#ThrowbackThursday. May 2014

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 May 2014.

Christie, Agatha "Poirot Investigates" (Hercule Poirot #3) - 1924 

Monsieur Poirot is one of my favourite characters in any crime series, past or present. 

Dallaire, Roméo "They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers" - 2010
If you are interested in what is going on (mainly) in Africa and would like to know what can be done for a hopefully peaceful future, read this book. Roméo Dallaire fights a great fight and needs all the support he can get.

Fowles, John "The French Lieutenant’s Woman" - 1969
A lovely story. A love story in the Victorian era between a man and a married woman. Quite a lot to talk about. This is one of the rare occasions where I liked the movie better, maybe because of its great actors.

Lindgren, Astrid "Seacrow Island" (Translation: Vi på Saltkråkan) - 1964 
One of my favourite stories by Astrid Lindgren besides "The Six Bullerby Children". Similar as in that story, there are a couple of families in Sweden with children of the same age.

Lindgren, Astrid "The Six Bullerby Children" (Swedish: Barnen i Bullerbyn) - 1947

Next to "Seacrow Island", my favourite story by Astrid Lindgren. This is a trilogy about six children who live in the little village of Bullerby, Lisa,

Mann, Thomas "Death in Venice" (German: Der Tod in Venedig) - 1912
This book is about a dream and the hope of its fulfillment. It is a story of defeat but also of love. It is as actual as it was a hundred years ago when it was written. Maybe one of the most actual books written on the subject of homosexuality.

Nafisi, Azar "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books" - 2003 

A beautifully written memoir about a dark time. It is not just a book about different books and a class discussing them, it is a precise account of a country turning from modern times into the past, taking away the human rights of half of their population, something that happens all over this world.

Tartt, Donna "The Goldfinch" - 2013

The book is a wonderful account of friendship and endurance. But it isn't a "happy" book, lots of difficulties occur in Theo's life. It is as much a dark book as an uplifting one.

Anonymous Comments

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Colours

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.

And here is a list of all the topics for the rest of the year.

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This week’s topic is Colours. 

Now, this was an easy one. I could have found a lot more than just five books this week but I kept it with the main colours. And I think I found a large variety of very different books here.

Xueqin, Cao (Cáo Xuěqín) "Dream of the Red Chamber/The Story of the Stone" (CHN: 红楼梦/Hung lou meng) - 1717-63

Apparently, this novel is "one of the four pinnacles of classical Chinese literature." Also known as "The Story of the Stone", it is said to be the first Chinese novel of this kind and has created an entire field of study "Redology".

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006

I totally can relate to the quote "The world was silent when we died." I don't think many of us knew where Biafra was. Here we can learn about it.

Hajaj, Claire "Ishmael's Oranges" - 2014

A book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Like so many other books about the people of Palestine, it can only touch the surface of what is going on. Therefore, we need to read as many books about this as possible and pass them on. 

Montgomery, L. M. "Anne of Green Gables" - 1908
An orphan girl is taken in by a childless couple and she really loves both her new parents as well as the school and the neighbours and everything but still gets into a lot of trouble all the time. The novel is both humorous as well as serious.

Vreeland, Susan "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" - 1999

The main subject of the novel is a fictitious painting by Vermeer. It describes its life, starting with the last owner. A lot of interesting stories, every important timeframe is included and the change of owner is almost every time highly dramatic.

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🌈 Happy Reading! 🌈

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Gappah, Petina "Out of Darkness, Shining Light"

Gappah, Petina "Out of Darkness, Shining Light" - 2019

Of course, we all know about David Livingstone's search for the source of the river Nile. It is also widely known that his heart was buried in Africa and his body in Europe. This is the story, told by two slaves, how the body got from the middle of Africa to the sea so that he could be transferred to Great Britain.

