Book Quotes of the Week

      
Word cloud made with WordItOut

"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive." James Baldwin

I think that's what makes us readers more emphatic.

"In each hard copy I have between three and five revisions. So that's seven or eight hard copies. It's crazy, I know. Writing is stupid. Writing should make you money, with the labor you have to put in." Ha Jin

Some jobs are not paid as well as they should be but if a job makes us happy, that's something that can't be paid.

"Happiness is reading a quotation and thinking: Yes! Exactly!" Happiness No. 4521 N.N. *

I hope many of my readers think that when reading the quotations I find.

Find more book quotes here. 

* [If anyone can tell me the originator of this quote, I'd be very thankful and would happily include the name.]

#ThrowbackThursday. Nowhere in Africa Duology

Zweig, Stefanie "Nowhere in Africa" (German: Nirgendwo in Afrika) - 1995

Another one of my favourite books (series) ever. We are writing the year 1938 and the Jewish family Redlich manages to flee Nazi Germany in the last minute. They are all experiencing this new country differently, attorney Walter struggles with the different kind of work that is expected of him, his wife Jettel misses her former life. Only Regina, 9 years old, embraces the life on the new continent, learns the languages, finds friends and cannot imagine another life. When her little brother Max is born in 1946, the family is complete.

This is an almost-autobiography of author Stefanie Zweig.

Zweig, Stefanie "Somewhere in Germany" (German: Irgendwo in Deutschland) - 1996

As we all know, the war ends at some point and so the Redlich family returns back to Germany into bombed-out Frankfurt. This seems as hard as the move to Kenya. The post-war country is struggling, and so are the Redlichs.

Read more on my original post here.

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Ten Books with Food on their Covers

      

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

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

This week's topic is Halloween Freebie

I have done a Halloween TTT before (see here).
So, I'm going down the "Freebie" line.

Don't you think about food in the colder months? I know most people eat a lot more once the sun isn't there all the time and families gather for celebrations.

So, this is my topic this week. Books with food on their cover.

Collister, Linda; Berry, Mary; Hollywood, Paul "Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets" - 2011

Eggels, Elle "The House of the Seven Sisters" (Dutch: Het Huis van de Zeven Zusters) - 1998

Grass, Günter "Peeling the Onion" (German: Beim Häuten der Zwiebel) - 2006

Harris, Joanne "Five Quarters of the Orange" - 2001

Johnson, Dr. Spencer "Who moved my cheese?" - 1998

Lanchester, John "The Debt to Pleasure" - 1996

Nicoletti, Cara "Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books" - 2015

Prelutsky, Jack "A Pizza the Size of the Sun" - 1996

Şafak, Elif "Araf aka The Saint of Incipient Insanities" (Turkish: Araf) - 2004

Wodehouse, P.G. "The World of Jeeves" (Jeeves #2-4: The Inimitable Jeeves #2, Carry On, Jeeves #3, Very Good, Jeeves! #4) - 1923/1925/1930

This looks like an international feast, after all, there are British, American, Turkish, Dutch and German books. "Guten Appetit", as we say in German.

I'm looking forward to seeing what others come up with. Do you have other books with food on the cover?

Ditfurth, Hoimar von "Der Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel"

Ditfurth, Hoimar von "Der Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel: Die Evolution unseres Bewußtseins" [The mind did not fall from the sky: the evolution of our consciousness] - 1976

Hoimar von Ditfurth was a German physician and scientific journalist. As early as 1978, he warned of man-made climate change. Hence, I have been a fan of him for most of my life. He always wanted to let the general public participate in the knowledge of the sciences, and convey insights into the secrets of nature.

Quite a while ago, I found this book on a book swap shelf and was very keen to read it. Then, the 1976 club "forced me" to tackle it. That's also the reason, why I review the book here as well as on my German blog.

As a neuroscientist, the author knew a lot about human consciousness and it's a pity that such a great scientist has not been translated but that's typical.

Hoimar von Ditfurth has a lot to say about the human brain. According to him, this is a fossil in the human body consisting of three parts: the brain stem, the diencephalon, and the cerebrum. He starts explaining it with the very beginning, the very first life on earth and how it developed into what we see today. He also explains our behaviour, how it developed from imprinting to the expression of f consciousness (not only in humans). Really a great analysis of the history of the brain.

He explains everything very clearly and understandable, it is still a tough read.

I definitely want to read more of his books, e.g.

