#ThrowbackThursday. August 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 August 2011.

Alcott, Louisa May "Little Women" - 1868-86

The description of the March girls and their lives is just fabulous. You feel like you’ve almost been there with them, shared with them in their problems and dreams.

Bryson, Bill "The Lost Continent" - 1989

What can be more fun than going on a trip through the USA with America’s most hilarious travel writer. Especially when he sees it after having lived abroad for several years, so with almost foreign eyes.

Massaquoi, Hans J. "Destined to Witness" - 1999

A very interesting autobiography written by a German/Liberian boy who grew up in Nazi Germany. He describes his childhood and youth in Hamburg during a time where everyone had to have blond hair and blue eyes. With his story, he has probably told us more about the thoughts and wishes of an ordinary German as any other account about this time.

Naipaul, V.S. "A Bend in the River" - 1979

Salim, an African of Indian descent, settles in an unnamed town at the bend in the river as a shopkeeper. With his "foreign" eyes we see part of Africa’s history after the colonists left, the changes both in politics and the community, the problems with the economy, the war-like situations.

Tolan, Sandy "The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East" - 2006

A Palestinian boy travels back to the house in 1967 his family had to leave behind nineteen years earlier. He meets the present family who had to flee Europe at that time. This is the beginning of a friendship that is probably unique but gives so much hope.

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

Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing"

Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013

I read a book by Simon Garfield a couple of years ago: "On the Map. Why the World Looks the Way it Does".

I really loved it. And since I love letters just as much as I love maps, I just had to get this one.

It is an interesting book about the development of letters, how they came into existence in the first place, how they changed over the centuries, what they mean today in a world of e-mails and phone messages.

I used to be a keen letter writer and was really looking forward to this book. And though it is a good survey into the habit of letter writing and contained some nice anecdotes, I found it a little boring at times. I don't mind jumping around in a story but this was all a little too haphazardly.

That might have been one of the reasons why I didn't read this in one go, I just couldn't get my head around his structure.

Also, he mentions a lot of authors and books in his work, a table of contents would have been nice.

I still like writing letters.

A nice quote:

"Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday."

He also mentions a letter subscripion where you receive an actual letter by one of your favourite authors twice a month. It still exists and you can find all about it here at "The Rumpus". I couldn't find out whether they also send something abroad but there are quite a few US readers here, so maybe something for them.

From the back cover:

"To the Letter tells the story of our remarkable journey through the mail. From Roman wood chips discovered near Hadrian's Wall to the wonders and terrors of email, Simon Garfield explores how we have written to each other over the centuries and what our letters reveal about our lives.

Along the way he delves into the great correspondences of our time, from Cicero and Petrarch to Jane Austen and Ted Hughes (and John Keats, Virginia Woolf, Jack Kerouac, Anaïs Nin and Charles Schulz), and traces the very particular advice offered by bestselling letter-writing manuals. He uncovers a host of engaging stories, including the tricky history of the opening greeting, the ideal ingredients for invisible ink, and the sad saga of the dead letter office. As the book unfolds, so does the story of a moving wartime correspondence that shows how letters can change the course of life.

To the Letter is a wonderful celebration of letters in every form, and a passionate rallying cry to keep writing."

Keyes, Daniel "Flowers for Algernon"

Keyes, Daniel "Flowers for Algernon" - 1959

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

I wasn't really keen on reading this, you know how much I dislike science fiction. But this is a different one, yes, it's about science and it's about fictional science but it's got nothing to do with aliens or made-up planets, it wouldn't be an action movie with loud noises if the turned it into a film. Actually, they did turn it into one and it doesn't look like an action movie.

This is an interesting story about a young man who can hardly write his name let alone a decent sentence without any mistakes. They perform an operation on him and his IQ increases to astronomical heights. We see the change in Charlie. Phenomenal. As he understands more and more what they have done to him, the story reaches a different perspective.

Quite a good read.

From the back cover:

"Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.

Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence - a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?"

Daniel Keyes has received both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for this novel.

#ThrowbackThursday. July 2011 Part 4

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 fourth week of July 2011.

LeBor, Adam "City of Oranges. An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa" - 2006
Israel and its history was always of great interest to me, I grew up with it. The author describes every different ethnic people living in Israel and has a deep understanding for their problems.

Shalev, Zeruya "Husband and Wife" (Hebr: בעל ואישה) - 2000
Na'ama is married to Udi whom she knew since childhood. One morning, he wakes up not able to move his legs. But the problem is not physical. The author has a wonderful way of describing the couple's different ways of trying to deal with this.

