Evans, Virginia "The Correspondent"

Evans, Virginia "The Correspondent" - 2025

This book has been on the wishlist for our German book club for ages but we first had to wait until it was published as a paperback. In August 2026, we finally managed to put it on our reading list.

I have been writing letters my whole life, I've had penfriends all over the world and when I started to learn Esperanto, it got even more. So, I expected this book to be perfect for me.

I read somewhere that It takes a little while to get settled into Sybil’s life and I totally agree. I couldn't say that the story gripped me from the first page.

However, I was never such an organized letter writer as Sybil. I don't sit down every morning, I write answers to letters I received whenever I feel like I am in the mood to respond. I think the recipient gets a better answer as if I "have to" write now and then. And I have never written to an author, maybe I should do that one day.

However, I do not neglect those people around me, I try to meet them as often as I can. Sybil seems to be more a "letters only" kind of person. What would I have to tell my friends from far away if I didn't have a "real life"?

I did enjoy the book in the end but not in the way I thought I might.

We did have a nice discussion about this novel. We are all senior citizens and thought that was probably one of the reasons why we did enjoy this book. One of our members mentioned that her daughter couldn't get into it. Maybe there is something to it.

In any case, we all agreed that we needed some time to get into all the characters. And yes, there are a lot. The German had a list at the end with all of her correspondents, a little "Who's Who?". That was not included in our English version. I wonder why? As you all know, I love lists.

I found one online though @ The Book Companion
and @ SuperSummary.

And while looking for that, I discovered that a film adaptation is planned starring Jane Fonda as Sybil Van Antwerp.

Lots and lots of books get mentioned in the novel. I will list only those that I have read myself, find the rest here on Goodreads.

Austen, Jane "Pride & Prejudice" - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
Brontë, Emily "Wuthering Heights" - 1887
Du Maurier, Daphne "Rebecca" - 1938
Gabaldon, Diana "Outlander" (UK: Cross Stich) - 1991
Hanff, Helene "84 Charing Cross Road" - 1970
Ishiguro, Kazuo "The Remains of the Day" - 1989
Johnson, Adam "The Orphan Master's Son" - 2012
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
Rushdie, Salman "The Satanic Verses"  - 1988
Steinbeck, John "Travels with Charley" - 1962
Woolf, Virginia "To the Lighthouse" - 1927

So, eleven of forty books. But I might get to more in future.

And a quote that I agree with 100%:

"... I like president Obama. He's a wonderful speaker, I could listen to him read the phone book."

From the back cover:

"Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be 'a very small thing,' but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read."

Honeyman, Gail "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine"

Honeyman, Gail "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" - 2017

Eleanor Oliphant is definitely not fine. Saying that she struggles with social skills as they do in the description is quite an understatement. I am sure she has some sort of mental illness or suffers from an event that happened earlier in her life. 

I had some trouble getting into the story or into Eleanor. I am very sociable, I always like to have lots of people around me and can talk to anyone who is only lightly inclined to respond. I am sure Eleanor would not appreciate me. And I don't want to intrude, so I guess I would speak a sentence with her and that would be it. I am sorry about that but that's just it. She doesn't really want to talk to anyone, right?

The story itself was quite interesting, though, how she meets this colleague who helps her getting acquainted with this world, the writing wasn't bad, either. But I couldn't warm to this story.

Two quotes that I completely agree with:

"... the front door of the hospital ... a woman in a wheelchair – she’d brought her drip out with her, on wheels, so that she could destroy her health at the same time as taxpayers’ money was being used to try and restore it."

I always get mad when I see people smoking in front of a hospital, especially just right outside a hospital where everyone has to pass, sick people, visitors ... Hospitals and its surroundings should be a smoke-free zone.

and

"Sport is a mystery to me. In primary school, sports day was the one day of the year when the less academically gifted students could triumph, winning prizes for jumping fastest in a sack, or running from Point A to Point B more quickly than their classmates. How they loved to wear those badges on their blazers the next day! As if a silver in the egg-and-spoon race was some sort of compensation for not understanding how to use an apostrophe."

... or get your times-tables right or do anything that will get you somewhere in this life!

We read this in April 2026 in our international online book club.

And here are the notes of the club:

"Our book club had a very positive discussion about the book. Most members rated it highly, and one of the strongest shared reactions was how much our view of Eleanor changed as the novel progressed. She may initially seem rigid, socially awkward, overly formal, or emotionally distant, but by the end we felt genuine warmth toward her, were invested in her future, and sincerely wished her well.