"Die Sterne leuchten, auch wenn wir sie nicht sehen" [The Stars Shine Even If We Don't See Them] - 1947-1988
"Im Anfang war der Wasserstoff" [In the Beginning there was Hydrogen] - 1972
"Wir sind nicht nur von dieser Welt" [We Are Not From This World] - 1981
"So laßt uns denn ein Apfelbäumchen pflanzen. Es ist soweit" [Let's Plant an Apple Tree. The Time Has Come] - 1985
"Innenansichten eines Artgenossen" [Inside Views of a Fellow of the Same Species] - 1989

From the back cover (translated):

"In truth we only know that there has to be a real, objective world, evolutionary considerations force us, however, to realize that our brain has definitely not yet reached the level at which its capacity is sufficient for the sum of all properties of this world. - Based on this provocative core sentence, Ditfurth attempts to present the emergence of human consciousness as a necessary result of a development history billions of years. He traces this path with an abundance of examples - from the first single-celled organisms to the human cerebrum that the emergence of consciousness also followed the basic principle of evolution, namely that every development step serves the biological purpose of improving the chances of survival, and not the aim of providing the organism with information about its environment that is as objective as possible."

If you are interested in this subject but don't read German, I can recommend some other books:
Bryson, Bill "The Body. A Guide for Occupants" - 2019
Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind" (Hebrew: קיצור תולדות האנושות/Ḳizur Toldot Ha-Enoshut) - 2014
- "Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow" - 2016
Sapolsky, Robert M. "Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst" - 2017

Book Quotes of the Week

      
Word cloud made with WordItOut

"Something will be offensive to someone in every book, so you've got to fight it." Judy Blume

We just need to be true to ourselves, not in a malicious sort of way but also not taking any nonsense from others.

"We use the word 'classic' of a book that takes the form of an equivalent to the universe, on a level with the ancient talismans. With this definition we are approaching the idea of the 'total book' as Mallarmé conceived of it." Italo Calvino

I use the word "classic" for any book that is older than a hundred years and still reads as if it were written only yesterday.

"Reading a book is looking into someone else's life, and you're damn lucky to experience so many lives in your lifetime." www.bookishelf.com *

Well said. Experience many lives, experience many ages, travelling to many, many countries. What could be better and easier?

Find more book quotes here. 

* [If anyone can tell me the originator of this quote, I'd be very thankful and would happily include the name.]

#ThrowbackThursday. The Children's War Series

Stroyar, J.N. "The Children's War", "A Change of Regime" and "Becoming Them" - 2001, 2004, 2017

"When people say that Germany lost WWII, I always answer, the Germans didn't lose the war, the Nazis did. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Nazis had won?"

This is how I started the review of my favourite book in 2010 that I had read six years earlier.

If you like alternate history, you should definitely try these novels. The author describes the world how it would be today if the war had ended differently. I have recommended this to so many people and they all loved it.

See my original reviews here:

Stroyar, J.N. "The Children's War" - 2002
- "A Change of Regime" (The Children's War 2) - 2004
- "Becoming Them" (The Children's War 3) - 2017

Non-fiction November

The Classics Club is an interesting website. It gives us the opportunity not only to read the classics we always wanted to read, no, though their pages we are able to talk to others and also find new classics we didn't think about. Through them I found this challenge last year.

It's Non-Fiction November again and this year, it is hosted by Christopher from Plucked from the Stacks. He has put together a plan that looks highly interesting.

Here is the Official Schedule.

Week 1 (November 1-5): Your Year in Nonfiction with Rennie at What’s Nonfiction

Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions - What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

Week 2 (November 8-12): Book Pairing with Katie at Doing Dewey

This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a "If you loved this book, read this!" or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.

Week 3 (November 15-19): Be The Expert/ Ask the Expert/ Become the Expert with Veronica at The Thousand Book Project

Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).

Week 4 (November 22-26): Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks

This week we’re focusing on all the great nonfiction books that almost don’t seem real. A sports biography involving overcoming massive obstacles, a profile on a bizarre scam, a look into the natural wonders in our world - basically, if it makes your jaw drop, you can highlight it for this week’s topic.

Week 5 (November 29-December 3): New to My TBR Jaymi at The OC Book Girl

It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!

Instagram Nonfiction Book Party
Photo Challenge and Giveaway

As mentioned above, we’re excited to carry this celebration over to Instagram, where Jaymi will be taking the lead. She has giveaways, challenges, and a whole host of other fun things planned, so check out her Instagram (@theocbookgirl) for more details. And make sure to use #nonfictionbookparty to keep up with all the fun.

