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Radz Pandit

@radzpandit.bsky.social
1.9K followers 773 following 2.2K posts

Avid reader, book reviewer & amateur book photographer. I write about books on my blog Radhika’s Reading Retreat. Love art and travel too. Website: readersretreat2017.wordpress.com Also on: linktr.ee/radzpandit

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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 12h
They do indeed!
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 16h
Another 'Publisher Spotlight' post from me. This time it's Persephone Books. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/14/n...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Nine Favourite Persephone Books
My new blog post on nine of my favourite Persephone Books.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 23h
Wonderful! What a treat to find a collection of Persephones.😍
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 23h
Every Eye was so good! I generally love Persephone, some wonderful books and I've yet to come across a dud.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
New blog post on my favourite Persephone books featuring authors such as RC Sherriff, Penelope Mortimer, Elizabeth Jenkins and more. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/14/n...
1) Daddy's Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer
2) Every Eye by Isobel English
3) Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
4) Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham
5) The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff
6) Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey
7) Greengates by RC Sherriff
8) Crooked Cross by Sally Carson 
9) Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Persephone Books: Nine recommendations. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/14/n...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Nine Favourite Persephone Books
My new blog post on nine of my favourite Persephone Books.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
"Barber's the third most lied-to person, you know." "Who's first?" "Man's wife is first anywhere in the world. Priest is second."
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
I've yet to read Dorothy Whipple!🙈 But I do have SOMEONE AT A DISTANCE on my tbr.
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Nightjar Press @nightjarpress.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
New releases by Alison Moore and @saddlerliterary.bsky.social available now from Nightjar website.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Persephone Books: Nine recommendations. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/14/n...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Nine Favourite Persephone Books
My new blog post on nine of my favourite Persephone Books.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
New blog post on my favourite Persephone books featuring authors such as RC Sherriff, Penelope Mortimer, Elizabeth Jenkins and more. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/14/n...
1) Daddy's Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer
2) Every Eye by Isobel English
3) Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
4) Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham
5) The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff
6) Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey
7) Greengates by RC Sherriff
8) Crooked Cross by Sally Carson 
9) Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins
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Joanna Pocock @joannapocock.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I finished Tarjei Vesaas’s THE ICE PALACE (translated by Elizabeth Rokkan) a few nights ago. It’s one of those very short books (like Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea or Johnson’s Train Dreams) that bypasses the intellect and shoots straight into you, lodging somewhere very deep. (1)
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"My rambling metaphysics was getting caught in the trap of reducing experience to coherence and meaning, letting the perplexity of things disrupt the joy in their mystery. To insist that diligent thought would bring an understanding of change was to limit life to the comprehensible."
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"The true West differs from the East in one great, pervasive, influential, and awesome way: space."
The true West differs from the East in one great, pervasive, influential, and awesome way: space. The vast openness changes the roads, towns, houses, farms, crops, machinery, politics, economics, and, naturally, ways of thinking. How could it do otherwise? Space west of the line is perceptible and often palpable, especially when it appears empty, and it's that apparent emptiness which makes matter look alone, exiled, and unconnected. Those spaces diminish man and reduce his blindness to the immensity of the universe; they push him toward a greater reliance on himself, and, at the same time, to a greater awareness of others and what they do. But, as the space diminishes man and his constructions in a material fashion, it also -paradoxically - makes them more noticeable. Things show up out here. No one, not even the sojourner, escapes the expanses. You can't get away from them by rolling up the safety-glass and speeding through, because the terrible distances eat up speed. Even dawn takes nearly an hour just to cross Texas. Still, drivers race along; but when you get down to it, they are people uneasy about space.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"The wanderer's danger is to find comfort. A weekend in S'port around friends, & security started to pull me into a warm thrall, to make the wish for the road a craziness. So it was only memory of times in strange places where the scent of the unknown is sharp that drew me on to the highway again."
BLUE HIGHWAYS: A JOURNEY INTO AMERICA by William Least Heat-Moon. Back Bay Books.
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grantrintoul.bsky.social @grantrintoul.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
For my first visit to the #1949club I take a look at Romain Gary's novel of post-war France, The Company of Men: 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/10/12/t...
1streading.wordpress.com
The Company of Men
The Company of Men is Joseph Barnes’ translation of Romain Gary’s 1949 novel, Le Grande Vestiaire. ‘Vestiaire’ can be translated in a number of different ways, though probably the most accurate her…
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Rachel Malik @rachelmalik.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Haunted/haunting books for October. Some recommendations, all of which can be read & reread, & are haunting, disorienting & unsettling in the most interesting & pleasurable ways. some are very scary… Not all of these books have ghosts of the conventional kind but who wants ‘ordinary’ ghosts.
A photo of 6 books lying on a rug. They are: 

