Radz Pandit
@radzpandit.bsky.social
Avid reader, book reviewer & amateur book photographer. I write about books on my blog Radhika’s Reading Retreat. Love art and travel too.
Website: https://readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Also on: linktr.ee/radzpandit
Website: https://readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Also on: linktr.ee/radzpandit
Pinned
Radz Pandit
@radzpandit.bsky.social
· Dec 17
These are MY BEST BOOKS OF 2025 featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Anita Brookner, Dino Buzzati, Jiří Weil, Han Kang, Caroline Blackwood and more. New blog post here:
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/m...
"The harsh lights of the station, the crowds, the shouting, the late hour - I was starting to lose a sense of time & place. I was starting to feel deeply unmoored. A sentence kept surfacing in my mind, 'Something in the US has broken.' Everyone around me felt more desperate, more prone to violence."
February 16, 2026 at 10:19 AM
"The harsh lights of the station, the crowds, the shouting, the late hour - I was starting to lose a sense of time & place. I was starting to feel deeply unmoored. A sentence kept surfacing in my mind, 'Something in the US has broken.' Everyone around me felt more desperate, more prone to violence."
Reposted by Radz Pandit
The one, the only @causticcovercritic.bsky.social reflects on the best things he read in 2025. Bring your wallet!
eigermonchjungfrau.blog/2026/02/14/j...
eigermonchjungfrau.blog/2026/02/14/j...
James Morrison’s Year in Reading, 2025
Regular readers will know that for the last several years I’ve solicited Year in Reading reflections from friends and trusted readers. As we’re well into February, I’ve scaled the project back cons…
eigermonchjungfrau.blog
February 14, 2026 at 2:58 PM
The one, the only @causticcovercritic.bsky.social reflects on the best things he read in 2025. Bring your wallet!
eigermonchjungfrau.blog/2026/02/14/j...
eigermonchjungfrau.blog/2026/02/14/j...
"Our steady march towards a cashless society has created a growing sense of unease within me. When you have to rely on the digital realm for the privilege of buying food or other essentials, you are being asked to trust in something other than a belief in the value of money."
LOVING this so far!
LOVING this so far!
February 14, 2026 at 3:23 AM
"Our steady march towards a cashless society has created a growing sense of unease within me. When you have to rely on the digital realm for the privilege of buying food or other essentials, you are being asked to trust in something other than a belief in the value of money."
LOVING this so far!
LOVING this so far!
Reposted by Radz Pandit
ICYMI I wrote about this charming novella by Halldór Laxness (tr. Philip Roughton), out this week from @archipelagobooks.bsky.social
The church that falls again will rise again: A Parish Chronicle by Halldór Laxness roughghosts.com/2026/02/12/t...
The church that falls again will rise again: A Parish Chronicle by Halldór Laxness roughghosts.com/2026/02/12/t...
The church that falls again will rise again: A Parish Chronicle by Halldór Laxness
This is the story of a church, one that exists whether it is standing or not. Standing high above the Mosfellsdalur Valley in southwest Iceland, not far from the nation’s capital, Mosfell Church ha…
roughghosts.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:42 AM
ICYMI I wrote about this charming novella by Halldór Laxness (tr. Philip Roughton), out this week from @archipelagobooks.bsky.social
The church that falls again will rise again: A Parish Chronicle by Halldór Laxness roughghosts.com/2026/02/12/t...
The church that falls again will rise again: A Parish Chronicle by Halldór Laxness roughghosts.com/2026/02/12/t...
"I was curious to see how the places I had travelled through in 2006 had changed, while simultaneously catching a glimpse of the person I had been then. A ragged person running away from loss."
February 13, 2026 at 6:09 PM
"I was curious to see how the places I had travelled through in 2006 had changed, while simultaneously catching a glimpse of the person I had been then. A ragged person running away from loss."
"Let Germany seethe as she might, I wanted peace. Peace from the nagging need to earn money, peace from my own restlessness, peace from the daily tautness of life with Tante Lydia. But there was no peace."
