Tag Archives: Marion Poschmann

Man Booker International Prize 2019 shortlist

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shortlist

#MBI2019

The Man Booker International Prize 2019 shortlist was just announced a few minutes ago!
As announced at the beginning of March, I’m part of the Shadow Panel Judges (with these amazing people!) this year, and you can see I have reviewed most of the longlist titles!

The official longlist was:

Author (Original Language –Country/territory), translator, title (publisher/imprint)

  1. Jokha Alharthi (Arabic / Omani),  Marilyn Booth, Celestial Bodies (Sandstone Press Ltd) – READ
  2. Can Xue (Chinese / Chinese), Annelise Finegan Wasmoen, Love In The New Millennium (Yale University Press)
  3. Annie Ernaux (French / French), Alison L. Strayer, The Years (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  4. Hwang Sok-yong (Korean / Korean), Sora Kim-Russell, At Dusk (Scribe, UK)
  5. Mazen Maarouf (Arabic / Icelandic and Palestinian), Jonathan Wright, Jokes For The Gunmen (Granta, Portobello Books)
  6. Hubert Mingarelli (French / French), Sam Taylor, Four Soldiers (Granta, Portobello Books)
  7. Marion Poschmann (German / German), Jen Calleja, The Pine Islands (Profile Books, Serpent’s Tail)
  8. Samanta Schweblin (Spanish / Argentine and Italian), Megan McDowell, Mouthful Of Birds (Oneworld)
  9. Sara Stridsberg (Swedish / Swedish), Deborah Bragan-Turner, The Faculty Of Dreams (Quercus, MacLehose Press) – READ
  10. Olga Tokarczuk (Polish / Polish), Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  11. Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Spanish / Colombian), Anne McLean, The Shape Of The Ruins (Quercus, MacLehose Press)
  12. Tommy Wieringa (Dutch / Dutch), Sam Garrett, The Death Of Murat Idrissi (Scribe, UK) – READ
  13. Alia Trabucco Zeran (Spanish / Chilean and Italian), Sophie Hughes, The Remainder (And Other Stories)

The links send you to my reviews.
The titles in bold are the ones I haven’t reviewed yet.

Here is the official shortlist:

  1. Jokha Alharthi (Arabic / Omani),  Marilyn Booth, Celestial Bodies (Sandstone Press Ltd)
  2. Annie Ernaux (French / French), Alison L. Strayer, The Years (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  3. Marion Poschmann (German / German), Jen Calleja, The Pine Islands (Profile Books, Serpent’s Tail)
  4. Olga Tokarczuk (Polish / Polish), Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  5. Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Spanish / Colombian), Anne McLean, The Shape Of The Ruins (Quercus, MacLehose Press)
  6. Alia Trabucco Zeran (Spanish / Chilean and Italian), Sophie Hughes, The Remainder (And Other Stories)

Our shadow panel shortlist will be revealed next week.

Here is my own personal shortlist, with actually 5 out of 6 of the official shortlist.
So glad they didn’t keep any of the horrible ones!

  1. The Years
  2. The Remainder
  3. The Pine Islands
  4. The Death of Murat Idrissi
  5. The Shape of the Ruins
  6. Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead

The top two were really gems for me.
Three titles of the longlist were absolutely horrible, and I didn’t read Jokes For The Gunmen.

WHAT DOES YOUR SHORTLIST LOOK LIKE?

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2019: March wrap-up

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MARCH WRAP-UP

I could start this recap with the exact same line as the last 3 or 4 months: it is still too cold around Chicago, and believe or not, we had a bit of snow Saturday evening and night!
But who cares when you have lots of books waiting for you to read? That has definitely been the case for me, as I’m part of the Shadow Panel for the Man Booker International 2019. The shortlist will be revealed on April 9, and I still have quite a few to read to get closer to the 1 titles…

Also, slowly but surely, I’m still reading Don Quixote, now with Lory at The Emerald City. We will take turn to post our reflections/questions on the second part of the work.

Everyday, I also read a chapter of Les Misérables in French, a read-along with one my students. We are now in volume 2.

So here is what I finished in March:

11 books:
1 in print 
=  with 2,964 pages, an average of 95 pages/day
None in audio
I have been listening to Walden, by Thoreau, but have not finished yet.

5 in literary fiction:

  1. At Dusk, by Hwang Sok-Yong – ebook, for MBI2019
  2. Four Soldiers, by Hubert Mingarelli – for MBI2019
  3. The Pine Islands, by Marion Poschmann – ebook, for MBI2019
  4. Love in the New Millennium, by Can Xue – for MBI2019
  5. The Remainder, by Alia Trabucco Zeran – for MBI2019

2 in nonfiction:

  1. Poustinia, by Catherine de Hueck Doherty
  2. The Years, by Annie Ernaux – for MBI2019

1 in historical fiction:

  1. The Shape of the Ruins, by Juan Gabriel Vasquez – for MBI2019

2 in graphic novels

  1. Orange, volume 2, by Ichigo Takano – manga
  2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, by Scott Fitzgerald

1 in mystery:

  1. The Woman in the Window, by AJ Finn – ebook

MY FAVORITES IN MARCH

The Years The Pine Islands

READING CHALLENGES & RECAP

Classics Club: 42/50 (until end of 2020)
2019 Calendar of Crime Challenge 2/12
Where Are You Reading?: 21/50 – to be finished in ??
Total of books read in 2019 = 26/100
Number of books added to my TBR this past month= 22

MOST POPULAR BOOK REVIEW THIS PAST MONTH

At Dusk

click on the cover to access my review

MOST POPULAR POST THIS PAST MONTH
– NON BOOK REVIEW –

Born a Crime chapter 9-14:
read along at Book Bloggers International

BOOK BLOG THAT BROUGHT ME MOST TRAFFIC THIS PAST MONTH

Tony’s Reading List
please go visit

TOP COMMENTERS OF THE MONTH

Judy at Keep the Wisdom
Karen at Booker Talk
Angela at Musings of a Literary Wanderer

BLOG MILESTONES 

1,939 posts
over 4,800 subscribers
over 174,900 hits

Be sure to check the giveaway posted on my homepage!

Also, we still have one spot available
to review this wonderful book by Blondel!

*

Come back tomorrow
to see the books I plan to read in April


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How was YOUR month of March?

2019-Monthly-Wrap-Up-Round-Up_300

Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
 has created a Month In Review meme
where you can link your monthly recap posts
Thanks Nicole!

 

Book review: The Pine Islands

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The Pine Islands

The Pine Islands
by Marion Poschmann
Translated by
Jen Calleja
Serpent’s Tail
3/21/2019
Originally published as Die Kieferninseln
in 2017
Genre: Literary fiction
192 pages

Goodreads

The Man Booker International 2019 longlist does not feature any book translated from the Japanese this year, which some members of our shadow panel found odd and disappointing. But The Pine Islands, even though it was originally written in German, is actually set in Japan! Really? That was my first reaction, but nice surprises were in store for me.

Click to continue reading