Book Quotes

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones." Umberto Eco 

The man is so right.

"Books have a sense of honor. Once you've lent them, they never come back." Theodor Fontane 

Does that mean we shouldn't lend books? I love discussing books with others and often, the only way to do this is to lend them mine.

"I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil." Voltaire 

Some people should be made aware of that. But those are usually the ones who don't read in the first place and don't want to get people to get ideas or be smart. (And yes, I'm referring to a certain president who is proud to be dumb.)

Find more book quotes here.

#ThrowbackThursday. April 2014

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from April 2014.

Busch, Wilhelm "Max and Moritz" (German: Max und Moritz) - 1865

A german classical children's book. The two boys are very mischievous, anything young boys would like to do they do. But in the end they get punished hardly. 

Calvino, Italo "Why Read the Classics?" (Italian: Perché leggere i classici?) 1991

If you enjoy reading classic literature, this is a great way of getting a list of worthwhile books to read and maybe getting a glimpse of what it might be.

Pamuk, Orhan "Snow" (Turkish: Kar) - 2002

Ka is a Turkish poet who lives in Germany but visits a town in Turkey called Kars. While he is there, they have a heavy snowfall and nobody can leave or enter the town. The Turkish name for snow is "kar". What a coincidence!

Seth, Vikram "Two Lives" - 2005

The author describes not just the life of his great-uncle and his Jewish wife, he describes his own life, he describes the life and death of ordinary people during the holocaust as well as the terrible fate of the Jews. But he also describes life in India pre- and post independence. Quite an undertaking.

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Directions

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.

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This week’s topic is Books with Directions in the Title. 

Directions. I had to think about the compass rose and the cardinal directions immediately. So, North, South, East, West it is.

Buck, Pearl S. "East Wind: West Wind" - 1930
This is history, life in Asia seen through the eyes of an American. The title already tells us about the divide between the East and the West, how people believe that they cannot be mixed. 

Gaskell, Elizabeth "North and South" - 1854/55
This novel tells the story of Margaret Hale whose father leaves the ministry because he has doubts about his belief. They move from the South of England to a place in the North, from a village to a town, a lot of things change for the protagonist.

Guterson, David "East of the Mountains" - 1999
What does a surgeon do who suffers from terminal illness and knows what is about to happen to him?

Remarque, Erich Maria "All Quiet on the Western Front" (GE: Im Westen nichts Neues) - 1928
One part of this book tells us about the war, the trenches, the fights, the cold, the dampness, the rats, the bad food, seeing the friends fall one after the other, worrying you might be next ... The protagonist has a home leave in between and his rendition of the visit with his family and him being in turmoil because it is a different life and he is a different person, it tells us a lot about what those soldiers went through when they survived, what soldiers still go through today. They are never the same again.
This contributed to me becoming a life-long pacifist.

Steinbeck, John "East of Eden" - 1952

The author talks about problems as old as mankind, he retells the story of Cain and Abel. An excellent report about growing up, growing in different directions, about good and evil, young and old, a very moving story.

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⬅⬇⬆➡ Happy Reading! ⬅⬇⬆➡

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Top Ten Tuesday ~ Books Set in X

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. 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 a Books Set in/Take Place During X (Pick a place, time, era, etc. Examples: Books set in Europe/Italy/Australia/Chicago, books set in Regency England, books that take place during the 1900s, books set in imaginary worlds/post-apocalyptic/dystopian worlds, books set on the ocean, books set it castles, books that take place during WW2, etc.)

There are so many subjects I could have chosen, places I read about, subjects that were treated in different books. In the end I decided to go for some neighbouring countries of Germany, and some books about Europe generally. I hope you enjoy some of them.

Europe

Bryson, Bill "Neither Here Nor There. Travels in Europe" - 1991
Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe. Travels in a Troubled Continent" (NL: Grote verwachtingen. In Europa 1999-2019) - 2019
Twain, Mark "The Innocents Abroad" - 1869

Austria

Zweig, Stefan "The World of Yesterday" (GE: Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers) - 1942

Belgium

Menasse, Robert "The Capital" (GE: Die Hauptstadt) - 2017

Denmark

Russell, Helen "The Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country" - 2015

France

Clarke, Stephen "Talk to the Snail. Ten Commandments for Understanding the French" - 2006

Netherlands

Mak, Geert "Jorwerd: The Death of the Village in late 20th Century" (NL: Hoe God verdween uit Jorwerd) - 1996

Poland
Tokarczuk, Olga "Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" (PL: Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych) - 2009

Switzerland
Tremain, Rose "The Gustav Sonata" - 2016

📚 Happy Reading!📚

Wodehouse, P.G. "Leave it to Psmith"

Wodehouse, P.G. "Leave it to Psmith" - 1923

We already know P.G. Wodehouse from the Jeeves & Wooster novels, all of which are simply delightful.

