Micro Review 21 (2025) / Women In Translation Month

 

When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen, translated by Alice Menzies (Transworld Publishing).

August is Women in Translation month and my reading for this has started strongly with the Waterstones' Debut Fiction Prize shortlisted book When the Cranes Fly South,

I confess when I chose this book from the shortlist I wasn't aware that it was a translated book but I did cheer (quietly - I was in the library after all) when I saw that it was a Swedish book.

The publisher blurb for the book warns you that you're in for an emotional rollercoaster of a read:

Bo is determined to live his own life in his own way. But his son has other ideas...

Bo lives a quiet existence in his small rural village in the north of Sweden. He is elderly and his days are punctuated by visits from his care team and his son.

Fortunately, he still has his rich memories, phone calls with his best friend Ture, and his beloved dog Sixten for company.

Only now his son is insisting the dog must be taken away. The very same son that Bo is wanting to mend his relationship with before his time is up. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotions and makes Bo determined to resist and find his voice.

The book covers a fairly short time frame and is broken up into small chapters each prefaced with the notes Bo's carers leave in his log book and between these notes and Bo's memories we get to know what has made Bo, and his son, the way they are. 

I raced through this book because I was so fully and emotionally involved with all the characters, and yes - more than once I had a lump in my throat. However while this is quite a sad book it is ultimately heart warming and an excellent read.

It would have been nice for a translated book to win the WDFP but I did really love the winner (Lucy Steed's The Artist) when I read it earlier in the year.

Thoughts about books and their covers

 

A response to an online discussion

While I am spending a lot more time reading and far less on social media sometimes a discussion there will spark some really interesting conversations and debate. There was one fascinating chat a few months ago about the use of quotes from authors appearing all over book covers rather than a summary of the book, this in turn took a look at what we mean by 'book blurb.' 

The one that has caught my eye and imagination is one about book covers/jackets.

A small independent press has decided to stop using illustrations on their book covers and instead is giving them all a distinctive look with the publisher logo, book title, author, and if appropriate the translator, on the front cover. All the books are a different colour but they have a very uniform look. 

This hasn't been popular!

I however really like the style - which harks back to the original Penguin paperbacks and also reflects the current style in French publishing.

Books that give nothing away from a quick glance at the cover always intrigue me and I am far more likely to pick them up and find out more - I've always said that the best proofs I read in my bookselling career were the ones that were almost blank with just the title and author visible. 

This really worked for new authors, and to encourage me to read new genres. We do judge books by their covers and I confess that I'm not drawn to some styles used for several genres but when I've read them from a blank cover they've (occasionally) been better than I expected and I've been pleased I tried them.

The uniform books also look really good as a collection on a shelf - my Persephone Books bookcase is my pride and joy, and I love how my new books from Foundry Press look. 

The books from the British Library Women Writers series are another example of a house style looking stunning when put together, and these are more like the books that sparked the debate, in that they are all different colours but uniquely form part of a series via their branding. My love of the style has led me to buy all of these books as soon as they are published, despite only having read about a quarter of them so far. 

I'd be very upset if any of these publishers changed their style and started to put illustrated scenes on their books, and I really dislike the more mass market books that Persephone have produced 

I'd never have picked this up off a display, unlike the grey covers

Some readers in the online discussions made the point that when publishers just use one style of cover it can put them off picking a book up. The reasoning here is because they've read one from that style before and disliked it and so assume that they won't like anything from that publisher/series.

This argument resonated with me far more...

Although they come from a whole variety of publishers books in certain genres are all given similar (and interchangeable) covers. I am guessing that the aim here is for people (possibly not frequent readers) who have enjoyed a book to easily find another one they've enjoyed.

For me however they act as a warning that they are books that aren't to my taste and I instantly gloss over them and look for the more intriguing covers!

Loosing imaginative covers for completely plain one has the downside that publishers will no longer need as many cover artists and designers, but also it might just stop the rise of the AI designed book jacket, and also images that in no way represent what is the content of the book...

