I’ve decided to draw a line under the year review-wise and do a round-up of my favourite books and then one of the other things I like: Film, TV shows and Music. Then, a post looking forward to 2025 and a year of classics; although I will have a few from this year to review or am not yet not quite sure what to do, just leave them unreviewed and do all classics from pre-1972 next year. So, I managed 103 books that were reviewed in 24 countries. I need keep a better track of starts like that next year. Anyway, I am picking 12 favourites from the year, in no particular order, just 12 books I have loved over the last 12 months. I am not swayed by anyone else view on these books or tastes. So as ever, I hope to bring a fresh list of 12 books
1, Ædnan an Epic by Linea Axelsson
First up is a verse epic of the Sami community, I was just thinking of this earlier today as I watched someone ride the Inlandsbanan an old rail line through Sami lands to the south of Sweden
2 Star 111 by Lutz Seiler
This epic book should have had a wider readership for me as it captured those post-war years in Germany when we followed the path of Carl and his parents! A wild ride of a book from one of the great German writers.
3. What is Mine by Jose Henrique Bortoluci
A son recalls his father’s years as a truck driver around Brazil in those turbulent years of the 80s. It reminds me of how great nonfiction in translation can be.
4. A Terrace in Rome by Pascal Quingard
The story of one man’s life, Geoffrey Meaume, an engraver, is scarred early on in the book when acid is thrown at him. We see the effect of that on him and his art. A writer I have been meaning to get to for many a year.
5.Engagement by Ciler Ilhan
I read two excellent novels with similar themes from Turkey this year, but this, although less well-known, captures the brutal aftermath of a falling out between two villages as well, if not better than the other Turkish book I read this year.
6.Out of Mind by J Bernlef
A book lost to time, which is a shame. It captures his descent into Dementia so well as we see him struggling with a clever recurring thread around a book by Graham Greene, considered one of the best Dutch books of all time.
7.Götz and Meyer by Daivd Albahari
One, I have the Mookse and gripes podcast as they mentioned it in an episode a while ago, and since then, it was just a matter of finding a copy, which I did this year and then read straight away and wasn’t disappointed a man connects to the lose of his family in the world war in the holocaust by the name of two drivers that drove his family to their deaths.
8.Brandy Sour by Constantia Soteriou
One of the greatest discoveries of the year was Foundry Editions, with this first book that had a history of Cyprus tied into the characters of a hotel and the drinks they all drink. It was a very clever little book that made me want to make some of the drinks mentioned.
9.My favourite by Sarah Jollien-Fardel
This powerful book follows a daughter from a small village ith an abusive father and how all in the village turned a blind eye to what he did a compelling book
10.Dendrites by Kallia Papdaki
A Greek novel sent in the US follows the collapse of industrial America through the Greek families that moved to New Jersey to work in the factories. If Springsteen had been Greek, this would be his family’s story !!
11.Beloved by Empar Moliner
Another favourite press three-time rebel and sadly the last of their iconic cover art as the artist who did them passed away to cancer. All monies from this book went to charity. A woman sees a flicker between her husband and a violinist in the orchestra he is in, and before he knows it she knows he will leave her.
12. Your Little Matter by Maria Grazia Calandrone
A second book from Foundry Press is probably my book of the year. It blew me away a heart-wrenching story of a woman looking into her own past as an abandoned baby and the mother she never knew who abandoned her as a baby. It is just a look at how hard it would be for a woman in a small village to escape a broken marriage and find love.
Honourable mentions
Night of the Crow by Abel Tomé
The Fire by Daniela Krien
Caesaria by Hanna Nordenhök
In the last few years, I have been drawn more to great female writers in translation. Seven of the twelve are females, and eight are from small presses.
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