“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’d never met, a native of Guernsey, the British island once occupied by the Nazis. He'd come across her name on the flyleaf of a secondhand volume by Charles Lamb. Perhaps she could tell him where he might find more books by this author. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, she is drawn into the world of this man and his friends, all members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a unique book club formed in a unique, spur-of-the-moment way: as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the Germans. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s charming, deeply human members, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Through their letters, she learns about their island, t their taste in books, and the powerful, transformative impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
Secondly, I want to finishing listening to the Audiobook of Washington Square by Henry James [German Version]
What Catherine Sloper lacks in brains and beauty, she makes up for by being "very good." The handsome Morris Townsend would do anything to win her hand-even if it means pretending that he loves the homely ingénue, and cares nothing for her opulent wealth.
Afterwards I want to read ...
Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster
An old man awakens, disoriented, in an unfamiliar chamber. With no memory of who he is or how he has arrived there, he pores over the relics on the desk, examining the circumstances of his confinement and searching his own hazy mind for clues.
Determining that he is locked in, the man--identified only as Mr. Blank--begins reading a manuscript he finds on the desk, the story of another prisoner, set in an alternate world the man doesn't recognize. Nevertheless, the pages seem to have been left for him, along with a haunting set of photographs. As the day passes, various characters call on the man in his cell--vaguely familiar people, some who seem to resent him for crimes he can't remember--and each brings frustrating hints of his identity and his past. All the while an overhead camera clicks and clicks, recording his movements, and a microphone records every sound in the room. Someone is watching.
Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote
In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.
This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar," and "A Christmas Memory," which the Saturday Review called "one of the most moving stories in our language." It is a tale of two innocents - a small boy and the old woman who is his best friend - whose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
... is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal - a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Madalyn by Michael Köhlmeier [Original German Version]
Madalyn wohnt einen Stock tiefer. Der Schriftsteller Lukasser kennt sie seit ihrem fünften Lebensjahr. Damals hatte er ihr das Fahrrad fahren beigebracht und muss wenig später zusehen, wie das kleine Mädchen von einem Auto erfasst wird. Er wird ihr Lebensretter und hr Schutzengel, dem sie Dinge anvertrauen kann, die ihre Eltern nicht verstehen würden. Jetzt ist Madalyn vierzehn Jahre alt und erfährt ihre erste Liebesgeschichte, die in ihrer Ausweglosigkeit herzzerreißend und kompliziert ist. Denn Moritz - oder das, was Madalyn über Moritz berichtet - ist alles andere als ein einfacher Fall. Moritz stammt aus desolaten Verhältnissen, wurde bei einem Einbruch erwischt und ist ein notorischer Lügner. Oder stimm alles nicht, was er von sich erzählt - spricht er vielleicht doch die Wahrheit? Sebastian Lukasser, der eigentlich einen Roman über einen jungen Mörder schreiben wollte, muss sich nun eine andere Geschichte anhören, eine Geschichte von erster Liebe, die ihn tiefer und härter trifft als ihm lieb ist.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
As Romeo and Juliet come from opposing families, their love must be concealed until after their marriage. But Romeo has been banished for avenging the death of Mercutio and, despite the well-meaning intervention of Friar Laurence, fate ensures that theirs is a wedding that will never take place.
Determining that he is locked in, the man--identified only as Mr. Blank--begins reading a manuscript he finds on the desk, the story of another prisoner, set in an alternate world the man doesn't recognize. Nevertheless, the pages seem to have been left for him, along with a haunting set of photographs. As the day passes, various characters call on the man in his cell--vaguely familiar people, some who seem to resent him for crimes he can't remember--and each brings frustrating hints of his identity and his past. All the while an overhead camera clicks and clicks, recording his movements, and a microphone records every sound in the room. Someone is watching.
Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote
In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.
This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar," and "A Christmas Memory," which the Saturday Review called "one of the most moving stories in our language." It is a tale of two innocents - a small boy and the old woman who is his best friend - whose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
... is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal - a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Madalyn by Michael Köhlmeier [Original German Version]
Madalyn wohnt einen Stock tiefer. Der Schriftsteller Lukasser kennt sie seit ihrem fünften Lebensjahr. Damals hatte er ihr das Fahrrad fahren beigebracht und muss wenig später zusehen, wie das kleine Mädchen von einem Auto erfasst wird. Er wird ihr Lebensretter und hr Schutzengel, dem sie Dinge anvertrauen kann, die ihre Eltern nicht verstehen würden. Jetzt ist Madalyn vierzehn Jahre alt und erfährt ihre erste Liebesgeschichte, die in ihrer Ausweglosigkeit herzzerreißend und kompliziert ist. Denn Moritz - oder das, was Madalyn über Moritz berichtet - ist alles andere als ein einfacher Fall. Moritz stammt aus desolaten Verhältnissen, wurde bei einem Einbruch erwischt und ist ein notorischer Lügner. Oder stimm alles nicht, was er von sich erzählt - spricht er vielleicht doch die Wahrheit? Sebastian Lukasser, der eigentlich einen Roman über einen jungen Mörder schreiben wollte, muss sich nun eine andere Geschichte anhören, eine Geschichte von erster Liebe, die ihn tiefer und härter trifft als ihm lieb ist.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
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