Rushdie, Salman "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder"

Rushdie, Salman "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder" - 2024

This was my third book by Salman Rushdie. I have enjoyed them all but this one was probably the most personal and therefore very special and highly impressive.

He doesn't just tell us about the attack and its consequences, both physically and mentally, he also recounts the problems he had during and with the fatwa. How can people go and attack someone who has a different opinion? We don't go and attack those that attack him. If their God was the most important one of all the Gods, he would probably not tell them to kill everyone who is against him.

The whole book is quotable, therefore you should absolutely read it. But here are some very quotable thoughts:

"Chance determines our fates at least as profoundly as choice, or those nonexistent notions karma, qismat, 'destiny'".

"… we would not think in the long term. We would be grateful for each day … and live it as fully as we could."

"I understand that for many people religion provides a moral anchor and seems essential. And in my view, the private faith of anyone is nobody's business except that of the individual concerned. I have no issue with religion when it occupies this private space and doesn't seek to impose its values on others. But when religion becomes politicized, even weaponized, then it's everybody's business, because of its capacity for harm."

"When the faithful believe that what they believe must be forced upon others who do not believe it, or when they believe that nonbelievers should be prevented from the robust or humorous expression of their nonbelief, then there's a problem."

I think if this story teaches us anything, it's that you cannot kill people's opinions. There will always be supporters who will continue; now more than ever. Therefore, whoever supports terrorists, know that you might kill people but will never be able to kill an idea.

As an old German song says: Thoughts are free!

From the back cover:

"From internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring—and surviving—an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him

On the morning of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black—black clothes, black mask—rushed down the aisle toward him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey toward physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie at the peak of his powers, writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again."

Salman Rushdie received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2023.

Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook"

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

Part of my #Reading Austen project is to read a book by the author in the uneven months and a book about the author and/or her books in the even ones. This month, it was a book about her time with a lot of background information to why some characters acted the way they did. There were a lot of lovely illustrations and even more funny allusions to the novels.

I can heartily recommend this little book to any Jane Austen fan. Whether you have read her books or watched them on TV or in the cinemas (hopefully both), you will be delighted by this. And if time travelling was a thing, you could even learn how to behave in Regency times without anyone noticing you're from the future.

From the back cover:

"Jane Austen published her first novel in 1811, but today she's more popular than ever. Film adaptations of her books are nominated for Academy Awards. Chick lit bestsellers are based on her plots. And a new biopic of Austen herself Becoming Jane arrives in theaters this spring.

For all those readers who dream about living in Regency England, The Jane Austen Handbook offers step-by-step instructions for proper comportment in the early nineteenth century. You'll discover:

How to Become an Accomplished Lady
How to Run a Great House
How to Indicate Interest in a Gentleman Without Seeming Forward
How to Throw a Dinner Party
How to Choose and Buy Clothing

Full of practical directions for navigating the travails of Regency life, this charming illustrated book also serves as a companion for present-day readers, explaining the English class system, currency, dress, and the nuances of graceful living."

Pierce, Patricia "Jurassic Mary"

Pierce, Patricia "Jurassic Mary: Mary Anning and the primeval monsters" - 2006

Ever since I read "Remarkable Creatures" by Tracy Chevalier, I've been interested in the life of Mary Anning who lived from 1799 to 1847 and was the first person who discovered dinosaur bones.

And this was on my wishlist, so my son bought it for me. It was just as nice as I had hoped.

A thorough account of the life of a young girl who would become one of the most important figure in discovering dinosaurs. But, because she was only a woman, she didn't have a lot to say. Even though there were some men who acknowledged her, most of them only used her findings for their won. She didn't really get any recognition. What else is new?

From the back cover:

"Spinster Mary Anning, uneducated and poor, was of the wrong sex, wrong class and wrong religion, but fate decreed that she was exactly the right person in the right place and time to pioneer the emerging science of palaeontology, the study of fossils. Born in Lyme Regis in 1799, Mary learned to collect fossils with her cabinet-maker father. The unstable cliffs and stealthy sea made the task dangerous but after her father died the sale of fossils sustained her family. Mary’s fame started as an infant when she survived a lightning strike that killed the three adults around her. Then, aged twelve, she caught the public’s attention when she unearthed the skeleton of a ‘fish lizard’ or Ichthyosaurus. She later found the first Plesiosaurus giganteus, with its extraordinary long neck associated with the Loch Ness monster, and, dramatically, she unearthed the first, still rare, Dimorphodon macronyx, a frightening ‘flying dragon’ with hand claws and teeth.Yet her many discoveries were announced to the world by male geologists like the irrepressible William Buckland and Sir Henry De La Beche and they often received the credit. In Jurassic Mary Patricia Pierce redresses this imbalance, bringing to life the extraordinary, little-known story of this determined and pioneering woman."

