#ThrowbackThursday. December 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 part of December 2011.

Croker, Charlie "Løst in Tränšlatioπ. Misadventures in English Abroad" - 2006
One of those humorous books about language and how it can be understood and expressed quite differently in different countries. This edition collects all those funny little signs and descriptions we find all over the world.

Frisch, Max "Homo Faber" (GE: Homo Faber) - 1957
So many issues in this book. Max Faber is Swiss and works around the world as an engineer. His colleagues call him Homo Faber as in the man who makes things, a direct translation from Latin.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (Goethe German) "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (GE: Die Leiden des Jungen Werther) - 1774
A classic! This epistolary novel is also slightly autobiographical. Goethe has always been a very important German author.
Young Werther is a young artist, very sensitive. He corresponds with his friend whom he tells about all his troubles and sufferings, his unrequited love to a girl.

McMahon, Katharine "The Rose of Sebastopol" - 2007
It is the time of Florence Nightingale, the Crimean War in 1854. How can an intelligent girl not want to follow in her footsteps?

Roberts, Karen "The Flower Boy" - 2001
A story about Ceylon, as it was called then, in the 1930s. A story about a friendship, about Europeans in Asia, about masters and servants.

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

Tevis, Walter "The Queen's Gambit"

Tevis, Walter "The Queen's Gambit" - 1983

We read this in our international online book club in November 2024.

I knew there was a TV series with that title and I thought this might be interesting.

Well, it wasn't. I know how to play chess but this was too professional for me. Someone who doesn't play chess at all might get bored even quickly. There was too much talk about the game, too many details.

And while I felt sorry for the little orphan, I didn't like the person she grew into, a selfish, addicted girl, too many drugs, too much sex, just not my thing. And none of the other characters were lovable, either, except for maybe the caretaker who teaches chess to Beth.

Comments by other members:

• I started listening to the audiobook, I even tried two different narrators but couldn't really get into the story. I will try reading it at some point, but right now I have too much else going on.
• I ended up hearing it as audiobook and it was an excellent listening experience. The different themes like addiction, family traumas and relationships were very lightly touched, but made for an easy entertaining experience. I got quite into the different chess-drama and main characters internal monologue about the games despite knowing nothing much about chess. Would recommend and considering giving the TV series a chance based on how much I enjoyed the book.
• At first I did feel some frustration that the book only skimmed, for example; the relationship with the children's home staff, adoptive parents, and her relationships with other chess players and eventually the issue about addiction and how to deal with it... I do not believe having a not-that-close old friend take you to the gym, to in any way solve the issue. Other subjects: Giftedness in children and adults, and gender equality in life and sports, religion, etc. But then I thought, if the book had gone deeper into these issues then it wouldn't have been a book about chess at all. And not that kind of easy read about chess at all, and learning and competing and winning.

From the back cover:

"When she is sent to an orphanage at the age of eight, Beth Harmon soon discovers two ways to escape her surroundings, albeit fleetingly: playing chess and taking the little green pills given to her and the other children to keep them subdued. Before long, it becomes apparent that hers is a prodigious talent, and as she progresses to the top of the US chess rankings she is able to forge a new life for herself. But she can never quite overcome her urge to self-destruct. For Beth, there’s more at stake than merely winning and losing."

#ThrowbackThursday. December 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 part of December 2011.

Bacon, Charlotte "Lost Geography" - 2000

This is a story about migration, a Canadian-Scottish family with their daughters, one of whom lives in France with her Turkish-English husband. The book teaches us that what keeps us alive isn't so much our ability to understand the details of our past as having the luck and courage to survive the assaults of both the present and history.

This is what the story is all about, how do people with a different background relate to each other, what are the consequences of migration, inter-racial marriages.

Dinesen, Isak/Blixen, Karen "Out of Africa" - 1937
Isak Dinesen, aka Karen Blixen, moves to Africa where she marries a good friend and wants to start a dairy farm with him. Nothing happens as planned but we get to know a smart and wonderful woman with a big heart.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Iphigenia in Tauris" (German: Iphigenie auf Tauris) - 1787

Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon who offers her to the goddess Artemis. Even though the goddess rescues Iphigenia and takes her to the island of Tauris, a lot of things happen as a consequence.

