LeBor, Adam "City of Oranges"

LeBor, Adam "City of Oranges. An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa" - 2006

Israel and its history was always of great interest to me, I can't remember how long, I grew up with it. I have visited this very historical and tormented country and therefore couldn't help but read this book. It's great! I had been to Jaffa and therefore could picture a lot of the descriptions in the book. But even if you haven't been there, I'm sure you would enjoy this book. The author describes every different ethnic people living in Israel and has a deep understanding for their problems.

To give you a little flavor from the conversation, here are some of the topics/terms that came up:
•    What's the solution?
•    Hague, Palestine's status in the U.N. and the voting results by nation
•    51st State (USA)
•    U.S. churches that pray for Israel
•    Yasser Arafat
•    People who believe what they want to believe because they are not sure what to believe?
•    Arrogant, defensive attitude (Zionists / some people in Israel)
•    More of a documentary than a book club read, not a fan of the writing
•    Good journalist (Adam LeBor is Jewish), unbiased
•    British and French hands in Israel
•    Demonstrations yesterday
•    Tough read, back and forth of retaliations
•    Guilt and reparations
•    Colonists of Hebron
•    Too many characters, all middle class, would have been better if characters were made more interesting/developed
•    Funds requested from Germany for care of aging Holocaust survivors in Israel
•    Natives in Canada
•    Orthodox Jews, Muslim Brotherhood
•    Intifada
•    Some don't want peace
•    Haves vs. Have-nots
•    Ireland
•    Arabs concede in the book that they have a more comfortable life in Israel than in many Arab nations 

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"The ancient city of Jaffa was for centuries the main port of the eastern Mediterranean, a city of traders, merchants, teachers and administrators, home to Muslims, Christians and Jews, while the produce of its orange groves was famed throughout the world. It was in Jaffa that Peter the apostle was said to have raised Dorcas from the dead, and where Richard the Lionheart defeated Saladin. It was here, too, that Napoleon stormed ashore in 1799, while from 1920 the British administered the city under the Mandate. It is in 1920 that City of Oranges begins.

Through the stories of six families - three Arab and three Jewish - City of Oranges illuminates the underlying complexity of modern Israel, telling the story from the Ashkenazi as well as from the very different Sephardic point of view, and from Christian Arab as well as from the Muslim perspective. Through the eyes of these families we understand how the founding of the state of Israel was simultaneously a moment of jubilation for the Jews, and a disaster - the Naqba - for the 100,000 Arabs who fled Jaffa in 1948, most of them never to return.

Adam LeBor goes beyond the daily news and political rhetoric to break down the media stereotypes and recount a moving story through the prism of Jaffa and its inhabitants. From the Christian Arab car-dealer, the Jewish coffee-and-spice merchant, the Arab baker who made bread for the whole community and the Palestinian exile who tried to bring modern business methods to the Arafat era, to the Jewish schoolgirl who befriended an Arab drug dealer, we see people striving to make a life in a country born of conflict." (You will find more information on Adam LeBor's homepage.)

We discussed this in our international book club in January 2013.

Another interesting book on this subject:
Tolan, Sandy "The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East"

Brown, Dan "The Da Vinci Code"

Brown, Dan "The Da Vinci Code" - 2003

I read this book because a couple of friends from church were reading it. Not my type of book. I'm not into crime or mystery. And that's what this is all about, no matter how many allusions are made about the Catholic church. But I think even if I would enjoy this kind of writing, his style isn't very appealing and his clues are rather too easily found by his characters. What a waste of time. Needless to say, this was my first and will be my last Dan Brown book.

Apparently, the author is at the top of the Oxfam chart for most donated books which says it all, I think.

From the back cover:
"A fascinating and absorbing thriller - perfect for history buffs, conspiracy nuts, puzzle lovers or anyone who appreciates a great, riveting story.

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci - clues visible for all to see - yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion - an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret - and an explosive historical truth - will be lost forever.The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion."

Shalev, Zeruya "Husband and Wife"

Shalev, Zeruya (Tseruyah) "Husband and Wife" (Hebrew: ‏בעל ואישה‎/Baʹal Ve-Isha) - 2000

Na'ama is married to Udi whom she knew since childhood. One morning, the husband wakes up not able to move his legs. Doctors don't find anything wrong with him. But the problem is not physical, further in the book you realize that it's the marriage that is sick. The author has a wonderful way of describing the couple's different ways of trying to deal with this. There is hardly any conversation in this novel, so quite a different read. A lot of thoughts and reflections. I love how there is no finger pointing, no right or wrong in this complicated ailing relationship.

An interesting book.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"With Love Life, which The Washington Post Book World called 'a brutally honest and often brilliant tour of individual and family psychology,' Zeruya Shalev achieved international literary stardom.
In her newest offering, Husband and Wife, she takes us into the heartbreak and compromise of a diseased marriage that may or may not be capable of healing.

The quiet rhythms of the family life of Na'ama and Udi Newman suddenly screech to a halt when Udi, a healthy, active man, wakes up one morning unable to move his legs. The doctors can find no physical explanation for his paralysis, and soon it becomes painfully clear that it is a symptom of something far less tangible and far more insidious. This one morning sets in motion a series of events that reveals a vicious cycle of jealousy, paranoia, resentment, and accumulated injuries that now threaten to tear the small family apart. Na'ama, always intent on upholding the structure of her marriage regardless of its rotting foundation, is now forced to see it for what it is and deal with the consequences.

