#ThrowbackThursday. May 2011 Part 3

I've been doing Throwback Thursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. One of my blogger friends always posts the reviews of one month but that would be too much. So, these are my reviews from the third week of May 2011.

Clinton, Hillary Rodham "Living History" - 2003
Whether you like her politics or not, this book is an account of a woman who is very strong and who managed to get to a certain point through studying and hard work.

Du Bois, W.E.B. "The Souls of Black Folk" - 1903
A very thorough and interesting study of black culture in the United States, the achievements and problems of the African American society.

Fredriksson, Marianne "Hanna's Daughters" (S: Anna, Hanna og Johanna) - 1994
A remarkable story about the life of women and how it changed during the last century. The story is situated in Sweden but it could have happened anywhere in Europe.

Hirsi Ali, Ayaan "Nomad: From Islam to America" - 2010
A follow-up to her book "Infidel. My Life". This is an intelligent and courageous woman. She writes in a clear way, some thought, her life in Somalia was the most interesting part, the different views and culture.

Lewis, Oscar "Children of Sanchez" - 1961
This is an anthropological documentary about a family from a slum in Mexico City, a father and his four children who grow up in poverty.

Lukas, Michael David "The Oracle of Stamboul" - 2011
Istanbul, at the end of the 19th century. A young Jewish girl is born in what now is Romania, her mother dies in childbirth and the girl ends up in Muslim Istanbul. An amazing story like from 1001 Nights.

Read my original reviews, the for links click on the titles.

Paretti, Sandra "The Wishing Tree"

Paretti, Sandra "The Wishing Tree" (German: Der Wunschbaum) - 1975

Actually nothing more than a love story that I read many years ago. Could also have been a threepenny novel.

The English subtitle actually says it all: "The Saga of a Woman and her Family and a Dream That Wouldn't Die". The cover photo on the English edition does the rest.

But I know that there are readers who like this type of literature. Because, otherwise, it was well written.

From the back cover:

"In 1900 Camilla Hofmann is seventeen. The home of her parents is in Berlin's Steglitz. It's a big house with a park around it. Her father goes bankrupt, the family business is lifted, the main house is sold and the family falls apart. Camilla, the youngest, is nothing else but the memory ... and the desire ever to get back in that house in Steglitz and be able to sit under the big lime tree which is told that he wishes come true can let go."

#ThrowbackThursday. May 2011 Part 2

I've been doing Throwback Thursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. One of my blogger friends always posts the reviews of one month but that would be too much. So, these are my reviews from the second week of May 2011.

Becker, Jurek "Jacob the Liar" (GE: Jakob der Lügner) - 1969
An occupant of the Warsaw ghetto tries to help his fellow Jews sustain life by telling them lies about the Russians being almost there to liberate them.

Falcones, Ildefonso "Cathedral of the Sea" (E: La catedral del mar) - 2008
One of the best historical novels ever. Barcelona in the 14th century, in the middle of the time of the Inquisition. A church is being built. The story of the people involved with the building.

Lewycka, Marina "Two Caravans" (aka Strawberry Fields) - 2007
This book describes the life of Ukrainians (and Polish) seasonal/migrant workers in England.

Proulx, Annie "The Shipping News" - 2003
Quoyle, an ordinary guy, moves with his aunt and his daughters to his ancestral home in Newfoundland where he works for a local newspaper.

Şafak, Elif "Araf" (aka The Saint of Incipient Insanities) - 2004
A book about foreigners living in the United States. Three roommates from Turkey, Morocco and Spain in Boston, one has  a Mexican-American, another an American girlfriend. All of them have to fit into the society they are in,

Stone, Irving "The Agony and the Ecstasy" - 1961
A book about the life and art of Michelangelo.

Read my original reviews, for the links click on the titles.

Şafak, Elif "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World"

Şafak, Elif "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" - 2019

"Now he has again preceded me a little in parting from this strange world. This has no importance. For people like us who believe in physics, the separation between past, present and future has only the importance of an admittedly tenacious illusion." Albert Einstein upon the death of his closest friend, Michele Besso

This is my fifth novel by Elif Şafak and I have enjoyed them all tremendously. Well, as far as you can talk about enjoyment when reading about the murder of a woman.

We follow Leila from the minute of her birth until several minutes after her death and then her friends. We learn about the way she lived, how she ended up in her situation, how her friends found themselves in their situations. We hear about Istanbul and Leila's hometown Van in Eastern Anatolia, right near the border to Iran.

The idea that you can still be conscious several minutes after your death is something I had never heard of before. But this gives us an opportunity to get all aspects of Leila's life and death, that of her friends and how she met them. All of them social outcasts, they form their own kind of family and fight for it, even beyond death.