A major part of the conversation focused on Eleanor’s neurodivergent traits and how they were portrayed. Given the nature of our group, this aspect of her character was immediately recognizable rather than speculative. Her literal thinking, reliance on routine, difficulty reading unspoken social norms, and unusual communication style all felt authentic to many readers. What interested us more was how these traits intersected with trauma, loneliness, and years of isolation. The novel was praised for allowing that complexity without reducing her to any single label.

Loneliness was another central theme in the discussion. Many readers felt the book captured a particularly modern kind of isolation: someone who is intelligent, employed, capable, and outwardly functioning, yet profoundly disconnected from other people. Eleanor is not excluded from society in any obvious sense, but instead seems to exist beside it, unable to fully participate. This subtle portrayal of loneliness resonated strongly with the group.

We also talked extensively about trauma, addiction, and coping mechanisms. Eleanor’s drinking was generally seen not as recklessness, but as a form of self-medication and emotional numbing. Her routines, detachment, and narrow life structure felt less like random dysfunction and more like survival strategies that had become fixed over time. Several members noted how realistically the novel shows pain becoming embedded in everyday habits.

Spoiler:

The revelation of the dead mother led to one of the most engaged parts of the conversation. Readers saw this as a powerful representation of how abuse can continue internally long after the abuser is gone. The mother’s voice remains active through criticism, shame, and control, shaping Eleanor’s life even in death. Many felt this was one of the novel’s strongest psychological insights.

* * *

Relationships were another important topic. We appreciated that the story avoids a simplistic romantic rescue arc. Raymond was especially valued because his everyday kindness, patience, and consistency give Eleanor a model of safe human connection. Rather than dramatically 'saving' her, he helps create the conditions in which she can slowly begin to emerge from isolation and reconnect with life. Many readers felt this understated portrayal of friendship was one of the book’s greatest strengths. (I do agree there.)

Language and translation also became a particularly interesting part of the discussion. Some members read the novel in English, some in Finnish, and one in Russian, which allowed for direct comparison. Eleanor’s character is strongly shaped through voice: her formal diction, blunt literalism, unusual phrasing, and emotional reserve. We discussed how each translation inevitably influences how readers perceive her. The portrayal of the mother was especially interesting here, since tone, cruelty, manipulation, and emotional pressure can shift subtly depending on language.

We also discussed the novel’s balance of humour and pain. Eleanor’s voice often creates comedy through precision, bluntness, and social mismatch, yet beneath that humour lies real emotional suffering. Many readers felt the book handled this contrast skilfully, allowing warmth and sadness to coexist without either feeling forced.

Overall, the group agreed that Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is an intelligent, humane, and emotionally perceptive novel. It succeeds not only as a story of trauma and recovery, but as a reminder that people who seem merely difficult, odd, or distant are often carrying far more complexity than others realise. The fact that Eleanor ended as someone we genuinely cared about was, for many of us, the clearest sign of the book’s success."

Book Description:

"Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . ."

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."

Bythell, Shaun "Seven Kinds of People you Find in Bookshops"

Bythell, Shaun "Seven Kinds of People you Find in Bookshops" - 2020

This is the third book I read by Shaun Bythell. In "The Diary of a Bookseller", he introduces us to his second-hand bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland and his quirky customers. In "Confessions of a Bookseller", he gives us an overview of a whole year and carries on in his sarcastic way to describe everyone he comes across.

I love the title. So, apparently, you can find seven kinds of people in bookshops. I kept wondering the whole time where I might fit in. Only to find out to wards the end, that I seem to belong to the "normal people". How boring. Mind you, I wouldn't have wanted to be considered a loiterer, my family is definitely not young anymore, I don't have a beard, I'm also not an expert on anything and hope I don't annoy people with telling them about the books I read or the subjects in them - well, I have a blog for that and can discuss those issues with other readers who are interested in the same stuff. But still … normal???

Well, to me, like to most of the other bloggers, I suppose, a bookshop is there to explore. Of course, sometimes I am looking for a certain book and will enquire accordingly. But most often, I just like to browse - and I will always find something. So, I am glad, booksellers appreciate customers like me.

Shaun Bythell is one of the most hilarious people I have come to know through my reading and I was happy to find out that he has married in the meantime and they started their young family.

As in my reviews of the first book, I am happy to lead you to his blog website The Bookshop and his blog. If you don't decide to buy his books after that, I can't help you.