Here’s a a peak at the calendar for the photo challenges popping up over there this year:

1.    November TBR
2.    Celebrities
3.    Longest Title
4.    Self Help
5.    Ou Your Shelf the Longest
6.    Mental Health
7.    Fall Vibes
8.    Mug Monday
9.    Humour
10.    Orange/Brown Cover
11.    History
12.    Recent Purchase/Haul
13.    True Crime
14.    Sunday Shelfie
15.    Faces on the Cover
16.    Animals/Pets
17.    Nonfiction that reads like Fiction
18.    Food/Cookbooks
19.    Bookstagram made me do it!
20.    Favourite Biography or Memoir
21.    Read in a Day
22.    Travel Guides
23.    Pumpkin vs. Apple
24.    Motivational or Inspirational
25.    Favourite Fall Food/Drink
26.    Health & Wellness
27.    Take Your Book Outside
28.    Sock Sunday
29.    Crafts & Hobbies
30.    November in Review

#NonfictionBookParty@theocbookgirl

And then there are graphics we can use for free for our posts. You can see, I took full advantage of it already. Here is the link.

My Non-Fiction November Entries from last year, 2020:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

And this year, 2021:
Introduction
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Online Resources for Book Lovers

      

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

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

This week's topic is Online Resources for Book Lovers
(what websites, podcasts, apps, etc. do you use that make your reading life better?)

I think we can all do with those great websites that tell us more about the books we read. Therefore, I really like this week's challenge. I will try to keep it as short as possible. All in alphabetical order.

Booklist Online
Freely accessible book lists.

Fantastic Fiction
Bibliographies of bestselling fiction authors, with the latest books and series information.

Goodreads
Goodreads is a subsidiary of Amazon with a database of books where anyone can search. As a user, you can register books to generate your reading list and share with your friends. Find my profile here.

Google Books
Find an index of full-text books.

LibraryThing
Similar to Goodreads, a home for your books with information by other readers.

Oprah’s Book Club 
I've been following Oprah's list for decades. She always selects very interesting books and you can learn a lot from the discussions. Here is my list.

Project Gutenberg
Unfortunately, due to some copyright issues, the Gutenberg Project is blocked in Germany but I used it a lot when I still lived abroad. They can't decide when a book is free for public reading. I wish they would at least let us use those that the Germans think are free.

SparkNotes
are very helpful study guides but it can also be useful for us book bloggers.

What should I read next?
Enter a book you like and the site will recommend what to read next.

Wikipedia
The large free encyclopedia. It doesn't just give you information on any book or author you might be interested in, you can also use it to search for the titles in other languages.

Then there are two online bookshops where I like to order (especially used) books.
Booklooker
World of Books

However, in addition to these, there are more that might be helpful to some of you.
BookBrowse
BookFinder
Electric Literature 
Free Book Notes 
Literary Hub
Midwest Book Review
My Shelf
Read Print
WayBack Machine

Do you have any favourite internet pages that you use regularly? I'm looking forward to many suggestions on your page or mine.

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "Dragon Games"

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "Dragon Games" aka "The Language of Solitude" (The Rising Dragon #2) (German: Drachenspiele) - 2009

If you liked "Whispering Shadows", you already know Paul and his family and will want to know how their story goes on. If you like books about China, expats, crime stories, you will love this series which already has a third book (The Far Side of the Night).

This is an interesting book about the life not just of foreigners in China but also about the lives of people both in urban and rural China. Paul and Christine visit her ancestor's village after receiving some disturbing news. Here they find the clash between the people in the village and the greed of a large company, the corruption of politicians. Yes, we all know those plots but Jan-Philipp Sendker has a great talent to describe it.

Like in all his other books, the author is able to tell both the story as well as describing the background. He has a wonderful way with words, you can tell he is a journalist.

I could well imagine that one day someone will make a film out of this.

I am definitely looking forward to reading his next books which will probably be the sequels to his Burma story, "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (German: Das Herzenhören).

From the back cover:

"Paul Leibovitz is 53, living in Hong Kong, deeply in love with the city, its culture, and most of all, Christine. When a fortune teller predicts the death of someone she loves, however, the pair are once again thrust into the murky criminal world of Hong Kong and forced to fight for their lives. We learn the details of Christine's dark family history which is mired in the horrors and iniquities of Mao's cultural revolution and now her brother and his family who are living in rural China are victims of a very modern ecological scandal that is every bit as terrifying as past atrocities."

These are the books in the Rising Dragon (China) trilogy:
"Whispering Shadows" (German: Das Flüstern der Schatten) (The Rising Dragon #1) - 2007
"Dragon Games" aka "The Language of Solitude" (German: Drachenspiele) (The Rising Dragon #2) - 2009
"The Far Side of the Night" (German: Am anderen Ende der Nacht) (The Rising Dragon #3) - 2016

Book Quotes of the Week

      
Word cloud made with WordItOut

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed." Ernest Hemingway

If it really were that easy, we'd have a lot more authors.

