Pierre Mertens: Une paix royale [A Royal Peace]
The latest addition to my website is Pierre Mertens' Une paix royale [A Royal Peace]. This is a superb book about a Belgian called Pierre Raymond who is now a…
Flanagan wins Man Booker Prize
They have announced that Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North has won this year's Man Booker Prize. To my surprise, I have read the winner. It certainly…
Lutz Seiler: Kruso
The latest addition to my website is Lutz Seiler's Kruso, part of my feeble effort to read shortlisted books for this year's book prizes, other than the Man Booker. This…
Siegfried Lenz has died
German author Siegfried Lenz has died. While not particularly well known in the English-speaking world, several of his works were translated into English, particularly Deutschstunde (The German Lesson), a superb…
German book Prize winner
Lutz Seiler has won this year's German Book Prize. He is known as a poet and this is his first novel, a modern-day Robinson Crusoe. I hope to have a…
Oskar Maria Graf: Anton Sittinger [Anton Sittinger]
The latest addition to my website is Oskar Maria Graf's Anton Sittinger [Anton Sittinger]. This book, first published in 1937 (in London) tells the story of the rise to power…
Statistics
I have just updated the statistics for my website. England sadly remains top in terms of number of books, and the USA in terms of number of authors. I say…
Dannie Abse: Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve
The latest addition to my website is Dannie Abse's Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve. Dannie Abse died last week, aged ninety-one. He was best-known as a poet but he…
Paula Gunn Allen: The Woman Who Owned The Shadows
The latest addition to my website is Paula Gunn Allen's The Woman Who Owned The Shadows. Native American authors still get something of a short shrift in the US pantheon,…