McCourt, Malachy "A Monk Swimming"

McCourt, Malachy "A Monk Swimming" - 1998

The name McCourt is well known in reading circles, almost everyone knows Frank McCourt and his stories about his family. And he has mentioned his siblings. Well, Malachy is one of them. 

Same as his brother, this family member talks about his family. It is interesting to compare the experiences both brothers had with an alcoholic father in a dead-poor family. And how they both turned out in later life.

This story is a lot more negative than the "Angela's Ashes"-series. But also much funnier. The author comes across as the stereptypical Irish guy who likes drinking, singing etc. But he also shows that he has a heart. And after everything he went through as a child, we know he could have been a lot different.

One funny thing I have to tell. The weird title comes from his misunderstanding of a line in the Hail Mary when he was a child: "Blessed Art Though Among Women." He thought it meant "A Monk Swimming".

From the back cover:

"Slapped with a libel suit after an appearance on a talk show, Malachy McCourt crows, 'If they could only see me now in the slums of Limerick, a big shot, sued for a million. Bejesus, isn't America a great and wonderful country?' His older brother Frank's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, took its somber tone from the bleak atmosphere of those slums, while Malachy's boisterous recollections are fueled by his zestful appreciation for the opportunities and oddities of his native land.

He and Frank were born in Brooklyn, moved with their parents to Ireland as children, then returned to the States as adults. This book covers the decade 1952-63, when Malachy roistered across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, but spent most of his time in New York City. There his ready wit and quick tongue won him an acting job with the Irish Players, a semiregular stint on The Tonight Show hosted by Jack Paar, and friendships with some well-heeled, well-born types who shared his fondness for saloon life and bankrolled him in an East Side saloon that may have been the first singles bar. He chronicles those events--and many others--with back-slapping bonhomie.

Although McCourt acknowledges the personal demons that pursued him from his poverty-stricken childhood and destroyed his first marriage, this is on the whole an exuberant autobiography that pays tribute to the joys of a freewheeling life."

Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe"

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

This book was a present by my son for Christmas. While I usually try to read Dutch books in Dutch, this was an English edition. In the end, I was not unhappy about that because now I can pass it on to my sons. They both speak Dutch but wouldn't read such a large book in that language.

I have read a few book by this fantastic journalist and author. All of them having to do with the changes of our continent in modern times. Totally interesting and very well examined and described.

He wrote this book six years ago and he predicted many events that are true today. That shows how well he observes. This can be seen as a follow-up to "In Europe. Travels through the Twentieth Century". A very-well deserved and very well executed follow-up. His observations about the first twenty years of our century are shocking and frightening. We should listen what he has to say about the future.

And here are some important quotes (from many):

"I wrote Enraged Citizens to show how it ought to be. The Capital (Die Hauptstadt)  is what it actually is." Robert Menasse

"But let all those idiots gather together in politics without sufficient resistance of any kind and you get a dictatorship of idiocy". Jacques de Kadt, Dutch essayist, in 1936

"He [one of the Republican candidates in 2015] lacked even the most basic respect for facts, institutions and democratic principles. To him, political opponents were enemies, a compromise was not a dignified agreement but a capitulation …" Doesn’t that apply to all of them???

From the back cover:

'Mak is the history teacher everyone should have had' Financial Times

How did the great European dream turn sour? And where do we go from here? From the author of the internationally acclaimed In Europe, a stunning history of our present,examining the first two decades of this most fragile and fraught new millennium. The great European project was built out of a common desire for peace, prosperity and freedom; a wish for a united Europe striving towards a common goal. The EU was to set an an arena for close cooperation, tackling crucial shared concerns from climate change to organized crime, promoting open borders and social security. But the first two turbulent decades of this century have been times of rapid and profound change. From the shores of Lampedusa to Putin's Moscow, the continent threatens to tear itself apart. What's happened to Europe's optimism and euphoria? How has it given way to nostalgia, frustration and fear, the fragile European dream in danger of turning into a nightmare?

