Dorling Kindersley "Brussels"

Dorling Kindersley (Hewetson, Zöe) "Brussels. Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp" - 2000
A Dorling Kindersley Travel Guide

One of the DK Travel Guides I have used frequently. Brussels is my favourite city. I have lived there. I have met my husband there. We have been going more than once every year since we moved away and now our youngest son lives there, right in the area where my husband and I met.

I love the Eyewitness Guides and also their little sister, The Travel Guides. Even if you are not able to visit a city (or a country), you can see exactly what it looks like and get a lot of information about the town, the people, the buildings, the parks, the museums, the food, just about everything you would like to know about a certain place.

The guide is divided into the areas of the city: the Lower Town, the Upper Town, Greater Brussels, Beyond Brussels, it gives you all the information a traveller needs: Where to stay, restaurants, cafés and bars, Shopping in Brussels, there is a survival guide with practical and travel information, everything you need to know.

Brussels is such a beautiful city with so many historic places, it's hard to know where to begin. A must is definitely the Grand Place with all its picturesque guild houses. You certainly can't miss this. It's beautiful to sit in one of the restaurants and observe the bustling life around you. But we usually just have a coffee there and go for dinner in one of the cheaper places just off the market or in another quarter, the food is so much better, as well.

In every even year, there is a flower carpet on the Grand Place, always around Assumption Day (of Mary, 15 August), a national holiday in Belgium.

One place we visit almost every time is the Cinquantenaire which is close by my old living place. There's a beautiful parc and a palace built by Leopold II on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary (cinquantenaire) of Belgium. Him being German, he based the memorial arcade on the Brandenburg Gate but it also looks like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Then there's the Quartier Royal with its Royal Palace and the Parc de Bruxelles, one of the most beautiful parcs you can imagine. And, of course, lots of wonderful museums for anyone interested in art and history. The palace is open to the public in the summer. Definitely worth another visit.

And there are places you should visit, if you happen to be in Brussels for longer or at a certain time. First of all, the symbol of Brussels, the Atomium, originally constructed as the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo 58). Definitely worth it, especially since its renovation about two decades ago. Six of the spheres are accessible to the public and they show permanent as well as temporary exhibitions on the 50s, the Expo, the construction as well as modern art or anything of current interest.

Then there are the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken which are open to the public once a year for two weeks in April/May.

You can also do tours around Brussels to admire the Art Nouveau houses, doors, windows, entrances (you can get a cheap map at the info centre at the Grand Place). There is also such a map for all the comic related street art. Tintin and his friends are all over the place. And if you arrive at the Gare Central (central station) and leave the place, don't forget to look up when you pass under the passage of the Putterie.

Brussels also has beautiful metro stations, a ride on the metro is always interesting.

There is so much more to see that it is impossible to write in just one post. You will have to go and see for yourself why I love this town so much.

Of course, all the other cities mentioned in the title and the book are also very much worth visiting.

Book description:

"Highlights Lower Town, Upper Town, Greater Brussels, as well as sited beyond the city.

Recognized the world over by frequent flyers and armchair travelers alike, Eyewitness Travel Guides are the most colorful and comprehensive guides on the market. With beautiful commissioned photographs and spectacular 3-D aerial views revealing the charm of each destination, these amazing travel guides show what others only tell.

'DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp' is your indispensable guide to this beautiful part of the world. The fully updated guide includes unique cutaways, floor plans and reconstructions of the must-see sights, plus street-by-street maps. The also is packed with photographs and illustrations leading you straight to the best attractions these cities offer.

With insider tips and essential local information, this uniquely visual DK Eyewitness Travel guide highlights everything you'll need to know to make your vacation special, from local festivals and markets to day trips around the countryside. Detailed listings will guide you to the best hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops for all budgets, while practical information will help you to get around by train, bus, or car.

'DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp' will help you effortlessly explore every corner of Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp."

Rutherfurd, Edward "China"

Rutherfurd, Edward "China" - 2021

I was really looking forward to this book that I received for Christmas (thanks, Zach) because I love anything written by Edward Rutherfurd. And I was not disappointed. He delivered what he promised with his other books.

There is only a slight change. In most of his books, he tells stories of families over throughout the centuries, often starting way before our calendar. This one starts in 1839 and ends in the early 1900s, long enough to see the lifetime of all the protagonists. And that is the only criticism I have about this book. I would have liked a list at the end or the beginning about all the different characters, as he has done in all his former historic novels. That way you know where you are in history. Granted, this spans not even a century but the Chinese names make it a little more difficult to remember who is who, especially since sometimes there are several others who tell their story before we return to a certain one. It was still alright to remember who was who but it would have been easier otherwise.

As in all his other books, we learn a lot about China's history. I have read many books about it but this one is very detailed and gives us so much information about the opium wars and the rebellions that more or less formed the new China, and when we complain about something the Chinese are doing today, our countries were responsible for a lot of it. Not mine in this case but we have enough other skeletons in our closet, so I won't even go further into who was there and who wasn't.

I can understand that Edward Rutherfurd didn't want to go through all of China's history, it is so vast and the country is so huge, the book would have been a lot longer than the 784 pages of my edition. I think concentrating on this part was an excellent idea because many of us know our history from that time and can compare.

I wouldn't say I prefer this way of writing the story of a country to the other one, I probably still like the whole story better, but there is so much to learn from this book, I can only highly recommend it. Reading his books is better than any history lesson I remember from school.

I do hope, he'll write many, many more.

From the back cover:

"China in the Nineteenth Century is a proud and ancient empire forbidden to foreigners. Western merchants desires Chinese tea above all other things and resort to smuggling opium in exchange.
The Qing Emperor will not allow this trade to continue. The Opium Wars begin - heralding a period of bloody military defeats, reparations, and one-sided treaties which will become known as the Century of Humiliation.