Henry James, The Aspern Papers

Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Face in the Glass
 
Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat

Claire Fuller, Hunger and Thirst

Alex Pheby, Lucia

Wilkie Collins, No Name

Anna Seghers, The Dead Girls’ School Trip
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"Perhaps that was the discovery, simply that life brings revelations, supplies all the material we need. And if it does not supply it in the right order, then we must simply wait for more to come to light." My post on Anita Brookner's LATECOMERS. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/08/l...
LATECOMERS by Anita Brookner. Penguin.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Wonderful book!
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"And there was yet another thing that disturbed his aunt: he declined to visit any of his former friends. The company of people he knew had become abhorrent to him. These days he was only at ease in the company of strangers - which made the thought of a visit to his 'fiancée' doubly welcome."
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"There was a bitter, weary expression in his eyes that she had never seen before. But what else could one expect? she wondered. He must have been through horrors that peaceful old ladies (such as herself) might not even begin to comprehend. But he was alive, thank heaven, and he would get better."
TROUBLES by JG Farrell. W&N Essentials.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"Perhaps that was the discovery, simply that life brings revelations, supplies all the material we need. And if it does not supply it in the right order, then we must simply wait for more to come to light." My post on Anita Brookner's LATECOMERS. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/08/l...
LATECOMERS by Anita Brookner. Penguin.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"He was not like Hartmann, who had the gift of being able to enjoy everything, every change in the climate, every amusement in the working day, every prospect of a new life. Fibich wished only to be safe, and, once safe, to be free, and, once free, to be brave."
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Latecomers – Anita Brookner
Latecomers by Anita Brookner is a brilliant, poignant exploration of trauma, time, memory, family, and identity.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
My new blog post on LATECOMERS, Anita Brookner's brilliant, poignant novel of time, memory, truama, marriage, friendship and family, featuring an ensemble cast. One of my books of the year. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/08/l...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Latecomers – Anita Brookner
Latecomers by Anita Brookner is a brilliant, poignant exploration of trauma, time, memory, family, and identity.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"He was not like Hartmann, who had the gift of being able to enjoy everything, every change in the climate, every amusement in the working day, every prospect of a new life. Fibich wished only to be safe, and, once safe, to be free, and, once free, to be brave."
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Latecomers – Anita Brookner
Latecomers by Anita Brookner is a brilliant, poignant exploration of trauma, time, memory, family, and identity.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
My new blog post on LATECOMERS, Anita Brookner's brilliant, poignant novel of time, memory, truama, marriage, friendship and family, featuring an ensemble cast. One of my books of the year. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/10/08/l...
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
Latecomers – Anita Brookner
Latecomers by Anita Brookner is a brilliant, poignant exploration of trauma, time, memory, family, and identity.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Latest @charcopress.com arrivals.
I'M STILL HERE by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, translated by Alison Entrekin & Daniel Hahn

HUDSON by Hernán Ronsino, translated by Mallory Craig-Kuhn
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Thanks Ian! I've only heard good things, very much looking forward.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"In those days the Majestic was still standing in Kilnalough at the very end of a slim peninsula covered with dead pines leaning here and there at odd angles." Started today. TROUBLES by J.G. Farrell.
TROUBLES by J.G. Farrell. W&N Essentials.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
If you see this, recommend a short book. THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF KATZUO NAKAMATSU by Augusto Higa Oshiro, translated from the Spanish by Jennifer Shyue.
The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu by Augusto Higa Oshiro, translated from the Spanish by Jennifer Shyue. Published by Archipelago Books.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Chris! My husband had to undergo the same surgery a few years ago and was back on his feet pretty soon.
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Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Coming late to the (reprint) of this 1978 novel. Seminal, thought-provoking and tightly written. A classic exploring a woman/mother's place in the social and natural world. #naturewriting #womeninnature
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Warwick Prize for Women in Translation @womenintranslation.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Announcing the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation Longlist 2026! The list of 13 titles from 12 languages includes novels, poetry, short fiction, and memoir. The prize is judged in 2026 by Arifa Akbar, Véronique Tadjo, Boyd Tonkin. For the full list and announcement: tinyurl.com/394cypw6
The 13 titles longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation are photographed stood on a wooden shelf with their spines facing the camera. The 13 titles are: 