In The Dream of Europe, Geert Mak, one of Europe's best-loved commentators, charts the seismic events that have shaped people's lives over the past twenty years. Mak's monumental book In Europe defined the continent on the verge of a new millennium. The Dream of Europe brings us up to the present day, through the rocky expansion of the EU, the aftermath of 9/11 and terrorist attacks across Europe, the 2008 financial crash and the euro crisis, the tragedy of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, the rise of right-wing populism and Brexit.

Like no other, Mak blends history, politics and culture with the stories and experiences of the many Europeans he meets on his travels. He brings this continent to life, and asks what role does Europe play now, and how might we face our challenges together, in the spirit of solidarity and connection.

'A powerful, humane and serious mind' Guardian

'Mak is a truly cosmopolitan chronicler' Independent"

Campbell, Jen "Weird Things Customers say in Bookshops"

Campbell, Jen "Weird Things Customers say in Bookshops" - 2012 

What is weird? I can think of weird-funny, weird-strange, weird-stupid, weird-crazy, weird-peculiar, ...

There are 182 synonyms and antonyms to the word weird in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (I did not count them, it says so on their website: They divide it into weird as in bizarre, eerie, magical, unusual.

Well, this book has remarks by customers that fit them all. There is the joke at the back of the cover: "Do you have this children's book I've heard about? It's supposed to be very good. It's callled 'Lionel Richie and the Wardrobe'."

But there are lots more, many of the really stupid. It starts with the customer who read a book in the sixties that made them laugh. They don't remember the title, only that it was green.

And other customers who know nothing about the book they are looking for but expect the bookseller to find it. Or the customer who doesn't want to start with the first book in the series and then complains that they can't understand the fourth or fifth …

And then there are the people who come with their children and think they have every right to misbehave, destroy books or parts of the equipment. Honestly, I don't know how the sellers keep their calm.

Honestly, I could go on and on. But I leave it at this: Read the book!

From the back cover:

"A John Cleese Twitter question ('What is your pet peeve?'), first sparked the 'Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops' blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller's collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor.

From 'Did Beatrix Potter ever write a book about dinosaurs?' to the hunt for a paperback which could forecast the next year's weather; and from 'I've forgotten my glasses, please read me the first chapter' to 'Excuse me... is this book edible?', here is a book for heroic booksellers and booklovers everywhere.

This full-length collection illustrated by the Brothers McLeod also includes top 'Weird Things' from bookshops around the world."

Thoreau, Henry David "Walden"

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

Everyone told me I should read the book. I like to think about and speak about philosophy. But this was not for me. I saw it as the ramblings of a guy who thinks the world of himself. He reminded me of a certain president of these days ….

Yes, he had the idea to live on his own with no support from anyone. But he met people all the time, didn't live far from civilization where he could get help if he needed it. And - he didn't just live of nothing. He had a house to live in, albeit a cabin that was small and had just the bare essentials, but many, many people had to live with less than that. And still have. Not exactly the heroism he likes to portray.

I thought maybe it would get better and I could learn something in the end. I didn't.

Book Description:

"Originally published in 1854, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature. This new paperback edition-introduced by noted American writer John Updike-celebrates the 150th anniversary of this classic work. Much of Walden's material is derived from Thoreau's journals and contains such engaging pieces as 'Reading' and 'The Pond in the Winter' 

Other famous sections involve Thoreau's visits with a Canadian woodcutter and with an Irish family, a trip to Concord, and a description of his bean field. This is the complete and authoritative text of Walden - as close to Thoreau's original intention as all available evidence allows. For the student and for the general reader, this is the ideal presentation of Thoreau's great document of social criticism and dissent."

Clarke, Stephen "Talk to the Snail"

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

I have read two books by Stephen Clarke, so far. This was my third. While the others were fiction about an English guy living in Paris (well, the story is based on the author's life), this is a non-fiction book about the French people and the French language. Quite funny at times. Unless you're a very serious French person who doesn't have a sense of humour. I've lived abroad half of my life (though not in France) and I can see where some of his frustration comes from. 

There are so many parts in this book where I just nodded - or where I had to shake my head. There were a lot of things that I remarked in England, e.g. when he complains that the French don't use French words for illnesses or medication. I had that same experience in England. Unless it's a common cold, the use mainly Latin or Greek words, even for the doctors they go to. 

Then there are the international problems, like not getting on with your neighbours, that's not just a problem an Englishman in France has. And not getting served in a restaurant. How often do you have to dislocate your arm or should in order to get the attention of a waiter? Not just in France, I am sorry to say.

Still, there are a lot of helpful hints in the book, language- and otherwise. And the author hasn't lost his humour, either. Lovely book.

