What I Read: December 2013

The first half of December I was completely occupied with final exam season, the second half I was kept busy with by the holiday season. However, I managed to read two books whilst on the plane to Germany. I ended up reading 35 books in 2013 - one short of my goal of 36, but 12 more than in 2012. I am quite pleased with that achievement! Here are the books I read this month:

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Publisher: Scribner (1995)
Format: Paperback, 128 pages
ISBN-13: 9780684801223
Originally published: 1952

My dad gave this to me when I discovered it on his shelves. He had started reading it in English but soon gave up. Finding his annotations with translations and explanations added a lot to my reading experience.

3 out of 5 ships! “Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead.”

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Publisher: Suhrkamp (2007)
Format: Paperback, 121 pages
ISBN-13: 9783518458532
Originally published: 1922

I first became aware of this book during my high school year abroad when my English teacher mentioned it as one of the most important works of German literature. I shared my interest for this book with my parents, who brought along a copy when they visited me in Canada in 2010. I kept hearing great things about this book and started reading it at least three times, but always struggled with Hesse's style. I think I might have been to young to really appreciate it. Three years later I finally read the book and eventually understood what it was that all these adults had been praising.

4 out of 5 ships! “Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”

What I read: November 2013

November has been my most successful reading month thus far. I read 7 books! All relatively short, but nevertheless ... Here they are:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Publisher: The Dial Press (2008)
Format: Hardcover, 274 pages
ISBN-13: 9780385340991

I discovered this in the book section of a thrift shop and instantly fell in love with the cover. I picked it up without knowing anything about it, and I am quite glad I did.

4 out of 5 ships! A book about booklovers - how much greater does it get. I loved the letter format, how well developed each and every character was. So many quotes that will warm a bibliophile's heart instantly! “That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”

Washington Square by James Henry [German Version]

Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon (2007)
Format: Audio CD
ISBN-13: 9783829120203
First published: Harper Brothers (1880) in the United States

Discovered this audiobook in my parents' collection.




2 out of 5 ships! Could not really bring myself to enjoy it and it took me several months to get through it. Not a single likeable character and not much happens either.

Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote

Publisher: Vintage Books (1993)
Format: Paperback 178 pages
ISBN-13: 9780679745655
First published: 1958

A birthday gift from a good friend. She knows I don't watch movie adaptations before I have read the book, and she also knows that one needs to have seen Breakfast at Tiffany's. Finally got to it nine months after my birthday and I should really watch the movie before my next birthday!

4 out of 5 ships! “What I found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it;nothing very bad could happen to you there. ”

Madalyn by Michael Köhlmeier [Original German Version]

Publisher: Hanser (2010)
Format: Hardcover, 173 pages
ISBN-13: 9783446235977

I am not sure whether this book was given to me by my mother or my grandmother.

3 out of 5 ships! The blurb promised a different perspective on a teenage love story: that of an adult author and friend of Madalyn's. However, we don't get much of his perspective at all. I found myself liking Madalyn at one moment, then becoming incredibly irritated with her the next. I suspect she just might have been too relatable, some of her thought too much like my own at that age.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Publisher: Penguin Popular Classics (1994)

Format: Paperback, 155

ISBN-13: 9780140620931
First published: 1597

Bought this at a bargain price along with a couple of other classics on my last day of high school - not ready to say goodbye to English class.

4 out of 5 ships! Whoever claimed this was a love story? What a piece of junk this would have been, had it not been written by Shakespeare!

Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co (2007)
Format: Hardcover, 145 pages
ISBN-13: 9780805081459
First published: 2005

My mother gave this to me after absolutely detesting it!

3 out of 5 ships! I quite enjoyed this. Not knowing what was happening kept me reading, and unlike many others I was not disappointed with the end. Give it a go!

Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction by Patricia Aufderheide

Publisher: Oxford University Press (2007)
Format: Paperback, 176 pages
ISBN-13: 9780195182705
First published: 2007

Discovered in my university's library. Used it as some preliminary research for a paper on documentary film and realism.

4 out of 5 ships! Such an engaging and informative read. Got through it in no time and discovered many great documentary films in the process. I can recommend the 'A Very Short Introduction' series to anyone wanting to know the basics of, well, pretty much anything.

What I Want to Read: November 2013

I need to hurry up! If I want to reach my goal of reading 36 books in 2013 I will have to read 11 books until Christmas. I really want to make it and thus I decided to finish up two books I have already started and selected 5 books under 200 pages to read in November.

First, I am going to be finishing up The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

“ 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.

What I Read: October 2013

October is midterm month. Barely having enough time to sleep, I didn't find much time to read. As a result I only read two books:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Riverhead Trade (2008)
Format: Paperback, 415 pages
ISBN-13: 9781594483851
Originally published: 2006

4 out of 5 ships: Thirty years of Afghan history told through the lives of two utterly different women. Important work telling the story through voices we rarely hear from in the West. Do read!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
Publisher: Bloomsbury (2008)
Format: Hardcover, 109 pages
ISBN-13: 9780747599876
Originally published: 2008

4 out of 5 ships: The tales were great, but Albus Dumbledore's comments make it so worth reading. Very amusing, and quick read showing us that the wizarding world isn't so different from our own after all. A must for any Harry Potter lover.

