Book Quotes of the Week

  

"For as long as she could remember, she had thought that autumn air went well with books, that the two both somehow belonged with blankets, comfortable armchairs, and big cups of coffee or tea." Katarina Bivald, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommends

Anything goes well with books. No discussion necessary. 

"That's how it is with books, isn't it: They're not in a hurry. They’ll wait for you till you're ready." Charles Bukowski

That's a very consoling thought when I look at my TBR pile.

"The world of reality has its limits, the world of imagination is boundless." Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Isn't that fantastic?

Find more book quotes here. 

#ThrowbackThursday. The Hour I First Believed

 

Lamb, Wally "The Hour I First Believed" - 2008

I like all books by Wallyl Lamb and it is hard to choose a favourite. But this could be it.

The author always finds a great way to describe people's feelings, little by little he dissects any situation. I love his style. He has a great way of telling a story. There is so much humanity in this book, so even though a lot of negative events happen, it still is a book of hope and love.

The novel is primarily Columbine High School and the shooting, it combines so many other topics. I thoroughly enjoyed this very descriptive book.

We discussed this in our international book club in January 2010.

Read more on my original post here.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Strawberries

Thanks, Deb @ Readerbuzz for the idea.

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Lighthouses

   

"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, our topic is Book Quote Freebie (Share your favorite book quotes that fit a theme of your choosing! These could be quotes about books/reading, or quotes from books. Some examples are: quotes for book lovers, quotes that prove reading is the best thing ever, funny things characters have said, romantic declarations, pretty scenery descriptions, witty snippets of dialogue, etc.)

I have done this already in the last two years,
Top Ten Book Quotes in 2021 and
Top Favourite Book Quotes in 2020
Also, I publish my weekly book quotes almost every Friday (see all of them here).

I also did Top Ten Book Titles that Would Make Great Song Titles.

Which means, I have decided to twist the topic today. Or go a completey different way.

I'm just reading a book that takes place in a lighthouse. It's written in Danish but takes place in Norway. Unfortunately, not yet translated into English but I'm sure that will come. So, that gave me the idea to go for this subject.

Coelho, Paulo "The Alchemist" (PO: O Alquimista) - 1988

Pamuk, Orhan "Nights of Plague" (TR: Veba geceleri) - 2021 (Goodreads)

Roop, Peter & Connie "Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie" - 1985 (Goodreads)

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Prince of Mist" (E: El príncipe de la niebla) - 1993
- "Watcher in the Shadows" (E: Las luces de Septiembre) - 1995

Stedman, M L "The Light Between Oceans" (Das Licht zwischen den Meeren) - 2012 (Goodreads)

Uthaug, Maren "Hannahs Lied" (Where there are birds/Hvor der er fugle) - 2017 (Goodreads/Goodreads)

Woolf, Virginia "To the Lighthouse" - 1927

The first two pictures in my collage are by one of my favourite contemporary painters, Frank Koebsch. If you follow my blog, you might have seen his and his wife Hanka's pictures in my monthly greetings. They are all beautiful and since they live by the sea, there are a few lighthouse pictures among them.

I posted the first one in my "Happy May 2022" post and the second on in "Happy October 2020".

Mind you, there are a few quotes on my list (here) that mention lighthouses and/or light, mostly comparing books to the light that guide you in this world.

"Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time." E.P. Whipple

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." W. B. Yeats

"To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations – such is a pleasure beyond compare." Kenko Yoshida

"Thinking is more powerful than talking. Reading is more enlightening than seeing." Dr T.P. Chia

"A book, too, can be a star, 'explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,' a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe." Madeleine L'Engle

"Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality can lead to a Happily Ever After. Do not take that gift of hope lightly. It has the power to conquer despair in the midst of sorrow, to light the darkness in the valleys of life, to whisper 'One more time' in the face of failure. Hope is what gives life to dreams, making the fairy tale the reality" L.R. Knost

In your dark night, I urge you to hold to your faith, to embrace hope, and to bear your love before you like a burning candle, for I promise it will light your way." William Kent Krueger, When Ordinary Grace

I'm really looking forward to all the quotes of the other bloggers. I love quotes, but - as I mentioned - I probably post them more than often enough already.

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Book Quotes of the Week

 

"Re-read your favourite books at different stages of your life. The plot never changes but your perspective does." Junaid Akram

I have done that with a few books and wish I would have been able to read more great literature when I was younger.

"A book is like a trapdoor that leads to a secret attic: You can open it and go inside. And your world is different." Antonio Iturbe, The Library of Auschwitz

It's great that you can go to another world through a book, I never really though about it as a trapdoor but more a window.

"One should examine oneself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others." Molière

Good advice, Monsieur. It would be great if more people adhered to it.