From the back cover:

"The only book you'll need to understand what the French really think, how to get on with them and, and most importantly, how to get the best out of them. With useful sections on:

• Making sure you get served in a café
• Harassing French estate agents
• Living with bacteria
• Pronouncing French swear-words
• Surviving the French driving experience
• Falling in amour, Paris-style
• And beaucoup beaucoup more!

Don't go to France without reading this book!"

Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast"

Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946

This is only a short book of 52 pages. Easy to take along on short trips.

And what a lovely title. I suppose Oscar Wilde considered himself a very boring person at breakfast.

While this sounds like another one of his not-so-well-known writings, it is really a collection of his aphorisms, quotes, anecdotes, witticisms. A delight to read. Again and again.

After reading this, I would have wished to be friends with him. I'm sure we would have really liked each other.

One of my favourite quotes, still as relevant today as it was a hundred years ago, especially with regard to certain politics:
"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."

From the back cover:

"Wilde's celebrated witticisms on the dangers of sincerity, duplicitous biographers, the stupidity of the English - and his own genius.

'It would be unfair to expect other people to be as remarkable as oneself'. Oscar Wilde"

This is a "Penguin Little Black Classics" edition and it looks like there are lots of other authors who 

There is even a box set with the following description:

"A stunning collection of all 80 exquisite Little Black Classics from Penguin

This spectacular box set of the 80 books in the Little Black Classics series showcases the many wonderful and varied writers in Penguin Black Classics. From India to Greece, Denmark to Iran, the United States to Britain, this assortment of books will transport readers back in time to the furthest corners of the globe. With a choice of fiction, poetry, essays and maxims, by the likes of Chekhov, Balzac, Ovid, Austen, Sappho and Dante, it won't be difficult to find a book to suit your mood. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of the Penguin Classics list - from drama to poetry, from fiction to history, with books taken from around the world and across numerous centuries."

It would be worth getting.

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home"

Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017

My favourite book of the month. As part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club has started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, last month it was "Pride & Prejudice", next month will be "Sense & Sensibility". When it fits in with my other reading "duties" (book clubs and challenges), I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

This was a fabulous biography. Lucy Worsley really "visited" Jane Austen at home and accompanied her on all her visits to friends and family. It was so nice to read what she and her family, especially her sister Cassandra had been up to. You hear about the relationship between them and also any other person of their lifetime. Also, the way they lived. We all know that they had money problems but it is different today, at least in our countries. Also, the things Jane did for female authors and women in general are not to be underestimated.

After reading this book, I feel I got to know Jane Austen better, almost personally. I would love to have all biographies written like this. I think I love the author even more than I did before.

There are so many quotes I could mention but I leave it at this one  about my favourite novel: "Persuasion was … set precisely in the period of peace between the months June 1814 and February 1815, when Britian's naval officers were on shore leave." It shows how her novels relate to the time she lived in.

From the back cover:

"Historian Lucy Worsley visits Jane Austen at home, exploring the author's life through the places which meant the most to her.

On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.

This new telling of the story of Jane's life shows us how and why she lived as she did, examining the places and spaces that mattered to her. It wasn't all country houses and ballrooms, but a life that was often a painful struggle. Jane famously lived a 'life without incident', but with new research and insights Lucy Worsley reveals a passionate woman who fought for her freedom. A woman who far from being a lonely spinster in fact had at least five marriage prospects, but who in the end refused to settle for anything less than Mr Darcy."

The book also contains some interesting pictures that relate to Jane Austen's life.

Nonfiction November 2024

I have taken part in Nonfiction November for the last couple of years. I have not had the time and energy to participate every week but I want to do a little overview over my nonfiction year.

This is the schedule and the hosts for 2024:

Week 1 (10/30-11/3) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Heather @ Based on a True Story 

Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
Frances @ Volatile Rune

Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. You can be as creative as you like!
Liz @ Adventures in reading, running and working from home 

Week 4 (11/20-11/24) Worldview Shapers: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone? (Rebekah)

Rebekah @ She Seeks Nonfiction

Week 5 (11/27-12/1) New To My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 
Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life 

I like reading novels but I also read a lot of non-fiction, mainly biographies and history. And I'd like to draw the attention to the books I read this year, so therefore, here is my list.

