Reading Recluse

📘 "The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran" by Shida Bazyar, translated from German into English by Ruth Martin

This book makes me scratch my head.

We follow an Iranian family through two generations, in four (well, five) different decades, going back and forth between Iran and Germany in different contexts. The premise sounds good, but peering deeply into the book, it eventually looked quite hollow.

I like it when books take me diving in the wide open sea, drag me to the bottom of the ocean with them and make it worth the perilous journey. It can be done either subtly or overtly. But here neither happens. This book is like floating in a pool, to and fro, gliding in lanes and only sometimes quickly dipping your face below the surface to observe the decorated floor in the two meter deep water.

When I started the first chapter from the perspective of a communist revolutionary, I thought maybe I was reading satire. This character is basically reading Marx in front of a Che poster while dreaming of Cuba and saying yes comrade, Lenin is cool, don't be bourgeois, thinking: religion is such opium. I thought, this is such a caricature, surely it's meant to go so far as to loop back around and actually be a good critique of everyday people getting swept up in movements they don't know much about due to their circumstances and then going along with it while actually not being that political. Surely?

The following chapters keep becoming more apathetic in tone, its characters more apolitical. Although they're different people speaking of different things, their voices sound quite similar to each other. Topics like immigration, disconnect between generations, cultural loss, orientalism, and alienation from what was once familiar pop up in unoriginal ways. Very softly, never loud. When the author worms a firm political point into the text, it sounds off because as readers we're stuck in a character's stream of consciousness and it doesn't always match the character's earlier thoughts or behavior.

You can actually see the characters change through the years, and the contrast between the generations is quite stark. But how, why, when? The story meanders around such interesting questions and developments, seeming to never want to take the bite, keeping it in the background. It never fully engages. It's almost like a cozy book edition of a literary fiction about an emotionally difficult topic. Very tame.

I've only seen rave reviews so far, and I'm starting to feel like I've read a completely different book than everyone else. Still scratching my head.

#WomenInTranslation #InternationalBooker2026

📘 "She Who Remains" by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian into English by Izidora Angel

IBP season continues! But unfortunately I didn't like this longlist entry.

This is about a young woman in Albania living in a patriarchal culture according to the laws of the Kanun. She becomes the patriarch of her family by committing to being a sworn virgin: women who are regarded as men after they've renounced their womanhood and pledged to remain 'pure'. With this action they gain the rights and freedom men have as well. However, for this main character, things didn't go as planned.

Sadly I thought the story remained shallow compared to what it could have been. If there was a lot of research put into it, it doesn't come across that way. The gender dynamics are the highlight of the novel, but they were mostly explored in obvious, expected ways. A lot of potential hiding in a story that was too simplistic in my eyes.

The most interesting part of the book was the experimental writing style combining prose, poetry and letters. I liked it for what it was, but still, I thought that it could have been utilized more effectively to really strengthen the story and put some different perspectives on things, but it didn't go that far.

I wasn't too happy with the book so far, but it was still a so-so experience for me. Then I entered part two, where the book really tumbled down the mountain and fell on its face. The personality change in the protagonist was jarring, the love story was superficial, the letter we got to read was full of cliches, I hated the reason given for the protagonist's stomach cramps, and the ending was so desperately Hollywood that I felt punished for finishing the book.

I looked forward to reading this title the most from all of the titles on the IBP longlist, so it was extra disappointing. I'm still very much interested in the topic itself though, and when I was looking around for other related reads I stumbled upon 'Sworn Virgin' written by Elvira Dones, which is now on my to-read list. I also came across an online article about a photographer who made pictures of some of the last sworn virgins. Very cool project, the link is here:

https://lenscratch.com/2013/09/jill-peters/

#AmReading #WomenInTranslation #InternationalBooker2026

📘 "The Perfect Circle" by Claudia Petrucci, translated from Italian into English by Anne Milano Appel

This title isn't out yet, but will be released in April 2026. I received a digital ARC for it (thanks!).

This was a fun and well-structured book. We get to to see two storylines, one set in the 1980s and one in the near future, one going up a spiral staircase and the other coming down, intertwining and neatly coming together. Finishing the book gave the satisfaction of putting in place the last stone of a beautiful home that was carefully made according to its blueprint.

The protagonist of the main storyline is a real-estate agent, working through the ever-present yellow fog of climate collapse to sell expensive buildings that will soon be taken over by nature anyway to the ultra-wealthy. Her pride in her work leads her to take on the sale of a strange home, a house that reveals its origins in the other storyline.

I really liked how climate change and threatening political developments created a realistic backdrop for this story. It's not just a good drama about connection, love and betrayal. It's also about privilege and about who's being hit earlier and harder than others due to our changing climate. It's about whether it's ethical to bring forth children in a world like this. And what kind of actions are justified to have a chance at saving yourself?

