Bookish Travels in Ulm, Germany

Summer holidays are over and so is the summer. But instead than focusing on the inevitable change of seasons, it is better to keep the heart and mind open for new adventures. Like the adventures that are always guaranteed within the pages of a book. 

When on the road, I am always trying to get my serve of local bookstores, as I am curious to discover new authors as well as the bookish trends outside Berlin. 

While in Ulm, I had the chance to discover two cute bookstores, that I am happy to introduce you to.

Aegis Bookstore

Esconced in the historical city, Aegis is an independent bookish institution sharing its love for books since 1946. It also hosts a café.

The place inside is small but well organised, with a fine selection of books by German authors. On the website, every year, they feature the nominees for the Deutscher Buchpreis, one of the most prestigious literary lists, alongside the more classical Georg-Büchner Preis. 

A cosy ambiance and knowledgeable personnel.

Kulturbuchhandlung Jastram

Very close to the historical cathedral, Kulturbuchhandlung Jastram is a very active bookstore. Very much culturally oriented, it hosts regularly debates with authors reading from their books, as well as discussions on book-related topics.

You can order your books of choice online.

Since this June, there is a new ownership who took over, after 34 years, so maybe this change will reflect into the bookstore profile as well.

Ostfriesen Sturm by Klaus-Peter Wolf

 

There is a lot to be said about the very diverse and multi-faceted world of the German krimi, a genre that due to linguistic limitations is mostly confined to a German-speaking audience. Personally, I am always grateful to my language skills allowing me to discover so many authors and topics that do help me better understand my country of choice as well. 

In addition to the diversity of the topics, the German krimi are usually geographically defined. There are series set in a specific part of Germany, and therefore a full understanding may require some local knowledge as well. Thus, it also attracts a very clear local audience, with bookstores displaying the latest by local authors. 

As I am also a traveller, and Germany is my favorite destination for a weekend break or a long family vacation, Discovering new places I want to visit through the pages of a crime story may be my newest hobby, but this is what books can be also about.

This week, I started my first from a series by Klaus-Peter Wolf set in East Frisia - Ostfriesen - a region on the Nordsee coast in Lower Saxony. I had access to the book in audiobook format read by the author himself. It is one of the many books in the series set in this part of Germany, the 16th case for the fierce investigator Ann-Katrin. However, compared to the other characters in the book, ferocious ones, she is not necessarily playing a too big role in the development of the narrative, thus would have to check other books as well.

A couple of serial crimes are happening, and for a long time, there is only a teenage boy the main suspect. Are the victims connected with his family, maybe with his mother? This idea is becoming a high possibility as the mother herself is confessing one murder. As the victims are men, maybe there is a revenge by an extremist feminist? 

The story takes place during Corona times, hence the extra anxiety ambiance, and there are many references of political life - daily Saxony political diversity - which increases the suspense. It is a different Germany one may encounter, but a realistic one. The presence of a paid killer, actively and ingenously catching his victims, adds more confusion that may not be clarified even after the story ends. It ends as it starts, on a dark, suspenseful note. 

Ostfriesen Sturm is a dark crime novel, with bad characters and taking place in an ambiance of anxiety and distress. It is a masterclass in creating suspense and confusion, connecting the dots of time, space and characters in many unexpected ways.

As usual after a German krimi marathon, I can only wish that there are more and more works belonging to this genre translated into English, because more and more crime novel readers may get to know the outstanding skills of German authors. Hope I can introduce more and more such books soon. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

Real Crime in Germany

 

There is a crime-series on Netflix, 4Blocks, based in Neukölln, Berlin, featuring serious against-law&order entanglement of some local families. Those familiar with real-life Berlin stories, not only Sunday brunch spots in the city - also lovely - may acknowledge some inspiration. In every big city, there is an underground life happening, far away from the glossy views on the city, although when you are taking some of your cute photos you may actually found yourself in one of those places used as a money laundering machine. Ironically, more than one actor playing in the series do have serious legal issues.

The book I´ve read recently - in the original German language - has to do with a different, more serious story. Der Perser, written by Kassra Zargaran together with Nils Frenzel, features Zargaran´s life with the Hells Angels, which is of course more than a Harley Davidson motorcycle fans club. Born in an Iranian and Chilean-German family, longing to belong - others would have joined a religious cult - he thought have found his place with a group with clear orders and rules, and a so-called code of honour. In fact, it looks like nothing more than honour among thieves, of all things. 

