Sourcing the longlisted books can be an expensive and difficult business, as my local library only has a couple of them, but I have had a chance to read three of the books since the longlist was announced on Monday 11th March, so am hopefully on track to read most of them before the shortlist in April. However, the reviews will be quite short, because I will provide a more in-depth review of the shortlisted titles. Andrey Kurkov: The Silver Bone, transl. Boris Dralyuk, Collins. This was the only one of the longlist that I already had downloaded on my Kindle, not because I predicted that it wou ..read more

I am really enjoying my aimless September wanderings of reading without a purpose and often with no intention to review. It provides a much-needed break and gives me the time and leisure to immerse myself in the rapidly-changing world of 1930s and 40s Britain, the world of the Cazalets. Although I will be wary of overburdening myself with obligations in the future, I do like to have a bit of a plan for my autumn and winter reading. So here are my current plans (as always, they are subject to change, depending on internal whims and external events). October: Romanian Fun Reads Family sagas have ..read more

After Greenlandic youth culture and middle-school Japan, we move to a more mature milieu and slightly more touristy destination. This is also #20BooksofSummer no. 15. Daniela Krien: Love in Five Acts (Die Liebe im Ernstfall), transl. Jamie Bulloch Five women in their forties in post-reunification Leipzig muse about their lives and choices, and learn how to face their future in a series of linked stories. Paula is friends with Judith, Brida is Judith’s patient, Malika is the ex-girlfriend of Brida’s ex-husband, and Jorinde is Malika’s sister. Their stories are full of the difficulties and sorr ..read more

I didn’t receive any books for Christmas, other than the Vintage Crime Advent Calendar I offered myself. I don’t think I have any more books currently on order, and I have tried to weed out some of my shelves. Nevertheless, quite an alarming pile of new books have somehow managed to wing their way to me over the past month or so. And I’m not even counting e-books, although I might mention one or two below. From top to bottom: The first four books – I suppose my Berlin shelf is getting quite well-stocked now, in preparation for my move towards the end of the year. Although I can understand peo ..read more

Gabriele Tergit: Käsebier erobert den Kurfürstendamm (Käsebier Conquers the Kurfürstendamm), 1931. Available in English from NYRB in US and Pushkin Press in UK, translated by Sophie Duvernoy as ‘Käsebier Takes Berlin’. Gabriele Tergit was a journalist and the first female court reporter during the 1920s in Berlin. She wrote this debut novel informed by her experiences of working for a newspaper in just six weeks and it catapulted her to instant fame. It is a wicked satirical snapshot of the late Weimar Republic but it covers perennial topics such as media manipulation, celebrity culture, corru ..read more

After the physical and emotional turmoil of August, September has continued somewhat in the same vein, the only highlight being the couple of days I got to spend at Bloody Scotland. My reading, therefore, continued to be a mix of translations (four out of eleven books), escapism (two uplifting books) and grit (six crime stories). Paul Gallico’s Jennie was just what I wanted to cope with Zoe’s loss, while Lolly Willowes was witty and liberating, although I perhaps stretched things too much in comparing it with Tomb of Sand. I was sympathetic to but more ambivalent about the female rage display ..read more

Mareike Fallwickl: Die Wut, die bleibt (The Lasting Rage) Anke Stelling: Schäfchen im Trockenen (Keeping Your Sheep Safe – translated as ‘Higher Ground’ by Lucy Jones, Scribe) Back in 2014, I read Claire Messud’s The Woman Upstairs and encountered a woman’s raw, unfiltered anger for the first time. I loved it, although it divided readers and led to an upsurge in debate about ‘unlikeable’ characters (which seems to be even more of a no-no when it comes to female characters). There have been other books since which explore what might happen when women refuse to go along with the script handed to ..read more

I’ve read 160 books this year, so it’s impossible to stick to a list of a mere ten top favourites. So instead I’ve organised things by categories. Don’t worry, I won’t quite name 160 books! After a stint of rereading and a look at modern classics from the first half of the 20th century, I am now becoming more contemporary and looking at this year’s releases. This used to form the bulk of my reading back in 2013-2016 when I was doing a lot of crime fiction reviewing, but I have been much slower to read them these past 2-3 years. I now much prefer for the buzz to die down. The buzz for the title ..read more

Irmgard Keun: Child of All Nations, transl. Michael Hofmann I had read about Irmgard Keun in the really quite wonderful book about women under the national socialist regime in Germany by Edda Ziegler, but I hadn’t actually read anything by her. However, a lot of my bookblogging friends seemed to really enjoy her work. This one caught my eye in the bookshop and, as a child of all nations myself (raising even more international children), I couldn’t resist it, even though I prefer reading German books in the original if I possibly can. After reading The Passenger so recently, it struck me how s ..read more

Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz: The Passenger (transl. Philip Boehm) Cannot believe that German Literature Month is now in its eleventh year! I have taken part in this ever since I became aware of it (I think in 2012 or 2013), and, having spent my childhood in Austria, and then quite a few years recently on the Franco-Swiss border, I have the chip on my shoulder of the smaller cultures dominated by the overwhelming Piefkes (slang word for Germans in Austria). So I tend to choose mostly Austrian and Swiss writers, and will do so again this year. However, I start off with a book by a German Jewish ..read more