#ThrowbackThursday. July 2016

These are my ThrowbackThursday reviews from July 2016. 

Eliot, George "The Mill on the Floss" - 1860

A story about a childhood in the early 19th century, not a poor family, but also not a particularly wealthy one. You might want to call them middle class nowadays.

There is a lot in this book about the education at the time but it is also a great story about a family relationship. 

Grossman, David "The Zig Zag Kid" (Hebr.: יש ילדים זיגזג/Jesh Jeladim) - 1994
A fascinating story about a boy growing up and finding his way, finding answers to so many questions he didn't even know he had. Nonno, the zig zag kid, the kid that is different from other kids, and not only because his mother died when he was little.

Oates, Joyce Carol "Sexy" - 2015

Most of the books by Joyce Carol Oates are not happy books about happy people. They are real books about real people.

Like here. It's fascinating how she manages again and again to get into people's brains, how to explain to us how others think, what their ideas are, their conviction. Her grasp of language is just as great as her empathies.

Perkins, Sue "Spectacles" - 2015

Sue Perkins is one of my favourite comedians. She is witty, she is funny, she is smart, she is kind, there is nothing about her not to love.

I was not surprised that I liked the book but I can honestly say that I think Sue Perkins is also a great writer, she can tell a story on the page as if you are right there. You have the feeling, she is sitting there right next to you and you can hear her voice.

Sendak, Maurice "Where The Wild Things Are" - 1963

I think everyone born after the year 1960 must have had this book read to them when they were little.

The story reminds me a lot of the fairy tales we used to listen to and read when we were little. This story is IS a fairy tale, even though it wasn't written at the times of the Brothers Grimm.

Shakespeare, William "Macbeth" (aka The Scottish Play) - 1599/1606 

I still believe plays should be seen and not read but since I don't have the Globe around the corner, this will have to do for the time-being.

The characters in this play are magnificent. There is a strong woman who influences her husband and thereby history.

#ThrowbackThursday. June 2016

Here are my #ThrowbackThursday reviews from June 2016.

Ali, Sabahattin "Madonna in a Fur Coat" (Turkish: Kürk Mantolu Madonna) - 1943

We are going back to the time between the two wars, we can see both the life in Ankara and Berlin during that time behind a classic set-up. A man and a woman, a love story that doesn't have much hope.

Joyce, James "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" - 1916

The story of a young man trying to find himself, a story about James Joyce himself, his character Stephen Dedalus is partly autobiographical. Stephen comes from a poor Irish family who goes to a religious boarding school which he has to leave for financial reasons. 

Landers, Brian "Empires Apart. A History of American and Russian Imperialism" - 2010

This summarizes almost all of Europe's history as well as the North American one, compares both "empires" in chronological order and gives a great overview over today's' troubles, as well. There is so much information with so many details in this book, it's amazing how the author managed to put it all on under 600 pages.

Obama, Barack "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" - 1995

This memoir wasn't written by a president. It wasn't even written by a president-hopeful. Barack Obama had just finished his law school and was starting in politics, so I believe he wanted a real book about his inheritence.

One thing is for sure, he is a great author. 

Satrapi, Marjane "Persepolis. The Story of a Childhood" (French: Persepolis) - 2000 

I would have never thought I'd enjoy a graphical novel this much. This is not just another comic strip, it's a memoir, a historical novel. This is the story of a young child growing up in wartime.

Webster, Jean "Daddy Longlegs" - 1912

A favourite classic book for everyone who was lucky enough to read it at the time. A wonderful story about an orphan who gets the chance to get a higher education because a rich man is willing to pay for it. His only condition is that she writes a letter to him about her life once a month.

#ThrowbackThursday. May 2016

 

Here are my #ThrowbackThursday reviews from May 2016.

Aboulela, Leila "The Kindness of Enemies" - 2015
Such an interesting book. A lot about history and also a lot about current politics. A woman with a Russian mother and Sudanese father who lives in Scotland and researches the life of a 19th century Muslim leader. What's not to like?

Mercier, Pascal "Perlmann's Silence" (GE: Perlmanns Schweigen) - 1995 

The author has a special way of telling a story, a quiet, almost dreamy way. I think the author is one of the best ones German language writers at the moment.

