoint we can’t do more as I want everyone to have the best support they can, i always did this when working with people and feel that is what I can pass on to people that love of connection and the difference you as a support worker can make both big and small to someone’s life.