The latest addition to my website is German Sadulaev‘s Я — чеченец! (I am a Chechen!). As the title tells us, this book is written by a Chechen. A lot of the book focusses on the Chechen wars with Russia, though our hero did not participate too much in them, not least because he was … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Mouna-Hodan Ahmed‘s Les Enfants du khat [The Children of Khat]. Asli is a twenty-twenty old Djiboutian woman. Her father, like alll too many men in Djibouti, is a serious user of khat a drug. He does not work and expects his wife to work – she sells khat- … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Jurij Koch‘s Der Kirschbaum (The Cherry Tree). This is the first Sorbian novel translated into English. Sorbia is a Slavonic enclave in Germany. (At the time this book was written it was in East Germany). A German engineer, Sieghart, comes to Sorbia with colleagues to look for a … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Jean-Baptiste Andrea‘s Veiller sur elle [Watch Over Her]/. This novel won the Prix Goncourt in 2023. It tells the story iof Mimo (real name Michelangelo), son of sculptor, who is apprenticed to a family friend and soon proves better than his master, to the latter’s annoyance. They settle … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Robert Irwin‘s Tom’s Version. This is a sort of follow-up to his previous book The Runes Have Been Cast but it stands on its own. The eponymous Tom meets Molly at an encounter group. Tom is an Irish would-be poet warehouse manager and somewhat naive. He gets unwittingly … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Daniel Kehlmann‘s Lichtspiell [Cinema]. The book gives us episodes from the life of Austrian film director G. W. Pabst, who discovered Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks and Leni Riefenstahl. We follow his career in the US and Germany/Austria. Twice he timed his return to Europe badly. The first time … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sonallah Ibrahim‘s 1970 (The Last Days).Tthe book tells of the last few months of the life of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. While the focus is on that period when Egypt is involved in the War of Attrition with Israel and the Jordanian Civil War is taking place, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ghassan Zaqtan‘s نقل القديم مع الستائر، (An Old Carriage with Curtains). This is an episodic novel with the narrator recounting episodes of his life and the life of his family, in particular his mother, since the Nakba. We learn of Zakhariyya where his mother was born. She longs … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Adania Shibli‘s وسفر الاختفاءتفصيل ثانوي (Minor Detail). This book has been in the news recently (October 2023) as Shibli and her book were cancelled at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The book is divided into two parts. The first is set in rhe Negev Desert, close to the Egyptian … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Jon Fosse‘s Trilogien (Trilogy). This work consists of three linked novels. We start with Alida and Asle. Both are seventeen. Asle’s father is dead and his mother now dies, meaning he has to leave the boathouse where he and his mother lived. Alida’s father is also dead and … Read more