April was a delightful reading month, improved even more by the #1937Club organised by Simon and Kaggsy and by having finished most of the International Booker Prize longlist, so being free to read as I pleased.
For the #1937Club, I read the rather bonkers but fun Ferdydurke by Gombrowicz, the dreamy but spikey Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb and the much-better-upon-rereading The Years by Virginia Woolf. I read The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone for the International Booker Prize, which I found a very compelling read, although it could have been equally impactful if it had been about a third shorter. I also read two titles from the Women’s Prize longlist, Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy and In Defence of the Act by Effie Black, both of which I initially thought would be too gruelling a read, but both of which I enjoyed in very different ways.
Away from any literary prizes, I read three Romanian language books with a view to possibly translating them (or at least pitching them to some publishers). Two beautifully-written, highly evocative descriptions of growing up in the Moldovan countryside by Lorina Bălteanu and Valentina Șcerbani and one by Gelu Diaconu of growing up gay during the restrictive Communist times in Bucharest. These fictional coming of age stories worked equally as well with my memoir writing course, as the more obvious memoir by Vivian Gornick, Fierce Attachments.
With all these weighty tomes and topics. I also needed some down time with my favourite crime genre. The postmodern wittiness of Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz, the claustrophobic tension of Sharp Glass by Sarah Hilary and the strong characterisation and twisty narrative of A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey were just the ticket (in the case of the latter, almost literally – for I read most of it at the airport and on the plane on the way to Berlin).
I had less time to read in Berlin, since I was walking what felt like a million miles every day (I have the blisters to prove it, but that’s my fault for choosing comfy shoes rather than hard-core trainers), as well as chatting non-stop with my friends, but I found the quite intriguing book by Ingo Schulze, which explores how such an apparently ‘nice, bookish’ person as the antiquarian Norbert Paulini from Dresden could espouse a right-wing ideology, something that Germany is clearly struggling with at present. Despite the historical differences, I think it could also explain a lot about those spouting right-wing propaganda in present-day US and UK.
As for Berlin: it charmed me with its summer weather, music, national holiday on the 1st of May, the quality of its housing, its cultural buzz and diverse neighbourhoods, and, of course, my very dear old friends. I have no doubts that it’s the right move for me. Here’s a little reminder of our day out at Wannsee – and now I’m searching for the film Die Wannseekonferenz, shown by the ZDF in 2022, as recommended by several people (although there is also an earlier one in 1984, which also seems to be rated highly).
findingtimetowrite 