"A book that we love haunts us forever; it will haunt us, even when we can no longer find it on the shelf or beside the bed where we must have left it. After all, it is the act of reading, for many of us, that forged our first link to the world. And so lost books - books that have gone missing through neglect or been forgotten in changing tastes or worst of all, gone up in a puff of rumour - gnaw at us. Being lovers of books, we've pulled a scent of these absences behind us our whole reading lives, telling people about books that exist only on our own shelves, or even just in our own memory. This is what was on our minds one rainy afternoon in Toronto, as we sat around a dining-room table where the four of us, every few months, make manifest a sporadic but long-lived magazine called Brick: A Literary Journal." Sample text for Lost classics / edited by Michael Ondaatje

I talk about this in one of my posts, "Forgetting a Book Title". I'm still looking for that book.

"If I'm ever stranded, I hope it's in a bookstore." N.N. *

Don't we all?

Find more book quotes here.  

* [If anyone can tell me the originator of this quote, I'd be very thankful and would happily include the name.]

#ThrowbackThursday. Which Austen Heroine are You?

I haven't done a Throwback Thursday, yet, but will try to do this from time to time.

This was my very first post eleven years ago. I took the test again today and guess what?

I am still Elinor Dashwood, eleven years ago as well as today.

Take the Quiz here 

Who are you? Elizabeth Bennet, Elinor Dashwood, Anne Elliot, Catherine Morland, Fanny Price, or Emma Woodhouse? I always thought I would be most closest to Anne Elliot but maybe that's because "Persuasion" is my favourite Jane Austen novel?

See my original post here.

The 1976 Club

 #1976Club

A couple of months ago, I was made aware of a book challenge that takes place once a year and concentrates on one year and one year only. This year, 1976 was picked. For more information, see Simon @ Stuck in a Book.

I have tossed through my bookshelves and found just one book, a German one which I am in the middle of reading.

Ditfurth, Hoimar von "Der Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel: Die Evolution unseres Bewußtseins" [The mind did not fall from the sky: the evolution of our consciousness] - 1976

Not an easy choice but highly interesting.

Hesse, Hermann "Narcissus and Goldmund"

Hesse, Hermann "Narcissus and Goldmund" (German: Narziss und Goldmund) - 1930

A friend of mine was surprised that I never read this book. Well, we can't have read all the books available and I had read three other books by Hermann Hesse before. Still, she had a DVD of the film they made in 2020 (see here) and then she lent me her copy of the book. Thanks, Elisabeth.

They are both great works though, as so often with films, you cannot compare the two. The ending is pretty different and there are parts that are larger in the book than in the film and vice versa. Why do they always have to do that? I have no idea.

This is a much acclaimed book and supposedly one of Hesse's best. I can well understand that. It is a great novel with many layers and much information about life in the middle ages.

I have enjoyed the book very much though I find it hard to say why. Certainly, the writing is superb and the description not just of the two main characters but also all the other ones is fantastic. Maybe I just say it's magical and - like magic - not explainable.

Of course, I cannot vouch for any translations as I have read this book in the original German language.

From the back cover:

"Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of two diametrically opposite men: one, an ascetic monk firm in his religious commitment, and the other, a romantic youth hungry for worldly experience.Hesse was a great writer in precisely the modern sense: complex, subtle, allusive: alive to the importance of play. Narcissus and Goldmund is his very best. What makes this short book so limitlessly vast is the body-and-soul-shaking debate that runs through it, which it has the honesty and courage not to resolve: between the flesh and spirit, art and scientific or religious speculation, action and contemplation."

And another one:

"Narcissus is a teacher at Mariabronn, a monastery in medieval Germany, and Goldmund his favourite pupil. While Narcissus remains detached from the world in prayer and meditation, Goldmund runs away from the monstery in pursuit of love. Thereafter he lives a picaresque wanderer's life, his amatory adventures resulting in pain as well as ecstasy. His eventual reunion with Narcissus brings into focus the diversity between artist and thinker, Dionysian and Apollonian".

Hermann Hesse received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946 "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style".

Hermann Hesse received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 1955.

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

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Thirteen Favourite Book Settings

      

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

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

This week's topic is Favourite Book Settings

That's a tough one. I enjoy reading books about history or about real events but I don't ever select them for their setting.

However, over the years, there have been some countries that I read more about than others because they started to interest me more or I'd been to the place or would like to go there. So, here is a list with towns or countries that I've read more about than others. I have added my favourite book if I could decide.