Smiley, Jane "A Thousand Acres" - 1991
King Lear in Iowa. A very interesting novel about a family and their troubles. 

Smiley, Jane "The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" - 1998
A completely different subject but just as good. I loved the main character, everything she goes through is told so explicitly, with so much feeling. 

Walker, Alice "The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart" - 2000
A collection of short stories based the author's life. A truly heart-rendering book, an eye opener, especially the story about her mixed-race marriage in the Southern US in the sixties.

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

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Orphans

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 Orphans. Meeghan says: "The opposite of family would be no family. And what does a lot of (primarily middle grade or young adult) literature have in common? An absence of parents. Which, honestly, is kind of weird. Who hurt those authors??"

A lot of the books I read with orphans are classics where it was a lot more common that children ended up with no parents or caretakers, or they take place during a war where also more people are killed and have to leave their loved ones behind. But I found some other novels with this topic.

Dickens, Charles "David Copperfield" - 1850

Doerr, Anthony "All the Light We Cannot See" - 2014

Lawson, Mary "Crow Lake" - 2002

Spyri, Johanna "Heidi" (GE: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre + Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat) - 1880/81

Webster, Jean "Daddy Longlegs" - 1912

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👶 Happy Reading! 👶

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Sisters

   

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. 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 a Relationship Freebie (Pick a relationship type and choose characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.)

When you grow up with three younger brothers, all you want is a sister. Or a daughter. But I didn't get either. And when I tried to look for books with families with sisters only, I didn't find many. Obviously, I could have used most of Jane Austen's, in four of her six main works there are only daughters in the families. So, I chose the one which would probably have suited me best (I have taken a test once and the result was that I resemble Elinor Dashwood most, I even think that might be true).

The last book is not about real sisters but about friends who are even closer than many sisters. And I have been lucky enough to have friends like that my whole life, some even for most of my life.

Alcott, Louisa May "Little Women" - 1868-86

Alvarez, Julia "In the Time of the Butterflies" - 1994

Austen, Jane "Sense & Sensibility" - 1811 

Brown, Eleanor "The Weird Sisters" - 2001

Clayton, Meg Waite "The Wednesday Sisters" - 2008 

Eggels, Elle "The House of the Seven Sisters" (NL: Het huis van de zeven zusters) - 1998

Gilbreth, Frank + Gilbreth Carey, Elizabeth "Cheaper by the Dozen" - 1948

Kingsolver, Barbara "The Poisonwood Bible" - 1998

Smiley, Jane "A Thousand Acres" - 1991

Wells, Rebecca "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" - 1998

I have done Top Ten Characters You Would Want as a Family, and they were all sisters. So, you see, that's what I longed for all my life.

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row"

Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row" - 1945

For the Classics Spin #38, we received #17 and this was my novel.

I have read several John Steinbeck novels and loved them all. With this one, I was expecting something along the line of "The Grapes of Wrath", some story about the people who lived during the Great Depression and how they managed. Instead, I read about a group of unruly people whom I couldn't care for.

I'm sure you have read novels where your thoughts did not stay with the plot. Where you had to go back and read whole paragraphs over and over again. I had this with this story, well, I wouldn't even call it a story. It was an amalgamation of characters who couldn't bring together one decent idea.

I have heard several times that this is a funny novel. I cannot agree with that. I didn't see any humour in it. Sorry.

From the back cover:

"Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henri the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love. Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values. First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is - both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survive - creating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibles - human warmth, camaraderie, and love."

John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception".

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

#ThrowbackThursday. July 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 July 2011.

Orwell, George "Animal Farm" - 1945
"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." I think this must be one of the most popular quotes ever. And the most truthful.

Schmitt, Éric-Emmanuel "Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran" (French: Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran) - 1999
A young Jewish boy in Paris meets a Muslim grocery store owner. The two of them enter a father-son like relationships. 

Pamuk, Orhan "My Name is Red" (Turkish: Benim Adim Kirmizi) - 1998
Orhan Pamuk is one of those rare authors who seem to have reinvented the art of writing. His style is quite unique. Even though he settles his story in the 13th century, it applies to actual problems and facts in a way nobody else seems to be able to do.

Pamuk, Orhan "The Black Book" (Turkish: Kara Kitap) - 1990
A man is looking for his wife who disappeared. He is roaming the streets of Istanbul in order to look back at their past. He mainly relies on the help of two columnists. 

