Happy February!

   Happy February to all my friends and readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch

"Frühlingsbeginn"
"Beginning of Spring"

Frank says to this picture:
Zum Frühlingsanfang gehören einfach Schneeglöckchen und Krokusse dazu. Es ist schön bereits Anfang März am meteorologischen Frühlingsanfang in den Gärten und Park eine Vielzahl von Frühlingsblühern entdecken zu können.

The beginning of spring simply includes snowdrops and crocuses. It's nice to be able to discover a variety of spring bloomers in the gardens and park at the beginning of March, at the meteorological start of spring.
(see here)

Another great watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch. Enjoy!

Read more on their website here. *

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Spring is around the corner here. Mind you, we didn't really have a proper winter. And you won't hear me complain about that.

Here's a picture of our "snowy" winter.

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We saw several plays this month - what else is new? One of them was a classic: "The Judge and his Hangman" (Der Richter und sein Henker) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. A very successful production which we enjoyed a lot.

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The German word for February is Februar, but the old German word is Hornung, because in this month the mature red deer sheds the bars of his antlers and begins to grow new antlers, so you could say the name of the month is "antlering". But there are also other old names based on natural phenomena and seasons. This month it's Schmelzmond (melting moon) and Taumond (dew moon).  

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

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🌼 I wish you all a Happy February! 🌼

Dickens, Charles "Barnaby Rudge"

Dickens, Charles "Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty" - 1841

I'm a huge Charles Dickens fan. I have never read a book by him that wasn't fascinating. This was so great, as well.

I didn't know that this was another historical novel (next to "A Tale of Two Cities").

What I loved about this book was just what I normally love about Dickens. His description of the little man, the life of people at the time he writes about. How did they live? What were their problem? Why did they revolt in this case?

We get a good view about the lives and the problems of the people in the 18th century even though it wasn't the time Dickens lived in.

I can see why this is the least read of his books though it doesn't really deserve it. The topic might not seem as interesting to readers or maybe they are missing a really feel-good romance. No matter the reason, this is a great book and if you are a fan of classic literature, you should consider reading at least one of Dickens' books. And if you don't want to carry on then, it is your loss.

I would love to read this with a book club since there is so much to talk about. But I don't want to give spoilers on my blog, so I will not go into details.

From the back cover:

"Dickens's first historical novel is set against the infamous 'No Popery' riots that were instigated by Lord George Gordon in 1780, and terrorised London for days. Prejudice, intolerance, misplaced religious and nationalistic fervour, together with the villains who would exploit these for political ends, are Dickens's targets. His vivid account of the riots at the heart of the novel is interwoven with the mysterious tale of a long unsolved murder, and a romance that combines forbidden love, passion, treachery and heroism.

A typically rich cast of comic characters, from the snivelling Miss Miggs and the posturing Simon Tappertit to the half-witted Barnaby Rudge of the title, ensures high entertainment."

#ThrowbackThursday. Tuesdays with Morrie

 

Albom, Mitch "Tuesdays with Morrie" - 1997

This book is telling the relationship between Mitch Albom, a sports reporter, and his former university professor. The author hears about his professor falling sick and starts visiting him every Tuesday.

It is a very moving and touching book. You learn about life and death and how to deal with it.

I thought both these books were very inspiring. 

 

Read my original review here.

Gaiman, Neil "Coraline"

Gaiman, Neil "Coraline" - 2002

Coraline is only a short novella. It was an alright read though nothing spectacular. I probably would have enjoyed reading it with my boys.

I have never been a fan of books where children are heroes and this falls into this category. But I can see the attraction.

I loved the pictures by Chris Riddell. He is a wonderful illustrator and makes every book better, even the great ones.

And I liked these quotes:

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

"When you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."

Luckily, there are always several people in a book club who have a different opinion, so here goes:

•    I absolutely loved Coraline. I listened to it as an audiobook that was narrated by Neil Gaiman himself. His narration was perfect for the story.

•    The story had everything I want from a book: it was mysterious, a little spooky, thrilling, had thought provoking layers and interesting vivid details. Not to mention a lovely protagonist, very interesting different side characters, especially the CAT, and a really interesting antagonist.

