Book Quotes of the Week

"Let's be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading." Lena Dunham

"The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story. Ursula K. Guin

 “But, how do you know if an ending is truly good for the characters unless you've travelled with them through every page?” Shannon Hale

"Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all." Abraham Lincoln

"Sleep is good," he said, "and books are better." George R.R. Martin

"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers." Logan Pearsall Smith

"I go on many thrilling adventures and wondrous, profound escapades through books." Kurt Vonnegut
 
Find more book quotes here.

Fforde, Jasper "Lost in a Good Book"

Fforde, Jasper "Lost in a Good Book" (Thursday Next 2) - 2002 

I read "The Eyre Affair" about Charlotte Brontë's novel "Jane Eyre" last year because someone from the book club recommended it to me. I probably would have never picked it up because it looked a bit like fantasy and science fiction and that is not something I am usually interested in.

But Thursday Next works for SpecOps 27, the Literary Deceives (LiteraTecs) in Special Operations, a fictional division of the British government. With the help of special gadgets and skills, she can enter books and move from one to the next, this is called "bookjumping". This time, she spends a lot of time in "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens but also visits other places, e.g. Osaka via Gravitube. A device I would like to have in real life in order to visit friends on the other side of the world within a couple of hours.

Same as in her first book, there are a lot of funny names and funny occurrences but the funniest of all is when someone describes our life today as a "sideline" and they agree how weird that must be.

A funny, light book that can be read within a couple of hours but stays with you a lot longer. Whether you're into adventure or chick lit, science fiction or real life, this is a book for everyone. Very entertaining.

I wonder, where her next book "The Well of Lost Plots" will take her.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Thursday Next is back. This time, it's personal.

For Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, life should be good…

Riding high on a wave of celebrity following the safe return of kidnapped Jane Eyre, Thursday ties the knot with the man she loves.

But marital bliss isn’t quite as it should be. It turns out her husband of one month actually drowned thirty-eight years ago, and no one but Thursday has any memory of him at all.

Someone, somewhere is responsible.

Having barely caught her breath after The Eyre Affair Thursday heads back into fiction in search of the truth, discovering that paper politicians, the lost Shakespearian manuscripts, a flurry of near- fatal coincidences and impending Armageddon are all part of a greater plan.

But whose? And why?"

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at "The Broke and the Bookish". Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.

November 26: Top Ten Things I Am Thankful For (could be bookish or not -- up to you)

I guess this is an American idea because it coincides with Thanksgiving but we all have things we can be grateful for. And even though I am a day late for the Tuesday, I still a day early for the actual date. 

 I am most thankful for my loving and supporting husband. Through all my years of chronic migraine, he has always been by my side and helped in any way he could. 

Then I am very thankful for my two amazing boys. They have grown up to be the best and most kind and helpful young men anybody can imagine. 

I am thankful for my family, my parents, brothers, their wives and children, who have always stood by my side. 

Next I am immensely grateful for all the friends I found in all those years that we travelled and settled in various European countries. Life without them would have been very different. 

I am thankful that we always have enough to live on, enough food, enough clothes, everything we really need. 

And last but not least, I am thankful that I always have enough access to any kind of book I would love to read whether I buy them or borrow them from the library.

Book Quotes of the Week

"Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live." Gustave Flaubert

"A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out. " Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

"The first book we fall in love with shapes us every bit as much as the first person we fall in love with ..." Laura Miller

"Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own." Charles Scribner Jr.

"The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer." Zadie Smith

"Extremists have shown what frightens them most: a girl with a book." Malala Yousafzai

"Books breed like rabbits, bookcases breed like elephants." N.N.

Find more book quotes here.

Scieszka, Jon; Smith, Lane "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs"

Scieszka, Jon; Smith, Lane "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" - 1989

This is the true story of the "Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf" as retold by Alexander T. Wolf. Or is it "The Three Bad Pigs and the Nice Little Wolf"?

In any case, the story is hilarious, for children and adults alike. It is not just that the well known story has been turned around and the wolf is the innocent one in this scenario, there are so many aspects to the story that can be discussed with children of all ages whether they are still too little to read it themselves or are older than the kids who usually read fairy tales and picture books.

The wolf insists he only wanted to borrow sugar to make a cake for his grandmother's birthday. Poor wolf. It's not his fault he likes to eat pork.

The illustrations are also wonderful. A great book all around.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"A spoof on the three little pigs story, this time told from the wolf's point of view. Lane Smith also illustrated Hallowe'en ABC which was one of The New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year."

Regener, Sven "Berlin Blues"

Regener, Sven "Berlin Blues" (German: Herr Lehmann) - 2001 

It doesn't happen often that German books are translated into English so I was quite surprised to find that this one was.

This is the story about a guy who would probably be called a loser by many. Frank comes from Bremen but lives in Berlin and works in a pub. His parents think he could do better, his brother certainly thinks that. His friends call him Herr Lehmann, one girl after the other leaves him.

You would think this book is boring but it's not, it describes the last year before the fall of the wall in a city that had been divided for decades. It is both humorous as well as philosophical, a difficult line to walk down but Sven Regener managed this quite well. In a quite ironic way, he talks about language and life, about all the little things that make life difficult but also wonderful.

Nice story, well written, a realistic tale about the life of the "little people". I will go on and read the two other books of this trilogy, "Neue Vahr Süd" [Neue Vahr South] and "Der kleine Bruder" [The little brother], both of which have not been translated. Yet, I hope.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"It's 1989 and, whenever he isn't hanging out in the local bars, Herr Lehmann lives entirely free of responsibility in the bohemian Berlin district of Kreuzberg. Through years of judicious sidestepping and heroic indolence, this barman has successfully avoided the demands of parents, landlords, neighbours and women. But suddenly one unforeseen incident after another seems to threaten his idyllic and rather peaceable existence. He has an encounter with a decidedly unfriendly dog, his parents threaten to descend on Berlin from the provinces, and he meets a dangerously attractive woman who throws his emotional life into confusion. Berlin Blues is a richly entertaining evocation of life in the city and a classic of modern-day decadence."

Hessel, Stéphane "Time for Outrage!"

Hessel, Stéphane "Time for Outrage!" (French: Indignez-vous!) - 2011 

This is probably one of the shortest "books" I ever read. It would not even go as a short story for many people. Just about 30 pages.

Stéphane Hessel is 93 years old and he was a member of Résistance during the war.

When he published his book in France, it caused a lot of attention. The author encourages us to be outraged. He has seen what happens when people aren't. He encourages us to stand up not only to dictatorship but before that to the business world, the banks, the financers, to fight for the minorities, against pollution and therefore for humanity and our earth.

I think everybody should read this, it doesn't take long but could change the world for the better if we all acted accordingly.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"This controversial, impassioned call-to-arms for a return to the ideals that fuelled the French Résistance has sold millions of copies worldwide since its publication in France in October 2010. Rejecting the dictatorship of world financial markets and defending the social values of modern democracy, 93-old Stéphane Hessel - Résistance leader, concentration camp survivor, and former UN speechwriter - reminds us that life and liberty must still be fought for, and urges us to reclaim those essential rights we have permitted our governments to erode since the end of World War II."