We do all judge a book by the cover, and no book jacket is going to be loved by everybody - just like its contents won't appeal to everyone - but it has to be said that I am with the minority here. I like the plain covers and the distinct publisher brands as these introduce me to some real surprised, and in a way I even like the distinctive genre branding as it helps me avoid books I know I'm likely to not enjoy!

Now enough pontificating about the look of books and time to read some - it is now August and thus time for one of my favourite campaigns - Women In Translation Month!

Micro Review 20 (2025) and some related thoughts

 

That Librarian by Amanda Jones (Bloomsbury USA)

I've always been interesting in the concept of book banning as it is a phenomenon I didn't come across very often as a child/teenager. I was very lucky to have parents who let me read whatever I wanted and when a librarian (shall we say) questioned one of my choices my dad insisted I be allowed to borrow it.

When I was working on events within the library service we would try to tie in with the ALA Banned Books Week to highlight the books that had been challenged and we did also try to hold events around the issue.

I'm lucky that at present the book banning movement hasn't got too much traction in the UK but after reading about the challenges that Amanda Jones had faced (and is continuing to face) on social media and in the news I was very keen to read her book about the issue.

I read it several months ago now, and have been trying hard to process everything and to also to work out how to talk about it sanely and without descending in to a full on rant.

Yesterday changed that with the news that a county council in the UK has started to remove books that they don't thing are appropriate after complaints from just one customer. And just as in Jones' case the person removing the book isn't even from the district where the book was seen...

There is more to the story than the headline as the book in question was never catalogued as a children's book and it wasn't on display in a children's section (shelves in the adult area of the library can be multi-coloured too you know!) but the posturing and celebrating of this book removal is vile and definitely the thin edge of of the wedge.

All I can say is read up about book banning in America and especially about the struggles that Jones has faced - really rub salt in the wound and borrow her book from the library! And above all when you see stories like this protest however you can.

My dad was posting Pastor Niemoller's poem a lot yesterday and he's right - if we don't protest these small acts where will it go, and who will stand up for freedom?

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Reading the World update

 

My scratch off map is becoming far more colourful and my reading life is really expanding.

While I am reading a lot of books in translation or from authors living in a country I am also counting some travel writing in my project.

Some of these been accounts of journeys made in locations (Sovietistan by Erika Fatland) and some of the books have been from people who've settled in an area and are writing about their new lives (In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah) and while I do want to read in translation where possible my bank balance isn't bottomless and I don't want to narrow my borders as I am trying to explore them!

Because my map does mark all of the US states, Canadian provinces, and Australian states I have expanded my challenge to include a book from each of these  - but I do wish that India and China has also been split up as they are such diverse countries it feels wrong to just read one book from these places and cross off the whole country!

This mix of fiction/translation/non fiction is working well for me so far and it has to be said that as this is the way Daunt Books organise their travel sections I feel I am in good company with this approach.

Some of the top reads from the past 6 months have been:

• Sovietistan: A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan by Erika Flatland. Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
• Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Zanzibar and Tanzania) 
• Chopping Onions on My Heart by Samantha Ellis (Iraq)
• My Pen is the Wing of a Bird (Afghanistan) Translated from various languages by a variety of people.
• The Wager and the Bear by John Ironmonger (Greenland)
• Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts (California, Nevada, Arizona & Utah)
• That Librarian - Louisiana 
• Between Two Rivers - Moudhy Al-Rashid (Mesopotamia)

Not all my reading has been focussed on this project and my top six books so far this year are:

• Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid
• Mythica by Emily Hauser
• Florrie by Anna Trench
• When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
• The Eights by Joanna Miller
• The Wager and the Bear by John Ironside

Picking these books was great fun - I scanned down my book journal and picked the ones that have stayed with me the most for whatever reason and/or are the ones I've recommended to other people the most!

