Lagerlöf, Selma "Sancta Lucia. Christmas Stories"

Lagerlöf, Selma "Sancta Lucia. Weihnachtliche Geschichten" (Swedish: Kristuslegender) [Christmas Stories] - 1893-1917

I had never read a story by Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman ever to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature. And since she wrote some Christmas stories, I thought it was about time.

Of course, I had seen the animated series "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson" which was made after her book but other than that, I didn't know much about Selma Lagerlöf. Well, that has changed and I will certainly read a novel written by her, maybe "Gösta Berling".

As with other selections of stories, there are certainly collections of Selma Lagerlöf's Christmas stories available in English but probably none of them have exactly the same contents as this German collection I found. These are the stories in this particular one:

The Holy Night (Swedish: Den heliga natten, 1904)

The Lucia Day Legend (Swedish: Luciadagens legend, 1917)

in "Julklappsboken"

The Legend of the Christmas Rose (Swedish: Legenden om julrosorna, 1908)

God's Peace (Swedish: Gudsfreden, 1898)

A Christmas Guest (Swedish: En julgäst, 1893)

You can even download some of them for free!

In any case, the stories were nice to read, especially around Christmas. They tell us a lot about the life in Sweden about a century ago and that is always worth looking at. Some of the stories are more like a fairy tale whereas others talk about the everyday folk and their lives.

From the back cover:

"When I was five years old I had such a great sorrow! I hardly know if I have had a greater since then. It was then that my grandmother died. Up to that time, she used to sit every day on the corner sofa in her room, and tell stories. I remember grandmother told story after story from morning till night, and we children sat beside her, quite still, and listened. It was a glorious life! No other children had such happy times as we did. It isn't much that I recollect about my grandmother. I remember that she had very beautiful snow-white hair, and stooped when she walked, and that she always sat and knitted a stocking. And I even remember that when she had finished a story, she used to lay her hand on my head and say: - All this is as true, as true as that I see you and you see me. - I also remember that she could sing songs, but this she did not do every day. One of the songs was about a knight and a sea-troll, and had this refrain: - It blows cold, cold weather at sea . ."

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings".

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

Tolstoy, Leo "Collected Works. The Stories"

Tolstoy, Leo "Gesammelte Werke. Die Erzählungen" (Russian) [Collected Works. The Stories] - 1853-1904

Most collected words are not published in the same way in different countries. Therefore, I give you a list of the stories to be found in this collection. I am sure you can find all the stories elsewhere in English, maybe not in one book, though.

A Landlord's Morning - 1856
The Raid/Набег - 1853
The Wood-Felling/Рубка леса - 1855
Two Hussars/Два гусара - 1856
The Snowstorm/Метель - 1856
Kholstomer/Холстомер - 1875
What Men Live By/Чем люди живы - 1881
Two Old Men - 1885
How Much Land Does a Man Need?/Много ли человеку земли нужно - 1886
The Three Hermits/Три Старца - 1886
The Death of Ivan Ilyich/Смерть Ивана Ильича - 1886
The Kreutzer Sonata/Крейцерова соната - 1889
Master and Man/Хозяин и работник - 1895
Hadji Murat/Хаджи-Мурат - 1904

I have read "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy and - same as most of the other Russian authors I have read so far - enjoyed those books very much. I am not the biggest fan of short stories but when I found this book of short stories on almost 1,000 pages in a second hand bookshop, I couldn't resist.

If you read any of those short stories, you can easily see where the author found his ideas for his "big books", a lot about the serfs working the land the nobility and the officials, the soldiers, the Russian Orthodox church, the Muslims in the country. His stories are both political - e.g. in one of them he describes the struggle of the Chechens (that still persist today) - philosophical and sociological. A masterpiece.

I would love to read Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth next, autobiographical novels or maybe Sevastopol Sketches about the Crimean War or The Cossacks in which he describes the relation between the Cossacks and the Russians. We'll see.

In any case, Tolstoy is always worth reading.

Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World"

Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" - 2016

This is certainly one of the favourite books I read this year. I haven't come across many books about Alaska and this one is about the first years after the US bought it from the Russians when they still sent out explorers to find out just about anything about the land.