The author is just as funny, witty and sarcastic as in his other books. Can't wait for his next one, "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" to come out in paperback.

From the back cover:

"Between its covers, a book can contain a whole world. And, at one time or another, the whole world comes to a bookshop - so step inside to find:

The Conspiracy Theorist
The Exhausted Parents
The Whistler
The Dark Artist
The Loiterer without Intent
The Craft Enthusiast
The Bore
And many more …

In twenty years behind the till in The Bookshop, Wigtown, Shaun Bythell has met pretty much every kind of customer there is - from the charming, erudite and deep-pocketed to the eccentric, flatulent and possibly larcenous.

In Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops he distils the essence of his experience into a warm, witty and quirky taxonomy of the book-loving public. So, step inside to meet the crafty Antiquarian, the shy and retiring Erotica Browser and gormless yet strangely likeable shop assistant Student Hugo - along with much loved bookseller favourites like the passionate Sci-Fi Fan, the voracious Railway Collector and the ever-elusive Perfect Customer."

Bythell, Shaun "Confessions of a Bookseller"

Bythell, Shaun "Confessions of a Bookseller" - 2019

After having read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Diary of a Bookseller", I was really happy to find that Shaun Bythell had written a second book, "Confessions of a Bookseller". Now, these "Confessions" are similar to the sarcastic comments I loved so much in the "Diary".

If you liked his first book, you should definitely read this one. If you haven't read either of them, you should start reading both, I assure you, you, you will devour them.

We follow Shaun through a year in the bookshop. He tells us how many customers come to the shop every day, how much money goes through the till, that is quite interesting. But even more interesting is the way he acquires those books, his visits to houses where a whole library is sold or people bringing in boxes of books they'd like to sell.

Then there is the talk with customers who would like to haggle. I think everyone believes that once it is second hand, they can ask for a discount because it "didn't cost anything in the first place". Yes, it is. And if a second-hand shop puts a price on an item, I can either take it at that price or leave it. After I read the first book, I found comments by some of his customers on how rude he was. I think, some of them should be grateful that they made it out of the shop alive. The author is very witty and very funny. I think only that gets him through the day.

Anyone who has always dreamt of opening a second-hand bookshop should definitely read this before. I still would love it but, customers, beware!

I hope that I can visit this shop and its author one day. He also has a website: The Bookshop. And a blog.

From the back cover:

"'Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?'

Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms.

Unfortunately, Shaun also has to contend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices."

As the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland, you might think Shaun Bythell's days are taken up with sorting through rare and valuable first editions - or snoozing by the fire with the latest literary gem. But you'd be wrong. Instead, beset by bizarre requests from customers who appear not to know what a shop is, locked in an endless struggle with Amazon and terrorised by his bin-diving, poultice-making employees, Shaun's trials and tribulations make his life very far from a fairy tale."

And now I am looking forward to "Seven Types of People You Find in Bookshops".

McCall Smith, Alexander "Espresso Tales" and "Love Over Scotland"

McCall Smith, Alexander "Espresso Tales" (44 Scotland Street #2) - 2005

This book is the reason why I started another series by Alexander McCall Smith. I found it on one of those book swapping shelves. And since I liked "The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" Series, I thought, why not. I bought the first and third book in the series ("44 Scotland Street" and "Love Over Scotland").

Some parts are really silly and definitely exaggerated but he always makes me smile. His books are definitely on the lighter side of my reading but they are nice night-time stories to read in-between.
And I can get upset about some people and their behaviour. There is this mother of a five-year-old who treats him like a baby girl, no football, no rough play, pink walls in his bedroom, pink dungarees, no, excuse meeeee, crushed strawberry dungarees. LOL She even takes him to a psychiatrist but if you ask me, it's her who is in desperate need of one.

And then there is Pat, a nice girl but without a goal, who shares a flat with Bruce, a narcistic macho and that's the best I can say about him.

So, a nice little story about neighbours and friends.

From the back cover:

"In Espresso Tales, Alexander McCall Smith returns home to Edinburgh and the glorious cast of his own tales of the city, the residents of 44 Scotland Street, with a new set of challenges for each one of them.

Bruce, the intolerably vain and perpetually deluded ex-surveyor, is about to embark on a new career as a wine merchant, while his long-suffering flatmate Pat MacGregor, set up by matchmaking Domenica Macdonald, finds herself invited to a nudist picnic in Moray Place in the pursuit of true love. Prodigious six-year-old Bertie Pollock wants a boy's life of fishing and rugby, not yoga and pink dungarees, and he plots rebellion against his bossy, crusading mother Irene and his psychotherapist Dr Fairbairn.

