Top 5 Tuesday ~ Thankful

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.

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This week’s topic is a Thankful. Which books were you so glad you read, even if they weren’t the top books you read this year, but you’re super glad you read them. Or any other reason that you’re thankful for books this year!!

I am thankful for many different kind of books. I am definitely thankful, that there are so many different books from so many different countries and times. Therefore, I have chosen books from five different countries that I read this year, new and old, written by authors from India, Norway, Turkey,  the UK, the US.

Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" - 1857
Probably one of my favourite novels by Charlotte Brontë, the reason could be that it takes place in Brussels.

Fosse, Jon "Morning and Evening" (NO: Morgon og kveld) - 2001
Last year's Nobel Prize winner. A fascinating story about the life and death of a man. 

Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead" - 2022
David Copperfield in a modern version, written by one of the greatest contemporary writers.

Şafak, Elif "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" - 2019
Elif Şafak never disappoints. We follow her protagonist Leila from the minute of her birth until several minutes after her death and then her friends. 

Verghese, Abraham "The Covenant of Water" - 2023
A wonderful story about a family in India over the length of most of a century.

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🙏Happy Reading!🙏

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Towles, Amor "Rules of Civility"

Towles, Amor "Rules of Civility" - 2011

After reading "A Gentleman in Moscow", I definitely wanted to read more of this author and when one of my book club members offered to lend me her copy of this one, I happily said yes.

It is not the same as the aforementioned novel but it is also a good one. A completely different area, a different situation, but you get a similar feeling. This one takes place in New York around the life of a young girl who comes to New York.

We don't hear much about the parents who immigrated from Russia but it is her background that get her into her jobs, as she is able to speak Russian.

We get to know her friends, the circles she moves in. A well-written account of life in the first half of the last century. Amor Towles is certainly an author who knows how to capture an audience.

In the epilogue we find what is probably one of the most important lines from the whole book:

"The thing of it is - 1939 may have brought the beginning of the war in Europe, but in America it brought the end of the Depression. While they were annexing and appeasing, we were stoking the steel plants, reassembling the assembly lines, and readying ourselves to meet a world-wide demand for arms and ammunition. In December 1940, with France already fallen and the Luftwaffe bombarding London, back in America Irving Berlin was observing how the treetops glistened and children listened to hear those sleigh bells in the snow. That's how far we were from the Second World War."

The title is based on George Washington's "Rules of Civility" and you can find them here.

From the back cover:

"In a New York City jazz bar on the last night of 1937, watching a quartet because she couldn't afford to see the whole ensemble, there were certain things Katey Kontent knew:

· like how to sneak into the cinema, and steal silk stockings from Bendel's

· how to type eighty words a minute, five thousand an hour, and nine million a year

· that if you can still lose yourself in a Dickens novel then everything is going to be fine

By the end of the year she'll have learned:

· how to live like a redhead and insist upon the very best

· that chance encounters can be fated, and the word 'yes' can be a poison

· that riches can turn to rags in the trip of a heartbeat ..."

Nonfiction November 2024

I have taken part in Nonfiction November for the last couple of years. I have not had the time and energy to participate every week but I want to do a little overview over my nonfiction year.

This is the schedule and the hosts for 2024:

Week 1 (10/30-11/3) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Heather @ Based on a True Story 

Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
Frances @ Volatile Rune

Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. You can be as creative as you like!
Liz @ Adventures in reading, running and working from home 

Week 4 (11/20-11/24) Worldview Shapers: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone? (Rebekah)

Rebekah @ She Seeks Nonfiction

Week 5 (11/27-12/1) New To My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 
Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life 

I like reading novels but I also read a lot of non-fiction, mainly biographies and history. And I'd like to draw the attention to the books I read this year, so therefore, here is my list.

