Novel Anatole France France French 1879 113 The Bodley Head France's account of a Haitian political minister's son's descent into the Parisian world of art. Not much to say on the black man's position in c19th French society. 4 Yes 2 Novel Amin Maalouf Lebanon French 1993 274 Abacus Novel about a Lebanese mountain village, set against the background of c19th Egyptian expansion: murder, conflicts, vengeance, diplomacy etc. 4 Yes 2 Novel Fyodor Dostoevsky Russia Russian 1870 156 Bantam Books Wonderful tale of infidelity and deranged revenge, taking in cruelty, misery and at times unfathomably complex emotion as you'd expect from Dostoevsky. 10 Yes 2 Novel Joan Perucho Spain/Catalunya Catalan 1960 179 Minerva A tale of vampirism in Catalunya during the Carlist War. Very referential, at times absurd and towards the end I felt a little tedious. 2 Yes 2 Novel Knut Hamsun Norway Norwegian 18?? 253 Picadoe Really two separate novellas, though concerning the same characters, told by the same narrator, and pursuing the same themes: the search for authenticity, unrequited love, jealousy. I preferred the second one. 5 Yes 2 Short Stories Ivan Bunin Russia Russian 1944 224 Penguin Modern Classics A varied selection from Bunin's career. At his more experimental I find him an interesting writer, but tends too much towards long dull descriptions. 6 Yes 2 Novel Anatole France France French 1966 132 The Bodley Head Typical French tale of love and guilt, not as much based on the Oedipus legend as you may have thought. Well written but unsatisfying. 3 Yes 2 Short Stories Bohumil Hrabal Czechoslovakia Czech 1966 193 Abacus Usual enchanting work from Hrabal about nothing much in particular. Even the characters seem most of the time to be distracted from the plot. 7 Yes 1 Fiction Max Blecher Romania Romanian 1937 227 Old Street Publishing A man suffers a disease of the spine, undergoes treatment in a French spa. 3 Yes 1 Fiction Antonio Lobo Antunes Portugal Portuguese 1979 154 Chatto and Windus A man recounts his experiences as a doctor in the Portuguese war against Angolan independence. Finely written and as bitter towards his homeland as the last of Lobo Antunes' books I read. 7 Yes 1 Fiction Anna Kavan England English 1967 128 Picador Marvellous piece of dream-fiction, in which the narrator chases a mysterious women through a world slowly being destroyed by vast ice sheets. 8 Yes 1 Fiction Angeles Mastretta Mexico Spanish 1986 268 Penguin Story of a young woman who marries a revolutionary, later a member of the government, whom she slowly realises is a cruel and ruthless politican. 5 Yes 1 Short Stories Juan Benet Spain Spanish 1961 202 Iberia Airways Well-written but baffling collection of short stories, all set in the fictional town of Región - a town (common in Spanish fiction) once populated, now derelict. 5 Yes 1 Reportage Gabriel García Márquez Colombia Spanish 1955 106 Penguin A piece from García Márquez's years a journalist. Interesting in itself, and interesting for the capital the then Colombian government tried to make out of it. 4 Yes 1 Memoir Gregor von Rezzori Austro-Hungarian Empire German 1989 290 Vintage Von Rezzori recalls his early years in the Austro-Hungarian Empire: a German living in what became Romania and is now the Ukraine. Consists of portraits of the members of his immediate family (incl. nanny and governness), who were all pretty messed up, mostly because the aristocratic world into which they were born was in this period wiped off the face of the earth. 7 Yes 1 Fiction Theodor Fontane Germany German 1896 267 Penguin Classics After 150 pages, I was wondering if anything was going to happen in this book (it seemed to keep hinting that something might). After 200 pages, I began to feel that something actually had happened and somehow I'd missed it. I went back and discovered this was what happened: "'Effi'. She heard the soft whisper in her ear, in a voice that trembled. Then he took her hand and untwined her fingers which she was still holding locked together and covered them with passionate kisses. She felt as if she would faint." - A German classic. 2 Yes 1 Short Stories Gyula Krúdy Hungary Hungarian Various 131 Noran Books The early stories were ok, but the collection really took off when it got to the Sindbad stories. Some of the best writing I've come upon this year. 8 Yes 1