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Text of the page (random words):
by the fact that a few years ago the novel was selected by the bbc of one the 100 novels that shaped the world in the category of life death and other worlds it is punishingly abstract though the narrator enters a mysterious and mythic world full of beings he can t see and is challenged to come to understanding of his experience and of life itself the bbc says the main character is in discussion with wise and challenging beings but the problem for me is that he isn t and they aren t apologies for the picture at the top of the post it s the closest i could get to a badly rendered immortal being and it amused me which i guess is the point of blogging onto the next share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 15th mar 2026 15th mar 2026 posted in book tags africa astonishing the gods ben okri books fable fiction myth mythology 1 comment on book review astonishing the gods by ben okri nigeria book review the successor by ismail kadare albania translated by david bellos following its publication in 2003 the successor won the first international booker prize set among government circles in the albanian capital tirana during the long communist dictatorship of enver hoxha its events partly mirror the mystery surrounding the real life 1981 death of albanian prime minister mehmet shehu officially said to have committed suicide shehu has always been widely suspected of having been murdered by the state albania was one of the most closed and enigmatic societies in the world with levels of secrecy and dissimulation not dissimilar to the situation in north korea now in the course of the novel we see the intense paranoia of various characters or is it paranoia when their fears are so justified as they anxiously evaluate whether they have endangered themselves through their associations with the dead premier the successor of the book s title these include his daughter suzana whose rapidly terminated engagement to a man with reputed links with the previous regime may have imperilled her family the architect who inadvertently built a more swishy home for the successor than that inhabited by the uncompromising president creepily known throughout only as the guide and the doctor carrying out the successor s long delayed autopsy who fears he is signing his own death warrant in doing so meanwhile foreign intelligence services are so ignorant of the country that their half hearted investigations get tangled in knots or stall before the get started this was my third book by kadare and unambiguous in its criticism of totalitarianism but lightened just by elements of dark humour albania is a very different country now of course but reading the book in 2026 it sounds something of a warning share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 1st mar 2026 25th apr 2026 posted in book tags albania books europe fiction international booker prize ismail kadare the successor translated literature 1 comment on book review the successor by ismail kadare albania film review katanga dance of the scorpions burkina faso in late november last year i went to london s bfi to watch a 2024 movie katanga dance of the scorpions shot in burkina faso and directed by dani kouyaté the coup beleaguered west african state of burkina faso might seems an unlikely hub for the film industry but for many years it has hosted the panafrican film and television festival in the capital ouagadougou where the movie won the festival s main prize the yennenga stallion katanga dance of the scorpions is a loose adaptation of macbeth with its timeless themes of political ambition intrigue and the corrupting nature of power enhanced by the decision to film it in entirely black and white the movie is largely faithful to the arc of shakespeare s play but has a strong african identity set in a fictional kingdom known as ganzurgu with the cast in traditional costume burkina faso also dropped french the language of its former colonial power as its official language in 2023 and the movie was filmed in one of the principal national languages mooré with english subtitles the director himself had been expected to be present for a q a but unfortunately visa difficulties meant this couldn t happen nevertheless i m glad i was able to seize the opportunity to see the film in the uk as showings in the west have been few and far between share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 14th feb 2026 posted in film tags africa african film burkina faso film movie west africa 1 comment on film review katanga dance of the scorpions burkina faso book review the trial by franz kafka czech republic translated by idris parry somebody must have made a false accusation against josef k for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong i m catching up this month on books read late last year i d never read any kafka before picking up the trial secondhand from a book sale at my daughter s riding centre but since its publication in 1925 a year after kafka s death its themes have become so familiar that i felt i knew it well to describe something as kafkaesque has become part of everyday vocabulary in fact earlier in the year two city traders who had received long jail sentences after being found guilty of rigging interest rates around the time of the big financial crash had their convictions overturned at the supreme court the bbc reported one of the men as describing his life since his prosecution as a kafka nightmare where he could barely understand the accusations made against him with no sense of having done anything even vaguely wrong the trial fascinated me at first as its protagonist josef k tries to discover what he has been charged with and why his struggles with an opaque system of inefficient and meaningless bureaucracy even resonated with various soul sapping experiences in my own life but the unhinged narrative constantly shifting sands and weird sexual undertones unsettled and ultimately frustrated me no doubt the point but it was perhaps over made and though it s not a long novel as it moved towards the inevitable conclusion i couldn t help wishing it had been a short story share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 18th jan 2026 posted in book tags books czech literature czech republic czechia europe fiction franz kafka kafka translated literature 1 comment on book review the trial by franz kafka czech republic book review misinterpretation by ledia xhoga albania i read misinterpretation longlisted for the booker prize in 2025 in december it is a tense novel that examines issues of identity culture and connectedness set in the usa in new york at the heart of the story is a young albanian interpreter who is married to billy an academic and is negotiating the complexities of her professional and personal life as an interpreter her role is to bridge gaps in communication but this does not prevent her from feeling misunderstood both by her husband and in her working relationships a trip back to albania to visit her mother further adds to the tensions