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
February 13, 2026 at 3:51 PM
"Let Germany seethe as she might, I wanted peace. Peace from the nagging need to earn money, peace from my own restlessness, peace from the daily tautness of life with Tante Lydia. But there was no peace."
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
On Friday the 13th today, sharing my post on TWICE LOST by Phyllis Paul - a wonderfully odd and atmospheric novel of deception and manipulation, steeped in gothic vibes.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/t...
#BlogArchives
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/t...
#BlogArchives
Twice Lost – Phyllis Paul
I have read some wonderful books published by McNally Editions so far such as Han Suyin’s Winter Love, Maxine Clair’s Rattlebone, Ursula Parrott’s Ex-Wife, and Lion Feuchtwanger’s The Oppermanns, a…
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
February 13, 2026 at 11:09 AM
On Friday the 13th today, sharing my post on TWICE LOST by Phyllis Paul - a wonderfully odd and atmospheric novel of deception and manipulation, steeped in gothic vibes.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/t...
#BlogArchives
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/t...
#BlogArchives
New on my blog today, I've written about Sarah Campion's MAKESHIFT, an excellent, absorbing novel set in the 1930s that captures a German Jewish woman's life in exile.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
Makeshift – Sarah Campion
Makeshift by Sarah Campion is an absorbing and finely wrought novel about a German Jewish woman in exile, tracing her quest for anchor and identity in the ominous years preceding the Second World War,...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:23 AM
New on my blog today, I've written about Sarah Campion's MAKESHIFT, an excellent, absorbing novel set in the 1930s that captures a German Jewish woman's life in exile.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
Reposted by Radz Pandit
My new blog post on MAKESHIFT by Sarah Campion, another terrific novel from the Recovered Books series.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:38 PM
My new blog post on MAKESHIFT by Sarah Campion, another terrific novel from the Recovered Books series.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
My new blog post on MAKESHIFT by Sarah Campion, another terrific novel from the Recovered Books series.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:38 PM
My new blog post on MAKESHIFT by Sarah Campion, another terrific novel from the Recovered Books series.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
@neglectedbooks.com
New on my blog today, I've written about Sarah Campion's MAKESHIFT, an excellent, absorbing novel that captures a German Jewish woman's life in exile in the 1930s when the Nazis rose to power.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
Makeshift – Sarah Campion
Makeshift by Sarah Campion is an absorbing and finely wrought novel about a German Jewish woman in exile, tracing her quest for anchor and identity in the ominous years preceding the Second World War,...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:15 PM
New on my blog today, I've written about Sarah Campion's MAKESHIFT, an excellent, absorbing novel that captures a German Jewish woman's life in exile in the 1930s when the Nazis rose to power.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/m...
Reposted by Radz Pandit
New from @faberbooks.bsky.social editions, the first appearance of Swedish writer Brigiita Trotzig in English (translated by Saskia Vogel), Queen:
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/q...
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/q...
Queen
Brigitta Trotzig is a Swedish writer who published novels in her homeland for almost fifty years – the first in 1951, the last in 2000. Now, fifteen years after her death, we can finally read her w…
1streading.wordpress.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:23 PM
New from @faberbooks.bsky.social editions, the first appearance of Swedish writer Brigiita Trotzig in English (translated by Saskia Vogel), Queen:
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/q...
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/q...