But when Bertie's longed-for trip to Glasgow with his ineffectual father Stuart ends with Bertie taking money off legendary Glasgow hard man Lard O'Connor at cards, it looks as though Bertie should have been more careful what he wished for. And all the time it appears that both Irene Pollock and Dr Fairbairn are engaged in a struggle with dark secrets and unconscious urges of their own."

McCall Smith, Alexander "Love Over Scotland" (44 Scotland Street #3) - 2006

"Love Over Scotland" picks up where "Espresso Tales" leave off. We hear more about Bertie, the five-year old and his awful mother, a neighbour of Pat goes to meet some pirates in South-East Asia, there are other small and big problems with the people in the book but I think this is it for the series. There are more books that carry on the tales of our Scottish friends but I think I'll give them a miss. If you love light reading, you will probably love it, Alexander McCall Smith has a good way of describing people.

From the back cover:

"With his characteristic warmth, inventiveness and brilliant wit, Alexander McCall Smith gives us more of the gloriously entertaining comings and goings at 44 Scotland Street, the Edinburgh townhouse.
Six-year-old prodigy Bertie perseveres in his heroic struggle for truth and balanced good sense against his insufferable mother and her crony, the psychotherapist Dr Fairbairn. Domenica sets off on an anthropological odyssey with pirates in the Malacca Straits, while Pat attracts several handsome admirers, including a toothsome suitor named Wolf. And Big Lou, eternal source of coffee and good advice to her friends, has love, heartbreak and erstwhile boyfriend Eddie's misdemeanours on her own mind."

These are the other books in the series "44 Scotland Street":
2007: The World According to Bertie 
2008: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones
2010: The Importance of Being Seven
2011: Bertie Plays The Blues
2012: Sunshine on Scotland Street
2013: Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
2015: The Revolving Door of Life
2016: The Bertie Project
2017: A Time of Love and Tartan
2019: The Peppermint Tea Chronicles
2020: A Promise of Ankles

McCall Smith, Alexander "44 Scotland Street"

McCall Smith, Alexander "44 Scotland Street" - 2005

I have been a fan of Alexander McCall Smith ever since I read his first novel in "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". But he has written more series, so I thought why not try his novels on Scotland, his home country. After all, he has described Botswana so well, he should do just as great with his own nation.

It was interesting to read in the introduction, that this story was written in the same way Charles Dickens wrote his many great works, it's a serialised novel. The author had wondered why they didn't exist anymore and he had been taken up on this, so his novel appeared in snippets for six months in "The Scotsman".

The novel was as expected, funny and light-hearted, an easy read, nothing much happens but it doesn't get all that boring, either. The chapters are small, so they could fit into the newspaper, I suspect. I usually like my books a little more intriguing but this was quite nice.

From the back cover:

"Alexander McCall Smith's Scotland Street occupies a busy, bohemian corner of Edinburgh's New Town, where the old haute bourgeoisie finds itself having to rub shoulders with students, poets and portraitists. And number 44 has more than its fair share of the street's eccentrics and failures.

When Pat - on her second gap year and a source of some worry to her parents - is accepted as a new tenant at number 44, she isn't quite sure how long she'll last. Her flatmate Bruce, a rugby-playing chartered surveyor, is impossibly narcissistic, carelessly philandering and infuriatingly handsome. Downstairs lives the gloriously pretentious Irene, who precocious five-year-old is in therapy after setting fire to his father's copy of the Guardian. And then there is the shrewd, intellectual Domenica MacDonald, mysteriously employed but a sharp-eyed observer of the house's activities in her spare time...

Dry, funny, hugely entertaining, with its glittering cast of rogues, oddballs and innocents, McCall Smith's Scotland Street is proof that the author of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency can be as witty, incisive and humane in observing his native Edinburgh as his adopted Botswana."

Bythell, Shaun "The Diary of a Bookseller"

Bythell, Shaun "The Diary of a Bookseller" - 2017

I read the first sentence on the back cover and knew I had to read this book:
"An elderly customer told me that her book club's next book was Dracula, but she couldn't remember what he'd written."

The book was just as hilarious as this remark. I had to laugh out loud a lot of times. Shaun Bythell is so sarcastic and has a great sense of humour. I loved that.

How a salesperson can keep their calm when faced with stupid questions or remarks is beyond me. Customers who think they own the place, rummage through the books and leave the shop after tossing the books they looked at anywhere and without buying anything.

