Top Ten Tuesday ~ My Top Ten Personal Heroes

  

"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.

This week's topic is: Fictional Crushes

I don't often have crushes, never was the type of person to be blown away by someone's good looks. It was more the type of person someone was. And there are a few men in literature that I admire (probably fewer than women but I don't want to get too far away from the subject), I call them my personal heroes, so that's what I'm going to present today.

My Personal Heroes

Alcott, Louisa May "Little Women" - 1868
Theodore "Laurie/Teddy" Laurence, I never understood why Jo March didn't want to marry him, he is such a lovely guy.

Austen, Jane "Persuasion" - 1817
Captain Frederick Wentworth. I know, for most women, Mr. Darcy from "Pride & Prejudice" is the epitome of a hero but for me, it's always been Frederick Wentworth who waits for his girl until she is ready.

Becker, Jurek "Jacob the Liar" (German: Jakob der Lügner) - 1969
Jacob Heym gives people hope for telling them lies and thereby saves quite a few.

Lee, Harper "To Kill a Mockingbird" - 1960
Atticus Finch, of course. What a wonderful guy who stands up for the little man even if it is to his disadvantage.

Pasternak, Boris "Doctor Zhivago" (Russian: Доктор Живаго = Doktor Živago) - 1957
Of all the main and secondary characters of all the books I read, Jurij Zhivago was always one of my favourites. Though, that might have been the lovely Omar Sharif who played him in one of my favourite movies ever. 😉 (So, you could count this as a crush)

Powers, Charles T. "In the Memory of the Forest" - 1997
Leszek Maleszewski tries to discover the reason for his friend's murder and therefoy uncovers the history of his village.

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Shadow of the Wind" (Spanish: La Sombra del Viento) - 2001
(El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1)
Juan Sempere is the guy who introduces his son Daniel to the Cemetery of Lost Books and us to a wonderful tetralogy of books about it.

Stroyar, J.N. "The Children’s War" - 2001
Peter Halifax is the kind of guy youd would want by your side if you are in trouble.

Turner, Nancy E. "These is my Words, The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901" - 1999
Captain Jack Elliot who is a good man and helps everyone around him, that's what draws Sarah to him.

Zusak, Markus "The Book Thief" - 2005
Hans Hubermann, Liesel Meminger's foster father. He raises the little orphan girl as if she were is own, is very sympathetic and courageous, has the heart in the right place.

Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katheryn Howard"

Weir, Alison "Six Tudor Queens. Katheryn Howard. The Tainted Queen" (US Title: The Scandalous Queen) - 2020

I have read all of Alison Weir's Tudor Queen books and this is the one about Henry VIIIs fifth wife. I have always read about her as being frivolous which she probably was. But the background about her and her family, I never heard of that.

A poor little girl who lost her mother when she was very young is sent from one place to the next and gets her "education" mainly from other young women who want nothing else than their enjoyment.

Alison Weir lets us see Katheryn Howard from a whole different point of view and that is the main reason why I think everyone who is interested in the Tudors should read the book. In her book about Anna of Kleve she took some liberties and invented "facts" that cannot be proven. Maybe she also did this with Henry's next queen though I doubt it because she even mentioned the stuff she had invented about Anna in her epilogue.

A pleasant read, as always. Looking forward to the book about the sixth and last wife, Katharine Parr.

From the back cover:

"Alison Weir, historian and author of the Sunday Times-bestselling Six Tudor Queens series, relates one of the most tragic stories in English history: Katheryn Howard, Henry VIII's fifth queen.

A naïve young woman at the mercy of her ambitious family.

At just nineteen, Katheryn Howard is quick to trust and fall in love.

She comes to court. She sings, she dances.

She captures the heart of the King.

But Henry knows nothing of Katheryn's past - one that comes back increasingly to haunt her. For those who share her secrets are waiting in the shadows, whispering words of love ... and blackmail.

Katheryn Howard

The Fifth of Henry's Queens.

Her story.

History tells us she died too soon.

This mesmerising novel brings her to life."

There is also a non-fiction book by Alison Weir about all of the ladies: "The Six Wives of Henry VIII".

Book Quotes of the Week

   
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"Dear and most respected bookcase! I welcome your existence, which has for over one hundred years been devoted to the radiant ideals of goodness and justice." Anton Chekhov

I respect my bookcase(s) but I really, really, really love it, as well.

"Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions." Aleron Kong, I The Land: Raiders

I've known this as: Diplomacy is the art of stepping onto someone's foot so that he notices but doesn't scream.

"We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it." Barack Obama

He is so right. As always. Why are there still people around who don't want to believe this?

Find more book quotes here. 

Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich "The Communist Manifesto"

Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich "The Communist Manifesto" (German: Das Kommunistische Manifest) - 1848

It's unbelievable that this book is almost two centuries old. It's as contemporary and accurate as it was in 1848. I have always said, and I still believe it is correct, Marx and Engels would turn in their grave if they saw what has been made from their ideas. Unfortunately, they forgot to include one aspect into their theories, the human factor. As we have seen during the last two years of this pandemic, there are always greedy, selfish people around and they will not change their mind for the common good, often they are not smart enough to understand that and cannot think further than their own nose. So we should forgive them. But, honestly, I don't want to. I hate selfishness more than anything.

I live in a country with a good health system which is regarded by many outsiders as communist. We have free education and a good insurance for when we lose our jobs. We look after each other in our system and I am happy about that. But there are still too many rich people who could do more for the rest of the population. Again, the human factor. But I am glad we have the system we have and wouldn't want to live in some other countries, even if they claim to have more money. My son lived in Sweden for a while and their system is even further than Germany, a great system with high taxes but the people are generally a lot happier than those in other countries. I think that speaks for itself.

Karl Marx is a great philosopher; he has been named one of the most well-known thinkers in the world. We should give his thoughts more consideration.

Quotes:
"Political power, properly so called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another."
Unfortunately, Karl Marx was right here, as always.

"The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class."
So true, those who rule the country tell us what we should think.

"Then the world will be for the common people, and the sounds of happiness will reach the deepest springs. Ah! Come! People of every land, how can you not be roused."
Good question. If people don't want to understand, they won't.

"You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population."
Also this is still truer than ever.

"Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.
Workingmen of all countries unite!"
The trouble is, many of the suppressed people believe their oppressors that this is wrong and will end in a disaster for them. No, it will end in a disaster for the rich.

"Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps."
Still the same!

And last but not least:
"Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that is does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labour of others by means of such appropriation."

From the back cover:

"A rousing call to arms whose influence is still felt today

Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the worldview Marx and Engels developed during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration. Formulating the principles of dialectical materialism, they believed that labor creates wealth, hence capitalism is exploitive and antithetical to freedom.

One of the most profoundly defining documents ever published in history. The Communist Manifesto has forever realigned political faultlines worldwide, and its aftershock resonates to this day. In the 150 years since its publication, no other treatise has inspired such a dividing and violent debate, and after the recent collapse of several regimes which had initially embraced it, a retrospective interpretation of the essential ideas it advocates is presented in this comprehensive volume."

 

See also: "Capital. Critique of Political Economy" - 1867

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books with Fall in the Title

 

"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.

This week's topic is: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

I did this a while ago when we were supposed to do Bookish wishes. Mmmh, now I have to think about something else.

So, it's summer and I've done a post with books that have the word "summer" in the title, even if it doesn't always talk about summer. But autumn is my favourite season and it's not far off (though, this summer wasn't all that bad, not too hot). However, I couldn't find any books with autumn in the title, except for a German one which I have included. So, I thought about the American word for autumn and it's easier to find titles with "Fall", even though it is a different kind of fall most of these books talk about and that is probably the reason why I don't like using that word for my favourite season. And I found one about leaves.

Achebe, Chinua "Things Fall Apart" (The African Trilogy #1) - 1958

Chevalier, Tracy "Falling Angels" - 2001

Follett, Ken "Fall of Giants" - 2010 

Gauck, Joachim (German President 2012-2017) "Winter im Sommer - Frühling im Herbst: Erinnerungen" [Winter in Summer, Spring in Autumn. Memories] - 2009 - (Goodreads)

Guterson, David "Snow Falling on Cedars" - 1994

Hannah, Kristin "Angel Falls" - 2000

Kadaré, Ismail "The Fall of the Stone City" (aka Chronicle in Stone) (Albanian: Darka e Gabuar) - 1971

MacDonald, Ann-Marie "Fall On Your Knees" - 1997

Oates, Joyce Carol "The Falls" - 2004

Truss, Lynne "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" - 2005

Hislop, Victoria "One August Night"

Hislop, Victoria "One August Night" - 2020

I absolutely love Victoria Hislop. My first book by her was "The Island" and I have read all her subsequent novels (see here). All of them were fantastic, great stories with a lot of information mainly about Greece but also some other Southern European countries (Cyprus, Spain, Turkey).

Fourteen years after her first novel, the sequel to it was published. It is the end of the leper colony in Greece since they found a cure. That is great news for some since their loved ones return, not so good news for others who fear their lives will change. And they do.

A drama that occurs on the return changes the life of everyone whom we got to know in the first book. It would have been nice to learn more about other inhabitants of Spinalonga but we learn more about Maria who spent a long time of her life there.

As in all her novels, Victoria Hislop tells us a lot about her beloved country Greece. She has been made an honorary citizen in the meantime, a well-deserved recognition. I always love her describing the Greek whom I got to know as a warm and loving people. And her stories always have a feeling of truth, you can believe the people really existed, they led this life. She always brings me back to Crete which I really love.

I am already looking forward to her next book which she will hopefully write soon.

From the back cover:

"25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.

When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.

In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.

Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island - the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island... and beyond."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.

Book Quotes of the Week

  
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"A classic does not necessarily teach us anything we did not know before. In a classic we sometimes discover something we have always known (or thought we knew), but without knowing that this author said it first, or at least is associated with it in a special way. And this, too, is a surprise that gives much pleasure, such as we always gain from the discovery of an origin, a relationship, an affinity."  Italo Calvino

I think that is one of the reasons why I love classics so much.

"The main effort of arranging your life should be to progressively reduce the amount of time required to decently maintain yourself so that you can have all the time you want for reading." Norman Rush

I find I've been doing that for decades.

"When people say, 'I have so many books to read! Look at my To Be Read pile!' and it's like 8 books, I want to say, 'That's adorable. I have a TBR bookcase." N.N.

The thing is, we bookworms probably finish our bookcase faster than that person their 8 books.

Find more book quotes here.  

* [If anyone can tell me the originator of this quote, I'd be very thankful and would happily include the name.]