Afghanistan because their story is just too important to be ignored. And Christina Lamb has told the story of the women and girls in this torn country.
Lamb, Christina "The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan" - 2002

Catalonia because I adore the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Shadow of the Wind" (Spanish: La Sombra del Viento) - 2001 (El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1)

China because Pearl S. Buck was my first adult book love. I read many other books about this huge and interesting country but this was my first.
Buck, Pearl S. "Peony" - 1948

England because I've lived there. Jane Austen because I love classics and she is one of my favourite authors and "Persuasion" because it is my favourite novel by her
Austen, Jane "Persuasion" - 1817

Germany because it's my country. Thomas Mann because he is one of my favourite authors and "Buddenbrooks" one of my absolute favourite books and I just love Lübeck.
Mann, Thomas "Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family" (German: Buddenbrooks) - 1901

Greece because I've been there and love their country and because Victoria Hislop is one of my favourite authors. And I've been to the Island of Spinalonga.
Hislop, Victoria "The Island" - 2005

India because it's such a fascinating country. One of the first books I read was "A Suitable Boy" and it tells us so much about the life of the people there.
Seth, Vikram "A Suitable Boy" - 1993

Ireland, my favourite country in the world. Edward Rutherfurd has written many sagas about all parts of the world but the one about Ireland is probably my favourite.
Rutherfurd, Edward "Dublin: Foundation" (aka The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga)" - 2004

Israel because I've been there and absolutely loved it and their history will forever be intertwined with that of my country. "City of Oranges", there is so much history in this book about how the states of Israel began, what was before and what it led to today.
LeBor, Adam "City of Oranges" An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa" - 2006

Netherlands because I've lived there for two decades. There are quite a few interesting books about the country and its history. But this one by Harry Mulisch has been selected the favourite book of the nation and I thought that is good enough to include it here. It is fantastic, by the way.
Mulisch, Harry "The Discovery of Heaven" (Dutch: De Ontdekking van de Hemel) - 1992

Russia because I love Russian literature. There are so many great authors here and it was tough to choose just one but in the end I decided for this one:
Tolstoy, Lew Nikolajewitsch (Толстой, Лев Николаевич) "War and Peace" (Russian: Война и мир = Woina i mir) - 1868/69

Scandinavia because it's such a beautiful area. Again, tough to decide. I love Astrid Lindgren as much as Marianne Fredriksson but I decided in the end for this one where the life of women in the last century is described so well.
Fredriksson, Marianne "Hanna's Daughters" (Swedish: Anna, Hanna og Johanna) - 1994

Turkey because I've been there and we have many people with Turkish ancestors living in our country and because Orhan Pamuk is one of my favourite authors ever and "My Name is Red" probably my favourite book by him.
Pamuk, Orhan "My Name is Red" (Turkish: Benim Adim Kirmizi) - 1998

I could have carried on with Japan, the USA and many, many other countries but I thought thirteen is already three more than ten, so here you go.

* * *

Do you have a favourite setting? Even if you don't participate in the Top Ten Tuesday challenge, maybe this would be a topic you could just write one post about.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #28

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or olde) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 17^th October 2021, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 12^th of December 2021 to read it.

In the meantime, I read five more books from my old list (Classics Spin #27) which I usually replace by some new ones. Since I want to finish my oldest classic novels first (as published in my Classics Club list) before buying new ones, I simply added the first ones to the end of the list. They are all in chronological order.

1.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
2.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
3.    Van Dyke, Henry "The Story of the Other Wise Man" - 1896
4.    Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923
5.    Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925
6.    Cather, Willa "Shadows on the Rock" - 1931
7.    Christie, Agatha "Murder on the Orient Express" (Hercule Poirot #10) - 1934
8.    Némirovsky, Irène "La Proie" [The Prey] - 1938
9.    Fallada, Hans "Every Man Dies Alone" (Jeder stirbt für sich allein) - 1947
10.    Böll, Heinrich "The Silent Angel" (Der Engel schwieg) - 1949/50
11.    Kazantzakis, Nikos "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Ο τελευταίος πειρασμός/O telefteos pirasmos) - 1951
12.    Highsmith, Patricia "The Talented Mr. Ripley" - 1955
13.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
14.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
15.    Van Dyke, Henry "The Story of the Other Wise Man" - 1896
16.    Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923
17.    Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925
18.    Cather, Willa "Shadows on the Rock" - 1931
19.    Christie, Agatha "Murder on the Orient Express" (Hercule Poirot #10) - 1934
20.    Némirovsky, Irène "La Proie" [The Prey] - 1938

Since I want to finish my oldest classic novels first (as published in my Classics Club list) before buying new ones, I simply added the first ones to the end of the list.