The book is divided into three parts, each of them different from the other but they all contribute to our understanding of the life.

In the first part, we read about Leila's thoughts in the first minutes after her death, she thinks about her family and her friends. All the memories are included in the story. In the second part, Leila is dead and we follow her friends who try to bury her somewhere decent. The third part is about Leila's soul.

This novel is extraordinary. An extraordinary book about an extraordinary woman in an extraordinary town.

Book Description:

"'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore...'

For Leila, each minute after her death recalls a sensuous memory: spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the birth of a yearned-for son; bubbling vats of lemon and sugar to wax women's legs while men are at prayer; the cardamom coffee she shares with a handsome student in the brothel where she works. Each fading memory brings back the friends she made in her bittersweet life - friends who are now desperately trying to find her …

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is an intensely powerful and richly evocative novel from one of the greatest storytellers of our time."

Book Quotes

    

"To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge." Nicolaus Copernicus

I know that I know nothing. Another quote by a smart guy, Socrates. He was so right then as he is now.

"If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that can’t be in books. The book needs you. " Gary Paulsen

That's a good point. I'm glad I can contribute to the meaning of existence for books.

"Too much of anything is bad, but too many books is barely enough." N.N.

Definitely true.

Find more book quotes here.

#ThrowbackThursday. May 2011

I've been doing Throwback Thursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. One of my blogger friends always posts the reviews of one month but that would be too much. So, these are my reviews from the first week of May 2011.

Haddon, Mark "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" - 2003
The author tries to highlight that autistic figure/feel and accomplishes it very well. The book was written very discreetly, you could notice that he worked with children. One would have thought Mark Haddon had the syndrome himself.

Kidd, Sue Monk "The Secret Life of Bees" - 2002
The story of Lily from South Carolina, an abused child who lost her mother, and three African-American beekeeping sisters who help her growing up.

Lamb, Christina "The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan" - 2002
This was by far the best one of the books I read about Afghanistan.  Christina Lamb is a journalist who knows her job.

Mann, Thomas "Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family" (German: Buddenbrooks) - 1901
I have read "Buddenbrooks" a couple of times and think this is one of the best books of German literature. It is usually described as Thomas Mann's masterpiece. The author is definitely one of Germany's most famous and best writers. The novel, an epic story, dates from 1901 and describes the life in a wealthy merchant family over several decades from the 1800s until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Mosse, Kate "Labyrinth" - 2005
A story about history and architecture, a story that spans over 800 years. Historical events from the 13th century are described.

Waltari, Mika "The Egyptian" (Finnish: Sinuhe Egyptiläinen) - 1945
The author studied ancient cultures and theology and the facts in this book are accurate. He couldn't print war books at the time, so instead he wrote this one. The book covers not only Egyptian history but also everything about the human nature, its goodness and its cruelty.

Waltari, Mika "The Dark Angel" (Finnish: Johannes Angelos) - 1952
A lot of the author's novels have a religious background, there is always an issue of faith in his books. His language is great and he teaches a lot about churches and the background of their history. His books are very detailed and accurate. This novel is situated in Constantinople during its fall in 1453.

Woolf, Virginia "To the Lighthouse" - 1927
This wonderful book was almost like poetry. The style was wonderful. Virginia Woolf describes the people most beautifully, the feelings, the thoughts, the way she describes the changes, the atmosphere, how they looked at each other, you can recognize it in your own life.

Woolf, Virginia "Mrs. Dalloway" - 1925
This is supposed to be Virginia Woolf's greatest novel, a book about the life of a woman, a single day in the life of a woman. A "higher class" woman at the beginning of the last century preparing a party and seeing it through.

Read my original reviews, the for links click on the titles.

Krall, Hanna "Chasing the King of Hearts"

Krall, Hanna "Chasing the King of Hearts" (Polish: Król kier znów na wylocie) - 2006

This was our international online book club book for May 2024.

The life story of a Jewish woman who loses all her family in the Holocaust. Except for her husband. She is sure he is still alive and she looks for him everywhere.

In the description it says this is a beautiful love story. And it is. In a way. Just not what you would usually expect from a love story. And the style is completely different. It reads like diary. But it's more than that. Quite interesting.

It's amazing what a human being can do in order to save their loved ones.

A good book about a strong woman.

From the back cover:

"An extraordinary love story, spanning 60 years, from 1939 to 2000, from the Warsaw Ghetto to Israel.

'This is the last leg of my journey. It would be silly to lose my mind now.' After the deportation of her husband to Auschwitz, Izolda Regenberg, alias Maria Pawlicka, has only one aim: to free her husband. Her race to beat fate might appear absurd to others, but not to her. In times of war and destruction she learns to trust herself.