I am not a big fan of reading plays but this is a very interesting story that teaches a lot about Greek mythology.

Shalev, Meir "Four Meals" (Hebrew: כימים אחדים aka "As a Few Days" or "The Loves of Judith") - 1994

Three men love Judith, two farmers and a cattle dealer. Even though they all want to marry her, she doesn't marry anyone but has a son instead.

When Judith dies, all three men want to be the father of the boy and invite him to a meal to get to know him better.

Tellkamp, Uwe "The Tower" (German: Der Turm. Geschichte aus einem versunkenen Land) - 2008

Uwe Tellkamp describes life in East Germany in the 1980s. The length of the book enabled the author to go into so many details of so many different characters. 

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

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Thankful

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 Thankful. Which books were you so glad you read, even if they weren’t the top books you read this year, but you’re super glad you read them. Or any other reason that you’re thankful for books this year!!

I am thankful for many different kind of books. I am definitely thankful, that there are so many different books from so many different countries and times. Therefore, I have chosen books from five different countries that I read this year, new and old, written by authors from India, Norway, Turkey,  the UK, the US.

Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" - 1857
Probably one of my favourite novels by Charlotte Brontë, the reason could be that it takes place in Brussels.

Fosse, Jon "Morning and Evening" (NO: Morgon og kveld) - 2001
Last year's Nobel Prize winner. A fascinating story about the life and death of a man. 

Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead" - 2022
David Copperfield in a modern version, written by one of the greatest contemporary writers.

Şafak, Elif "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" - 2019
Elif Şafak never disappoints. We follow her protagonist Leila from the minute of her birth until several minutes after her death and then her friends. 

Verghese, Abraham "The Covenant of Water" - 2023
A wonderful story about a family in India over the length of most of a century.

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🙏Happy Reading!🙏

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Towles, Amor "Rules of Civility"

Towles, Amor "Rules of Civility" - 2011

After reading "A Gentleman in Moscow", I definitely wanted to read more of this author and when one of my book club members offered to lend me her copy of this one, I happily said yes.

It is not the same as the aforementioned novel but it is also a good one. A completely different area, a different situation, but you get a similar feeling. This one takes place in New York around the life of a young girl who comes to New York.

We don't hear much about the parents who immigrated from Russia but it is her background that get her into her jobs, as she is able to speak Russian.

We get to know her friends, the circles she moves in. A well-written account of life in the first half of the last century. Amor Towles is certainly an author who knows how to capture an audience.

In the epilogue we find what is probably one of the most important lines from the whole book:

"The thing of it is - 1939 may have brought the beginning of the war in Europe, but in America it brought the end of the Depression. While they were annexing and appeasing, we were stoking the steel plants, reassembling the assembly lines, and readying ourselves to meet a world-wide demand for arms and ammunition. In December 1940, with France already fallen and the Luftwaffe bombarding London, back in America Irving Berlin was observing how the treetops glistened and children listened to hear those sleigh bells in the snow. That's how far we were from the Second World War."

The title is based on George Washington's "Rules of Civility" and you can find them here.

From the back cover:

"In a New York City jazz bar on the last night of 1937, watching a quartet because she couldn't afford to see the whole ensemble, there were certain things Katey Kontent knew:

· like how to sneak into the cinema, and steal silk stockings from Bendel's

· how to type eighty words a minute, five thousand an hour, and nine million a year

· that if you can still lose yourself in a Dickens novel then everything is going to be fine

By the end of the year she'll have learned:

· how to live like a redhead and insist upon the very best

· that chance encounters can be fated, and the word 'yes' can be a poison

· that riches can turn to rags in the trip of a heartbeat ..."

Nonfiction November 2024

I have taken part in Nonfiction November for the last couple of years. I have not had the time and energy to participate every week but I want to do a little overview over my nonfiction year.

This is the schedule and the hosts for 2024:

Week 1 (10/30-11/3) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Heather @ Based on a True Story 

Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
Frances @ Volatile Rune

Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. You can be as creative as you like!
Liz @ Adventures in reading, running and working from home 

Week 4 (11/20-11/24) Worldview Shapers: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone? (Rebekah)

Rebekah @ She Seeks Nonfiction

Week 5 (11/27-12/1) New To My TBR: 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! 
Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life 

I like reading novels but I also read a lot of non-fiction, mainly biographies and history. And I'd like to draw the attention to the books I read this year, so therefore, here is my list.

Bythell, Shaun "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" - 2022
Life in a bookshop
Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996
A book dedicated to help parents raise their childen
Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013
The history of letters
Kishon, Ephraim (English books) "Kishon for all occasions. 327 useless pieces of wisdom" - Kishon für alle Fälle. 327 unbrauchbare Lebensweisheiten - 1987
A humorous book 
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937 
Conditions under which people live in 1937
Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window/Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (TR: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat) - Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen - 2008
Many topics discussed by this Nobel Prize laureate
Tibballs, Geoff "The Good, the Bad and the Wurst. The 100 Craziest Moments from the European Song Contest" - 2016 
Eurovision
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997
Biography
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013
Trying to find out aobut a polar expedition gone tragic

And then some non-translated German books:
Güngör, Dilek "Pretty German. My Turkish family and I" - Ganz schön deutsch. Meine türkische Familie und ich - 2007
A girl with Turkish roos growing up in Germany
Kapitelman, Dmitrij "The smile of my invisible father" - Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters - 2016
Ukrainian born Jews who moved to Germany trying to find their roots in Israel

Kerkeling, Hape "Paws off the table! My cats, other cats and me" - Pfoten vom Tisch! Meine Katzen, andere Katzen und ich - 2021
German comedian who writes about the cats in his life

Matzig, Gerhard "My Wife Wants a Garden. The Adventure of Building a House in the Suburbs" - Meine Frau will einen Garten. Vom Abenteuer, ein Haus am Stadtrand zu bauen - 2010
The adventure of trying to find a house in Munich and then building one on a very narrow plot of land
Orth, Stephan (English books) "Couchsurfing in Ukraine" - Couchsurfing in der Ukraine - 2024 
Schnoy, Sebastian "Smørrebrød in Napoli. A fun journey through Europe" - Smørrebrød in Napoli. Ein vergnüglicher Streifzug durch Europa - 2009
Hilarious book about Europe for supporters of the European Union, but even more so for opponents of it
Sieg, Sören; Krohn, Axel "I didn't understand you visually. Overheard German dialogues" - Ich hab dich rein optisch nicht verstanden. Deutsche Dialoge mitgehört - 2015
Lots of conversations where people mix up the meaning of words
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter "We" - Wir - 2024
A talk of our president about the world as it is
Weiler, Jan "The Book of 39 Precious Things" - Das Buch der 39 Kostbarkeiten - 2011
A selection of short stories, columns, throughts about everyday life
Zierl, Helmut "Follow the Sun. The Summer of my Life" - Follow the Sun. Der Sommer meines Lebens - 2020
A German actor who tells us about his adventurous life at 16

And here are my posts from the previous years.

#ThrowbackThursday. December 2011 Part 1

 

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 part of December 2011.

Dorrestein, Renate "A Heart of Stone" (NL: Een hart van steen) - 1998

Ellen tells the story of her family, she grows up as one of five children and buys her parents' home when she is in her late thirties and pregnant herself. Through old family albums, she tries to understand the tragedy that happened to her family years ago.

Hesse, Karen "Letters From Rifka" - 1992

The story is told by Rifka, a Jewish girl who has to leave the Ukraine with her family to go to America. On the way, she gets sick and cannot go with the family but has to stay behind in Antwerp from where she writes letters to her cousin.
 

Tyler, Anne "Digging to America" - 2006

Two very different American families meet while adopting a Korean baby. One family are immigrants themselves, from Iran. The families become friends and start a tradition for both of them. 

Høeg, Peter "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" (DK: Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne) - 1992

Smilla is a native Greenlander, an Inuit who lives in Denmark. She is friends with a neighbour boy who is killed by a fall from the roof. It is declared an accident but Smilla doesn't' believe it and starts her own investigation. 

Streatfeild, Noel "Ballet Shoes" - 1936

Three adopted orphan girls take dance lessons. They all have different kind of talents and different kind of views, that makes the story interesting.

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

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Destination Titles

    

"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 Destination Titles (titles with name of places in them. These places can be real or fiction!) 

I love geography, I love everything about seeing where something is and how the history of that place is, how it became what it is today. So, this is a brilliant topic for me.

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

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

Dorling Kindersley "Brussels. Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp" - 2000

Hislop, Victoria "Cartes Postales from Greece" - 2016

Joyce, James "Dubliners" - 1905

McLain, Paula "The Paris Wife" - 2012

Mercier, Pascal "Night Train to Lisbon" (GE: Nachtzug nach Lissabon) - 2004

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

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016

Zweig, Stefanie "Somewhere in Germany" - 1996

All great places to visit.

📚 Happy Reading! 📚

Barbal i Farré, Maria "Stone in a Landslide"

Barbal i Farré, Maria "Stone in a Landslide" (Catalan: Pedra de tartera) - 1985

I read another book by Maria Barbal before, "Campher" and when I saw this one, I just had to pick it up.

We have a great insight into the lives of the people in Catalonia at the beginning of the last century, how their lives were changed by the Spanish Civil War. Conxa tells us about her whole lifetime, from being a poor child given to relatives who didn't have any. I know this happened a lot in former times, people often had to many kids and then there were always those who didn't have any. Then one of the children from that family was given to relatives to "inherit" from them. I've heard this from my parents who knew quite a few examples in their youth.

While this is only a novella, the story is as rich as longer novels, there is so much in this. You almost have the feeling as if the author talks about her own life, even though she lived more than half a century later. But she must have heard a lot from her family, as we all did.

And it's not just about that part of our world or that time. War is awful at all times, and times were harsh anywhere (and still are for many, many people around the world). The author has a great eye for the people. And her style is extraordinary.

From the back cover:

"The beginning of the 20th century: 13-year-old Conxa has to leave her home village in the Pyrenees to work for her childless aunt. After years of hard labour, she finds love with Jaume - a love that will be thwarted by the Spanish Civil War. Approaching her own death, Conxa looks back on a life in which she has lost everything except her own indomitable spirit. This story presents a fascinating timeless voice, down to earth and full of human contradictory nuances. Its' the expression of someone who searches for understanding in a changing world but senses that ultimately there may be no such thing. The Catalan modern classic, first published in 1985, is now in its 50th edition, and has sold over 50 000 copies in the last two years in Germany alone."

#ThrowbackThursday. November 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 part of November 2011.

Brecht, Bertolt "Life of Galileo" (GE: Das Leben des Galilei) - 1938

An epic play about the life of Galileo Galilei, his discoveries, his conflicts with the Catholic Church, his conflicts with himself and the rest of the world. 

Harris, Joanne "Chocolat" - 1999
I liked the move better than the book but it was so great that I have to mention this here..

Harris, Joanne "Coastliners" - 2002
There is a French village and a woman who returns there after having lived in Paris for ten years and is confronted with her past.

Hemingway, Ernest "The Old Man and the Sea" - 1952
An ageing fisherman who hits a stroke of bad luck, doesn't catch anything for ages, goes out to sea and catches the probably largest fish he has ever set eyes on. What follows is his struggle to bring the fish home. Alone. 

O'Dell, Scott "Island of the Blue Dolphins" - 1969
The Native American girl Karana ends up on a deserted island where she spends eighteen years alone. The story tells about her life, her struggles to survive.
There is also a follow-up: "Zia"

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

Herrndorf, Wolfgang "Why We Took the Car"

Herrndorf, Wolfgang "Why We Took the Car" (German: tschick) - 2010

My book club recommended this book to me; they had read it some time ago.

Two boys from different backgrounds but with a similar fate. And both outsiders.

I found the novel very entertaining, but also very compassionate. You could both laugh and cry at the experiences of the two.

What can I say, it was really a great reading experience.

From the back cover:

"A beautifully written, darkly funny coming-of-age story from an award-winning, bestselling German author

Mike Klingenberg isn’t exactly one of the cool kids at his school. For one, he doesn’t have many friends. (Okay, zero friends.) And everyone laughs when he has to read his essays out loud in class. And he’s never, ever invited to parties — especially not the party of the year, thrown by the gorgeous Tatiana.

Andrej Tschichatschow, aka Tschick (not even the teachers can pronounce his name), is new in school, and unpopular as well, but in a completely different way. He always looks like he’s just been in a fight, he sleeps through nearly every class, and his clothes are tragic.

But one day, out of the blue, Tschick shows up at Mike’s house. It turns out he wasn’t invited to Tatiana’s party either, and he’s ready to do something about it. Forget the popular kids — together, Mike and Tschick are heading out on a road trip across Germany. No parents, no map, no destination. Will they get hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere? Probably. Will they make bad decisions, meet some crazy people, and get into trouble? Definitely. But will anyone ever call them boring again?

Not a chance."

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Baked Goods

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. Which means we have a topic of your choosing today!

It's the beginning of the baking season, so I thought I should post something with baked goods on the cover.

I have done Top Ten Books with Food on their Covers and Spell the Month in Books before but I have found some other titles that I would like to present to you today.

Collister, Linda; Berry, Mary; Hollywood, Paul "Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets" - [kdÜ] - 2011
I love the Great British Bake Off and this was one of their first books.

Eggels, Elle "The House of the Seven Sisters" (NL: Het huis van de zeven zusters) - 1998
Seven orphaned sisters run a bakery. One of my favourite Dutch books about different kind of women who try to do their best, who try to live their life in a society that has a certain idea of how women should lead their lives.

Numeroff, Laura "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" - 1985
Brilliant children's book with beautiful illustrations. It teaches about consequences.

Scott, Mary "Tea and Biscuits" - 1961
The third book in the series by Mary Scott about the farmers' wives Susan and Larry. This was my favourite series in my youth.

Sponge, Miss Victoria "Scone with the Wind: Cakes and Bakes with a Literary Twist" - 2015
A combination of two things I really like: reading and baking. Bake your way through the classics.

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🍰 Happy Reading! 🍰

📚 📚 📚

Spell the Month in Books ~ November

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

November: Food or Autumn Decorations on the Cover

I've done challenges with food on the cover before, but - of course - most of them don't help with the spelling of the month November. If you'd still like to see them, here is one:
Top Ten Books with Food on their Covers 

In order to get all the letters, I used books that had food or eating in the name of the title or in the picture on the cover. I also used a German book. I think I am allowed since I read books in many different languages, so I should benefit from that. I always have to think about the time my son was in the Boy Scouts (an English speaking group) and he got a patch for his German and other foreigners got patches for their language. One of the English speaking boys complained and said they had to take a test in order to get a patch like that. The Boy Scout leader said, okay, we can do the whole session in German or Danish, because that's what these boys do all the time, they use a foreign language in order to participate. There were no more words about that.

NOVEMBER

N
Bryson, Bill "Notes from a Small Island" - 1995
O

Robertson, Adele Crockett "The Orchard: A Memoir" - 1995

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

E

Truss, Lynne "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" - 2005

M

Montasser, Thomas "Monsieur Jean und sein Gespür für Glück" [Monsieur Jean and his sense of luck] - 2015

B

Harris, Joanne "Blackberry Wine" - 2000

E

McCall Smith, Alexander "Espresso Tales" (44 Scotland Street #2) - 2005

R
Mo, Yan "Red Sorghum. A Novel of China" (Chinese: 红高粱家族 Hóng gāoliang jiāzú) - 1987

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Happy Reading!

📚 📚 📚

Six Degrees of Separation ~ Intermezzo

Sally Rooney
Rooney, Sally "Intermezzo" - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Intermezzo (Goodreads) to East of Eden 

#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 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. 

I still have Normal People (Goodreads) on my TBR pile. So, as usual, I didn't read the starter book. Therefore, here is the description.

"From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller Normal People, an exquisitely moving story about grief, love and family.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude - a period of desire, despair and possibility - a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking."

I often use words in the title for my links. However, I don't have a book with the word "intermezzo" in the title. But, this is a book about two brothers. And I have read quite a few of them, so, this is what I chose. Books with siblings.

Guterson, David "The Other" - 2008
The story of the prince and the pauper, two boys with completely different backgrounds, John and Neil.

Konar, Affinity "Mischling" - 2016
The twins Pearl and Stasha, two Jewish girls, end up in Auschwitz and are brought into the "Zoo", the experiment chambers of Josef Mengele, also known as "The Angel of Death".

Lamb, Wally "I know this much is true" - 1998
This is a very moving book, wonderful and awful at the same time, about the twins Dominick and Thomas. It's incredible how much a person can bear if they have to.  

Setterfield, Diane "The Thirteenth Tale" - 2006
A gothic novel about an author and her biographer. They find they have something in common, they are both twins. Through Emmeline and Adeline, they find a lot of connections.

Smith, Zadie "White Teeth" - 1999
A great book with interesting plots, good descriptions, good language. It tells the story of different groups of immigrants to London in the seventies. Especially the next generation, for example the twins Millat and Magid show what they have to deal with.

Steinbeck, John "East of Eden" - 1952
This is the story of Cain and Abel retold, only here they are called Caleb and Aaron (the father is still Adam, though), and they live in his native California.

All the books have in common that they talk about siblings, mainly brothers.

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Happy November!

 Happy November to all my Friends and Readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Hanka Koebsch

"Glück gehabt - Maus im Winter"

"Being Lucky - Mouse in Winter"

Hanka and Frank say to this picture:

"By November at the latest, wild animals must have stored up their winter provisions or eaten their reserves for the winter. Hanka captured a mouse in a watercolor painting in exactly such a situation. The picture 'Being Lucky' is therefore the perfect motif for the month of November."

"Spätestens im November müssen die wildlebenden Tiere ihre Wintervorräte angelegt oder ihre Reserven für den Winter angefressen haben. Genau in einer solchen Situation hat Hanka eine Maus in einem Aquarell eingefangen. Das Bild "Glück gehabt" ist damit das passende Motiv für den Monat November."

I love mice. I think they are so cute. Well, I don't want them in my house and when we had some when we moved into our house in the Netherlands, we captured them and put them out into the wild. I couldn't have killed them and my kids would have been very unhappy.

I want to imagine that they used to carry on living as they were destined to.

Read more on their website here. *

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October was a lovely autumn month. We had some good weather and could have some lovely walks in our area.

Here's a picture, taken not a hundred meters from our house. There's a little brook surrounded by trees. Just beautiful and calming.

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I always try to find an interesting German word. A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon 

🔮sagenumwoben 🔮

"Sage" means legend, "umwoben" can be translated as "enmeshed", so an "enmeshed legend", "shrouded in legend" or "steeped in myth. It refers to being the subject of legends, occurring in many legends, also figuratively, elevated: very significant, but lying in the dark.

It can mean people, places, or events that are surrounded by legendary stories or have an almost mythical quality due to the tales told about them.

 

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 My favourite book last month was "The Armour of Light" by Ken Follett.

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There are some old German words for October and they are
Nebelung, Nebelmond, Windmond, or Wintermond.

"Nebel" is the German word for "fog", so the first two words mean, the "foggy one" and the "foggy month", then there is the "wind month" and the "winter month". Both don't have to be explained since they are exactly the same in English and German.

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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 November! 🎃