The book has a lot of details about different deals and connections, which may explain a certain social and underground ongoing life in Germany. The fact that one Hells Angels member was involved in an anti-semitic attack recently, makes more sense after reading this book, because it shows the deep criminal tendencies and connections of such groups.

It also shows that being in or out such structures is a matter of choice, and it is never too late to say ´no´ and change your life. Such a life turn may spare the life of other people as well.

Recommended if you are looking for a real crime book with a realistic touch.

Rating: 3 stars

Between Friends and Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi

I like controversy in moderate dosis, especially controversial characters, because it reveals unexpected connections and character threats. Controversial characters make the story as well. I like to watch, eventually react and share my opinion on real-life controversies. But for a very long time I haven´t been so invested in the life and whereabouts of a literary character as happened recently while reading Between Friends&Lovers by Ghanaian-American author Shirlene Obuobi. 

Dr. Jojo is a doctor turned influencer, a sex and relationship advisor without a relationship on her account, 29 and hard worker. She is in love with Ezra, the heir of a rich family that consider her like their own daughter. But, as expected, her glamorous life is different outside the camera. She struggles with depression, the estrangement from her distant mother, her fear of being abandoned. Meeting Mal, a successful writer struggling his own relationship issues, took her out of her comfort zone, but is she really ready to give up on Ezra and switch her emotional investment to a healthier relationship, her first one? Being annoyed is good, it means the character is relatable.

I´ve lost the count how many times I almost virtually fought with Dr. Jojo. Honestly, it looked like so confusing sometimes, and her fixture of starting her relationship with the Mal, no matter what, was annoyingfor a 29-year old sex and relationship expert. Really felt annoyed, but my reaction had nothing to do with the writing, was just the consequene of a very realistic and relatable writing.

Shirlene Obuobi, herself a trained medical doctor, avoided stereotypes and medial fixture, allowing the story to unreveal itself, through interesting twists and surprising decisions. There is a feeling of freedom of choice in the air of this book, from Dr. Jojo´s decision to get back in touch with her mother and Ezra´s emancipation from his mother. It is like a coming of age for 20 something, which is also a possibility.

There are two voices of the novel, alternatively switching: Mal and Jo, which enlarges the story perspective. 

The story is set on the cruel background of the social media life, and this is another different view on the glamour we all dream to achieve one day. Again, another realistic view on a common topic, and so is the episode of Dr. Jojo´s depression. 

The book is set in Chicago, but there are not too many local and atmosphere references therefore the reference does not convene anything special. At least not for me.

I´ve read Between Friends and Lovers in just few days, fully enjoying the last days of summer holidays. I hope to have one day time to read her debut novel as well, and maybe her new books. She sounds as an interesting writer approaching with such a smart touch contemporary everyday topics of relationship, race and life mediated by social media.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Random Things Tours: A Hate Crime in Brooklyn by David G. Secular

Brooklyn is considered a beacon of multiculturalism on the US East Coast, but it comes also with risks and challenges. The diversity is a blessing, but in legal terms, it may be challenging as it can involve a conflict of different customs and interpretations of co-existence.

A Hate Crime in Brooklyn, the debut novel of the American-British criminal defense attorney and legal writer David G. Secular, explores such an episode. 

After a random interaction with a Black man, Sylvester Stanley, Sofia Hushemi, an Albanian immigrant, lost a precious ring. Precious both in terms of value and of prestige, as it was given by her brother-in-law, Victor, the kingpin of Albanian-American mafia. Her family connections may bring with a specific way of seeing the world, where things are rarely random and most probably things happen for a reason: sending a warning, possibly. Maybe, after all, Sylvester was not just a jogger crossing Prospekt Park. Shortly after he will be attacked and all the leads may go to Sofia, who now risks to spend the rest of her life in prison.

Although a debut novel, A Hate Crime in Brooklyn is not only using advanced legal knowledge, but also a very elaborated plot as well as characters. It feels like we may turn into detectives, trying to figure out the transnational mafia ties and the family allegiances, while understanding the enormous polarized media pressure. 

This is a recommended book to anyone interested in a crime story set in Brooklyn with a very different diversity touch.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

 

Random Things Tours: The Women of Biafra by Onyeka Nwelue

No matter which and whose war, women are always the first target and victims. It´s like instead of focusing on their man-to-man confrontation, the soldiers may abusively turn their interest to the weakest victims: women.

Inspired by the dramatic episodes happening during the Nigerian civil war, prolific author, scholar, musician and filmmaker Onyeka Nwelue, was able to summarize the destiny of women in war, through the story of Igbo widow Ngozika. Victim of brutality and sexual abuse, she is saved by a Yoruba soldier. Resilient, she will do her best to protect her children and empower other women who went through similar experiences. 

The Women of Biafra is telling brutal and unbearable truths. The author does not spare the reader from the horrible realities of war. Wars, any kind of them. But it succeeds to convene the tensions and the dark atmosphere of the war, the sense of dislocation and the dramatic encounters with an unforgiven destiny. 

At the same time, it also reaffirms the strength of women who survived the 1967 Biafra genocide by Nigerian soldiers. Although faced with survival, those women, represented by Ngozika, can find the strength to hope and inspire strength where hope and strength seem to be unfathomable.

The Women of Biafra is a book that leaves you empty at first, due to the strong emotional and tensed episodes shared. But at the same time, it is an example of resilience, fuelled by a super powerful and almost super natural grasp on life. 

Rating: 4 stars

French Braid by Anne Tyler

Ever since reading Anne Tyler for the first time - many years ago, in translation - I was charmed by the poignant brevity of the prose. Also a short stories writer, she can convene so much in just few words and sentences. Another thing I love about her books is the ways in which she is seizing the very soul of everyeday America. You will notice less or at all references to daily politics, but normal lives, touch by the historical or technological changes, but not strong enough to completely detour the sense and meaning of the story. This is at least what were my reading experiences until now.

French Braid is her latest, and it follows an inter-generational story of family relationships, estrangement and acknowledging of family roots. All at once, as it usually happens with families. 

One of the characters of the book, Greta says: ´This is what families do for each other: hide a few uncomfortable truths, allow a few self-deceptions. Little kindness´. And if any of us will think a bit more about our families, not far from two to three generations, would acknowledge this truth. That´s what happens with families in general, no matter where do you live and what your unique story is.

The family story - brief yet connecting the real dots to create a story that feels very relatable - starts in the 1960s and continues until far away into the Corona pandemics. I may accept that the first installment, set closer to our times, may not feel matching the rest of the story, as we may expect a linear storyline, but sooner we can place the episode within the larger story. Most of the story is set in Baltimore.

´Really, what does this family actually have to do with each other anymore?´ It may happen to any family, as particularly nowadays, the generational mobility is high and we may end up completely different persons as our grandparents and even our parents were. But somehow, the same way as a French braid comes together, we may belong to the same tree, even though looking or feeling differently.

French Braid may answer shortly worries and feeling about what does it mean a family nowadays.  How do we relate with people we are related by name or blood, without any other basis for connection. With humour, compassion and kindness, Anne Tyler is putting together a story from the America that relates no matter your geography.

I loved the story and may encourage me to re-connect with my old passion for American literature. This is also an example of empathy for our big bookish family of readers and writers.

Rating: 4 stars

Orenda Books Tours: Prey by Vanda Symon

 

Although my TBR list is getting longer by the day, I am always happy to return to authors whose writing and talent caught my attention. I am not good at keeping up with the series, but doing my best to follow up those who are really entincing for my literary tastes, particularly crime novels.

I had previously the chance to feature Vanda Symon on my blog, at least twice, published by Orenda Books, a publishing house which never disapponts. Her latest, Prey, continued the Sam Shepard series, with the unbreakable detective just shortly back from her maternity leave. Although part of the series, the book can be also read as a stand alone, but for sure, once you got to know the characters, you may need even more encounters.

Her task this time is delicate and complicate. She is supposed to investigate the murder of an Anglican priest in Dunedin, a case whose solution is very much affecting the personal prestige of one of her superior DI Johns. But as she is trying to move on with the investigation, there is a sea of secrets and mysteries that seem to surround the case. Including the disappearance of witnesses. 

The story is dense, difficult and very tensed, announced from the very beginning. Prey starts on a very dark and heavy mood that may be maintained every time the investigation is taking a different, unexpected turn. 

What I enjoyed reading was the unexpected direction the story took, until the very end. The turn of events is confusing which keeps the reader in suspense and alert mood. I forgot how many times I´ve tried to guess a solution or possible direction, each time without any pinch of success.

I also found interesting how Symon is offering Sam space to develop her own character, including by focusing on the struggle of motherhood and the gender balance at work and at home. The same when it comes to DI Johns who is having a main personal interest in solving the case.

Prey is a very good constructed story, with strong characters and a thrilling plot. I am definitely interested in following Sam´s new detective and life adventures. She is one of those characters that one may want to meet in real life as well.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rose and the Burma Sky by Rosanna Amaka

This year I´ve read more historical fiction than in the last 3-4 years and I am enjoying the magic of being taken to worlds from other times telling me stories. Besides the magic of storytelling, there is something else that keeps me interested in this genre that unfortunatelly I neglected too much before: it is the curiosity to discover new historical episodes or events that I was not at all aware of. Thus, such lectures nurture my historical interests and guide me towards researches in my usual field of professional interest.

Rose and the Burma Sky by Rosanna Amaka was my latest historical fiction read whose story and background era fascinated me at the same time. Obi, that will evolve from a schoolboy to an old experienced diplomat at the end, is one of the forgotten soldiers from the African continent who fought during the WWII. He is caught into an impossible love story with Rose, his childhood darling, a story also complicated by the colonialist struggles and the historical circumstances. 

I´ve found very interesting how Amaka weaved both the intense historical timeline - there is a lot of food for thought about the ways in which British colonisation in Nigeria changed the traditional structures, including through education, and forced the population to be part to a war that was not theirs - with the tragical love story. 

Both Obi and Rose are clearly portrayed and the historical entanglements that do cut short their love story do make sense within the story rationale. 

The first person personal account - as Obi is the main storyteller - brings you, as a reader, within the story in a very emotional way, particularly when it comes to the ups and downs of the relationship between the two. I felt very invested into the story, really wanting their relationship to succeed, but also starting to see this very much forgotten episode with completely different eyes, as well as global wars in general.  Obi was brought into the war by the desire to achieve a better financial and social status, although the promises were largely betrayed. The war promises wealth, but not many were able to survive in order to see how much they were lured into other people´s revenges. It is a thoughtful meditation on war that reminds actual.

As the story is focused the most on the two main characters, there are other figures presents in the story that I wished to see them more involved in the narrative, especially Little Rose, Rose´s daughter that although is growing up under the protection of Obi´s family, she is rarely present and hard to seize as a character. 

I´ve very much loved the story and I will be very curious to read out more about the Africans who fought during WWII. There is a recent interest in the soldiers from the French colonies who were active in the WWI - particularly in the French historiography - but it is so much to be written about the second world war as well.

A recommended read to any historical fiction lover interested in a new challenge, while following a very moving love story.

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho

Forget Crazy Rich Asians! Renee Goh, the cute and super smart character from The Friend Zone Experiment by UK-based Malaysian author Zen Cho is my newest imaginary literary friend. For life.

Willingly estranged to London from her super rich family based in Singapore, Renee is dedicating the best of her time building up her fashion and home decor business. Her famous Taiwan pop star cute boyfriend dumped her, she is getting back to work trying to do even better. (Which is the best way to survive a break-up, if you ask me). But there is old flame Ket Siong, from ten years ago, coming back into her life, completely by accident. Plus, her father, the owner of Chahaya, one of the most successful companies in Southeast Asia, also may challenge her to find a way to work together with her brothers, in view of a possible succession. And this Ket Siong, whom she would rather would prefer to keep him in the ´Friend Zone´, may have some secrets that can reveal unpleasant things about her family and their associates. And Renee should navigate all those difficult situations.

I literally devoured The Friend Zone Experiment, as it is such a complex story with so many diverse characters and so many topics - from corruption to family structures and business role models, as well as the challenges of young women in the wild world of business.

The main characters, Renee and Ket Siong, are both trying to build their own lives, navigating the complex web of family relationships and obligations, and their inner desire for independence. The story is going back and forth, at least for a while, allowing to fill in the gaps in the story that may otherwise confuse the reader about the real motivations behind various decisions of the characters, particularly the most important ones. 

The challenge of having so many topics to address may be overwhelming as it is very difficult to pace them and cover them properly. Zen Cho though, is in complete charge of the narrative, with unexpected twists along the way which awakes the interest of the reader every couple of pages (spoiler, the story includes also a crime/investigation story, besides the romance and family feud). In addition to this, it allows the characters to show their personality, take decisions and interact, and the dialogues play also an important part in the story. On the side, it may also offer some inspiring advice for women in business, showing the many diverse layers of this novel. 

After the rolling coasting of the story, I´ve found the ending soothing and optimistic. 

This is a book I will remember for a long time, and maybe nurture the hope that it will turned into a movie as well. The Friend Zone Experiment is a recommended read for anyone looking for a very entertaining and eventful good read.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

City on the Edge by David Swinson

Set in a Lebanon about to explode at the beginning of 1970s, City on the Edge by David Swinson is a special coming-of-age book, of growing up as a family member of a diplomatic family on the move.

Graham´s father is possibly working as a CIA-agent, covered by the diplomatic service. His inquisitive curiosity and taste for adventure that may get him into big trouble. His mother is Jewish, but his presbyterian father allows him not to disclose this identity, and before relocating, takes away his Star of David necklace. His sister previously died in a car accident, that he survived, while his mother was away, and his mother who is slowly sinking into alcohol around the clock and domestic fights.

Constant fights at home, new friendships and enemies on the street, mysteriuos encounters and his father´s unusual friends. He has his first sexual awakening while he is trying to decipher the complicated language of adults. His only comfort may be his dog.

City on the Edge can be read as an old spy story - it has the pace of it, for sure - but it has a nostalgic tone which is unique. The story is told in the voice of a teenager - although we are given some hints about what will happen next, so we know it is not a kind of child diary - but it keeps the external details at a minimum - Munich massacre against Israeli athletes, the growing regional instability. 

I may say that I got instantly caught by this book, and there is a beauty in the clear child´s voice. It sounds authentic and relatable to any child having once been dislocated due to their parents´ special jobs. Swinson himself is the son of a foreign serviceman and grew up in Beirut as well, hence some feelings and memories about people and places which are more described as places of memory than as researched topics. In my opinion, this is another strength of the book: the ways in which Graham assigns subjective memories for places, connecting them to events and encounters he experienced. Thus, the feeling of following a real time journey of a real human being, a growing up teenager.

I felt in love with the book instantly, and couldn´t stop reading it. There is a beauty in the raw and sometimes cruel adventures shared and this comes from the writing itself. A recommended read if looking for a good written book with a main child character with a voice to remember.

I will definitely check out other books by Swinson as well.

Rating: 5 stars

Simpatia by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón

´Los abandonar para annunciar que se marchan de este infierno´.

I am more than content to be able to follow the language promises I made myself at the beginning of this year. Out of which, improving my Spanish went perfectly well, with few hours the week dedicated to practice and improve the language. Thus, my easiness to read books in Spanish, that happens to coincide with my specific interest in topics and cultures using it as the main mean of communication.

Simpatia by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón is my second book I´ve fully read in Spanish. It is also my first book by an author from Venezuela. I have good friends from Venezuela, who had to leave due to the everyday pressures of dictatorship. One does not need to be politically active to decide that a country is not for you. It is enough to want to have a normal and decent life to realize that political power is disregarding its citizens, is stealing their lives for them, for the sake of the self-enrichment of a crony government, intensively helped to survive by other dictatorship of disgusting memory. What future such countries may offer to their citizen?

The reality of Venezuela is displayed in Simpatia by the dogs left behind after people left the country. They are abandoned as one abandons dear memories that cannot be taken over: the childhood house, the friends, the family. 

Ulises Kan is happy to hear that his wife, Paulina, left the country, and him too. Out of nowhere, he is assigned a mission that may help him keep the house he shared with his now ex-wife: creating a society that may take care of the strayed dogs, the patriotic dogs who are not leaving the Chavismo behind because they have nowhere to go. Thus, he got entangled with tragi-comical political encounters, and envious generals - as always in dictatorships, you cannot escape those random state interests no matter how much you want to stay out of it.

But the books is not about the dictatorship and does not have any surreptitious message, in the vein of many books written in the communist countries during the Cold War. Simpatia is first and foremost a book about everyday people and their lives, about how they live and why they leave and what they left behind. It is a simplicity hard to achieve while writing such books because it means one may left behind the grundge and frustration that definitely a dictatorship built. People who survived everyday dictatorships may see life with more cruel eyes.

Another advantage of such a non-ideologically focused stance is that the plot itself follows its own pattern, with twists that do follow the internal laws of the narrative, and not the already set premises, just because some arguments should be done.

Longlisted for 2024 International Booker Prize, Simpatia was one of my favorite books from the Booker´s list in a long time. I have already The Night by Calderón and cannot wait to start reading it in the next weeks.

From the point of view of the language, the level of difficulty is middle to complicated. The Spanish spoken in Venezuela may have its own particularities both in terms of vocabulary - marramucias, trickery, is my newest vocabulary addition - and sentence structure. I do have more Spanish books on my TBR and once finishing the book, with the help of a dictionary, and reading a sentence more than twice sometimes, I feel encouraged to continue my language journey.#

Rating: 5 stars

Terafik by Nilufar Karkhiran Khozani

It may be a topic of high interest to discuss why only in the last five years or so we have so many authors in Germany with a migration history sharing their stories or novels based on their personal stories. Today though I will rather focus on the positive side of the story: the more such stories the better to re-write (at least) the literary history, both in terms of topics and autorship.

Terafik by Nilufar Karkhiran Khozani is my latest discovery belonging to this emerging literary category in Germany. The author - as the main character of the book, who shares the same name with the author, Nilufar Karkhiran - is born in Gießen in a German-Iranian family. Terafik - a Persian pronunciation of the work Trafik, by adding vowels between two consonants - is the story of getting back to roots - she is even making various genograms and trying to learn and speak Persian. 

Her father, a convinced leftist, who even was a member of the SPD, German´s socialist party in the West Germany, went back to Iran after getting bankrupt. She broke any contact with her mother and built a life on her own, as a therapist in Berlin. While in Iran, she is visiting various relatives, trying to understand their life stories and eventually reconnect with her father, who remarried. 

It is a journey she took searching a homeland, a Heimat, as it is called in German. The novel is rather focused on telling the story than on building up a complex narrative of any kind, which is also fine, because it allows the narrative to expand. Some stories shall be told and there is no need to keep in mind complicated structures.

Terafik raises a lot of questions about identity and connection with homelands, creating an identity content through relationship with real people and while observing real life situations - for instance, when visiting a country that her mother avoided, also influenced by bestsellers like Not Without My Daughter, which at a certain extent influenced a lot the position towards visiting Iran within families with an Iranian relative, particularly when separating and fighting for custody rights.

Personally, I am very curious to read the next book by Karkhiran Khozani and hopefully I will not wait for too long.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Radio Sarajevo by Tijan Sila

More than ever, we talk so much about war(s) today. Wars that are ongoing, wars that are about to start, wars that may never finish. A war that may leave deep traumatic traces into the lives of those who survived it. 

Tijan Sila was a child as the war that torned apart the former Yugoslavia started. He grew up, coming of age, during those years, when colleagues and neighbours were overnight turning sides against people who they never asked which god they are praying too. Trauma is everywhere, war is everywhere, but one gets used with it. After a while, it may be completely normal to watch a bullet crossing your kitchen while reading a comics.

Radio Sarajevo is a short yet insightful memoir about what does it mean to deal with major life encounters, like hate or dead, as a child. The prose is clean of any embelishments, direct and relates to the voice of the children that are the most important characters in the book.

Sila moved with his family from Sarajevo to Germany, where he currently lives, and only returned 25 years after, on the occasion of the translation of one of his books into Bosnian. I had access to the book in the original German language.

If you are looking to better understand what happens with children in war zones, Radio Sarajevo is a tragical introduction to it. This is not the way to live. No one should grow up watching bullets killing their friends or their friend´s parents. 

This is a recommended read if you are looking to understand more about how the wars in former Yugoslavia affected everyday lives and the simple people who just wanted to live. Unfortunately, such books are more actual than ever. 

Rating: 4 stars

See You on YouTube

It´s been a very busy summer so far, with lots of travels, new projects, old projects getting intense, a lot of reflection and some ongoing rebranding of some blogs I am proud to contribute at. For all the wrong reasons, my social media strategies were a bit sloppy lately, and this summer I decided it is the right time to embark on a different new destination.

The truth is that I enjoy way too much writing, and therefore my all interest was vested particularly on honing my blog posts, improving my writing, and on the side, doing some photography. For my bookish blog, all those sides - part of a serious branding nevertheless - activities, especially the visual part, were largely ignored and therefore I may have missed some opportunities of sharing my love and passion for books and writing and languages.

With some serious rebranding of my travel blog and relocation&translation business, the time has come for my bookish baby to be more present on the visual front.

Therefore, as for today, I decided to open up a bookish YouTube channel. Which, no surprise, is called: @WildWritingLife. 

It is still a lot to do on the branding front: I need a logo and some videos and also still not sure 100% on my videographic skills - but learning hard, every day, how to improve them. But, the most important part: the decision to get active in this direction, was taken, and I cannot wait to share my video reviews and visual content around books and authors, libraries and bookstores. 

In addition to this, I am planning to be more active on Instagram - where also nonsuprisingly, I am posting as @wildwritinglife. Otherwise, you can find me on X (ex-Twitter): https://x.com/wildwritinglife and on BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/wildwritinglife.bsky.social.

You can also find me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4335525-ilana where I regularly update my current reading (very long) lists.

This is a massive re-branding and re-positioning I´ve done on my WildWritingLife baby in a very long time, and I am very excited about the heavy amount of work and learning waiting for me. But meanwhile, I cannot wait to offer more diverse and interesting content and offer more bookish inspiration and recomnendations.

