Baldursdóttir, Kristín Marja "Karitas untitled"

Baldursdóttir, Kristín Marja "Karitas untitled" (Icelandic: Karitas án titils) - 2004

None of us had read many books from Iceland before, so we decided to choose this one for our book club.

Iceland 100 years ago. A widow with six children. That's certainly not easy even today, but a hundred years ago it was incredibly difficult everywhere. But Steinunn Olafsdóttir not only manages to raise her children during those hard times, she also provides them all with an education, even the girls, which was very unusual back then. Of course, everyone has to pitch in, otherwise it wouldn't be possible.

The youngest daughter, Karitas, even becomes a painter; she has great talent and is given the opportunity to study in Denmark. But even she can't escape the customs of the time.

A highly interesting novel about a life we ​​know very little about.

It was nice that there was a map of Iceland in the book. It wasn't so nice that the places mentioned in the book are hardly ever shown on the map.

We had a really nice discussion about this book, even though we all basically agreed. But everyone was able to take something different away from it or noticed something different, which greatly contributed to our understanding.

Personally, the scenes with elves and ghosts bothered me a little, but one member suggested that they were partly hallucinations of the protagonist. That's quite possible, and I'm glad someone saw it from a different perspective.

We also really liked that there was a matching drawing by the "ice painter" (German title) for each chapter.

We discussed this book in our local book club in February 2026.

Book Description:

"A portrait of an artist trapped by convention and expectations but longing for the chaos that can set her free. Growing up on a farm in early twentieth-century rural Iceland, Karitas Jónsdóttir, one of six siblings, yearns for a new life. An artist, Karitas has a powerful calling and is determined to never let go of her true being, one unsuited for the conventional. But she is powerless against the fateful turns of real life and all its expectations of women. Pulled back time and again by design and by chance to the Icelandic countryside―as dutiful daughter, loving mother, and fisherman’s wife―she struggles to thrive, to be what she was meant to be. Spanning decades and set against a breathtaking historical canvas, Karitas Untitled , an award-winning classic of Icelandic literature, is a complex and immersive portrait of an artist’s conflict with love, family, nature, and a country unaccustomed to an untraditional woman―but most of all, with herself and the creative instincts she has no choice but to follow."

Happy March!

  Happy March to all my Friends and Readers
New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch
"Besuch im Garten"
"Visit in the Garden"

Hanka and Frank say to this picture:

"Seit vielen Jahren beobachten wir die kleinen bunten Sänger in unseren Gärten. Egal ob Sommer oder Winter - irgendwie hat man doch ein kleines Lächeln im Gesicht, wenn man die kleinen Vögel sieht. Zeit, ihnen mal wieder ein kleines Aquarell zu widmen."

"For many years we've watched these little colorful songbirds in our gardens. Whether summer or winter, seeing them always brings a smile to our faces. Time to dedicate another little watercolor painting to them." 

Read more on their website here. *

This picture is not only beautiful but a wonderful reminder of my childhood. We always had lots of swallows and songbirds in our garden and they always make me smile. Even now, songbirds are always around us. Beautiful little companions.

* * *

An old weather lore is: "If February is dry and cold 🥶, heat will soon follow in spring". (Ist der Februar trocken und kalt, kommt im März die Hitze bald.) 

* * *
And a poem I found about March:
Never mind March, we know
You're not really mad
Or angry or bad.
You're only blowing the winter away
To get the world ready
For April and May.

* * *

My favourite books last month:
Lanschot, Reinier van "We are Europe" (Dutch: Wij zijn Europa: een nieuw Europees verhaal) - 2024
and
Chevalier, Tracy "The Glassmaker" - 2024

A non-fiction about Europe and the European Community, and a fictional account about living in Venice through the centuries.

* * *

My German word this month is:
Augenweide
this translates into:
A Feast for the Eyes
but word for word:
Eye Pasture

I think this is a good word to make us look forward to the next month, the beginning of spring. You might say Eye Candy but Augenweide means so much more.

* * *

I've checked my February pictures and I found that February seems to be a month where we play board games constantly. We play all year round but I guess it is due to the weather that we play more of them in February. So, here is a collage of some of the games we played during the last couple of weeks. Do you know any of these? Have you  played any of them?

The names of the games are: verkopft, krazyWords, Wie Arsch auf Eimer (it's a perfect match) and Hitster.

* * *

* You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about the two artists. 