From Hong Kong to Beijing to the Great Wall, from the exotic wonders of the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City, to squalid village huts, the great clash between East and West rages across the Celestial Kingdom. We meet a young village wife struggling with the rigid traditions of her people, Manchu empresses and warriors, powerful eunuchs, fanatical Taiping and Boxer Rebels, savvy Chinese pirates, artists, concubines, scoundrels and heroes, well-intentioned missionaries and the rapacious merchants, diplomats and soldiers of the West. Fortunes will rise and fall, loves will be gained and lost.

China is a feat of the imagination that will enthrall, instruct and excite, and show us how the turmoil of the nineteenth century led to modern China’s revolution and rebirth."

Find a link to all my reviews on his other novels here.

I have been told by a lot of people that Edward Rutherfurd writes like James Michener. If anyone here has read books by both of them, would you agree? And which book by Michener should I start with?

Harari, Yuval Noah "21 Lessons for the 21st Century"

Harari, Yuval Noah "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" - 2018

A brilliant follow-up to "Sapiens" and "Homo Deus". This is another book that I think everyone should read. The author shows us what the future might have in mind for us and how we should get prepared. And I don*t talk about the fear of war or natural disasters due to climate change but about everyday life. What should we study to get a decent job? More importantly, what should our children study in order to get through their lives? My parents and grandparents would leave school at age 14 or 15, do an apprenticeship and many of them worked in the same company for the rest of their lives. Once they finished their apprenticeship, they could do what they learn for decades without having to learn anything new. That is not the case anymore. That wasn't the case for my generation, that isn't the case for tomorrow's generation and it certainly will not be the case for the next generation after that.

So, we need clever people like Yuval Harari to tell us what might happen, what we can do in order not to be afraid of the future. He does exactly that. His recommendations make sense and are well-founded, he explains every single remark he makes. What's even better, he explains it in such a way that even people who don't understand much about science (like myself) can follow his explanations. And also about politics, global economy, anything that concerns us and influences our lives.

I heartily recommend this and his other books. They are just fantastic. I hope he will write more.

From the back cover:

"Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus looked to the future. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century explores the present.

How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?"

McLain, Paula "The Paris Wife"

McLain, Paula "The Paris Wife" - 2012

A couple of years ago, everybody seemed to be reading "The Paris Wife". But I had read "The Time Traveler’s Wife" which I hated and I neither was too happy with "The Railwayman's Wife". So, I thought maybe I should keep away from "wife" books, as well. But at some point, I bought a copy. It still stayed on my TBR pile for a couple of years.

Then, one of my blogger friends introduced me to "Paris in July" and I thought it was time to read it. First of all, it has the word "Paris" in its title and it takes place in Paris. Also, I have read a few books by Ernest Hemingway (The Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls) and have a few more on my wishlist. So, why not give it a go?

I was positively surprised about the book. Written from the perspective of the first of his four wives, we learn a lot about Hadley as well as Ernest and his second wife, Pauline.

The author remarks: "Although Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway and other people who actually lived appear in this book as fictional characters, it was important for me to render the particulars of their lives as accurately as possible, and to follow the very well documented historical record."

I was aware throughout the whole book that this is a novel written in the form of a memoir, not a biography. That didn't change the fact that it was highly interesting to read about the lives of some extraordinary people. Hemingway was in an interesting circle of authors and artists and they all appear in the book.

I have lived in four different countries and I came from a small village into a big foreign town in my early twenties but life was different in our time. We didn't have the internet but there were books, there was the television and people had moved around, not many and often not far but nothing compared to the difference between Hadley's sheltered, very remote life before she met Ernest Hemingway and life in Paris. It must have been really, really hard for her.

There are also some small parts where Ernest tells us his side of the story. Of course, he has already been through and survived one war which always changes a man. But you also can tell there that they were two completely different personalities not just with different ideas but also with different goals. It's probably a miracle the marriage survived as long as it did.

The book is not just interesting concerning the life of the Hemingways but also the other characters are interesting as is the life in Paris in the twenties. We hear so much about it. This book helps us understanding it a little better. Definitely brilliantly written.

I'd love to read more of Paula McLain's books but definitely her memoir: "Like Family. Growing Up In Other People's Houses".

One quote by Ernest Hemingway: "I want to write one true sentence", he said. "If I can write one sentence, simple and true every day, I'll be satisfied". I think his writing shows that this was his goal and he achieved it.

At the end of the book, Paula McLain adds a list of her sources, all of them would be interesting to read if you like the subjects:

About the Hemingways:
Alice Hunt Sokoloff, Alice " Hadley: The First Mrs. Hemingway"
Diliberto, Gioia "Hadley"
Kert, Bernice "The Hemingway Women"
Baker, Carlos "Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story and Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917-1961"
Reynolds, Michael "Hemingway: The Paris Years and Hemingway: The American Homecoming"
Brian, Denis "The True Gen"

About Paris in the twenties
Wiser, Willam "The Crazy Years"
Flanner, Janet "Paris Was Yesterday"
Tomkins, Calvin "Living Well Is the Best Revenge"
Milford, Nancy "Zelda"
Fussell, Paul "The Great War and Modern Memory"

Other books by Ernest Hemingway:
"A Moveable Feast"
"In Our Time"
"The Sun Also Rises"
"The Garden of Eden"
"Death in the Afternoon"
"The Complete Short Stories"

From the back cover:

"Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a shy twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness when she meets Ernest Hemingway and is captivated by his energy, intensity and burning ambition to write. After a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for France. But glamorous Jazz Age Paris, full of artists and writers, fuelled by alcohol and gossip, is no place for family life and fidelity. Ernest and Hadley's marriage begins to founder and the birth of a beloved son serves only to drive them further apart. Then, at last, Ernest's ferocious literary endeavours begin to bring him recognition - not least from a woman intent on making him her own."

Ernest Hemingway received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in 'The Old Man and the Sea' and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style" and the Pulitzer Prize for "The Old Man and the Sea" in 1953.