I think the opening chapter was written a bit too dramatic, which was a pity, but I quickly got sucked into the story anyway in the pages afterwards. A few conversations felt a little stilted, but it wasn't too jarring.

Overall I had a great time reading this. If you like unlikeable main characters, climate fiction, tales of revenge, and/or architecture getting woven into stories, you might like this too.

#AmReading #WomenInTranslation #ClimateFiction

📗 "A Little Annihilation" by Anna Janko, translated from Polish into English by Philip Boehm

The news is making writing about books difficult at the moment. But here's an anti-war book I've been reading. I started it in early January and only finished it recently, taking frequent breaks between the heaviest chapters. Still, I doubt I'll read a better non-fiction book this year.

This book is the author collecting her mother's memories before she passes away, adding history and her own experiences with generational trauma onto it. It's more than that, but it's hard to categorize. It's mourning war and human cruelty, a reflection on how to go on knowing what atrocities people are capable of.

The author's mother was a small child in Poland during WWII. The Nazis killed everyone in her village, as was common then, by shooting and locking people in houses that were set on fire. She saw them shoot her parents. She and her two younger siblings were about to get shot, but one of soldier's pushed the gun down of the soldier who was getting ready to kill them. She fled with her two younger siblings before anyone could change their mind about letting some children live.

I think about that hand movement of the Nazi soldier a lot. Couldn't he handle seeing three children get killed in front of him? He must have seen it a lot already. He pushed the barrel down. Let's ignore these kids, let's go. That one movement, and three people lived, who went on to have lives and children of their own, who went on to live and create a book like this one. One act of disobedience, rippling outwards, making such a huge change to one family tree.

This book is really upsetting. It tells a lot about WWII in Poland and some of Eastern Europe, things that are often left out in texts written in Western Europe. The information is dire and it just is, without trying to force some meaning, lesson or positive perspective onto the reader. Instead it starts to build a road with you: how can we live, knowing what we know?

The book is also about other wars and killings that have happened since then, and that keep happening. It's part memoir, about how war lives on in the most negative of ways, scarring generations. It's about how citizens always lose in a war, becoming victims in the name of this or that while just trying to survive.

This book is constantly in the forefront of my mind, especially the last few days. I've seen people defend the attacks on Iran because they claim a regime change was necessary. What the hell are you saying, I want to ask. Citizens are dying. In their homes, on the streets, in schools, in hospitals, they suffer and die. Real people, like you and me. Full lives cut short by suffering and death. Who are you to say this or that is necessary or justifiable, sitting cozy at home with a hot drink while others are paying the price for the bombs our western governments are dropping and supporting. You need a reality check. You need to read a book like this one and come to your senses. You need to stop making excuses for war and learn to fear what people are capable of putting each other through. Fuck.

#AmReading #WomenInTranslation

📘 "The Glacier" by Jeff Wood

Another book I wouldn't have looked at twice if it weren't for a personal recommendation on the Fediverse. What a strange one it is. Somewhere between a novel and a screenplay, going forwards and backwards, an inhale and an exhale or an exhale and an inhale -linearity can get off his high horse with this one.

This experimental book is very confusing until about 1/3 of the way through and then settles into being only quite confusing after a mind-blowingly epic scene. I'm being vague on purpose, it's an experience that's best jumped into without too many preconceived notions.

I enjoyed my reading time, but I do have some mixed feelings too. There were aspects that I loved (its unique storytelling and structure, the quality of the writing, some of the characters, fourth wall breaking) and some that I wasn't that fond of (some stereotypes that were utilized, its general 'masculine vibe' for lack of a better word). Overall I'm glad I read it. It really sucked me in and putting the book down felt disorienting, like I had to get used to being in this world again.

If you have a low tolerance for vagueness and confusion, this is probably not the book for you. But if you like experimental fiction, you were a Donnie Darko-obsessed teen, and/or you sometimes feel the desire to give in to the urge to throw yourself on the forest's floor to let your body be devoured by insects to feel part of the circle of life, you might be interested in this.

#AmReading

The LLM discourse on the Fediverse has really irked me the last few days. Refusing to read writing made with the use of LLMs and refusing to give time to writers who use, promote or justify the use of LLMs is not purity culture, it's a boycott. It's a political act of withdrawing my time, resources and support for something that I find deeply morally wrong. It's protest. I have a choice and I refuse. LLMs are exploitative, destructive, biased, mediocre parroting machines. Using them has a negative impact on the climate, the arts, the quality of the internet, the job market, the economy, the accessibility of electronics, even on skill development, creativity and mental health. LLMs are made and trained on the unpaid labour of millions -if not billions- of people who didn't consent. Their generic output litter the path to finding anything by true human creators. Wherever I can, for as long as I can, I reject LLMs and anything that is related to them. I'm boycotting.