After having lost his wife, Philipp Perlman hosts a linguistics conference in Italy. While there, he reflects on his life and notices that he has lost all his willpower to go on. We follow him in his endeavour to find a reason for getting out of his predicament.

Mitchell, David "Cloud Atlas" - 2004
An interesting book. Quite different from anything I've read before. It's almost like several short stories in one book, only they do belong to each other.

Oates, Joyce Carol "The Man Without a Shadow" - 2016   
This story captivates you from the first page and doesn't release you until the last page has been turned. We get to learn the characters all so well, their thoughts, their hopes, their ambitions, their wishes for the future. Only, that for one of them in this novel there is no real future, it always ends after seven minutes. One of the two main characters suffers from amnesia, the other one is a scientist who studies his brain in particular and thereby hopes to find more insight into the human brain in general.

Robertson, Adele Crockett "The Orchard: A Memoir" - 1995

A heartfelt memoir by a woman who was a good and kind person, who wanted the best for everybody. After her father died, she struggled to keep up his apple farm, more or less on her own. What a tough life, quite hard work, even for a man it would have been hard.

#ThrowbackThursday. April 2016

 

Here are my #ThrowbackThursday reviews from April 2016.

Interestingly enough, war was on my reading programme a lot ten years ago. Why doesn't that ever change???

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

Filipović, Zlata "Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo" (BOS: Zlatin dnevnik: otroštvo v obleganem Sarajevu) - 1993

This is a brilliant account about a war. A fantastic way of showing the world that war destroys everything and punishes especially those that are innocent, most often women and children. 

Kulin, Ayşe "Rose of Sarajevo" (TR: Sevdalinka) - 1999

Yugoslavia had seemed a peaceful country with peaceful people, the Yugoslavians I met were always very happy people. Then, all of a sudden, war breaks loose. We can learn a lot from this book. Hopefully stand up the next time such an atrocity happens. Ha!

Marini, Lorenzo "The Man of the Tulips" (IT: L'uomo dei tulipani) - 2002
An interesting story about a flower painter in Amsterdam in the 17th century. The story itself is a love story but it also tells us a lot about life in the Netherlands at the time, the love and craziness for tulips.

Mistry, Rohinton "Family Matters" - 2002
Another brilliant book about life in modern India but the problems that arise might occur in any country, family members get older and the rest of the family has to cope with their feebleness, their deterioration.

Stevenson, Robert Louis "Treasure Island" - 1881/82 
A lot of drama and action in the story. So, if you don't want too much love in your classics, maybe this is one for you. A true classic.

Swarup, Vikas "Q & A" - 2005

This book proves it again. Never judge a book by its cover. Or its movie. Or the description of the movie. 

This was not at all what I expected. We learn about the life of many people living in India, especially the poor ones. A book well worth reading.

Trollope, Anthony "The Way We Live Now" - 1875

Classics belong to my favourite reads. The novel centres around a rich man of whom nobody knows where his money comes from. He has a daughter he wants to marry off to someone of high status but she loves someone else who in turn is just after her money. 

A wonderful book, I cannot recommend this story too much.

#ThrowbackThursday. March 2016

Here are my #ThrowbackThursday reviews from March 2016.

Anonymous "Lazarillo de Tormes" (Spanish: La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades) - 1554

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book that was written almost 500 years ago, a great classic that you can read quite quickly because it is so short but there is a lot of action going on. This young, poor boy called Lazarillo, has to fend for himself, he has several masters and tells us his stories with them in this novel/novella.

Camus, Albert "The Stranger" (aka "The Outsider") (French: L'étranger) - 1942

"Un étranger" in French is "a foreigner", someone who is not a citizen of the country in question. Who is a stranger, really? Why do we exist? And this is really the question of this story, a philosophic one, even though you can read it as a novel, as well.

Ephron, Nora "I Remember Nothing. And other reflections" - 2010

Nora Ephron, may she rest in peace, always found the right words. Reflections about growing older, losing your health, losing friends, your whole world is changing.

When you are in that position, all that is left some days is your sense of humour. And Nora Ephron helps you with it.

