Gordimer, Nadine "Burger's Daughter" - 1979

Gordimer, Nadine "Burger's Daughter" - 1979

I wanted to read a book by Nadine Gordimer for a long time. She is a prolific author, she's from South Africa, she writes about politics, she's a woman and she received the Nobel Prize for Literature, a lot of reasons why she should be on my list.

I certainly wouldn't call this an "easy read". The author's style is not very inviting, the flow … well, there is not really a flow. The conversations are not very clear, one often gets the impression that we're not supposed to know who is talking at the moment, whose thoughts we are following. The story jumps from one person to the next.

However, the topic of the novel is very good. The story is loosely based on the life of Bram Fischer and his family, especially his daughter. Bram Fischer was a South African lawyer, known for his anti-apartheid activism. He became most popular as Nelson Mandela's defence lawyer.

I did enjoy reading about the story even if I didn't enjoy reading the story very much. The book teaches us about South Africa, their history, the apartheid system and that there have been people fighting against it, even if there could have been more.

From the back cover:

"After the death of legendary anti-apartheid activist, Lionel Burger, his daughter Rosa finds herself adrift in a South Africa she no longer knows. Previously her life had been surrounded, created by politics. Now, confronting the left-wing legacy her father represented, as well as the rise of a militant Black Consciousness movement, she is involved in a 'children's revolt' of her own. But where and how will she find her own identity?

Emerging front the darkest days of apartheid, in its moods of elegy, homage and compassion, Burger's Daughter is a great political novel not only of South Africa but of the twentieth century."

We discussed this book in our international online book club in June 2019.

Nadine Gordimer "who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity" received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991.

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

Book Quotes of the Week

"I can read a book twice as fast as anybody else. First I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whichever end I like best." Gracie Allen

"I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon women's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men." Jane Austen, Captain Harville in "Persuasion"
 
"A novel is never anything but a philosophy expressed in images. And in a good novel the philosophy has disappeared into the images." Albert Camus

"The libraries have become my candy store." Juliana Kimball

Find more book quotes here.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel "The Scarlet Letter"

Hawthorne, Nathaniel "The Scarlet Letter" - 1850

I have never been a big fan of puritanism or over-religious people who try to put their idea of "society" on everyone else. In this book, a young woman is punished for having relations with a man who is not her husband. Both she and the resulting child are ostracized by the "good people" of a village in New England. Hester seems a wonderful woman but it's hard for her to get acknowledged by the other citizens. And at the time, she didn't have a huge choice to go somewhere else.

Even though I prefer long books, I found that the length of this book was alright because everything got said. The story was rounded up well. I also liked the style, quite a typical classic way of telling a story. I read a review by someone who complained that the sentences were too long. I already noticed that when discussing my first classic book with my English book club more than twenty years ago. Being German, I am so used to long sentences (and words), it feels so familiar. I don't mind that at all. Should you not be a fan of long sentences, you might not really like this classic so much. But I did.

From the back cover:

"The Scarlet Letter is the tragic story of a woman's shame and the cruel treatment she suffers at the hands of the Puritan society in which she lives. 

A settler in New England, Hester Prynne has waited two years for her husband, an ageing English scholar, to join her. He arrives to find her in the pillory, a small baby in her arms. She must, as a punishment for her adultery, wear a scarlet 'A' embroidered on her breast and is consenquently ostracized by her contemptuous neighbours. 

Sworn to keep secret the identity of both her husband and her lover, Hester slowly wins the respect of society by her charitable acts. Her own strength and the moral cowardice of the man who allows her to face guilt and shame alone are brought into sharp contrast in a dramatic and harrowing conclusion."

Hirata, Andrea "The Rainbow Troops"

Hirata, Andrea "The Rainbow Troops" (Indonesian: Lasykar Pelangi) - 2005

A lovely book about a school in Indonesia. Not just any school, a school in one of the poorest areas where the teachers work for no money and the students have to drive several hours by bike to get there.

But they all have one thing in common, they want to learn, they want to get out of the circle where they won't achieve anything because they have no education like their parents.

To read about the struggles these kids have to face every day and how they achieve to get at least some eduction, is so refreshing. We take so many things for granted in our countries, especially that we can send our kids to school, this is a reminder that it's not a given, that we should appreciate it a lot more than we do.

This book is interesting because we get to know people who seldom get mentioned in books, those poor people who work hard so their families can live but don't get mentioned because their lives are not exciting enough for us. But we get to know all the kids in the class as well as some of their parents and definitely the teachers. Their motivation, their hopes and dreams.

