Non-fiction November - Week 3

  

Leann from Shelf Aware and Julie from julzreads have given Non-fiction November a new twist.

They encourage us to not only read a non-fiction book this month but also to look at non-fiction books in general.

 

This week, we are asked to Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert: "Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert)."

I was thinking about a lot of subjects for this, the first one that sprang to my mind was history. My old history is either turning in his grave or laughing his head of, if he's still alive. I hated history lessons in school. But I have come to love it once I left school and learned about real history, not just learning dates by heart. Of coures, there are many topics there that I've read a lot about. World War II, Holocaust, history of Germany and Austria, history of the United Kingdom, Ireland, France. But in the end, I chose the part that I think is most exciting, a very busy time, a scandalous time, 

No matter how many books they will write about this time or television series or movies make about it, I'll be there.

Starting with Henry VII who united the Houses of Lancaster and York after the war of the Roses, then Henry VIII and his six wives, his children Edward VI, (Bloody) Mary I and Good Queen Bess (the Virgin Queen). They all represent a part of the House of Tudor who ruled from 1485-1603, only 150 years but what a reign it was!

Ackroyd, Peter "The History of England, Vol. 2 Tudors" - 2012
Weir, Alison "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" - 1991
Fry, Plantagenet Somerset "Kings & Queens. A Royal History of England & Scotland" - 1998

Only rulers like that can bring forth such great artists as William Shakespeare.
Arnold, Catharine "Globe: Life in Shakespeare's London" - 2014
Bryson, Bill "Shakespeare: The World as a Stage" - 2007
Deary, Terry "Top Ten Shakespeare Stories" - 1998

There are two books about the Tudors in "Horrible Histories" by Terry Deary: "The Terrible Tudors" and "The Terrifying Tudors" (aka Even More Terrible Tudors). They usually hit the descriptions of the peoples spot on.

I have also read a lot of novels about the Tudors, a lot of them are almost as informative as the non-fiction editions. You can find them here.

This was instigated by our Classics Club reading challenge. I found them through Words and Peace. Thank you.

Book Quotes of the Week

Word cloud made with WordItOut

"I like being the main character in your story." Jay McLean, Leo
That is certainly an important choice.

"I have only read one book in my life and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another." Nancy Mitford
The poor woman.

"Painting is the silence of thought and the music of sight." Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red
I think that also goes for writing and reading.

"No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don’t read is often as important as what you do read." Lemony Snicket
It is very important to read, whether it's a lot or a little, a book or the newspaper or an article on the internet. Get yourself informed about what's going on around you. And history. It's important that we don't repeat the mistakes of our forebears.

Find more book quotes here.

Baumgart, Klaus "Laura's Star"

Baumgart, Klaus "Laura's Star" (German: Lauras Stern) - 1996

A lovely children's book with beautiful illustrations. My children, both boys, grew up with this book and even though it was about "a girl", they really liked it.

Laura is lonely and finds a friend in a star. It's such a lovely little story that every child can relate to. There are lots of other books about Laura and her star in the meantime, they celebrate Christmas together, she takes her friend to school or for a sleepover, the star ist there for her all the time.

The book was translated into 25 languages and sold over four million times in 30 countries. Therfore, the author is one of the most successful children's book artists of all time. Some of his books have also been turned into movies.

Laura has many more adventures and they are all written down in sequels. I couldn't find a good list of all the books with the English and the original title but I put those I could find together in chronological order.

Laura's Christmas Star (Lauras Weihnachtsstern) - 1998
Laura's Secret (Lauras Geheimnis) - 2002
Laura's Journey to the Stars (Lauras Sternenabenteuer) - 2002
Laura's Star and the New Teacher (Laura kommt in die Schule) - 2004
Laura's Star and the Sleepover (Lauras erste Übernachtung) - 2005
Laura's Star and the Search for Santa (Laura suche den Weihnachtsmann) - 2006
Laura's Star and the Dream Monsters (Lauras Stern und die Traummonster) - 2006
Laura's Star and the Special Pony (Laura und das Pony) - 2008
Laura's Star - Friends forever (Laura und der Freundschaftsbaum) - 2010
Laura Goes on Holiday (Lauras Ferien) - 2014

And here are the ones that might have been translated, might not have been translated. Again, chronological order.

(Sternenreise) - 2004
(Das große Lauras Stern Buch) - 2005
(Laura kommt in die Schule) - 2005
(Lauras Stern Und Der Geheimnisvolle Drache Nian) - 2009
(Laura Und Die Lampioninsel) - 2009
(Lauras erste Überraschung) - 2012
(Lauras Ferienabenteuer) - 2013
(Laura und das kleine Kätzen) - 2014
(Lauras Piratenschatz) - 2014
(Laura und der andere Stern) - 2015
(Lauras Stern - Meine ersten Zaubertricks) - 2016
(Laura und das Osterei) - 2016
(Lauras Stern - Die gestohlene Nase) - 2018
(Laura und der Ferienhund) - 2018
(Lauras Stern - Der Vorlesewettbewerb) - 2019
(Laura hat Geburtstag) - 2019
(Laura und der Vorlesetag) - 2020

The author has also written several good night story books about Laura and her star friendship. And a series about a little green dragon plus several other children's book, all just as nicely illustrated and lovely told.

From the back cover:

"Laura is often lonely, longing for a friend of her own. One night she sees a falling star and runs outside to find it lying, damaged on the pavement. Taking it upstairs, she mends it and puts it on her pillow, knowing she has found a friend at last."

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #25

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new books there, especially French ones.

For a while, she published posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, before next Sunday 22nd November 2020, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. On Sunday 22nd November, they'll post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until the end (Saturday 30th) of January 2021 to read it.

