Three German-language novels have caught the attention of the translators and bloggers Katy Derbyshire (Love German Books blog) and Amanda DeMarco (Readux blog). They decided to organise an And Other Stories reading group to talk about them and whatever other German-language fiction readers have discovered. The organisers both live in Berlin, and there will be regular Berlin meetings as well as a simultaneous final London meeting.
The books are: Nino Haratischwili’s Mein sanfter Zwilling (My Gentle Twin); Katharina Faber’s Fremde Signale (Strange Signals) and Angelika Klüssendorf’s Das Mädchen (The Girl).
We hope you’ll join us in reading the books. Add your comments to the author pages and we’d love to see you at our Berlin or London meet-ups. Thanks to your discussion online or in person, one or more of these books might make it into English. The main thing for now is the pleasure of a good talk about some hotly tipped books.
How it works
- Extracts in English are being added to this website where possible – see the relevant author’s page. You can order the titles online or in person at the European Bookshop (London), Dialogue Books (Berlin) and other good bookshops. If you have trouble finding a title we may have a copy in the office. Contact us at info@andotherstories.org stating which book you would like to read.
- Read the excerpts, then comment online via the author pages.
- Come to a meet-up (in Berlin or London) to discuss what you have read. You can be sure of lively, well-informed discussion.
Reading period:
30 April – 30 July 2012
Meet-up:
Monthly meet-ups in Berlin to discuss each book – plus a single London meeting with Katy Derbyshire and Stefan Tobler from And Other Stories to round things up.
Monday 30 April 7pm – Dialogue Books, Berlin. (Preliminary meeting)
Monday 28 May 7pm – Dialogue Books, Berlin. (To discuss Nino Haratischwili’s Der sanfte Zwilling.)
Monday 25 June 7pm – Dialogue Books, Berlin. (To discuss Katharina Faber’s Fremde Signale.)
Monday 30 July 7pm – Dialogue Books, Berlin. (To discuss Angelika Klüssendorf’s Das Mädchen and have a general round-up, with a skype link to the London group.)
Monday 30 July 6pm – (Upstairs room), Old China Hand, 8 Tysoe Street, London, EC1R 4RQ, London. (A chance to talk about all the books in London, with Katy Derbyshire visiting and a skype link to the Berlin group.)