Garmus, Bonnie "Lessons in Chemistry"

Garmus, Bonnie "Lessons in Chemistry" - 2022

A member of my German book club had suggested this book  but despite everyone agreeing to it at first, it wasn't chosen in the end. But I had already ordered the book, so I wanted to read it.

It certainly would have been a good choice to discuss. I doubt I would have chosen it, had I only seen the cover. On the other hand, I suppose those people who are looking for a romantic chick lit, might be disappointed.

It's hard to describe this book. I would probably declare it as chick-lit though it has some deeper meanings. However, I did like the protagonist a lot, I wish I would have had an Elizabeth Zott in my life when growing up. Even though I am certainly about a decade younger than her, all those obstacles that were placed in the way of women were still around. And there was nobody, absolutely nobody who supported me in my education, not my parents and definitely not my teachers (except for the one in elementary school but he wasn't there anymore later). On the contrary, all I heard was "you will get married and don't need a job". And my boss got a guy in from outside instead of promoting me. For the same reason.

The books is described as humorous and there are certain aspects of humour in it, but overal, the sadness is more important and stays more in our memories.

Maybe this story speaks more to a younger audience, it just brought too many bad memories for me. (Although that speaks in favour of the book.) I wouldn't say I disliked the book completly, but it brought me back to a time I'd rather forget. I would have loved to discuss it with my book club and hear what the other women have to say about it.

And last, but not least, some things have changed but not enough. What do you think???

From the back cover:

"Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. Soon, a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time."

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne "Absalom's Hair"

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne "Absalom's Hair" (Norwegian: Absalons Haar) - 1894

I enjoy reading books by Nobel laureates from time to time. So when I came across this novel, I had to check it out. It's a novella, so not very long. A bit more plot certainly wouldn't have hurt the story. I wasn't particularly impressed. The narrative jumped around, and the protagonists lacked any compelling qualities. It's simply a very old book that hasn't aged well.

And if it was meant as a satire, I would have expected some humor.

Bjørnson also wrote the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (Yes, we love this country).

Book Description:

"Harald Kaas was sixty. He had given up his free, uncriticised bachelor life; his yacht was no longer seen off the coast in summer; his tours to England and the south had ceased; nay, he was rarely to be found even at his club in Christiania. His gigantic figure was never seen in the doorways; he was failing. Bandy-legged he had always been, but this defect had increased; his herculean back was rounded, and he stooped a little. His forehead, always of the broadest-no one else's hat would fit him-was now one of the highest, that is to say, he had lost all his hair, except a ragged lock over each ear and a thin fringe behind. He was beginning also to lose his teeth, which were strong though small, and blackened by tobacco; and now, instead of 'deuce take it' he said 'deush take it.'"

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903 "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit".

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

Top Twelve Tuesday ~ On a Wednesday ~ Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025

"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 Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025 (New-to-me authors I discovered, new genres I learned I like, new bookish resources I found, friends I made, local bookshops I found, a book club I joined, etc.)

I have read a lot in my in my life. I have found what I like and what I dislike ages ago. Sometimes, I stumble upon a book that is not my genre and I like it. But that is a rare exception. Still, I found some new books which I really liked but they are all in my Top Twelve Tuesday ~ Best Books in 2025. But there are no new genres. Also no new bookshops since there is only one in our little town and I've known this for ages, even before we moved here.

2025 was Jane Austen's birthday year and I participated in the #Reading Austen project. I found lots of books about Jane Austen and re-read all of her books. I could have included all of them but I thought I also need to show some of the other great books I found during the year. So, here is my Top Twelve of 2025. Just add anything by or about Jane Austen in your mind.

Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013
Austen, Jane "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791

Brooks, Geraldine "Year of Wonders" - 2001
Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011
Haig, Matt "The Midnight Library" - 2020
Harris, Kamala "107 Days" - 2025

Hislop, Victoria "The Figurine" - 2023
Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe. Travels in a Troubled Continent" (NL: Grote verwachtingen. In Europa 1999-2019) - 2019

Mann, Heinrich "The Blue Angel" (GE: Professor Unrat)- 1904

Rushdie, Salman "Knife" - 2024
Takahashi, Yuta "The Chibineko Kitchen" (J: ちびねこ亭の思い出ごはん 黒猫と初恋サンドイッチ/Chibinekoteino omoidegohan kuronekoto hatsukoisandoitchi) - 2020
Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017 

📚 Happy Reading 📚

This was supposed to be published at the end of January. But we had to attend a funeral and I totally forgot. Well, if anyone is interested, this is it.