Bythell, Shaun "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" - 2022
Life in a bookshop
Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996
A book dedicated to help parents raise their childen
Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013
The history of letters
Kishon, Ephraim (English books) "Kishon for all occasions. 327 useless pieces of wisdom" - Kishon für alle Fälle. 327 unbrauchbare Lebensweisheiten - 1987
A humorous book 
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937 
Conditions under which people live in 1937
Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window/Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (TR: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat) - Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen - 2008
Many topics discussed by this Nobel Prize laureate
Tibballs, Geoff "The Good, the Bad and the Wurst. The 100 Craziest Moments from the European Song Contest" - 2016 
Eurovision
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997
Biography
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013
Trying to find out aobut a polar expedition gone tragic

And then some non-translated German books:
Güngör, Dilek "Pretty German. My Turkish family and I" - Ganz schön deutsch. Meine türkische Familie und ich - 2007
A girl with Turkish roos growing up in Germany
Kapitelman, Dmitrij "The smile of my invisible father" - Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters - 2016
Ukrainian born Jews who moved to Germany trying to find their roots in Israel

Kerkeling, Hape "Paws off the table! My cats, other cats and me" - Pfoten vom Tisch! Meine Katzen, andere Katzen und ich - 2021
German comedian who writes about the cats in his life

Matzig, Gerhard "My Wife Wants a Garden. The Adventure of Building a House in the Suburbs" - Meine Frau will einen Garten. Vom Abenteuer, ein Haus am Stadtrand zu bauen - 2010
The adventure of trying to find a house in Munich and then building one on a very narrow plot of land
Orth, Stephan (English books) "Couchsurfing in Ukraine" - Couchsurfing in der Ukraine - 2024 
Schnoy, Sebastian "Smørrebrød in Napoli. A fun journey through Europe" - Smørrebrød in Napoli. Ein vergnüglicher Streifzug durch Europa - 2009
Hilarious book about Europe for supporters of the European Union, but even more so for opponents of it
Sieg, Sören; Krohn, Axel "I didn't understand you visually. Overheard German dialogues" - Ich hab dich rein optisch nicht verstanden. Deutsche Dialoge mitgehört - 2015
Lots of conversations where people mix up the meaning of words
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter "We" - Wir - 2024
A talk of our president about the world as it is
Weiler, Jan "The Book of 39 Precious Things" - Das Buch der 39 Kostbarkeiten - 2011
A selection of short stories, columns, throughts about everyday life
Zierl, Helmut "Follow the Sun. The Summer of my Life" - Follow the Sun. Der Sommer meines Lebens - 2020
A German actor who tells us about his adventurous life at 16

And here are my posts from the previous years.

Bythell, Shaun "Remainders of the Day"

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

I absolutely love Shaun Bythell's books about his shop and his customers, his clients and his friends. I had already read his former ones and this is just as great.

So, this is certainly one of the best books I read this year. Shaun Bythell's humour is one of the greatest. I hope he will write a new book soon.

Here are some examples:

"Some people (so we're told) don't read. What unfulfilling lives they lead."
I couldn't agree more.

And his favourite from the book "Nil Desperandum, a Dictionary of Latin Tags and Phrases":
"Timeo hominem unius libri." - "I fear the man of one book!"
We definitely should!

A sixteenth century Spanish curse:
"For him that stealeth this book, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him."

Book description:

"After twenty years running The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland, Shaun Bythell's life has settled into a mostly comfortable routine; days spent roaming between the shelves, poetry nights by the fire, frequent drop-ins from friends with gossip.

But while customers come and go - whether or not they’ve paid - there’s never a quiet moment in The Bookshop. Apart from the usual stream of die-hard trainspotters, antiquarian porn collectors and toddlers looking for somewhere cosy to urinate, Shaun still must contend with his employees’ increasingly eccentric habits, the mayhem of the Wigtown Book Festival and the shock of the town’s pub changing hands.

Warm and witty, with Shaun’s iconic mix of deadpan humour and grouchy charm, Remainders of the Day is the latest in his bestselling diary series."

Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing"

Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013

I read a book by Simon Garfield a couple of years ago: "On the Map. Why the World Looks the Way it Does".

I really loved it. And since I love letters just as much as I love maps, I just had to get this one.

It is an interesting book about the development of letters, how they came into existence in the first place, how they changed over the centuries, what they mean today in a world of e-mails and phone messages.

I used to be a keen letter writer and was really looking forward to this book. And though it is a good survey into the habit of letter writing and contained some nice anecdotes, I found it a little boring at times. I don't mind jumping around in a story but this was all a little too haphazardly.

That might have been one of the reasons why I didn't read this in one go, I just couldn't get my head around his structure.

Also, he mentions a lot of authors and books in his work, a table of contents would have been nice.

I still like writing letters.

