Searching the bookshelves for something suitable for Novellas in November I came across Cities Without Palms, a 1992 novella by Sudanese-born author Tarek Eltayer. It’s a work of fiction about a journey born out of desperation, disease and famine. It’s the story of Hamza, a gentle young man from Wad al-Nar, a Sudanese village ravaged […]
November was the month of lost causes. All the grand ideas I had for Novellas in November, Non Fiction November and Reading Australia month pretty much evaporated. I did just about manage to read two novellas — Summerwater by Sarah Moss and ‘Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay. But the stack I’d originally […]
Signs Preceding The End Of The World is a strange book that seems to operate on several different levels. It’s partly a straightforward ‘real-world’ narrative of a quest that involves illegally crossing the border between Mexico and the USA. But Yuri Herrera’s narrative suggests that we’re in an unreal world, a mythical underground full of […]
November is going to be all about novellas but before I get stuck into that, let’s take a look at what I’ve been reading lately and what might be next in line. . What I just finished reading A River In Darkness by Masaji Ishigawa: I read this memoir to mark Novellas in November. It’s […]
Masaji Ishikawa’s memoir opens on a night when he stands at the edge of the Yalu river, waiting for the moment when it will be safe for him to cross. Behind him is North Korea, the country its leader has told him is “paradise on Earth” but which Ishikawa knows, from personal experience, is a […]