Bythell, Shaun "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" - 2022
Life in a bookshop
Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996
A book dedicated to help parents raise their childen
Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013
The history of letters
Kishon, Ephraim (English books) "Kishon for all occasions. 327 useless pieces of wisdom" - Kishon für alle Fälle. 327 unbrauchbare Lebensweisheiten - 1987
A humorous book 
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937 
Conditions under which people live in 1937
Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window/Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (TR: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat) - Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen - 2008
Many topics discussed by this Nobel Prize laureate
Tibballs, Geoff "The Good, the Bad and the Wurst. The 100 Craziest Moments from the European Song Contest" - 2016 
Eurovision
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997
Biography
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013
Trying to find out aobut a polar expedition gone tragic

And then some non-translated German books:
Güngör, Dilek "Pretty German. My Turkish family and I" - Ganz schön deutsch. Meine türkische Familie und ich - 2007
A girl with Turkish roos growing up in Germany
Kapitelman, Dmitrij "The smile of my invisible father" - Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters - 2016
Ukrainian born Jews who moved to Germany trying to find their roots in Israel

Kerkeling, Hape "Paws off the table! My cats, other cats and me" - Pfoten vom Tisch! Meine Katzen, andere Katzen und ich - 2021
German comedian who writes about the cats in his life

Matzig, Gerhard "My Wife Wants a Garden. The Adventure of Building a House in the Suburbs" - Meine Frau will einen Garten. Vom Abenteuer, ein Haus am Stadtrand zu bauen - 2010
The adventure of trying to find a house in Munich and then building one on a very narrow plot of land
Orth, Stephan (English books) "Couchsurfing in Ukraine" - Couchsurfing in der Ukraine - 2024 
Schnoy, Sebastian "Smørrebrød in Napoli. A fun journey through Europe" - Smørrebrød in Napoli. Ein vergnüglicher Streifzug durch Europa - 2009
Hilarious book about Europe for supporters of the European Union, but even more so for opponents of it
Sieg, Sören; Krohn, Axel "I didn't understand you visually. Overheard German dialogues" - Ich hab dich rein optisch nicht verstanden. Deutsche Dialoge mitgehört - 2015
Lots of conversations where people mix up the meaning of words
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter "We" - Wir - 2024
A talk of our president about the world as it is
Weiler, Jan "The Book of 39 Precious Things" - Das Buch der 39 Kostbarkeiten - 2011
A selection of short stories, columns, throughts about everyday life
Zierl, Helmut "Follow the Sun. The Summer of my Life" - Follow the Sun. Der Sommer meines Lebens - 2020
A German actor who tells us about his adventurous life at 16

And here are my posts from the previous years.

#ThrowbackThursday. December 2011 Part 1

 

I've been doing Throwback Thursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. One of my blogger friends always posts the reviews of one month but that would be too much. So, these are my reviews from the first part of December 2011.

Dorrestein, Renate "A Heart of Stone" (NL: Een hart van steen) - 1998

Ellen tells the story of her family, she grows up as one of five children and buys her parents' home when she is in her late thirties and pregnant herself. Through old family albums, she tries to understand the tragedy that happened to her family years ago.

Hesse, Karen "Letters From Rifka" - 1992

The story is told by Rifka, a Jewish girl who has to leave the Ukraine with her family to go to America. On the way, she gets sick and cannot go with the family but has to stay behind in Antwerp from where she writes letters to her cousin.
 

Tyler, Anne "Digging to America" - 2006

Two very different American families meet while adopting a Korean baby. One family are immigrants themselves, from Iran. The families become friends and start a tradition for both of them. 

Høeg, Peter "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" (DK: Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne) - 1992

Smilla is a native Greenlander, an Inuit who lives in Denmark. She is friends with a neighbour boy who is killed by a fall from the roof. It is declared an accident but Smilla doesn't' believe it and starts her own investigation. 

Streatfeild, Noel "Ballet Shoes" - 1936

Three adopted orphan girls take dance lessons. They all have different kind of talents and different kind of views, that makes the story interesting.