A nice quote:

"Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday."

He also mentions a letter subscripion where you receive an actual letter by one of your favourite authors twice a month. It still exists and you can find all about it here at "The Rumpus". I couldn't find out whether they also send something abroad but there are quite a few US readers here, so maybe something for them.

From the back cover:

"To the Letter tells the story of our remarkable journey through the mail. From Roman wood chips discovered near Hadrian's Wall to the wonders and terrors of email, Simon Garfield explores how we have written to each other over the centuries and what our letters reveal about our lives.

Along the way he delves into the great correspondences of our time, from Cicero and Petrarch to Jane Austen and Ted Hughes (and John Keats, Virginia Woolf, Jack Kerouac, Anaïs Nin and Charles Schulz), and traces the very particular advice offered by bestselling letter-writing manuals. He uncovers a host of engaging stories, including the tricky history of the opening greeting, the ideal ingredients for invisible ink, and the sad saga of the dead letter office. As the book unfolds, so does the story of a moving wartime correspondence that shows how letters can change the course of life.

To the Letter is a wonderful celebration of letters in every form, and a passionate rallying cry to keep writing."

Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window"

Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window" aka "Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (Turkish: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat) - Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen - 2008

An interesting book by Orhan Pamuk in which he discusses many topics. Whether it's his childhood in Istanbul, his family, politics or his job as a writer, literature, art, he simply has something interesting and worth knowing to say about everything.

That is certainly the main reason why this author is one of my favorites. I hope he writes a new novel soon.

Book description (translated from the German copy):

"Whether it's the crumbling plaster of Istanbul houses or the Turkish flag, whether it's his father or the terrifying nature of Dostoyevsky's demons - with Orhan Pamuk everything becomes a complex universe. Pamuk observes coolly and tells moving stories. Autobiographical, narrative, politics, art and literature: his essays are the sum of different and contradictory experiences - an incredible stroke of luck."

As you can see from my Wikipedia link, there is an English title, though I could not find the book. Still, I hope it has been translated into English.

Orhan Pamuk "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures" received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006.

Orhan Pamuk received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2005.

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

Read my original review here. 

Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier"

Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937

I read this for the "1937 Club".

I have read a few books by George Orwell already and they were all highly interesting. This one started off a little tedious, many numbers that would have been easier to understand had they been converted to today's currencies or at least given the money in context. How am I supposed to know how much 15s. or 3s. 6d. are? How much do people have to pay for a piece of bread? How much does a good earner receive?

But the book improves after the author goes on to mention the conditions under which people live.
We are in the year 1937. A year that was very important. As another blogger wrote: "A LOT of good writing came out of the 30's. Turbulent times tend to do that...." (see here, thanks Cyberkitten)

And yes, we have similar turbulent times again and if we don't pay attention, history might repeat itself.

A quote from the book:
"They [Socialists] have never made it sufficiently clear that the essential aims of Socialism are justice and liberty. With their eyes glued to economic facts, they have proceeded on the assumption that man has no soul, and explicitly or implicitly they have set up the goal of a materialistic Utopia. As a result Fascism has been able to play upon every instinct that revolts against hedonism and a cheap conception of ‘progress’. It has been able to pose as the upholder of the European tradition, and to appeal to Christian belief, to patriotism, and to the military virtues. It is far worse than useless to write Fascism off as 'mass sadism', or some easy phrase of that kind. If you pretend that it is merely an aberration which will presently pass off of its own accord, you are dreaming a dream from which you will awake when somebody coshes you with a rubber truncheon."

We shouldn't forget these famous words by Martin Niemöller.
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."
If we don't pay attention, we will be there again. And sooner than we would like to think.

From the back cover:

"In the 1930s, commissioned by a left-wing book club, Orwell went to the industrial areas of northern England to investigate and record the real situation of the working class. Orwell did more than just investigate; he went down to the deepest part of the mine, lived in dilapidated and filthy workers' houses, and used the tip of his pen to vividly reveal every aspect of the coal miners' lives. Reading today, 80 years later, Still shockingly true. The despair and poverty conveyed by this picture have a terrifying power that transcends time and national boundaries. At the same time, the Road to Wigan Pier is also Orwell's road to socialism as he examines his own inner self. Born in the British middle class, he recalled how he gradually began to doubt and then hate the strict class barriers that divided British society at that time. Because in his mind, socialism ultimately means only one concept: 'justice and freedom.'"

 

Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life"

Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997

Jane Austen is one of my favourite authors. I have read all her novels, even the ones she didn't finish, some letters and short stories, so: a lot about her.