Two different people tell the story, a women who is employed as a cook. Her story is pretty African, she uses far too many words that the average Europen will not understand. Granted, there is a small annex with explanations but you have to use that far too often and it destroys the enjoyment of any story. Then there is a guy who wants to become a priest. He is preaching already. All the time. Almost every second sentence starts or ends with "dear Lord" or something similar. He comes across as a religious fanatic. Reading the Bible is more wordly.

Have you guessed it already? I didn't like the book.

There was only about one sentence that made me smile. When someone told the other slaves about the meeting between Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone, he translated the first sentence (Dr. Livingstone, I presume?) into: "It can only be that you are Bwana Daudi."

We discussed this in our international online book club in July 2025.

Comments from the members:

• The start of the book felt slow, and didn't feel pulled into it for the story so much until the murder plot unwound. It was a really nice read though in terms or history and culture. The discussion we had resulted into talking and thinking about African history, slavery, imperialist influences, death rites... The characters in the story were also really distinct. I feel a bit smarter about African history for having read it.

• Many in the book club agreed that the language, particularly the religious tone and African dialects, made the beginning difficult to follow. However, as the story progresses, the plot becomes more engaging, especially with the focus on the African slaves who carried Livingstone’s body. Their journey is central to the book, and the contrast between their lives and Livingstone’s European legacy opens up important discussions about colonialism and the erasure of African voices in history. Some felt the religious elements were repetitive, but they were seen as integral to understanding the mindset of the time. Despite the slow start and challenging style, many found the novel’s exploration of historical and cultural themes thought-provoking.

• Overall it was a really good discussion book, because we have read some books about African history and by African authors before, it always becomes an interesting part, looking at the books we have read, and how the new books align in with those. In that sense this felt like quite a good book to add to the list.

From the back cover:

"This is the story of the body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, the explorer David Livingstone - and the sixty-nine men and women who carried his remains for 1,500 miles so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own country.

This is the story of those in the shadows of history: the  dark companions who saved a white man's bones on an epic funeral march - little knowing his corps carried the maps that sowed the seeds of their continent's colonisation and enslavement.

This is the story of how human bravery, loyalty and love can triumph over darkness - and the result is Petina Gappah's radical masterpiece."

Book Quotes

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones." Umberto Eco 

The man is so right.

"Books have a sense of honor. Once you've lent them, they never come back." Theodor Fontane 

Does that mean we shouldn't lend books? I love discussing books with others and often, the only way to do this is to lend them mine.

"I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil." Voltaire 

Some people should be made aware of that. But those are usually the ones who don't read in the first place and don't want to get people to get ideas or be smart. (And yes, I'm referring to a certain president who is proud to be dumb.)

Find more book quotes here.

#ThrowbackThursday. April 2014

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 April 2014.

Busch, Wilhelm "Max and Moritz" (German: Max und Moritz) - 1865

A german classical children's book. The two boys are very mischievous, anything young boys would like to do they do. But in the end they get punished hardly. 

Calvino, Italo "Why Read the Classics?" (Italian: Perché leggere i classici?) 1991

If you enjoy reading classic literature, this is a great way of getting a list of worthwhile books to read and maybe getting a glimpse of what it might be.

Pamuk, Orhan "Snow" (Turkish: Kar) - 2002

Ka is a Turkish poet who lives in Germany but visits a town in Turkey called Kars. While he is there, they have a heavy snowfall and nobody can leave or enter the town. The Turkish name for snow is "kar". What a coincidence!

Seth, Vikram "Two Lives" - 2005

The author describes not just the life of his great-uncle and his Jewish wife, he describes his own life, he describes the life and death of ordinary people during the holocaust as well as the terrible fate of the Jews. But he also describes life in India pre- and post independence. Quite an undertaking.

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Directions

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 Books with Directions in the Title. 

Directions. I had to think about the compass rose and the cardinal directions immediately. So, North, South, East, West it is.

Buck, Pearl S. "East Wind: West Wind" - 1930
This is history, life in Asia seen through the eyes of an American. The title already tells us about the divide between the East and the West, how people believe that they cannot be mixed. 

Gaskell, Elizabeth "North and South" - 1854/55
This novel tells the story of Margaret Hale whose father leaves the ministry because he has doubts about his belief. They move from the South of England to a place in the North, from a village to a town, a lot of things change for the protagonist.

Guterson, David "East of the Mountains" - 1999
What does a surgeon do who suffers from terminal illness and knows what is about to happen to him?

Remarque, Erich Maria "All Quiet on the Western Front" (GE: Im Westen nichts Neues) - 1928
One part of this book tells us about the war, the trenches, the fights, the cold, the dampness, the rats, the bad food, seeing the friends fall one after the other, worrying you might be next ... The protagonist has a home leave in between and his rendition of the visit with his family and him being in turmoil because it is a different life and he is a different person, it tells us a lot about what those soldiers went through when they survived, what soldiers still go through today. They are never the same again.
This contributed to me becoming a life-long pacifist.

Steinbeck, John "East of Eden" - 1952

The author talks about problems as old as mankind, he retells the story of Cain and Abel. An excellent report about growing up, growing in different directions, about good and evil, young and old, a very moving story.

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⬅⬇⬆➡ Happy Reading! ⬅⬇⬆➡

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books Set in X

"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 Books Set in/Take Place During X (Pick a place, time, era, etc. Examples: Books set in Europe/Italy/Australia/Chicago, books set in Regency England, books that take place during the 1900s, books set in imaginary worlds/post-apocalyptic/dystopian worlds, books set on the ocean, books set it castles, books that take place during WW2, etc.)

There are so many subjects I could have chosen, places I read about, subjects that were treated in different books. In the end I decided to go for some neighbouring countries of Germany, and some books about Europe generally. I hope you enjoy some of them.

Europe

Bryson, Bill "Neither Here Nor There. Travels in Europe" - 1991
Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe. Travels in a Troubled Continent" (NL: Grote verwachtingen. In Europa 1999-2019) - 2019
Twain, Mark "The Innocents Abroad" - 1869

Austria

Zweig, Stefan "The World of Yesterday" (GE: Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers) - 1942

Belgium

Menasse, Robert "The Capital" (GE: Die Hauptstadt) - 2017

Denmark

Russell, Helen "The Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country" - 2015

France

Clarke, Stephen "Talk to the Snail. Ten Commandments for Understanding the French" - 2006

Netherlands

Mak, Geert "Jorwerd: The Death of the Village in late 20th Century" (NL: Hoe God verdween uit Jorwerd) - 1996

Poland
Tokarczuk, Olga "Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" (PL: Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych) - 2009

Switzerland
Tremain, Rose "The Gustav Sonata" - 2016

📚 Happy Reading!📚

Wodehouse, P.G. "Leave it to Psmith"

Wodehouse, P.G. "Leave it to Psmith" - 1923

We already know P.G. Wodehouse from the Jeeves & Wooster novels, all of which are simply delightful.

So I thought a book about his other protagonist would certainly be quite good. And it was. P.G. Wodehouse is more of a mix of Jeeves & Wooster, and I think that's excellent.

Rupert Psmith (Ronald in this book, though) is a jack of all trades, trying to make ends meet through all sorts of odd jobs after leaving his uncle's fish business. He doesn't shy away from the occasional petty crime. But he's also a true gentleman and is concerned about the welfare of his people.

This was the last book in the Psmith series, but that didn't bother me at all. I want to read the others as well.

This book is truly delightful, hilarious and gripping at the same time.

From the back cover:

"Ronald Psmith ('the 'p' is silent, as in pshrimp') is always willing to help a damsel in distress. So when he sees Eve Halliday without an umbrella during a downpour, he nobly offers her an umbrella, even though it’s one he picks out of the Drone Club’s umbrella rack. Psmith is so besotted with Eve that, when Lord Emsworth, her new boss, mistakes him for Ralston McTodd, a poet, Psmith pretends to be him so he can make his way to Blandings Castle and woo her. And so the farce begins: criminals disguised as poets with a plan to steal a priceless diamond necklace, a secretary who throws flower pots through windows, and a nighttime heist that ends in gunplay. How will everything be sorted out? Leave it to Psmith!"

#ThrowbackThursday. March 2014

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 March 2014.

Fo, Dario "My first seven years (plus a few more)" (Italian: Il Paese dei Mezaràt: I miei primi sette anni (e qualcuno in più)) - 2004
You can see from this book how the writer Dario Fo developed from a small child into a Nobel Laureate.

Ionesco, Eugène "Rhinoceros" (French: Rhinocéros) - 1957
The story starts with two men sitting in a café and they see a rhinoceros walking by. I don't want to give away the plot, so that is about all I will say about the story.

Karystiani, Ionna (Ιωάννα Καρυστιάνη) "The Jasmine Isle" (Greek: Μικρά Αγγλία/Mikra Anglia) - 1997
This is the story about the seafaring Greek guys before and during World War II and the women they leave behind on their little island.

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (German: Das Herzenhören) - 2002
A Burmese man who has been living in the United States for ages, goes missing and his Burmese-American daughter follows a trail to Burma. 

Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair, or, A Novel without a Hero" - 1848
Seldom have I seen such a persiflage of aristocratic England and its surroundings. The author tries to answer the old question how important rank and money really is? 

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Times of Day

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 Times of Day. Meeghan says, well, as last week, I have no idea what Meeghan says. She published a list for the remainder of the year with no extra explanation. But this topic does not really need any explanation, I think.

Abulhawa, Susan "Mornings in Jenin" (aka The Scar of David) - 2010
Everyone who is only slightly interested in world peace should read this and see how much heartache there can be, how much trouble things can cause if not thought through well enough.

Calvino, Italo "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" (I: Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore) - 1979

One of the most weird - but also most interesting - books I ever read, a reader is trying to read a book called "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller". The book is partly about the reader's life and partly about the books he is trying to read.

Follett, Ken "The Evening and the Morning" (Kingsbridge #0.5) - 2020

I love the Kingsbridge series. This one is just as fabulous as the ones before this, or the ones that come after, chronologically in the story.

Haig, Matt "The Midnight Library" - 2020
Have you ever wondered what your life might have been if something had or hadn't happened? If you hadn't visited that school you went to, if you had decided to get another profession, if you had met another partner in life? Well, here you can find how it might be if you could explore your life in different circumstances.

Mercier, Pascal "Night Train to Lisbon" (GE: Nachtzug nach Lissabon) - 2004
A Swiss Professor of ancient languages happens to meet a Portuguese woman and finds a book in Portuguese, so he gives up his whole life and goes to Lisbon to find the author. He is going on a quest, tracking down the origin of the book and the life of the author. But in the author he also finds himself.

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🌅🌠 Happy Reading! 🌠🌅

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Honorifics

"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 Books With Honorifics in the Title

("… an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person’s name, e.g.: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Mx., Sir, Dame, Dr., Cllr, Lady, or Lord, or other titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person’s name, as in Mr. President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor, or Earl.")

This was an easy one. The word Lady appears dozens of times in titles. So, I could choose books that I really liked for this one.

Austen, Jane "Lady Susan" - 1795

Bernières, Louis de "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" - 1994

Carnarvon, Countess Fiona of "Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle" - 2011

Chevalier, Tracy "The Lady and the Unicorn" - 2003
García Márquez, Gabriel "The General in His Labyrinth" (E: El general en su laberinto) - 1989

Guterson, David "Our Lady of the Forest" - 2003
Ilibagiza, Immaculée with Erwin, Steve "Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World From the Heart of Africa" - 2008

Pasternak, Boris "Doctor Zhivago" (RUS: Доктор Живаго) - 1957
Schmitt, Éric-Emmanuel "Oscar and the Lady in Pink" (F: Oscar et la dame rose) - 2002
Trollope, Anthony "Doctor Thorne" - 1858 from "Barchester Chronicles"

They are all good reads, my favourites are probably "Doctor Zhivago" and "Barchester Chronicles", all of them.

📚 Happy Reading!📚

Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays"

Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Greek: Lysistrátē/Λυσιστράτη) - 411 BC

For the Classics Spin #41, we received #11 and this was my novel.

I had found this book a while ago in a used book sale. I am grateful for that because that way, I only paid €1 for it.

My edition included not just "Lysistrata" but also "The Acharnians" (Acharnes) and "The Clouds" (Nephelai).

As you can see in the description, they praise the author's "ribald humour". Ribald it was indeed but I couldn't find humour in that, it was far too rough, coarse and crude. Probably the times. I wouldn't be surprised if this book was on the banned book list in the States.

But the stories itself also weren't too interesting. I think one must see this and not read it. Someone told me that the play is indeed hilarious and that the costumes added a lot to that. Well, Aristophanes didn't explain that. LOL

Book Description:

"Writing at the time of political and social crisis in Athens, Aristophanes was an eloquent yet bawdy challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. The Achanians is a plea for peace set against the background of the long war with Sparta. In Lysistrata a band of women tap into the awesome power of sex in order to end a war. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged.

For this edition Alan Sommerstein has completely revised his translation of these three plays, bringing out the full nuances of Aristophanes’ ribald humour and intricate word play, with a new introduction explaining the historical and cultural background to the plays."

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Book Quotes

"It is the artist's job to create sunshine when there is none." Romain Rolland, Nobel Prize in Literature 1915

And it always works, if we let them into our minds.

"Books have the power to make everything better, but it's hard to engage with that power if we've forgotten that reading is supposed to feel good, first and foremost." F. Scott Fitzgerald (Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby)

And no matter the subject of the book, if we enjoy it, it makes our lives a little better, page after page.

"Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." Virginia Woolf

There is a German folk song "Thoughts are Free" (Die Gedanken sind frei). It's really old but it still matters. A lot.

Find more book quotes here.

#ThrowbackThursday. February 2014

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 February 2014.

Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von "The Jew's Beech" (Die Judenbuche) - 1842
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff is to Germany what Jane Austen is to Great Britain, the most famous female author of the 19th century.The novel is based on the true story of a murder, actually two murders but both the story before as well as after the act are fictional. An intriguing account about life in Germany or Middle Europe at the time which we can compare to life in other countries at the time as well as life today.

Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
This is probably the most difficult book I have ever read. It is hard to follow the stream of consciousness, actually it is hard to follow the stream at all. A lot of books are easier once you get into them, not this one. I had the feeling with every chapter it got more confusing.However, the longer I distance myself from this novel, the more it makes sense and the bigger an impact does it have on me. I am glad I read it.

Pamuk, Orhan "The White Castle" (TR: Beyaz Kale) - 1985

The author transports us back into the Venice and Istanbul/Constantinople of the 17th century. His tale is about two men who are as different and yet as similar as possible to each other who come from the two different parts of the world. We learn about the differences between the Orient and the Occident at the time but also about their common goals, about man's goals through the ages.

Trivizas, Eugene "The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig" - 1997
As the title already suggests, the wolves are little and the pig is bad, so the whole story is just the opposite from the usual fairy tale. It shows kids how every story can have two sides and how you can understand every story differently.

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Sizes

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 Books with Sizes in the Title. Meeghan says, well, I have no idea what Meeghan says. She published a list for the remainder of the year but I haven't heard from her since. She had mentioned that she had problems posting, so let's hope that is the reason. However, it's weird that I can't find that list again. Luckily, I had copied it.

Bourgeois, Paulette "Big Sarah's Little Boots" - 1988
A favourite book of both my boys even though the main character was a girl. It's all about growing up and how it can be both a painful and a joyous occasion.

Bridwell, Norman "Clifford. The Big Red Dog" 

- 1963-2015

Clifford is huge, he is taller than a house. But he is the best friend of Emily Elizabeth, a little girl who tells us his stories. There are around 80 books where little children can read about the special bond between a dog and his little girl, about the adventures they have together.

Prelutsky, Jack - Poems for Children - A Pizza the Size of the Sun 

- 1990-2000
Jack Prelutsky writes poems that make up a picture, he writes poems that are jokes, he writes poems that are very observant and he writes poems that are just nonsense. But what all of his poems have in common, they are really really funny and kids love them. 

Trivizas, Eugene "The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig" - 1997
As the title already suggests, the wolves are little and the pig is bad, so the whole story is just the opposite from the usual fairy tale. It shows kids how every story can have two sides and how you can understand every story differently.

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🐕🐕 Happy Reading! 🐕🐕

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books I'd like to Re-Read

"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 Books I'd Like to Re-Read

As part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club has started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month. But I've mentioned that several times in the last couple of months and I will not bore you with that again. If you would like to see my latest post about her books, you can find it here: Alphabet Authors ~ A is for Austen.

I will therefore, add some of my all-time favourite books other than by Jane Austen which I might re-read next year. A lot of them are the first books I read by some of my favourite authors that I haven't read again since the first time.

Eliot, George "Middlemarch" - 1871-72 
Falcones, Ildefonso "Cathedral of the Sea" (E: La catedral del mar) - 2008
Ghosh, Amitav "The Glass Palace" - 2000 

Kingsolver, Barbara "The Poisonwood Bible" - 1998
Lamb, Wally "She's Come Undone" - 1997
Mercier, Pascal "Night Train to Lisbon" (GE: Nachtzug nach Lissabon) - 2004

Oates, Joyce Carol "We Were the Mulvaneys" - 1996

Pamuk, Orhan "My Name is Red" (TR: Benim Adım Kırmızı) - 1998
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Shadow of the Wind" (E: La sombra del viento - El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1) - 2001

Schami, Rafik "The Calligrapher’s Secret" (GE: Das Geheimnis des Kalligraphen) - 2008

I was surprised that I had re-read many of the first books I read by a lot of my favourite authors. So, I might choose the second book the next time.

Although, having said that, I might have read one or two of the books again before.
But this will probably take me longer than a year since I have so many books on my TBR pile.

📚 Happy Reading!📚

Vonnegut, Kurt "Cat's Cradle" - 1963

Vonnegut, Kurt "Cat's Cradle" - 1963

We read this with our international online book club in June 2025.

While science-fiction is not really my thing, I would say this is more a dystopian novel. And a very good one. Granted, part of it is sci-fi though that is the case with a lot of dystopian novels. Here, the author even explained, how it happened that the world came into this distress.

I have only read one other book by Kurt Vonnegut before (Breakfast of Champions) and that was fantastic. So was this one. Kurt Vonnegut loves to play with words. And he always finds new ones that we haven't heard before but that makes a lot of sense.

As it says in the book description, our deepest fears are witnessing Armageddon and, even worse, surviviing it. My sentiments exactly. Should there be one, I'd rather not survive it than having to build up the earth again. Must be terrible.

Well, here we get the chance, We meet all sorts of different kind of quirky people who meet on a fictional Caribbean island where they witness the "End of the World". With his dark humour, the author manages to describe the encounters everyone has with Ice-Nine, a chemical that can destroy everything. And their reasons for getting engaged in the turmoil. His irony shows especially when he describes the fictional new religion Bokonon. So many witty insights that make us think about every existing religion.

He more or less ends with this quote: "Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, It might have been". One of the most true sentences there are.

If I haven't said it before, this is a great story. Definitely makes me want to read more of his books.

And here are some comments from the discussion:

• Most members thought it was really well written, and humorous in a satirical way. While at the same time having some underlying themes of criticism of religion, dictatorships, science, all in a writing style very unique to Vonnegut.
• I really liked the chapter layout, with short chapters of about only 1-2 pages, that as the chapter is read you realize the title of the chapter was really descriptive and inventive. While the end-of-world-science that happened was very quickly unfolding at the end of the story and not at all believable, it was written as a quite humorous conclusion to the story.
• I was prejudiced against it before I started reading it, so got pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed it after all. I dislike reading about wars and horrors, but enjoy some dystopias, of which this one was a quite thoughtful fun version. I was happy we chose it as I would never have read it for myself.

From the back cover:

"With his trademark dry wit, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is an inventive science fiction satire that preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon - and, worse still, surviving it. 

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he is the inventor of ice-nine, a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. Writer Jonah's search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three eccentric children, to an island republic in the Caribbean where the religion of Bokononism is practised, to love and to insanity. Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction is a funny and frightening satire on the end of the world and the madness of mankind."

Six Degrees of Separation ~ Theory & Practice

Michelle de Kretser
"Theory & Practice" - 2024
#6Degrees of Separation: 
from Theory & Practice (Goodreads) to A Tale of Love and Darkness 

#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 "Theory & Practice" by Michelle de Kretser. Again, I have not read the starter book. But I know I am not the only one.

This is the description of this novel:

"With echoes of Shirley Hazzard and Virginia Woolf, a new novel of startling intelligence from prize–winning author Michelle de Kretser, following a woman looking back on her young adulthood, and grappling with the collision of her emotions and her values

In the late 1980s, the narrator of Theory & Practice—a first generation immigrant from Sri Lanka who moved to Sydney in her childhood—sets up a life in Melbourne for graduate school. Jilted by a lover who cheats on her with another self-described "feminist," she is thrown into deeper confusion about her identity and the people around her. 

The narrator begins to fall for a man named Kit, who is in a “deconstructed relationship” with a woman named Olivia. She struggles to square her feminism against her jealousy toward Olivia—and her anti-colonialism against her feelings about Virginia Woolf, whose work she is called to despite her racism.

What happens when our desires run contrary to our beliefs? What should we do when the failings of revered figures come to light? Who is shamed when the truth is told? In Theory & Practice, Michelle de Kretser offers a spellbinding meditation on the moral complexities that arise in this gap. Peopled with brilliantly drawn characters, the novel also stitches together fiction and essay, taking up Woolf’s quest for adventurous literary form."

As I mentioned before, I usually like going from one word in a title to another book that has that same word in their title and so on. I prefer this because it leads to all sorts of different genres.  In the past months, I couldn't do that, so I had to go with the subject. I had neither a book that hat the word "theory" nor "practice in its title, so I started with the book by another Michelle, one I admire deeply: Michelle Obama.

Obama, Michelle - "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" - 2022

Such a wonderful woman, such a strong personality. We need more women like her who tell us how they lead their successful lives without pointing a finger, without letting the book be a "self-help book" (I loathe them).

It's a huge privilege to be let into the thoughts of Michelle Obama, she shares so much that can be helpful to all of us. We can always learn from each other but especially from successful people.

Faulkner, William "Light in August" - 1932
What a book. This could be a follow-up to "Gone With the Wind" seventy years later. A book about the Deep South, about country life, families, hard work, racism, crime, religion, morale, everything a story about this region and time should have.

Hamill, Pete "Snow in August" - 1998
Brooklyn, two years after World War II. An 11 year old Irish Catholic boy whose father died in battle and who lives alone with his mother befriends a Czech Rabbi and learns about Judaism and the Holocaust. Together they face racism and violence. 

Ivey, Eowyn "The Snow Child" - 2012
Now, this was a mixture between magic realism and fairy tale, it is based on an old Russian fairy tale but takes place in Alaska in the 1920s.

Huston, Allegra "Love Child" - 2009
When her mother dies in an accident, Allegra is only four years old, she gets introduced to her "father" John and is raised by him and various helpers. 

Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (Hebr: סיפור על אהבה וחושך) - 2002
This is not just the story of a young man and his family, it's a saga about the whole Jewish people from Europe to Israel. Despite all the troubles they went through, this is a very loving story told with much emotion about some very moving subjects.

* * *

In the end, I found a connection between the first and the last degree, they both have the word AND in its title. But don't you think I touched many different subjects, eras and areas this way?

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