The latest addition to my website is Gauz‘s Debout-Payé (Standing Heavy). Gauz, from the Ivory Coast, had worked as a security guard in Paris and this colourful and witty novel recounts the experience of being a security guard. While this might sound less than interesting, it certainly is not. The novel essentially covers two aspects. … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Laurent Mauvignier‘s Histoires de la nuit (The Birthday Party). The book is set in a small French hamlet called Three Lone Girls. There are three houses: one empty, one inhabited by Christine, an elderly artist and the third inhabited by Patrice Bergogne, his wife, Marion and their daughter, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Alisa Ganieva‘s Offended Sensibilities. Unlike her previous books, set in Dagestan, this is set in a provincial Russian city, which is totally corrupt, presumably a microcosm of Russia as a whole. Nikolai gives a lift to a clearly disturbed man but when he is stuck in a pothole, … Read more
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The latest addition to my website is Ivan Vladislavic‘s The Distance. This novel tells the story of two brothers, Branko and Joe, growing up and living as adults in Pretoria. Each tells his version of the story, in alternating sections. They are very different, with Branko as the gregarious, sporty but not very intellectual one … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Gamal al-Ghitani‘s ااب التجليات (The Book of Epiphanies), another recommendation from The Untranslated, though I have had a copy of the book for many years. As did the Untranslated, I read the French translation of the book as the English translation is a substantial abridgement. It has not … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Maik Nwosu‘s Alpha Song. Our hero, a Nigerian who adopts the name Taneba Taneba when he is estranged from his father’s family, never really finds where he fits in and where is going. His uncle gets him a job at the post office (twice) but that does not … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Mircea Cărtărescu‘s Orbitor Vol 3, Aripa dreaptă [Blinding – The Right Wing]. This is the third book in his Orbitor (Blinding) trilogy. This one has many of the themes of the first two books – Mircea’s life, from childhood to adulthood, Romanian politics and stunning and highly imaginative … Read more
Could this be the year of Manuel de Pedrolo, the great Catalan science fiction writer? His best-known novel Mecanoscrit del segon origen (Typescript of the Second Origin) is finally being published in English this April. As this article shows (link in Spanish), it is going to be The Year of Manuel de Pedrolo in Spain. … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Joanna Scott‘s Careers for Women. This is another first-class novel from one of the United States’ leading novelists, who does not get the attention she deserves. As the title of this one shows, it is about sexism and, in particular sexism in the workplace, though it is also … Read more