Which book lover doesn't wish to work in a library or a book shop (although the latter can be disastrous to your finances). But do we really consider how much hard work it is? Just the moving, packing and unpacking of boxes with books is terrible for your back. And dealing with customers who don't treat books the way we think they are supposed to be treated?

I could totally relate with his frustrations about people who would browse in his shop but then order the books from amazon. Or those who haggle over the price. Or the frustrations with the Internet when it doesn't do what you think it should e doing (haven't we all been there?) Or with amazon when his sales sank again under a certain limit. And then the troubles with his staff who seem to live in their own world and totally ignore the ideas and wishes of the boss. What kind of world do they live in? If I'd behaved like that in any of the jobs I had, I probably would not have had it very long. Shaun Bythell seems to be a very kind employer.

I especially loved the stories about the books, how he went to people's houses when a loved one had died or they had to downsize. Wish we had second hand bookshops around here. I sort out my books from time to time and donate them to the library and I'm lucky that they are happy to take them. But still. Would be nice to make a little bit of money. And one of my personal highlights was when he shot the Kindle. Can't blame him.

But there are a lot of other funny stories in the book. Like when a customer asks for the restroom. Even though he had an American girlfriend at the time, neither he nor his assistant seemed to know what he meant, or so they claimed. So, the answer given was "There is a comfy seat by the fire if you need a rest." Americans, beware! When you come to Europe and are looking for the toilet, say it like it is, nobody here calls them bathroom or restroom or whatever. I remember a British friend on being asked for her bathroom thinking whether the person wanted to take a bath. LOL

I also loved the idea of the Random Book Club where he sends you just a random used book once a month. Unfortunately, it is full at the moment, otherwise I would have joined right away.

I am sure this is on my list of places to see when we will visit Scotland the next time. There are two things I definitely want to see:the shot and mounted Kindle and the Festival bed. And there is one thing the author doesn't have to be afraid of once I've entered the shop: I will definitely buy something and I will put every book back on its right place that I have touched. I always do that, so it won't make any difference.

One last thing, I appreciated all the books he mentioned, would have loved a list at the end because there were so many that it was impossible to keep track. And there were lots of other things I appreciated like when he mentions that "older Gallovidians refer to [bats] as 'flittermice', probably something that fans of operetta would recognise." Well, in Germany, everyone would recognize it because the German word for bat is "Fledermaus".

This book definitely gets 5 stars from me. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

From the back cover:

"Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye."

Shakespeare, William "Macbeth"

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

After reading "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet", I thought I should tackle "The Scottish Play". It's one of those plays that always get mention and you know what it's about but since I had neither seen nor read it before, there is always something missing.

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.

I enjoyed reading the book in the end, although "enjoy" isn't really the right thing when talking about murder and slaughter, am I right?

Having said that, the characters in this play are magnificent. There is a strong woman who influences her husband and thereby history. Interesting how this worked already half a millennium ago (probably even longer).

In any case, if you enjoy reading classics, this is a must. If you don't enjoy reading classics, you should still try to try this one, you might just change your mind.

From the back cover:

"Encouraged by his ambitious wife and the prophecy of three witches, Macbeth, a brave warrior, murders the rightful King of Scotland and seizes the throne for himself. However, in achieving his ambition, Macbeth has upset the natural order and soon discovers that power cannot suppress guilt.
Macbeth remains one of the most powerful plays about worldly power, greed and ambition - and all the resulting psychological consequences."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2026.

Aboulela, Leila "The Kindness of Enemies"

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?

The story of the Imam mirrors the story of the protagonist which could probably be the story of the author. There is a huge struggle for all the characters involved - fictional or real - and we can follow Natasha, the protagonist, in the 20th century with her struggle to see where she really belongs, Europe or Africa, or Russia? The same goes for the Imam who fights for his country, his son who is kidnapped as a young boy and then raised in Russia, Anna, the Georgian princess whose husband feels more Russian, her son who is also right in the middle of it. And then there are the modern day Muslims living in Scotland, Malak and her son Oz, who struggle for their identity and get into trouble just be being themselves.

A lot of people here who have a problem with who they really are, with knowing who they really are. I think if you are in a situation like that, you probably need as many characters to put it all in. And maybe that's why they all ring so true, they all seem to come from the author's heart. I am sure Leila Aboulela goes through the same questions and worries as Natasha Wilson in her story.

