I started writing this blog in February and since then I have been concentrating on building up a portfolio of reviews. There have been several read-alongs and shared reading blog events I have wanted to join, but didn’t really have the confidence. Now I feel I’m finally ready for a shared reading event and so have signed up for (yes, confirmed my commitment) to German Literature Month hosted by Lizzy at Lizzy’s Literary Life and Caroline at Beauty is a Sleeping Cat (follow the links for more info). If you’ve read any of my blog, you will know I have familial links to Germany, studied it at A Level and as part of my degree, I even spent a year at Trier University. I still try to read a German language book per year in the original, although haven’t managed it for a couple of years.
This blog event is an opportunity to explore some books I might not normally pick up and I’m looking forward to finding some gems as I follow the other participants. This is how the hosts have structured the month:
Week 1 (November 1-7) Novellas, plays and poems
Week 2 (November 8-14) Literary Novels
Week 3 (November 15-21) Genre Fiction – Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Week 4 (November 22-30) Read as you please
2012 is also the bi-centennial of the birth of the Brothers Grimm. We can’t let it pass without a Brothers Grimm Readathon. So we’ve put that in the calendar from 22-26 November.
The point is, to use the weekly guidelines, read and then write a review of as many German language books as possible. At the moment my plan is to read at least 3 books (I’m not that fast, you see). I have already finished one, hurrah!
The books I have in mind are:
- Week 1 Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki (trans. Anthea Bell) DONE
- Week 2 The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek (trans. Joachim Neugroschel) Thanks to An Englishman in Berlin for the tip on this one
- Week 3 Crime & Guilt by Ferdinand von Schirach (trans. Carol Brown Janeway)
- Week 4 Not sure yet
The review for Next World Novella will come in the next few days. I hope I can keep up!
A Fiction Habit 
Glad to know that you are joining German literature month, Sarah! The books you have chosen are wonderful! I read von Schirach’s ‘Crime’ sometime back and liked it very much. Will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. ‘The Piano Teacher’ looks like an interesting title. Happy reading!
Thanks for your comments on my blog earlier. It really is lovely to see so many people interested in German Lit!
I’ve not yet read any of the novels on your list, so it will be interesting to hear your thoughts on these. I can certainly see that my TBR list will be overflowing with even more German lit to check out by the end of the month!! 🙂
I’m glad we could motivate you to join a reading event. 🙂
The Jelinek novel is something else. I was realy impressed. I can’t say I liked it but I admired it. I’m curious to see what you will write about it. They are all great choices.
Sounds like you’re off to a great start. I really don’t know much about German lit so I’m having fun seeing the titles that people are going to be reading announced. 🙂
Thanks for joining in – the more the merrier!
Hope you have enjoy these and they make for interesting reading for the month. I have read two of mine but haven’t marked them as such, I like your idea of doing this. Thanks for visiting my blog too.
I haven’t read any Jelinek yet, but I loved ‘Next World Novella’. Hopefully, you’ll be able to meet, and surpass, your target for the month. Once you get started, you might find it’s easier (and more enjoyable) than you think 😉
Thanks Tony! Well I got off to a good start with Next World Novella – stunning. The Jelinek is interesting already and I’m only about 30 pages in – the only slight annoyance being the translation, which is very American.