So I thought a book about his other protagonist would certainly be quite good. And it was. P.G. Wodehouse is more of a mix of Jeeves & Wooster, and I think that's excellent.

Rupert Psmith (Ronald in this book, though) is a jack of all trades, trying to make ends meet through all sorts of odd jobs after leaving his uncle's fish business. He doesn't shy away from the occasional petty crime. But he's also a true gentleman and is concerned about the welfare of his people.

This was the last book in the Psmith series, but that didn't bother me at all. I want to read the others as well.

This book is truly delightful, hilarious and gripping at the same time.

From the back cover:

"Ronald Psmith ('the 'p' is silent, as in pshrimp') is always willing to help a damsel in distress. So when he sees Eve Halliday without an umbrella during a downpour, he nobly offers her an umbrella, even though it’s one he picks out of the Drone Club’s umbrella rack. Psmith is so besotted with Eve that, when Lord Emsworth, her new boss, mistakes him for Ralston McTodd, a poet, Psmith pretends to be him so he can make his way to Blandings Castle and woo her. And so the farce begins: criminals disguised as poets with a plan to steal a priceless diamond necklace, a secretary who throws flower pots through windows, and a nighttime heist that ends in gunplay. How will everything be sorted out? Leave it to Psmith!"

#ThrowbackThursday. March 2014

I've been doing ThrowbackThursdays for a while but I noticed that I wrote a lot of reviews in a short time when I first started. So, I post more than one Throwback every week. These are my reviews from March 2014.

Fo, Dario "My first seven years (plus a few more)" (Italian: Il Paese dei Mezaràt: I miei primi sette anni (e qualcuno in più)) - 2004
You can see from this book how the writer Dario Fo developed from a small child into a Nobel Laureate.

Ionesco, Eugène "Rhinoceros" (French: Rhinocéros) - 1957
The story starts with two men sitting in a café and they see a rhinoceros walking by. I don't want to give away the plot, so that is about all I will say about the story.

Karystiani, Ionna (Ιωάννα Καρυστιάνη) "The Jasmine Isle" (Greek: Μικρά Αγγλία/Mikra Anglia) - 1997
This is the story about the seafaring Greek guys before and during World War II and the women they leave behind on their little island.

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (German: Das Herzenhören) - 2002
A Burmese man who has been living in the United States for ages, goes missing and his Burmese-American daughter follows a trail to Burma. 

Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair, or, A Novel without a Hero" - 1848
Seldom have I seen such a persiflage of aristocratic England and its surroundings. The author tries to answer the old question how important rank and money really is? 

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Times of Day

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.

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This week’s topic is a Times of Day. Meeghan says, well, as last week, I have no idea what Meeghan says. She published a list for the remainder of the year with no extra explanation. But this topic does not really need any explanation, I think.

Abulhawa, Susan "Mornings in Jenin" (aka The Scar of David) - 2010
Everyone who is only slightly interested in world peace should read this and see how much heartache there can be, how much trouble things can cause if not thought through well enough.

Calvino, Italo "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" (I: Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore) - 1979

One of the most weird - but also most interesting - books I ever read, a reader is trying to read a book called "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller". The book is partly about the reader's life and partly about the books he is trying to read.

Follett, Ken "The Evening and the Morning" (Kingsbridge #0.5) - 2020

I love the Kingsbridge series. This one is just as fabulous as the ones before this, or the ones that come after, chronologically in the story.

Haig, Matt "The Midnight Library" - 2020
Have you ever wondered what your life might have been if something had or hadn't happened? If you hadn't visited that school you went to, if you had decided to get another profession, if you had met another partner in life? Well, here you can find how it might be if you could explore your life in different circumstances.

Mercier, Pascal "Night Train to Lisbon" (GE: Nachtzug nach Lissabon) - 2004
A Swiss Professor of ancient languages happens to meet a Portuguese woman and finds a book in Portuguese, so he gives up his whole life and goes to Lisbon to find the author. He is going on a quest, tracking down the origin of the book and the life of the author. But in the author he also finds himself.

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🌅🌠 Happy Reading! 🌠🌅

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