November was, of course, the month for German-language reading, with all my posts contributing to German Literature Month. Thanks are due to Lizzy and Caroline for hosting and organising the event - once again, my contribution was to organise an unsuccessful excursion (see my posts below on The Blue Angel for details...).Anyway, onto the stats - here's what was going on around these parts last month...
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Total Books Read: 10
Year-to-Date: 118
New: 8
Rereads: 2
From the Shelves: 6
Review Copies: 1
From the Shelves: 6
Review Copies: 1
From the Library:2
On the Kindle: 1
Novels: 5
Novellas:3
Novels: 5
Novellas:3
Short Stories: 2
Non-English Language: 7 (4 German, 2 Spanish, Hungarian)
In Original Language: 4 (4 German)
Aussie Author Challenge: 0 (5/3)
Japanese Literature Challenge 7: 0 (13/1)
Japanese Literature Challenge 7: 0 (13/1)
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Books reviewed in November were:
1) Nichts als Gespenster (Nothing but Ghosts) by Judith HermannBooks reviewed in November were:
2) Was bleibt (What Remains) by Christa Wolf
3) Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
4) Holzfällen (Woodcutters) by Thomas Bernhard
5) Wellen (Waves) by Eduard von Keyserling
6) Božena by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
7) Wir Fliegen (We're Flying) by Peter Stamm
8) Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick) by Peter Handke
9) Leonardos Hände (Leonardo's Hands) by Alois Hotschnig
10) Professor Unrat (The Blue Angel) by Heinrich Mann (Part One, Part Two, Part Three)
Tony's Turkey for November is:
Marie von Ebner Eschenbach's Božena
The weakest of the bunch - not an awful book, but one I was a little disappointed by.
Tony's Recommendation for November is:
Thomas Berhard's Holzfällen
There were two stand-out reads, and if I were someone with more interest in Holocaust literature then Austerlitz may well have won out. For me though, Bernhard's grumpy old man act was the worthy pick of the bunch for German Literature Month :)
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As we slowly near the end of 2013, it'd be nice to think that December would be a comfortable month of rereading and reflection - sadly, that's unlikely to be the case. I have another crop of interesting review copies to flick through and only a short time to do it in. You see, it's time to start planning January in Japan already - do join me then ;)