Find more book quotes here. 

#ThrowbackThursday. The Golden Notebook

 

Lessing, Doris "The Golden Notebook" - 1962

I read this book in my teens. It is one of those books that I still remember after many, many years. Many years. I thought it was very good and very sensitive, approached the subject of women's liberation in a very unique but helpful way.

When we read this in our international book club, I discovered that many of the younger members didn't "get it". I don't think the book is outdated, just that the young women don't understand what women before them had to fight for them to arrive where they are today. I don't want to say that the fight is over but we have come a long way.

Read more on my original post here. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ My first international book club

Thanks, Deb @ Readerbuzz for the idea.

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books I Still Haven't Read

            

"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, our topic is Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read (bonus points if you tell us how long it’s been since you got them!)

There are many books on my TBR pile. And many have been on there for a long time. Some have been pushed aside because the author published a new book, others because similar subjects came up all the time, sometimes a book is not there to read but to leaf through.

I have only one excuse: Too many books, too little time.

I got the following books in the following years. So, where do I redeem my bonus points? 😉

2004
Allende, Isabel "City of the Beasts" (Spanish: La ciudad de las bestias) (Memories of the Eagle and the Jaguar #1) - 2002 - Goodreads

Dallek, Robert "An Unfinished Life - John F. Kennedy 1917-1963" - 2003 - Goodreads

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen, The World of Her Novels" - 2002 - Goodreads

2005
Walker, Alice "Now is the Time to Open your Heart" - 2004 - Goodreads

Ghosh, Amitav "The Hungry Tide" - 2004 - Goodreads

Delaney, Frank "Ireland" - 2004 - Goodreads

2006
Tobin, Jacquelin L. and Dobard, Raymond G. "Hidden in Plain View" - 1999 - Goodreads

Mehta, Suketu "Maximum City. Bombay Lost and Found" - 2004 - Goodreads

Jacq, Christian "Ramses - Son of the Light I" Ramsès, tome 1: (French: Le Fils de la Lumière) - 1995 - Goodreads

2007
Danielewski, Mark Z. "House of Leaves" - 2000 - Goodreads

Now I'm curious how long other readers have had their books on their TBR piles.

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Watterson, Bill "Calvin & Hobbes"

Watterson, Bill "Calvin & Hobbes" - 1985-95

My sons absolutely loved Calvin when they were younger. I believe they still do. But they were part of their lives and hence the life or our whole family for so long. Wherever I went, there was a "Calvin & Hobbes" book somewhere in the house.

This is a picture of the first book about little Calvin and his stuffed pet Hobbes. Everyone thinks, Hobbes is just a toy tiger but for Calvin, he is real and they talk all the time. That is definitely part of the charm of this series. But that's not all. Calvin is precocious and cheeky. In German I would call him a "neunmalkluger Dreikäsehoch" (word by word: nine times smart - three cheese high guy). But he is so cute, he makes fun of everyone, his parents, his teachers but also of himself. My favourite stories are when he builds all kind of snowmen. They make me laugh every time. Well, all his stories do.

Unfortunately, the cartoonist seems to be a very private person, didn't just forbid any merchandizing of his characters but stopped drawing them altoghether after ten years. What a shame. But, at least we have the 18 books he produced during his productive years. They can all be found in "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes" from 2005 (see below).

From the back cover:

"This is the first collection of the popular comic strip that features Calvin, a rambunctious 6-year-old boy, and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, who comes charmingly to life."

Book Quotes of the Week

 

"I have nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine." Emily Dickinson

I think all the bloggers totally agree with that .

"The spirit of a language reveals itself most clearly in its untranslatable words." Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

So true. Same as they say you receive a new soul with every new language you learn. Out of experience I can say that at least you get the ability to look at anything from a different point of view.

"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn." Anne Frank

I understand that someone can say that but how someone like Anne Frank can still find courage through writing is beyond me. She was a very special girl indeed. How much she could have achieved had she been allowed to live on, we never know. And if we think of all the million others. So much knowledge that was just destroyed. Same as today. War isn't good for anyone. We all can only lose.

Find more book quotes here. 

#ThrowbackThursday. Jane Austen

 

Austen, Jane
"Emma" - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Mansfield Park" - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Northanger Abbey" - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
"Persuasion" - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
"Sense & Sensibility" - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)

Eleven years ago, I posted my first Jane Austen review. It was not my favourite (Persuasion) or the one that is probably most popular (Pride & Prejudice), probably because this comes first alphabetically.

 

I reviewed all of Jane Austen's novels in the meantime, plus her short or unfinished stories, plus some books about the author, you can find them all here.

I also reread the books with an online reading group, The Motherhood and Jane Austen.

Read more on my original posts here or under the links above.