In a rush of hallucinogenic imagery, Husband and Wife brilliantly captures the vulnerability and deceptive comforts of lives intertwined, as well as the near impossibility of setting out to disentangle them without any casualties. With this novel, Zeruya Shalev is sure to gain the renown here in the United States that she already enjoys around the world."

't Hart, Maarten "The Sundial"

't Hart, Maarten "The Sundial" (Dutch: De zonnewijzer) - 2002

From time to time, I read a Dutch book by a prominent author. Seldom was I as bored as with this one. A woman dies of hyperthermia, has no relatives, her best friend doesn't believe that she could just die and tries to find the real reason. Not only is the writing style boring but the amount of stuff this author comes up with in order to try to write an exciting crime story, well, it doesn't work that way. I don't think I'm going to attempt another book of this writer, even though he seems to be quite well liked in the Netherlands.

From the back cover:

"A taut thriller built on murder, intrigue, and false identity, this atmospheric crime novel opens as Leonie Kuyper attends the funeral of her best friend, Rose. Rose has died of sunstroke and named Leonie her sole heir. Leonie, an impoverished translator, gratefully moves into Rose's former apartment and former life. As she assumes her late friend's wardrobe, she begins to resemble Rose and as a result begins to feel Rose's life, and the growing mystery of it and its end, closing in around her. Was Rose, a pharmaceutical chemist, involved in drug manufacture? Was she privy to the falsification of research findings? Was her death indeed accidental? These questions beg answers, and as Leonie becomes a detective into her friend's past life-the life she now inhabits-she and the reader are pulled toward a chilling denouement."

Bryson, Bill "Troublesome Words"

Bryson, Bill "Troublesome Words" - 1997

Somewhere I read that this book was an amalgam of reference and humour. I can't think of any other author who fits this description better than Bill Bryson. Let's just look at “Troublesome Words”. A great reference book for any questions you might have about the English language, even if it is your mother tongue.

This book is almost a dictionary that gives you so much to look at - on any questions you might have about written English. Bill Bryson is well-known as a travel book author but he is just as great with his language books. He quotes both British and American newspapers - as an American lived in Britain and married to a Brit, he is certainly an expert on the differences between those two "languages". You can also find a glossary on grammar and punctuation. But, even if you're not interested in that part, this book is worth reading in any case, it's hilarious.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"Why should I avoid discussing the 'weather conditions'?

Can a woman be 'celibate'?

When can I use 'due to', or should I play safe and always use 'because of'?

What's wrong with the way I'm using 'crescendo'?

This book provides a simple guide to the more perplexing and contentious issues of standard written English. The entries are discussed with wit and common sense, and are illustrated with examples of questionable usage taken from leading British and American newspapers.

No familiarity with English grammar is needed to learn from this book, although a glossary of grammatical terms is included and there us also an appendix on punctuation.

Journalists, copy-writers and secretaries will find this an invaluable handbook, and it will also be a highly enjoyable book for the word-buff."

I love all of Bill Bryson's books. Find a link to my reviews here.

Bryson, Bill "Neither here nor there. Travels in Europe"

Bryson, Bill "Neither here nor there. Travels in Europe" - 1991

After having read a few books by this great authors about other parts of this world, I just had to see what he had to say about the part of this world that I know best, Europe. He visits Norway, France, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey, so quite a few countries to give you an overall view about this continent. If you know Europe, it's an interesting tour to take with an outsider, if you don't know Europe, you can discover it with this book.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to travel writing as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet and heads for Europe.  Travelling with Stephen Katz - also his wonderful sidekick in A Walk in the Woods - he wanders from Hammerfest in the far north, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.  As he makes his way round this incredibly varied continent, he retraces his travels as a student twenty years before with caustic hilarity."

I love all of Bill Bryson's books. Find a link to my reviews here.

Bryson, Bill "Made in America"

Bryson, Bill "Made in America: an Informal History of the English Language in the United States" - 1998

I love Bill Bryson, simply love him. His travel books are hilarious and informative. But he hasn't just written travel books. He has also written books about other subjects, e.g. the English language. After explaining in "Mother Tongue" how the English language got the way it is, he informs us here about the difference between the British English and the American English and how it got the way it is. Again, in his own unique and funny way but with a lot of information.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"Bill Bryson turns away from the highways and byways of middle America, so hilariously depicted in his best selling The Lost Continent, for a fast, exhilarating ride along the route 66 of American language and popular culture.

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologises his native land - explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West hasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up - as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame."

I love all of Bill Bryson's books. Find a link to my reviews here.

Bryson, Bill "Mother Tongue"

Bryson, Bill "Mother Tongue" - 1990

I like Bill Bryson's travel books. He has also written a few about language and they are just as good and funny. Having learned English as a foreign language myself, I found a lot of information, though I am sure anybody with English as a mother tongue might find it even more interesting. Having lived in England as an American, the author has a lot of experience with the variety of his language. The subtitle of this book is "English and how it got that way". Bill Bryson introduces the origins of the language as well as the history of its growing into a language internationally known and used. He explains the very complex and difficult etymology, the dialects and all the quirks any foreigner loves to hate: the spelling and grammar. But he also introduces everyday language, including swearwords. If you want to know more than just the irregular verbs ... read this book.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"How did English, 'treated for centuries as the inadequate and second-rate tongue of peasants' become the undisputed global language? How did words like shampoo, sofa and rowdy (and others drawn from over fifty languages) find their way into our dictionary? In this revealing and often hilarious book, Bill Bryson examines the mother tongue and explores the countless varieties of English and the perils of marketing brands with names like Pschitt and Super Piss. With entertaining sections on the oddities of swearing and spelling, spoonerisms and Scrabble, and a consideration of what we mean by 'good English', Mother Tongue is one of the most stimulating books yet written on this endlessly engrossing subject."