In the meantime, I read five more books from my old list (Classics Spin #24) which I replaced by some new ones. They are all in chronological order.

1.    Austen, Jane "Sanditon" - 1817
2.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Italienische Reise" (Italian Journey aka Letters from Italy) - 1817
3.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
4.    Gogol, Nikolai (Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol) "The Overcoat" (Шинель) - 1842
5.    Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" - 1845
6.    Sand, George "Fadette" (aka Fanchon, the Cricket) (La Petite Fadette) - 1849
7.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
8.    Eliot, George "Silas Marner" (Silas Marner) - 1861
9.    Jacobs, Harriet Ann (Linda Brent) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" - 1861
10.    Rhoides, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Roidis) "The Curious History of Pope Joan" (Papissa Ioanna) - 1866
11.    Twain, Mark "A Tramp Abroad" - 1880
12.    Storm, Theodor "The Rider on the White Horse" (Der Schimmelreiter und andere Erzählungen) - 1888
13.    Van Dyke, Henry "The Story of the Other Wise Man" - 1896
14.    Hubbard, Fra Elbert "A Message to Garcia" - 1899 - The Classics Spin #25
15.    Frost, Robert "A Boy’s Will" and "North of Boston" - 1913+1914
16.    Mann, Thomas "A Man and his Dog" (Herr und Hund. Ein Idyll) - 1918
17.    Christie, Agatha "Hercule Poirot. The Complete Short Stories" - 1923-61
18.    Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923
19.    Ford, Ford Maddox "Parade's End" (Tetraology: Some Do Not, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, Last Post) - 1924-28
20.    Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925

If you want to take up the challenge, here is the post: The Classics Spin #25 

"This is your Spin List. 

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you have been putting off, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favourite author, re-reads, ancients, non-fiction, books in translation - whatever you choose.)

On Sunday 22nd November, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by 30th January, 2021. Yes, you read that correctly! The 30th January 2021. You have almost 9 weeks to read your next CC Spin book. So why not load your list with those chunksters you’ve been putting off forever?

We’ll check in here on the 30th January 2021 to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!"

The reason I've been putting off reading them is because my TBR pile is so huge. I love classics, I want to read them, and I love how I actually read more classic books than before.

I will add the chosen number once it's published. I will also add every other book I read afterwards with a link to the spin.

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Top Ten Books With Animals

"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: Top Ten Characters I’d Name a Pet After 

(These could be your own pets (present or future), you could pick 10 different animals and tell us the name and animal type, or you could choose 10 names that would make fun cat names, etc. Put your own spin on this one!)

I'm not an animal type of person. I've never had a pet and I wouldn't want one, either. So I thought I'd take a little twist on the topic today.

Books With Animals

 

I must admit, there are more than ten books here but at least I kept myself to ten animals, excluding my favourites, elephants. (I have read "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen but I didn't care for it much, therefore it won't feature below.) Therefore, here's a picture of one: 

Bees
Paull, Laline "The Bees" - 2014

Butterflies
Kingsolver, Barbara "Flight Behaviour" - 2012

Cats
Murakami, Haruki "Kafka on the Shore" (Japanese: 海辺のカフカ Umibe no Kafuka) - 2004
Solstad, Lexidh "Catpasity" - 2015

Dogs
Haddon, Mark "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" - 2003
Scott, Mary - all books
Wroblewski, David "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" - 2008

Dolphins
Noa Bercovitch, Pascale "The Dolphin’s Boy: A Story of Courage and Friendship" (French: Oline, le dauphin du miracle) - 2000
O’Dell, Scott "Island of the Blue Dolphins" - 1960

Horses
Frazier, Charles "Thirteen Moons" - 2006
Scott, Mary - all books
Stewart, Sheila "Ramlin Rose" - 1993

Pigs
Orwell, George "Animal Farm" - 1945

Rabbits
Adams, Richard "Watership Down" - 1972
Potter, Beatrix "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" - 1902

Sheep
Scott, Mary - all books

Seagulls
Bach, Richard "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" - 1970

These are all great books, by the way. Don't ask me to pick a favourite.

What books have you read where animals are a very important part? And what is your favourite pet?

Non-fiction November - Week 2

 

 

Leann from Shelf Aware and Julie from julzreads have given Non-fiction November a new twist.

They encourage us to not only read a non-fiction book this month but also to look at non-fiction books in general.

This week, we need to pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. "It can be a 'If you loved this book, read this!' or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it's a historical novel and you'd like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story."

I had to think immediately about a book I read ages ago with my book club. It was called "Tulip Fever" (and has been made into a film in the meantime). There was a recommendation to read some background information books, and I read two non-fiction books about tulips and the history of the phenomenon called "tulipomania". One concentrates more on the flower itself, the other one on the craze that ruined many lives in 1630's Holland, especially Amsterdam.

Moggach, Deborah "Tulip Fever" - 1999
Pavord, Anna "The Tulip" - 2004
Dash, Mike "Tulipomania: The Story of the World’s Most Coveted Flower and the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused" - 2000

This was instigated by our Classics Club reading challenge. I found them through Words and Peace. Thank you.

Book Quotes of the Week

Word cloud made with WordItOut

"I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience." Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
I don't think you can express that any better.

"Books are the training weights of the mind" Seneca
Also true. apparently, reading every day may reduce dementia risk. What could be a better incentive?

"...paradise is a world where everything is a sanctuary & nothing is a gun..." Danez Smith, Don't Call Us Dead: poems
And whoever doesn't agree doesn't deserve paradise or a gun.

Find more book quotes here.