If you want to take up the challenge, here is the post: The Classics Spin #28 

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Nobel Prize for Literature 2021 goes to Abdulrazak Gurnah from Tanzania

Image credit: James Wiseman via unsplash.com

My husband asked me yesterday morning whether I had heard anything about nominations for the Nobel Prize for Literature since he knew I was waiting for the announcement of this year's winner. I hadn't (and I know the official ones will not be published for another 50 years but there are always speculations) so I googled and found lots of names, mostly unknown to me. I had read Ismail Kadaré (The Fall of the Stone City, The Pyramid), Lyudmila Ulitskaya, (Imago or The Big Green Tent), Yu Hua (China in Ten Words) and heard of Milan Kundera, Edna O'Brian but had never heard of Can Xue, Annie Ernaux, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Maryse Condé, Nuruddin Farah, Yan Lianke, Scholastique Mukasonga, Xi Xi, Jon Fosse, Javier Marias, Hélène Cixous, Dubravka Ugrešić, Botho Strauss, Ivan Klíma, Mircea Cărtărescu, László Krasznahorkai, Péter Nádas.

So, I was quite surprised to find the name of the new Laureate (who hadn't been on any of the lists).

He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and after winning the Booker and the Whitbread Prize and being shortlisted for the the Los Angeles Ties Book Award, Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday.

Officially, he is only the sixth African winner after Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) in 1984, Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) in 1988, Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) in 1991, J.M. Coetzee (South Africa) in 2003, Doris Lessing (UK and Zimbabwe) in 2007. Having said that, if you include Doris Lessing who was born in Iran and then spent 24 years in Zimbabwe, you should technically also include Albert Camus (1957) who was not just born in Algeria but lived there for 27 years and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (2008) who lived in Nigeria and Mauritius and also has the Mauritian nationality. But who am I to decide this? And it won't make a huge difference if you consider that the Prize has been awarded 118 times until now.

Needless to say, since I never heard of this author, I haven't read any of his books - yet.

In the meantime, I have read "Pilgrim's Way".

Abdulrazak Gurnah received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021 "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents".

Book Quotes of the Week

      
Word cloud made with WordItOut

"Lyrics do that sometimes. They find their home at just the right time. Like a secret message in a bottle, floating on a current for decades, only to wash up at someone’s feet when the words are needed." Erin Hahn, More Than Maybe

I need music to any lyric, poems don't do the same to me.

"I think there is an increasing danger of novels becoming too streamlined, domesticated. When you read Vasily Grossman or the big Russian novels, they are wild and unwieldy, but now there's a way in which literature is being commodified and packaged - is it romance, is it a thriller? Commercial? Literary? What shelf should we put it on?" Arundhati Roy

Not just that, I have the feeling, many writers only write what they think their readers will like. It doesn't come from the heart, it's just a repetition of a former success.

"Our story has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. And although this is the way all stories unfold, I still can't believe that ours didn't go on forever." Nicholas Sparks, Dear John

Like life, no story goes on forever, no matter how much we wish it. That's why a lot of sequels are so bad, some already in the first book, others in the tenth, but they do get bad at some point.

Find more book quotes here.  

10 Year Challenge Book Tag 2021

I was not tagged but saw this challenge on Deanna's page A Novel Glimpse through Bea @ Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic. It was created by Rincey Reads. It’s a fun tag that takes a look back at my reading 10 years ago versus today. Please check out Deanna's, Bea’s and Rincey's posts.

What was your favourite book in 2011?
Pamuk, Orhan "Istanbul - Memories of a City" (Turkish: İstanbul - Hatıralar ve Şehir) - 2003
Orhan Pamuk is one of my favourite authors and Istanbul is a wonderful city. He grew up and lived there all his life, so what better than a book about his city by this fantastic writer.

What is your favourite book of 2021 (so far)?
Harris, Kamala "The Truths We Hold. An American Journey" - 2019
I love reading about strong women and I admire Kamala Harris a lot, especially after reading her book.

What was your least favourite book in 2011?
I try to read a book by the latest Nobel Prize winner every year (and some from the previous ones). This was one that really disappointed me.
Jelinek, Elfriede "The Piano Teacher" (German: Die Klavierspielerin) - 1988

What is a book published in 2011 that you still want to read?
Lodge, David "A Man of Parts" - 2011
A story about H.G. Wells. I have read "The Time Machine" and several book by Felix J. Palma that are based on his stories (The Map of Time, The Map of the Sky, The Map of Chaos) that mention him and his life, so I really want to read this one soon.

What is the book published (to be published) in 2021 you want to get before 2022?
Lawson, Mary "A Town Called Solace"
I loved her other books so far (Crow Lake, The Other Side of the Bridge and Road Ends), so I've been waiting for another one by her since 2013.