One of these explorers was the fictional Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester who kept writing back and forth to his wife. They both kept diaries, as well, so we get to know a lot about life in the new state. I found the tales about the native inhabitants and their beliefs especially exciting. Those people led a hard yet highly interesting life.

The writing is very beautiful, the story captivating, the characters come alive, everything seems so real. Great story!

Since I enjoyed this book so much, so I probably should read "Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey, as well.

From the back cover:

"Set in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in THE SNOW CHILD (a Sunday Times bestseller, Richard and Judy pick and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Eowyn Ivey's TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD is a breathtaking story of discovery set at the end of the nineteenth century, sure to appeal to fans of A PLACE CALLED WINTER.

*NOMINATED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2017*

Winter 1885. Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester accepts the mission of a lifetime, to navigate Alaska's Wolverine River. It is a journey that promises to open up a land shrouded in mystery, but there's no telling what awaits Allen and his small band of men.
Allen leaves behind his young wife, Sophie, newly pregnant with the child he had never expected to have. Sophie would have loved nothing more than to carve a path through the wilderness alongside Allen - what she does not anticipate is that their year apart will demand every ounce of courage of her that it does of her husband."

Other books about Alaska, suggested by the author:
Wallis, Velma "Two Old Women. An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival" - 1993
Hensley, William "Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People" - 2008
Hayes, Ernestine "Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir" - 2006
Huntington, Sidney "Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life Along the River" - 1993

Book Quotes of the Week

"It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little." Denis Parsons Burkitt

"Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge." Stephen Hawking

"Children fall in love with books because of the memories created when they snuggle up and read with someone they love." Raising Readers

"If a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, there are good men in jail." Daniel Patrick Moynihan

"What I like best is staying home and reading. Being rich is not about how many homes you own. It’s the freedom to pick up any book you want without looking at the price and wondering whether you can afford it." John Waters

Find more book quotes here.

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817"

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817" 

Jane Austen certainly belongs to my favourite authors. Unfortunately, due to her early death, there are only six finished books (and two unfinished ones) written by her which I have read several times. However, there are still other writings, as these "Selected Letters".

This book might not have been meant for publishing, they are just letters Jane Austen wrote to friends and family, mainly to her sister Cassandra. However, they give a great idea of life at the time and also how the author found a lot of her stories.

I really enjoyed hearing about Jane's life!

From the back cover:

"'Little Matters they are to be sure, but highly important.'

Letter-writing was something of an addiction for young women of Jane Austen's time and social position, and Austen's letters have a freedom and familiarity that only intimate writing can convey. Wiser than her critics, who were disappointed that her correspondence dwelt on gossip and the minutiae of everyday living, Austen understood the importance of 'Little Matters', of the emotional and material details of individual lives shared with friends and family through the medium of the letter. Ironic, acerbic, always entertaining, Jane Austen's letters are a fascinating record not only of her own day-to-day existence, but of the pleasures and frustrations experienced by women of her social class which are so central to her novels.

Vivien Jones's selection includes very nearly two-thirds of Austen's surviving correspondence, and her lively introduction and notes set the novelist's most private writings in their wider cultural context."

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London"

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016

This is a highly exciting book. I am seldom tempted to check out what happens at the end of the book but I really was this time. Didn't do it, of course, because that would spoil the surprise.

This is a combination of historical novel and crime story, I can see them turning it into a very successful movie one day. Although, they probably are going to change something. As they always do.

We have all read something about the Great Fire of London, well, if we read historical novels we have read one or two about it, if not, we have heard that it happened, that it was in 1666 and that it started in a bakery in Pudding Lane. But how did the people live at the time?

A while ago I read Daniel Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year" and that happened just ten years before the fire. Whilst the plague killed many people and brought the city to ruin, the fire brought work and helped to bring it back to its former glory.

If historical novels are your thing, this is a MUST.

From the back cover:

"A CITY IN FLAMES London, 1666. As the Great Fire consumes everything in its path, the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral - stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back. A WOMAN ON THE RUN The son of a traitor, James Marwood is forced to hunt the killer through the city's devastated streets. There he encounters a determined young woman who will stop at nothing to secure her freedom.

A KILLER SEEKING REVENGE When a second murder victim is discovered in the Fleet Ditch, Marwood is drawn into the political and religious intrigue of Westminster - and across the path of a killer with nothing to lose..."

Atwood, Margaret "The Handmaid's Tale"

Atwood, Margaret "The Handmaid's Tale" - 1985

I read this book a couple of years ago, it is one of my favourites. (Find my review from back then here.) Since it has been made into a TV series last year, it seems to be everywhere and my book club chose it as our next read. Also, Margaret Atwood just received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis), as well.

I probably enjoyed this book even more the last time than this time, I think a lot of the fears Margaret Atwood portrayed in her book thirty years ago are more true now than then. Aren't we surrounded by people who believe that only "true" Christians who follow the Bible "by the book" deserve to have a good life? At least most of the news I hear nowadays of the United States seem to suggest that. The trouble is, the louder they shout, the less Christian they are.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the book club talk but I know everyone enjoyed it.

We discussed this in our international book club in January 2018.

From the back cover:

"The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first-century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception."

Margaret Atwood was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for "The Handmaid's Tale" in 1986.

Margaret Atwood received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2017.

TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2018

This is another highly interesting Reading Challenge I joined two years ago.

I don't think Evie from the Bookish Blog still carries this on, as I can't find it on her page but her words with which she started this challenge are still true: "We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they're gifted to us. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we'll finally decide to pick them up."

After two years of participation, my TBR (To Be Read) pile is still a lot longer than it should because I just can't resist buying any new books and going to the library but I have tried to attempt reading more old books than buying new ones.

I could, of course, try to tackle the 50+ challenge but we all know that is not going to happen, instead, I try to do at least 11-20 old books in addition to the new ones I'm buying and those I get from the library and hopefully be pleasantly surprised at the end of the year. 

I have read
37 books in 2016 of the books that had been waiting to be read for more than a year and
32 old books in 2017. Yes, I have reached the 11-20 but I'm not all that happy with my overall result. Must do better next year. ;)

So far, I have already read these of my "old books" in 2018:
Rutland, Eva "No Crystal Stair" - 2000
Kerkeling, Hape "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft. Meine Kindheit und ich" [The boy needs some fresh air] - 2014
Campbell, Jen "The Bookshop Book" - 2014
Aaronovich, David "Paddling to Jerusalem. An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country" - 2000
Kermani, Navid "Dein Name" [Your Name] - 2011
McCall Smith, Alexander "Tea Time for the Traditionally Built" - 2009
McLeod, Cynthia "Hoe duur was de suiker?" (The Cost of Sugar) - 1987
Wimschneider, Anna "Herbstmilch. Lebenserinnerungen einer Bäuerin" [Autumn Milk. Memories of a Farmer's Wife] - 1985 
Carnarvon, Countess Fiona of "Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle" - 2011
Ibsen, Henrik "Peer Gynt" (Peer Gynt) - 1867
MacGregor, Neil "Germany. Memories of a Nation" - 2014
Ephron, Nora "When Harry Met Sally ..." - 1990 
Piercy, Joseph "The Story of English: How an Obscure Dialect became the World's Most-Spoken Language" - 2012 
Smith, Betty "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - 1943
Williams, Tennessee "A Streetcar named Desire" - 1947 
Walser, Martin "Ein fliehendes Pferd" (Runaway Horse) - 1978
Schami, Rafik "Die dunkle Seite der Liebe" (The Dark Side of Love) - 2004 
Lennox, Judith "Before the Storm" - 2008
Zeh, Juli "Die Stille ist ein Geräusch. Eine Fahrt durch Bosnien" [The Silence is a Sound] - 2002
Remarque, Erich Maria "Im Westen nichts Neues" (All Quiet on the Western Front) - 1928
Rutherfurd, Edward "Russka. The Novel of Russia" (Russka) - 1991
Domínguez, Carlos María "The House of Paper" (La Casa del Papel/Das Papierhaus) - 2007
Heidenreich, Elke "Also… - Kolumnen aus Brigitte 4" [So … Columns from the newspaper Brigitte 4] - 1988 
Marbe, Nausicaa "Mândraga" (Mandraga/Mandraga) - 1998
Sansom, C.J. (Christopher John) "Dominion" - 2011
Henderson, Kristin "Driving by Moonlight: A Journey Through Love, War, and Infertility " - 2003
Backman, Fredrik "A Man Called Ove" (En Man som heter Ove/Ein Mann namens Ove) - 2012
Grass, Günter "Die Blechtrommel. Danziger Trilogie 1" (The Tin Drum) - 1959
Weidermann, Volker "Ostende - 1936, Sommer der Freundschaft" (Summer Before the Dark: Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, Ostend 1936) - 2014
Zeh, Juli "Corpus Delicti. Ein Prozess" (The Method) - 2009
Mak, Geert "De eeuw van mijn vader" (Das Jahrhundert meines Vaters) [My Father's Century] - 1999
Drinkwater, Carol "The Olive Harvest" (3. Teil von "Der Olivenhain") - 2006 
Indriðason, Arnaldur "Menschensöhne" (Synir Duftsins) [Sons of Dust)] (Inspector Erlendur #1) - 1997
Kermani, Navid "Zwischen Koran und Kafka. West-östliche Erkundungen" (Between Quran and Kafka: West-Eastern Affinities) - 2014
McKinley, Tamara "Lands Beyond the Sea" (Träume jenseits des Meeres) - 2007 
Wright, Richard B. "Clara Callan" - 2001
Taschler, Judith W. "Roman one U" [Novel without U] - 2014
Coetzee, J.M. "The Childhood of Jesus" (Die Kindheit Jesu) - 2013
NDiaye, Marie "Three strong women" (Drei starke Frauen/Trois femmes puissantes) - 2001 

That makes 38 TBR books in 2018.

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2018

I have taken part in this reading challenge since 2013. The moment I saw that post, I know this was the most interesting challenge for me. I signed up for the highest of the four levels "Mor-book-ly Obese" which meant eight or more chunksters (books over 450 pages) of which three must be 750 pages or more.

I have carried on with that challenge without setting goals, I love big books and I will always read some. And I am more than willing to tell my friends about them.

If you are interested in the challenge, check out this link. They discontinued their challenge in 2015.

You can still find suggestions by page number, in case you can't find any chunksters yourself. ;-)

Or you can check out my lists from the previous years (below), maybe you are interested in a couple of them.

I read in
2013: 38 chunky books, 13 of them chunksters
2014: 37 chunky books, 15 of them chunksters
2015: 26 chunky books, 8 of them chunksters
2016: 28 chunky books, 3 of them chunksters
2017: 35 chunky books, 6 of them chunksters
 
I will be posting the books I have read here:

Rutland, Eva "No Crystal Stair" - 2000 - 474 pages
Beauvoir, Simone de "L'invitée" (She came to stay/Sie kam und blieb) - 1943 - 512 pages
Abarbanell, Stephan "Displaced" (Morgenland) - 2015 - 464 pages
Kermani, Navid "Dein Name" [Your Name] - 2011 - 1,232 pages
Hastings, Max "The Secret War: Spies, Codes And Guerrillas, 1939–45" - 2015 - 700 pages
Ackroyd, Peter  "The History of England, Vol. 1 Foundation" - 2011 - 512 pages
MacGregor, Neil "Germany. Memories of a Nation" - 2014 - 656 pages
Oates, Joyce Carol "A Book of American Martyrs" - 2017 - 756 pages 
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Labyrinth of the Spirit" (Das Labyrinth der Lichter" (El laberinto de los espíritus - El cementerio de los libros olvidados #4/The Labyrinth of the Spirits) - 2016 - 960 pages
Bollen, Christopher "The Destroyers" - 2017 - 496 pages
Schaik, Carel van & Michel, Kai "The Good Book of Human Nature: An Evolutionary Reading of the Bible" - 2016 - 482 pages
Smith, Betty "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - 1943 - 528 pages 
Ackroyd, Peter "The History of England, Vol. 2 Tudors" - 2012 - 528 pages
Feuchtwanger, Lion "Jud Süß" (Jew Suss) - 1925 - 540 pages
Schami, Rafik "Die dunkle Seite der Liebe" (The Dark Side of Love) - 2004 - 1,043 pages
Lennox, Judith "Before the Storm" - 2008 - 608 pages
Dickens, Charles "David Copperfield" (David Copperfield) - 1850 - 1,008 pages
Remarque, Erich Maria "Im Westen nichts Neues" (All Quiet on the Western Front) - 1928 - 464 pages 
Rutherfurd, Edward "Russka. The Novel of Russia" (Russka) - 1991 - 1,042 pages
Bánk, Zsuzsa "Schlafen werden wir später" [We will sleep later] - 2017 - 688 pages
Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Anne Boleyn. A King's Obsession" - 2017 - 592 pages
Sansom, C.J. "Dominion" - 2011 - 656 pages
Fry, Stephen "Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold" (Was uns die Götter heute sagen) - 2017 - 464 pages
Grass, Günter "Die Blechtrommel. Danziger Trilogie 1" (The Tin Drum) - 1959 - 816 pages
Mak, Geert "De eeuw van mijn vader" (Das Jahrhundert meines Vaters) [My Father's Century] - 1999 - 855 pages
Smiley, Jane "Golden Age" (Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga #3) - 2015 - 704 pages
Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind" (Ḳizur Toldot Ha-Enoshut/קיצור תולדות האנושות/Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit) - 2014 - 498 pages 
Ackroyd, Peter "The History of England, Vol. 3 Civil War" - 512 pages
Kingsolver, Barbara "Unsheltered" - 480 pages