Grass, Günter "My Century" (German: Mein Jahrhundert) - 1999

Günter Grass has grown on me and has shown why he really deserved the Nobel Prize with this work. One hundred years in one hundred stories, told from different perspectives, from the rich and the poor, the left and the right, those that left and those that stayed. Men, women, children, everyone got the chance to tell their story that is so particular for that part of the century. If you want to understand what Germans went through and achieved in that time, this is a good point to start.

Steinem, Gloria "My Life on the Road" - 2015

Gloria Steinem is a new hero for me. What she did at a time when most women could only dream of having a good husband and leading a quiet life, the things she fought for, brilliant.

Ulitzkaya, Lyudmila "Imago" or "The Big Green Tent" (Russian: Zelenyi shater/Зеленый шатер) - 2010

We learn about the lives of a group of friends, three boys who have a brilliant literature teacher and how he influences the rest of their lives, how they live or don't live with the inflictions put upon them by the regime of their country.

#ThrowbackThursday. February 2016

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

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

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

Dickens, Charles "Hard Times" - 1854

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lalami, Laila "The Moors' Account" - 2014

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

Mantel, Hilary "Wolf Hall" - 2009

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

Paull, Laline "The Bees" - 2014

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

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

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

#ThrowbackThursday. January 2016

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I listed more than one Throwback book every week. Now, I have reached the ones I posted ten years ago and will probably just post one every month. These are my reviews from January 2016.

Hammond, Richard "On the Edge: My Story" - 2007

Funny, I just read another book by this author:

"As You Do: Adventures With Evil, Oliver And The Vice President Of Botswana" - 2008
As you can see, he wrote this a year after the his other book. This memoir tells the story of his accident and his return to life. And not only that, we get to learn a lot about both of them, Richard's childhood, marriage, children, and family.

Murakami, Haruki "Norwegian Wood" (J: Noruwei no mori, ノルウェイの森) - 1987   

There is so much in this story, it's hard to get it all together, the problems of a teenager growing up, the problems of dealing with a sudden death, first love, second love, illness, especially depression. I am not a fan of poetry but this novel reads like beautiful poetry. I love the style, the flow of the words.

Pagnol, Marcel "Jean de Florette" (F: Jean de Florette) - 1963

A book about village life and how much villagers keep together against any newcomer, how they are almost treated like enemies, or maybe even worse. I've seen this happening and have experienced it myself, so I could very well relate to the story where Jean Cadoret inherits a farm but the other villagers don't want him there and do everything to prevent him from being successful.

Tyler, Anne "A Spool of Blue Thread" - 2015 

This is a story about four generations of a family. A family that consists of all the usual members, the ordinary ones and the not so ordinary ones. Anne Tyler tells about them as if you are there, as if you are part of the clan. It all sounds so familiar. 

#ThrowbackThursday. Dezember 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I listed more than one Throwback book every week. Now, I have reached the ones I posted ten years ago and will probably just post one every month. These are my reviews from December 2015.

Kerkeling, Hape "I'm Off Then" (GE: Ich bin dann mal weg) - 2014
A comedian who makes the Camino de Santiago. And not just the last 100 kilometres but the whole way from the French border, 800 kilometres entirely. Even if you're not Catholic or German, this is a fantastic book.

Patchett, Ann "The Patron Saint of Liars" - 1992
The story is interesting, the writing captivating, the characters are somehow mysterious but also loveable. The heroine's life is full of secrets, there are so many lies and everyone seems to know there must be lies but can live with it. 

Roberts, Gregory David "Shantaram" - 2003
This is novel is based on the life of an Australian guy, the author Gregory David Roberts, who went to prison for armed robbery and then fled from there to start a life in India.  He didn't really lead a straight life after that, he led a very interesting one.

#ThrowbackThursday. November 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I listed more than one Throwback book every week. Now, I have reached the ones I posted ten years ago and will probably just post one every month. These are my reviews from November 2015.

Fowler, Christopher "Hell Train" - 2011

The story is interesting, even though I wouldn't normally pick one of these. The characters, four people who happen to meet in a train, are well described, each and every one of them comes alive well. I did like the folk tales people were telling each other about the train, stories they had heard as children and lived with all their lives.

