Book news, reviews and recommendations
Given that I live with an historian whose PhD we both suffered through, it was inevitable that I would read Icelandic writer Sigrún Pálsdóttir’s History. A Mess. That and it’s published by the excellent Peirene Press who have recently moved to my hometown. Pálsdóttir’s novella follows an unnamed narrator convinced that she’s discovered the identity …
I’ve come to expect challenging books from Peirene Press although the last one I read, Marzhan, Mon Amour, turned out to be full of gentle humour and affection for the titular former East Berlin suburb. Senka Marić’s Body Kintsugi is a tough though ultimately optimistic read covering two years in which our unnamed protagonist undergoes …
Body Kintsugi by Senka Marić (transl. Celia Hawkesworth): ‘You are life itself’ Read More »
Peirene Press novellas are reliably excellent but rarely cheery reads. Katja Oskamp’s Marzhan, Mon Amour bucks that trend with its tender, affectionate portrait of a community told through a set of thumbnail sketches of her clients by an unnamed writer turned chiropodist. Regular readers might notice that this is the second visit to Berlin in …
Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp (transl. Jo Heinrich): An everyday gem Read More »
I’ve learned not to expect a cheery read from Peirene Press. The closest I’ve got is Guđmundur Andri Thorsson’s And the Wind Sees All. I know that what I will get is an insight into a country and its culture, often one that I may never visit and even if I did, might see only …
One of the very few silver linings to the coronavirus is a reported upsurge in book sales. We have booksellers, publishers, warehouse staff and posties to thank for getting hard copies to us, despite risks to themselves. You’re probably in the habit of browsing your local bookshop or maybe buying from online booksellers but small …
Ten Small But Perfectly Formed Publishers Who Will Post Books to Your Home Read More »
I’m sure I’ve already made this observation here but I’ve yet to read a dud from Peirene Press. Their books are always thought-provoking and often beautifully expressed, a tribute to both writer and translator, or in this case translators. Clearly, Meike Ziervogel has a very discerning editorial eye and her own writing is quite remarkable, …
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the others on the …
Six Degrees of Separation – from The Tiger in the Tiger Pit to And the Wind Sees All Read More »
Peirene Press’s books are never anything but interesting. It’s founder and publisher, Meike Ziervogel, has a knack for seeking out unusual, thought-provoking fiction. For 2019 her theme is There Be Monsters. Virve Sammalkorpi’s Children of the Cave follows a nineteenth-century anthropological expedition which goes horribly wrong, posing the question who are the monsters? Iax Agolasky, …
Guđmundur Andri Thorsson’s And the Wind Sees All is the third in Peirene’s ‘Home in Exile’ series. I reviewed Soviet Milk here earlier in the year but chickened out of Shadows on the Tundra, billed as Lithuanian survival literature. I’m sure it’s very good, I’ve yet to read anything published by Peirene that isn’t, but …
Peirene’s novellas come with a brief foreword from Meike Ziervogel, a short personal comment explaining why this particular book caught her eye. The one prefacing Kerstin Hensel’s Dance by the Canal ends ‘This book will make you think’. I’ve yet to read anything published by Peirene which hasn’t done that. Hensel’s book is the story …
Dance by the Canal by Kerstin Hensel (transl. Jen Calleja): Down but not out Read More »
Given that two jaunts that have taken me to Vienna this year, Linda Stift’s The Empress and the Cake seemed an obvious choice. It’s also translated by Jamie Bulloch whose name I’ve come to associate with excellent fiction. Part of Peirene’s Fairy Tale series, Stift’s novella comes beautifully packaged in delicate pink and cream but …