BIRN post-election reading list…

Oh no…Serbian elections again. If you include the referendum of October 2006 this is the fourth time since then that Serbs will have voted in the most crucial, blah, blah vote since, blah blah. You know what I mean.

And then, most exciting of all: The Great Wait. Weeks and months of waiting to see how the government will be formed, who gets which ministry in exchange for that one. And, to top off the excitement, this will be in full swing when Macedonians vote then we can enjoy the Great Wait of Macedonia too. In the meantime….and to fill the time…

What amazes me is the amount of books still being published about the Balkans. Recently a small snowdrift of them has been building up beside my bed. I have not read any of them yet, but they all look really interesting. This is my summer waiting list then – I mean reading list:

Life and Death in the Balkans: A family saga in a century of conflict by Bato Tomasevic. Much of it is about his time with the Partisans whom he joined at the age of 13 in 1941. In 1958 he survived the infamous Munich air crash which wiped out most of the Manchester United football team. Another highlight: He was later to head YUTEL in the twilight years of Yugoslavia. (Hurst)

Like Eating a Stone: Surviving the Past in Bosnia by Wojciech Tochman. A Polish reporter's book about life in Bosnia and especially about Srebrenica and Ewa Klonowski, a Polish forensic scientist who has been working on DNA and bone analysis. (Portobello Books)

Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia by Stevan K.Pavlowitch. One of the most distinguished historians of the former Yugoslavia who has always combined impeccable scholarship with the benefit of distance having lived much of his adult life in Britain. His books are always beautifully written and crisp. (Hurst)

Ivan Mestrovic: The Making of a Master by Marija Mestrovic. This is the story of the great sculptor written by his daughter who lives in Argentina. It looks fascinating and it has benefitted from the expert guiding hand of BIRN's own Marcus Tanner who edited the book. (Stacey International)

The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of Lost Library by Marcus Tanner. This time it is 100% Tanner, who also wrote a best selling history of the Croats. This is the tale of the great library of the Hungarian king who ruled from 1459 to 1490 and what happened to it and the books after the coming of the Turks to his Transylvanian home. Been flicking through – it feels like a thriller. Sort of scholarship meets beach book. (Yale)

The Angel of Grozny: Inside Chechnya by Asne Seierstad. Not Balkan but still. Scandinavia's most famous journalist made her name with The Bookseller of Kabul. She also wrote With Their backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia – a memorable, different and in parts hilarious account of her time amongst Serbs. (Virago)