•	Batool Abu Akleen, 48Kg., trans. from Arabic (Palestine) by Batool Abu Akleen, with Graham Liddell, Wiam El-Tamami, Cristina Viti, Yasmin Zaher (Tenement Press)

•	Hanna Johansson, Body Double, trans. from Swedish (Sweden) by Kira Josefsson (Scribe)

•	Krisztina Tóth, Eye of the Monkey, trans. from Hungarian (Hungary) by Ottilie Mulzet (Seven Stories Press UK)

•	Linn Ullmann, Girl, 1983, trans. from Norwegian (Norway) by Martin Aitken (Hamish Hamilton)

•	Lalla Romano, In Farthest Seas, trans. from Italian (Italy) by Brian Robert Moore (Pushkin)

•	Hélène Bessette, Lili Is Crying, trans. from French (France) by Kate Briggs (Fitzcarraldo)

•	Eva Luka, The Minotaur’s Daughter: Selected Poems, trans. from Slovak (Slovakia) by James Sutherland-Smith (Seagull) 

•	Geetanjali Shree, Our City That Year, trans. from Hindi (India) by Daisy Rockwell (Tilted Axis)

•	Anjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier, trans. from Dutch (Netherlands) by David McKay (Scribe) 

•	Ichiyo Higuchi, Troubled Waters, trans. from Japanese (Japan) by Bryan Karetnyk (Pushkin) 

•	Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, We Are Green and Trembling, trans. from Spanish (Argentina) by Robin Myers (Harvill)

•	Anna Nerkagi, White Moss, trans. from Russian (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) by Irina Sadovina (Pushkin) 

•	Ingvild Rishøi, Winter Stories, trans. from Norwegian (Norway) by Diane Oatley (Grove Press UK)
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A tranquil morning in the public gardens.
Public gardens in Taormina, Sicily. The Ionian sea in the left framed by green cypresses and other trees, and bright red flowers in the right.
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grantrintoul.bsky.social @grantrintoul.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Reading the fifth winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Riceyman Steps, and discovering how entertaining Arnold Bennett can be. 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/09/28/r...
1streading.wordpress.com
Riceyman Steps
Published in 1923, and the fifth winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Riceyman Steps is Arnold Bennett’s thirtieth novel. Set in Clerkenwell in London, it tells the story of Henry Eralfor…
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I was unsure of the book in the beginning, but really getting into its rhythm now. The prose as you say is wonderful.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"All round quivered the funereal countryside, yellow with stubble, black with burnt patches; the lament of cicadas filled the sky. It was like a death-rattle from parched Sicily at the end of August vainly awaiting rain."
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thank you! It really is:)
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Caustic Cover Critic @causticcovercritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You too could be like Jacob (ie excellent and reading something from my list of 75 great but neglected books): causticcovercritic.blogspot.com/2020/02/75-e...
causticcovercritic.blogspot.com
75 Excellent But Neglected Books
On Twitter I did a big thread of 75 unjustly forgotten or neglected books, so I thought I'd put the whole thing here to make it more eas...
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes! In Sicily.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"The sun, still far from its blazing zenith on that morning of the 13th of May, was showing itself the true ruler of Sicily; the crude brash sun, the drugging sun, which annulled every will, kept all things in servile immobility, cradled in violence and arbitrary dreams." #MorningReading
THE LEOPARD by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun. Panther, Harville.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I loved this book too. Read it in 2020 and her granddaughter replied to my post saying it was Isobel English's 100th birthday that day. It was lovely!
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Taormina.
An expanse of blue sea, white clouds in the sky, brown hills dotted with green vegetation. Sicily.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Mount Etna.
Reddish ash billowing from Mount Etna in the distance.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Vigorously nodding my head after having finished the brilliant and moving LATECOMERS.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Quattro Canti.
Candelabra style lampposts in the evening.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Cats in Erice.
An orange and a calico cat basking on the streets of Erice.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The cats of Palermo.
Cats on the promenade by the sea engrossed in grooming themselves.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"It was the religious houses which gave the city its grimness and its character, its sedateness and also the sense of death which not ever the vibrant Sicilian light could ever manage to disperse."
THE LEOPARD by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Translated by Archibald Colquhoun.
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Radz Pandit @radzpandit.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hello Palermo!
A little balcony with dark blue chairs and a blue and white mini table. Brown buildings in the background. Red and white flowers too in the balcony.
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