As the Eagle Flies

 by Nolwenn le Blevennec

A french book about an affair. The affair started three years before the time of the book and lasted three months but then spent three years coming to an end and we get taken through it on a self absorbed retelling of the time by the narrator. 

The saving grace of the book is that it is very funny in places and made me laugh out loud. Otherwise too introspective for me. 6/10

The love of singular men

by Victor Heringer

A brazilian author and set in  Rio in the 1970's it is the story of a young man discovering his sexuality and love in the midst of a poor district of the city. Well written and engaging I found it hard to come into land with as it was dealing with things far outside my experience, 7/10

Body Kintsugi

By Senka Mariç 

This was a hard read. The story of a woman's experience of breast cancer it was unrelenting in how difficult this is to deal with. Even though it ended positively it left me feeling broken. Strong, powerful writing but not for the faint hearted! 6/10

Of Saints and Miracles

 by Manuel Astur

A book about Marcelino, a lone uneducated man who has killed his brother and has to go on the run. But, it is far more than this. A meditation on rural life, on history in this context and what it means to be human. I felt it lost its way toward the end but an enjoable short read. 7/10

Marzahn, mon amour

 by Katja Oskamp

A great tale of a woman who gives up her writing career to retrain as a chiropodist. Each chapter tells the story of one of her clients from the housing estates of Marzahn. I loved it 9/10

Ankomst

 by Gohril Gabrielsen

A researcher on her own in the far North of Norway gradually unravelling. I didn't enjoy this even though it has a great if somewhat frustrating end to the book 5/10

Yesterday

 by Juan Emar

A crazy book written by a chilean author in the 1930's. Very funny in places and totally bizarre throughout. 7/10

Nordic Fauna

 Andrea Lundgren

A book of six short stories published by Peirene.

A mixed bag. I particularly liked the other -wordliness of how things come to seem  and the bird that cries in the night. The others left me a bit cold. 5/10

You Would Have Missed Me

by Birgit Vanderbeke
Another moving story by the author of the Mussel Feast.
This story is told by a seven year old east german who on the face of it wants a kitten for her birthday but it soon gets darker than that. The ending was problematic for me but the tension through this short narrative and the humour were great 7/10

Snow, Dog, Foot

by Claudio Morandini
A funny, sad, short book about a mans sinking into loneliness, madness or some indeterminate state high in the mountains of Italy. It can be read at one sitting and made me laugh but also made me think about loneliness and what drives it and what effect it can have on an individual and how it is perceived by others. 8/10

Faces on the tip of my tongue

by Emmanuelle Pagano
A really interesting book translated from the French in the Peirene press series. It tells the story of a French village from small anecdotal stories that seem unconnected apart from the odd cross reference that gradually makes the whole hang together. No names are used to add to the confusion but the stories are those of any rural setting and beautifully evocative writing 8/10

Children of the Cave

by Virve Sammalkorpi
A Finnish novel told in a series of diary entries from a nineteenth century explorer's assistant about a strange group of animals/humans who are discovered living in a cave in the Russian wilderness. It is a compelling read as we gradually find more and more revealed about the children and the group of explorers. 7/10

The Mussel Feast

by Birgit Vanderbeke
This is a short but fantastic story. It is set on one evening in the late eighties in East Germany. A family of four awaits the father so they can celebrate his new job with his favourite food -moules frites.
He is late and as the evening gets later more and more gets revealed about how this idyllic family buries many secrets. In turns funny and sad it has a great ending. 9/10