Anonymous "Lazarillo de Tormes" (Spanish: La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades) - 1554
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book that was written almost 500 years ago, a great classic that you can read quite quickly because it is so short but there is a lot of action going on. This young, poor boy called Lazarillo, has to fend for himself, he has several masters and tells us his stories with them in this novel/novella.
Camus, Albert "The Stranger" (aka "The Outsider") (French: L'étranger) - 1942
"Un étranger" in French is "a foreigner", someone who is not a citizen of the country in question. Who is a stranger, really? Why do we exist? And this is really the question of this story, a philosophic one, even though you can read it as a novel, as well.
Nora Ephron, may she rest in peace, always found the right words. Reflections about growing older, losing your health, losing friends, your whole world is changing.
When you are in that position, all that is left some days is your sense of humour. And Nora Ephron helps you with it.
Günter Grass has grown on me and has shown why he really deserved the Nobel Prize with this work. One hundred years in one hundred stories, told from different perspectives, from the rich and the poor, the left and the right, those that left and those that stayed. Men, women, children, everyone got the chance to tell their story that is so particular for that part of the century. If you want to understand what Germans went through and achieved in that time, this is a good point to start.
Steinem, Gloria "My Life on the Road" - 2015
Gloria Steinem is a new hero for me. What she did at a time when most women could only dream of having a good husband and leading a quiet life, the things she fought for, brilliant.
Ulitzkaya, Lyudmila "Imago" or "The Big Green Tent" (Russian: Zelenyi shater/Зеленый шатер) - 2010
We learn about the lives of a group of friends, three boys who have a brilliant literature teacher and how he influences the rest of their lives, how they live or don't live with the inflictions put upon them by the regime of their country.
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