I’ve read quite a lot this month and seen a ton of films, despite work being frantic for most of the month. I guess it’s down to the fact that we’re still staying close to home and not seeing many people due to the “second wave” (though surely it’s more a resurgence of the first […]
Category Archives: book
Review no 112: The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili (Georgia)
A Georgian novel published in 2020 by Peirene about the residents of a school for abandoned children
Review no 109: The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka (Venezuela)
Mordantly humorous and thoughtful short novel from a Venezuelan writer
Review no 107: On Time and Water by Andri Snaer Magnason (Iceland)
Uncomfortable read on climate change in Iceland and the likelihood of impending environmental disaster
Review no 103: stories by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), and My Katherine Mansfield Project by Kirsty Gunn (New Zealand)
Exceptional, highly influential writing from New Zealand
Review no 101: Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg (Italy)
Translated by Jenny McPhee EUROPE “Even though the story is real, I think one should read it as if it were a novel, and therefore not demand of it any more or less than a novel can offer … memory is ephemeral, and … books based on reality are often only faint glimpses and fragments […]
Review no 100: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania)
Beautifully written and deeply symbolic coming of age tale set in East Africa in the early 20th century
Review no 98: A World Gone Mad: The War Diaries of Astrid Lindgren, 1939-45 (Sweden)
Engaging and informative diaries record world events interspersed with episodes from family life
Review no 95: Holiday Heart by Margarita García Robayo (Colombia)
Biting wit in this short novel about a dysfunctional Latin American family
Review no 92: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Vietnam)
Poetic auto fiction from Ocean Vuong