Feel free to follow along and thank you for being part of my bookish story!

When the World Didn´t End by Guinevere Turner

I´ve heard Guinevere Turner speak for the first time as Frieda Vizel´s guest, talking about the cult she grew up into. One of the first things I´ve loved to hear from her was how writing was her way of being: through words, she was able to manifest her questions, and trying to understand the world. 

She repeats this life motto in her memoir, When the World Didn´t End, inspired by an article she wrote for The New Yorker, telling the story of her life. She grew up in the Lyman Family cult, considered the Charles Manson of the East coast. 

It is a very hard to read memoir, to be honest, because we do not expect so much violence and sexual abuse to be encountered at such a young age. Once she had to leave the cult and return to her mother, her life was turned into a constant hell, fuelled by her mother´s partner and her refuse to acknowledge that her daughter is more important than a man who anyway was cheating on her. Recently reading the story involving Alice Munro made me understand that, in fact, such situations are possible, no matter how high your intellectual level and prestige are considered. 

Instead of protecting her, her mother saw her as a potential competitor, although she was underage and unable to grasp with what was actually happening to her. This is in fact one of the many aspects I´ve loved about this book: how she is able to read a memoir as an adult, in the voice of an innocent child. It takes a lot of talent and deep knowledge of the person she used to be.

This is why, this memoir will not bring extraordinary knowledge about cults in America and general or any other theoretical background. Instead, it provides the reader a heartbreaking testimonies of how irresponsible adults may destroy a child´s heart.

I had access to the book in audiobook format, which makes the testimony even more emotional, as you can feel and hear the stories told by the adult she is now.

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: Pursued by Death by Gunnar Staalesen translated by Don Bartlett

There is no perfect summer without Orenda Books (there are some summer sales waiting for you, by the way). I missed a lot their good mixture of mystery, thriller and adventure, particularly those belonging to the ´Nordic Noir´ category.

This time, I am back to a Norwegian author that I had the chance to translate several time, an iconic figure in the Nordic and Norwegian literature, Gunnar Staalesen. He is considered one of the founders of the genre and his Varg Veum series continue since 1977! I was not even born then...

Pursued by Death, translated into English by Don Bartlett continues the series, with an installment where socio-political disputes do meet deep psychological observations. And, as usual, Veum is the right man at the right place to process all the information and get involved in solving complicated socio-political riddles.

Purely by accident, it happened to meet a youngster before he was about to attend a protest against a fish-farming facility. Soon, he will read about his disappearance, in newspaper articles trying to find his whereabaouts. Curious by nature, he will pay a visit to Solvik, the village where he was last seen, And also by accident, he may discover a corpse, maybe the body of a journalist who was too invested into researching, surprise, the same fish-farming topic?

With intelligence and dedication, and some smart inferences that may lead to solving two cases at once, Veum is able to dismantle a web of lies and deceit, figuring out details of intricated local politics and terrifying ways of action. Dark local politics and their perpetrators, a reversed image of the postcard ready images of the area around Bergen. 

I particularly got interested in the ways in which Staalesen reveals the micro-society, the human and social network of interests and ambitions, the greed and violence hidden under the appearance of peaceful landmarks.

Pursued by Death is a novel that you cannot put down, and you cannot stop thinking about it when it´s over. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: Everything You Have by Kate Ruby

 

Sasha Fulton is a successful woman, in control of her career and her personal life. Well, personal life maybe not exactly, as she may wish to have a child of her own, an addition to a family where she plays the role of a stepmother. Overachiever, she may need a relible right hand to take care of her administrative everyday life. And Jenna seems to be perfect for her role: humble, keen to learn, not looking for instant money gratification but looking rather to learn and add experiences. Maybe sometimes Sasha may see herself as she once was in Jenna. But is this assistant really the one who will smooth her daily agenda, or will just brutally end her dreams?

Everything You Have by Kate Ruby - the pseudonym for an award winning TV and drama producer - is a story of women envy and the smoking mirrors of the life in the field of communication and public relations. Hard to get in, difficult to climb the stairs and a permanent fight for maintaining oneself on the top. A fragile world where people like Jenna may have a humble beginning and many secret ambitions. 

I´ve read this book relating to many of the psychological layers of the characters populating this special professional world. Ruby is able to see through the lives and illusions of those people, especially women, not sparing any moment to create both characters and circumstances leading the reader towards a maze of emotions and unexpected thrilling turn of events.