•    Nice plot twists with playing games with the other mother and everything turning out alright at the end again.

•    I rather not think about what this says about me and my brain, but this was the most brain stimulating and heartwarming story I read/heard all year. ♥

We read this in our international online book club in December 2023.

From the back cover:

"Sometimes, a door is closed for a very good reason…

There is something strange about Coraline’s new home. It’s not the mist, or the cat that always seems to be watching her, nor the signs of danger that Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, her new neighbours, read in the tea leaves. It’s the other house - the one behind the old door in the drawing room. Another mother and father with black button eyes and papery skin are waiting for Coraline to join them there. And they want her to stay with them. For ever. She knows that if she ventures through that door, she may never come back…"

Statistics 2023

   

My statistics for the last years are here:
Going back to 2009-12, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 

 

And these are the results of my reading lists for 2023:

* Statistics 2023 *
 

I did 184 posts in 2023 which was about a hundred less than last year before but about the same as many others.

My regular posts are either weekly (Book Quotes, Top Ten, ThrowBack Thursday, Wordless Wednesday) or monthly (Happy Month), so I posted more or less the amount of weeks or months in a year.
Book Quotes of the Week (5 posts)
Happy Month (12)
Top Ten Tuesday (11)
ThrowBack Thursday (41)
Wordless Wednesday (2)
Six Degrees of Separation (12)
Spell the Month in Books (12)

I also did a few lists that are more or less statistics about half of the year and a comparison to ten years ago (see here):
10 Year Challenge Book Tag
Mid Year Freak-Out Tag
The End of Year Book Tag
Book Tag: 5…4…3…2…1…

Same as last year, I also participated in Non-fiction November.

And then there are, of course, all the challenges I have done over the years.
I read books that contributed to the following challenges. Some of them count for more than one category:

Challenges (number of books read for the challenges in brackets)
13 Ways of Looking at the Novel (1)
2023 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (13)
Anti-Racism Books (1)
I read more on this topic but they were not on this list.

Barack Obama Reading Lists (1)

Best European Literature (1)
Bildungsroman (2)
A Century of Books (1)
Children's Books (2)

The Classics Club (18): The Classics Spin (4)
5* for the Classics Spin, 18 in total
* There was one left from the original list and I finally finished it:

Dutch and French Books (0 Dutch, 4 French)

Favourite (German) Independent Books (1)
(Das Lieblingsbuch der Unabhängigen = The Favourite Book of the Independents)
German Books (32)

My Favourite Books Ever (15)
Every year I find some more books I can add to my list of favourite books. 24 this year. Not too bad, I guess.

Nobel Peace Prize (1)
Nobel Prize Winners and Their Books (13)
Oscar Winning Books (1)
Paris in July (6)
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1 + 2 previous ones from this year's recipient)
(German: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels)
Read the Year Club (2)
We read 1940 and 1962 this year. It's a good idea to add some reads from former years that we might not have touched before.
Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2023 (12)
I read 12 chunky books in 2023 of which 3 are considered a chunkster. Mor-book-ly Obese again.
Reading the World (1)
Suggestions from Friends (3)
I read suggestions from friends all the time, just haven't kept up with who recommended which book.

Top Ten Tuesday
I took part in 11 of the challenges, this is a great way of reminiscing or planning your reads. But I have done so many of them before.
Travel the World Through Books (1)

Some of the challenges are older and I only add to them if I happen to read one of the books. No new books on these lists:
The 100 best Non-fiction Books of All Time as Chosen by The Guardian (0)
100 Books by the BBC (0)
100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by the Guardian (0)
101 Best Selling Books of All Times (0)
20 Classic and Important Books (0)
Only three more books on my list.
7 Books That Will Radically Shift Your Perspectives (0)
Books That Changed the World (0)
Emma's Book Club - Our shared shelf (0)
An ever growing list of books about and for women, a group started by Emma Watson (better known as Hermione Granger), UN Woman Goodwill Ambassador.
Esperanto Books (0)
Here we mostly read short stories.
Le Monde - The 100 Books of the Century (0)

Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century (0)

Oprah's Book Club (0)
The non-western books that every student should read (0)
The only thing I miss from our old place is the library that would get me any book I wanted. Not so easy here where we only have a small church library and they only get the biggest best-sellers. And all of them in German only, of course.

