Julia Franck – The Blind Side of the Heart

Following in the steps of the Prix Goncourt and the Booker, the German Book Prize was established in 2005 to promote contemporary German literature around the world. There have been 4 winners to date: 2 male, 2 female. Interestingly the two titles by female authors have been translated into English. The inaugural winner, Arno Geiger’s Es geht [...]

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The Murder Farm / Ice Cold – Andrea Maria Schenkel

With only a week to go to touchdown in Berlin, it’s time to start indulging in all things German.  Let’s start with a real treat – some award-winning crime.  The Krimi-Preis is the biggest award for German-language crime writing and Andrea Maria Schenkel is the only author to have won in two consecutive years.    Both books [...]

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Andrew Kaufman – All My Friends are Superheroes (… and one is an e-ticket buying superheroine)

New theories abound in this post.  The first is contained in the post’s title and more on that later.  The second is that it is no longer a challenge for a book to snuggle its way into my TBR stacks, the real challenge now is for it to be read.   So how did Andrew Kaufman’s [...]

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TSS: Literary Pics: Tick Tock said the Croc

‘Smee,’ he said huskily, ‘that crocodile would have had me before this, but by a lucky chance it swallowed a clock which goes tick tick inside it, and so before it can reach me I hear the tick and bolt.’ Peter Pan and Wendy – J M Barrie

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EBF 2009: On preparation, publication and walking the dog

The Edinburgh book festival progamme has arrived.  The wishlist drawn up. Budget finalised. Everything in place for the assault on the internet  the day tickets go on sale. (Tuesday 22.6.2009) It would be if I hadn’t been called away on business next week.  Irony of ironies – I’m spending 3 days at a computer conference [...]

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TSS: Literary Pics – The Clyde’s Most Majestic Daughter

This is  the 90-ft drop of Cora Linn, immortalised as “the Clyde’s most majestic daughter” by William Wordsworth.   I have unfortunately been unable to track down the poem in which he said this. He was visiting Lanark with his sister Dorothy and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  Extracts from Dorothy’s journal suggest that Coleridge may have given more than [...]

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The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite – Beatrice Colin

Another 3 weeks and I will be in Berlin …. only impatience has (once again) got the better of me .  I have travelled, early and virtually, courtesy of Beatrice Colin, born English, living in Scotland, with a fascination for Germany and its history.  Tick so many of my boxes and a book is destined for the top of [...]

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Eduardo Mendoza: No Word from Gurb / The Mystery of the Enchanted Crypt

It was Stewart from Booklit wot did it!  His review of No Word From Gurb impossible to ignore.  Seeking some gender balance in the midst of my Orangeathon, I dived in. I haven’t laughed as hard or as loud in a public place since I read the novels of Tom Sharpe. Barcelona is invaded by two [...]

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TSS: Literary Pics – The closest thing to a triffid?

Compare Wyndham’s illustration with the Gunnera Manicata growing in Inverewe Gardens.  The plant is Brazilian in origin but thrives in the temperate climate of Northwest Scotland.  The Gulf Stream obviously makes it feel right at home!

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The online shadow jury awards the Orange to …..

As I wrote yesterday’s post, it occurred to me that winners of big prizes are not necessarily the favourite or the most controversial or even the most brilliant because juries are panels and often the winner is one on which all can agree.  A book loved by one is hated (and vetoed) by another.  So [...]

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