You don’t need to tell you what a grim year it has been so I won’t. Fortunately there have been some interesting books to keep us going. I have read fewer books this year which I expected as I had other things going on. I did add one new country – Vanuatu, apparently the only … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Mariama Bâ‘s Un chant écarlate (Scarlet Song). Ousmane Gueye, a young Senegalese falls for a white French girl, Mireille, daughter of a French diplomat at school. They both go to the same Senegalese university and continue their relationship. However, when her parents find out, she is immediately sent … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Yōko Ogawa‘s 凍りついた香り [The Scent of Ice]. Ryoko is living with Hiroyuki, a perfumer. They had celebrated their first year together and he had made her a special scent. The best day he kills himself. Ryoko wants to know why and, with the help of his younger brother, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Peter Stamm‘s Agnes (Agnes). Our unnamed narrator is a Swiss author temporarily lviing in Chicago, where he is writing a book on US luxury trains. He had written fiction but felt he might not be good enough. He meets Agnes, a scientist, in the library and they eventually … Read more
The latest addition to my website is György Spiró‘s [The Xs]. This long novel tells the story of Wojciech Bogusławski, the very real Polish dramatist,actor and director on his return to Warsaw after the fall of Napoleon. It is assumed that he will take over running the National Theatre, as he had done previously. However … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Xita Rubert:‘s Los hechos de Key Biscayne [The Facts About Key Biscayne]. The novel is narrated by a twelve year old Spanish girl. Her parents are separated and she and her brother Nico are living with their decidedly absent-minded professor father in Boston. In the middle of the … Read more
The latest addition to my website is ariama Bâ‘s Une si longue lettre (So Long a Letter). Ramatoulaye Fall is writing to her friend Aissatou. Ramatoulaye’s husband of many years, Modou, (they have twelve children) had taken a second wife, who is a schoolfriend of his daughter. She is, of course devastated but, unlike Aissatou, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Lydie Salvayre‘s La Puissance des mouches (The Power of Flies). The unnamed narrator is in prison for murder but who did he murder? In his one-sided discussions with a judge, lawyer, psychiatrist and prison guard we learn that he hated his father who brutalised our narrator and his … Read more