Reposted by Radz Pandit
“…[my mother] felt her drawing-room pretty, and so it was. It smelt lovely, too, more like a garden than a room, and since most of its untidiness came from the litter of books on chair arms, foot-stools, and occasional tables, it was an agreeable room to be in.” (p44) #NYRBWomen26
February 6, 2026 at 5:29 PM
“…[my mother] felt her drawing-room pretty, and so it was. It smelt lovely, too, more like a garden than a room, and since most of its untidiness came from the litter of books on chair arms, foot-stools, and occasional tables, it was an agreeable room to be in.” (p44) #NYRBWomen26
Reposted by Radz Pandit
“That accumulation of books silting up the flower-free surfaces in the house…I owe to my grandfathers. Both were men who took it for granted that a gentleman should have a good library…they considered a house without books in it uncivilized.” (p44) #NYRBWomen26
February 6, 2026 at 5:43 PM
“That accumulation of books silting up the flower-free surfaces in the house…I owe to my grandfathers. Both were men who took it for granted that a gentleman should have a good library…they considered a house without books in it uncivilized.” (p44) #NYRBWomen26
"Suddenly all I see is oppression and hate and suffering, so much suffering… A few hundred thousand. As if the number mattered! If so much as one person is suffering unjustly, and I can put an end to it, and the only reason I don’t is because I’m a coward and prefer peace and quiet, then…"
February 7, 2026 at 5:55 PM
"Suddenly all I see is oppression and hate and suffering, so much suffering… A few hundred thousand. As if the number mattered! If so much as one person is suffering unjustly, and I can put an end to it, and the only reason I don’t is because I’m a coward and prefer peace and quiet, then…"
Reposted by Radz Pandit
Big fan of this title page for EF Benson’s Spook Stories (1928)
February 6, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Big fan of this title page for EF Benson’s Spook Stories (1928)
Reposted by Radz Pandit
Hungarian Lit month at Winston's Dad - some book recommandations bookaroundthecorner.com/2026/02/07/h...
Hungarian Lit month at Winston’s Dad – some book recommandations
Somehow I missed the announcement that Stu at Winstonsdad is hosting Hungarian Lit Month in February. We’re already the 7th of the month, there’s not much time to read and write about H…
bookaroundthecorner.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Hungarian Lit month at Winston's Dad - some book recommandations bookaroundthecorner.com/2026/02/07/h...
Reposted by Radz Pandit
For @stujallen.bsky.social's Hungarian Literature Month. George Konrad's The Case Worker (translated by Paul Aston), possibly the most depressing novel I have ever read:
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/t...
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/t...
The Case Worker
When Hungarian writer George Konrád, his sister and his parents returned to their hometown of Berettyóújfalu in 1945 they were the only Jewish family to have survived the war intact. Their troubles…
1streading.wordpress.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:53 PM
For @stujallen.bsky.social's Hungarian Literature Month. George Konrad's The Case Worker (translated by Paul Aston), possibly the most depressing novel I have ever read:
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/t...
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/t...
Reposted by Radz Pandit
Our first Recovered Book from @bhousepress.bsky.social to be mentioned in Kirkus Reviews gets a starred review! Vengeance is Mine by Friedrich Torberg was written in exile in 1943. One of the earliest examples of Holocaust fiction, it's never before been translated.
VENGEANCE IS MINE | Kirkus Reviews
This 1943 novella by the Austrian Jewish writer Torberg—published before the horrors of the Nazi death camps were widely known—describes a brutal showdown between a Jewish prisoner and the German SS officer who calmly tells him he is about to die.
www.kirkusreviews.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Our first Recovered Book from @bhousepress.bsky.social to be mentioned in Kirkus Reviews gets a starred review! Vengeance is Mine by Friedrich Torberg was written in exile in 1943. One of the earliest examples of Holocaust fiction, it's never before been translated.
Starting Diana Athill's INSTEAD OF A LETTER today for #NYRBWomen26, although mine is a Granta edition.
February 3, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Starting Diana Athill's INSTEAD OF A LETTER today for #NYRBWomen26, although mine is a Granta edition.
Reposted by Radz Pandit
Fun fact about the Icelandic language: According to our grammar rules, Facebook is a "she" and Bluesky is a "he".
February 3, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Fun fact about the Icelandic language: According to our grammar rules, Facebook is a "she" and Bluesky is a "he".
Reposted by Radz Pandit
Some eerie tales from a master of the short story - Bora Chung's The Midnight Timetable (translated by @antonhur.com)
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/t...
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/t...
The Midnight Timetable
The Midnight Timetable is the latest collection of short stories / novel from Bora Chung translated by Anton Hur. Connected by a mysterious Institute and a narrator who is employed there, the stori…
1streading.wordpress.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Some eerie tales from a master of the short story - Bora Chung's The Midnight Timetable (translated by @antonhur.com)
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/t...
1streading.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/t...