Paton, Alan "Cry, The Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation" - 1948
This novel tells a tale of people having to live in a society that reeks of injustice that would later lead to apartheid. 

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

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Family

     

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 Family. Meeghan says: "Books with themes of family dynamics, whether it be supportive or otherwise, are always fascinating. What are your fave books with all of the family drama?" 

I wouldn't say they are my absolute favourites but I read all of them recently and that way, I don't repeat myself all the time.

Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (NO: Markens Grøde) - 1917

Handke, Peter "Storm Still" (GE:  Immer noch Sturm) - 2010

Ulitzkaya, Lyudmila "Medea and Her Children" (Медея и её дети/ Medeja i eë deti) - 1996

Verghese, Abraham "The Covenant of Water" - 2023

Wells, Benedict "The End of Loneliness" (GE: Vom Ende der Einsamkeit) - 2016

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👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Happy Reading! 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Planes, Trains & Automobiles

  

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. 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: Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel (books whose plots involve travel or feature modes of transportation on the cover/title)

I have done travel before (look here and here) and I cannot promise that I haven't used some of my books before. However, I love travelling, especially by book, so I tried to find some different kinds of travel modes. Trains, Planes, on foot, automobiles (intact and broken ones), buses, camel and tractor. There are lots more but I couldn't find any on my books.

Andersson, Per J. "From the Swede who took the train and saw the world with different eyes" (aka Take the train: on the track through history, present and future) (SW: Ta tåget: på spåret genom historien, samtiden och framtiden) - 2019

Awdry, Rev. Wilbert "Thomas the Tank Engine" - 1956-2011

Bryson, Bill "Bill Bryson's African Diary. A Short Trip for a Worthy Cause" - 2000

Kaminer, Wladimir "Travel to Trulala" (GE: Die Reise nach Trulala) - 2002

Tannous, Samer; Hachmöller, Gerd "When a Syrian comes to Rotenburg (Wümme): Trying to understand my new German homeland" (GE: Kommt ein Syrer nach Rotenburg (Wümme): Versuche, meine neue deutsche Heimat zu verstehen) - 2020

Pamuk, Orhan "Istanbul" (TK: İstanbul - Hatıralar ve Şehir) - 2003

Tekin, Latife "Swords of Ice" (TR: Buzdan Kiliçlar) - 1989

Schnoy, Sebastian "A Little Peace: A Cheerful History of Europe in Three Revolutions and a Flash of Inspiration" (GE: Das bisschen Frieden: Eine heitere Geschichte Europas in drei Revolutionen und einem Geistesblitz) - 2019

Wood, Levison "Eastern Horizons. Hitchhiking the Silk Road" - 2017

Lewycka, Marina "Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" - 2005 

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window"

Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window" aka "Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (Turkish: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat) - Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen - 2008

An interesting book by Orhan Pamuk in which he discusses many topics. Whether it's his childhood in Istanbul, his family, politics or his job as a writer, literature, art, he simply has something interesting and worth knowing to say about everything.

That is certainly the main reason why this author is one of my favorites. I hope he writes a new novel soon.

Book description (translated from the German copy):

"Whether it's the crumbling plaster of Istanbul houses or the Turkish flag, whether it's his father or the terrifying nature of Dostoyevsky's demons - with Orhan Pamuk everything becomes a complex universe. Pamuk observes coolly and tells moving stories. Autobiographical, narrative, politics, art and literature: his essays are the sum of different and contradictory experiences - an incredible stroke of luck."

As you can see from my Wikipedia link, there is an English title, though I could not find the book. Still, I hope it has been translated into English.

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

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

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

Read my original review here. 

#ThrowbackThursday. July 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 July 2011.

Mitchell, Margaret "Gone With the Wind" - 1936
I have read this book ages ago - at around the same time I watched it in the cinema for the first time. I love this story, book or movie, both are great.
I did enjoy reading about the "life" of a war, the anticipation, how everyone wants this to happen for some reason or another, how they plunged into the fights and how they returned defeated and hopeless. This is what war does to any people.

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

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

A story about disappointments in life and shattered dreams, written in an exquisite way.

Naipaul, V.S. "Half A Life" - 2001
An interesting take on life in different settings. A lot of information about post-independence India, Africa and Europe during that time, a comparison, a view about completely different cultures and lifestyles. 

Seth, Vikram "A Suitable Boy" - 1993

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

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

Seth, Vikram "An Equal Music" - 1999

This one tells us the story of a violonist and his problems with love, his job, his parents, but mainly love.