I love all of Bill Bryson's books. Find a link to my reviews here.

Smiley, Jane "The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton"

Smiley, Jane "The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" - 1998

"Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of  'A Thousand Acres', returns with a novel that explores one of the crucial moments in American history and culture, the conflict between abolitionists and proslavery settlers over the future of the Kansas Territory in 1855-'56. Smiley's narrative goes far beyond any simple historical novelization or any didactic examination of the slavery question; 'The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton' presents a multifaceted picture of the developing American character, as shaped not only by such explosive issues as slavery but also by the difficulties of the frontier and the day-to-day relationships between men and women."

After having read "A Thousand Acres", I just had to read another of her novels. This one is about a completely different subject and was just as good as her prize-winning one. I loved the main character, everything she goes through is told so explicitly, with so much feeling. If you like American history, you'll be intrigued. If you haven't been interested until now, this book might start you. Give it a try!

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

Smiley, Jane "A Thousand Acres"

Smiley, Jane "A Thousand Acres" - 1991

"A successful Iowa farmer decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. An ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' cast upon a typical American community in the late twentieth century, 'A Thousand Acres' takes on themes of truth, justice, love, and pride, and reveals the beautiful yet treacherous topography of humanity."

King Lear in Iowa. A very interesting novel about a family and their troubles. Even though we don't all live on a huge farm, we can picture this family and their problems. This book covers almost every subject and is gripping from the first to the last page. Amazing writing style. One of my all-time favourites.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

I also read "The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" which I really loved, as well.

Jane Smiley received the Pulitzer Prize for "A Thousand Acres" in 1992.

Walker, Alice "The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart"

Walker, Alice "The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart" - 2000

Who hasn't read Alice Walker's most famous Novel "The Color Purple". This is more a collection of short stories based on her life. A truly heart-rendering book, an eye opener, especially the story about her mixed-race marriage in the Southern US in the sixties, intriguing. Alice Walker is a fantastic author and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"'These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become.'

So says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker about her beautiful new book, in which 'one of the best American writers today' (The Washington Post) gives us superb stories based on rich truths from her own experience. Imbued with Walker's wise philosophy and understanding of people, the spirit, sex and love, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart begins with a lyrical, autobiographical story of a marriage set in the violent and volatile Deep South during the early years of the civil rights movement. Walker goes on to imagine stories that grew out of the life following that marriage - life, she writes, that was 'marked by deep sea-changes and transitions.' These provocative stories showcase Walker's hard-won knowledge of love of many kinds and of the relationships that shape our lives, as well as her infectious sense of humor and joy. Filled with wonder at the power of the life force and of the capacity of human beings to move through love and loss and healing to love again, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart is an enriching, passionate book by 'a lavishly gifted writer' (The New York Times Book Review)."

Alice Walker received the Pulitzer Prize for "The Color Purple" in 1983.

Paton, Alan "Cry, The Beloved Country"

Paton, Alan "Cry, The Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation " - 1948

Alan Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist. His novel tells a tale of people having to live in a society that reeks of injustice that would later lead to apartheid. You cannot help but feel sorry for all the characters in the story, no matter what they do, how much they try, they don't get any further.

A dramatic read, a fantastic read. History, yes, but if you look around, these kind of problems still exist everywhere.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Cry the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its contemporaneity, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man."

Pamuk, Orhan "The Black Book"

Pamuk, Orhan "The Black Book" (Turkish: Kara Kitap) - 1990 

A man is looking for his wife who disappeared. He is roaming the streets of Istanbul in order to look back at their past. He mainly relies on the help of two columnists. That is about the plot of this story. But there is so much behind it, so many "meetings", present meets past, East meets West, religion meets secularism.

Orhan Pamuk manages to describe his home town in such a way that you really want to visit it (again), he makes it so interesting, the changing of people and cultures. This book is not just one novel, it's many short stories intertwined with each other, different people telling the story, part of it written by the two columnists so that you have different voices throughout the novel.

As with his other books, I really enjoyed the book of this outstanding author.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Galip is a lawyer living in Istanbul. His wife, the detective novel–loving Ruya, has disappeared. Could she have left him for her ex-husband or Celâl, a popular newspaper columnist? But Celâl, too, seems to have vanished. As Galip investigates, he finds himself assuming the enviable Celâl's identity, wearing his clothes, answering his phone calls, even writing his columns. Galip pursues every conceivable clue, but the nature of the mystery keeps changing, and when he receives a death threat, he begins to fear the worst.

With its cascade of beguiling stories about Istanbul, The Black Book is a brilliantly unconventional mystery, and a provocative meditation on identity. For Turkish literary readers it is the cherished cult novel in which Orhan Pamuk found his original voice, but it has largely been neglected by English-language readers. Now, in Maureen Freely’s beautiful new translation, they, too, may encounter all its riches."

Further fantastic readings: "My Name is Red" and "Istanbul - Memories of a City"

Orhan Pamuk "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures" received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. 

Orhan Pamuk received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2005.

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

Pamuk, Orhan "My Name is Red"

Pamuk, Orhan "My Name is Red" (Turkish: Benim Adim Kirmizi) - 1998

Every year, when the new Nobel prize winners are announced, I wait eagerly for literature recipient. Seldom have I been disappointed with their books. This year was no exception, on the contrary.

Orhan Pamuk is one of those rare authors who seem to have reinvented the art of writing. His style is quite unique. Even though he settles his story in the 13th century, it applies to actual problems and facts in a way nobody else seems to be able to do. I have since read quite a few of his books, he is absolutely fabulous.

The narrator of the novel changes in every chapter which gives you an insight into the whole story that is beyond comparison. You don't just get the view of quite a few of the characters (including the person who gets murdered right at the beginning of the story) but also of animals and the painting around which the story revolves. This novel doesn't just give you an insight into Islam and art, a tour around Istanbul and life 700 years ago, it is an expression of the quest for the meaning of life.

A wonderful author. One of my favourites.

And here is a brief compilation of our discussion in the book club (years after I read this for the first time). There are a couple of small spoilers in there, so if you haven't read the book, you might not want to read this.

There were a lot of topics, not such an easy read. Many characters, lots of unexpected situations and philosophies. It was not just a murder mystery, there are so many layers. Someone found the book too large. We liked the chronology in the back of the book, unfortunately, it wasn't in all the different editions.

The book didn't grip you right away, only after about 100 pages does it get really interesting. Great writing. No doubt. The author obviously likes to shock his readers. Some couldn't put it down after a while, others still didn't finish it.

His language is quite florid, like Persian that was at its peak at that time, then the arts fell out of favour.

The author uses imagery very well, very colourful writing. He compares the art of the Eastern and Western world, the different way of painting, the religion and culture. Miniaturist Painting was prevalent though that region and time. Art, science, philosophy, concept of making everything realistic is going out of fashion, everything is more abstract now, see the pointillism. Orhan Pamuk wanted to be an artist, he educates us about art history. We enjoyed learning about the art part, depending on who was speaking, seeing how dedicated they were. The descriptions of Istanbul were very good, those of us who had been there enjoyed it especially. We would like to read something else about that time period.

His look at the world is fascinating.

We also had a talk about different cultures and how much they should assimilate when in a foreign country. We agreed that nobody should give up their own culture (but definitely abide by the law of the host country) but try to bring them together, social media is a good help.

We had a discussion about why they always use beautiful young boys or men for their pleasure.
We also wondered why Osman pierced his eyes.

Most of us were surprised who the murderer was.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"In the late 1590s, the Sultan secretly commissions a great book: a celebration of his life and his empire, to be illuminated by the best artists of the day - in the European manner. At a time of violent fundamentalism, however, this is a dangerous proposition. Even the illustrious circle of artists are not allowed to know for whom they are working. But when one of the miniaturists is murdered, their Master has to seek outside help. Did the dead painter fall victim to professional rivalry, romantic jealousy or religious terror?

With the Sultan demanding an answer within three days, perhaps the clue lies somewhere in the half-finished pictures . . . Orhan Pamuk is one of the world's leading contemporary novelists and in My Name is Red, he fashioned an unforgettable tale of suspense, and an artful meditation on love and deception."

We discussed this in our international book club in February 2013 and in our international online book club in December 2019. 

I also really enjoyed "The Black Book" and "Istanbul - Memories of a City"

Orhan Pamuk "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures" received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. 

Orhan Pamuk received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2005.
 
I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Schmitt, Éric-Emmanuel "Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran"

Schmitt, Éric-Emmanuel "Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran" (French: Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran) - 1999

What a wonderful story. A young Jewish boy in Paris meets a Muslim grocery store owner. The two of them enter a father-son like relationships. A simple story, quite an easy read, as well. And yet, there is so much to this. Wonderful language, a lot of wisdom from both the religions. Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt manages to put that all together and create a very compassionate story.

I read this book in the French original but I've heard the translation is quite good, too.

We discussed this in our book club in May 2016.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Paris in the 1960s. Thirteen-year-old Moses lives in the shadow of his less-than loving father. When he's caught stealing from wise old shopkeeper Monsieur Ibrahim, he discovers an unlikely friend and a whole new world. Together they embark on a journey that takes them from the streets of Paris to the whirling dervishes of the Golden Crescent.

This delightful, moving play has already been a huge hit in Paris and New York. Performed in thirteen countries and published in twelve languages, it is also an award-winning film starring Omar Sharif.

Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Qur'an received its UK premiere at the Bush Theatre on 17 January 2006."

I later read "Oscar and the Lady in Pink" (Oscar et la dame rose) and liked this just as much.

Orwell, George "Animal Farm"

Orwell, George "Animal Farm" - 1945

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." I think this must be one of the most popular quotes ever. And the most truthful.

Everyone knows "Animal Farm", if you haven't read it, then you have heard about it, if not, a very quick recap: The animals on Manor Farm start a revolution and chase the farmer away and take control. They start very democratic and socialistic but in the end the pigs get more and more like the humans and exploit the other animals.

Orwell was against Stalin and his policies, so this is a very political book, disguised as a fairy story. What can I say? I love it!!!

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the henhouses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring. As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say."

I also recommend "Nineteen Eighty Four".

Dahl, Roald "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

Dahl, Roald "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - 1964

I didn't grow up with Roald Dahl, I only "met" him as an adult, first I read his crime stories. I didn't even know he was a children's author for the longest time. Then I moved to England where we settled in “Dahl County” and I then read his books with my children.

This story is, as can be guessed according to the title , about a little boy Charly who wins a tour through the fabulous factory of Willy Wonka where they make Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgermallow Delights. The story is full of fantastic names, there are characters called Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop, quite imaginative. The language makes this book readable both to children and adults alike.

From the back cover: "'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is a much-loved story by Roald Dahl, full of snozzberries, rainbow drops, luminous lollies and hair toffee!