Book Club 2017 etc. (11)

I decided not to read the September book since it was not for me and we had read a few like that before.
German Book Club (11)

We only read eleven, we usually take a little break in the summer.

Books Read: 83
Pages read: 26,717 which results in 321 pages/book, 73 pages/day, 7 books/month
Last year (2022), I read 73 books with 20,533 pages which resulted in 281 pages/book, 56 pages/day, 6 books/month. So, I have improved a little.
The average novel contains between 140 and 320 pages, i.e. 230 which would make 116 average books (compated to 89 last year). Not too bad, I thought I had read less.

Books dating from which year:
Pre 1800s: 1
1800s: 3
1900-1949: 8
1950-1999: 8
2000s: 65 (1 of which from 2023)

Male Authors: 49
Female Authors: 37
Some are by several authors, so the number is not the exact number of books read.

Nobel Prize Winners: 14

Fiction: 52
Non-Fiction: 33

Chunky Books - more than 450 pages: 12, of which more than 750: 3
Library: 6
Re-Read: 2
TBR Pile: 18

Oldest Book: 1759
Voltaire "Candide, or Optimism" (F: Candide, ou l'Optimism) - 1759
Newest Book: 2023
Weiler, Jan "Älternzeit" [Eldertime] - 2023
Longest book: 1,057 pages
Rutherfurd, Edward "New York" - 2009
Shortest book: 48 pages
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "We Should All Be Feminists" - 2014
Longest book title: 35/38
Wickert, Ulrich "Frankreich muss man lieben, um es zu verstehen" [You have to love France to understand it] - 2017

Funniest Book:
Bythell, Shaun "Seven Kinds of People you Find in Bookshops" - 2020
Saddest Book:
Perry, Matthew "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing" - 2022
Weirdest Book:
Canetti, Elias "Auto-da-Fé" (Die Blendung) - 1935
Most disappointing:
Kazantzakis, Nikos "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Ο τελευταίος πειρασμός, O telefteos pirasmos) - 1951

New author (for me) that I would like to read more from: 13
Ewald Arenz, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Dilek Güngör, Andrey Kurkov, Heinrich Mann, Matthew Perry, Bernd Schroeder, Heike Specht, Karosh Taha, Paul Theroux, Benedict Wells, Iris Wolff, Levison Wood
 
Translated Books:
6 from 6 languages
1 ea from Arabic, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

Books read in another language:
Dutch: 0
French: 4
German: 32

Numbers in Book Titles: 2, 7, 1913
Place Names in Book Titles: Brussels, Constantinople, Crow Lake, Flanders, France, Frankreich, French, English, German, Greece, Hook of Holland, London, Longbourn, Midaq Alley, New York, Northern Ireland, Paris (2), Rotenburg, Rue Morgue, Silk Road, Syria, Turkish
Names in Book Titles: Barabbas, Barnaby, Caleb, Candide, Christ, Coraline, Hans, Idefix, Ishmael, Leo, Lina, Lukas, Maria, Rudge, Schmitz, Sommer, Winter
Colours in Book Titles: Blue, Purple, Red