Claire Tomalin is a British journalist and biographer. She has a good reputation, especially for her biographies.

After reading this book, I understand why. I think she put together whatever is known about Jane Austen and her life, her family, her works, her illness, her death, anything. And she also tells us a lot about the era the author lived in, how female authors were regarded, how women were regarded, how people lived. You just have the feeling you lived with them.

We also get to see many of her writings, not all the letters as a whole but many excerpts that give us a glimpse of the author's life.

It's a shame Jane Austen was not able to write more books but this is a good supplement to her literature.

From the back cover:

"At her death in 1817, Jane Austen left the world six of the most beloved novels written in English - but her shortsighted family destroyed the bulk of her letters; and if she kept any diaries, they did not survive her.  Now acclaimed biographer Claire Tomalin has filled the gaps in the record, creating a remarkably fresh and convincing portrait of the woman and the writer.

While most Austen biographers have accepted the assertion of Jane's brother Henry that 'My dear Sister's life was not a life of events,' Tomalin shows that, on the contrary, Austen's brief life was fraught with upheaval.  Tomalin provides detailed and absorbing accounts of Austen's ill-fated love for a young Irishman, her frequent travels and extended visits to London, her close friendship with a worldly cousin whose French husband met his death on the guillotine, her brothers' naval service in the Napoleonic wars and in the colonies, and thus shatters the myth of Jane Austen as a sheltered and homebound spinster whose knowledge of the world was limited to the view from a Hampshire village."

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."

Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village"

 

Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996

"No Family is an Island" is one of the chapter titles in this remarkable work by Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton is a wonderful person. If you don't agree, read this book. You can tell how dedicated she is to help children and families to raise their children. This is what her politics is based on, how most politicians should base their values on. We all need to stand together to help the next generation.

The contents of her book can already be seen in the chapter titles. Aside from the one mentioned above, there is "Every Child Needs a Champion", "Kids Don't Come with Instructions", "Child Care Is Not a Spectator Sport", "Children Are Citizens Too", and many more.

I totally agree with her in her point. We all need to help each other out. When my children were in school, I always had other kids over to help them with the subjects that were difficult for both themselves and their parents, to feed them or just to give them a home after school when their parents were at work. I was in the lucky position to be at home with our boys but I opened it up for many other kids most of whom are still in touch with us.

But that's not the main aim of the book. Society in general should help the children to find their way into this world. Often, when I hear about American politics its those who are against guns (as am I) against those who are against abortion (as am I). We can be against both. We can support children and make sure they don't get pregnant as teenagers. And if they do get pregnant, as long as we don't help them, there will be abortions, and illegal ones are very dangerous. If you I pray for the unborn babies, you should also pray for their mothers for whom it was the last resort, the only way out. And for those kids who get killed in the schools and on the streets through the gun laws. Educate kids better, give everyone access to healthcare, help single mothers that they don't end up in total poverty, those are the things that avoid abortions, making them illegal only makes it worse. The United States has 3 times as many abortions as Germany. They also have one of the highest known rates of adolescent pregnancy and births in developed regions. Being pro-birth and not pro-life increases abortions. So, don't just pray for the unborn children but also for the poor girls who are pushed into a situation where they see only one way out. Amd for those who have their children and end up in poverty because of it. And that those who make the laws will make it better for those girls who do get pregnant and can't help themselves.

All in all, Hillary Clinton gives great examples on what we can do better, and we should all strive for a better world, especially for the poorest and weakest among us.

Here are some quotes that give us food for thought:

"Some of us can recall an aunt who longed to go to college, a grandmother who kept voluminous journals she showed to no one, a female cousin with a head for figures. Much of the fiction written by and about women over the centuries contains an undercurrent of disappointment, dissatisfaction, or simple wistfulness about roads not taken."
I was one of those women, and I had to regret all my life that I was not given the opportunitz to go to university.

"Roosevelt's words reflected the popular view that would dominate much of this century. As the private sector grew, people assumed that the excesses of unbridled competition had to be restrained by government. As a result, consumers have been protected by antitrust laws, pure food and drug laws, labeling, and other consumer protection measures; investors have been protected by securities legislation; workers have been protected by laws governing child labor, wages and hours, pensions, workers' compensation, and occupational safety and health; and the community at large has been protected by clean air and water standards, chemical right-to-know laws, and other environmental safeguards.
…
Over the course of the century, our environment has become cleaner, we have become healthier, our workers safer, our financial markets stronger."