Charlie Bucket loves chocolate. And Mr Willy Wonka, the most wondrous inventor in the world, is opening the gates of his amazing chocolate factory to five lucky children. It's the prize of a lifetime! Gobstoppers, wriggle sweets and a river of melted chocolate delight await - Charlie needs just one Golden Ticket and these delicious treats could all be his."

If you are interested in his adult books, check out my post for "The Best of Roald Dahl".

Gladwell, Malcolm "The Tipping Point"

Gladwell, Malcolm "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference"  - 2000

Why do some products sell better than others, why was "Sesame Street" such a success, why does certain behaviour spread like an epidemic?

Malcolm Gladwell knows it all, he introduces various concepts, all of them able to get a product, an idea, anything to the "tipping point" from which there is no return.

A review by George Stephanopolous said "A book for anyone who cares about how society works and how we can make it better". I couldn't agree more. This book belongs to those that really can change your life.

From the back cover:
"'The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life,' writes Malcolm Gladwell, 'is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.' Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a 'Connector': he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere 'wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston,' he was also a 'Maven' who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day - think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the 'stickiness' of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that 'tipping point,' like 'future shock' or 'chaos theory,' will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows - or at least knows by name. - Ron Hogan"

Cooper O'Boyle, Donna-Marie "The Domestic Church"

Cooper O'Boyle, Donna-Marie "The Domestic Church: Room by Room" - 2008

Another church read. A study guide for mothers. The title goes back to the writings of Pope John Paul II who compared the home to a little domestic church. The author here tries to go through the home, one room after the other, and offers reflections and thoughts on the different topics of family life and education of children. Sounded very exciting.

This is probably a good introduction if you haven't done any religious reading and would like some ideas but we were not really that enthusiastic about it. We had mothers of children of all ages and a lot of the advice given was not very practicable, we didn't always agree with the author, no, we often didn't agree with the author. We especially didn't like the way she portrayed the work of a mother as sacrifice, almost like a saint. All of us raise our children differently, in different countries, different kind of schools but nobody could even remotely think about this the same way the author does.

This is one of the more disappointing books we approached.

From the back cover:
"Don t cry over spilled milk. Transcend it. Pope John Paul II wrote that the little domestic Church, like the greater Church, needs to be constantly and intensely evangelized: hence its duty regarding permanent education in the faith. That s a tall order for busy Catholic mothers. You might even say it s as big as a house. You wouldn t want to clean the whole thing in one fell swoop, but if you take it one room at a time you ll get the job done. In a systematic course that s equally useful for groups as for individuals, this talented author shows how to remodel a home and form a family after the spiritual design of Holy Mother Church."

Runcie, James "The Discovery of Chocolate"

Runcie, James "The Discovery of Chocolate" - 2001

Somebody in our book club mentioned this book at least a decade ago. I had it on my TBR pile for ages. The only excuse I can give for not reading this earlier is that it somehow got pushed to the back.

This book is considered a fable and there are parts of the story that could certainly not happen in real life. But that is completely irrelevant in this story which should be called "The History of Chocolate and why we still indulge in it after so many years". Yumm.

The novel starts with a young Spaniard in the 16th century going to the New World and getting in touch with the wonders of chocolate. And of love. It takes us around the world together with the discoveries made throughout the centuries, including how my favourite cake, the Sachertorte, came to life.

An easy read with a lot of wonderful information decorated with a great love story. I really liked it.

From the back cover:
"A wonderfully inventive and entertaining journey through time and the history of chocolate!
The Discovery of Chocolate is a fabulous tale, as rich and exotic as the gorgeous creation that Diego de Godoy first discovers when he arrives in Mexico with Cortes and his conquistadors.

Diego is seeking his fortune in the New World. What he finds is love, and chocolate, and an elixir of life. Separated from his lover, he must wander the world, and the centuries, in search of the fulfilment that he first knew in Mexico.

In a series of dramatic episodes that are evocative, witty and thought-provoking, from revolutionary Paris to Freud’s Vienna, Fry’s Bristol and Hershey’s Pittsburgh, Diego and his ever-faithful greyhound, Pedro, seek the perfection of chocolate and the meaning of life."

Naipaul, V.S. "Half A Life"

Naipaul, V.S. "Half A Life" - 2001

After reading "A House for Mr. Biswas", I just had to read more by this wonderful writer. This novel takes place in a lot of different parts of this world, India, Africa, Europe.

A privileged son leaves his home and goes abroad to live a poor life. An interesting take on life in different settings. A lot of information about post-independence India, Africa and Europe during that time, a comparison, a view about completely different cultures and lifestyles. Brilliant read, often called the author's best novel.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"In a narrative that moves with dreamlike swiftness from India to England to Africa, Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul has produced his finest novel to date, a bleakly resonant study of the fraudulent bargains that make up an identity.

The son of a Brahmin ascetic and his lower-caste wife, Willie Chandran grows up sensing the hollowness at the core of his father's self-denial and vowing to live more authentically. That search takes him to the immigrant and literary bohemias of 1950s London, to a facile and unsatisfying career as a writer, and at last to a decaying Portugese colony in East Africa, where he finds a happiness he will then be compelled to betray. Brilliantly orchestrated, at once elegiac and devastating in its portraits of colonial grandeur and pretension, Half a Life represents the pinnacle of Naipaul's career."

Apparently, there is a sequel called "Magic Seeds" which I still have to read. I did read "A Bend in the River" in the meantime and really loved it, as well.

V.S. Naipaul received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories".
 
I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Naipaul, V.S. "A House for Mr. Biswas"

Naipaul, V.S. "A House for Mr. Biswas" - 1961

"'A House for Mr. Biswas' portrays through a series of homes he had and fairly brief life of a poor Indian journalist turned civil servant in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in the years before and after World War II.”

I love V.S. Naipaul. He is a wonderful writer. Not only does he tell us about a life we would never be able to look into, but he does it in such an excellent way.

A man has a dream and he works for it. Not always easy. A lot of struggles. The more he tries to achieve his goals, the further away he seems to get.

A story about disappointments in life and shattered dreams, written in an exquisite way. I loved this book.

Apparently an novel with a large autobiographical background. The main character, Mr. Biswas who is based on the author's own father, is not a very likeable character, he is conceited, thinks very highly of himself and not a lot of others. Yet, with of V.S. Naipaul's wonderful use of language, the story is as beautiful as if he was talking about a beautiful and lovely princess. And even though the protagonist is not sympathetic, we can only feel sorry for those born into a certain life who have to follow the path described to them long before they were even here on earth. It does make you wonder, though, how good the relationship between V.S. Naipaul and his father was.

When following Mr. Biswas, we get an insight into the colonialism and the struggle of the natives to get out of it. We also live with the family and can get to know their day-to-day life and how a huge amount of people try to get on with each other in a crowded space.

A very complex story with a lot of subplots and minor characters that add to the fullness of this tale. It will become a true classic.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"The early masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul’s brilliant career, 'A House for Mr. Biswas' is an unforgettable story inspired by Naipaul's father that has been hailed as one of the twentieth century's finest novels.

In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous–and endless–struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own. A heartrending, dark comedy of manners, 'A House for Mr. Biswas' masterfully evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against an emblematic post-colonial canvas."

I have also read "Half a Life" and "A Bend in the River" which I liked just as well.

V.S. Naipaul received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories".

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

Mitchell, Margaret "Gone With the Wind"

Mitchell, Margaret "Gone With the Wind" - 1936

I have read this book ages ago - at around the same time I watched it in the cinema for the first time. I love this story, book or movie, both are great. I must have watched this movie at least a dozen times in the cinema (in the pre-video-time). It was also the first movie I ever watched in English. I have always wanted to re-read the book, maybe now would be the time.

* * *

I reread this book recently and must say, I enjoyed it as much as I did as a teenager, even though my views on certain parts have changed. That might be because in my youth certain values from the Deep South were still around in smaller villages. I have left that sort of life but I am almost sure that they have changed, as well.

I did enjoy reading about the "life" of a war, the anticipation, how everyone wants this to happen for some reason or another, how they plunged into the fights and how they returned defeated and hopeless. This is what war does to any people. Rhett Butler says on page 227 of my edition: "If the people who started wars didn't make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight? But, no matter what rallying cries the orators give to the idiots who fight, no matter what noble purposes they assign to wars, there is never but one reason for a war. And that is money. All wars are in reality money squabbles. But so few people ever realize it."

I admire Rhett more today than I did years ago. The way he put up with Scarlett and her moods. But I also understand Scarlett better and I can see the attraction between the two.

Another very important part of the book is the love of the land. On page 389, when Scarlett returns home from Atlanta, she wonders "... Was Tara still standing? Or was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?" I am not surprised this was the sentence they used as the title of the book.
And then the determination, the will Scarlett showed where most people feel this is the end.

"As God is my witness, as God is my witness, the Yankees aren't going to lick me. I'm going to live through this, and when it's over I'm never going to be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to steal or kill - as God is my witness, I'm never going to be hungry again." (Page 419)

This is even more powerful than the always (falsely) quoted last sentence of the movie: "My dear, I don't give a damn.". The correct ending of both the movie and the book is, of course "After all, tomorrow is another day." Scarlett lives by this philosophy but it's not always to her advantage.

I have not read and refuse to read the follow-up "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley. I believe the story should have been written by Margaret Mitchell or not at all (after all, she invented the characters). I don't like to read sequels not written by the original author. I might, however, consider reading "Rhett Butler's People" by Donald McCaig because I wouldn't mind reading what Rhett Butler's family is going through at the same time as "Gone with the Wind" is taking place.

Margaret Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With the Wind" in 1937.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O'Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler. "

Seth, Vikram "A Suitable Boy"

Seth, Vikram "A Suitable Boy" - 1993

This novel is one of the largest I ever read. It has about 1,500 pages. The story is settled in India in the fifties though the book was published in 1993 as an "epic about life in India". I've read quite a few Indian novels by now but this is by far the most positive one even though it also seems to be a good recollection of Indian life and politics.

Although the main focus is on the family that is looking for "a suitable boy" (to marry) for one of their daughters, the novel centres on four families with different backgrounds, both Hindus and Muslims.

Apparently, it took the author about a decade to write it. And it was worth it. The story unfolds very nicely, you notice that the time was taken to describe the life of the characters. After this publication, Vikram Seth has been compared with Tolstoy, Dickens and Eliot.

This is really a great book and worth reading all those pages.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find -- through love or through exacting maternal appraisal -- a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love and ambition, humor and sadness, prejudice and reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette and the most appalling violence."

I also liked "An Equal Music" by the same author although it is quite a different novel.

I also read "Two Lives", a biography about the author's great-uncle and aunt. A wonderful book.

Seth, Vikram "An Equal Music"

Seth, Vikram "An Equal Music" - 1999

As I had really liked "A Suitable Boy", I wanted to read this book by the same author. The subject is completely different to his other novel. This one tells us the story of a violonist and his problems with love, his job, his parents, but mainly love.

You cannot compare this book at all to his former novel, but it was very good, as well. I don't know much about the life of a musician, you certainly don't hear much about those performing in chamber music quartets but it was very interesting to follow even that part.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"The author of the international bestseller A Suitable Boy returns with a powerful and deeply romantic tale of two gifted musicians.  Michael Holme is a violinist, a member of the successful Maggiore Quartet.  He has long been haunted, though, by memories of the pianist he loved and left ten years earlier, Julia McNicholl.  Now Julia, married and the mother of a small child, unexpectedly reenters his life and the romance flares up once more.

Against the magical backdrop of Venice and Vienna, the two lovers confront the truth about themselves and their love, about the music that both unites and divides them, and about a devastating secret that Julia must finally reveal.  With poetic, evocative writing and a brilliant portrait of the international music scene, An Equal Music confirms Vikram Seth as one of the world's finest and most enticing writers."

If you have read "A Suitable Boy", put your expectations aside and don't compare it. Then it is a very good novel.

I also read "Two Lives", a biography about the author's great-uncle and aunt. A wonderful book.

Cleave, Chris "The Other Hand"

Cleave, Chris "The Other Hand" (US: "Little Bee") - 2008

This is the description you find on the cover: "We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:
It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.
The story starts there, but the book doesn't.
And it's what happens afterwards that is most important.
Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds." Almost as informative as the reviews by famous newspapers telling you how great the book is but absolutely nothing about it.

Well, I couldn't find more magic in this book as it was unfolding as in other books. On the contrary, with an introduction like this, you almost feel cheated when you notice it's a just a good read. It's interesting but that's all.

And why this novel has to have two different English titles is beyond me (I do prefer the original UK one.)

Another description (altough not much more informative than the one on my book:
"We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.
Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it so we will just say this:

This is the story of two women.

Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice.

Two years later, they meet again - the story starts there...

Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds."

Petterson, Per "Out Stealing Horses"

 

Petterson, Per "Out Stealing Horses" (Norwegian: Ut og stjæle hester) - 2003

"A moving tale about feelings of isolation and of the painful loss of innocence and of traditional ways of life gone for ever."

Interesting story. A man reflects on his life. The novel starts in Norway's forests and it ends there. But it could have been anywhere. After his wife dies, a man goes back to a place he spent a summer in his youth. He is coming to terms with so many events in his life. Death, divorce, tragedies, growing up, growing old.

Like so many other Scandinavian writers, this book is moving slowly but in no way a tedious read. It is one that you want to go back to, that will stay with you for a long time. I am looking forward to more books of this author.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"In 1948, when he is fifteen, Trond spends a summer in the country with his father. An early morning adventure out stealing horses leaves Trond bruised and puzzled by his friend Jon's sudden breakdown. The tragedy which lies behind this scene becomes the catalyst for the two boys' families gradually to fall apart.

As a 67-year-old man, and following the death of his wife, Trond has moved to an isolated part of Norway to live in solitude. But a chance encounter with a character from the fateful summer of 1948 brings the painful memories of that year flooding back, and will leave Trond even more convinced of his decision to end his days alone. "

Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness"

Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (Hebrew: סיפור על אהבה וחושך, Sipur) - 2002

Amos Oz, an Israeli writer and journalist, born 1939 in Jerusalem, grew up in the early days of the new state in a very academic family from Lithuania, one of the many families who had to flee Europe at the eve of the most terrible war ever.

In this book, he doesn't just tell us about the early days of the new Jewish state and how he grew up, he also reminisces on the past of Jewish culture, literature, language and, more importantly, on his mother's depression and suicide. He has an amazing, very sensitive way to explain not just his own troubles as a child and young man which eventually leads him to a kibbutz where he spends more than thirty years of his life but also the struggles all the adults going through in that time, a lot of them not finding employment in their specialist areas, all of them losing their lives as they knew it.

This is not just the story of a young man and his family, it's a saga about the whole Jewish people from Europe to Israel. Despite all the troubles they went through, this is a very loving story told with much emotion about some very moving subjects.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Tragic, comic, and utterly honest, this extraordinary memoir is at once an engrossing family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation and lived through its turbulent history.

Amos Oz takes us on a bold journey through his childhood and adolescence - with a quixotic child's-eye view of Jerusalem's war-torn streets in the forties and fifties - and into the infernal marriage of two kind, well-meaning people: his fussy, logical father and his dreamy, romantic mother. Caught between them is one small boy with the weight of generations on his shoulders. At the heart of this moving story is the suicide of his mother when Oz was twelve-and-a-half years old. Soon after, still a gawky adolescent, he turns his back on his father, leaves home, joins a kibbutz, and changes his name.

The story covers 120 years of family history, a tale full of loneliness and loss, of laughter and farce, that moves between Russia and Jerusalem, Poland and Tel Aviv, Lituanian and Ukranian villages, Kibbutz Hulda on Israel's coastal plane and Arad in the Negev Desert. In search of the remote roots of his family tragedy, Oz reveals the secrets and skeletons of four generations of Chekhovian dreamers, scholars, failed businessmen, fierce women, world reformers, old-world womanizers, and rebellious black sheep.

And so from the depths of sorrow ina small boy's life evolves the stunning chronicle of a people and the extraordinary story of a great writer's beginnings."

Amos Oz received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 1992.

Curtis Higgs, Liz "Bad Girls of the Bible"

Curtis Higgs, Liz "Bad Girls of the Bible" - 1999

One of our church reads. An interesting concept, putting the bible stories into a contemporary context. Some of the stories are really exciting, especially the well-known “girls”. Others were not so gripping. But I must say, I'm not a big fan of short stories anyway.

However, the different stories gave us a lot to talk about and a lot to reflect on.

My favourite was Lot's wife. Good approach.

From the back cover:
"Women everywhere marvel at those 'good girls' in Scripture - Sarah, Mary, Esther - but on most days, that's not who they see when they look in the mirror. Most women (if they're honest) see the selfishness of Sapphira or the deception of Delilah. They catch of glimpse of Jezebel's take-charge pride or Eve's disastrous disobedience. Like Bathsheba, Herodias, and the rest, today's modern woman is surrounded by temptations, exhausted by the demands of daily living, and burdened by her own desires.

So what's a good girl to do? Learn from their lives, says beloved humor writer Liz Curtis Higgs, and by God's grace, choose a better path. In Bad Girls of the Bible, Higgs offers a unique and clear-sighted approach to understanding those 'other women' in Scripture, combining a contemporary retelling of their stories with a solid, verse-by-verse study of their mistakes and what lessons women today can learn from them.

Whether they were 'Bad to the Bone,' 'Bad for a Season, but Not Forever' or only 'Bad for a Moment,' these infamous sisters show women how not to handle the challenges of life. With her trademark humor and encouragement, Liz Curtis Higgs teaches us how to avoid their tragic mistakes and joyfully embrace grace."

Borchert, Wolfgang "Complete works"

Borchert, Wolfgang "Das Gesamtwerk" (complete works) - 1945/47

When Wolfgang Borchert died in 1947 at the age of 26, he had seen it all. He had been forced into the Hitler Youth (like so many others), then "released" from it, arrested, went to war in Russia, was imprisoned, there wasn't anything he hadn't seen or done.

He fled and came back home to post-war Hamburg where he started to write plays and short stories. His health was severely damaged and even though he was sent to Switzerland to recuperate, he died in a sanatorium there.

His work is one of the most important in the so called "Rubble literature" (Trümmerliteratur) of post-war Germany. One can only imagine what he would have been able to create, had he been allowed to live longer. His most important and best known piece is "Draußen vor der Tür" (The Man Outside).

I had to read Borchert in school, it is still a must in the German curriculum. Even though I am not a big fan of short stories, I love his work. Borchert is one of my favourite authors. I reread all his works a while ago and love them still as much as when I was a teenager. Among my favourite stories are "An diesem Dienstag" (On this Tuesday), "Nachts schlafen die Ratten doch" (The rats do sleep nights) and "Das Brot" (The Bread).

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

About the author:

"German author and playwright whose work was affected by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. His work is among the best examples of the Trümmerliteratur movement in post-World War II Germany. His most famous work is the drama "Draußen vor der Tür (The Man Outside)", which he wrote in the first days after World War II. In his works he never makes compromises in questions of humanity and humanism. He is one of the most popular authors of the German postwar period, and today his work is often read in German schools."

Hosseini, Khaled "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

Hosseini, Khaled "A Thousand Splendid Suns" - 2007

I'm not sure whether I would have picked up this book if it hadn't been a book club read. We read "The Kite Runner" in October 2007, the year, this book was published. We had read quite a few Afghanistan books previously and I was probably just expecting something else.

Anyway, I'm glad this novel was chosen for our reading list this year. Because I really enjoyed the book. And it is always fantastic getting together with so many lovely girls discussing the most interesting subjects.

This is only one of many Afghanistan books this group has read over the years. Such an important subject. We had a lot of positive comments to this novel. Good story, gripping, difficult to put down, drew you into this subject, spirit of the human heart, how people can find pleasure and joy. Someone said the book is haunting, couldn't agree more. But not just in a negative way. It also gives you hope, hope that people still go on after everything they go through and still want to work toward a better life for everyone.

This book touches a lot of subjects, of which we were only able to discusss a few, I think one could make this an all-week feature:
·    Abuse to women and children. If you give someone power, they will use it. If abuse is not punished, people will abuse others.
·    Importance of education, not just for women and children/girls, also for men
·    Child marriages
·    Tribes
·    Mother-daughter-relationship, sisterhood, amazing how a man can write this
·    Religion

Certainly a worthwhile read, even if you didn't enjoy Kaleid Hosseini's first book.

We discussed this in our international book club in June 2011.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. The book, which spans a period of over 40 years, from the 1960s to 2003, focuses on the tumultuous lives and relationship of Mariam and Laila, two Afghan women. Mariam, an illegitimate child, suffers from the stigma surrounding her birth and the abuse she faces throughout her marriage. Laila, born a generation later, is comparatively privileged during her youth until their lives intersect and she is also forced to accept a marriage proposal from Rasheed, Mariam's husband."

His latest book is the best one: "And the Mountains Echoed".

Fitzgerald, F. (Francis) Scott "The Great Gatsby"

Fitzgerald, F. (Francis) Scott "The Great Gatsby" - 1925

I quite liked this book, the presentation of the characters and their troubles with society. There was a lot said about that and I often thought, great that we don't have those problems any more. But do we? I think this book is a great foundation for a discussion about the changing in society.

It totally deserves being called a "classic".

This was discussed in our international online book club in April 2018.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright star of the Jazz Age, but as writer Nick Carraway is drawn into the decadent orbit of his Long Island mansion, where the party never seems to end, he finds himself faced by the mystery of Gatsby's origins and desires. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life, Gatsby is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon, this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the disillusionment of post-war America and the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status. But he does more than render the essence of a particular time and place, for in chronicling Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream, Fitzgerald re-creates the universal conflict between illusion and reality."

I also read and loved "Tender is the Night".