Austen, Jane "The History of England"

Austen, Jane "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791

This was the last of my Jane Austen reads in 2025, the #Reading Austen project.

The booklet has 55 pages, very small ones. Yet, only 18 of them are about the History of English, the rest of the book is taken up by the correspondence between (mainly) two girls at the beginning of the 19th century, a short story called Lesley Castle.

I really enjoyed the first part. It was interesting to read how the kings and queens of England were seen by a partial and prejudiced person. Jane like the York and hated the Lancastrians, so anything they did were seen through her rose- or black-tinted glasses. Hilarious, though, and not necessarily to be taken seriously. 

Also the second part has its hilarious moments. Like when women are judged by their height and being tall is supposed to be a fault. Just read it, it doesn't take long.

Book Description:

"'The History of England', written when Jane Austen was in her late teens, is a lively and somewhat disrespectful overview of the history of England's monarchy. She sees nothing reprehensible in Richard III, yet burns with contempt for Elizabeth I, and documents several reigns with breezy nonchalance.

This volume also contains 'Lesley Castle', a delightful and often hilarious correspondence detailing the mishaps and misapprehensions that befall five young ladies."

Six Degrees of Separation ~ Flashlight

Susan Choi
"Flashlight" - 2025

#6Degrees of Separation:
from Flashlight (Goodreads) to Things Fall Apart 

#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. 

As most months, I have not read the starter book. It is too new and, therefore, only available in hardback. Here is the description:
"One summer night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the breakwater. Her father is carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later, Louisa is found on the beach, soaked to the skin, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old.

Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, is Korean, but was born and raised in Japan; he lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to North Korea. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her Midwestern family after a reckless adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne’s illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences.

But now it is just Anne and Louisa, Louisa and Anne, adrift and facing the challenges of ordinary life in the wake of great loss. United, separated, and also repelled by their mutual grief, they attempt to move on. But they cannot escape the echoes of that night. What really happened to Louisa’s father?

Shifting perspectives across time and character and turning back again and again to that night by the sea, Flashlight chases the shock waves of one family’s catastrophe, even as they are swept up in the invisible currents of history."

The description sounds good but I also have not made the best experiences with Booker prize novels, they often don't keep what they promise and are a lot more shallow and superficial for me to like them. So, I will give this a miss and start with a book I read about.

My first book is, like the starter, about Koreans abroad.
Lee, Min Jin "Pachinko" - 2017

Then, I go with a family who adopts a Korean baby.

Tyler, Anne "Digging to America" - 2006

The adoption reminds me of another story:

Mankell, Henning "Daniel" (SW: Vindens son) - 2000

The Swedish title to this is Vinden's Son, the Son of the Wind which leads me to another book that talks about the differences in cultures.

Buck, Pearl S. "East Wind: West Wind" - 1930

Pearl S. Buck has written many books about the differences between east and west. And this leads me to a story between North and South, black and white, written by another female Nobel Prize winner:

Gordimer, Nadine "Burger's Daughter" - 1979

From here, I go to another African country where we learn about the influence of the colonists.

Achebe, Chinua "Things Fall Apart" - 1958

* * *

We have travelled the world now, from Korea to America, to Sweden, die Africa, back to Asia, then to Africa again. And everywhere we have learned about the difference in cultures and what the influence of one country over the others does. I.e. what we have done to them all. Mostly, nothing good.

📚📚📚

Spell the Month in Books ~ February 2026

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.

February:  Freebie

I find it harder and harder to choose books that I haven't presented in this challenge, yet. And I cannot promise that here are going to be only books I never chose. I have tried to stick to a theme:  Reading/Writing. That can be a book, a letter or a diary. And I even found a book with Y in the original language, so in order not to take the same book for the umpteenth time, I took that!

