View of the Rhine (Bonn)

Twelve Days in Germany, Two Days in Austria, Three Days in Hungary and Two Books

We decided to break the first part of this year’s railway jaunt, meeting up with friends in London and arriving in Bonn early the following evening after a long day’s travel, including an hour’s delay, hardly unexpected given Deutsche Bahn’s recent lamentable performance. That and the fog shrouding our top-notch Rhine view meant an uncharacteristic

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Cover iumage for The Fallen Trees Are Also the Forest by Alejandra Kamiya

The Fallen Trees Are Also the Forest by Alejandra Kamiya (Transl. Daniel Hahn): Stories to savour

Back from my travels (more of which next week) with a set of short stories originally published in 2015. The Fallen Trees Are Also the Forest is the first book by Japanese-Argentine author, Alejandra Kamiya, to be published in English. It comprises twelve brief pieces, several just a few pages in length but they’re not

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Cover image for The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain

Blasts from the Past: The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain (2013, transl. Jane Aitkin and Emily Boyce)

This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy into as many hands as I could. I was a little sceptical about The President’s Hat which seemed a tad whimsical for me, but it

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Cover image for Dodge City by Patrick deWitt

Dodge City by Patrick deWitt: ‘Is the motivation for your travel existential?’  

I’m always happy to see something new by Patrick deWitt in the publishing schedules. He’s still not leapt over the high bar set by The Sisters Brothers for me, but I always enjoy his novels. Set in 1967, Dodge City follows Lee Clarke who takes to the road, heading for Canada, after his draft notice

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Cover image for All Her Beautiful Deaths by A. Rushby

All Her Beautiful Deaths by A. Rushby: An art world historical page-turner

Given its historical women’s fiction label, I took a punt on A. Rushby’s All Her Beautiful Deaths, not being at all keen on the idea of gendered descriptions, but I was attracted by the idea of Victorian memorial portraits. It follows Minnie, who becomes a companion to Edith in 1865, and Hadley, a young twenty-first

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Cover image for Honey by Elizabeth Jenkins

Paperbacks to Look Out For in October 2026: Part One

The first batch of October’s paperbacks begins with the latest reissue from Daunt’s publishing arm, first published in 1968. In Elizabeth Jenkins’s Honey, Roland meets the titular thirty-year-old at a film premiere and is captivated, marrying her in 1962. All goes well until Roland’s sixteen-year-old son arrives. Already bored with married life, Honey sets about

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