The latest addition to my website is Ta-wei Chi‘s 膜 (Membranes). This novel is a queer transgender climate-change Taiwanese novel set in the twenty-second century. Everyone now lives under the sea because of climate change. We follow the story of Momo, the top skincare specialist in T City. Momo lives a solitary life, seeing only … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Lana Bastašić‘s Uhvati zeca (Catch the Rabbit). Sara is a Bosnian woman who has been living for some time in Dublin with her Irish boyfriend. One day, out of the blue, she gets a call from Lejla, her childhood friend, with whom she has had no contact for … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sonallah Ibrahim‘s االلجن وردة (Warda). This tells the story of Rushdy, a left-wing Egyptian, who has spent time in prison for his political activities. When younger he had met and fallen for Shahla. She and her brother went off to Oman to fight in the Dhofar Rebellion, and … Read more
The latest addition to my website is assin Adnan‘s ت ماروك (Hot Maroc). Our hero is Rahhal Laâouina, a young Moroccan man, who is not very heroic. He is not very bright, devious, weak, cowardly but has a low cunning. His family has always had bad luck. He is thrown out of university for failing … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Mieko Kawakami‘s ヘヴン (Heaven). This story is about bullying but it is no Tom Brown’s School Days. Our unnamed narrator is a fourteen year old boy at the start of the novel. He has a lazy eye, is not particularly bright and not good at sports. He is … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Faysal Khartash‘s دوار الموت ما بين حلب والرقة (Roundabout of Death). The novel is set in the worst part of the Battle of Aleppo in 2012. Our hero, Jumaa, an Arabic teacher, his family and frirneds are trying to survive the horrors of thew war, which include regular … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Mitja Čander‘s Slepec (Blind Man). Our hero is not blind but, because of a defect at birth, has very poor sight. He works as a book editor and sticks to the areas he knows but is suddenly asked to speak for a new political party and then offered … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Choi Jin-young‘s 해가 지는 곳으로 (To the Warm Horizon). This is the first full-blown pandemic novel I have read since covid but do not let that put you off as it is very good novel, first published in 2017. We follow a major pandemic – people often die … Read more
I read and reviewed Lize Spit/‘s The Melting four years ago (in German). It has since been translated into various languages but will be appearing in English – finally! – this week. I can highly recommend it.
The latest addition to my website is Raül Garrigasait‘s Els estranys (The Others). The narrator is to translate the memoirs of Felix Lichnowsky, a Prussian army officer who fought in the Carlist wars in the mid nineteenth century. In his research, he come across the papers of Rudolf von Wielemann who was also there. Von … Read more