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

Eyewitness Guide Paris

Eyewitness Guide Paris
Top 10 Paris (DK Eyewitness Travel Guides)

It's Paris in July month. Since we can't travel there in real life, we travel online.

What do we need for any trip? That's right, a map and a guide book. So, that's where I begin my month of travelling to and through Paris.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Dorling Kindersley? Probably about a hundred times. They publish wonderful books and we have lots of them in the house and one of their Eyewitness Guide on every town and country we have visited since we discovered them about thirty years ago.

Now, with a big city like Paris, we have two choices. First, there is the big "Eyewitness Guide" (*), a beautiful book with pretty illustrations that make you believe you stand in the middle of a street and can start admiring the places already (see left picture and picture in the middle - the oldest and the newest edition). It shows so many details, gives wonderful explanations and doesn't let you miss a thing you might want to see.

It is also a brilliant non-fiction book to read, at least the first half. They give you so much information about the city itself, its history and many more interesting little tidbits. The very first edition was even advertised for "frequent flyers and armchair travelers alike".

(*) Eyewitness Guide by Alan Tillier, Anna Brooke (1993) and by DK Publishing (2020).

Top Ten
by Anna Brooke, Mike Gerrard, Donna Dailey, Paul Hines

At one point, they started the "Top 10" books. They are a lot smaller than the other ones and easy to put into your bag while walking through the city. It doesn't have the nice drawings for every single "quartier" as the original big one has but it's the best guide to the city. If you can afford it, get both, leave the large one in the hotel and take the small on your excursions. (see right picture)

From the back covers:

Eyewitness Guide:

"Discover Paris - a city synonymous with art, fashion, gastronomy, and culture.

Whether you want to be awed by iconic landmarks, lose yourself in the Louvre, or shop till you drop, your DK Eyewitness travel guide makes sure you experience all that Paris has to offer.

Paris is a treasure trove of things to see and do. Packed full of world-famous palaces, museums, and galleries, the city shines with opulence and elegance. But Parisians know that there is more to life than glitz and glamour. Simpler pleasures are offered in abundance - think tiny winding streets, quirky old bookshops, and centuries-old cafés.

Our annually updated guide brings Paris to life, transporting you there like no other travel guide does with expert-led insights and advice, detailed breakdowns of all the must-see sights, photographs on practically every page, and our hand-drawn illustrations which place you inside the city's iconic buildings and neighbourhoods.

You'll discover:

- our pick of Paris' must-sees, top experiences, and hidden gems
- the best spots to eat, drink, shop, and stay
- detailed maps and walks which make navigating the country easy
- easy-to-follow itineraries
- expert advice: get ready, get around, and stay safe
- colour-coded chapters to every part of Paris, from Champs-Élysées to Belleville, Montmartre to Montparnasse
- our new lightweight format, so you can take it with you wherever you go

Want the best of Paris in your pocket? Try our Top 10 Paris for top 10 lists to all-things Paris."

Top Ten:

"With a new design and unbeatable price, DK raises the bar on travel guides with its new Top 10 Travel Guide series. Whether on business or vacation, take the work out of planning any trip with DK's Top 10 Travel Guides. Building on the success of the Eyewitness Travel Guides, DK has created a new series that makes finding the best every destination has to offer even easier than before. Whether searching for the finest cuisine or cheapest places to eat, the most luxurious hotels or best deals on places to stay, the coolest family destination or hottest nightspot, the Top 10 format allows travelers to use the insights of experts to make the most of their vacation. Accompanied by a companion website, readers can share their experiences and vote for their own personal Top 10s."

For those, who don't read through all the comments, my blogger friend Lectrice just added a link to the Dorling Kindersley page where you can get a closer look into the book.

See, Lisa "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan"

See, Lisa "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" - 2005

Lily and her friend Snow Flower were both born on "the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign" which translated into June 5, 1824 in our calendar. Because of that and some other traits they have in common, they are destined to be "laotong", we would probably say BFFs (best friends forever) today. Yet, same as their husbands, they don't choose the laotong themselves, it's the stars that predict it.

I have already read another book by Lisa See, "Peony in Love", where she mainly writes about the Chinese culture about death and how to take care of your dead ancestors. This one is more about the living, especially the women, the way women in the 19^th century in China lived. Not only were they more or less confined to the women's chambers (and the kitchen) of the house, they also had to endure foot binding. This horrible custom gets described very well in this book and while I have read many books about China (my first ones were by Pearl S. Buck when I was a teenager), I don't recall it ever being described so vividly. It's also interesting to see how important it was to have small feet, the smaller, the more marriageable a young girl would be, the better her station in life later on.

It is hard for us today to even understand how parents could do that to their children. And how women were treated in general. How could a mother do that to her daughter? Well, first of all, they all get told all their life that women aren't worth anything and that they raise their daughters for another family. But they want them to have a comfortable or at least half-way decent life. And culture dictated that women had to have small feet. The smaller the feet, the better the marriage. I doubt I could have done that today but it's easy to make that judgment from our point of view. We can decide not to get married or choose our own husbands without big problems. But back then it was essential for survival.

But we also read about Nü Shu, a secret phonetic form of 'women's writing which is something that fascinated me from the moment I heard about it. And the custom that a woman only started living with her husband (and his family) once she had given birth to her first child. Until then, she stayed with her parents and then she would only return to them on certain days of the year when everyone else did the same.

In the book, Lily starts looking back at her life from the view of an 80-year-old woman. She tells us all about her life in her native family, her married family, her friendship and breakup with Snow Flower, her life during the Taiping Rebellion (Wikipedia), her roles as daughter, wife, mother, friend. She doesn't leave anything out.

I also thought it was interesting how important horoscopes were. Lily and Snow Flower were horses which meant they were free-spirited and independent, but also hardworking.

But the language in the book is also beautiful, makes you want to read on and on.

A very interesting novel if you are interested in history, China, or the life or women in general.

