Tony Malone
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tonysreadinglist.bsky.social
Tony Malone
@tonysreadinglist.bsky.social
Championing the wonders of translated fiction, one review at a time. Slightly older and more haggard than the photos suggest. Bitter at most things, really.
Need some cheering up for #GermanLitMonth? Here's Thomas Bernhard to brighten up your day :)

Wait a minute...
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/f...
November 13, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Tony Malone
"He cited Anton Hur as 'a superstar translator' — one whose name has become synonymous with great translation, and thus helps drive sales."

Aww luff you guys 💜 @honfordstar.bsky.social
Future of K-lit: Redefining cultural phenomenon on global stage - The Korea Times
Whether we like it or not, the next chapter of Korean literature may live onscreen. Korean literature, or K-lit, has emerged as a new global cultur...
www.koreatimes.co.kr
November 11, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Tony Malone
In week 2 of #germanlitmonth it's all about The City. I've read this beautiful novella set in Rome by FCDelius translated by Jamie Bulloch :
peakreads.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/g...
German Lit Month 2025- Week 2- The City-Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by FC Delius, translated by Jamie Bulloch
What better book to suit this week’s German Lit Month theme than this short novella, set in Rome? It takes place over one hour in January 1943 and is an inner monologue told by a young woman walkin…
peakreads.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Reposted by Tony Malone
#NovNov #GermanLitMonth @stujallen.bsky.social Readers need patience for a Bernhardian narrative, but fortunately mine lasted until (none the wiser about who dunnit, I got to the end.
Klausen (2002), by Andreas Maier, 2010 translation by Kenneth J Northcott anzlitlovers.com/2025/11/11/k...
Klausen (2002), by Andreas Maier, 2010 translation by Kenneth J Northcott
An act of violence seems to have occurred in Klausen — a small German town near the border with Italy — but nobody is exactly sure what happened.  It might have been a bomb on the autobahn or in a …
anzlitlovers.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Tony Malone
Reposted by Tony Malone
My second review for #GermanLitMonth is from another of my favourite German-language writers, Peter Stamm - In a Deep Blue Hour translated by Michael Hofmann:
1streading.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/i...
In a Deep Blue Hour
In a Deep Blue Hour, published originally in 2023 and now translated into English by Michael Hofmann, is the latest novel from Swiss writer Peter Stamm. It begins with the narrator, Andrea’s, attem…
1streading.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Fear and loathing in downtown Vienna for #GermanLitMonth today, with Elfriede Jelinek's 'Die Klavierlehrerin' ('The Piano Teacher'):
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/d...
November 10, 2025 at 9:24 AM
My second review for #GermanLitMonth's Genre Week takes us to Germany (via Austria) for Ingeborg Bachmann's 'Frankfurter Vorlesungen' ('Frankfurt Lectures'), a series of talks the writer gave way back when :)
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/f...
November 6, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Tony Malone
Currently on my 2nd read doing double duty for #GermanLitMonth and #NovellaNovember
Arno Camenisch's Goldene Jahre (Golden Years) has the gentle humour and quirky voice that I loved in @ronanhession.bsky.social's Leonard and Hungry Paul
November 2, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Tony Malone
My first book for #germanlitmonth. I've not followed the suggested schedule as this was calling me from the bookcase and I'm so pleased to have read it: peakreads.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/g...
German Literature Month XV- Inheritance ( Erbgut) by Marlen Hobrack
Many of us in mid-life go through the sad business of clearing out a deceased parent’s home. Few will encounter a challenge as overwhelming as that faced by Marlen Hobrack when her mother died: she…
peakreads.wordpress.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Tony Malone
My first review for #GermanLitMonth is the latest novel from one of my favourite contemporary German writers - Daniel Kehlmann - The Director (translated by Ross Benjamin) about the film director Georg Wilhelm Pabst:
1streading.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/t...
The Director
Daniel Kehlmann made his name with Measuring the World (translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway), a novel set in the first half of the nineteenth century telling of the attempt by German mat…
1streading.wordpress.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:20 PM
First up for #GermanLitMonth, I start Genre Week off with a bit of poetry from Goethe - 'Erotic Poems', translated by David Luke. And when I say 'erotic'...
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/e...
‘Erotic Poems’ by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Review)
It’s November, and (0f course) that means it’s time for one of my favourite blogging events of the year, German Literature Month!  I always set the whole month aside to get back to some…
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Looking for some dark reading for the spooky season? Well, Honford Star have got you covered with their new 'Lovecraft Reanimated' series, three translations from the Korean inspired by the American writer and his Cthulhu mythos. See my reviews here :)
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/31/l...
October 31, 2025 at 7:54 AM
As promised in Monday's review of Osamu Dazai's 'The Setting Sun', today I'm comparing that translation, by Juliet Winters Carpenter, with the classic Donald Keene version. That's right - it's translation slam time :)

tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/t...
‘The Setting Sun’ – Translation Slam!
In my previous post, I covered Juliet Winters Carpenter’s new version of Osamu Dazai’s 1947 novel The Setting Sun, with a brief mention of Donald Keene’s 1956 translation, and as …
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
My latest review looks at Juliet Winters Carpenter's new translation of Osamu Dazai's 'The Setting Sun', courtesy of Tuttle Publishing:
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/t...
‘The Setting Sun’ by Osamu Dazai (Review)
It’s not often I cover a book for the second time on the blog, but with today’s selection, I do have my reasons.  For one thing, my original review, written back in 2011, was a fairly b…
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Short and sweet (ish) - today's stop on the chapter-by-chapter Genji journey is Chapter 16, 'Sekiya', a very brief interlude which reintroduces an old friend:

tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/t...
The Tale of Genji: 16 – Sekiya
After our last check-in with Genji saw him catching up with an old flame for the first time in years, today’s leg of our chapter-by-chapter journey through the Tale has a very similar theme, …
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Not long now until November's traditional #GermanLitMonth blogging event - any ideas for the month's reading? See our introduction and suggestions here :)
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/01/a...
Announcing German Literature Month XV – November 2025
November isn’t far away, and you all know what that means – German Literature Month is just around the corner! For the 15th (!) time, we’ll be reading German, Austrian, or Swiss books, …
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:22 AM
A bit of history and biology in today's post as we take a look at Iida Turpeinen’s 'Beasts of the Sea' (translated by David Hackston, courtesy of MacLehose Press), the story of a particular (extinct) creature and our role in its disappearance...
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/b...
‘Beasts of the Sea’ by Iida Turpeinen (Review)
I quite enjoy novels that provide insights into professions or areas that are outside my frame of reference, and today’s choice certainly fits into that category, taking me far beyond my usua…
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Reposted by Tony Malone
A very perceptive review of Daniele Del Giuidice's A Fictional Inquiry, Tony. From New Vessel Press.
October 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM
More J-Lit for #TranslationThurs with a look at Aoko Matsuda's collection of 52(!) stories, 'The Woman Dies' (translated by Polly Barton, courtesy of Europa Editions):
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/t...
‘The Woman Dies’ by Aoko Matsuda (Review)
While Europa Editions’ main focus is on, well, European fiction, the past few years have seen them publish literature from further afield, and one of their new favourite countries appears to …
tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:42 AM