Category Archives: Uncategorized

Black Car Burning by Helen Mort

Posted on May 13, 2024 by mandywight

The title might make you think it’s a novel about an urban riot, but in fact Black Car Burning is the name of a challenging climb in the Peak District, just outside Sheffield. You wouldn’t be wrong in making that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Nature Writing, Uncategorized, Writers from Derbyshire and Sheffield | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Not A River by Selva Almada translated by Annie McDermott

Posted on April 11, 2024 by mandywight

Not A River, shortlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize 2024, is the final novel in a trilogy about masculinity by Argentinian writer Selva Almada, following on from Brickmakers and The Wind That Lays Waste. The International Booker Prize recognises … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in Spanish, Books in Translation, Books set in South America, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Forgottenness by Tanja Maljartschuk, translated by Zenia Tompkins.

Posted on March 22, 2024 by mandywight

There are two parallel stories in Tanja Maljartschuk’s novel Forgottenness. It’s the story of Viacheslav Lypynskyi, born in 1882, an important figure in the early 20th century struggle for Ukrainian independence. It’s also the story of the narrator, a young … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in Translation, Books on Ukraine, History, Memoir, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

La Carte Postale- Anne Berest

Posted on March 13, 2024 by mandywight

On 6th January 2003 a postcard arrives at the home of Lélia and Pierre. It’s an old postcard of the Paris Opera Garnier, with four names written on the back: Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie and Jacques.  These are the names of … Continue reading →

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Sisters in Arms by Shida Bazyar translated by Ruth Martin

Posted on February 21, 2024 by mandywight

The writer Shida Bazyar told us at the recent Goethe Institut event that Sisters in Arms, longlisted for the German Book Prize 2021, was partly inspired by Erich Maria Remarque’s book Three Comrades. She’d been intrigued by the pull of … Continue reading →

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L’Elégance du Hérisson- Rereading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery translated by Alison Anderson

Posted on January 31, 2024 by mandywight

It’s been such a pleasure to reread The Elegance of the Hedgehog for an occasional book group I take part in. First published in France in 2006, it appeared in English in 2008, and was widely read at that time … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in French, Books in Translation, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Magnificent Rebels-The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self by Andrea Wulf.

Posted on January 13, 2024 by mandywight

Andrea Wulf has written a terrific book about the writers, thinkers and philosophers based in the German town of Jena at the end of the 18th century. From around 1794, for a decade or so, these brilliant and creative thinkers … Continue reading →

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East and West- Reading for #GermanLitMonth 2023

Posted on December 1, 2023 by mandywight

The real conversation in Berlin is about East and West. I was intrigued to hear this comment from American writer Lorrie Moore on the podcast Literary Friction in July. She was recommending Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos, and her words have … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in German, Books in Translation, History, Memoir, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Star 111 by Lutz Seiler translated by Tess Lewis

Posted on November 28, 2023 by mandywight

I was lucky enough to hear Lutz Seiler in conversation with Stefan Tobler of And Other Stories and Professor Adam Piette at Sheffield’s Off the Shelf Literary Festival this last October. Having read and admired Lutz Seiler’s first novel, Kruso, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in German, Books in Translation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Welten Auseinander-Worlds Apart-by Julia Franck.

Posted on November 16, 2023 by mandywight

Julia Franck is best known amongst English readers for her novel The Blind Side of the Heart, a moving family story set during the Second World War. This time, in Worlds Apart, she’s writing about her own life, though she … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in German, Memoir, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments