Happy November!

Happy November to all my friends and readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch

"Abends bei den Rehen im Winterwald"
"In the Evening with the Deer in the Winter Forest"

November approaches and with it the end of the year. I bet none of us can wait for this year to end though we have no idea what the next one will bring. We just all hope that this nightmare of a pandemic will be over. But will it? Right now, I don't see any reason why it should end as quickly as it begun. This is something that will stay with us for a long time and we'll have to adjust our lives accordingly. I'm just glad we moved back home when we had the chance, would have been so much harder now.

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The trees in the picture remind me of the German tree of the year, the robinia (Robinia pseudoacacia). Not that they look like the commonly known "black locust" or "false acacia" at all, just that they are trees. Now, in German, we also call the robinia "silver rain". The official name was given by Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) after the Jean Robin, the gardener of the French kings Henry III, Henry IV and Lous XIII. In Europe, we mainly use it to make acacia honey. Its wood is hard and durable and many of its parts are used for medicine. However, parts of it are toxic. After WWII, many German cities used it for the greening of mountains of rubble in their bombed out cities. Aren't trees fantastic?

I love trees. Any kind, any time of the year, they are beautiful. My favourite is probably the poplar because I had some behind my bedroom when I was little and they would always sound so soothing in the wind. But I especially like those lone trees that stand in the middle of a field. You see them a lot more in England than over here but I always cherish the view when I come across one.

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I wish you all a happy November. Since the kids can't go out on their usual lantern tours (see here), we have been asked to decorate our windows so they can still go through the streets and see the lights everywhere. But - don't go out too much, take some new books or your favourite ones and keep Corona away. Books are so good for everything.

I just read this in one of my books:
"With great minds for company, a man is never lonely."

 Edward Rutherfurd in "Sarum"

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Have a happy November with this beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch. Stay safe!


You can find many more wonderful pictures on their website here.

You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about them.

Book Quotes of the Week

Word cloud made with WordItOut

"Reading is another way we survive. It helps to know where we came from, how we got here. And most of all, for me, even though these low and empty islands are all I have ever known, when I open the front cover of a new book, it's like a door, and I can travel far away in place and time." C. A. Fletcher "A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World"
Where would we be withough reading? Probably still sit on trees and eat bananas … Even though I don't live on an empty island, books have given me more than anything else.

"A childhood without books – that would be no childhood. That would be like being shut out from the enchanted place where you can go and find the rarest kind of joy." Astrid Lindgren
Again, I could not imagine having lived without books, having grown up without books. Books give us more than we can ever imagine.

"My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs." Tara Westover, Educated
I once heard that you should be the main character in your story, not the supporting actor. That is what Tara Westover says here, as well, and it's so true. 

Find more book quotes here.

Books With Daughter in the Title

Elisabeth from Silversolara always posts interesting lists of books I read. One of them was "Books with Daughter in the Title". I was amazed to see how many I already read. Looks like it's an interesting topics for most of us.

Allende, Isabel "Daughter of Fortune" (Sp: Hija de la fortuna)

Edwards, Kim "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" 

Fredriksson, Marianne "Hanna's Daughters" (Sw: Anna, Hanna og Johanna)

Gordimer, Nadine "Burger's Daughter" 

Gowda, Shilpi Somaya "Secret Daughter"

Hickman, Katie "Daughters of Britannia"

Morton, Kate "The Clockmaker's Daughter"

Oates, Joyce Carol "The Gravedigger's Daughter"

Şafak, Elif "Three Daughters of Eve" (Tr: Havva'nın Üç Kızı) 

Nine, that's almost enough for a Top Ten Tuesday. And then I have three more where the word "daughter" turns up in the "subtitle", as I always call it. They are both about daughters, as well, therefore I include them here.

Chang, Jung "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China" 

Sobel, Dava "Galileo's Daughter"

Ung, Loung "First they killed my father. A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers"

Have a look and see how many you can find among your books. Let me know.

Top Ten Tuesday - Halloween Freebie

"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".

It is now hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

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.

Halloween Freebie

We don't really celebrate Halloween over here though some kids seem to be going around. Also, I'm not into fantasy, science fiction and/or horror stories, so not many recommendations. Instead of coming up with something that I don't really enjoy or have no relation to, I thought I'd tell you a little about our German autumn customs.

First of all, there is the festivity of St. Martin of Tours. There is a legend that he cut his coat in half and shared it with a beggar. Now, he rides on a horse through the villages and the children follow him with their lanterns, often to the church. The lanterns are mostly self-made, either at home or in playgroup/elementary school. You can buy them everywhere but the own ones are so much more fun. When I was little, we had real candles in them and had to be very careful for them not to burn down. Nowadays, you put an electric one in, safer and still the same amount of fun.

But we also used to go out on other nights. People had decorations up and you would go to the houses in the neighbourhood, sing some songs and get sweets as a "reward". So, you might have little visitors all through autumn, as soon as the nights got longer.

One of my favourite artists, Frank Koebsch, has painted two beautiful pictures of this even, one of them I published in my "Happy September" blog from 2018, the other one is from 2011, both of them depict the custom very well.

"Lasst uns Laterne gehen"

"Ich geh mit meiner Laterne"

And here are some of the songs we used to sing.

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne

Ich geh’ mit meiner Laterne und meine Laterne mit mir. Da oben leuchten die Sterne und unten da leuchten wir. Mein Licht ist aus, ich geh’ nach Haus. rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.

English translation: I Walk with My Lantern I walk with my lantern, And my lantern with me. Above, there shine the stars, And we shine down here. My light is out, I go home, Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum.

Listen to this song on YouTube

Laterne, Laterne

Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne, brenne auf mein Licht, brenne auf mein Licht, aber nur meine liebe Laterne nicht.

English translation: Lantern, Lantern Lantern, Lantern, Sun, moon and stars, Burn down, my light, Burn down, my light, But not my dear lantern.

Listen to this song on YouTube

We would sing the lantern songs at the houses, but here is a song that tells the whole legend and is usually sung when following "St. Martin".

Sankt Martin

Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin ritt durch Schnee und Wind, Sein Ross, das trug ihn fort geschwind. Sankt Martin ritt mit leichtem Mut, Sein Mantel deckt' ihn warm und gut. Im Schnee saß, im Schnee saß, Im Schnee, da saß ein armer Mann, Hat Kleider nicht, hat Lumpen an. "O helft mir doch in meiner Not, Sonst ist der bitt're Frost mein Tod!" Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin zog die Zügel an, Sein Ross stand still beim armen Mann. Sankt Martin mit dem Schwerte teilt Den warmen Mantel unverweilt. Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin gab den halben still: Der Bettler rasch ihm danken will Sankt Martin aber ritt in Eil Hinweg mit seinem Mantelteil. Sankt Martin legt sich still zur Ruh, da tritt im Traum der Herr hinzu. Der spricht: "Hab Dank, du Reitersmann, für das, was du an mir getan.

English translation St. Martin St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin St. Martin rode through snow and wind, His horse carried him quickly away. St. Martin rode with light courage, His cloak kept him warm and good warm. In the snow sat, in the snow sat, In the snow, there sat a poor man, He didn't have clothes, he wore only rags: "Oh help me in my distress, Otherwise the bitter frost will be my death!" St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin pulled the reins, His horse stood still near the poor man, With his sword St. Martin cut the warm cloak in half. St. Martin, St. Martin, St. Martin quietly gives half, The beggar's wants to thank him quickly, But St. Martin was riding away in haste With half his cloak. St. Martin lies down quietly to rest, In a dream the Lord appears. Who says: "Thank you, horseman, For what you did to me."

Listen to this song on YouTube

Rutherfurd, Edward "Sarum"

Rutherfurd, Edward "Sarum: the Novel of England" - 1987

As I already wrote in my review about "London", I’m a huge fan of England and this is not just the story of Salisbury, it is first and foremost the story of England, how it first was settled, what happened next and how did the ordinary people live throughout the centuries.

Edward Rutherfurd kept his style of describing the history of a country or town by their inhabitants, not by the kings who ruled, the dictators or the rich aristocracy but by the "little man". We meet the first settlers, we have an idea how Stonehenge might have been built, we learn how Salisbury cathedral (and many other cathedrals like that) was built and what an impact it had on the people. People start raising different kind of sheep who can live better in the climate, they grow different kind of crops and find out how it gives them a better harvest, where they survive best etc. I know it was probably similar in many European countries of the same climate, certainly in mine.

I love how we always meet a couple of people and then see what their descendants are up to, how a family feud can go on for generations but also how times can change and the tides can turn for some, not always positively.

This is a large book, 1,300+ pages and if you want to really enjoy it, don't read it all in one go, you might get overwhelmed. But it's totally worth it and fits in my love for chunky books and my slogan "a book only starts after 500 pages". 😉

This is my seventh novel by Edward Rutherfurd and it won't be the last; "New York" is already on my TBR pile and "China" on my wishlist. I would love for him to write a novel about Germany.

And there's a great quote on page 1112:
"With great minds for company, a man is never lonely." Could we agree more? I think not.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"In a towering story of breathtaking scope, the entire sweep of English civilisation unfolds through the story of one place, Salisbury, and the epic saga of five families.

The Wilsons and the Shockleys, locked in a cycle of revenge and rivalry for more than 400 years; the Masons, who pour their inspired love of stone into the creation of Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral; the Porters, descended from a young Roman soldier in exile; and the aristocratic Godefroys, who will fall to the very bottom of the social ladder before their fortunes revive.

As their fates and fortunes intertwine over the course of the centuries, through struggle and adventure, their greater destinies offer a fascinating glimpse into the future."

Find a link to all my reviews on his other novels here.

Book Quotes of the Week

Word cloud made with WordItOut

"A great book helps the reader see the world in a way they haven't before, or it helps the reader articulate thoughts and emotions they already have but not yet put into the right words." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
What can I say to this quote? Every reader has experienced that.

"The more you read, the less you sound foolish when you speak." Amit Kalantri
That's for sure. I once read that reading about one subject for several years is as good as a semester at university. Can't find the quote. Maybe it's not correct but reading certainly can teach us a lot.

"The first thing I learned at school was that some people are idiots; the second thing I learned was that some are even worse. " Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City
And if they haven't learned it in school, they learn it in a pandemic. Or not. ☹

"A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders." John Steinbeck
I'm not exactly sure whether that's true. I love reading about people at different times or in completely different areas than myself, But maybe those stories that touch me still have something that talks to my life. 

Find more book quotes here.

The Classic Meme 2.0 - October 2020

Apparently, when the Classics Club came into being. A monthly meme was devised to bring clubbers together to chat about classics. New questions were posted from 2012 to 2016 and then again in 2018 to give clubbers an opportunity to talk about literature together. You could write a blog post and leave the link or simply put your thoughts in the comments.

Now, they have revived that idea and the meme for this month is: Ponder about your childhood:

Discuss the classics you read as a child.
Who introduced you to them?
Which ones were you favourites?
Do you still reread them as an adult? Why? Why Not?

"Heidi" was the first book I ever owned. My parents gave it to me when I was seven years old and was in hospital because I had to have my appendix removed.

I didn't think about it as a classic, who does at the age of seven? But I really loved reading about the little orphan who was taken in by her grandfather who lived so remote, they hardly ever saw anyone. I read it several times as a child but never again as an adult. Might be time to do it one day.

Other than that, my parents had a few classics at home and I read them all over the years, probably not as early as seven but certainly before I was ten.

I remember the Bjørndal Trilogy by Trygve Gulbranssen, "Beyond Sing the Woods/The Wind from the Mountains" (Norwegian: Og bakom synger skogen, Det blåser fra Dauingfjell and Ingen vei går utenom) from 1933-35. Great novels about the harsh life in the mountains at the beginning of the last century.

And we had fairy tales. Mainly by the Grimm Brothers but also Hans-Christian Andersen, Ludwig Bechstein, Wilhelm Hauff but also Norwegian folk tales collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen or Russian ones, collected by Alexander Nikolajewitsch Afanassjew, those I loved especially.

Unfortunately, our library was very small. But I remember reading many books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, my favourite series being The Six Bullerby Children and Seacrow Island.

The only series I owned myself were books by German author Martha Schlinkert but at the time they were not classics: "Winnie im Paradies" [Winnie in Paradise]; "Nur Mut, Winnie" [Courage, Winnie]; "Alles dreht sich um Winnie" [Everything revolves around Winnie], all not translated and all from 1966

And then there was Berte Bratt, another Norwegian wirter, my favourite book there was "Slik er Ponny" [Such is Ponny] (German title: Alle nennen mich Pony which means Everyone calls me Pony). I loved this book because "Pony" whose real name is Rita, grew up in a poor family, same as me, and went to school with rich kids, same as me. That was MY story.

Then there are books written for children that most German kids grew up with, "Max and Moritz" by Wilhelm Busch, "Lisa and Lottie" by Erich Kästner, I especially loved the latter.

Thinking about all these books was a trip down memory lane. I noticed that many of these titles were from Scandinavian authors. Interesting. I definitely liked stories about other countries already back then.

Thank you, "Words and Peace", for introducing this to me.

And since I love to see listed books in a list, here we go:
Bratt, Berte "Alle nennen mich Pony" (Norwegian: Slik er Ponny) [Everyone calls me Pony/Such is Ponny] - 1960 Goodreads
Busch, Wilhelm "Max and Moritz" (German: Max und Moritz) - 1865
Grimm Brothers - all their fairy tales
Gulbranssen, Trygve - Bjørndal Trilogy "Beyond Sing the Woods/The Wind from the Mountains" (Norwegian: Og bakom synger skogen, Det blåser fra Dauingfjell and Ingen vei går utenom) - 1933-35 Goodreads
Kästner, Erich "Lisa and Lottie" aka "The Parent Trap" (German: Das doppelte Lottchen) - 1949 
Lindgren, Astrid "Seacrow Island" (Swedish: Vi på Saltkråkan) - 1964
- "The Six Bullerby Children" (Swedish: Barnen i Bullerbyn) - 1947
Schlinkert, Martha "Winnie im Paradies" [Winnie in Paradise] - 1966 Goodreads
- "Nur Mut, Winnie" [Courage, Winnie] - 1966
- "Alles dreht sich um Winnie" [Everything revolves around Winnie] - 1966
Spyri, Johanna "Heidi" (German: "Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre" and "Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat") - 1880-1881