Gaskell, Elizabeth "North and South" - 1854/55

In this novel, we hear the story of Margaret Hale whose father leaves the ministry because he has doubts about his belief. They move from the South of England to a place in the North, from a village to a town, a lot of things change for Margaret Hale.

#ThrowbackThursday. October 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I listed more than one Throwback book every week. Now, I have reached the ones I posted ten years ago and will probably just post one every month. These are my reviews from October 2015.

Scott, Mary "One of the Family" - 1958 (see also New Zealand novels)

Another lovely book by Mary Scott. I read somewhere that it was one of her most successful ones. 

As in most books by Mary Scott (to whom I dedicated her own blog entry, see above), there are a lot of wonderful people living in the backblocks and they all help each other, the good ones win in the end.

Talshir, Anat "If I Forget Thee" (Hebr.: Im Eshkahekh) - 2010

A beautiful story about a love that overcomes all obstacles, even though a lot of problems do occur anyway. This book also tells the story of Israel, of the Jewish and Palestinian inhabitants of this country's difficult history and this was really personal.

#ThrowbackThursday. September 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I listed more than one Throwback book every week. Now, I have reached the ones I posted ten years ago and will probably just post one every month. These are my reviews from September 2015. 

Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise" - 2014 

A story about Famagusta, a town in Eastern Cyprus, that goes deep and shows how stupid any war is. People live their ordinary lives. They go to work, they go home. They love their families, they love their lives. Then the invasion. 

Lawson, Mary "Road Ends" - 2013

I like the author for her realistic description of the characters and their actions. 

An interesting story, not just about young Megan who leaves Canada for England but also and especially about the family she leaves behind, her father, brother, but mostly her mother. A story about mental illness in a time where that was such a taboo, people wouldn't acknowledge it anywhere.

Levithan, David "Every Day" - 2012

An interesting book. Not especially my genre. But an interesting concept about a "being" who is somebody different every day. Well written, certainly deserves to be a best-seller, especially for the "young adults" it has been written for because it poses so many questions that every teenager goes through. Who am I?

McCarthy, Pete "The Road to McCarthy: Around the World in Search of Ireland" - 2002

The author of "McCarthy's Bar" gives us another tale of his travels, this time from Ireland to Morocco, New York, the Caribbeans, Tasmania. A hilarious book by a funny writer who left us all too early.

Titchmarsh, Alan "Trowel and Error" - 2002
The presenter of "Ground Force" and "Gardener's World" writes about his life. He writes the way he talks, he is the same nice guy from next door as he is in his programmes. And listening to his story, you understand why that is the case.

Wilde, Oscar "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - 1890

I think that there is a lot about Oscar Wilde in Dorian Gray. The novel certainly raises many questions and gives everyone a lot to think about. How shallow are we really? How vain? And what would we swap for eternal beauty?

#ThrowbackThursday. August 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from August 2015. 

Doerr, Anthony "All the Light We Cannot See" - 2014 
Anthony Doerr managed to write a different kind of war story, a story about the little people, on either side of the war, those that had not much to say about what was happening to them and who paid the highest price. 

Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker) "Max Havelaar" (NL: Max Havelaar of de koffiveilingen der Nederlandsche Handelmaatschappy) - 1959

Eduard Douwes Dekker aka Multatuli should probably be called the Dutch Charles Dickens. At least, he's from the same era and is just as popular in the Netherlands as Dickens is in the United Kingdom.

His book seemed to have opened the eyes of many Dutch people at the time as to what colonialism really meant. "Max Havelaar" is also called "the book that killed colonialism" and was chosen as the most important book in Dutch literature in 2002.

Orsenna, Érik "Grammar Is a Sweet, Gentle Song" (French: La grammaire est une chanson douce) - 2001
An interesting story that explains grammar not only to children but also to learners of the French language. 

Shakespeare, William "Hamlet" - 1599/1602 
You always hear about the Danish Prince, the Skull, "To be or not to be", Elsinore, Ophelia, Rosenkrantz & Guildenstern etc. etc. But you never know the whole story until you have seen the play or read the fascinating story.

