Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann Five words from the blurb: cow, relationship, man, abattoir, village I was drawn towards The Cow because it is set in a small Swiss farming village at a time when Swiss mountain dogs were used to herd cattle and pull milk carts. As the owner of a Bernese [...]
Posts under ‘1980s’
Restoration by Rose Tremain
Shortlisted for 1989 Booker Prize Five words from the blurb: King Charles II, Court, love, mistresses, grace Restoration is a special piece of historical fiction that manages to be entertaining whilst retaining plenty of period atmosphere. Set in 17th century England, the book follows Robert Merivel, a medical student, who finds himself inside the court [...]
Two Abandoned Nobels
Translated from the German by Joachim Neugroschel The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004 Five words from the blurb: Vienna, emotional, self-destruction, intensity, porn The Piano Teacher is an unrelenting, intense tale of one woman’s self-destruction. Erika is a piano teacher who lives with her controlling mother. [...]
The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
Five words from the blurb: killed, brother, unconventional, bizarre, cruel I have had The Wasp Factory on my shelf for a long time, but I’d been too scared to read it. How could I possibly enjoy a book about a child who enjoys murdering children and torturing animals? In a bold moment I decided to [...]
Empire of the Sun – JG Ballard
Winner of 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize Shortlisted for 1984 Booker Prize Five words from the blurb: Shanghai, British, boy, lost, war It is funny how we sometimes build up a picture of a book before we’ve read it, only to have all those expectations shattered once we begin. For some reason I expected [...]
The Periodic Table – Primo Levi
Translated from the Italian by Raymond Rosenthal Five words from the blurb: chemist, element, metaphorical, human, society Primo Levi was an Auschwitz survivor and the majority of his books focused on his experience in the concentration camp. This book is different in that the time in the concentration camp is barely mentioned, but instead we see [...]
![A SUITABLE BOY [A Suitable Boy ] BY Seth, Vikram(Author)Paperback 01-Oct-2005](http://images2.farmlanebooks.co.uk/2012/12/suit.jpg "A SUITABLE BOY [A Suitable Boy ] BY Seth, Vikram(Author)Paperback 01-Oct-2005")
