Translated from German by Tess LewisPublished by And Other Stories, 2023, 495 pages. Original version published in 2020. East Germany, November 1989. The Berlin Wall has fallen. Carl Bischoff, a student, is heading home, summoned by a telegram from his parents saying, “we need help please do come immediately your parents”. When Carl gets home, …
Tag: Fiction
Civil War, again
American War published by Penguin Random House / Knopf, 2017, 352 pages. One comes to books through many routes. I've been fortunate to have been surrounded by fellow bibliophiles who often come bearing wonderful gifts of books I may not have run into otherwise. Some of my favorite titles have been introduced to me thus. …
Dear Life: Alice Munro
Published by Douglas Gibbons Books / Vintage, 2012, 336 pages. Review by Thomas Peak and Susanne Gjonnes Why do we read? To think, to experience and most of all to feel. Perhaps. Munroe’s final collection of short stories Dear Life achieves all of this in abundance. With characteristic subtleness, a refined and homely style, the …
Why do we read (and write) novels?
I found this 2013 article on the University of Cambridge website. Four writers—Sarah Burton, Trevor Byrne, Malachi McIntosh and Helen Taylor—talk about how reading and writing shaped their childhood, the power of fiction, what makes good literature. Here are some extracts from their their thoughts on the power of fiction: Sarah Burton: "The power of …
Talking About Books 