1. Cathedrals by Claudia Piñerio
2. Célina by Catherine Axelrad
3. Repatriation by Ève Guerra
4. Where the wind calls home by Samar Yazbek
5. Claxton by Mark Cocker
6. Lil is crying by Helene Bessette
7. City like Water by Dorothy Tse
8. The Sleep Thief by Ibtisam Azem

Well, August has come to an end, and the heatwaves may be behind us for this year. I managed 8 reviews this month, starting with a family coping years later with the death of a sister of a daughter and how the family carried on. From Claudia Pinerio (I was thinking about the Nobel the other day, and her name is one that maybe should be mentioned ). Then a tale of a maid in a writer’s house. A woman tries to bring her father home from Africa, mixing past and present. Then a man is dying in Palestine, looking back on his life. Then a year of nature, mainly in Norfolk. Then a mother controlling her daughter. A series of vignettes around a city that seems to be lost and there. Then a man in Palestine looks back on his life whilst being tortured.

I pick Cathedrals because I like how Pinerio told this tale and the way she used Carver’s story, unconnected yet connected in the way the short story unfolds and this book itself unfolds.

Non-book things

I think it has been a quiet month for music. I need to pick up Paul Heaton’s new album soon. Film. wise, it was a comfort-food month since I discovered the Great Player app, which streams a lot of Hallmark Mysteries. I’ve been watching a lot of them this month, comfort-watching on a hot day, trying to stay cool.  The other film that I really enjoyed was H for Hawk, which was about the writer training a goshawk as a way to avoid dealing with the grief over her nature-loving photographer father.

Next month

I have a number of Latin American books I want to read before the end of the year. I also have a few possible Nobel contenders to look at like Can Xue and Amitav Ghosh, both of which I have been high on the Nobel prize betting in recent years with the sad loss of Peter Nadas last month, a writer that was always on the edge of Nobel betting add to the Atunes and Nooteboom have also passed this year which, if the committee keeps as it has recent years would be a female winner means theyd had to wait to 2027 anyway but I alway look at the betting as a list of discovery so when someone I havent’t read appears I tend to try and read them I also have an Aleixs wright book and I think she should be on the list of female writers. Who are your favourites  to win this year ?

1. Bait by Eugenia Ladra
2. Nothing Grows in Moonlight by Torberg Nedreaas
3. What remains by Brais Lamela
4. The Paper House by Carlos Maria Dominguez
5. Night train by Xu Zechen
6. A Summer with Montaigne by Antoine Compagnon

Oh, another month with not many reviews. I have been suffering from a drop in confidence at work, and I think this is having a knock-on effect here and also on my blogging, adding to the heat wave.  But I managed six books with a young girl and a mysterious man in Uruguay.  Then a woman spills here life out over the course of an evening to a random man.  Farmers moved by Franco from the past and present effects of it.  Then a man dies, and another disappears, and a book connects them. A young man who wants to travel is made out to be a killer, but what will the effect of this lie be on his life? Then a summer of radio essays around Montaigne from french radio

Book of the month

What Remains mixes fact and fiction and is one of those books that has lots of styles in a very short book that covers a piece of lost history from the Franco years in Spain

Non-book things

Well, the discovery of the great player app with its schedule of Hallmark mysteries had a lot to answer for. I am a sucker for cosy Hallmark crime films; they are no effort to watch, so I have watched a few this month.  Music-wise, my record player is awaiting a new needle, so I have the recent Pixies bsdie album and the new Beth Orton record to listen to. I got a Japanese copy of This Mortal Coil’s It Will End in Tears on CD, but as I had the UK CD and vinyl, I just like the Japanese edition.

Next month

I need to find my review and blogging Mojo and get back in a routine; also, I need to read a bit more; last month I read less than I had in other months. I have a few subscription books and a couple of review books to read, and I’m sure something else will appear out of the blue; it usually does. What do your plans look like ?

1. Ilaria or the Conquest of Disobedience by Gabriella Zalapi
2. Things fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
3. Bound to Violence by Yambo Ouologuem
4. Outsider Everywhere  BY Mercedes Halfon
5. Too great a sky by Lilana Corobca 
6. On the Edge by Markus Werner
7. Tree by Aya Koda
8. Monique Escapes by Édouard Louis

It was a quieter month than I had wanted, but I managed 8 books. I started with a young girl on the run with her father driving through Italy, then a clash of the African tribal world and the Western world in an African classic.  Then another classic from Mali, rediscovered after it was used in part in the Prix Goncourt winner The Most Secret Memory of Men, which was inspired by Bound to Violence.  Then a look at the great Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. Then a train journey in World War II and then living in exile. Then two men talk about marriage, love and divorce; who is the older man ? Then, a collection of stories about trees and the writer’s interactions with them. Then Edouard Louis’s mother finally escapes another abusive relationship and finds peace at last.

Book of the month

It was a hard pick; there was a dud book this month, but this book was a real favourite and one I will be thinking about for a few evenings, especially the interaction between the two main characters. It just drew me in?

