Book 9: What you are looking for is in the library, by Michiko Aoyama. Translated by Alison Watts.
A Tokyo librarian is able to sense exactly what people are searching for and provide unexpected but fitting book recommendations. An uplifting look at life and purpose. And possibly more useful than a lot of self-help books out there!
Book 8: The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan.
The story of the POWs who hsd to work on the Burma Death Railway in the Second World War is grim. The tiny sparks of humanity that remained among the soldiers amidst the unimaginable horrors were very moving.
And those who survived still have to live with the memories that often only they understand.
Book 7: The Singer's Gun, by Emily St. John Mandel.
Anton Waker abandons his family's shady line of business for a normal life, but his cousin blackmails him into doing one last, simple and failsafe, job... 🤔
Emily St. John Mandel is an excellent storyteller!
Book 6: Everything is Everything: A Memoir of Love, Hate & Hope. The autobiography of BBC journalist, presenter and news anchor Clive Myrie. Fascinating stories, told with empathy and humanity throughout. From growing up in Bolton as the son of Windrush immigrants, to becoming one of the BBC's top journalists, and the presenter of Mastermind.
I was particularly moved by the section on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Book no. 5: The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler.
Macon writes travel guides for business travellers who want their destination to be as much like home as possible. He's order and routine personified. But after his son dies and his wife leaves he meets a very chaotic and whimsical dog trainer. She brings his dog into line, but also sets his life on its head.
Good cast of characters surrounding them! Enjoyed.
Book no. 4: The Lost Bookshop, by Evie Woods. Three storylines, past and present, revolve around a Dublin bookshop that may or may not actually exist...
Very enjoyable, and a little magic realism goes a long way!
Book no. 3: Silence: In the Age of Noise, by Erling Kagge. Translated from Norwegian by Becky L. Crook.
Kagge was the first person to reach the South Pole alone on foot, so he knows a thing or two about silence. But he also says silence is different for everyone. One thing is certain: in this day and age it's a scarce commodity.
Book no. 2: De ooggetuige (the eyewitness), by Ernst Weiss. Revised translation by Frank Schuitemaker.
Told from the perspective of a psychiatrist who after World War I treats a certain Corporal A.H. for hysterical blindness. He later gets into big trouble, having kept notes of his analysis of the patient. And starts to wonder if curing him was such a good thing.
Surprisingly, this was written in 1938.
Book no. 1 for this year: Publieke werken, by Thomas Rosenboom.
The year is 1888, and the owner of a house opposite newly built Amsterdam Central Station digs his heels in and refuses to sell to a property developer who wants to build the Victoria Hotel on that site.
Beautiful writing!