on - on

'Alone in Berlin' by Hans Fallada, in translation and newly added to Penguin's Modern Classics caught my attention due to the stushie in the reviews, but so far I am disappointed. I think it probably contains a grim and honest representation of Berlin under the Nazi regime and the suffering and circumstances of its inhabitants, and might be worth struggling through for that alone, despite my lack of enthusiasm. At times the translation seems linguistically poor but having only reached p.94 maybe I will change my tune before the end.

I am now reading it in tandem with "Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard" by Nicholas Jubber (a journey through the inside-out worlds of Iran and Afghanistan) being topical increasing the interest, but from the very first page of the prologue it has caught my attention.

Just finishing "Siberian Education" - which has not quite lived up to the promise of its intriguing cover, although it has been grimly fascinating in parts. If the last chapter proves to be outstanding I will post a fuller comment.