Micro Review 19 (2025)

 

My Pen is the Wing of A Bird - by 18 Afghan Women with various translators. (Quercus)

In my quest to read a book set in every country in the world I've quickly noticed that when it comes to countries with a violent recent history it is easy to find books by people writing only about the violence either in history/politics or fiction and far too often these come from a Western (saviour?) point of view.

On a recent trip to the wonderful travel section in Daunts Marylebone I was really excited to find some very different types of writing and as soon as I saw this one - written at great risk by Afghan women - I knew that I had to have it.

It is a collection of short stories about life in Afghanistan under many different rulers over the past 100 years and for me I found it really lifted a curtain into everyday lives, and showed the repeated oppression women, but to a certain extent all Afghanis, have experienced.

As with all collections there are some stories that didn't appeal as much to me, and just because this book is by women do not for an instant think that it won't show all aspects of life including some pretty graphic violent scenes.

Some stories did make me smile, others moved me almost to tears, and plenty appalled me or made me angry. 

Sadly I can't see life getting better for anyone in the country anytime soon but I hope that the authors (and translators) of this book remain safe and that the book is read widely. 

Rwanda is another book where I've not wanted to read (directly) about the Genocide in 1994 and again Daunts came to the rescue with a book by a Rwandan author focussing on the traditional legends of the country which I'm looking forward to reading a lot.

Oops

 

Well we all knew that the regular posts and reviews from the start of the year wouldn't last but I didn't mean to let nearly 2 months go past without posting!

I guess that the silence does sort of say it all in some ways - it has been a while since I read a book that I have wanted to tell everyone about instantly...

I've been reading lots still, and thanks to a couple of trips to the wonderful travel departments at Daunts Bookshops my reading the world project is really progressing - more updates about that at the end of the month where I'll take stock of where I am after half of 2025.

The Women's Prize for Fiction and Non Fiction winners are announced later this week, and while the fiction shortlist didn't inspire me to go on and read everything I did read the whole of the Non Fiction shortlist. 

I can honestly say that I wouldn't be upset if any of them won as I really enjoyed them all - even Neneh Cherry's autobiography was a good read. (Her song Seven Seconds was *everywhere* when I was doing my A Levels as and a result I've never been a fan but the book has made me go back and listen to some of her other stuff.)

Here's hoping that some excellent books cross my path soon - it can't be long until the Waterstone's Debut Prize list is announced and that sent some real gems my way...

Micro Review 18 (2025)

 

The Eights by Joanna Miller (Penguin Books Ltd.)

Wow! What a book. I can't remember the last time I stayed up past midnight because I just *had* to finish a book.

Set just post WW1 this book follows the residents of corridor 8 at St Hugh's College, Oxford as they start their university studies. They are among the first cohort of women students to be granted full student status and who will be awarded their degrees fully at the end of their course.

The four women, like all students in halls of residence, couldn't be more different but a bond is forged between them and they become close friends as their first year unfolds. All of them have secrets and past traumas to overcome - but none of these feel unreal or too modern and I just felt like I was a fly on the wall of 1920s Oxford.

The legacy of both the suffrage campaigns and World War One loom large and you really feel just how the impact of the latter in particular affected everyone in some way or another.

I see this book as a wonderful female centric companion to In Memoriam by Alice Winn, and also to Pip William's Bookbinder of Jericho  and even Jessica Swale's play Blue Stockings.

One thing Miller does so well is to bring in real life people into the story without it feeling like a name drop or research being crowbarred in to the plot - the story is just brilliant and I think it is another that will end up on my 'best of' lists at the end of the year. I really hope that it does well and appears on lots of prize lists!

Many thanks to Net Galley and Penguin for my advance copy of this novel

Micro Review 17 (2025)

 

The Wager and the Bear by John Ironmonger (Fly On the Wall Press)

Greenland has been in the news a lot lately but not because of the polar bears or anything similar - just politics, and thanks to map projections it also features large on my map where I'm marking my reading journey so it was fortuitous that I saw lots of people talking about this book recently.

The Wager and the Bear starts gently with a slightly drunk student confronting his local MP in a Cornish pub regarding climate change. The MP is a real climate sceptic and Tom, the student, is more passionate about the planet especially when confronted with inaccurate statistics from the MP. The pair's conversation is being filmed and live streamed on social media however and what starts as a drunken bet becomes a bête noir for both characters as they spend the next 50 years crossing paths in the UK and Greenland as they try to persuade each other of their view points.

To say more about the book will spoil it for readers but I found it a very clever read, and far more effective at showing that climate change is real than a lot of other cli-fi novels and drier non fiction books. 

I recognise a lot of the arguments used in the book and having a time frame that does encompass a human life span (rather than generation spanning apocalyptic novels) really added an extra dimension to this book. While it starts in the here and then moves forward in time it always felt very real and not too fantastical or presenting of an unreal possible future.

There is a lot of humour in the book, as well as genuine peril and I found it a thoroughly absorbing read that I've already recommended to others.

Micro Reviews 15 and 16 (2025)

 

Agent Zo by Clare Mulley (Orion Publishing) & The CIA Book Club by Charlie English (HarperCollins)

Thanks to the Women's Prize for Non Fiction list I picked Agent Zo up from the library recently and was immersed in her (and Poland's) story of the Second World War and after. 

While we 'know' that Britain went to war in 1939 because of the Nazi invasion of Poland after this event very little made of Poland's war - a paragraph or two about the Warsaw Uprising maybe and possibly a mention of the horrific massacre at Katyn but that's about it. Once the Iron Curtain fell Poland disappears again until the rise of Solidarity and eventually the fall of Communism.

Agent Zo really fills in the gaps as well as adding so much more detail. In focussing on the work of the women's resistance movement we get a new view of war and perhaps a more honest look at the treatment of women in the SOE movement.

What was most shocking about this book was the way that Poland was treated towards the end of the war by 'Allies' and how this fed into the second half of the twentieth century and how Poland became one of the most repressive Communist states.

Which leads on nicely to English's The CIA Book Club which while it does cover some of the same history as Zo focuses far more heavily on the 1980s in Poland and how the CIA helped the resistance movement in Poland (and their supporters in the West) keep the dreams of freedom alive via the printed word.

This book wasn't quite as engaging as Agent Zo and at times read more like a thriller than an exploration of how powerful words are. However as some of the same people from Zo appear in this book it felt very much like a surprise sequel. It also rounded out the time covered in Mulley's book briefly - once Agent Zo had more or less retired - and showed how Communism in Poland was overthrown.

While both of these books cover the past there is a lot that the current world could learn from reading these - especially how carving up a nation without including that country in the negotiations - is a very bad idea with longer lasting repercussions than are even dreamt of.

If you only want to read one book about Polish history then I would have to say go for Agent Zo, but The CIA Book Club really does add to that story. 

Micro Review 13 & 14 (2025)

 

Books About Books - my kryptonite.

I love books about books - whether its the history of books and publishing, the history of printing, author biographies, collated book reviews, and of course books that fall under the broad 'bibliotherapy' heading.

2025 has started strongly in this field with the wonderful Just My Type that I reviewed a little while ago and then two splendid books about reading journeys.

The first was Read Yourself Happy by Daisy Buchanan (DK) - which is  an interesting more modern approach to a bibliotherapy book. Buchanan would pick an emotion and then share details of her life to explain the choice and talk about the books she read to help with these times. What made it more than a typical self help bibliotherapy book was the personalisation and also the inclusion of all sorts of books - there was no hint of  'good' or 'worthy' books being prioritised, just books from all genres and times that gave Buchanan solace and then some similar books that might also work.

It is a book that can be read from cover to cover like any non fiction book, but is also one that you can dip in and out of as and when the mood strikes.

