Dogs and Others

Title: Dogs and Others (original title: Psi i Ostali) Writer: Biljana Jovanović (tr. by John K. Cox) Publishing House: Istros Books Date of Publication: November 5th 2018 (first published 1980) Rating: 4 stars ‘’Dogs always believe that they belong to Others (whom they consider to be, for unknown reasons enduring right up to our day,…

Fairground Magician

Τitle: Fairground Magician (original title: Vašarski mađioničar) Writer: Jelena Lengold (tr. by Celia Hawkesworth) Publishing House: Istros Books Date of Publication: December 17th 2013 (first published 2008) Rating: 5 stars ‘’It’s not that I need you to love me, but I need to suffer because you don’t.’’ I am a rather weird person. Strange things…

Bright Dreams: The Brilliant Ideas of Nikola Tesla

Title: Bright Dreams: The Brilliant Ideas of Nikola Tesla Writer: Written and illustrated by Tracy Dockray Publishing House: Capstone Editions Date of Publication: September 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’I don’t care that they stole my idea…I care that they don’t have any of their own.’’                              Nikola Tesla The story of the man who invented the future. The man who gave…

#Fairytale Friday: Serbia

Title: Serbian Fairy Tales (Σερβικά παραμύθια) Writer: edited and translated into Greek by Momčilo Radić Publishing House: Απόπειρα Date of Publication: 2004 Rating: 5 stars Today we aren’t going to talk about a specific tale. Instead, we’re going on a trip to Serbia, guided by the most characteristic features of the Serbian fairy tale.  The fairy tales of…

Gospođica (The Woman From Sarajevo)

Title: Gospođica Writer: Ivo Andrić Publishing House: Dereta Date of Publication: First published 1945 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The sky above Belgrade stretches from horizon to horizon, often tumultuous, but always beautiful. In winter, with its bright, cold and clear starry nights, in summer with its sudden showers. When it changes, becoming a thick, dark cloud that carries heavy rain and…

Fear and His Servant

Title: Fear and His Servant   (original title: Strah i njegov sluga ) Writer: Mirjana Novaković Publishing House: Peter Owen Publishers (originally published by Beograd:ReVision Publishing) Date of Publication:  April 1st 2018 (first published 1999) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Like everyone else, I want gifts that come from the heart, the gift without a price. I’ve wondered this earth for such a long…

Belladonna

Title: Belladonna Writer: Daša Drndić (translated by Celia Hawkesworth) Publishing House: New Directions Date of Publication: October 24th 2017 (first published November 1st 2012) Rating: 5 stars ‘’And the wind brought people who had let their plows rust; solitary people tiling the sky, reaping the harvests of summer nights, the fat grain of early straws, leaving it all unwinnowed. Instead…

Za uvek i dan više (Forever and a Day)

  Title: Forever And A Day (original title: Za uvek i dan više) Writer: Milorad Pavić Publishing House: Dereta Date of Publication: April 2nd 2012 (first published 1993) Rating: 5 stars ‘’When someone dies, this means that a stranger wanted to tell us something important. Every death is, in fact, a word. And all our deaths create a long, unread…

Vom Schicksal Das sich Wendet (Märchen von Freiheit und Glück)

Τitle: Vom Schicksal Das sich Wendet (Märchen von Freiheit und Glück) Writer: Otto Betz Publishing House: Kösel Date of Publication: 1987 Rating: 5 stars *All quotes and titles translated by me. Taken from the Greek edition.* ‘’Is the course of our fate irreversibly defined from the very start? Can we do nothing to fight against blind destiny, or are…

Οι Όχθες του Σάβου

*The English review is hiding below:) * H λογοτεχνία των Βαλκανίων είναι τόσο ιδιότυπη και ξεχωριστή όσο κι η Ρώσικη. Η έμφαση στην ηθογραφία, η γλαφυρότητα των καθημερινών χαρακτήρων, η μεστή γλώσσα χωρίς ιδιαίτερη ποιητικότητα αλλά γεμάτη ρεαλισμό είναι ξεκάθαρα γνωρίσματα της λογοτεχνίας της ΝΑ Ευρώπης. Είναι πάντα ευχάριστο να βλέπεις καινούριους εκδοτικούς οίκους να…

The Encyclopedia of the Dead

  Title: The Encyclopedia of the Dead  Writer: Danilo Kiš Publishing House: Penguin Classics Date of Publication: May 28th 2015 by Penguin Classics (first published 1983) Rating: 5 stars ‘’When a lie repeats for a long time, people begin to believe.’’ This collection is an ode to the values of Literature. An opportunity to contemplate, to feel, to reflect. A beautiful,…

Dark Things…

“If Hieronymus Bosch had gotten around to writing poems, I suspect they would have sounded like Novica Tadić .” Charles Simic I feel this quote describes the nature of the poems included in this superb collection in a way more accurate than any review. This is my first foray into the work of Novica Tadić…