What I Read: 2013

books read: 25

pages read: 6221

Document Your Life: Summer 2013

I finally got around to edit the footage from June and July! All the summer moments are hard to bear in grey October and they make me quite nostalgic. Although I spent most of my time at work, I also got to spend a lot of time with friends and family and took a wonderful trip to Namibia. I hope you enjoy the video!

Breaking My New Year's Resolution: Thrift Store Book Haul!

Diets don't work! The problem with restricting yourself from something that you really like (be it physical or mental food) is that you end up craving them. In January I decided that I was spending too much money on books that I didn't have time to read. I resolved that I would not buy any books in 2013 and focus my attention on the many books I already owned, that were just collecting dust on my shelves.

I was doing really well in the beginning. Then I discovered a way to obtain books without actually spending money on them: Giveaways! I was outsmarting myself. The result: even more unread books. However, since I was signing up for all giveaways that I could find, I found myself having to read and review some books that I didn't really care to read. In the end, these new books did not encourage me to read, but rather had the opposite effect. I stopped signing up for giveaways.

Over the summer, I was a good girl again. I did buy a kindle, but I didn't buy any new books, but rather just obtained digital copies of the books I already had. I was reading more and I was loving it!

Then, when summer was over, and school started again, it all went to hell! I went to Value Village to get an old dictionary that I could use to decorate my new room. Who would have guessed that going to the book section of a thrift store when you are on a book buying ban is not a good idea? All of a sudden I found myself with 9(!) new books on my to-read pile!

However, I don't regret it. I got books that had been on my wish list for a very long time and that I am very excited to read. I spent less than $5 dollars on each of them - so it wasn't to painful for my wallet. Furthermore, buying 9 books in September has the same result as buying one book every month, which is really not that bad, right?

I binged, yes. I feel a little bit guilty, but my excitement definitely outweighs that. So without further ado, here are the books I got:

A Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Which of these books have you read? Any recommendations of which one I should read first? I would love to hear them!

Audiobooks I Listened to in the Summer of 2013!

Since I was working full-time, I often found myself too tired to read at night. In order to keep up with my reading challenge, I resorted to listening to audiobooks at work. I spent most of the time alone in an archive and these audiobooks did a great job at keeping me entertained from 9 to 5!

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Translator:
Narrator: Rupert Degas
Publisher: Audible (2006)
Format: Audiobook
ASIN: B002V8HEKS
Originally published: 1994

5 out of 5 ships: Crazy and confusing, yet entertaining and inspiring.  Consider buying the audiobook over the physical copy - Rupert Degas is as talented a narrator as no other!

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Narrator:
Publisher: High Bridge Audio (2003)
Format: Audiobook
ASIN: B00009KEKE
Originally published: 2001

4 out of 5 ships: (How adequate to rate this book in ships). Not sure whether the end ruined or saved the book.




The Little Prince (German Version) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Translator: Grete and Josef Leitgeb

Narrator: Ulrich Mühe

Publisher: Rauch Verlag (2001)

Format: Audio CD

ISBN-13: 9783491240582

Originally published: in New York as Le Petit Prince (1943)

4 out of 5 ships: Important work of philosophy, must read at least once!

Conviction by Taylor Mali

Publisher: Words Worth Ink & The Wordsmith Press (2003)

Format: Audiobook

ISBN-13: 9781893972063

5 out of 5 ships: Mali is a genius! His poems are witty, funny, encouraging, and deeply relevant. Never get tired of listening to this!

Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Narrator: Ron McLarty
Publisher: Random House Audio (2011)
Format: Audiobook
ISBN-13: 9780307967404
Originally published: 2001

4 out of 5 ships: Loved it! Russo has created some truly unique characters. Deserves its Pulitzer Prize!



Tonio Kröger (Original German Version) by Thomas Mann
Narrator: Thomas Mann
Publisher: Universal Music (2005)
Format: Audio CD
ISBN-10: 3829115180

Originally published: 1904

2 out of 5 ships: I was assigned to read this book for German class in high school and didn't finish it, so I decided to give it another try. It was okay.

Pnin (German Version) by Vladimir Nabokov

Narrator: Ulrich Matthes

Publisher: Der Audio Verlag (2001)

Format: Audio CD

ISBN-10: 3898131963
Originally published: 1957

4 out of 5 ships: If you think you've got it bad, read this book! Timofey Pnin is a poor guy, but his misery is quite entertaining! Made me want to read more Nabokov.

Everyman (German Version) by Philip Roth

Narrator: Peter Fitz

Publisher: Der Hörverlag (2006)

Format: Audio CD

ISBN-13: 9783899409291
Originally published: 2006

4 out of 5 ships: Growing old isn't easy! A quick, read for all ages that makes you both happy and sad.

Overall, I listened to eight audiobooks over the summer! I really quite enjoyed this way of "reading". I hadn't really listened to audiobooks since I was a child, but I definitely want to keep it up now. What are your thought on audiobooks? Do you like them? Do you not? Do you have any recommendations?

What I Read: 2013

books read: 23

pages read: 5697