What did you read last month?

[nrh]

the winged histories, sofia samatar
kalpa imperial, angelica gorodischer
the storm lord, tanith lee
anackire, tanith lee

[---]

haven't read this much in one month in aaages

she came to stay (simone de beauvoir) - 8/10
let us believe in the beginning of the cold season (farough farrokzhad) - 8/10
a rebirth (farough farrokzhad) - 9/10
black aperture (matt rasmussen) - 7/10
it was never going to be okay (jaye simpson) - 10/10
girl, interrupted (susanna kaysen) - 8/10

[wba]

November 2022

Hägar the Horrible's Very Nearly Complete Viking Handbook “ Hägar der Schreckliche. Das /fast endgültige) Wikinger-Handbuch“ [translated by Hans-Joachim Ludwig] (Dik Browne / 1985 / USA / English / German)
Der Runenberg (Ludwig Tieck / 1804 / French Republic / German / German)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Acton Bell / 1848 / UK / English / English)
Emily L. [translated by Maria Dessauer] (Marguerite Duras / 1987 / France / French / German)
Schamlos. Das große Buch vom Kleinen Arschloch (Walter Moers / 2001 / Germany / German / German)

[nrh]

the white serpent, tanith lee
munky, b. catling
the inner room, robert aickman
earwig, b. catling
stormbringer, michael moorcock
sisters by the river, barbara comyns

all english somehow, beside the tanith lee...

and for comics two masterpieces -
one beautiful spring day, jim woodring
detention #2, tim hensley

[brian d]

Schamlos. Das große Buch vom Kleinen Arschloch

for me:
living (henry green) [reread] ****
day of the oprichnik (vladimir sorokin) ***
on monsters and marvels (ambroise paré) ****
the comic romance (paul scarron) ****
the legs of izolda morgan (bruno jasieński) [reread] ****

scarron is very good if anyone is into picaresque or early novels. the interpolated stories based on spanish novellas are really the only drawback. also read a book on ancient egyptian furniture. not as recommended.

[rischka]

constantly amazed i get to hang out with you people looking up scarron led me to madame de maintenon - secret wife of louis xiv and a pioneer of women's education - a huge influence on the society of revolutionary republican women as well as the original feminist movement of the enlightenment

also i've started reading the narrative of arthur gordon pym of nantucket thx for having me!

[brian d]

also i've started reading the narrative of arthur gordon pym of nantucket thx for having me!

as a lover of well-written, terribly plotted fiction, i hope for lots of updates on that masterpiece of wtf novels.

[...]

It is indeed a pleasure to have a place to hang out with people as weird in their interests as I am, but, c'mon, we're here thx to you as much as anything rischka. Can't imagine we'd have lasted this long without ya.

[rischka]

[Lencho of the Apes]

Yeah, what Greg said. You're the glue.

Add my name to the swelling chorus of Pymmers. I remember somehow being goaded into acting it out at my desk in HS French class, using only my hands and desktop props like pencils. Seems like I got as far as the abandoned ship with the seagull eating that guy's intestines before the teacher decided I was being disruptive. And I used to joke about going on tour with a puppet-theatre production of Pym. Not exactly kidstuff, but I didn't care. I wonder if I could get Jim Woodring to design the sets.

[wba]

Schamlos. Das große Buch vom Kleinen Arschloch

It actually delivers on what the title promises!
And it's also quite funny at times.

[brian d]

december

a wizard of earthsea (ursula k le guin) ****
el juguete rabioso (roberto arlt) ***
the tombs of atuan (ursula k le guin) ****
troubles (jg farrell) *****

light reading month in probably the lightest reading year in quite a few. no worries, though, found plenty of good books and had other things to do to fill my time.

[nrh]

the nice & the good, iris murdoch
artful, ali smith
the house in paris, elizabeth bowen
childhood, nathalie sarraute
a sundial in a grave: 1610, mary gentle

an odd year for reading, maybe. felt scattered, but then maybe the entire year just felt scattered. someone on twitter asked for a favorites list & this is what i put together at the time -

https://twitter.com/nrogershancock/stat ... 62529?s=20

[wba]

December 2022

Lumina ce se stinge “Der besessene Bibliothekar“ [translated by Richard Reschika] (Mircea Eliade / 1934 / Romania / Romanian / German)
Passing (Nella Larsen / 1929 / USA / English / English) ♥
The Business Minister (Henry Christopher Bailey / 1920 / UK / English / English)
Call Mr. Fortune (Henry Christopher Bailey / 1920 / UK / English / English) ♥
Tyttö taivaan laiturilla “Das Mädchen auf der Himmelsbrücke“ [translated by Maximilian Murmann] (Eeva-Liisa Manner / 1951 / Finland / Finnish / German) ♥
Winnie-the-Pooh (Alan Alexander Milne / 1926 / UK / English / English)
Schinel “Der Mantel“ [translated by Felix Gaber] (Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Gogol / 1842 / Russia / Russian / German)

[wba]