Good book.

From the back cover:

"Ikal is a student at Muhammadiyah Elementary, on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered a major achievement. His school is under constant threat of closure. In fact, Ikal and his friends - a group called The Rainbow Troops - face threats from every angle: pessimistic, corrupt government officials; greedy corporations hardly distinguishable from the colonialism they've replaced; deepening poverty and crumbling infrastructure; and their own faltering self-confidence. But in the form of two extraordinary teachers, they also have hope, and Ikal's education is an uplifting one, in and out of the classroom.

You will cheer for Ikal and his friends as they defy the town's powerful tin miners. Meet his first love - a hand with half-moon fingernails that passes him the chalk his teacher sent him to buy. You will roar in support of Lintang, the class's barefoot maths genius, as he bests the rich company children in an academic challenge.

First published in Indonesia, The Rainbow Troops went on to sell over 5 million copies. Now it is set to captivate readers across the globe. This is classic story-telling: an engrossing depiction of a world not often encountered, bursting with charm and verve."

Book Quotes of the Week

"Why can’t people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?" David Baldacci

"A good reader should always have two books with him: one to read, the other one to lend." Gabrielle Dubois

"Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything." Tomie dePaola

"Nothing is more impotent than an unread library." John Waters, Role Models

Find more book quotes here.

Dionne jr. E.J.; Reid, Joy-Ann "We are the Change We Seek"

Dionne jr. E.J.; Reid, Joy-Ann "We are the Change We Seek. The Speeches of Barack Obama" - 2017

Barack Obama was a great president with hope for a better world. His speeches show that. The ones that are shown in this book are probably amongst his most important ones and they were all fantastic.

Many people should read this, especially those who hope that the present incumbent will be better. There is now way that is going to happen.

We need more people like him, this world would be a better place. And I am sure, even though he is not the president any more, that we'll hear more from hm and that he'll continue his work. He is a born leader and speaker and he can encourage people to work for their country and therefore for the world.

After "Dreams From My Father", "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama, "The World As It Is" by Ben Rhodes, "Promise Me, Dad" by Joe Biden and "Becoming" by Michelle Obama, this was the sixth book I read about the president. They were all great reads to get to know this man and his dream a little better.

From the back cover:

"'Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek'

In his speeches as president, Barack Obama had the power to move people from all over the world as few leaders before him. We Are the Change We Seek is a collection of twenty-seven of Obama's greatest speeches, covering the issues most important to our time: war, inequality, race relations, gun violence and human rights. With brief introductory remarks explaining the context for each speech, this is a book to inform, illuminate and inspire, providing invaluable insight into a groundbreaking and era-defining presidency."

Barack Obama received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2009 "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.".

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

Bogel, Anne "I'd Rather Be Reading"

Bogel, Anne "I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life" - 2018

I like books about books, even if they sometimes are on the "chick lit" side.

This one wasn't. It was the honest account of an avid reader, someone like all my readers here and myself. Someone who can't go a day without reading. There are so many reflections on what it means to be a reader and what we all have in common.

I envied Anne Bogel for her first house, not because of the size of it or the layout of the room. No, it was the location, right next door to a library. I always had to get into my car in order to get to the next library. That doesn't mean I didn't use it, on the contrary.

There are some hilarious parts in the book. In the chapter "The Bookworm Problems", the author mentions that our books equal the gross domestic product of a small nation. I'm afraid that I belong to those people, even though I use the library quite frequently, as well.

In general, I totally agree with the author about reading and all that it embraces. Mostly, I have read completely different books from her. I suppose that is partly because most of the books she mentions are American but also, because we seem to like quite different genres. Except for Jane Austen, we don't seem to have a single author in common.

However, sometimes I found the book was written for Americans only. E.g. when she writes "… I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's excellent Abraham Lincoln biography Team of Rivals. I knew the basic outline of this life from history class; American students know that story's sad ending." I think most students have learned that in school, I know I did.

I have known a lot of American readers and a lot of them always tell me that the books they find are not very international. This book has confirmed that.

Nevertheless, I liked the book. Because, after all, it doesn't matter what kind of books you read, as long as you read.

And doesn't it just have the most charming illustration?

From the back cover:

"Reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass the time - it's a lifestyle. Books shape, define and enchant us. They are part of who we are and we can't imagine life without them.

In this collection of charming and relatable reflections, beloved blogger and author Anne Bogel leads you to remember the book that first hooked you, the place where you first fell in love with reading, and all the books and moments afterward that helped make you the reader you are today."