From the back cover:

"In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, 'old same', in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men.

As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart."

Fatland, Erika "Sovietistan"

Fatland, Erika "Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan" (Norwegian: Sovjetistan. En reise gjennom Turkmenistan, Kasakhstan, Tadsjikistan, Kirgisistan og Usbekistan) - 2014

After reading "The Border" by this Norwegian author where she travels all around the Russian border and visits every adjoining country, I was eager to read her first book where she visited the Central Asian "Stans" who became independent after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

I was not disappointed. Erika Fatland seems like someone who really researches what she does. She speaks several languages, i.a. Russian which makes it easier but she still meets many people who don't speak any of the languages she knows. You can definitely tell she knows a lot about exploring other cultures. And it's interesting to read a woman's perspective about this part of the world, doesn't happen too often.

There is so much history in the part of the world, longer than the European one, definitely longer than any of the "new world" and this book makes us aware that we should always look at someone's history if we try to understand them. From the Mongolian invaders through the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, these countries have all had to endure a lot. It's not easy to go back to what we would call "normal democracy" in just one generation. Some of the countries seem to be on a better way than others but I'm sure it will still take a long time until all the inhabitants will be able to live a free life.

The author tells us about the Silk Road, the mountains and valleys, the rich cities of the past (like Samarkand, doesn't that name just conjure some dreamy 1001 night-like picture?). And the ethnic people who have inhabited this area for thousands of years. In telling her story where it fits in the historical parts she mentions, she gives us a good idea about how life in those countries seems to be. From old cultures like bride-stealing to the wealth brought through oil, there is a lot to take in

We hear about Genghis Khan and Amir Timur or Tamerlane, two Mongol conquerors, who influenced the region just as much as Stalin later on.

A while ago I read a book about the Hutterer (The Forgotten People) who came to Canada via this region and Erika Fatland also mentions the Mennonites who suffered the same fate, some of whom still occupy their area. It was interesting to compare these two religious' groups.

But those are not the only interesting people the traveller met. There are so many anecdotes about the people she met and how she often was welcomed with open arms.

There is this guy (Igor Savitsky, see here on Wikipedia) who founded a museum in the middle of nowhere, even in Uzbek standards, the State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named after I.V. Savitsky, also known as Nukus Museum of Art or Savitsky Museum and the Desert of Forbidden Art.

Or she talks to human rights activists, people who live in the mountains without any electricity or anything else we all consider necessary to live a decent life. They don't and chose to live like that. Totally interesting.

As always, it was great to read about a part of the world we know so little about. Most Europeans would even be able to find the right countries on a map if questioned let alone name the capital cities. I've learned them now and hope to remember them:
Kazakhstan: Nur-Sultan, formerly Astana
Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek
Tajikistan: Dushanbe
Turkmenistan: Ashgabat
Uzbekistan: Tashkent

Granted, there are so many topics in this book, anthropology, communism, dictatorship, economy, ecology, human rights, politics, religion, sociology, you name it, everything that fits into human life is there, but it is still a highly pleasurable read.

I also really appreciated to see this world through the eyes of a woman. A woman who grew up in a free world and therefore would see more of the restrictions women in these countries have to live with than any man ever would. Well done, Erika!

This was our international online book club read in November 2020.

Some comments by the readers:

• I had once read a travel book I didn't like, therefore didn't think I would like this one, but it absolutely gripped me and held my interest through all the many layers of history, politics, culture, travelling, etc.
• At the meeting we talked a lot about how the USSR nostalgia seem to appear and how for example we in Finland reading this book might be reacting to that.
• Personally, I really, really enjoyed this book. It definitely widened my knowledge of a lot of things and was really well written.
  

From the back cover:

"Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world.

Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships.

In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea; she witnesses the fall of a dictator.

She travels incognito through Turkmenistan, a country that is closed to journalists. She meets exhausted human rights activists in Kazakhstan, survivors from the massacre in Osh in 2010, and German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts between ethnic Russians and the majority in a country that is slowly building its future in nationalist colors.

Once the frontier of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the brutalist Soviet architecture, Sovietistan is a rare and unforgettable adventure."

Happy Thanksgiving

🍁 It's a special day in the United States. As on every fourth Thursday in November, they celebrate Thanksgiving, a feast originally giving thanks for a good harvest (as is still done all around the world) but nowadays often thought as a commemoration of the first feast the Pilgrims had with the native Americans.

🍁 In Germany, we celebrate our Harvest Festival (German: Erntedankfest) on the first Sunday in October. But it is more a church tradition than a family celebration. The churches are decorated with harvest crops and there usually is a collection for local charities. In the United Kingdom, where we lived a couple of years, they have a similar practice, only they also donate food to be given to local food banks.

🍁 As I mentioned in my post about my Non-Bookish Hobbies, we have lived among and worked with Americans for decades and have adapted their way of Thanksgiving for our German friends and family who love this glimpse of a different culture. We've done this every year (with one exception) since 2006. Unfortunately, we might not be able to share it this year, either. Therefore, just a little reminder to all of us to enjoy what we can and start doing the other things once we get the "all clear" from our governments again.

🍁 Our dishes vary from time to time, depending on who comes and whose favourite food it is but, so far, we have served:
🦃 Turkey, pulled pork; cranberry sauce, gravy; cornbread, corn pudding, macaroni & cheese; bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes; baked beans, cauliflower, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, spiced carrots; apple pie, blueberry pie, lemon meringue pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie.

🦃 My artist niece and her father (one of my brothers) made a Turkey for us from an old pottery chicken my parents had in their house. They called him "Henry" and has been a member of our group ever since. It's almost as if my parents still participated. (picture with the compliments of my hubby)

🍁 One other part that belongs to our Thanksgiving just as much as the turkey and all the other stuff is a movie by one of my favourite directors, Gurinder Chadha. Her parents are Indian, she was born in Kenya and grew up in the UK. Add to that her husband who is American with Japanese and Basque ancestry, the couple combines almost all the continents among them. Gurinder Chadha mainly makes films about Indian lives in the UK (Bend it Like Beckham is probably her most famous though one of my favourites is Bride & Prejudice).

🍁 Anyway, through her husband, she got to know Thanksgiving and she mentioned that most families have one thing in common, the turkey, but the rest of the food depends very much on their origin. So, for her film What's Cooking? she created four families with different cultural backgrounds (Latino, Asian, African and Jewish) and shows their Thanksgiving. Gurinder Chadha received several awards for it, well deserved. It's a wonderful movie with a fantastic cast and if you haven't seen it, please, please, watch it this year. It's our "Groundhog Day" moment of the year (although we do watch that one, as well, on the 2nd of February).

🍁I wish all my US American friends and anyone else who celebrates
a very happy Thanksgiving. 🍁

🍁 🦃 🥧 🎉 🍁

Top Ten Tuesday - Halloween Freebie

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at "The Broke and the Bookish".

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.

Halloween Freebie

We don't really celebrate Halloween over here though some kids seem to be going around. Also, I'm not into fantasy, science fiction and/or horror stories, so not many recommendations. Instead of coming up with something that I don't really enjoy or have no relation to, I thought I'd tell you a little about our German autumn customs.

First of all, there is the festivity of St. Martin of Tours. There is a legend that he cut his coat in half and shared it with a beggar. Now, he rides on a horse through the villages and the children follow him with their lanterns, often to the church. The lanterns are mostly self-made, either at home or in playgroup/elementary school. You can buy them everywhere but the own ones are so much more fun. When I was little, we had real candles in them and had to be very careful for them not to burn down. Nowadays, you put an electric one in, safer and still the same amount of fun.

But we also used to go out on other nights. People had decorations up and you would go to the houses in the neighbourhood, sing some songs and get sweets as a "reward". So, you might have little visitors all through autumn, as soon as the nights got longer.

One of my favourite artists, Frank Koebsch, has painted two beautiful pictures of this even, one of them I published in my "Happy September" blog from 2018, the other one is from 2011, both of them depict the custom very well.

"Lasst uns Laterne gehen"

"Ich geh mit meiner Laterne"

And here are some of the songs we used to sing.

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne

Ich geh’ mit meiner Laterne und meine Laterne mit mir. Da oben leuchten die Sterne und unten da leuchten wir. Mein Licht ist aus, ich geh’ nach Haus. rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.

English translation: I Walk with My Lantern I walk with my lantern, And my lantern with me. Above, there shine the stars, And we shine down here. My light is out, I go home, Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.

Listen to this song on YouTube

Laterne, Laterne

Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne, brenne auf mein Licht, brenne auf mein Licht, aber nur meine liebe Laterne nicht.

English translation: Lantern, Lantern Lantern, Lantern, Sun, moon and stars, Burn down, my light, Burn down, my light, But not my dear lantern.

Listen to this song on YouTube

We would sing the lantern songs at the houses, but here is a song that tells the whole legend and is usually sung when following "St. Martin".

Sankt Martin

Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin ritt durch Schnee und Wind, Sein Ross, das trug ihn fort geschwind. Sankt Martin ritt mit leichtem Mut, Sein Mantel deckt' ihn warm und gut. Im Schnee saß, im Schnee saß, Im Schnee, da saß ein armer Mann, Hat Kleider nicht, hat Lumpen an. "O helft mir doch in meiner Not, Sonst ist der bitt're Frost mein Tod!" Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin zog die Zügel an, Sein Ross stand still beim armen Mann. Sankt Martin mit dem Schwerte teilt Den warmen Mantel unverweilt. Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin gab den halben still: Der Bettler rasch ihm danken will Sankt Martin aber ritt in Eil Hinweg mit seinem Mantelteil. Sankt Martin legt sich still zur Ruh, da tritt im Traum der Herr hinzu. Der spricht: "Hab Dank, du Reitersmann, für das, was du an mir getan.

English translation St. Martin St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin St. Martin rode through snow and wind, His horse carried him quickly away. St. Martin rode with light courage, His cloak kept him warm and good warm. In the snow sat, in the snow sat, In the snow, there sat a poor man, He didn't have clothes, he wore only rags: "Oh help me in my distress, Otherwise the bitter frost will be my death!" St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin pulled the reins, His horse stood still near the poor man, With his sword St. Martin cut the warm cloak in half. St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin quietly gives half, The beggar's wants to thank him quickly, But St. Martin was riding away in haste With half his cloak. St. Martin lies down quietly to rest, In a dream the Lord appears. Who says: "Thank you, horseman, For what you did to me."

Listen to this song on YouTube

Harari, Yuval Noah "Homo Deus"

Harari, Yuval Noah "Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow"- 2016

After reading "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind", I knew I had to read the following books by this brilliant scientist and author.

After trying to explain how we got where we are today, Yuval Noah Harari now takes us on an expedition into the future, almost list Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Carol", we've dealt with "Christmas Past", we know "Christmas Present" but we have no idea what "Christmas yet to come" will bring us. The author gives us options, tells us what could be if we don't change or even what can be if we do change. Let me tell it like this, a lot was not new to me, but he gives so many different perspectives that it is interesting to see where else we might be heading.

This highly engaging book makes us aware of what we are today, where we are today, what needs to be done and what we can do. We all know that machines and computers have taken over a huge part of what our world used to be, are we ready for the next step?

I'm already looking forward to his next book where he deals with "Christmas Present": "21 Lessons for the 21st Century".

I think all his books should enter every school curriculum.

From the back cover:

"From the author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind comes an extraordinary new book that explores the future of the human species.

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the bestselling Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, envisions a not-too-distant world in which we face a new set of challenges. In Homo Deus, he examines our future with his trademark blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between. 

Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

War is obsolete
You are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in conflict

Famine is disappearing
You are at more risk of obesity than starvation

Death is just a technical problem
Equality is out but immortality is in

What does our future hold?"

Yu, Hua "China in Ten Words"

Yu, Hua (余華/Yú Huá) "China in Ten Words" (Chinese: 十個詞彙裡的中國/Shi ge cihui li de Zhongguo) - 2012

Our latest book club suggestion. I am happy somebody thought of it because it is a remarkable book. I love to read about different cultures but I also love to read about language and find out what kind of words are used in which connection. To read about "disparity" or "copycat" and what the meaning of that is in modern day China is pretty interesting. Whether it's about Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution, the ever present Little Red Book or just the ordinary Chinese person, the author has experienced it all first-hand.

My favourite chapter must have been "Reading", there are some fantastic quotes that recap my feelings brilliantly:

"I did once sum up my experience in the following way:
'every time I read one of the great books, I feel myself transported to another place, and like a timid child I hug them close and mimic their steps, slowly tracing the long river of time in a journey where warmth and emotion fuse. They carry me off with them, then let me make my own way back, and it's only on my return that I realize they will always be part of me.'"

and

"If literature truly possesses a mysterious power, I think perhaps it is precisely this: that one can read a book by a writer of a different time, a different country, a different race, a different language, and a different culture  and there encounter a sensation that is one's very own. Heine put into words the feeling I had as a child when I lay napping in the morgue. And that, I tell myself, is literature."


The book teaches us a lot about life in China during the lifetime of the author (born 1960) so far as well as about the author himself. I thought it fascinating to learn about a life that could have been mine since I am about the same age as Hua Yu. Intriguing.

From the back cover:

"From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation.

Framed by ten phrases common in the Chinese vernacular - 'people,' 'leader,' 'reading,' 'writing,' 'Lu Xun' (one of the most influential Chinese writers of the twentieth century), 'disparity,' 'revolution,' 'grassroots,' 'copycat,' and 'bamboozle' - China in Ten Words reveals as never before the world’s most populous yet oft-misunderstood nation. In 'Disparity,' for example, Yu Hua illustrates the mind-boggling economic gaps that separate citizens of the country. In 'Copycat,' he depicts the escalating trend of piracy and imitation as a creative new form of revolutionary action. And in 'Bamboozle,' he describes the increasingly brazen practices of trickery, fraud, and chicanery that are, he suggests, becoming a way of life at every level of society.

Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the 'Chinese miracle' and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today."

We discussed this book in our international online book club in July 2019.

Achebe, Chinua "Things Fall Apart"

Achebe, Chinua "Things Fall Apart" (The African Trilogy #1) - 1958

A story about Nigeria just after the arrival of the first European colonists in the late nineteenth century.

I haven't read many African novels but this is by far the best one to portray African culture and what Europeans have done to them through their colonies. Okonkwo and his village live a perfectly good life with their tribes, tradition, religion, work and family life. And then the European missionaries arrive and tell them that everything they've done so far is wrong and force them into changes that none of them really wants.

What would we think if someone from another continent came and told us that our religion is wrong, the way we live is wrong, the way we work is wrong, that we are a failure altogether? They alienate our children, our partners, question our education system, the way we build our houses, organize our society.

We must not like Okonkwo in order to understand that colonialism was just wrong. This is no way to help another nation, another culture, it's just a way to destroy it and the lives of those that live it.

A great book that I would recommend to everyone who is interested in other cultures, even or especially if they don't exist like this anymore.

This is the first story of the author's "African Trilogy". "No longer at Ease" and "Arrow of God" are the follow-up novels.

From the back cover:

"Things Fall Apart tells two intertwining stories, both centering on Okonkwo, a 'strong man' of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first, a powerful fable of the immemorial conflict between the individual and society, traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the tribal world. The second, as modern as the first is ancient, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world with the arrival of aggressive European missionaries.

These perfectly harmonized twin dramas are informed by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul."

Chinua Achebe received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2002.

Chinua Achebe received the Booker International Prize in 2007 because he "illuminated the path for writers around the world seeking new words and forms for new realities and societies".

Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens"

Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind" (Hebrew: קיצור תולדות האנושות/Ḳizur Toldot Ha-Enoshut) - 2014

This book is one of the most interesting ones I have read lately. A book that tries to explain how we became the beings we are today, what happened between the time the first humanoid forms appeared on this earth and today. It answers many questions you might have never asked yourself but always should have.

Why did the Homo Sapiens survive and not the Neanderthal? Why did we go from being hunters and gatherers to being settlers, farmers? Did it do us any good? Have people in the middle ages been unhappier than we are today? What is the advantage of global communities? And where does all this go? How much does biology influence history? What exactly are cultural differences?

If you have any questions along those lines, the answer is probably in this book. Or - it can't be answered.

A brilliant book by a great mind, a history professor who has studied his fellow human beings intensely.

From the back cover:

"100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?

In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?

Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future."

 

I also read "Homo Deus" in the meantime. Just as great.

Rutherfurd, Edward "Russka. The Novel of Russia"

Rutherfurd, Edward "Russka. The Novel of Russia" - 1991

I have read Edward Rutherfurd's various epic historical stories about Britain, Ireland, Paris, I'm looking forward to all his other books and now it was Russia's turn.

What a book. Like in his other novels, the author did a lot of research which resulted in a superb telling of one country's life and history.

As usual, he describes the lives of four different families and their descendants, beginning in the year 180 and ending almost 2 millennia later in 1992 and thereby telling us the story of this great and vast land that has influenced world history for so long but also was influenced by it. The families include various ethnic, they belong to the serfs and the nobility, so you can have a good look into all kinds of lives. As we get to know the characters, we can get a better understanding about Russian history and politics, going from Genghis Khan over Ivan the Terrible to Peter and Catherine, both the Great, until Lenin and Stalin during the revolution in the 20th century. But we also hear about Russian art, literature, music, everything this country has to offer. I have recently learned that you call these kind of stories "multi-generational sagas". In any case, such an easy way to learn about history. And that is getting more and more important.

It is, of course, also a very chunky book, like all his other novels, 945 pages, wonderfully written, brilliantly composed. There is so much information on those pages, I can't believe he actually finished before reaching 1,000.

Now I need to read "Sarum" and "New York" (and then "China" at the end of the year) after having read all his other novels (see here).

From the back cover:

"The author of the phenomenally successful Sarum: The Novel of England now turns his remarkably vast talents to an even larger canvas.

Spanning 1800 years of Russia's history, people, politics, and culture, this grand saga is as multifaceted as the country itself: harsh yet exotic, proud yet fearful of enemies, steeped in ancient superstitions but always seeking to make its mark on the emerging world.

In Russka, Edward Rutherfurd transforms the epic history of a great civilization into a human story of flesh and blood, boldness and action, chronicling the lives of four families who are divided by ethnicity but united in shaping the destiny of their land."

Find a link to all my reviews on his other novels here.

Pye, Michael "The Edge of the World"

Pye, Michael "The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are" - 2014

An exciting book. A look at how we became what we are. What has the North Sea done, how has it contributed to our history?

It looks like it has done a lot, it sent out fishermen and pirates, businessmen and adventurers. We didn't just find the American Continent by those first people who wanted to find new waterways, a lot of our system and how we live today started there. Our way of living, doing business, organizing, politics, law, science, insurance, money, art, everything comes from those explorations and how people first started to settle and find their way in this world.

Frisians, Vikings, Angles, Irish, Dutch, they all added their bits. And being from the Northern part of Germany myself, I have often found a connection to all those other inhabitants of the North Sea shores, we don't just share that history, we share a lot of culture, we tell the same jokes, have the same folk music.

I especially loved the part of the Hanseatic League, a 13th to 17th century alliance of European trading cities reaching from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland. If you read "Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann, one of my favourite books, you should be familiar with the influence the Hanse had on the people at the time. But it is often seen as a predecessor of the European Union. While I don't think that is exactly true, it was the first union that found that you are stronger in a league, that your chances were bigger and your gain larger.

Hugely interesting, not just for Europeans. There are so many threads, so many details in this book. Granted, it doesn't give the answer to everything but it surely is a great way to start if you only want to try to understand part of where we are today.

From the back cover:
"When the Romans retreated from northern Europe, they left behind lands of barbarians at the very edge of the known world. Yet a thousand years later the countries surrounding the North Sea were at the heart of scientific, mercantile and artistic enlightenments and controlled the first truly global empires.
In The Edge of the World, Michael Pye explains how a small but treacherous body of water inspired the saints, spies, fisherman, pirates, traders and marauders who lived beside and journeyed across the North Sea to give birth to our modern world."

Some books mentioned:
The Gospel according to Heliand (Saviour)
Lorris, Guillaume de "Le Roman de la Rose"
Huges, Thomas "Tom Brown's Schooldays"

Garfield, Simon "On the Map"

Garfield, Simon "On the Map. Why the World Looks the Way it Does" (aka: "On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks") - 2012

I have always loved maps. They are beautiful, they tell tales of far away countries, exotic worlds, people I will never meet, life at different times. How can anybody not like maps. They teach us so much, yet they are also an art form to admire and enjoy.

Simon Garfield has put together a collection of stories about maps through the ages. He does not just tells us what the most interesting maps are, he tells us the whole history. What did the first known map look like, how did it change over time, why do we draw maps the way we do, what do they tell us?

Any map is a drawing of a location as well as a political statement. While most of the first maps were drawn for sea voyagers and a lot of the continents were only known as an outline, things have changed. There is a long way from the Mercator to the Google Map. Simon Garfield tells us about this trip. He introduces the oldest map and the biggest map, he shows us how maps could help stop diseases, how guidebooks changed the way of travel and how satellite navigation changes our way of looking at the world.

If someone didn't care for maps before they got this book in their hands, they certainly will afterwards. There are stories behind every map. For example, I really liked the one about Phyllis Pearsall who walked the streets of London in order to publish the London A-Z. And he even mentions an episode from one of my favourite television shows, "The West Wing", where Press Secretary C.J. Cregg and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman attend a briefing by cartographers who want to change all maps in schools from the Mercator to the Peters Projection map and explain that Greenland is a lot smaller than Africa (fourteen times smaller, in fact), something you would never guess if you looked at the well-known Mercator map.

In one article, the author describes the way a lot of computer games are based on maps. This reminded me of one of our favourite first games called Bushbuck. It was a treasure hunt, you would be given an object that was well known for a certain town (usually the capital of a country) and you had to fly there. Along the way you would receive hints until you found the town. It was a wonderful game and we found exotic places like Tuvalu and Kiribati. A wonderful way to learn the countries and their capitals, unfortunately it does not seem to exist anymore.

If you didn't get the idea until now, I really loved this book.

One of my favourite quotes on page 63: "Most [maps] share a common purpose: they were not intended for use, at least not for travel use. Rather, they were statements of philosophical, political, religious, encyclopedic and conceptual concerns."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Maps fascinate us. They chart our understanding of the world and they log our progress, but above all they tell our stories. From the early sketches of philosophers and explorers through to Google Maps and beyond, Simon Garfield examines how maps both relate and realign our history.

With a historical sweep ranging from Ptolemy to Twitter, Garfield explores the legendary, impassable (and non-existent) mountains of Kong, the role of cartography in combatting cholera, the 17th-century Dutch craze for Atlases, the Norse discovery of America, how a Venetian monk mapped the world from his cell and the Muppets' knack of instant map-travel. Along the way are pocket maps of dragons, Mars, murders and more, with plenty of illustrations and prints to signpost the route.

From the bestselling and widely-adored author of Just My Type, On The Map is a witty and irrepressible examination of where we've been, how we got there and where we're going."

Rutherfurd, Edward "Paris"

Rutherfurd, Edward "Paris" - 2013

Paris, 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.

Contrary to most of his other books, this one is not written in chronological order. Therefore, I found it a little more difficult to follow the historyof the various families and also some surprises taken away from us.

But it was still a great book, really deserves to be named alongside Edward Rutherfurd's other books.

As in his other stories, we meet all sorts of families through the ages from all sorts of backgrounds, nobility as well as the common man, rich and poor, Christians and Jews who intermingle in the various generations. Through these families we can see how people lived in this famous city and how the history of this town and its country unfolds. There is a lot to learn about the French and Edward Rutherfurd makes it easy for us.

A big book, 1,360 pages where we can delve into the City of Love.

I am looking forward to reading more of his books, I still have "Sarum", "Russka" and "New York" on my list.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"City of love. City of splendour. City of terror. City of dreams.

Inspired by the haunting, passionate story of the city of lights, this epic novel weaves a gripping tale of four families across the centuries: from the lies that spawn the noble line of de Cygne to the revolutionary Le Sourds who seek their destruction; from the Blanchards whose bourgeois respectability offers scant protection against scandal to the hard-working Gascons and their soaring ambitions.

Over hundreds of years, these four families are bound by forbidden loves and marriages of convenience; dogged by vengeance and murderous secrets; torn apart by the irreconcilable differences of birth and faith, and brought together by the tumultuous history of their city.

Paris bursts to life in the intrigue, corruption and glory of its people. Beloved author of Sarum, London and New York, Edward Rutherfurd illuminates Paris as only he can: capturing the romance and everyday drama of the men and women who, in two thousand years, transformed a humble trading post on the muddy banks of the Seine into the most celebrated city in the world."

Find a link to all my reviews on his other novels here.

Gao, Xingjian "Soul Mountain"

 

Gao, Xingjian "Soul Mountain" (Chinese: 灵山, língshān) – 1989

An extraordinary book. A biography, a search for someone's soul in a world where the individual means nothing. A collection of stories from the now to the past, jumping to and fro but after a while, you get the hang of it. An introduction to the characters that are "I" and "you", "he", and "she" but they all seem to intermingle. A story about a traveler who discovers his own country and thereby discovers himself. And on the side, he introduces the reader to a lot of Chinese culture, religion, politics and history as well as his own story, the story of his father, his ancestors.

I also liked his insight into many problems that are out of his way, you would think he has other problems of his own to think about but, no, he comes up with quotes like "...when people assault nature [sic] nature inevitably takes revenge." or "... nature is not frightening, it's people who are frightening!"

One of my favourite passages: "I am perpetually searching for meaning, but what in fact is meaning? Can I stop people from constructing this big dam as an epitaph for the annihilation of their selves? I can only search for the self of the I who is small and insignificant like a grain of sand. I may as well write a book on the human self without worrying whether it will be published. But then of what consequence is it whether one book more, or one book less, is written? Hasn't enough culture been destroyed? Does humankind need so much culture? And moreover, what is culture?"

And then, as an Esperanto speaker myself, I love it when I find my language in a book: "He had a deep voice and could sing L'Internationale in Esperanto."

This is certainly not an easy read, something you read on the side to hear a "nice story". The author challenges you to try to understand his ways, his culture's ways. And by accompanying him on his search for Soul Mountain at the source of the You River, you can find a lot about yourself, as well.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

" In 1983, Chinese playwright, critic, fiction writer, and painter Gao Xingjian was diagnosed with lung cancer and faced imminent death. But six weeks later, a second examination revealed there was no cancer -- he had won 'a reprieve from death'. Faced with a repressive cultural environment and the threat of a spell in a prison farm, Gao fled Beijing and began a journey of 15,000 kilometers into the remote mountains and ancient forests of Sichuan in southwest China. The result of this epic voyage of discovery is Soul Mountain.

Bold, lyrical, and prodigious, Soul Mountain probes the human soul with an uncommon directness and candor and delights in the freedom of the imagination to expand the notion of the individual self."

Xingjian Gao received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000 "for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama".

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

Truss, Lynne "Talk to the Hand"

Truss, Lynne "Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life (or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door)" - 2005

"'Talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening,' the saying goes. When did the world stop wanting to hear? When did society become so thoughtless?"

Even though I nodded to a lot of the points Lynne Truss had on this subject, I often thought "I didn't experience this in England". When we moved to England and I had our second son, I was astonished of the politeness people were showing, even teenagers going out of their way to open a door, for example. However, I can see what she means, people are not as polite any more as they used to be, everywhere. I guess for someone from the continent, people in the UK will always be more polite and for people in the UK they will think the opposite since they are treated more politely because they behave more politely.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, definitely not as much as "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", but it was fine. And I had a good laugh a lot of times .

From the back cover:

"The best-selling author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is back with a book on the state of modern manners. 'Talk to the Hand' is a colourful call to arms - from the wittiest defender of the civilised world."

Fox, Kate "Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour"

Fox, Kate "Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour" - 2004

An anthropology about a nation dear to my heart - the English. This book is quite funny at times and I am sure all the English people will love it and just nod their heads all the time - well, most of the others will do the same. And I did it, too, at least most of the time. However, I think the author's conclusions are a little too negative. I never experienced the English not talking to strangers. When I moved to England, I met such a lovely set of people and made many, many friends. I still have, after eleven years in the Netherlands, more friends back in the UK than over here. So, maybe I see the English through too rose-tinted glasses, but that's the way I experienced them.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"In WATCHING THE ENGLISH anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. She puts the English national character under her anthropological microscope, and finds a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and byzantine codes of behaviour. The rules of weather-speak. The ironic-gnome rule. The reflex apology rule. The paranoid-pantomime rule. Class indicators and class anxiety tests. The money-talk taboo and many more ...Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments (using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig), Kate Fox discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness."