Category Archives: Reading

September is World Kid Lit Month

Following on from August as Women in Translation Month comes September, now World Kid Lit Month, so here again is a list of 10 recommendations from me. I thought this list would be easy to write as I’ve written a … Continue reading

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Women in Translation Month 2019: 10 Books

Looking back through my blog for this, I see that Women in Translation Month is one thing that has prompted a regular post (once a year is regular!) in recent years. This year, it seems to have really taken off … Continue reading

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February Reads

So I didn’t read as much as I’d have liked in February, but there were some exciting things all the same. I got to read Simone Buchholz’s Mexikoring, on which more later… Watch this space! Likewise, Zugmaus by Uwe Timm, illustrated by … Continue reading

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January 2019 Reads

I don’t know quite how it got to be 2019 when I wasn’t looking, and I don’t seem to manage regularly reviews any more, but I’m hopeful that semi-regularly round-ups of what I’ve been reading lately might be more doable… … Continue reading

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Attend by West Camel

First of all, full disclosure: West Camel is the editor of my translations of Beton Rouge and Blue Night at Orenda Books, who also publish Attend, and I was sent a PDF proof copy of by the publisher Karen a for review. … Continue reading

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#WITMonth: Soft in the Head by Marie-Sabine Roger

August is Women in Translation Month, the reasons for which are discussed by Katy Derbyshire here on the Freeword Centre site, and elsewhere. So it is a fitting moment to write about Marie-Sabine Roger‘s joyful novel Soft in the Head, … Continue reading

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Quick Curtain by Alan Melville

After Death on the Cherwell, I have checked out a few more of the British Library’s Crime Classics series and Alan Melville‘s books really stand out among the bunch for the quality of their writing. Melville wrote a few crime … Continue reading

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Hotel Alpha by Mark Watson

I was fortunate enough to win a signed proof copy of Mark Watson’s novel Hotel Alpha just before it was published by Picador in 2014. For one reason or another, the book languished on a TBR pile (although my husband … Continue reading

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Apple Cake and Baklava

I was sent a copy of Apple Cake and Baklava by Kathrin Rohmann, translated by my friend and colleague Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Darf Publishers, 2018) for review. As I read it with Son2, it seemed to make sense to share … Continue reading

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Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay

For Miss Cordell, principal of Persephone College, there are two great evils to be feared: unladylike behaviour among her students, and bad publicity for the college. So her prim and cosy world is turned upside down when a secret society … Continue reading

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