Great book. I will read more by this author. But I think everyone should read this book, I believe it makes us understand our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters better and the struggles they have to face every day in a world where they are marked as terrorists even before they open their mouths.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2026.

From the back cover:

"It’s 2010 and Natasha, a half Russian, half Sudanese professor of history, is researching the life of Imam Shamil, the 19th century Muslim leader who led the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasian War. When shy, single Natasha discovers that her star student, Oz, is not only descended from the warrior but also possesses Shamil’s priceless sword, the Imam’s story comes vividly to life. As Natasha’s relationship with Oz and his alluring actress mother intensifies, Natasha is forced to confront issues she had long tried to avoid - that of her Muslim heritage. When Oz is suddenly arrested at his home one morning, Natasha realizes that everything she values stands in jeopardy.

Told with Aboulela’s inimitable elegance and narrated from the point of view of both Natasha and the historical characters she is researching, The Kindness of Enemies is both an engrossing story of a provocative period in history and an important examination of what it is to be a Muslim in a post 9/11 world."

Gabaldon, Diana "Outlander"

Gabaldon, Diana "Outlander" (UK: Cross Stich) - 1991

So many of my friends have told me I should read this, it has been suggested in my book club, yet, it never really caught my attention, I didn't think it was me.

So, when I saw this was read in an online book club, I jumped at the opportunity to discuss this with some other people and read it.

What can I say? I was right all along? Yes, I was right all along. This is not my kind of read. Granted, the story itself is not too bad, Claire, a nurse who has been in World War II, all of sudden finds herself in the 18th century. Well, I don't believe in time travel but I am willing to overlook that part. She then has to start living in that time and does pretty well integrating with her medical knowledge and all.

The story about the people in the 18th century is also not completely uninteresting. It's just, the whole style of writing is so chick lit, so simple, there is way too much importance on sex and, even in the 1700s, clothing. The whole story seems to turn around those subjects. And everything is totally predictable. Not really any surprising facts. "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily.  That is what Fiction means." As Miss Prism says in Oscar Wilde's fantastic play "The Importance of Being Earnest".

Not my cup of tea. This will have been my one and only "Outlander" novel, I know there are plenty more to read. If you are interested in them, here is the list of the sequels:

Outlander - 1991 (UK edition: Cross Stitch)
Dragonfly in Amber - 1992
Voyager - 1994
Drums of Autumn - 1997
The Fiery Cross - 2001
A Breath of Snow and Ashes - 2005
An Echo in the Bone - 2009
The Exile – An Outlander Graphic Novel - 2010
Written in My Own Heart's Blood - 2014
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone - 2021

What have I learned from this? I often do know whether I would like a novel or not. It doesn't happen often that I am pleasantly surprised even if I pick up a book I think might not be me. That should count for something, right?

From the back cover:

"The year is 1945 and Claire Beauchamp Randall, a former British combat nurse, is on holiday in Scotland with her husband, looking forward to becoming reacquainted after the wars long separation. Like most practical women, Claire hardly expects her curiosity to get the better of her. But an ancient stone circle near her lodgings holds an eerie fascination, and when she innocently touches a corner of one of the giant boulders, she's hurtled backward in time more than two hundred years, to 1743.
The past is a very different country, boiling with rumors of the Jacobite Pretender's Rising, beset with ignorance and superstition, ravaged by pestilence and disease. Alone where no lady should be alone, and far from the familiar comforts of her other life, Claire's usual resourcefulness is tested to the limit. The merciless English garrison captain so feared by others bears a disturbing resemblance to the husband she has just left behind. Her own odd appearance and even odder behavior expose her to accusations of witchcraft. And the strands of a political intrigue she doesn't understand threaten to ensnare her at every turn.

Determined to make the best of things, Claire uses her nurses training to help heal the sick, her wits to foil those who would brand her a spy and her humor and courage to disarm any would-be captors. Struggling to keep the all-too-present past at bay, she plots to return to the stone circle, and home. but of all the perils Claire's new life holds, none is more disquieting than her growing feelings for James Fraser, the gallant young soldier she is forced to marry for her own protection. Sworn by his wedding vows to keep her from harm, Jamie's passion for Claire goes beyond duty. The emotions between them are stronger, and far more real, than anything she has ever known. As she struggles with the memory of another life - indeed, another husband - Claire is forced to choose between the future she has left and the past she now inhibits. And, having been plunged into an adventure that is at once unimaginably bizarre and unmistakably real, she learns an unforgettable lesson: that a man's instinct to protect the woman he loves is as old as time."