"Island Style" - Winter/Spring Reading Salon
For our second reading salon, I invite you to focus your attention on islands.
Books about islands, stories set upon islands, cultures and creatures relating to islands, and, for those of you willing to think laterally, how islands might be applied to the human condition: islands of interests? Islands as loneliness? Islands that separate us, or unite us? No (hu)man is an island? Every human is an island?
You decide!
What's a "salon"?
In the 16th & 17th century, the concept of salons emerged. They were gatherings held my a host (me!) - and often by women (starting with literary salons) - and served as an important place for the exchange of ideas. They were theatres of conversation and exchange, which is exactly what I hope for our reading salons.
How the Innsbruck Reads salon works:
Over the next few months, read one or more books about islands (suggestions below), and join us in April for dinner at Japanese restaurant Kai (Innsbruck) to discuss what we've read.
This is an opportunity to stretch yourself and read outside your favourite genre, using a thematic anchor.
Suggestions to get you started:
Here are 15 book suggestions from me to get you started, that span a range of genres. English title first (then the German title, if it exists), plus a one-sentence description. Please don't feel that you need to read these - find your OWN island books, if you like! :)
Where the World Ends | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - Geraldine McCaughrean [Scottish Isles] A historical fiction novel about a group of boys and men who go "fowling" (bird & egg hunting) on a sea stack in 1727 Scotland.
The Old Man and the Sea | Der alte Mann und das Mee - Ernest Hemingway A classic about an aging fisherman, and his long struggle to catch a giant marlin.
The Disaster Tourist | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - Yun Ko-eun [Fictional: Mui] A climate fiction novel set on the desert island of Mui, where a paid vacation to paradise is nothing short of a disaster...
The Lamplighters | Die Leuchtturmwärter - Emma Stonex [Cornwall] A fictional account of lighthouse keepers.
My Family and Other Animals | Meine Familie und andere Tiere - Gerald Durrell [Corfu, Greece] An autobiographical book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. It tells in an exaggerated and sometimes fictionalised way of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and widowed mother on the Greek island of Corfu between 1935 and 1939.
The Memory Police | Insel der verlorenen Erinnerung - Yōko Ogawa [Fictional Island] A dystopian fiction novel hypnotic, gentle novel, that begins as a surveillance-state dystopia and ends as something more existential: a surreal and haunting meditation on our sense of self.
Island Dreams | Inseln: Die Kartierung einer Sehnsucht - Gavin Francis [Islands generally] A non-fiction book that examines our collective fascination with islands. He blends stories of his own travels with psychology, philosophy, and great voyages from literature, shedding new light on the importance of islands and isolation in our collective consciousness.
And Then There Were None | Und dann gabs keines mehr - Agatha Christie [Fictional Island] The bestselling crime novel of all time.
The Mermaid of Black Conch | Die Meerjungfrau von Black Conch - Monique Roffey [Caribbean] A magical realism novel about a mermaid cursed by jealous wives is rescued by a fisherman and learns to be human again.
The Island of the Colorblinds | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - Oliver Sack [Micronesia] A non-fiction book by a neurologist about achromatopsia on the Micronesian atoll of Pingelap.
Hawaii | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - James A. Michener [Hawai'i] A historical fiction novel about, a classic saga of disparate peoples struggling to keep their identity, live in harmony, and, ultimately, join together. [Note: very long.]
Sea People | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - Christina Thompson [Pacific Islands] A non-fiction detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
Names for the Sea | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - Sarah Moss [Iceland] A memoir about the author's experiences of cultural dissonance while living with her family in Iceland.
The Song of the Dodo | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - - David Quammen [Islands generally] A non-fiction book that explores the question, "Why have island ecosystems always suffered such high rates of extinction?" [Note: very long.]
Lords and Lemurs | Keine deutsche Übersetzung - - Alison Jolly [Madagascar] A remarkable tale (non-fiction, memoir) of one of the last great places on earth and the extraordinary people who live there, a tale of marriage, birth, and death, of spear fights and more in Madagascar.
Honourable mentions:
The Tricking of Freya - Christina Sunley Ella
Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters - Mark Dunn
Muddling through in Madagascar - Dervla Murphy
Shark Dialogues - Kiana Davenport
Saint X - Alexis Schaitkin
"Moloka'i" - Alan Brennert Dava Shastri's
Last Day - Kirthana Ramisetti
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Black Cake - Charmaine Wilkerson
The Rainbow Troops - Andrea Hirata
The Fury | Die Insel des Zorns - Alex Michaelides
Isola | Isola - Isabel Abedi
The Greenlanders - Jane Smiley Independent
People - Halldór Laxness
LoveStar - Andri Magnason
Cold Earth - Sarah Moss
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
The Colony - Audrey Magee
A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
Robben Island - Charlene Smith
The Island of Peculiar Children | Die Insel der besonderen Kinder - Ransom Riggs
Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All - Christina Thompson