The world of PR and communications it´s a perfect setting for a thriller and I am glad to have read this book. It is relatable, plausible yet has the mystery of novels, whose endings is hard to guess. A recommended book for anyone looking to mentally explore the intricacies of the glamorous world of communication and its monsters that it may create sometimes.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Corylus Books Blog Tour: Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir translated by Quentin Bates

It is my great pleasure to feature again on my blog and author and a publishing house that I had the chance to discover in the last few years. 

Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir translated from Icelandic by Quentin Bates is published by Corylus Books, a young and dynamic publishing house that until now never disappointed me. It was my third book by Pálsdóttir after Fox and Harm and I was delighted to meet again the ingenious team of investigators of Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún. 

Arnhildur, a recluse woman of habit is suddenly found dead in a cemetery, following a séance at a medium of compromised reputation. Survived by her disabled daughter, her case may challenge the investigators on one side, by her completely insignificant life and lack of social interactions of any kind, off- or online, but also by the mystery of her last day of life. What was she doing at a medium? 
Why she had her newspaper left open at a specific ad?

Estranged by her remaining family, stubborn, lonely. Arnhildur´s death will remain a mystery for several months, and the final solution - don´t hurry up to conclusions until you read the last line of the book - are example of how strong feelings may lead to dramatic decisions. Everything stays in balance at the border between control and lack thereof.

The solution is made of small fragments of truth spread over the story. Written in short installments, the novel unfolds as a roulette, with different characters, with more or less episodic presence within the story, being put on trial as potential culprits. Thanks to the investigators, more elements are added, and some terrible discovery will actually reveal hidden explanations of behavior, but will also bring on the forefront new potential suspects. 

The spiritual/medium part plays its own role in the story, although people who don´t believe in such out-of-this world connections may consider it overrated, but it definitely its important for the overall development.

´Shrouded´ means both wrapping for burial and concealing from view and both meanings do fit very well this story. What I also feel was special about the story was how it distributed the police team not only as characters assigned to solve the case, but as individuals with their own choices, emotional burden and family and relationship choices.

Shrouded is just another unique example of Icelandic noir, revealing the banality of everyday crime investigations. You should not be a serial killer to get your place at the table, as more often than not, crimes are committed and shrouded by all the ´normal´ reasons: your every hate, revenge, envy. A recommended summer read for the lovers of Noir, and curious to get another look into everyday challenges of human existence.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Meurtre à Raqqa by Yannick Laude

July was not a productive month for reading and writing, as school vacation activities only allowed me to focus on emergency work projects and trips. I usually read one book every few days, now I am struggling to finish a 200-page novel in one week or more. After finishing this post, I am supposed to go on a day-trip to a children-friendly place and to be honest, I cannot wait. Reading plays an important part in my life, but my life is made of way too many other pieces, and it is always on the move. Summer is a good time to reconsider your goals and breath a bit of freedom, and right now, I am working on some exciting projects, involving also probably an extension of my current blogging presence, All will be shared at the right moment, hopefully soon.#

One book that I finally succeeded to finish last month, that I started quite a long time ago, is in French, by a well-informed French author and political communication expert, Yannick Laude - Mort à Raqqa (Death at Raqqa, in my own translation). 

Set against the background of the rise of the Islamic State in Syria, it is a multi-layered story of love, betrayal, desire, corruption and Daesh. And indeed, it does have some sprinkle of pulp fiction. Merwan, one Kurdish policeman, whose wife is involved in protests against Daesh, with a brother working for the IS, is about to figure out the reasons of a crime involved a teenage girl and her family. 

Almost at the same time, he got involved - taken by the heat of overreacting to a presumed affair of his wife - with an attractive mysterious French woman, apparently seeking her militant husband. 

While looking for the culprit, he is personally going through a journey that moves along the lines of the dramatic political changes undergone by the society itself. And there are some surprises along the way, that may give him some new lessons in life and human nature. Even an experienced policeman still has some things to learn about.

Very well informed - I say it again, but I´ve rarely read recently books set in the region, so familiar with everyday life, including corruption and political versatility - Laude created the right ambiance for events to unfold, which gives a realistic outlook at the story. The note of authenticity is also magnified by the first person account, which connects even stronger the reader with the storyteller.

The pace is fast forward and continue to be so for the over 300 pages of the book. Each moment seems like an event in itself, fully shared with the readers. The many twists of the story do allow however discussions and reflections on serious topics, such as the ways in which the civil war affected the deep tissue of the Syrian society or the roots of indoctrination.

If you are looking for an eventful yet thoughtful political thriller and you are a French speaker too, this book is a great choice to finish the week. 

Rating: 5 stars