Zweig, Stefanie "Nowhere in Africa" and "Somewhere in Germany" - 1995+1996 * Book Club Questions - Nowhere in Africa - Somewhere in Germany (German: Nirgendwo in Afrika + Irgendwo in Deutschland) - 1942 

We are writing the year 1938 and attorney Walter Redlich manages to flee Nazi Germany in the last minute. They move to Kenya where he is hired as the manager of a farm. They are all experiencing this new country differently, Regina, 9 years old, embraces the life on the new continent, learns the languages, finds friends and cannot imagine another life. 

This is an almost-autobiography of author Stefanie Zweig who is one of my favourite authors. 

#ThrowbackThursday. July 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from July 2015. 

Azevedo, Francisco "Once Upon a Time in Rio" (Portuguese: O Arroz de Palma) - 2008

A beautiful story of an immigrating family, a Portuguese couple that settles in Brazil, has their children and their work. Their son tells the story over a whole century. How his aunt collected the rice thrown at his parents' wedding and passed it on as a lucky charm.

Dickens, Charles "Little Dorrit" - 1857

Dickens' father spent some years in the Marshalsea prison which he used as the main setting for this novel. I think this fact and that he was forced to work for the family at a very young age, has made a huge impact on the author.

Eliade, Mircea "Marriage in Heaven" (Romanian: Nuntă în cer) - 1938

An interesting novel. Quite philosophical. Two men reminisce about their lives and their encounter with a special woman, both have different kind of fantasies, different kind of attitudes but both are unlucky in love and pour out their hearts to each other. 

The author was a Romanian historian of religion, philosopher, and fiction writer. His background certainly had an influence on his writing.

Lahiri, Jhumpa "Interpreter of Maladies" - 1999 (Literary Wives) 

This is a lovely collection of short stories, some of them even interlink, so it doesn't seem like there are a hundred small stories that you forget right away. Jhumpa Lahiri has created some wonderful characters that you won't forget that easily.

Oates, Joyce Carol "The Sacrifice" - 2015

A meticulous rendering of a crime, almost reads like a non-fiction account, you have to remember the whole time that this is fiction. Mind you, I was sure events like this have happened and then I read that this is a retelling of a story that has happened in 1987 to a 14 year old girl called Tawana Brawley. A book about racism and prejudice, terror and violence, poverty and exploitation, the role of religion and state.

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "Whispering Shadows" (German: Das Flüstern der Schatten) - 2007

This novel is so much more than a crime story, it gives an insight into today's China of which we still know far too little. The author reports about the grief of a man who has lost his son. And he talks about the slow healing after a heavy blow. The book is both philosophic and informative.

#ThrowbackThursday. June 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from June 2015. 

Brontë, Charlotte "Villette" - 1853

The novel is not just about a young girl who lost her family and has to look after herself, not easy at a time where the only decent way for women to keep alive is to get married. 

The writing is very well done, the characters described perfectly. Apparently, Charlotte Brontë used a lot of material from her own life.

Brown, Eleanor "The Weird Sisters" - 2011

"The Weird Sisters" aren't called Weird at all, their last name is Andreas and their father is a professor of English literature. The title comes from the name of the three witches from Macbeth, the girls are named after different characters from different other Shakespeare plays, Rosalind (Rose) from "As you like it", Bianca (Bean) from "The Taming of the Shrew" and Cordelia (Cordy) from "King Lear". 

The girls are all as different as the plays, they all have their own ways of doing things, their own dreams, their own problems. They come together after many years apart to help their mother who suffers from cancer.

Burton, Jessie "The Miniaturist" - 2014

Fascinating story, gripping story. 

A novel about a family in the 17th century, a rich family in Amsterdam, a poor girl from the countryside who marries into the rich family.

But that is not the major part of the story, the book is full of secrets.

The author was inspired by the doll's house of a real life Petronella Oortman, a real life doll's house that can be visited in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Frisch, Max "The Arsonists" (aka "The Firebugs" or "The Fire Raisers: A Morality Without A Moral, With An Afterpiece") (German: Biedermann und die Brandstifter) - 1958

Max Frisch is a satirical, dark writer. He shows this very well in this play.