What is a genre you used to read a lot of that you don’t read as much of anymore?
Forest, Jim "Praying with Icons" - 1997/2008
Spiritual Books. I used to be in a church group and we read a lot of books together. Now that I try to reduce my TBR pile, I don't read as many anymore. I still want to read more by Jim Forest who I was lucky to meet during one of our get-togethers.

What is a new genre you’ve discovered since 2011?
Stroyar, J.N. "The Children’s War" - 2001
This is a tough one. I've been reading for so long and I've always been reading almost anything at least once. And those genres that I didn't tend to didn't increase after 2011. What I probably started reading more since 2010 are dystopian novels, starting with my favourite book ever, The Children's War.

What is a reading or book habit you are hoping to leave behind in this decade?
Buying too many books. Though, who am I kidding …?

What is a new reading goal or habit you want to create in the upcoming decade?
I started to add only books from my TBR pile to any challenges I wanted to do this year and have been following that diligently so far. I'd like to keep that up.

I'm not tagging anyone but invite you all to do this, if you like to participate. If you decide to do this, leave a link in the comments so I can check out your post. Thanks!

Eleven Years of Blogging

11^th "Blogiversary"

It's a special day today. At least for me. Eleven years ago, I started this blog.

Eleven is a prime number. Its twin is the next prime number, 13. It has a lot of meanings.
Armistice on WWI was declared on "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" 1918. This is still the time and date it is commemorated today.

Apollo 11 was the first rocket to land on the moon. There are eleven players on a football field. In chemistry, it's the atomic number for sodium.
Apparently, according to the know-it-all WWW, the number eleven is a master number in numerology. It is a double digit of the number one which stands for beginnings and purity and the meaning of the prime number doubles its strength. The number eleven also stands for balance and represents male and female, sun and moon. That is interesting because my star sign is the libra which also balances everything. So - perfect. Not that I really believe in this but it's always interesting to read what people have been coming up with.

My very first entry was about Jane Austen. "Which Austen Heroine are You?" (apparently, I'm Elinor Dashwood), followed by a list of my Favourite Books Ever. I carried on with a list about our Book Club History, right after that a post about the Nobel Prize for Literature winner of 2010 (Maria Vargas Llosa), which was then followed by a post about my favourite book ever, "The Children's War". I have, of course, updated all those lists over the time.

I think this shows how I play with my blog. I love Classics (329 posts so far), Nobel Prize Winners (121), Lists (149), I have been a member of a Book Club for decades (198), Book Quotes, Top Ten Tuesday (193) challenges, the Classics Club (39) and the Classics Challenge 2021, Spell the Month in Books, Six Degrees of Separation etc. And I Travel the World Through Books. This is only a smidgen of the topics I blog about but I hope I have given a quick overview.

I have found many other enthusiastic readers here whose blogs I love to read and who come to my blog and comment on our issues. I found many, many interesting books that way, and had lots of fascinating conversations.

So, thank you all for your support. I look forward to the next couple of years of living in the blogging world.

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Bookish Pet Peeves

     

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

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

This week's topic is Bookish Pet Peeves

May I introduce my favourite bag saying "favourite book" in German. I have had this for years (as you can see from the copyright, even then it was a couple of years old) and take it everywhere. My handbags have to be big enough for it to fit in there because only then can I take a book with me wherever I go.

When I first saw this topic, I thought, I know I've done this before. And yes, it's been eight years ago. The challenge was Top Ten Book Turn-Offs and mine were:

10. Books with movie covers.
9. No description of the book on the cover.
8. Spoilers in the introduction.
7. Description of clothes.
6. Mentioning shoes.
5. Bad translation.
4. Contradictions within the story or even compared to real life.
3. Wrong dates.
2. Wrong grammar, wrong spelling.
1. Bad language.
None of that has changed, I still loathe all of those facts. But, of course, there are other events that can make me mad.

One would be: Sequels coming out a different size to first book. I like my series to match. But that isn't the worst one.

And since we're on the topic already, cover redesigns after they have been turned into a movie! I think they do it because they hope to sell the books with the new cover to those who liked the movie. But they don't make them attractive to those of us who hate movies made after our books (see here).

I also hate that paperbacks are published later than hard covers. Now it's bad enough with English books but in Germany it might take years until they publish it in paperback. With the result that I hardly ever read any new German books and by the time they appear in paperback, I have forgotten that I liked the description when I first heard about it.

Then there is something I love when it's there, but it doesn't happen very often. I love to have maps about the area, so I know what the author is talking about. Also, when there is a historical notion, a timeline of what happened in real life is very helpful. I know I can get all that information on the internet nowadays but it's nicer to have it right then and there while reading.