Non book things

Amanda and I watched the end of the series The Last Day of Ptolemy Grey with Samuel L. Jackson as a man who has taken an experimental drug to reverse dementia for a short time; not just that, but to make him remember all his life what was the treasure he had found as a kid and who killed his nephew are the two main threads. Music-wise, I got the recent Adlous Harding Album, Train on the Island; I still love lots of what 4ad brings out on their record label.

Next month

I have a few TBR books for the TBR of summer challenge; a post later this week about that.  Other than that, I have a couple of books from Two Lines Press to read, and I can’t wait to get the latest book from Dasa Drndric in Translation.. Lots of options I am off for two weeks now so hope catch up on some reading.

1. The Bridges by Tarjei Vesaas
2. The Parasite by Ferenc Barnás 
3. The cut line by Carolina Pihelgas
4. Paradise of the blind by Duong Thu Huong 
5. In Farthest Seas  by Lalla Romano 
6. Captivity by Gyory Spiro
7. Rosa Mistika by Euphrase Kezilahabi
8. Temptation by Janos Szekely 

I eased a bit this month, mainly just a little tired and fed up with the weather the last month has left me feeling drained. I managed just three books for the first Hungarian Lit Month. But I will be doing it again next year for sure. I also read a Norwegian minor classic, the first English translation in the US from Vietnam. A tale of a husband passing and the years-earlier meeting him, the romance, and then a woman escaping her family in Tanzania. I managed one new country. I am trying to get at least one a month throughout this year. I recently picked up a number of Books from Around Africa. Anyway, it was a good month, just a little slow. I think we are all wishing for a number of sunny days in a row in the UK.

Book of the month

It has been a hard month to pick a great book, since they were all good reads. But I love it when you read a book and go, “That’s different.” This was that sort of book that left me wanting to read another by him, which I know Seagull have brought out. A book that captures a strange boy growing into an odder man, all around his need to be ill or to deal with people who are ill, an unusual book.

Non-Book events

Well, I started to watch the second series of Hijack with Amanda. I feel Apple make the best short series. This follows Idris Elba as he hijacks a Berlin U-Bahn train, but, as with the first series, there are a number of unseen twists and turns along the way. I then spent a lot of time watching old crime series, CSI, Monk, sort of comfort TV for the dull weather.

Then music-wise I brought two newish albums, Dry Cleaning a band that has a unique singer and style I had their first album, and I heard a couple of tracks of this new album and decided to get it. Then I got Heavy Metal, which had come back in stock, and I love Geese, who Cameron Winter is the lead singer of Geese, but this is more personal and heart-wrenching in places.

Then my Local shop had a sale on Tallbird records, which has a great selection, so I got Seasick Steve, whom I’ve been a fan of since his Jools Holland appearance years ago. I had a lot of his albums, but lent them to someone and never got them back. Anyway, nice tohear him again. Then Jason Isbell is a singer that is growing on me over time, and it’s nice to find a bargain, then I saw Pinegrove mention a few years ago, so I thought I’d give them a whirl.

Next month and Booker reaction

The International Booker longlist came out last week, and I am again part of the shadow Jury. I love doing this; it is a highlight of my year. I look forward to seeing my fellow jurors’ views on the books. My initial reaction was a little shocked; not one of the Akoya books had made the list. I felt sure Helle Helle or Liliana Colanzi, two writers whom I have featured on the blog with earlier books. SO to the longlist, I had read three books

On Earth as it is beneath by Ana Paula Maia 

Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur 

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn 

Then I had on my tbr

The Duke by Matteo Melchorrie

She Who Remains by Rene Karabush

The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje

The Deserters by Mathias Enard

So they would have been read by me in the meantime; I have read She who remains, and I have read them in the last few days. I hadn’t made a prediction list, but I would picked from books I won or had read, so these may have been on the list

I have brought all the other books on the list and am awaiting a few, but have another three of the rest of the books I had: Taiwan travelogue and The Director Down to be brought and read at some point. The one book I wasn’t very familiar with was The Nights are Quiet in Tehran.  Elsewhere, I have read other books by Marie Ndiaye. Overall, I am happy with the longlist; it is maybe the best in the last couple of years. It sees ten years of the Booker, and it is 15 years of Shadow Juries with us doing the old IFFP prize in a number of years before the Booker took over. I will be posting my first couple of reviews next week, and most of the month will be reading the longlist. I hope to throw in a couple of other books, but I will have to see how it goes.  What did you make of the Booker longlist ? Will you be reading the books?  Which books did you want on the list?