Gottlieb Biedermann is a rich person who is upset that some arsonists are in town who start living in people's houses while intending to burn them down.

Mak, Geert "In Europe. Travels through the twentieth century" (Dutch: In Europa: Reizen door de twintigste eeuw) - 2004

Geert Mak is an excellent Dutch journalist who has written several non-fiction books about life in general and in particular in this part of the world.

With this work he has excelled himself. He travels through Europe (not just in the book but also in real life) and describes every decade through the country he is just visiting. Some of them he has to visit several times, of course.

Moore, Michael "Stupid White Men" - 2001

Some of the stuff in this book is so unbelievable, you wonder why people still vote for that party. And, even worse, they are the ones who write the most negative stuff about others.

This book has kept what it promised. It gives you a good view over what is (was) going on in the so-called Land of the Free, and not just what you hear from friends who like to overshare their hate for the other party on Facebook.

#ThrowbackThursday. April/May 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from April and May 2015. 

Brown, Daniel James "The Boys in the Boat. Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Golad at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" - 2013

Funnily enough, this has just been turned into a movie. I'm looking forward to it. The story is based on real life.

The world in 1936. The Nazis are "hosting" the Olympic Games. Hitler wants to show the world how brilliant his country is. One of his hopes was the rowing competition, especially the Men's eights. "His" crew only made Bronze. Eight US boys from the lowest classes made it into a rowing team that until before had only been composed of rich students from elite universities. 

Deary, Terry "Horrible Histories" - 1993ff.   

The subtitles of most of these books are "History with the nasty bits left in!" Boys, especially boys, love a bit of gruesomeness. And the language is just right for kids.

Eco, Umberto "The Name of the Rose" (Italian: Il nome della rosa) - 1980

A monastery in the 14th century. One death occurs after the other, some of them seem very suspect, but for most of them it is very clear that another person caused the death. In other words, there is a mass murderer at large. Two visiting monks start to investigate and find a lot of links, some of them correct, others definitely false.

Munro, Alice "Runaway" - 2004

A brilliant collection of very interesting short stories that grip you from the first page.

Shteyngart, Gary "Absurdistan" - 2006

Certainly a funny book. Quite weird actually. A novel about sex, drugs and rock'n roll but in today's times. However, in a country that still lives in the sixties.

Yousafzai, Malala; Lamb, Christina "I am Malala. The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban" - 2013

Everybody talks about freedom all the time. Freedom of education, freedom of speech, freedom of religion. And here is a young girl who has always spoken out for freedom, who has been fighting for education her whole life, disregarding any threats she received.

#ThrowbackThursday. March 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from March 2015. 

Dickens, Charles "The Pickwick Papers" - 1836

The first novel of one of the greatest authors in history. As many novels at the time, it appeared in instalments in the newspaper. This makes the novel so easy to read, even though it has about 1,000 pages. 
Samuel Pickwick, Esquire, has three good friends, Messrs. Nathaniel Winkle, Augustus Snodgrass and Tracy Tupman with whom he starts "The Pickwick Club", a group that wants to explore the country by travelling through it and then report back to the other members. 

Lahiri, Jhumpa "The Namesake" - 2003

A very interesting book about an immigration family and their children born in their new country. The author has the same background as the protagonists and you can tell that from her writing.

Lamb, Wally "We are Water" - 2013

A highly interesting story of a family full of secrets. Old secrets and new secrets. Secrets outside of the family and secrets inside. A very intense novel that brings up all kinds of emotions and fears. 

Montagu, Ewen "The Man Who Never Was. World War II's Boldest Counterintelligence Operation" - 1953
This is what the real "James Bond" is like, this is why "intelligence" and "intelligent" have the same root. Cunning ideas mixed with a lot of imagination and some thoughtful planning. An intriguing story, fascinating read. A real story.

Tanpınar, Ahmet Hamdi "The Time Regulation Institute" (Turkish: Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü) - 1961
The story is satire at its best. What do we not need? Bureaucracy. And what do we need even less than bureaucracy? An institute that is worth nothing, that does not serve any purpose and that is full of people who are related to its creator.

#ThrowbackThursday. January/February 2015

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from January and February 2015. Since I only had one book from January (Roald Dahl), I thought I just do the two months together.