her mother embodies traditional views and their interactions are loaded with cultural and generational misunderstandings tasked with interpreting for alfred a kosovan who has survived torture in therapy sessions our protagonist risks over identifying with his situation and becoming enmeshed in his life moreover an ill conceived attempt to intervene directly in the life of a kurdish poet who is a victim of domestic abuse puts both the protagonist unnamed but i really want to call her ana for some reason billy and the victim at risk her unbridled altruism brings her into conflict with her husband who is sometimes violently irritated by her failure to instil and maintain professional boundaries and ultimately she risks destroying her marriage and her mental health i was attracted to the novel by its subject matter which seemed reminiscent of katie kitamura s intimacies however although great on atmosphere i found the book rather patchy and not always coherent and billy s temper was pretty repellent share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 5th jan 2026 posted in book tags albania booker longlist books europe female writers fiction ledia xhoga misinterpretation 1 comment on book review misinterpretation by ledia xhoga albania tbr for january 2026 i have selected a large pile of reading to see me through the first month of 2026 and during january i am planning a deep dive into albanian culture among other reading to get me back on track with my reading the world project white dog fell from the sky by eleanor morse a second hand book chosen for me for my christmas present from one of my daughters set in botswana that s all i know about it venetian vespers by john banville a christmas present that i m really looking forward to reading i ve cribbed blurb here that reads arriving in venice for their belated honeymoon at palazzo dioscuri the ancestral home of the charming but treacherous count barbarigo newlyweds evelyn and laura are met by a series of seemingly otherworldly occurrences which exacerbate evelyn s already frayed nerves is it just the sea mist blanketing the floating city or is he really losing his mind sky daddy by kate folk another book i m really looking forward to getting stuck into a novel about a young woman who is sexually attracted to aircraft the shards by bret easton ellis i m partway through this already and rationing it to make it last longer even though it s a real doorstopper semi autobiographical novel set among privileged and hedonistic teenagers in la in the earlier 80s while a serial killer prowls indignity by lea ypi an non fiction investigation published last year into the life of the author s grandmother in 20th century albania crossing by patjim statovci an acclaimed 2019 novel set in albania by a finnish kosovan author high albania a victorian traveller s balkan odyssey a non fiction historical account mud sweeter than honey by margo rejmer a non fiction book examining the rule of ruthless communist dictator enver hoxha in albania the successor by ismail kadare a novel influenced by the suicide of hoxha s designated successor prime minister mehmet shehu in 1981 chronicle in stone by ismail kadare semi autobiographical novel based on events in the author s home town in albania all the pretty horses by cormac mccarthy not sure about this one a modern classic set among texas ranchers the master by colm toibin a novel based on the life of the writer henry james the book of alchemy by suleika jaouad a book to inspire writing and journaling how to live an artful life a entry for each day of the year to inspire reflection about art and creativity more generally romancing the ordinary by sarah ban breathnach another book aimed at spending some time on self care and carving out time for oneself i need to put better boundaries in place around work and family encroaching on precious me time and hopefully this book will help share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 1st jan 2026 posted in book tags additions to the tbr books books in translation plans reading plans tbr translated lit 10 comments on tbr for january 2026 book review inside story by martin amis england i have mixed feelings about martin amis s writing on the one hand i find it insufferable smug sexist self congratulatory on the other he was a bombastic genius with words writing surprising witty and always inventive prose inside story is close to an autobiography though amis archly refers to the book as a novel with the protagonist a man named martin amis much of whose biographical information seems to match that of the writer martin amis with a few half hearted name changes a large part of the book concerns amis s close relationship with the writer critic and cultural commentator christopher hitchens who died in 2011 and who haunts the pages amis also deals with the loss of his parents and persistent fears that his father might have been not arch philanderer novelist and critic kingsley amis but miserabilist poet philip larkin the book also lingers at length on the character martin amis s affair with the emotionally damaged but never boring phoebe phelps who may or may not be entirely fictional mixing self indulgence with profundity i kept turning the pages and no doubt i will return to amis s writing again though i always think i won t this was book 6 of my 20 books of summer share this tweet share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted by imogen 16th aug 2025 16th aug 2025 posted in book tags autobiography autofiction books inside story martin amis memoir united kingdom 3 comments on book review inside story by martin amis england book review audition by katie kitamura usa i read this short novel by the american author katie kitamura last month before it was longlisted for the booker i d enjoyed her acclaimed 2021 novel intimacies about a woman who becomes an interpreter at the international court in the hague during the trial of an alleged war criminal from an unnamed country reviewed by me here and she s an intriguing author audition is divided into two distinct parts in the first section a middle aged actress is appearing in a manhattan theatre production that is not quite coming together against this backdrop with its associated tensions she agrees to meet a good looking young man xavier a virtual stranger for a meal he is apparently fascinated by her and she is acutely aware of how their meeting might appear to an outsider or to her partner that it might seem deeply inappropriate that she might seem predatory then the young man suddenly suggests that he might be her son though that is impossible she asserts she s never given birth in the second apparently completely separate part of the novel an alternative reality pans out as if reflected in a fairground mirror in which xavier now becomes part of her family living with her and her partner as their son whether he really is her son in this reality or instead is living with them as if he were is unclear when he brings a girlfriend into the flat there is instant animosity between the actress and the young woman and an uncom...