tmn The latest addition to my website is Laila al-Atrash‘s :مرأة للفصول الخمسة، (A Woman of Five Seasons). The novel is set in Barquais, a fictitious country, clearly based on one of the Gulf states (to which many Palestinians emigrated after the Nakba). There is no mention in the text of any real Arab country, including … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Yasmin Zahran‘s A Beggar at Damascus Gate. An unnamed American, born in Beirut, visits Petra in the winter and finds in a cupboard in his room some notebooks. One notebook is in English, written by an Englishman, Alex, several others are in Arabic, written by Rayya, a Palestinian … Read more
Every year around this time,I read only books from one country. I have a couple of countries which have been in the queue for a couple of years but circumstances have caused them to be delayed. Two years ago it was our travel to Norway that turned me to that country. Last year it was … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Vera Mutafchieva‘s Случаят Джем (The Case of Cem). After the sudden death of Mehmed II, known as Mehmed the Conqueror, his two sons vie for the throne. The elder son, Bayezid wins and his younger half-brother Cem Sultan is driven into exile. The story, narrated by a series … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Hugh Lupton‘s The Ballad of John Clare. Hugh Lupton is a professional story-teller and, in his only novel, tells the tale of one year (1811-1812) in the life of nature poet John Clare. Clare came from a poor agricultural labouring background and we see him doing a variety … Read more
In previous years, I have bemoaned the year just finishing and expressed the hope for better things to come the following year. Not this time. Next year will be worse and you do not need me to tell you why. Did you know that forty countries are having elections next year, including Russia, India, the … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Haji Jabir‘s ة سوداء، (Black Foam). Dawoud, one of four names he uses in this book, is an Eritrean. We follow his life as he flees Eritrea, where he has been imprisoned for abandoning his army training to be with his girlfriend, as he escapes to Ethiopia, cheats … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Tsering Yangzom Lama‘s We Measure The Earth with Our Bodies. This is a (semi-)autobiographical novel about a family and village that flee Tibet when the Chinese take over and what happens to them. The four narrators are Lhamo, a child at the time, her younger sister Tenkyi, Lhamo’s … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Tatiana Țîbuleac:‘s Vara în care mama a avut ochii verzi [The Summer When Mum Had Green Eyes]. The story starts with an outpouring of hate and contempt that the narrator, Aleksy, has for his mother, who is picking him up after his final day at school. His feelings … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Peter Stamm‘s Das Archiv der Gefühle (The Archive of Feelings). Our unnamed narrator was an archivist for a newspaper but a paper archive was no longer needed in the age of the Internet, so he was made redundant. However he was not going to let go and persuades … Read more