Speculative fiction from Finland, with strange finds on a 19th century anthropological mission
Tag Archives: books
Book review: Between Two Worlds by Miriam Tlali (South Africa)
Ground-breaking critique of apartheid by a black woman writer
Book review: Down Second Avenue by Es’kia Mphahlele (1919-2008, South Africa)
Down Second Avenue is a work of non-fiction, sometimes sub-titled “Growing Up in a South African Ghetto”, that documents the formative years of Es’kia (Ezekiel) Mphahlele, dubbed the “father of black South African writing”. The book was first published in the UK in 1959, and in the USA in 1971, and I read the Penguin …
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Book review – Dreaming the Karoo: A People Called the /Xam by Julia Blackburn
A mixture of memoir and historical study, reflecting on what is lost – and what remains
Book review: The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut (South Africa)
Moral uncertainties abound in this excellent novel by Booker-winning South African author Damon Galgut
Reading plans for the beginning of 2023
The picture at the top of this post isn’t of my home, sadly, but it’s something to aspire to! As I mentioned in my first post of the year yesterday I’m going back to deep-diving into books and other areas of culture from individual countries, month by month. I didn’t keep this up very well …
Book review: Summertime by J. M. Coetzee (South Africa)
Highly entertaining, often quite funny, and neatly erudite reflection on issues of authorship, identity and memory by the South African Nobel laureate
Book Review: Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton (UK)
I read a very enjoyable non-fiction book by Polly Barton, who is a translator of literature from Japanese, which was published by the wonderful Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2021. Fitzcarraldo produce such beautiful books, that I’d be tempted to buy them for home decor reasons alone! Fifty Sounds combines three of my interests: memoir, language acquisition …
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Body Kintsugi by Senka Marić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
A Bosnian novel of sickness and recovery informed by personal experience
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (Germany)
Classic tale of a disturbing, febrile obsession
Imogen is Reading and Watching the World: On Books, Film, Art & More 