This monster of a book was a recommendation from a fellow book shopper a few months ago. I was intrigued by the concept – a man travels back in time to stop the assassination of JFK – but that is only a sidebar in this lengthy mess of a story. Briefly, in a diner in... Continue Reading →
On the Calculation of Volume, Part IV by Solvej Balle. Pub 2022. Translation by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, pub 2026.
In part IV of this promised seven-part series, Tara is now living in a commune of sorts with dozens of fellow travellers, in a large house in Bremen. The smaller group’s approach to seeking other travellers has succeeded and then some, with people bringing their own stories and adding to both the mystery and the... Continue Reading →
On the Calculation of Volume III, by Solvej Balle. Pub 2022. Translation by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell. Pub 2025
I read both parts I and II last year, so am continuing the journey with Tara and her growing group of time anti-travellers. Tara is stuck in the 18th of November of an unspecified year. A more serious version of "Groundhog Day", Tara experiences the confusion, loneliness, challenges, and opportunities of living the same day... Continue Reading →
The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier. Pub 2020. Translation by Adriana Hunter, Pub 2021.
I wish I could recall where I first heard about this book and from whom, as I would give them a hearty thank you. This book is in the time-bending genre, but in a different way than others read recently. We start by meeting a series of characters who share one thing: they were all... Continue Reading →
On the Calculation of Volume, by Solvej Ball
On the Calculation of Volume - I, by Solvej Ball. Pub 2020. Translation by Barbara Haveland, pub 2024. On the Calculation of Volume - II, by Solvej Ball. Pub 2020. Translation by Barbara Haveland, pub 2024. I found these when looking at the Booker International list for 2025. I was interested as a time stories... Continue Reading →
Do/Pause, by Robert Poynton
I wish I could remember where I heard about this book. I suspect it was an impulse purchase on a bookshop online store, where the lovely cover illustration and tagline appealed to me: You are not a To Do list. Part philosophy, part self-help, this manifesto advocates introducing conscious and deliberate pauses into one’s day... Continue Reading →
The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli. Pub 2017. Translation by Erica Segre and Simon Carnell, 2018.
I heard about this book on a podcast sometime in the past year. While on a bus around the same time, the person sitting next to me was reading it, and when asked how it was, said, “It’s good but some parts are tough.” I agree with that assessment, but ultimately I found the push... Continue Reading →
Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman. Pub 2021
Oliver Burkeman was, for many years, a columnist at The Guardian, wrote "This column will change your life." I recall reading several of his columns, and then in 2020 he stopped. As he expands on in this book, he had a bit of an epiphany: that all his efforts to be more efficient/productive/happy (and the... Continue Reading →
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