Akmakjian, Hiag "30,000 Mornings"

Akmakjian, Hiag "30,000 Mornings" - 1999

A weird novel about the fashion industry and the troubles it can bring. I think the description "Unconsciously reinforcing the maxim that the US is a salad bowl rather than a melting pot" says it all. There is some insight into the human psyche and relationships but overall this book wants to be more than it really is. It's not achick lit but it's not deep, either. I think I was drawn to this book more through the name of the author than anything else. I should have judged the book by its cover. Not really my thing.

From the back cover:

"Inge, a twentysomething Finnish model, has a photographer boyfriend with more than just an eye for art. Inge torments herself with imaginary kidnapping scenarios after her fellow Finn disappears, but visits to her shrink lead her to admit that her sense of loss may have another basis."

Andrić, Ivo "The Bridge on the Drina"

Andrić, Ivo "The Bridge on the Drina" (Serbo-Croat: На Дрини Ћуприја or Na Drini Ćuprija) - 1945

This is the story of a bridge. From the day it was built in the 16th century up until a couple of hundred years later in the 20th.

It is amazing what such a building or the river below it goes through during the centuries. We people only live a very short time compared to anything around us. In the long run, the life of one person is nothing compared to history.

The author manages to describe this very well. The river runs smoothly, or sometimes not so smoothly, and so does the history of man. Leaders come and go, war rages, natural catastrophes, the bridge still stands and watches over the lives of the people who cross the river.

Reading this makes you almost feel like being the bridge seeing the river flow below you.

But it also shows you a lot of the history of the Balkans that was always in the middle of the Western and Eastern Empires, the Occident and the Orient. As with most Eastern literature, there is quite a bit of poetry in the book, as well. You might want to concentrate on one part at the time. The book certainly brings you to a different part of this world.

Once you read it, you will understand why he was awarded the Nobel Prize for just writing one piece of fiction. It is a masterpiece.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"In the small Bosnian town of Visegrad the stone bridge of the novel's title, built in the sixteenth century on the instruction of a grand vezir, bears witness to three centuries of conflict. Visegrad has long been a bone of contention between the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, but the bridge survives unscathed until 1914, when the collision of forces in the Balkans triggers the outbreak of World War I.

The bridge spans generations, nationalities and creeds, silent testament to the lives played out on it. Radisav, a workman, tried to hinder its construction and is impaled alive on its highest point; beautiful Fata leaps from its parapet to escape an arranged marriage; Milan, inveterate gamble, risks all in one last game on it. With humour and compassion, Andric chronicles the lives of Catholics, Moslem's and Orthodox Christians unable to reconcile their disparate loyalties."

Ivo Andrić received received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961 "for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country".

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

Never judge a book by its cover?

They say "Never judge a book by its cover". That might ring true metaphorically in a lot of situations but, literally, it does not. Of course, I judge a book by its cover. And in 99% of the cases, the result speaks for itself. I've never seen a pink book that isn't a chick lit, for instance. Or, another example, a lot of crime stories are black. The thing is, that's what the publishers want us to do, they want us to judge the books by their covers, they want us to think that this book appeals to us, they want us to buy it. Why else would they choose certain colours, certain images? The design changes throughout the years. Why? Why not keep the original cover, even if it is a couple of hundred years old? Because it wouldn't sell as well. And why change the cover as soon as a movie is out? Because people remember the movie and want to buy the book.

We can actually use this to our advantage. If you don't like chick lits (sorry, but it is just such a great example), stay away from pink and purple. Easy as that. The colour of a cover often says more about the book than those magazine blurbs, e.g. ABC newspaper says "Fantastic book!" or XYZ critic "Best novel since ..." I don't even have an idea about the content there.

Both the colour and the jacket design tell us a lot about the book, about the reader it is looking for. We can guess the genre, the style, even the story. That doesn't mean it isn't misleading sometimes, but generally, it is a good help. Recommendations from friends or other helpful readers, articles about a book, reviews on your favourite internet pages, they all contribute to getting a good selection of literature appropriate for the individual but if you're on your own when you come across something new, which is your favourite colour?

So, go ahead, judge books by their covers! Pick the ones that appeal to you most. The most important part is, that you read those you might like most. After all, you are reading the novel, not the cover.

Binchy, Maeve "Tara Road"

Binchy, Maeve "Tara Road" - 1998

I found this book for a pound in a bargain bookshop when I first started reading English books. Somehow it was always moved to the bottom of my pile of books. Then I moved on to a little more challenging books and "Tara Road" looked less and less appealing. A friend told me this was a great book and I should read it, she wanted to lend me the book. I told her I had it at home and then I had no choice but to start it. What do you think? I liked it. It's one of those "easy read" books but it's different. It leaves a story behind that I still remember years after reading this. Something I can't say about most of those similar reads.

Two women switch houses, both of them want to run away from a problem, of course, they are the sort of problem you can't really run away from, so the problem follows them to their respective resort. Nice easy read, even if that's not what you're looking for.

From the back cover:

"Ria Lynch and Marilyn Vine have never met. Their lives have almost nothing in common. Ria lives in a big ramshackle house in Tara Road, Dublin, which is filled day and night with the family and friends on whom she depends. Marilyn lives in a college town in Connecticut, New England, absorbed in her career, an independent and private woman who is very much her own person.

Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find. Yet a chance phone call brings them together and they decide to exchange homes for the summer. Ria goes to America in the hope that the change will give her space and courage to sort out the huge crisis in her life that is threatening to destroy her. Marilyn goes to Ireland to recover in peace and quiet from the tragedy which she keeps secret from the world, little realising that Tara Road will prove to be the least quiet place on earth.

They borrow each other's houses, and during the course of that magical summer they find themselves borrowing something of each other's lives, until a story which began with loss and suffering grows into a story of discovery, unexpected friendship and new hope. By the time Ria and Marilyn eventually meet, they find that they have altered the course of each other's lives for ever."

Conrad, Joseph "Heart of Darkness"

Conrad, Joseph "Heart of Darkness" - 1902

I found this book when reading Jane Smiley's "13 Ways of Looking at the Novel". It sounded interesting and I found it in the library the next time I went.

The author, a Polish novelist who wrote in English, wrote this story about an English captain who goes to Africa for an assignment. His ship is destroyed before he arrives and he is forced to travel into the dark continent. He conveys his thoughts about his experiences, his encounter with the inhabitants, both native and colonists.

Even though this is a novella, only 110 pages, so not very long, there is a lot of information crammed into the story, there is no way you can skip even one sentence and you will have lost the plot. He has a special kind of writing style, probably due to the fact that English is not his mother tongue and he still keeps the flow of his native language, as we probably all do somehow.

In any case, he gives us an interesting insight into colonisation, the impact it had on the people in Africa and also on the Europeans who went there. It is a highly interesting study about a part of history that still influences our lives today.

My favourite quote: "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea - something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to ..."

From the back cover:

"In a novella which remains highly controversial to this day, Conrad explores the relations between Africa and Europe. On the surface, this is a horrifying tale of colonial exploitation. The narrator, Marlowe journeys on business deep into the heart of Africa. But there he encounters Kurtz, an idealist apparently crazed and depraved by his power over the natives, and the meeting prompts Marlowe to reflect on the darkness at the heart of all men. This short but complex and often ambiguous story, which has been the basis of several films and plays, continues to provoke interpretation and discussion.
Heart of Darkness grew out of a journey Joseph Conrad took up the Congo River; the verisimilitude that the great novelist thereby brought to his most famous tale everywhere enhances its dense and shattering power.

Apparently a sailor’s yarn, it is in fact a grim parody of the adventure story, in which the narrator, Marlow, travels deep into the heart of the Congo where he encounters the crazed idealist Kurtz and discovers that the relative values of the civilized and the primitive are not what they seem. Heart of Darkness is a model of economic storytelling, an indictment of the inner and outer turmoil caused by the European imperial misadventure, and a piercing account of the fragility of the human soul."

Novels and their link to reality

I love reading historical novels, or novels based on real life. The downside of it? I more or less know what is going to happen. You come towards a date where you know a war will start or something else will take place and you keep begging, quietly, oh, please, don't let the war start, don't let anything happen to that wonderful person, community, building, place ... Or you can't wait for that date to happen because that is going to be the end of the war and the end of the suffering for our heroes. The thing is, that is great writing, making you still want to go on and find out what exactly happens to that particular character the author invented. You know they are invented but they come alive because they are written so beautifully.

Kent, Christobel "A Party in San Niccolò"

Kent, Christobel “A Party in San Niccolò” - 2003

An English "colony" in Italy. A party is celebrated. Not my usual kind of literarute. But something spoke to me when I chose this book. And I was not disappointed. The author is a good writer, she describes people and country beautifully. The plot was alright though a little overdone at times. Still, if you are looking for a nice litle read, this book is worth it.

Book Description:

"An entrancing story that is one of the most absorbing examinations of the English in Italy since A Room With A View. Set during one week in springtime Florence, A Party In San Niccolo follows the events leading up to the seventy-fifth birthday party for Frances Richardson, a much-loved English resident. Around her, Frances' friends are gearing up for the party too: Frank, a disenchanted journalist; Jane, who runs an Italian cookery school for rich Home Counties wives; her shady husband Niccolo; and Gina, a beleaguered mother-of-three who has come to Florence for a break. Before the week is out love, death, family secrets and old memories will come to a head at Frances' party, with dramatic results..."