FEBRUARY

F
Brooks, Geraldine "Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over" - 1997

Geraldine Brooks describes how she started writing to many different people from all over the world because she felt so far away from everything. That was the same for me.

E

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

A hilarious book for those people who do know the use of the apostrophe (and other parts of the English grammar that seems to be so difficult to learn for some) and see a mistake right away. It's hilarious.

B

Taylor, Andrew James "Books That Changed the World" - 2008

A list of important books that made a major impact on our present view of the world.

R
Bythell, Shaun "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" - 2022

Another book by Shaun Bythell about his shop and his customers, his clients and his friends. Absolutely hilarious

U

Hanks, Tom "Uncommon Type. Some Stories" - 2017

A ollection of short stories, in all of them, there is a typewriter, mostly an older one, not an electric one, not a computer, no, one of those nice old mechanical ones.

A

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander "August 1914" (RUS: Солженицын, Александр Исаевич/Узел I - «Август Четырнадцатого», Красное колесо/Avgust chetyrnadtsatogo) - 1971

A tale of the First World War - or the Great War as it was called before the Second World War happened - from the Russian side. 

R

Taschler, Judith W. "Novel without a U" (GE: Roman ohne U) - 2014

I was drawn to this book because of the typewriter on the cover. One story takes place during World War II and afterwards in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp; the other is set in present-day Austria.

Y

Pamuk, Orhan "The New Life" (TR: Yeni Hyat) - 1994

In this novel, the protagonist reads a book. And it changes his entire life.

* * *

Happy Reading!

📚 📚 📚

#ThrowbackThursday. February 2016

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while, actually, my very first one was October 2021 and now I reached my posts from ten years ago. These are my reviews from February 2016.

Delacourt, Grégoire "The list of my desires" (aka My wish list) (French: La liste de mes envies) - 2012

Jocelyne is married to Jocelyn, they have two grown up children, both work, their marriage seems perfect on the outside but there are a lot of cracks in the shell. When something unexpected happens, Jocelyne can't cope and everything seems to fall to pieces.

Dickens, Charles "Hard Times" - 1854

This could be the title of any of Dickens' novels. Another tale of how different lives were for the rich and the poor, how hard it was to get through life if you were not born on the lucky side. And still, there is so much humour in this story, The characters are all brilliant. 

Fleischhauer, Wolfram "In a Tender Hold" (German: Schule der Lügen - aka Die Inderin)  - 2014

This is a historical novel about history in general but also about the history of philosophy, in this case about the influence of Eastern philosophy on Europe, about how certain directions were taken in order to get the people where they wanted them.

Funke, Cornelia "Inkheart" (German: Tintenherz) - 2003

This books didn't contain any weird creatures but was just about magic and the middle ages where people believed in that sort of stuff. And - more importantly - a book. I love anything about books. There is a beautiful library and some interesting characters that make the story gripping.

Hawkins, Paula "The Girl on the Train" - 2015

The girl on the train looks at the people in the gardens while she passes them by. It's interesting to see how much she can see from the short glances she gets. Makes you think whether you can spin a story from every glimpse you get from anybody's life.

Kristof, Nicholas; WuDunn, Sheryl "A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity" - 2014

The authors have done some great research, as I had already experienced in their former book. What it comes down to, in a nutshell, if you want to donate money, find a cause that you consider is worthy and make sure you give it so that this money really makes a difference to someone. The authors make us understand that even a small donation can make a big change. Or if we don't have money that there are still things we can do, volunteer or write, for example.

Lalami, Laila "The Moors' Account" - 2014

We hear a story that has been told before - but by Spanish people, white people who came as conquerors to the new continent to be called America. This is told by one of their slaves, a guy from Morocco, who survives a lot of ordeals because of his determination to get back home again. 

Mantel, Hilary "Wolf Hall" - 2009

Such a great novel about Thomas Cromwell and all the other people that played an important part in the life of probably the most interesting king among all the kings of England, Henry VIII. Hilary Mantel tries to look behind the curtain of the throne, of the court, of the royal family.

Paull, Laline "The Bees" - 2014

The story about a bee who does not conform with what she is supposed to be doing, she is smarter than other bees from her status, she is "above her class".

Schami, Rafik "A Hand Full of Stars" (German: Eine Hand voller Sterne) - 1987
This is the story of the son of a baker about his problems of growing up but also about the political problems in his country and how he gets involved.

Schimmel, Betty "To See You Again" - 1999
This is a remarkable account of a strong woman, of several strong women indeed, who survived the most awful ordeal anyone can survive and grow stronger through this survival. 

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #43

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 8^th February 2026, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 29^th March 2026 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #42) (The Sound and the Fury" and "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
3. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
4. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
5. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
6. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
7. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
8. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
13. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
14. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
15. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
16. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
17. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
18. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #2:
Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862

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.

Happy February!

   Happy February to all my Friends and Readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch
"Wintermorgen in Honnigsvag"
"Winter morning in Honnigsvag"

Hanka and Frank say to this picture:

"Bei einer unserer Reisen in den Norden mit der MS Otto Sverdrup von den Hurtigruten haben wir in Norwegen einen wunderschönen 'Wintermorgen in Honnigsvag' erlebt."

"During one of our trips to the north with the MS Otto Sverdrup from Hurtigruten, we experienced a beautiful 'winter morning in Honningsvag' in Norway." 

I have never been to Norway but to other Skandinavian countries and they are all beautiful.

Read more on their website here. *

* * *

I can't believe the first month of the year has already passed. Time flies faster every year.

* * *

I read a couple of interesting books last month. 

Brandreth, Gyles "Have You Eaten Grandma?" - 2017
and
Larsen, Nella "Passing" - 1929

While the first one is a funny approach to grammar and spelling, the second is all about racism. How do we perceive people?

* * *

I have two German words for you that somehow belong together:

Fernweh (far away pain) - the longing to go away

Wanderlust (joy and longing to walk) - strong desire to travel

* * *

We had a lot of snow in January, more than in the last years together. I rather have none but we can't choose. On the other hand, I rather have a snowy month than a very hot one.

* * *

I received a beautiful present from a blog friend that will accompany me all year round. A calendar called "A Book Lover's Year". My little reading figurine is sitting right next to it, keeping it company.

* * *

* 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. 

🧊 I wish you all a very Happy February! 🧊

Larsen, Nella "Passing"

Larsen, Nella "Passing" - 1929

I had never heard the expression "passing" in this sense. A "black" woman who is white enough to be considered "white" and "passes" as "white". While I totally understand that in such a racist world, a women (or a man) would do that, I don't see the need why they should have to. First of all, to me it really shouldn't matter what skin colour someone has. But, if you distinguish between "black" and "white", shouldn't someone who looks "white" be considered "white". There is something I don't get. Or rather, that I really don't want to get. In what kind of world are we living???

Anyway, I found this book because it was mentioned in "The Vanishing Half" by Britt Bennett where a similar situation is described.

As we can read in the book description, the novel is about two different women, both light-skinned, both considered "black". But, whereas one of the women lives officially as a black woman, the other one didn't even tell her husband about her ancestry. He is extremely racist. Which is another thing, why do you marry someone like that? Oh, right, some people marry for money. And, as most characters, who do that, they have to pay the price at some point.

The author has used a lot of material from her own life, apparently.

This rather short novella could have been longer for my taste but we have been given a lot of food for thought here. Great book.

From the book cover:

"This Signet Classics edition of Passing includes an Introduction by Brit Bennett, the bestselling author of The Vanishing Half.

Irene Redfield is a Black woman living an affluent, comfortable life with her husband and children in the thriving neighborhood of Harlem in the 1920s. When she reconnects with her childhood friend Clare Kendry, who is similarly light-skinned, Irene discovers that Clare has been passing for a white woman after severing ties to her past--even hiding the truth from her racist husband.

Clare finds herself drawn to Irene's sense of ease and security with her Black identity and longs for the community (and, increasingly, the woman) she lost. Irene is both riveted and repulsed by Clare and her dangerous secret, as Clare begins to insert herself--and her deception--into every part of Irene's stable existence. First published in 1929, Larsen's brilliant examination of the various ways in which we all seek to 'pass,' is as timely as ever."

Book Quotes

"I can live without television, but not without books." Elke Heidenreich, German writer and cabaret artist

I would definitely claim books before television.

"If Liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." George Orwell

Only those, who always think they are right, don't want to hear the opposite.

"There's no shortage of female role models. They're everywhere - in history, in literature, in the news. Just look around." Kerri Russel

For sure!!!

Find more book quotes here.

Brandreth, Gyles "Have You Eaten Grandma?"

Brandreth, Gyles "Have You Eaten Grandma?" - 2017

I know Gyles Brandreth from TV, mainly from panel shows. And he is always really, really funny. When I saw the title of this book, I just had to get it. I already enjoyed writings like "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss (not to be confused with the "minor royal" or "local dignity" Liz Truss) and this one was just as great.

Just as in his shows, the author is simply hilarious. He can teach us about the English language and make a great joke at the same time. 

As a non-native speaker, I am always surprised at mistakes like mixing up their, there and they're. What's the problem? Are people really so dumb or do the just not care. I suppose the latter because 90% of internet users cannot be dyslexic.

If only everyone would read this book, we could pass on a great legacy to our descendants.

And if you ever have someone correct your English, don't call them Grammar Nazis. They want to improve your English, not kill you. Call us nerds, if you like.

From the back cover:

"Don't know if it's, like, okay to say 'like'?
Are your apostrophe's in the wrong place?
Should it be 'past' or 'passed'?
Want to make fewer not less grammatical mistakes?

Then do not despair, Gyles Brandreth's Have You Eaten Grandma? is the definitive (and hilarious) guide to punctuation, spelling, and good English for the twenty-first century.

Sunday Times best-selling author and grammar guru, Gyles pokes fun at the linguistic foibles of our time, tells us where we've been going wrong (and how to put it right), and reveals his tips and tricks to make every one of us better, more confident users (not abusers) of the English language."

Statistics 2025

     

My statistics for the last years are here:
2009-12, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 

2023, 2024  

* Statistics 2025 *

 

I did 235 posts in 2025 which was 57 more than last year.

And these are the results of my reading lists for 2025:

My regular posts are either weekly (Book Quotes, Top Ten Tuesday, ThrowBack Thursday, Wordless Wednesday) or monthly (Happy Month, Six Degrees of Separation, Spell the Month in Books), so I posted more or less the amount of weeks or months in a year. I didn't do them all regularly, though. Especially the Top Ten Tuesday, I've participated so long and have done a lot of the topics already, so I just do them from time to time.

Book Quotes of the Week (12 posts)

Happy Month (12)
Top 5 Tuesday (26)
Top Ten Tuesday (18)

ThrowBack Thursday (45)
Wordless Wednesday (2)
Six Degrees of Separation (12)
Spell the Month in Books (12)

I also did a few lists that are more or less statistics about half of the year and a comparison to ten years ago:

Mid Year Freak-Out Tag

I also participated in Non-fiction November.

******

And then there are, of course, all the challenges I have done over the years.
I read books that contributed to the following challenges. Some of them count for more than one category:

Challenges (number of books read for the challenges in brackets)

The 10 Greatest Books Ever (1)
The 100 best Non-fiction Books of All Time as Chosen by The Guardian (1)

100 Books by the BBC (2)
100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by the Guardian (1)

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel (1)

2025 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (23)

Anti-Racism Books (3)

I read more on this topic but they were not on this list.

Barack Obama Reading Lists (2)

Thanks to a present by my son and a loan from a book club member, I was able to add two more books to the list.
Best European Literature (2)

Bildungsroman (2)

Children's Books (2)

The Classics Spin (5)

Dutch and French Books (1 Dutch, 3 French)

German Books (30)

My Favourite Books Ever (24)

Every year I find some more books I can add to my list of favourite books. 24 this year. Not too bad, I guess.

Nobel Prize Winners and Their Books (3)

Oscar Winning Books (1)

Paris in July (4)

Some books taking place in France or written in French.

Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1)

(German: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels)

Read the Year Club (2)

We read 1925 and 1952 this year. It's a good idea to add some reads from former years that we might not have touched before.

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2025 (17)

I read 17 chunky books in 2025 of which 4 are considered a chunkster. Mor-book-ly Obese again.

Suggestions from Friends (lots)

I read suggestions from friends all the time, just haven't kept up with who recommended which book.

Voracious (1)

Book Clubs:

International Online Book Club 2017 etc. (7)
One of the books was not available in English or German and I had read four of the others.

German Book Club (10)

We took a break in the summer and at Christmas, so only read 10 books this year.

******

Some of the challenges are older and I only add to them if I happen to read one of the books. No new books on these lists:

100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by the Guardian 

101 Best Selling Books of All Times 

20 Classic and Important Books 

I already said this last year. Only three more books on my list, maybe I'll get to "Slaughterhouse Five" one day.

7 Books That Will Radically Shift Your Perspectives 

Books That Changed the World 

A Century of Books 

Emma's Book Club - Our shared shelf 

Esperanto Books 
Here we mostly read short stories.

Favourite (German) Independent Books

(Das Lieblingsbuch der Unabhängigen = The Favourite Book of the Independents)
When they are German books, it usually takes a couple of years until they appear in paperback. So, this year, I didn't get to read the newest one:
Nelio Biedermann "Lázár"

Le Monde - The 100 Books of the Century 

Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century 
Nobel Peace Prize 
Unfortunately, I didn't get to read any of the peace prize winners this year, but I read many by people who would have deserved it (not the one who was so keen on being awarded only to start a war right after that).

Oprah's Book Club

Reading the World 

The non-western books that every student should read 
The only thing I miss from our old place is the library that would get me any book I wanted. Not so easy here where we only have a small church library and they only get the biggest best-sellers. And all of them in German only, of course.

Travel the World Through Books 

******

Books Read: 88
Pages read: 26.884 which results in 306 pages/book, 73 pages/day, 7 books/month

Last year (2024), I read 73 books with 25,412 pages which resulted in 348 pages/book, 73 pages/day, 7 books/month. So, it looks like I read a little more in 2025.

The average novel contains between 140 and 320 pages, i.e. 230 which would make 117 average books (compared to 116 last year, so not that much better, just shorter books).

Books dating from which year:

Pre 1800s: 3

1800s: 12

1900-1949: 7

1950-1999: 14

2000s: 52 (3 of which from 25)

Male Authors: 48 + 1

Female Authors: 40 +1

Nobel Prize Winners: 3

Fiction: 62
Non-Fiction: 26

I might have to include some of the reference books I read and use.

Chunky Books - more than 450 pages: 17, of which more than 750: 4
Library/Borrowed: 7
Re-Read: 6 (all Jane Austen)
TBR Pile: 23

Oldest Book: 411 BC
Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (GR: Λυσιστράτη, Lysistrátē) - 411 BC
Newest Book: 2025

Harris, Kamala "107 Days" - 2025

Longest book: 1,022 pages

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (Goethe German) - "Faust I + II" (GE: Urfaust. Faust: Erster und zweiter Teil) - 1772-1808

Shortest book: 52 pages
Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946

Longest book title: 57 letters

Kaminer, Wladimir "Little Red Riding Hood smokes on the balcony … and other family stories" (GE: Rotkäppchen raucht auf dem Balkon … und andere Familiengeschichten) - 2020

Shortest Book Title: 2 letters
Schöfer, Maike "Nope: An incitement to say no" (GE: Nö: Eine Anstiftung zum Neinsagen) - 2025

Funniest Book:

Schnoy, Sebastian "Learn from Napoleon how to avoid doing the dishes" (GE: Von Napoleon lernen, wie man sich vorm Abwasch drückt) - 2013

Saddest Book:

Rushdie, Salman "Knife" - 2024

Weirdest Book:

Thoreau, Henry David "Walden; or, Life in the Woods" - 1854

Most disappointing:

Hopmann, Sophie/Heidelore Mais "Cucumber Sandwich in the Glove Compartment" (GE: Gurkensandwich im Handschuhfach) - 2019

New author (for me) that I would like to read more from: 8
Michel Bergmann, William Deresiewicz, Tahsim Durgun, Michael Köhlmeier, Benjamin Monferat, Jasmin Schreiber, Yuta Takahashi, Lucy Worsley

Translated Books:

7 from 7 languages

1 ea from Finnisch, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

Books read in another language:

Dutch: 1

French: 3

German: 30

Numbers in Book Titles: Sixth, Seven, Ten, 107
Place Names in Book Titles: Brüssel, England, Europe, Mansfield, Mariana Trench, Northanger Abbey, Walden

Names in Book Titles: Artemisia, Austen, Bovary, Britt-Marie, Chekhov, Chibineko, Chuzzlewit, Emma, Faust, Feld, Felix Krull, Gretchen, Hamnet, Jane, Judith,Katherine, Klee, Luzie, Lysistrata, Mann, Mariana, Martin, Mary, Max, Moormann, Napoleon, Parr, Peanuts, Psmith, Rose, Rotkäppchen, Sonneborn, Thomas, Tiffany, Tolstoy, Unrat, Wunder

Colours in Book Titles: Rot (red)

My Favourite Books: 24

Austen, Jane "Emma" - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)

- "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791
- "Mansfield Park" - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
- "Persuasion" - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) *
- "Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 

- "Sense & Sensibility" - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 

Brooks, Geraldine "Year of Wonders" - 2001

Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

Heidenreich, Elke "Dr. Moormann & I" (GE: Frau Dr. Moormann & ich) - 2023

Hyun, Martin; Kaminer, Wladimir "Instructions for neighbours" - (GE: Gebrauchsanweisung für Nachbarn) - 2024  

Hislop, Victoria "The Figurine" - 2023

Kaminer, Wladimir "Little Red Riding Hood smokes on the balcony … and other family stories" (GE: Rotkäppchen raucht auf dem Balkon … und andere Familiengeschichten) - 2020

- "Tolstoy's beard and Chekhov's shoes, excursions through Russian literature" (GE: Tolstois Bart und Tschechows Schuhe, Streifzüge durch die russische Literatur - 2019)

Loriot "The Yodeling School and other dramatic works" (GE: Die Jodelschule und andere dramatische Werke) - 1981

Monferat, Benjamin (Stephan Rother) "World in Flames" (GE: Welt in Flammen) - 2014

Schreiber, Jasmin "Mariana Trench" (GE: Marianengraben) - 2020

Stelter, Bernd "Fashion, murder, and the sound of the sea. Camping crime thriller" (GE: Mode, Mord und Meeresrauschen. Camping-Krimi) - 2024

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007

Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katharine Parr. The Sixth Wife" - 2021

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017

Added  after an idea by Emma:

Adjectives in Book Titles: brilliant, crazy, dull, last, weird; dramatische, gut, klein

Adverbs in Book Titles: andere. hier

Animals in Book Titles: Penguin, Snail, Whale

Nationality in Book Titles: French

Preposition in Book Titles: about, as, at, for, from, in, of, on, out, to; auf, durch, für, im, mit, nach, oder, vom, von, über, zur
Questions in Book Titles: 

Brandreth, Gyles "Have You Eaten Grandma?" - 2017

With my books, I visited places in the following countries:

Africa (5):Botswana, Cameroon, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Arctic (1):

Asia (9):

Armenia, Dubai, India, Israel/Palestine, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Syria, Turkey, Vietnam

Australia/Oceania (2):
Australia, New Zealand
Europe (19):
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Yugoslavia
North America (4):

Canada, Caribbean, St. Lucia, USA

South America (3):

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay

Countries "visited" in total: 43

Authors come from:

Africa (2):
South Africa, Zimbabwe
Asia (7):
India, Israel/Palestine, Japan, Korea, Syria, Turkey, Vietnam

Australia/Oceania (2):

Australia, New Zealand
Europe (10):
Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom

North America (2):

Canada, USA
South America (1):

Uruguay
Author countries in total: 24

See also "My Year in Books" (and here on Goodreads).

You may find some even greater statistics by better bloggers than me, e.g. at "Stuck in a Book".

 

If you want more information on any of the lists mentioned, please, let me know.