I read 29 chunky books in 2018/19 of which 6 are considered chunksters.

My Favourite Books 2017

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" (Die Hälfte der Sonne) - 2006
Bryson, Bill "Notes from a Big Country" (US: I'm a Stranger Here Myself/ Streiflichter aus Amerika: Die USA für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene) - 1999
Falcones, Ildefonso "Das Lied der Freiheit" (The Barefoot Queen/La Reina Descalza) - 2013
Hansen, Dörte "This House is Mine" (Altes Land) - 2015
Hislop, Victoria "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016
Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" (Das Leuchten am Rand der Welt) - 2016
Pamuk, Orhan "A Strangeness in my Mind" (Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık/Diese Fremdheit in mir) - 2014
Scott, Mary "Days that have been" (Das waren schöne Zeiten) - 1966
Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016
Weigand, Sabine "Ich, Eleonore, Königin zweier Reiche" [I, Eleonore, Queen of Two Realms] - 2015
Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katherine of Aragon. The True Queen" - 2015
Whitehead, Colson "Underground Railroad" - 2016

I have already published my list in my statistics here and my reading challenges wrap-up here but I like to have a link with just the favourite books that I can refer to.

2017 Reading Challenges - Wrap-Up

I took part in five reading challenges (Emma's Book Club, Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2017, The "Piggybank" Challenge 2017, TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2017, and Travel the World Through Books), and added books to several other lists.

100 Books by the BBC
This is an old challenge, I added just one more book to the list.
Plath, Sylvia "The Bell Jar" (Die Glasglocke) - 1963

101 Best Selling Books of All Time
Cao, Xueqin "Dream of the Red Chamber/The Story of the Stone" (CHN: 红楼梦/Hung lou meng)- ca. 1717-1763 (18th century)

20 Classic And Important Books
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Americanah" (Americanah) - 2013

A Century of Books 
Grimm, Hans Herbert aka Emil Schulz "Schlump. The Story of an unknown soldier" (Schlump. Geschichten und Abenteuer des unbekannten Musketiers Emil Schulz, genannt 'Schlump', von ihm selbst erzählt) - 1928
Mahfouz, Naguib "Sugar Street" (السكرية/Al-Sukkariyya) - 1957

Bildungsroman
Plath, Sylvia "The Bell Jar" (Die Glasglocke) - 1963
Şafak, Elif "Three Daughters of Eve" (Turkish: Havva'nın Üç Kızı) - 2016

Children's Books

Munsch, Robert "Love You Forever" (Ich liebe Dich für immer) - 1986
Woodruff, Elvira "Dear Austin: Letters from the Underground Railroad" - 1998

Dutch and French Books

Word cloud made with WordItOut

Only two French and one Dutch book this year.