"But government is a partner to, not a substitute for, adult leadership and good citizenship."

"In Germany, too, there is a general consensus that government and business should play a role in evening out inequities in the free market system and in increasing the ability of all citizens to succeed. Compared to Americans, Germans pay for higher base wages, a health care system that covers everyone but costs less than ours, and perhaps the world's finest system of providing young workers who do not go on to college with the skills they need to compete in the job market. As a result of such investments, German workers command higher wages than their American counterparts, and the distribution of income is not so skewed as ours is."

There are also many great people whom she quotes in the book, but I will leave it at this one:

"There is not one civilization, from the oldest to the very newest, from which we cannot learn." Eleanor Roosevelt

From the back cover:

"For more than twenty-five years, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has made children her passion and her cause. Her long experience with children - not only through her personal roles as mother, daughter, sister, and wife but also as advocate, legal expert, and public servant - has strengthened her conviction that how children develop and what they need to succeed are inextricably entwined with the society in which they live and how well it sustains and supports its families and individuals. In other words, it takes a village to raise a child. This book chronicles her quest - both deeply personal and, in the truest sense, public - to discover how we can make our society into the kind of village that enables children to grow into able, caring, resilient adults. It is time, Mrs. Clinton believes, to acknowledge that we have to make some changes for our children's sake. Advances in technology and the global economy along with other developments society have brought us much good, but they have also strained the fabric of family life, leaving us and our children poorer in many ways - physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. She doesn't believe that we should, or can, turn back the clock to 'the good old days.' False nostalgia for 'family values' is no solution. Nor is it useful to make an all-purpose bogeyman or savior of 'government.' But by looking honestly at the condition of our children, by understanding the wealth of new information research offers us about them, and, most important, by listening to the children themselves, we can begin a more fruitful discussion about their needs. And by sifting the past for clues to the structures that once bound us together, by looking with an open mind at what other countries and cultures do for their children that we do not, and by identifying places where our 'village' is flourishing - in families, schools, churches, businesses, civic organizations, even in cyberspace - we can begin to create for our children the better tomorrow they deserve."

Uusma, Bea "The Expedition"

Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (Swedish: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013

This was our international online book club book for January 2024.

We don't read many non-fiction books in our online book club, so this was quite a change. And a good one.

The story is very old. It started at the end of the 19th century when three Swedes wanted to go to the North Pole in a balloon.

Unfortunately, they didn't make it. For 33 years, nobody heard from that or knew what had happened. Until some fishermen found their bodies.

But what really might have happened, was still a big mystery. Until Bea Uusma, a Swedish author, illustrator and medical doctor happened upon the story and got curious. She found a lot of evidence and put together the story as it most possibly happened.

Quite an interesting story, even if some parts of the puzzle will never be solved. I thought it was nice to follow the author on her quest to finding the key to the riddle.

A lot of pictures and illustration complete the report about the search.

From the back cover:

"11 July, 1897. Three men set out in a hydrogen balloon bound for the North Pole. They never return. Two days into their journey they make a crash landing then disappear into a white nightmare.

33 years later. The men's bodies are found, perfectly preserved under the snow and ice. They had enough food, clothing and ammunition to survive. Why did they die?

66 years later. Bea Uusma is at a party. Bored, she pulls a books off the shelf. It is about the expedition. For the next fifteen years, Bea will think of nothing else...

Can she solve the mystery of The Expedition?"

Nonfiction November 2023 Week 5 New to My TBR #NonficNov

Week 5 (November 27 - December 12) New To My TBR
with Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life

It's the fifth week of Non-Fiction November (see here). Our topic is "New to My TBR".

Here is the Official Schedule.

Week 5 (November 27 - December 12) New To My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! (Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life)

I have not added any books that I found this month through the posts because I just was not well enough to go through that. But I have added a few new (to me) non-fiction books lately, some in German, some in English.

 

Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996
Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence – A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013 
Gauck, Joachim "Toleranz: einfach schwer" [Tolerance: simply difficult] - 2019 (Goodreads)
Specht, Heike "Ihre Seite der Geschichte - Deutschland und seine First Ladies von 1949 bis heute" [Her Side of the Story - Germany and its First Ladies from 1949 to Today] - 2019 (Goodreads)
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (Swedish: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013 
Wickert, Ulrich "Frankreich. Die wunderbare Illusion" [France. The Wonderful Illusion] - 1989 (Goodreads)

Quite a variety of topics there. I'm looking forward to reading them all.

📚📚📚

For my lists on Nonfiction November check here.