1. Blue Night by Simone Buchholz
2. War Diary by Ingeborg Bachmann
3. war primer by Alexander Kluge
4. The cafe with no name by Robert Seethaler 
5. The other girl by Annie Ernaux
6. Everytime we say goodbye by Ivana Sajko
7. Lotte in Weimar by Thomas Mann 
8. Headbirths or The Germans are Dying Out by Gunter Grass
9. The Wax Child by Olga Ravn 

I managed nine reviews last month. The first three books saw me revisiting a Detective in Hamburg, then a slim work around the war from a great writer at the start of his career. Then a work from a writer around another war at the end of a very long Career. See a trio of German writers. Then we headed to Austria for a Cafe in the corner of a market in Vienna. A book about a gfhost sister from a Nobel winner. A man on a train tries to forget all he has seen and just drifts off into Berlin. Then a famous Character from Goethe reconnects with him many years later, after their lives went in different directions. Günter Grass has a look at his homeland via a couple in Asia in the late 1970s. Then a wax doll narrates a witch hunt in 17th-century Denmark.

Book of the month

The Other girl by Annie Ernaux

I read this on a hard day, and it reminded me what an escape a book can be and what a great writer Annie Eernaux as she again takes apart her own families past in a short book about a sister she never knew.

Non-book things life in general

I had a tough time when Amanda had her stents done at the start of the month. I always struggle when the clocks. Go back. I love long summer night. So, with that, and a bad cold for me in the last week as the weather turned a little colder, which always seems to spark a sore throat and runny nose. But that has passed, and I have taken a few days and will not post a review until Monday now. Other than that, my TV watching has been what I would call comfort food, as I have watched the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries; in fact, I still have a few to watch. These hallmark mysteries are easy to watch and have helped me chill recently. I returned to work in the middle of the month, as I had been off since Amanda’s heart attack, so life is slowly getting there. I now take our days one day at a time. Thankful to have my darling wife still there. A bright spot today was the Record Store Day releases. I treated myself to some records

 

First off, a 10-inch from The Nationals, Mett Berninger, with four tracks from his last Album, live. I have his Album as well as most of The Nationals’ records. The second is a collection of tracks by Wilco and Jeff Tweedy from the last 15 years, all released on dBpm. A collection of rarties.I am a huge Wilco fan and Tweedy as well I recently got his new triple album.

Next, some very early Talking Heads sessions. I was late to Talking Heads, maybe getting into them in the mid-90s, but they made some outstanding records, and it’s interesting to hear how different this early stuff was. Then a live set from 1994 by Carter USM, a pop-punk band that had a great turn in its lyrics, with a lot of clever wordplay and good social commentary at the time. In fact, they could do with coming back. I wonder what titles they come up with for their songs now.

Next month

I needed to clear a backlog of books read, awaiting review, which currently stands at 7 books. I am slowly working through Tom’s Crossing, and I am in no hurry to finish this book, so don’t expect a review until next year. To supplement that, I have several shorter books I want to read before the end of the year, but I have no list or order for them. They are on my trolley downstairs, and a few are here in my reading room, so we will see what I get too. What are your plans to round off 2025?