 

1. The Class Reunion by Franz Werfel
2. The Image of Her by Simone de Beauvoir 
3. Nothing to Be Rescued by Asta Sigurdardottir 
4. A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar 
5. What’s left of the night by Ersi Sotiropoulos 
6. The Splendor of Portugal by António Lobo Antunes 
7. The silence by Don DeLillo
8. The Yellow Sofa by Eça de Queirós
9. Cement by Fyodor Vasilievich Gladkov
10. The Fatal Eggs by Mikhail Bulaglov 
11. Carry on Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
12. The Polygots by William Gehardie 

I didn’t do a round-up of the two books I read in September, after Amanda’s heart attack. I didn’t get to post, and yesterday, Amanda had her stent put in. So touch wood, everything will start getting back to normal now. Anyway, in September, I read a lost classic by Franz Werfel and a book that seems more apt on class and image by Simone de Beauvoir, both excellent. Then, in October, I started with some modern Icelandic classics by a female writer. Then off to wander Siena, talk to a lost father, and Art. Then, with a great poet on an eye-opening weekend in Paris. Then a family look back at the Angolan war and its effect on their family. Then, is it the end of the world? A short novella. Then Amna captures his wife with his partner in Victorian Portugal. Then, to Russia, a man returns from the war to find the factory and his wife have changed. Then we have a man discovering a ray and some animals getting loose and out of hand. Early Jeeves stories and finally an odd family observed in a lost classic. I am still behind, but I have had a productive October, reviewing 10 books and writing a couple of other posts.

Book of the months

The Splendor of Portugal by António Lobo Antunes

He is one of my favourite writers, and I still have one of his books to read. This captures the madness of the Angolan war, but not just that, the whole area is captured in the book. I said this is maybe a lot of Europe’s Vietnams in the way the wars unfold and the violence, etc. I have a couple more from him on my TBR.

Non-book things

One great series I watched was the new series of Slow Horses. This time, I felt it had a bit more humour in it than other series. I also have enjoyed the classic series of Dixon of Dock Green and Z Cars on Talking Pictures TV. I have been trying to cut back on my YouTube and watch series. My current series watching is Foyle’s War. Music-wise, there is a tremendous new Jeff Tweedy album. I, in fact, picked up the triple LP today. The album came out a few weeks ago, but the vinyl followed a few weeks later. I also love Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska 82, as that was my favourite album from Springsteen.

Next month

Well it is German Lit month I have a few books in mind. A few crime books a choice of Thomas Mann books. I have a lot of books I have read to review that I want to clear this month. I hope to get them removed and to review a good few books for German Lit month. I feel I am in a purple patch, blogging-wise and reading-wise.

What are your plans ?

 

1. Poundemonium by Julian Rios
2. Spadework for a Palace by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
3. Journeys and Flowers by Merce Rodoredaa
4. The sweet indifference of the world by Peter Stamm
5. Sweet days of discipline by Fleur Jaeggy
6. The english Path by Kim Taplin
7. Blue Postcards by Douglas Bruton
8. In late Summer by Magdalena Blažević
9. Río Muerto by Ricardo Silva Romero
10. Winter Mythologies and Abbots by Pierre Michon
11. My kingdom is dying by Evald Filsar
12. The Possession by Annie Ernaux 
13. Voracious by  Malgorzata Lebda 

I feel this is one of the best months of reading I have had for a while it started with me half trying the book a day in May. But I knew as last year with my shift pattern, it is very hard to try and do I have a pattern of two 11 1/2 shifts, then two days off, rolling on my rota, so some days after leaving home just after seven and coming back at half eight, it is hard to focus on a book. However, this month was a real journey; the first book of the month saw three Spaniards in London learn of Ezra Pound’s passing and follow his footsteps in London. Then Innew york a librarian became obsessed with Melville and an outlandish architect.. Then we visit villages and flowers in a wonderfully unique collection of short stories from Spain. A writer meets a woman, hears her story, but is it his story? Is this life a loop, meeting at different points? Next, we see a girl at a private school fighting to be herself. Then we learn about paths and how they used to be the pipeline in England many years ago. Blue postcards in a book obsessed with Blue. In late summer, a young girl recalled that the Balkan war hit a small village. Then a man sees his wife fight for justice, as he was killed for seeing something. Then we had a lot of historical fiction about Abbots. A writer has writer’s block and then goes to a retreat with the cream of writers in this fever dream of a book. Then another slice of Ernaux, and this time she is obsessed with who her ex is seeing.Lately, a granddaughter has taken care of her ailing grandmother in a small rural village. One new publisher, Linden Editions, with two books. No new countries.

Books of the month

I picked these two as they are both from the Balkans, one of the most well-known writers in Evald Fislar, and his tale of a writer’s block and a fever dream of how he overcame it. Then, in Magadalen Blažević, we have a new voice and her story of one girl’s last summer before the walk hits their remote village.

Non-book events

I watched The Game, the new series with Jason Watkins and Robson Green, which has a serial killer move in next to the detective who nearly caught him! A great short series. Music-wise, there were a couple of female singers who had new albums out on 4AD, a label I love. First was Lustre by Irish singer Maria Somervile, where you can just drift away. Jenny Hval’s album Iris Silver Mist is a little more experimental, and finally, Robert Forster has recorded an 8-track album in Oslo called Strawberries. It is just wonderful to see a singer like him having a great later career in his singing.

Next month

Well I recently commented on Mookse and gripes’ discord about their episode around reading goals and said I tend to not have them as I never keep to them, apart from the Booker International and the Years Club, Simon and Karen do. so, after reading many books early on last month, I think I will do the same this month. I’ve a few books on the go that I hope to finish in the next few days. I also have a couple of crime novels in translation that I hope to get too. Other than that I will see where my reading takes me as ever. What are your plans for next month ?