Paul's reading because we must remember

I want to try to read something each month.

After Such Knowledge by Eva Hoffman
Adam Resurrected by Yoram Kaniuk and
Fateless by Imre Kertesz

on the shelves and soon to be read.

>1 PaulCranswick: I like the book covers. Are they all ones you've read or favorites? It's nice to see another Lustig fan.

>1 PaulCranswick: Lots of good titles there. Some I've read and some are still to be read.

>2 PaulCranswick: Fatelessness has been on my wishlist for a while.

My pick for this month's Asian challenge is Last Train to Istanbul because of the Holocaust theme. I should get to it in the next ten days or so.

>3 labfs39: Yep I have read all those, Lisa and have the self same covers. I don't know why Lustig is so difficult to find in bookstores. I really liked that novel - very powerful.

>4 cbl_tn: Ooh I might go and see if I can find that one in the stores then and join you for a read of it, Carrie.

Just started

Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrom and will review it here first.

>2 PaulCranswick: >4 cbl_tn: Just watching this group, but wanted to say that Fatelessness was a book that took me way out of my comfort zone. I read (and reviewed) it back in 2012, and still struggle with Kertesz's conclusions regarding his experiences in this semi-autobiographical work. Disconcerting, but well worth reading.

>7 Linda92007: I agree, Linda. Fatelessness took me outside my comfort zone too.

>7 Linda92007: & >8 labfs39: I will read it next month, all being well.

Days in the History of Silence by Merethe Lindstrom
Date of Publication : 2011
Origin of Author : Norway
Pages : 230 pp

This is a maudlin little novel. It is about coming to terms with the past and often failing to come to terms with the past. It is about remembering. It is about trying to forget and failing in the forgetting. It is about being able to confide and the impermanence of silence. It is about guilt and the hypocrisy of guilt.

Not an easy book to read because it basically flows through the disjointed mind of the narrator as she pieces together the breakdown into the oblivion of senility of her Holocaust surviving husband, on the relationship with their maid, and the relationships with their children both those lost and those still with them.

Closeness and distance. It is a provoking novel which won the Nordic Literature Prize and is thoughtful in its quiet unravelling of the secrets of the past and how they sometimes seek to hide themselves in our guilt, our shyness and our need for privacy.

>10 PaulCranswick: I like reading about memory, but I'm not quite hooked with this one yet. It sounds like it covers a lot of ground in a short space; too much, perhaps? Did you like it? Would you recommend it?

>11 labfs39: In all honesty, Lisa, I was a bit disappointed with it in terms of its meandering pace but it was a thoughtful read. Not sorry that I read it but I am not in a hurry to go and re-read it.