Read my original reviews, for the links click on the titles.

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Destination Titles

    

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. It is now hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.

This week's topic is Destination Titles (titles with name of places in them. These places can be real or fiction!) 

I love geography, I love everything about seeing where something is and how the history of that place is, how it became what it is today. So, this is a brilliant topic for me.

Buruma, Ian "Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance" (NL: Dood van en gezonde roker) - 2006

Döblin, Alfred "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (GE: Berlin Alexanderplatz) - 1929

Dorling Kindersley "Brussels. Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp" - 2000

Hislop, Victoria "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016

Joyce, James "Dubliners" - 1905

McLain, Paula "The Paris Wife" - 2012

Mercier, Pascal "Night Train to Lisbon" (GE: Nachtzug nach Lissabon) - 2004

Pamuk, Orhan "Istanbul" (TK: İstanbul - Hatıralar ve Şehir) - 2003

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016

Zweig, Stefanie "Somewhere in Germany" - 1996

All great places to visit.

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Barbal i Farré, Maria "Stone in a Landslide"

Barbal i Farré, Maria "Stone in a Landslide" (Catalan: Pedra de tartera) - 1985

I read another book by Maria Barbal before, "Campher" and when I saw this one, I just had to pick it up.

We have a great insight into the lives of the people in Catalonia at the beginning of the last century, how their lives were changed by the Spanish Civil War. Conxa tells us about her whole lifetime, from being a poor child given to relatives who didn't have any. I know this happened a lot in former times, people often had to many kids and then there were always those who didn't have any. Then one of the children from that family was given to relatives to "inherit" from them. I've heard this from my parents who knew quite a few examples in their youth.

While this is only a novella, the story is as rich as longer novels, there is so much in this. You almost have the feeling as if the author talks about her own life, even though she lived more than half a century later. But she must have heard a lot from her family, as we all did.

And it's not just about that part of our world or that time. War is awful at all times, and times were harsh anywhere (and still are for many, many people around the world). The author has a great eye for the people. And her style is extraordinary.

From the back cover:

"The beginning of the 20th century: 13-year-old Conxa has to leave her home village in the Pyrenees to work for her childless aunt. After years of hard labour, she finds love with Jaume - a love that will be thwarted by the Spanish Civil War. Approaching her own death, Conxa looks back on a life in which she has lost everything except her own indomitable spirit. This story presents a fascinating timeless voice, down to earth and full of human contradictory nuances. Its' the expression of someone who searches for understanding in a changing world but senses that ultimately there may be no such thing. The Catalan modern classic, first published in 1985, is now in its 50th edition, and has sold over 50 000 copies in the last two years in Germany alone."

#ThrowbackThursday. November 2011 Part 4

I've been doing Throwback Thursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. One of my blogger friends always posts the reviews of one month but that would be too much. So, these are my reviews from the fourth part of November 2011.

Brecht, Bertolt "Life of Galileo" (GE: Das Leben des Galilei) - 1938

An epic play about the life of Galileo Galilei, his discoveries, his conflicts with the Catholic Church, his conflicts with himself and the rest of the world. 

Harris, Joanne "Chocolat" - 1999
I liked the move better than the book but it was so great that I have to mention this here..

Harris, Joanne "Coastliners" - 2002
There is a French village and a woman who returns there after having lived in Paris for ten years and is confronted with her past.

Hemingway, Ernest "The Old Man and the Sea" - 1952
An ageing fisherman who hits a stroke of bad luck, doesn't catch anything for ages, goes out to sea and catches the probably largest fish he has ever set eyes on. What follows is his struggle to bring the fish home. Alone. 

O'Dell, Scott "Island of the Blue Dolphins" - 1969
The Native American girl Karana ends up on a deserted island where she spends eighteen years alone. The story tells about her life, her struggles to survive.
There is also a follow-up: "Zia"

Read my original reviews, for the links click on the titles.