All book tips
Die Spange Mettler, Michel (The Brace)
Anton Windl is a veritable phenomenon. During an examination, a prehistoric dental brace is found under his gums. As a research expedition into his oral cavity unearths no further insight, dentist ...
A gyerek Háy, János
Yet that wasn’t what he became. He could have, but didn’t. The novel conjures up possible paths and visions of successful lives, but then leaves them not only unfulfilled but lets them succumb ...
A Breathless Hush in the Close Morgan, Ann
A Breathless Hush in the Close is Ann Morgan’s first novel and takes its title from Henry Newbolt’s well-known late nineteenth century poem Vitaï Lampada. The lines 'Play up! Play up! and ...
Der Wettermacher Weber, Peter (The Weathermaker)
Take the Toggenburg Valley, Zurich, the lake, and main train station - add a young protagonist with an ear for local dialects and legends who lies through his teeth about everything without ...
Durchleuchtung Schmatz, Ferdinand
A new and wild novel by the writer Ferdinand Schmatz: Durchleuchtung [Illumination]. Obviously if you grew up in Austria, it immediately makes you think of Durchleuchten-Gehen [‘getting yourself ...
The Good Plain Cook Roberts, Bethan
Some books are chic simply virtue of their setting. Such a one if The Good Plain Cook by Bethan Roberts. It is the summer of 1936 and a Sussex girl, Kitty Allen, is in search of more ...
The Alp Camenisch, Arno (Sez Ner)
Marvelling at the beauty of the mountain scenery, the tourists hike past the Alpine chalet in their red socks, stopping to take photos of the Alpine herdsman standing outside. Cleaning their ...
Bis auf die Knochen Ritte, Jürgen (Hg. von Jürgen Ritte)
The OuLiPo workshop and its best-known representatives, Queneau, Pastior or Perec are like a kitchen where language is constantly being cooked up. Therefore, it is no accident that the “workshop ...
Fuck you, Eu.ro.Pa! Esinencu, Nicoleta (Aus dem Rumän. von Helga Kopp)
“Everyday life in Moldavia is extremely brutal – if I had to explain how it is, one to one, I’d have to become even more coarse. We have a massive identity crisis, and we are Europe’s ...
Unsicherer Grund Neeser, Andreas
A narrator remembers a football game when he was at school, while he was silently watching a beautiful woman in the swimming pool. Or he goes to the theatre in the evening and his heart almost ...
Don Juan de la Mancha oder Die Erziehung der Lust Menasse, Robert
Don Juan is over the hill. All that he can now manage to do is look back at his life. Nathan has no desire anymore. And for the always groaning Viennese newspaper editor that is anything but a ...
Neunprozentiger Haushaltessig Maljartschuk, Tanja
Tanja Maljartschuk’s prose texts are accounts of broken lives in the rural province – for instance, in the village of Samagurka or in the street in the Murawjow-Batterie. People are lonely, ...
Räuberhände Heinrich, Finn-Ole
Janik’s parents are very good people: decent and fair in their actions. So it goes without saying that Janik’s friend Samuel can sleep over or even live at their house. Samuel doesn’t know ...
No God in Sight Tyrewala, Altaf
The Berliner Künstlerprogramm of DAAD writes about Atlaf Tyerwalas novel: Homesickness led this young Indian author to literature: born in 1977 in Mumbai (until ...
Giftige Kleider Scholl, Sabine
In freezing February, Sabine Scholl presents a mystery that takes place in summer, and whose main protagonist, Gina Sonnenfels, comes from Vienna, lives in Berlin, and has “a good nose for the ...
Buch der Dinge Šteger, Aleš
What do we know of things? What do we know of their secrets and motives that are only clear to those who are observant? Aleš Šteger is one of those people. His poetry volume “Knjiga reč” ...
Nkaah Stavarič, Michael
To make childhood the sole topic of a text is a hazardous undertaking. Michael Stavarič does it in his latest book – and the text is surprising, though it is hardly surprising that it is more ...
Durch und durch Gahse, Zsuzsanna (Passing through)
Zsuzsanna Gahse sits at the window – like E.T.A. Hoffmann’s cousin once sat at the corner window –and looks out onto the street. The street leads from east to west through the village of ...
Die Seelensucherin Fioretos, Aris
Aris Fioretos' fascinating novel Stockholm Noir – a much more fitting title for this tale of strange encounters and wrong perceptions than the German Die Seelensucherin ( The Soul Seeker ) ...
Invitation to the Bold of Heart Elmiger, Dorothee (Einladung an die Waghalsigen)
Born in 1985, Dorothee Elmiger makes a fascinatingly fearless debut as a novelist. «Einladung an die Waghalsigen» (Invitation to the Bold of Heart) explores paths that lie far away from the ...
Koala Bärfuss, Lukas
What reasons are there for committing suicide? And what reasons for deciding to live? Nothing about the story told in Lukas Bärfuss’s new novel seems normal. For the story culminates in an ...
Zone Enard, Mathias
In 2008, the French Arabic scholar and novelist Mathias Enard published the novel "Zone". His most ambitious and successful book to date, this epic work in one sentence over 500 pages tells of the ...
Stanice tajga Hůlová, Petra
To begin with, I have to admit that I found the photo on this book a bit confusing. The word “Taiga” in the title of Petra Hůlová’s novel is written with a small “t” (in Czech, only ...
Kalda Popović, Edo
Turbulent times lead to turbulent lives – and literature, which attempts to capture this turbulence. That is what the Croatian author Edo Popović’s novel, “Kalda”, is all about. The ...
Children's Literature
Children's Literature