Dahl, Roald "The Best of Roald Dahl" - 1978

I have never been a huge fan of short stories but I absolutely loved these. My favourites would be "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Parson's Pleasure". They are both hilarious!

Berry, Wendell "Hannah Coulter" - 2004
Hannah Coulter led a long life in rural Kentucky, she had several children, lived through World War II, the Great Depression, and everything that that encounters. She talks about her life in a diary form. I came to like Hannah and her loved ones. 

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

Harris, Joanne "Blackberry Wine" - 2000
This is an interesting story about some old wine, an old farm, everything old, really. It reminded me a little of Isabel Allende and her magic realism stories.

Hislop, Victoria "The Last Dance and Other Stories" - 2012

Even though her previous stories also tell about historic problems, these here talk about the life in Greece today, about the life of modern Greeks in an ever changing world.
I loved these stories, whether they were about an abandoned kafenion, fighting brothers, a love lost or political protests.

Pamuk, Orhan "My Father's Suitcase" (Turkish: Babamın Bavulu) - 2007
The title of this collection refers to the first story in the book, the lecture Orhan Pamuk gave in Stockholm when he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Shields, Carol "The Stone Diaries" - 1993
Daisy Stone Goodwill goes through many hardships in her life, being born an orphan under weird circumstances, she manages her life quite well. She is a smart woman and gets an education at a time where that is far from the norm for any woman let alone one in her circumstances.

#ThrowbackThursday. November 2014

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from November 2014.

Bradbury, Ray "The Martian Chronicles" - 1950

This is a highly interesting novel about the human invasion on another planet. A dystopian novel that couldn't envisage anything better. Or worse.

Döblin, Alfred "Berlin Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf" (German: Berlin Alexanderplatz: Die Geschichte vom Franz Biberkopf) - 1929

If I have said about "Ulysses" that it was the most difficult book I have ever read, I probably have to put this as number two. The novel is the story of Franz Biberkopf and starts with his release from prison. Throughout the book, we see how he cannot find a way back into normal life, just as the Weimarer Republik couldn't get back to a normal state after World War I. There are a lot of allusions to the political time as well as to biblical stories, there are so many layers in this book. 

Nietzsche, Friedrich "Thus spoke Zarathustra. A Book for All and None" (German: Also sprach Zarathustra. Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen) - 1883-85

A philosophical book. The title itself is mere poetry. Even for non-German speakers, it sounds magical, or at least it should.

#ThrowbackThursday. August-October 2014

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from August to October 2014.

Gaarder, Jostein "Sophie's World" (Norwegian: Sofies verden) - 1991

This is not a book you will want to read within a couple of days. There is a lot of information in this book. We could call it a philosophy class. 

McCulloch, Colleen "The Thorn Birds" - 1977
An epic saga. The story of the Cleary family over two generations coming from New Zealand to Australia in the early Twenties of the last century and also moves to London and Rome. But the main story is told in New Zealand, how a family settles in a strange country and goes through all the hardships you can imagine.

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

See, Lisa "Peony in Love" - 2007 

This is a magical story about a young girl called Peony who lives in the seventeenth century.

#ThrowbackThursday. June/July 2014

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from June/July 2014.

Heller, Joseph "Catch-22" - 1961

If you love dark humour (which I do), this is a great book. I never thought I could laugh about a war book. But I did. A lot. The novel still illustrates the insanity of war, probably even more than any serious book every would. Even though there is a lot to laugh about, it's the kind of laugh you do despite the situation not because of it.

Palma, Félix J. "The Map of the Sky" (E: El mapa del cielo) - 2012  

Félix J. Palma makes a spin on an H.G. Wells novel, this time it was "The War of the Worlds".

In this novel, we have a lot of adventures to pass. We are stuck on a ship in the frozen North Sea and we have to fight alien machines who want to overtake the whole world. At that point, we arrive in a dystopian environment.

Sienkiewicz, Henryk "Quo Vadis" (PL: Quo Vadis) - 1895
This is a surprisingly easy book to read with an astonishing story and a lot of historical background. I have read other books about the early Christians in Rome and I have always been fascinated by them.