Another thing we book lovers hate is when a book we ordered online is damaged. I don't like ordering online much but my local bookshop often has problems getting a foreign edition for me, so I have no choice but to use one of the online bookshops. It's really annoying when they arrive damaged.

And the last biggest problem is:
How will I ever get through my TBR pile before I die?

I hope Jorge Louis Borges is correct and paradise is like a library. Sigh!

Wodehouse, P.G. "The World of Jeeves"

Wodehouse, P.G. "The World of Jeeves" (Jeeves #2-4: The Inimitable Jeeves #2, Carry On, Jeeves #3, Very Good, Jeeves! #4) - 1923/1925/1930 

Wodehouse, P.G. "The Inimitable Jeeves" (Jeeves #2) - 1923
Wodehouse, P.G. "Carry On, Jeeves" (Jeeves #3) - 1925
Wodehouse, P.G. "Very Good, Jeeves!" (Jeeves #4) - 1930 

After reading "Right Ho, Jeeves", "Ring for Jeeves" and "The Code of the Woosters" last year, it was time for another book by P.G. Wodehouse about Bertram (Bertie) Wooster  and his trustful gentleman's gentleman Jeeves. I found an omnibus of three of the Jeeves books and I had a lot of fun reading it over several months, the two helped me through some awful Corona months.

There isn't much more to say about these books other than how wonderful they are. I mentioned before that they aren't just funny but that the language is superb. My final sentence to the first book I came across was:
"A truly delightful book. Whenever you feel gloomy, read a bit of Jeeves and Wooster!"
That's still true today.

I found it incredible, how much some of the covers have changed, so I made a little collage with the different books.

Here is a list of all the stories I found in this collection.

1.    Jeeves Takes Charge (COJ)
2.    Jeeves in the Springtime (VGJ)
3.    Scoring Off Jeeves (VGJ)
4.    Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch (VGJ)
5.    Aunt Agatha Takes the Count (VGJ)
6.    The Artistic Career of Corky (COJ)
7.    Jeeves and Chump Cyril (VGJ)
8.    Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest (COJ)
9.    Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg (COJ)
10.  The Aunt and the Sluggard (COJ)
11.  Comrade Bingo (VGJ)
12.  The Great Sermon Handicap (VGJ)
13.  The Purity of the Turf (VGJ)
14.  The Metropolitan Touch (VGJ)
15.  The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace (VGJ)
16.  Bingo and the Little Woman (VGJ)
17.  The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy (COJ)
18.  Without the Option (COJ)
19.  Fixing it for Freddie (COJ)
20.  Clustering Round Young Bingo (COJ)
21.  Jeeves and the Impending Doom (VGJ)
22.  The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy (VGJ)
23.  Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit (VGJ)
24.  Jeeves and the Song of Songs (VGJ)
25.  Episode of the Dog Mcintosh (VGJ)
26.  The Spot of Art (VGJ)
27.  Jeeves and the Kid Clementina (VGJ)
28.  The Love That Purifies (VGJ)
29.  Jeeves and the Old School Chum (VGJ)
30.  Indian Summer of an Uncle (VGJ)
31.  The Ordeal of Young Tuppy (VGJ)
32.  Bertie Changes His Mind (COJ)
33.  Jeeves Makes an Omelette
34.  Jeeves and the Greasy Bird

IJ = The Inimitable Jeeves
COJ = Carry On, Jeeves
VGJ = Very Good, Jeeves!

From the back cover:

"A Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus

'Jeeves knows his place, and it is between the covers of a book.'

This is an omnibus of wonderful Jeeves and Wooster stories, specially selected and introduced by Wodehouse himself, who was struck by the size of his selection and described it as almost the ideal paperweight. As he wrote:

'I find it curious, now that I have written so much about him, to recall how softly and undramatically Jeeves first entered my little world. Characteristically, he did not thrust himself forward. On that occasion, he spoke just two lines.
The first was:
"Mrs Gregson to see you, sir."
The second:
"Very good, sir, which suit will you wear?"
It was only some time later that the man's qualities dawned upon me. I still blush to think of the off-hand way I treated him at our first encounter...'.

This omnibus contains Carry On, Jeeves, The Inimitable Jeeves, Very Good, Jeeves and the short stories 'Jeeves Makes an Omelette' and 'Jeeves and the Greasy Bird'.

A glorious collection of all the short stories featuring Jeeves, the perfect manservant, and Bertie Wooster, a 1920s bachelor on the run."

I was told the "Psmith" books are even better. Will have to check that.