Bâ, Mariama "So Long a Letter" (French: Une si longue lettre) - 1979
Camus, Albert "The First Man" (French: Le premier homme) - 1994
Koch, Herman "The Dinner" (Dutch: Het Diner/Angerichtet) - 2009

Emma's Book Club

An ever growing list of books about and for women, a group started by Emma Watson (better known as Hermione Granger), UN Woman Goodwill Ambassador. I added three more books to that list.

Plath, Sylvia "The Bell Jar" (Die Glasglocke) - 1963
Pinkola Estés, Clarissa "Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype" (Die Wolfsfrau: Die Kraft der weiblichen Urinstinkte) - 1992
Wolf, Naomi "The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women" - 1990

German Books

Since German is my mother tongue and I can easily obtain books in that language, I read 27.

Arntz, Jochen; Schmale, Holger "Die Kanzler und ihre Familien: Wie das Privatleben die deutsche Politik prägt" [The Chancellors and their Families. How Private Life Shapes German Politics] - 2017
Emcke, Carolin "Gegen den Hass" (Against Hate])- 2016
- "Von den Kriegen. Briefe an Freunde" (Echoes of Violence: Letters from a War Reporter) - 2004
Grass, Günter "Die Box. Dunkelkammergeschichten" (The Box: Tales from the Darkroom) - 2008
Grimm, Hans Herbert aka Emil Schulz "Schlump. Geschichten und Abenteuer des unbekannten Musketiers Emil Schulz, genannt 'Schlump', von ihm selbst erzählt" (Schlump. The Story of an unknown soldier) - 1928
Hahn, Ulla "Spiel der Zeit" [Game of Time] - 2014
Hamann, Brigitte "Elisabeth, Kaiserin wider Willen" (The Reluctant Empress) - 1981
Hansen, Dörte "Altes Land" (This House is Mine) - 2015
Heidenreich, Elke "Wörter aus 30 Jahren" [Words from 30 years] - 2003
Lenz, Siegfried "Deutschstunde" (The German Lesson) - 1968
Lippe, Jürgen von der "Der König der Tiere. Geschichten und Glossen" [The King of the Animals] - 2017
Lüpkes, Sandra "Die Inselvogtin" [The Island Mayoress] - 2009
Mercier, Pascal "Lea" (Lea) - 2007
Modick, Klaus "Konzert ohne Dichter" [Concert without poets] - 2015
Nöstlinger, Christine "Best of Mama" [Best of Mum] - 2001
Oelker, Petra "Zwei Schwestern. Eine Geschichte aus unruhiger Zeit" [Two Sisters: A story from troubled times] - 2017
Preisendörfer, Bruno "Als Deutschland noch nicht Deutschland war. Reise in die Goethezeit" [When Germany wasn't Germany, yet. A travel to Goethe's Time] - 2015
Schrobsdorff, Angelika "Du bist nicht so wie andre Mütter" (You Are Not Like Other Mothers) - 1992
Schulte-Loh, Christian "Zum Lachen auf die Insel" [Onto the island to laugh] - 2017
Schweizer, Gerhard "Islam verstehen. Geschichte, Kultur und Politik" [Understanding Islam. History, Culture and Politics] - 2016  
Tau, Max "Das Land, das ich verlassen mußte" [The Country I Had to Leave] - 1961
Weigand, Sabine "Ich, Eleonore, Königin zweier Reiche" [I, Eleonore, Queen of Two Realms] - 2015
Witzel, Frank "Die Erfindung der Roten Armee Fraktion durch einen manisch-depressiven Teenager im Sommer 1969" [The Invention of the Red Army Faction by a Manic Depressive Teenager in the Summer of 1969] - 2015
Wulf, Britta "Das Rentier in der Küche. Eine deutsch-sibirische Liebe" [The Reindeer in the kitchen. A German-Siberian love] - 2016
Zaimoglu, Feridun "Siebentürmeviertel" [Seven Towers Quarter] - 2015
Zweig, Stefanie "Heimkehr in die Rothschildallee" (Familie Sternberg #3) [Homecoming to Rothschild Avenue] -2010
- "Neubeginn in die Rothschildallee" [A New Beginning on Rothschild Avenue] - 2010

Migraine Books and Links 2011, 2014, 2016

Word cloud made with WordItOut

I started a new list in 2016. You can find all the links here.

My Favourite Books Ever
Every year I find some more books I can add to my list of favourite books. 20 this year.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Americanah" (Americanah) - 2013
- "Half of a Yellow Sun" (Die Hälfte der Sonne) - 2006
Atwood, Margaret "The Blind Assassin" (Der blinde Mörder) - 2000
Dickens, Charles "Bleak House" (Bleak House) - 1852/53
Emcke, Carolin "Echoes of Violence: Letters from a War Reporter" (German: Von den Kriegen. Briefe an Freunde) - 2004
Falcones, Ildefonso "The Barefoot Queen" (Spanish: La Reina Descalza/Das Lied der Freiheit) - 2013
Hansen, Dörte "This House is Mine" (German: Altes Land) - 2015
Hislop, Victoria "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016
Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" (Das Leuchten am Rand der Welt) - 2016
Lenz, Siegfried "The German Lesson" (German: Deutschstunde) - 1968
Mahfouz, Naguib "Palace Walk" (Arabic: بين القصرين/Bayn al-qasrayn) (Zwischen den Palästen) - 1957
- "Palace of Desire" ((Arabic:قصر الشوق/Qasr el-Shōq) (Palast der Sehnsucht) - 1957
- "Sugar Street" ((Arabic:السكرية/Al-Sukkariyya) (Zuckergässchen) - 1957
Mercier, Pascal "Lea" (German: Lea) - 2007
Pamuk, Orhan "A Strangeness in my Mind" (Turkish: Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık) - 2014
Rosner, Elizabeth "The Speed of Light" - 2001
Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016
Turner, Nancy E. "The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine" - 2007
Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katherine of Aragon. The True Queen" - 2015
Weir Alison "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" - 1991

Nobel Prize Winners and Their Books

Word cloud made with WordItOut  

This is another list to which I could add seven more books.

Camus, Albert "The First Man" (Le premier homme) - 1994
Grass, Günter "The Box: Tales from the Darkroom" (Die Box. Dunkelkammergeschichten) - 2008
Hemingway, Ernest "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - 1940
Mahfouz, Naguib - Cairo Trilogy: "Palace Walk" (بين القصرين/Bayn al-qasrayn) - 1957
- "Palace of Desire" (قصر الشوق/Qasr el-Shōq) - 1957
- "Sugar Street" (السكرية/Al-Sukkariyya) - 1957
Dylan, Bob "Chronicles. Volume One" - 2004
Pamuk, Orhan "A Strangeness in my Mind" (Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık) - 2014
Lagerlöf, Selma "Sancta Lucia. Weihnachtliche Geschichten" (Kristuslegender) [Christmas Stories] - 1893-1917

Oprah’s Book Club

So many old challenges, here is one where I added three more books.

Bohjalian, Chris "Midwives" 1997
Whitehead, Colson "The Underground Railroad"
Jones, Edward P. "The Known World" (Die bekannte Welt) - 2004 

Oscar Winning Books
I added one more book in this category.

1968N Dickens, Charles "Oliver" (Best Film)

Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (German: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels)

Five books from authors in this category.

Lenz, Siegfried "Deutschstunde" (The German Lesson) - 1968
Emcke, Carolin "Von den Kriegen. Briefe an Freunde" (Echoes of Violence: Letters from a War Reporter) - 2004
Emcke, Carolin "Gegen den Hass" (Against Hate) - 2004
Atwood, Margaret "The Blind Assassin" (Der blinde Mörder) - 2000
Tau, Max "Das Land, das ich verlassen mußte" [The Country I Had to Leave] - 1961
Pamuk, Orhan "A Strangeness in my Mind" (Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık) - 2014

The "Piggybank" Challenge 2016

This challenge goes officially from 1 March 2016 to 1 March 2017 but it's easier to wrap this up now with the rest of the challenges. This year, I read 108 books which resulted in €216 to spend on something I'd really like. You can find the whole list with links here.

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2016

I read 35 books with more than 450 pages, 6 of them were more than 750 pages, the reading challenge calls them "chunksters". You can find the whole list with links here.

Suggestions from Friends
Coates, Ta-Nehisi "Between the World and Me" (Zwischen mir und der Welt) - 2015
Hochschild, Arlie Russell "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right" - 2016
Lenz, Siegfried "The German Lesson" (German: Deutschstunde) - 1968
Mahfouz, Naguib "The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street" - 2001

TBR Pile Challenge 2016

Another old challenge where the participants try to read as many books from their To Be Read Pile as possible. I managed 30 books that had been on that stack for a while. This doesn't mean that my TBR pile got any smaller since I also bought more new books. You can find the whole list with links here.

Top Ten Tuesday

I didn't participate much in this challenge this year, however, I managed to read 11 new books that I mentioned on those lists.

Aaronovitch, Ben "Broken Homes" (Rivers of London 4) - 2013
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006
Bohjalian, Chris "Midwives" - 1997
Dylan, Bob "Chronicles. Volume One" - 2004
Ephron, Nora "The Most of Nora Ephron" - 2014
Falcones, Ildefonso "The Barefoot Queen" (Spanish: La Reina Descalza) - 2013
Hemingway, Ernest "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - 1940
Konar, Affinity "Mischling" - 2016
Oates, Joyce Carol "Carthage" - 2014
Plath, Sylvia "The Bell Jar" (Die Glasglocke) - 1963
Turner, Nancy E. "The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine"- 2007

Travel the World Through Books

After reading the book "Die Ländersammlerin" [The Collector of Countries] by Nina Sedano, I thought it would be great to read a book from every country in the world. I managed 81 until now, added two more this year, Senegal and Nigeria. It's quite tough to find good books from the countries I haven't "visited", yet, so if you have any good suggestions, please let me know.

Senegal
Bâ, Mariama "So Long a Letter" (French: Une si longue lettre) - 1979
Nigeria
Adichie, Chimamanda Nogzi "Half of a Yellow Sun" (Die Hälfte der Sonne) - 2006

What's in a Name Reading Challenge

Even though this is an older challenge, I always think it's interesting to read an eponymous book, it's always something special.

Ephron, Nora "The Most of Nora Ephron" - 2014
Dickens, Charles "Oliver Twist" (Oliver Twist) - 1838
Fredriksson, Marianne "Simon and The Oaks" (aka Simon's Family/Simon och ekarna/) - 1985
Grimm, Hans Herbert aka Emil Schulz "Schlump. The Story of an unknown soldier" (Schlump. Geschichten und Abenteuer des unbekannten Musketiers Emil Schulz, genannt 'Schlump', von ihm selbst erzählt) - 1928
Hamann, Brigitte "Elisabeth, Kaiserin wider Willen" (The Reluctant Empress) - 1981
Mercier, Pascal "Lea" (German: Lea) - 2007
Murakami, Haruki "Kafka am Strand" (Kafka on the Shore) (海辺のカフカ Umibe no Kafuka) - 2004
Pamuk, Orhan "Cevdet und seine Söhne" (Turkish: Cevdet Bey ve Oğulları/Cevdet Bey and His Sons) - 1982
Şafak, Elif "Three Daughters of Eve" (Turkish: Havva'nın Üç Kızı) - 2016
Turner, Nancy E. "The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine" - 2007
Weigand, Sabine "Ich, Eleonore, Königin zweier Reiche" [I, Eleonore, Queen of Two Realms] - 2015
Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katherine of Aragon. The True Queen" - 2015
Weir Alison "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" - 1991
Williams, John "Augustus" (Augustus) - 1972
Woodruff, Elvira "Dear Austin: Letters from the Underground Railroad" - 1998
Wroblewski, David "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" - 2008

No new books in:
"13 Ways of Looking at the Novel" by Jane Smiley
7 Books That Will Radically Shift Your Perspectives
Best European Literature
Esperanto Links 
Interesting Links
Le Monde - The 100 Books of the Century 
Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century
The 10 Greatest Books Ever
The Top 10 Most Difficult Books
Top 10 Most Read Books in the World 
The 100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by The Guardian

For my German friends, I have added the German titles in () brackets if the book is available in German. For my English friends, I have added the English titles in () brackets if the book is available in English and in [] brackets if the book is NOT available in English.