One of the books I am looking forward to this year is the English translation of Iris Hanika's When Two Meet (Treffen sich zwei)). I'm hoping that's coming through soon. This particular novels was one of the books that made it to the 2008 German Book Prize shortlist. Some folks have described this as a sweet, somewhat surreal love story.

On a side note, people keep pointing out that it is the only romance novel to be listed in that year. Does that mean folks are a bit wary of appointing romance-based novels as literary works? Probably not. I think it should be taken as a comment about the quality of her work itself. After all, her touching little tale is included amongst stories that are praised as some of the finest bits of writing to emerge in recent time.

The story itself is, as you have already guessed, about two people who fall in love. It doesn't seem like the run-of-the-mill romance though. The main protagonists are in their 40s, rather set in their live and not as open to change. And admittedly, they are attracted to each other but not quite ready to make emotional concessions. The novel comes across as an exploration of human needs as opposed to wants, covering the topic of how people stay in love after using up that first rush of desire. What's especially sweet is the way the author uncovers fantastical ideas about love; one of the main characters keeps comparing her idea of the perfect man with the man she becomes attracted to. There are discrepancies but she goes along with it. It is a fun little exploration of wants contrasted with the needs of a person. Check out the English excerpt of her article at this site.