I really enjoyed The Director but I know what you mean. The Deserters (which I also liked) much the same - though the emotion came through more clearly on a second reading. Taiwan Travelogue was definitely more admired than enjoyed.
Having now read 10 of the 13 books on the International Booker prize long list, this would be my shortlist, with The Remembered Soldier likely to be there too.
The Duke has been my surprise discovery!
Glad to see The Duke there!
Having now read 10 of the 13 books on the International Booker prize long list, this would be my shortlist, with The Remembered Soldier likely to be there too.
My latest #InternationalBookerPrize2026 review is Taiwan Travelogue by Yan Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King, an intimate look at colonial attitudes:
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/t...
My latest #InternationalBookerPrize2026 review is Taiwan Travelogue by Yan Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King, an intimate look at colonial attitudes:
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/t...
"Even if the only effect is to remind them that there is still resistance out there, that not everyone thinks like the Führer…’
‘No,’ she says. ‘Not everyone. Not us.’
‘And there will be more of us, Anna. We will make more. We will inspire other people to write their own postcards."
Radz Pandit
New on the blog today, my thoughts on WOMAN IN THE PILLORY by Brigitte Reimann (tr Lucy Jones).
An excellent novella about a forbidden love affair between a young German woman and a sensitive Russian soldier during WW2. Humane, nuanced & quietly powerful 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/w...
Out today (in Australia!), Mieko Kawakami's 'Sisters in Yellow' (translated by Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio, review copy courtesy of Picador Australia) - see what I made of it in my review :)
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/31/s...