You cannot compare this book at all to his former novel, but it was very good, as well. 

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

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Music

    

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 a Freebie. Before I joined, one of the topics was Music. Meeghan said: "February seems to have a ‘national ukulele day’ so what are your top 5 books about music, musicians, or instruments."

I liked that idea and was sorry to have missed it. So, today, my Top 5 Tuesday is about Music. I found some very different literature.

Ahmad, Aeham "The Pianist from Syria" (aka The Pianist of Yarmouk) (GE: Und die Vögel werden singen. Ich, der Pianist aus den Trümmern) - 2017

Dylan, Bob "Chronicles. Volume One" - 2004

Leroux, Gaston "The Phantom of the Opera" (F: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) - 1910

Mercier, Pascal "Lea" (GE: Lea) - 2007

Tibballs, Geoff "The Good, the Bad and the Wurst. The 100 Craziest Moments from the European Song Contest" - 2016

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🎼 Happy Reading! 🎼

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Favourite Books from Ten Series

    

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. 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: Ten Favourite Books from Ten Series (We all have a favorite book in our favorite series, right?)

I'm not a big series reader but I managed to find enough of them.

Allende, Isabel "The House of the Spirits" (E: La casa de los espíritus) (The House of the Spirits #1) - 1982

Buck, Pearl S. "The Good Earth" - 1931

Follett, Ken "The Pillars of the Earth" (Kingsbridge #1) - 1989

Ghosh, Amitav "Sea of Poppies" (Ibis Trilogy #1) - 2008

Mantel, Hilary "Wolf Hall" (The Wolf Hall Trilogy #1) - 2009

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Shadow of the Wind" (E: La sombra del viento - El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1) - 2001

Scott, Mary "Breakfast at Six" - 1953

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "Whispering Shadows" (The Rising Dragon #1) (GE: Das Flüstern der Schatten) - 2007

Stroyar, J.N. "The Children's War" - 2001

Turner, Nancy E. "These is my Words" - Sarah Agnes Prine Trilogie #1 - 1999 - ILK

I have usually chosen the first one of the series. If I didn't like the next ones, I would not have carried on, so you can depend on it that I liked them all.

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Allende, Isabel "City of the Beasts"

Allende, Isabel "City of the Beasts" (Memories of the Eagle and the Jaguar #1) (Spanish: La ciudad de las bestias) (Las memorias del Águila y del Jaguar #1) - 2002

I found this book ages ago but my TBR pile is so large that it took me half a decade until I tackled this book. Not for want of interest. I love Isabel Allende.

I wasn't aware that this is supposed to be a young adult book but it definitely is also suitable for "old" adults like me. I love this story about a teenager who is taken out of his usual habitat and has to get on in a totally different world. First, he has to find an address in New York without any help but with many obstacles. But the real adventure starts when he leaves for the rainforest with his grandmother. Together with the daughter of their local guide, he explores the area. They rely on each other for their different knowledge and he grows up.

That is the beauty of this story. It's magical, they meet not just the natives but also their spirits, something totally alien to them as well as to us as readers.

There are two more books about Alex and Nadia, "Kingdom of the Golden Dragon" (El Reino del Dragón de Oro), and "Forest of the Pygmies" (El Bosque de los Pigmeos). I totally intend to read them.

From the back cover:

"An ecologial romance with a pulsing heart, equal parts Rider Haggard and Chico Buarque -- one of the world's greatest and most beloved storytellers broadens her style and reach with a Amazonian adventure story which will appeal to all ages Fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold has the chance to take the trip of a lifetime. With his mother in hospital, too ill to look after him, Alex is sent out to his grandmother Kate -- a fearless reporter with blue eyes 'as sharp as daggers' points'. Kate is about to embark on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon rainforest, but rather than change her plans, she simply takes Alex along with her. They set off with their team -- including a local guide and his daughter Nadia, with her wild, curly hair and skin the colour of honey -- in search of a fabled headhunting tribe and a legendary, marauding creature known to locals only as 'the Beast', only to find out much, much more about the mysteries of the jungle and its inhabitants. In a novel rich in adventure, magic and spirit, internationally-celebrated novelist Isabel Allende takes readers of all ages on a voyage of discovery and wonder, deep into the heart of the Amazon."

