81. When did the sinking start?

Vincent Delecroix's "Small Boat" has the courage to ask hard questions + this week's Page Count (a comfort read and another one from the Longlist)

I read a book this week that I believe everyone who loves to read books should read.

I’m in a tricky situation because if I say much more than that, you won’t read it.

If I mention its credentials, it might put you off because the idea of a book in translation and the idea of an international award winner can feel like a lot. But if you think about it, that fact that it got translated into English just means enough people thought it was worth getting it to a much wider audience.

If I write about the book’s ideas you might not want to read it. Or not, it’s hard to know.

If I say what the plot of this book is, you also might not want to read it.

If I write about how this book made me think a lot about a time when I, like the book’s protagonist, made a catastrophic mistake that hurt other people and blew up my life, you’re going to get distracted by my story.