My Favourite Books: 24
Arenz, Ewald "The Big Summer" (GE: Der grosse Sommer) - 2019
Brooks, Geraldine "Caleb’s Crossing"
- "People of the Book" - 2008
Bythell, Shaun "Seven Kinds of People you Find in Bookshops" - 2020
Dangarembga, Tsitisi "Nervous Conditions" - 1988
Güngör, Dilek "My Turkish Grandmother's Secret" (GE: Das Geheimnis meiner türkischen Großmutter) - 2007
Hajaj, Claire "Ishmael's Oranges" - 2014
Heidenreich, Elke; Schroeder, Bernd "Rowing Dogs" (GE: Rudernde Hunde) - 2002
Hislop, Victoria "Maria's Island" - 2021
Ibrahimi, Anilda "Red Like a Bride" (IT: Rosso come una sposa/Rot wie eine Braut) - 2008
Keefe, Patrick Radden "Say Nothing. A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland" - 2018
Kurkov, Andrej "Grey Bees" (RUS: Серые пчелы/Seryye Pchely) - 2019
Mahfouz, Naguib "Midaq Alley" (arab: زقاق المدق/Zuqaq El Midaq) - 1947
Obama, Michelle "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" - 2022
Perry, Matthew "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing" - 2022
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The City of Mist" (E: La Ciudad de Vapor - El cementerio de los libros olvidados #5) - 2020
Rutherfurd, Edward "New York" - 2009
Şafak, Elif "The Island of Missing Trees" - 2021
Taschler, Judith W. "The German Teacher" (GE: Die Deutschlehrerin) - 2013
- "Summer and Winter" (GE: Sommer wie Winter) - 2011
Weiler, Jan "The Awning Man" (GE: Der Markisenmann) - 2022
- "Eldertime" (GE: Älternzeit) (Pubertiere #5) - 2023
- "In My Little Country" (GE: In meinem kleinen Land) - 2006
Wells, Benedict "The End of Loneliness" (GE: Vom Ende der Einsamkeit) - 2016

 
With my books, I visited places in the following countries:

Africa (4):
Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Asia (13):
Afghanistan, China, India, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Turkey
Australia/Oceania (1):
New Zealand
Europe (23):
Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
North America (2):
Canada, USA
South America (3):
Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname,
Extra-terrestrial (0):
Countries "visited" in total: 46

Authors come from:

Africa (4):
Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Asia (4):
Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Sri Lanka, Syria
Australia/Oceania (1):
Australia
Europe (15):
Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
North America: (2):
Canada, USA
South America (0):
Author countries in total: 26

See also "My Year in Books" on Goodreads.

You may find some even greater statistics by better bloggers than me, e.g. at "Stuck in a Book".

 

If you want more information on any of the lists mentioned, please, let me know.

#ThrowbackThursday. Measuring the World

Kehlmann, Daniel "Measuring the World" (German: Die Vermessung der Welt)  - 2005

Apparently, this is the most successful German novel since Patrick Suskind's "Perfume" and has knocked J. K. Rowling and Dan Brown off the bestseller lists.

I can very well believe that. The author talks about two brilliant German scientists of the 18th century, the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and the great mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. These two guys were the brain of the late 18th century.

Read my original review here.

Wells, Benedict "The End of Loneliness"

Wells, Benedict "The End of Loneliness" (German: Vom Ende der Einsamkeit) - 2016

A quiet book about a family that suddenly isn't a family anymore. How do children cope with the death of their parents, how do they get on?

In this story we can see what happens next. Or not. How this loss accompanies a child throughout their entire life, how it shapes their life.

After the death of their parents, the children grow up in a boarding school, which is also described very impressively. Here the author probably drew on his own experiences, as he too was at boarding school at the age of six.

This is a fabulous book that captures all facets of an entire life (or several). Wonderfully written, a fascinating family story that is so comprehensive despite only being just over 350 pages long. Terrific. 

I think I will read more from this young author.

From the back cover:

"Jules Moreau’s childhood is shattered after the sudden death of his parents. Enrolled in boarding school where he and his siblings, Marty and Liz, are forced to live apart, the once vivacious and fearless Jules retreats inward, preferring to live within his memories - until he meets Alva, a kindred soul caught in her own grief. Fifteen years pass and the siblings remain strangers to one another, bound by tragedy and struggling to recover the family they once were. Jules, still adrift, is anchored only by his desires to be a writer and to reunite with Alva, who turned her back on their friendship on the precipice of it becoming more, but just as it seems they can make amends for time wasted, invisible forces - whether fate or chance - intervene.

A kaleidoscopic family saga told through the fractured lives of the three Moreau siblings alongside a faltering, recovering love story, The End of Loneliness is a stunning meditation on the power of our memories, of what can be lost and what can never be let go. With inimitable compassion and luminous, affecting prose, Benedict Wells contends with what it means to find a way through life, while never giving up hope you will find someone to go with you."

"The End of Loneliness" has been chosen favourite book of the year 2016 by the German Indepent Book Shops and received the European Union Prize for Literature.