Why Peirene chose to publish this book:

'This is a beautiful love story. A story which makes one weep for mankind. While Hanna Krall's terse prose is designed to convey the utter desperation of war, her deft touch evokes hope and a sense of homecoming.' Meike Ziervogel"

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Red

     

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.

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This week’s topic is Red Books. Meeghan says: "June’s flower of the month is the rose, and the fruit of the month is pomegranate. So, we are doing our top 5 red books."

I have found plenty of books with a lot of read on the title but I chose the ones that are entirely red with just the title on them.

Döblin, Alfred "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (GE: Berlin Alexanderplatz) - 1929

Mahfouz, Naguib "Midaq Alley" (arab: زقاق المدق/Zuqaq El Midaq) - 1947

Marini, Lorenzo "The Man of the Tulips" (IT: L'uomo dei tulipani) - 2002

Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich "The Communist Manifesto" (GE: Das kommunistische Manifest) - 1848

Wodehouse, P.G. "The World of Jeeves" (The Inimitable Jeeves #2) - 1923

They are all very different but all great books.

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🌹Happy Reading!🌹

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Spell the Month in Books ~ June

          
Reviews from the Stacks

I found this on one of the blogs I follow, Books are the New Black who found it at One Book More. It was originally created by Reviews from the Stacks, and the idea is to spell the month using the first letter of book titles

June: History

Next to geography and languages, history is one of my favourite subjects. Therefore, this was an easy one for me, I had now problems finding books that fit the description.

JUNE

J

Defoe, Daniel "A Journal of the Plague Year" - 1772

U
O'Farrell, John "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2,000 Years of Upper Calls Idiots in Charge" - 2007

N
Wiesel, Eli "Night" (F: La Nuit) - 1958

E

George, Margaret "Elizabeth I" - 2011

 

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My favourite of these, a book I think everyone should read, especially as regards to present politics: Night.

Happy Reading!

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ From Butter to Where the Crawdads Sing

#6Degrees of Separation:
from Butter (Goodreads) to Where the Crawdads Sing

#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here.

The starter book this month is "Butter" by Asako Yuzuki.

We can't have all read the same books, so, as it happens so often, I have not read it. But here is the description:

"The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Center convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, 'The Konkatsu Killer,' Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan."

Now, food is a subject we have all read about at some point or the other, sometimes it is even linked to a crime. Therefore, this month I will stick to the topic.

Ali, Monica "In the Kitchen" - 2008

Buruma, Ian "Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance" (NL: Dood van en gezonde roker) - 2006

Christie, Agatha "Murder on the Orient Express" (Hercule Poirot #10) - 1934

 

Koch, Herman "The Dinner" (NL: Het diner) - 2009

 

Lanchester, John "The Debt to Pleasure" - 1996

Owens, Delia "Where the Crawdads Sing" - 2018
 

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I didn't like all of them but absolutely loved the last one. And, of course, they all have something in common, murder, food, mostly both.

Happy June!

  Happy June to all my friends and readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch
"Blick auf die Diskobucht - Ein Grönland Aquarell"
"View of Disko Bay - A Greenland Watercolour"

Hanka says to this picture:
"Greenland has an incredibly fascinating landscape. The largest island on earth awaits us with beautiful fjords, calving glaciers, rough rock faces and - what I never thought possible - a sea of flowers in summer."
"Grönland hat eine unglaublich faszinierende Landschaft. Die größte Insel der Erde erwartet uns mit wunderschönen Fjorden, kalbenden Gletschern, rauen Felswänden und - was ich überhaupt nicht für möglich gehalten habe - einem Blumenmeer im Sommer."

Read more on their website here. *

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May is a beautiful month. And we had the loveliest weather. Some thunderstorms but not too bad. And we need the rain for our harvest.
 
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We visited a lovely concert by a great German musician, Götz Alsmann. He mixes modern music with Jazz. He presented his newest album which is not for sale, yet, and there isn't anything on the net, either. So, have a look and a listen here for one of his older performances: L.I.E.B.E.

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Our book club read this month was "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" (I: Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore) by Italo Calvino. It is one of my favourite books, not an easy one, but totally interesting. Unfortunately, my book club didn't share my enthusiasm.

 
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May is also the month when my favourite flower is in bloom: the peony. Here is a picture from this year:

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The old German word for June is Brachmond. 

Brache is the German word for fallow. In the two-field economy and the three-field economy of the Middle Ages, work on the fallow land began this month.

 

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

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🌞 I wish you all a Happy June! 🌞