January 2023

The Highwayman (Henry Christopher Bailey / 1915 / UK / English / English) ♥
Samson i Nadežda “Samson und Nadjeschda“ [translated by Johanna Marx, Sabine Grebing] (Andrej Kurkow / 2020 / Ukraine / Russian / German) ♥
Viaggio nel sangue “Großes Feuer“ [fragment / translated by Maja Pflug] (Cesare Pavese, Bianca Garufi / 1946 / Italy / Italian / German) ♥
Divchyna z vedmedykom “Das Mädchen mit dem Bären“ [translated by Ganna Gnedkova, Peter Marius Huemer] (W. Domontowytsch / 1928 / Soviet Union / Ukrainian / German)

[nrh]

the rider on the white horse (nyrb collection), theodor storm
moderan (1971 avon version), david r. bunch

comics -
dear mother & other stories, bhanu pratap
schappi, anna haifisch
through the valley with dead folks, tim truman
puke force, brian chippendale
the lone ranger & tonto, tim truman & joe r. lansdale

as mistake to start the year off with short fiction, which always takes me ages to get through no matter the quality (and although i did love moderan, it is...a lot all at once).

but a great month for comics, haifisch is a new favorite and chippendale an old one.

[rischka]

i read lolly willowes and thinking of becoming a witch

[wba]

i read lolly willowes and thinking of becoming a witch

That one's been watching me from its shelf and wandering into my hands for 2 months now, beckoning me to read it.

[brian d]

haha lolly willowes is fantastic!

cruelty (roald dahl) [8 stories, ranging from meh to very good] ***
the conference of the birds (attar of nishapur) *****
the letters of abélard and héloïse **
the farthest shore (ursula k le guin) ***
gates of freedom and other essays (voltairine de cleyre) ****
his master's voice (stanisław lem) *****
the anarchist roots of geography (simon springer) ****
the novellas of kleist and prince friedrich of homburg ****
maria wutz (jean paul) ****

[nrh]

lolly willowes!

how is the printing quality on the subliminal books?

[---]

i read again??????

no new land (m.g. vassanji) - 9/10
i pass like night (jonathan ames) - 9/10
you are enough: love poems for the end of the world (smokii sumac) - 7/10
recitatif (toni morrison) - 9/10
the briefcase (hiromi kawakami) - 10/10
native son (richard wright) - 10/10
heart berries (terese marie mailhot) - 9/10

[brian d]

lolly willowes!

how is the printing quality on the subliminal books?

it's good. seems like they shifted a bit from when they started. the early ones (like maria wutz) have the quirky contra mundum vibe, so they used small roman numerals for page numbers, that kind of thing. the later books are more standard looking. but the paper, binding, and print all seem good.

[brian d]

tehanu (ursula k le guin) ****
deception (roald dahl) [around 10 stories] ****
biographical recreations from the cranium of a giantess (jean paul) ****
las catilinarias (juan montalvo) *****
three essays (peter kropotkin) *****
the method of freedom (errico malatesta) ****
parable of the sower (octavia butler) ***

[nrh]

the etched city, k.j. bishop
snow, john banville
hollow, b. catling
the jaguar hunter, lucius shepard

[---]

the autobiography of malcolm x (malcolm x, alex haley) - 10/10
bright dead things (ada limon) - 9/10
beloved (toni morrison) - 10/10

[wba]

February 2023

Gang durch das Ried (Elisabeth Langgässer / 1936 / Germany / German / German)
Lolly Willowes or The Loving Huntsman (Sylvia Townsend Warner / 1926 / UK / English / English)
Die Mädchen auf der Piazza (Alfred Petto / 1958 / West Germany / German / German) ♥
Dickens and Prince (Nick Hornby / 2022 / UK / English / English)
Jan Himp und die kleine Brise (Hans Leip / 1934 / Germany / German / German) ♥

[Zynab]

the case against satan, ray russell
the madman of bergerac, georges simenon
the opal and other stories, gustav meyrink (my favorite)

[brian d]

two stories [the wondrous new year's eve company; the night-thoughts of obstetrician walther vierneissel on his lost fetus-ideal] (jean paul) ***
anarchism and education (juith suisa) ***
mutual aid (peter kropotkin) *****
caleb williams (william godwin) ****
the modern school (francisco ferrer) ****

[---]

sister outsider (audre lorde) - 10/10
the black unicorn (audre lorde) - 9/10
despair (vladimir nabokov) - 9/10

[wba]

March 2023

Kino unter Druck (Dominik Graf, Lisa Gotto / 2021 / Germany / German / German)
Das Allerheiligste (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German) ♥
Motel Geilenkirchen (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German) ♥
Bewitched (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German)
Die Nacht der lebenden Leichen (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German) ♥
Eine Zeit (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German)
The Scapegoat (Daphne du Maurier / 1956 / USA / English / English) ♥
Ein Regenschirm für diesen Tag (Wilhelm Genazino / 2001 / Germany / German / German)
Evas Zimmer (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German)
Die harte Schule (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German)
Gaucho (Silvia Szymanski / 1999 / Germany / German / German) ♥
Il cimitero di Praga “Der Friedhof in Prag“ [translated by Burkhart Kroeber] (Umberto Eco / 2010 / Italy / Italian / German)
Frank Brabant entdeckt Karl Otto Hy (Nikolas Werner Jacobs/Frank Brabant/Roman Zieglgänsberger / 2023 / Germany / German / German)