I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from August 2013.
Alexievich, Svetlana "Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster" (RUS: Чернобыльская молитва/Černobylskaja molitva) - 2016
I knew about Chernobyl. We all do. We have all heard of the nuclear disaster in 1986. We have all heard about the dangers we all have been put in by nuclear power plants.
We also knew that the Russians tried to hide the fact of the accident for as long as possible.
If you are at all interested in the future of our planet, in the environment, you should read this harrowing account of what money can do to people.
Bryson, Bill "Icons of England" - 2008
A book about English Icons written by a true British Icon ...
Well, this book wasn't really written by Bill Bryson, he is just the editor. But he loves England so much that he thought of this brilliant idea to ask British writers and other celebrities to write about THEIR British Icon.
Cabré, Jaume "Confessions" (Cat: Jo Confesso) - 2011
This book always plays on different levels, different times and stories, they all run alongise each other. The life of a Nazi henchman is interwoven with that of a Spanish inquisitor from the Middle Ages. And that way you find a lot of similarities.
This book always plays on different levels, different times and stories, they all run alongise each other. The life of a Nazi henchman is interwoven with that of a Spanish inquisitor from the Middle Ages. And that way you find a lot of similarities.
Defoe, Daniel "Robinson Crusoe" - 1719
Classic novels are always interesting. We can "visit" a time long past and see what someone who lived at the time thought about his contemporaries, the political, economical, or social situation.
I can imagine why this book is still read three hundred years after its first publication.
Hargreaves, Roger "Mr. Men" - 1971ff.
Roger Hargreaves wrote 48 Mr. Men books. Books about all sorts of traits a person can have, always concentrated in one person. There is Mr. Bump who always bumps into everything, one of my boys' favourites. The absolute favourite in our family was Mr. Tickle.
Roger Hargreaves wrote 48 Mr. Men books. Books about all sorts of traits a person can have, always concentrated in one person. There is Mr. Bump who always bumps into everything, one of my boys' favourites. The absolute favourite in our family was Mr. Tickle.
While a young man visits his grandparents in Greece, they tell him the story of their life and at the same time the story of their town and country. Thessaloniki has gone through a lot of turmoil and so have its inhabitants.
Rutherfurd, Edward "Paris" - 2013
Steinbeck, John "The Pearl" - 1947Paris, one of my favourite cities in the world. And Edward Rutherfurd is a wonderful writer of history related to places.
A story which unfolds around the construction of the Eiffel Tower and the changes it brings to the city. The book builds the history of Paris while its most famous icon rises.
The author manages to describe the characters so well, to let them come alive, to give you the feeling you are there.
The story is a sad tragedy, telling of the problems of the indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, how they have to struggle through their daily lives and yet never can hope to get anywhere.
I had to read The Pearl when I was 13 or 14 and hated the sad ending, but liked the way Steinbeck writes. And I've always wanted to read Voices From Chernobyl.
ReplyDeleteI totally get that, Lark. It was a sad ending. I've liked everything I read by Steinbeck until "Cannery Row". So, we can all have a book by him that we don't like.
DeleteSvetlana Alexievich is also a great author, I've also read "Second Hand Time. The Last of the Sovjets" by her. Both these books are sad, as well, given the subject, but if you are interested in this, it's definitely worth reading.
Voices from Chernobyl was so good, and so sad. I had all the Mr. Men books when I was a kid. They were my mom's I think? I'll have to find them when we go home to visit this summer.
ReplyDeleteThat's a treasure, especially if they were your mum's. I hope you'll find them.
DeleteYes, Voices from Chernobyl is such a good book, even if you know a lot about it, there is always something more.
YES! They were so funny, I loved them.
DeleteSo often the events are reported on, but it was so important to hear directly from those impacted, not just from a historian's detached perspective.
Well said, Sarah. After all, they were living the history.
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