I can’t wait for the tender shoots of March to nudge their way out of the snow – my reading buds are certainly coming along nicely and getting me very excited this month!
I have somehow found myself with a number of reading challenges – or opportunities (because I find them a great deal of fun), plus quite a few books to review. More than enough to keep me busy this month. In fact, I am somewhat envious of Bookish Beck’s formidable shelf organising skills and am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I may need a better TBR filing system than an overflowing armchair or night-table.
Asymptote Book Club:
Hanne Ørstavik: Love, transl. Martin Aitken
I read her first book to be translated into English The Blue Room published by Pereine, Love is the story of a single mother, Vibeke, and her son Jon, who have just moved to a remote small town in the north of Norway. It’s the day before Jon’s birthday, but with concerns of her own, Vibeke has forgotten this. With a man on her mind, she ventures to the local library while Jon goes out to sell lottery tickets for his sports club. As a newly single mother (albeit uninterested in new men), this one may hit me hard, but I’m prepared…
David Bowie Book Club
Spike Milligan: Puckoon
Very topical indeed – a comic novel about set in 1924, it details the troubles brought to the fictional Irish village of Puckoon by the Partition of Ireland. Because of government indecision and incompetence (wow, is that possible?) the new border passes directly through the middle of the village. I’ve managed to find a copy of this in the reserve fiction section (i.e. buried in the basement) of my local library and I hear there’s a film as well.
Muriel Spark #readingMuriel2018
I still have to review Symposium for Ali’s Reading Muriel initiative , but also planning to read The Comforters – her first novel but already showing a very unusual mind at work. The heroine, Caroline Rose, is plagued by a Typing Ghost and realises she is a character in a novel.
#EU27Project
Enough shilly-shallying with this one, I need to get cracking and have also got some non-fiction and poetry planned for a change.
Dubravka Ugresic: Europe in Sepia
Tangerine Sky: Poems from Malta
Dan Lungu: Sînt o babă comunistă! (I’m an Old Communist Biddy) – a Romanian satirical book, which has also been adapted for a play and a film, in which the author tackles all that inertia and nostalgia for everyday Communism which some of the older generation inexplicably have (or perhaps not that inexplicable after all)
For Review:
Stuart Turton: The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (71/2 in the US) – Golden crime meets the film Memento, in a complicated, brain-melting story about trying to prevent a murder and living with guilt.
Death Notice by Zhou Haohui – Chinese crime fiction written, unusually, by a contemporary thriller writer residing in China. Set in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province, this promises to be a gritty series, which has also been turned into a very popular TV crime drama.
Victor del Arbol: A Million Drops – an ambitious political thriller dissecting the heritage of Communism and Fascism in Spain, and how the past still impacts the present
Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji, transl. Dennis Washburn – having a quick read through to compare and contrast different translations of one of my favourite books for an essay to appear in Asymptote
Still reading from February:
The Welsh book The Caves of Alienation by Stuart Evans
Tom Hanks: Uncommon Type – a short story collection, and although Hanks is actually quite good with words, the stories themselves are slight slices of life, tolerably amusing, but leaving me with a yawnish ‘so what?’ Probably will not finish or try again later.
findingtimetowrite 
I thought The Blue Room was really powerful so I’ll be interested to hear what you make of Love. I’m also ready for the buds of Spring – I’m fed up with winter now!
These sound like some very interesting reads, Marina Sofia. I’m especially interested in Death Notice, oddly enough, since I”m not usually a major fan of thrillers. Still, I’m very interested in trying one from such a different culture.
Ireally liked ‘Love’: If you liked BR then I think you’ll also like this one.
I read Puckoon years and years ago but didn’t like it much. I think I was too young though.
Re EU27 Project. I read four Norwegian books in a row (including Love) recently. Sadly none counted towards EU27. I’m currently reading an Italian one.
I have a copy of Love yet to read, and The Caves of Alienation caught my attention earlier, so I hope you review them both.
Love does sound interesting, I look forward to your thoughts on it, taking the step towards singlemotherdom is a step towards healing, at least that’s what I tell myself, however I’ve had to add another genre to my book reading to help with that 🙂 So do be a little discerning with the reading/movie choices, some of them can catch you by surprise when you’re least expecting it.
I know I need to be more careful with my reading: but sometimes reading about other people’s misery makes my life seems joyous in contrast.
An interesting bunch of books! Roll on spring and warmer reading weather. I’m still sticking to no plans at all…
You always have an interesting collection of books to read. I actually have The Seven Deaths to read this month. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve heard great things.