I’m not sure all those who follow me for the Literature and War Readalong did notice that there was a change of title. It just didn’t feel right to read an American author depicting the Civil War during German Literature Month. This means The Killer Angels are postponed (?).
The choice for this month’s readalong is Heinrich Böll’s The Silent Angel aka Der Engel schwieg. This novel, by my favourite German writer, is a unique book. I will explore this in more detail in Thursday’s post on Sebald’s Luftkrieg und Literatur aka On the Natural History of Destruction.
Here’s the blurb for Silent Angel
The first novel by the Nobel prize winner, never previously published. Written at the end of the Second World War it describes the death and destruction faced by the people of a city ravaged by war.
The readalong is not taking place on Friday but on Saturday 26 November. Anyone who wants to participate just leave a link in the comments section of my post, I will then add it to my post. Those who have no blogs are welcome to leave longer comments or send me an e-mail with their thoughts before Saturday and I will add them to my post. Should anyone prefer questions instead of freestyle, let me know. I could send out questions but give me time until Wednesday 23 November.
Watch out for Wednesday’s giveaway…
Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 
Happy Readalong, Caroline! Looking forward to reading your thoughts on Böll’s book.
Thanks, Vishy, I look forward to re-reading it.
I’m not sure I’ll have time to read this one, but I’ll definitely check out your thoughts!
Anna, it’s a short book, barely 200 pages and it’s one of the most important post-war books…. Tempting?
Sold! I’m in, Caroline, thanks for the suggestion.
Great, glad to have you join us. After having read Sebald I realized how important a book it is. I’m looking forward to the discussions.
I ll enter the give away and check if library has it but think they don’t as have checked for his books before ,all the best stu
Unfortunately the Silent Angel isn’t among the titles we can give away but you could read another one if you win and do a companion review. That would very interesting.
I’ll be participating. In fact I just finished reading it. I was previously of a mind joining the reading of Endo Shusaku’s The Sea and Poison but was pressed for time at that time.
I’m glad you are joining. I’m sure some of next year’s choices will interest you if you haven’t read them already. I’ll post about it in December. Any great non US/UK (I already got 4) suggestions are still welcome.
I’ve already finished one Böll for the month, but I’ll be joining in with this one too – that is if my copy gets here on time (QANTAS permitting!).
I do hope you get it in time. It would be great to have you join.
And maybe you can win some Böll tomorrow…
I couldn’t find this one in paperback. I’ll read the review.
Too bad but on the other hand I would maybe not start with this one. La Grimace is a better starting point. This one is really heavy.
I checked out a copy of this from the library this week, and am reading Effi Briest this weekend (though will likely just read it over the course of the month). If you do make up questions let me know, but there is no need if others aren’t asking for them. It’s sort of fun thinking about books in a different way than I usually do!
I was thinking of doing a question review for myself. So it might be an option indeed.
As for Effi, Emma didn’t want to join the questions, she will post her review on the third Saturday of our readalong which is a good option.
Feel free to do it the way it works best for you.