The winner of this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize was announced last night as Aharon Appelfeld, with his Holocaust novel, Blooms of Darkness (Alma Books); translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green. Appelfeld's novel, which is based … [Read more...]
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 shortlist
April 12, 2012 By 5 Comments
The shortlist for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize was published this morning, revealing a final line up of six titles which span two centuries of history, and a geography that reaches from Iceland through western Europe, all the way to … [Read more...]
Afterthoughts: Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz
March 19, 2012 By 10 Comments
In a Nutshell: A wonderfully engaging novel from Amos Oz, which explores to some depth the theme of loss and longing, and the eternal search to find that which cannot be found. If you're not a fan of the short form or the ambiguous novel then it … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz
March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
*Please note, I've now posted my afterthoughts for Scenes from Village Life. And so I take a first tentative step into this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize as a 'shadow judge', by reading one of the shortest books on the longlist, … [Read more...]
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 longlist revealed
March 8, 2012 By 9 Comments
The longlist for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize was announced early today, revealing another diverse selection of globe-spanning titles which have been translated into the English language. Topping this year's selection is Haruki … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Accabadora by Michela Murgia
October 20, 2011 By 2 Comments
Hand's up, who knows what an accabadora is? I'd be impressed if you did know. I didn't, but I soon found out when I picked up my lasted read which uses this word as its title. The meaning of accabadora is revealed in the cover blurb (see below). … [Read more...]
Mabanckou Giveaway: And the winner is…
August 25, 2011 By 3 Comments
Well, it's time to reveal the winner of my Alain Mabanckou giveaway, where one lucky reader would pick up a special EdBookFest signed copy of his first novel, Broken Glass (that's Alain signing that copy in the picture above). And that lucky winner, … [Read more...]
Rafik Schami features in new Words Without Borders edition
August 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Words Without Borders have posted the August edition of their online magazine. This month sees a continuation of their 'Arab Spring' theme, which focuses on literature from the countries involved in the Middle Eastern uprisings. This month's … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Bitter Bitch by Maria Sveland
June 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
So I come to my latest translated fiction read - Bitter Bitch (Corsair); a debut novel from Swedish author and journalist, Maria Sveland, which was originally published in 2007 under the title, Bittenfittan. Before I head off into this novel though, … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel
May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
You won't find a review on RobAroundBooks at this time of Philippe Claudel's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize winning novel, Brodeck's Report (it lingers on my 'reviews still to write' list. You can catch my forethoughts on it, HERE), but I can tell … [Read more...]