The second book is Bookish by Lucy Mangan (Vintage) and this is a much more of a straightforward autobiography from the author but told via the books she was reading at each stage of her life. Very much like her previous book (Bookworm) I felt like I was looking in a mirror as I was reading (at least up to the last quarter anyhow). So many of Mangan's life choices and career moves match my own and we were definitely reading a lot of the same books through the late 1990s and in to the 2000s. In fact I'm pretty sure that at some points we must have been in the same second-hand bookshops around Norfolk fighting over the same titles!

Mangan's life has diverged from mine more now, and by the end of it I was moved to tears several times - and also green with envy at her home book-nook. I also have another huge stack of titles to revisit at some point.

Micro Review 12 (2025)

 

The Green Kingdom by Cornelia Funke & Tammi Hartung (illustrated by Melissa Castrillon) Dorling Kindersely.

Right now the world feels a very strange (and scary) place and I am having trouble losing myself in novels, which does seem counterintuitive I know! Even old favourites and comfort reads aren't working so I was very pleased to become instantly immersed in The Green Kingdom.

This is a delightful middle grade novel and while it is packed full of action it is also incredibly gentle and positive.

Caspia's plans for a summer spent hanging out in the wilds of her hometown with her two best friends are scuppered when her parents announce that they will be spending the summer in Brooklyn, due to the work and learning opportunities that they have been offered.

And that is the absolute maximum of threat/peril that happens in the book. Caspia's parents are happily married and not working through any issues and Caspia has only the normal worries of an on the cusp of adolescence girl and even her friendship triangle is mostly issue free.

What we get instead is an exploration of friendship, and cross generational friendship, and of the plant world that can be found even in the heart of a huge city. Caspia comes across some old letters from the family who own the apartment the family are renting and from these unfolds a botanical treasure hunt which spans the world.

In the best sense of the word this is an old fashioned story, and one that can be read and enjoyed by so many people. It reminded me a lot of Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea (but with less peril) and also of Elizabeth Enright's series about the Melendy Family. 

In fact it was so gentle that perhaps my biggest criticism is the freedom Caspia has to wander around a New York Borough - even with a mobile phone this lack of supervision did worry me a bit, although removing parents from a narrative to make the story is of course very common!

The botanical details and illustrations are as important as the story in this book and it is absolutely delightful. I was a huge fan of Funke when I was working as a bookseller and I am so pleased to rediscover her with such a gem.

Prize speculation

 

The Women's Prize for Fiction 2025.

Hot on the heels of the non fiction longlist the 2025 Women's Prize for fiction longlist will be announced on Tuesday and I've seen lots of social media speculating on what might make the cut (and lots of 'dream' longlists) so I thought I would join in.

Thanks to a list that has been pulled together on Good Reads (which you don't need an account to see) and careful scrutiny of my reading journal I think that I've read 42 books that are eligible for the prize, as well as having two on my to be read pile as they aren't out yet, and another two that I abandoned.

At first I was quite surprised how few books that I read last year were eligible and then I looked more closely at the rules for the prize:

• Books have to have been published between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025
• No translations
• No short stories or novellas
• The book has to have been published in the UK between the above dates

My reading choices last year wiped out a huge chunk of eligible fiction books as I read so much in translation, and my rediscovery of novellas and short stories eliminated another handful. Plus I read a lot of non fiction...

Anyhow the longlist will comprise 14 books this year, and while I can recommend many of the books I read last year I don't think that a lot of them would be deemed 'prize worthy', indeed looking at the Good Reads list I've read very little of the last year's 'literary' output!

I've created a list of 10 books I'd like to see on the list but I don't think that I'll have a great hit rate

Books on my list, in no particular order:

• There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
• The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable
• The Silence in Between by Josie Ferguson
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
• Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
• The Glass Maker by Tracey Chevalier
• Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts
• Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
• Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
• Le Fay by Sophie Keetch