Six Degrees of Separation ~ The Museum of Modern Love

Heather Rose

Rose, Heather "The Museum of Modern Love" - 2016

#6Degrees of Separation:

from The Museum of Modern Love (Goodreads) to The Lady and the Unicorn

#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 The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose.

I have not read this one, so here is the description:

"A mesmerising literary novel about a lost man in search of connection - a meditation on love, art and commitment, set against the backdrop of one of the greatest art events in modern history, Marina Abramovic's The Artist is Present.

'Art will wake you up. Art will break your heart. There will be glorious days. If you want eternity you must be fearless.' From The Museum of Modern Love

She watched as the final hours of The Artist is Present passed by, sitter after sitter in a gaze with the woman across the table. Jane felt she had witnessed a thing of inexplicable beauty among humans who had been drawn to this art and had found the reflection of a great mystery. What are we? How should we live?

If this was a dream, then he wanted to know when it would end. Maybe it would end if he went to see Lydia. But it was the one thing he was not allowed to do.

Arky Levin is a film composer in New York separated from his wife, who has asked him to keep one devastating promise. One day he finds his way to The Atrium at MOMA and sees Marina Abramovic in The Artist is Present. The performance continues for seventy-five days and, as it unfolds, so does Arky. As he watches and meets other people drawn to the exhibit, he slowly starts to understand what might be missing in his life and what he must do.

This dazzlingly original novel asks beguiling questions about the nature of art, life and love and finds a way to answer them."

So, I tried to go with a word in the title. The starter word is museum.

Atkinson, Kate "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" - 1995

I don't have another book with museum that leads me anywhere, so I have chosen the first name of the author.

Morton, Kate "The Clockmaker's Daughter" - 2018

Edwards, Kim "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" - 2005

Powers, Charles T. "In the Memory of the Forest" - 1997

Guterson, David "Our Lady of the Forest" - 2003

Chevalier, Tracy "The Lady and the Unicorn" - 2003

The starter book is about art and a museum, the last one is also about art.

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This month, I loved all the books I presented. If you don't know them, I recommend them heavily.

Spell the Month in Books ~ August

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

August: Water

Such a tough one. I had to cheat with some of them, as you will see. First ; had to go with books that have water on the cover. And then I had to get a German title in. Two Us with water seemed impossible. If you have a suggestion from the books I read, let me know. 😉

AUGUST

A

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016

U
More, Thomas "Utopia" - 1516

G
Ghosh, Amitav "The Glass Palace" - 2000 

U

Gulbranssen, Trygve "Beyond Sing the Woods" (NO: Og bakom synger skogene) - Und ewig singen die Wälder - 1933

S

Grenville, Kate "The Secret River" - 2005

T

Ackroyd, Peter "Thames. Sacred River" - 2007

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Happy Reading!

📚 📚 📚

Happy August!

  Happy August to all my friends and readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Franka Koebsch
"Sommerwiese mit Mohnblüten"

"Cranes and Deer in the Meadows"

Frank says to this picture:
"Our small, colourful year-round singers - the goldfinches. They like all kinds of seeds, but teasels and thistles are particular delicacies. In 2016 they were named 'Bird of the Year'."

"Unsere kleinen bunten Ganzjahressänger - die Distelfinken. Sie mögen Samen aller Art, aber besondere Leckerbissen sind Karden und Disteln. Im Jahr 2016 wurden sie zum 'Vogel des Jahres' gekürt.."

Read more on their website here. *

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July was far too hot for me. I cannot stand any heat, I just seem to be functioning on a very reduced level and can only wait for the end of the season to be feeling alive again. And no, you won't hear me complain that it gets too cold in winter. I can always wear another layer of clothing. Having just written that, I noticed that I talked about that last month, as well. But it still bothers me.

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Do you know the Word "Schadenfreude". It's a German compositum of the words "Schaden" for "Harm" and "Freude" for "Joy". Wikipedia explains it like this:  "... is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, suffering, or humiliation of another." Sometimes, it can be excused if someone does something bad and is more or less "punished" through it backfiring. And then people feel Schadenfreude because they feel justice has been done. Like karma. Any other reason is not really nice but we see it all the time.
 
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 My favourite book last month was "The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese. 

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When we moved here five years ago, my brothers and their wives gave me this rose bush. It is called Marianne and the flowers look like my favourite one: the peony. But, contrary to that one, this rose blooms at least twice a year and for ages. And it has the sweetest smell. 

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The old German word for August is Ernting or Erntemond. 

Ernte is the German word for harvest which explains the origin of the name.

 

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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 August! 🚙