💐 I wish you all a very Happy March! 💐

Jane Austen Year 2025

As I mentioned before, as part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, and I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

Austen, Jane (Jane Austen in German)

January: "Sense & Sensibility" - Verstand & Gefühl/Sinn & Sinnlichkeit - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
February: Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017
March: "Pride & Prejudice" - Stolz & Vorurteil - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
April: Bell, Catherine "Jane Austen and the Art of Words" (GE: Jane Austen und die Kunst der Worte) - 2021
May: "Mansfield Park" - Mansfield Park - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
June: Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen" - 2020
July: "Emma" - Emma - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
August: Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007
September: "Northanger Abbey" - Kloster Northanger - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
October: Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013
November: "Persuasion" - Überredung/Anne Elliot - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
December: Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

And there are, of course, hundreds of books about Jane Austen, her life, her novels, plus numerous "sequels" to the novels she wrote, written by contemporary authors. I am not a big fan of those kind of stories, so I'm not including any since I haven't read them.

Austen, Jane
"Lady Susan" - Lady Susan - 1795
"The Watsons" - Die Watsons - 1803/05
"Sanditon" - Sanditon - 1817
"Selected Letters. 1796-1817" - 1796-1817

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen. The World of Her Novels" - Jane Austen und ihre Zeit - 2002

Shields, Carol "Jane Austen. A Life" - 2001
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997

Which Austen Heroine are You? 

Other books relating to her work:
Baker, Jo "Longbourn" - 2013

Birtwistle, Sue; Conklin, Susie "The Making of Pride and Prejudice" - 1995

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club" - 2004
McCall Smith, Alexander "Emma. A Modern Retelling" - 2015

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" - 1993
Rowlatt, Bee & Witwit, May "Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad. The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship" - 2010
Austen, Jane "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791

You will find more posts where she has been mentioned here.

And there are some recommendations by friends:
Harman, Claire "Jane’s Fame - How Jane Austen Conquered the World"
Mullan, John "What Matters in Jane Austen? - Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved"

And during the year, Captivated Reader found a YouTube link on PBS for a Jane Austen dance and general information about her life.

Chevalier, Tracy "The Glassmaker"

Chevalier, Tracy "The Glassmaker" - 2024

I have read quite a few novels by Tracy Chevalier and they were all highly interesting, always about different people in different areas at different times.

But this was special. From the descriptions, I first thought this was a little like the stories by Edward Rutherfurd who guides us through centuries by introducing several people from several families. Well, this was a little different. The story starts in 1494 Orsola Rossa, the protagonist, lives in Murano with her family of glassmakers. After 500 years, she is in her sixties and has lived through a plague, several wars, many changes in the lives of people, especially women.

While I was first a little dismayed by this way of telling the story, I really loved the people in Murano and Venice. Not all, but most of them. And the story of the family and how they got through all the upheavals, was also fantastic. 

You can tell, that Tracy Chevalier put a lot of time and effort into the research. I especially loved to learn about all the details of glassmaking. Well done.

I doubt I will ever get to see Venice but this is a good substitute.

From the back cover:

"Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here – like the glass the island’s maestros spend their lives perfecting.

In secret, Orsola Rosso learns to craft glass. As a woman, she must flout convention to save her family from ruin. We follow her through hundreds of years of war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss.

Skipping like a stone across the centuries, The Glassmaker is a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as glass."

Lanschot, Reinier van "We are Europe"

Lanschot, Reinier van "We are Europe" (Dutch: Wij zijn Europa: een nieuw Europees verhaal) - 2024

A Christmas present from one of my sons. One of his bosses had written a book about Europe. History. Present. Problems. Future.

I grew up in the middle of Europe with the European Economic Community. We had the same age. I saw a lot of controversy. Many people who were against it. Especially the farmers in our area though a lot of them benefitted from the butter mountain and other agricultural grants. I also lived in England while they were members of the EU and heard a lot of negativity there, they take away our measurements etc. The same moaning in both countries, we pay more into the community than we get out.

But do we really? I never believed that story because I know how much our market grew, I could see how we all participated in the prosperity.

Reinier van Lanschot observes this very well. He is the next generation and he gives us hope. As long as there are people like him who work toward a better future, who understand the problems and try to find solutions, so long we can have hope. The right wingers shout louder but I grew up with the conviction "He who shouts the loudest is in the wrong". And that's always right.

The EU is our biggest hope against nationalism, racism and all the other -isms who think they are better than others because … usually no reason at all, they just made one up.

There are a lot of facts in this book that tell us what has led to some events like Brexit but many stories that have to convince us that Europe is the only hope for the future.

I can only recommend this book to anyone who has the slightest interest in Europe and needs good points to convince others.

P.S. In his acknowledgements, the author also mentions Geert Mak, one of my favourite Dutch authors who has written a lot of great non-fiction books about our century, his country and Europe. And quite a few of his books have been translated into English. Try them, he is great.

Some quotes:

"When death and decline are all around and there appears to be no light left, this is frequently when the most brilliant plans emerge. And it is also when the strength to carry them out becomes possible." Mathieu Segers
The author says: "This was exactly the context in which European cooperation was born. After the devastation of the Second World War, Europe found itself in a precarious position."

On the Peace of Augsburg in 1555:
"This treaty introduced the principle of cuius regio, euius religion ('whose realm, his religion') granting rulters the authority to determine the official faith of their territories."

In German, we have a saying "Wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing". (He whose bread I eat, his song I sing.) The Dutch say the same "Wiens brood men eet, diens woord men spreekt". That's about the same as "He who pays the piper calls the tune."

To explore how the EU affects your daily life, region, or interests, it is well worth visiting the webiste called What Europe Does For Me.
This is a good site that especially anyone who is against the EU should read.

From the back cover:

"We are living in a time of profound change. In Brussels, decisions are made every day that affect the lives of 450 million Europeans and shape the wider world. European cooperation is unique, far-reaching, and remarkably successful. Yet that story is rarely told in our national media or in everyday conversations.

In 'We Are Europe', Reinier van Lanschot takes readerson a journey across the continent. With historical perspective and vivid anecdotes, he reveals the real story behind European cooperation, its bold achievements and its serious shortcomings.

Van Lanschot does not shy away from Europe’s flaws. By examining today’s greatest challenges, he exposes the weaknesses of the current system and argues for the fundamental changes needed to safeguard our future. What emerges is a clear and hopeful vision for a renewed European project.

This book is both a wake-up call and an invitation: to recognise that Europe is not something distant, but something we all shape. Because the truth is simple – we are Europe."

Garmus, Bonnie "Lessons in Chemistry"

Garmus, Bonnie "Lessons in Chemistry" - 2022

A member of my German book club had suggested this book  but despite everyone agreeing to it at first, it wasn't chosen in the end. But I had already ordered the book, so I wanted to read it.

It certainly would have been a good choice to discuss. I doubt I would have chosen it, had I only seen the cover. On the other hand, I suppose those people who are looking for a romantic chick lit, might be disappointed.

It's hard to describe this book. I would probably declare it as chick-lit though it has some deeper meanings. However, I did like the protagonist a lot, I wish I would have had an Elizabeth Zott in my life when growing up. Even though I am certainly about a decade younger than her, all those obstacles that were placed in the way of women were still around. And there was nobody, absolutely nobody who supported me in my education, not my parents and definitely not my teachers (except for the one in elementary school but he wasn't there anymore later). On the contrary, all I heard was "you will get married and don't need a job". And my boss got a guy in from outside instead of promoting me. For the same reason.

Same as Elizabeth, I had the feeling my whole life that I worked for men less intelligent than me.

The books is described as humorous and there are certain aspects of humour in it, but overal, the sadness is more important and stays more in our memories.

Maybe this story speaks more to a younger audience, it just brought too many bad memories for me. (Although that speaks in favour of the book.) I wouldn't say I disliked the book completly, but it brought me back to a time I'd rather forget. I would have loved to discuss it with my book club and hear what the other women have to say about it.

And last, but not least, some things have changed but not enough. What do you think???

From the back cover:

"Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. Soon, a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time."

"Lessons in Chemistry" has been chosen favourite book of the year 2022 by the German Indepent Book Shops.

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne "Absalom's Hair"

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne "Absalom's Hair" (Norwegian: Absalons Haar) - 1894

I enjoy reading books by Nobel laureates from time to time. So when I came across this novel, I had to check it out. It's a novella, so not very long. A bit more plot certainly wouldn't have hurt the story. I wasn't particularly impressed. The narrative jumped around, and the protagonists lacked any compelling qualities. It's simply a very old book that hasn't aged well.

And if it was meant as a satire, I would have expected some humor.

Bjørnson also wrote the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (Yes, we love this country).

Book Description:

"Harald Kaas was sixty. He had given up his free, uncriticised bachelor life; his yacht was no longer seen off the coast in summer; his tours to England and the south had ceased; nay, he was rarely to be found even at his club in Christiania. His gigantic figure was never seen in the doorways; he was failing. Bandy-legged he had always been, but this defect had increased; his herculean back was rounded, and he stooped a little. His forehead, always of the broadest-no one else's hat would fit him-was now one of the highest, that is to say, he had lost all his hair, except a ragged lock over each ear and a thin fringe behind. He was beginning also to lose his teeth, which were strong though small, and blackened by tobacco; and now, instead of 'deuce take it' he said 'deush take it.'"

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903 "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit".

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.