Nathalie (Deern) still tries to read less and LT more in 2014 - Thread 4

Conversazioni75 Books Challenge for 2014

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Nathalie (Deern) still tries to read less and LT more in 2014 - Thread 4

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1Deern
Modificato: Ott 7, 2014, 10:15 am

Thread 4 already and the year has 3 months left, I thought I'd end with just 2 thread this year with all those absences again. Welcome!!

Sadly, I haven' any nice fall pictures yet. Today was all foggy and anyway the leaves aren't very colorful yet because we had so much rain in August and early September.

So instead a quick picture of what should have been this weekend's food for the brain and for the body, I hope I'll still manage to get through some pages of the Johnson book. I had planned 200p for today and now it's 6:30pm and I am at zero.



Just noticed those chocolate oatmeal cookies look like dried out meat patties. I should have processed those oats better, still too flakey to look good. But believe me, they are absolutely delicious and surprisingly moist. Then there's the obligatory green smoothie for tomorrow's breakfast (rocket, cucumber, fresh ginger, apple, half a frozen banana and chia seeds) and last not least another new favorite, the quinoa pumpkin risotto with pomgranate seeds.
And, of course, the Johnson.

******

And here are some impressions from my almost daily walks to/from work. I should have taken pics a week earlier - now almost all apples are picked and it was difficult to find some nice reddish ones left on the trees.



There are also lots of vineyards:


This lucky bee found one of the last dandelions. In German thy are called Löwenzahn/ Lion's Tooth:


2Deern
Modificato: Dic 27, 2014, 4:41 am

Read, to be reviewed:

Books read and reviewed in this thread

September:

87. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - Kindle - EN - 600p - 3.5 stars

October
88. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - Kindle - EN - ??p - 4 stars
89. Paradise of the Blind by Duong thu Huong - Paperback - 258p - 3 stars
90. The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens - Audio - 256p - 3.5 stars
91. Jahrestage Part 1 by Uwe Johnson - library book - DE- 450p - 5 stars
92. Jahrestage Part 2 by Uwe Johnson - library book - DE - 450p - 5 stars
93. Jahrestage Part 3 by Uwe Johnson - library book - DE - 450p - 4.5stars
94. Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 225p - 3.7 stars

November:
95. Jahrestage Part 4 by Uwe Johnson - library book - 450p - DE - 5 stars
96. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - Kindle - EN - 580p - 4.5 stars
97.Colt Seavers, Alf & Ich by Diverse - Kindle - DE - 125p - 3 stars
98. Rabbit Redux by John Updike - audio book - EN - 448p - 3.5 stars
99. The Thin Woman's Brain by Dilia Suriel - audiobook - EN - 152p - 4 stars

December:
100.Un Cantico Natalizio by Charles Dickens - audiobook - IT - 77p - 5 stars
101. American Boy by Larry Watson - Kindle - EN - 266p - 3.5 stars
102.Le avventure di Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi - Audio/Kindle - IT - 142p - 4 stars
103. Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 258p - 4 stars
104.Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 256p - 4 stars
105. Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 244p - 4 stars
106. Fludd: A Novel by Hilary Mantel - Audio - EN - 188p - 3.5 stars
107. At Last by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 272p - 4.5 stars
108. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith - Kindle - EN - 120p - 3 stars
109. Il meraviglioso mago di Oz by Frank Baum - audio book - IT - 137p - 3.5 stars
110. Il Piccolo Principe by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - audio book - IT - 125p - 4 stars

3Deern
Modificato: Ott 8, 2014, 11:08 am

Books read and reviewed in older threads:

Books read and reviewed in 2014

Reviewed in thread 1 https://www.librarything.com/topic/163025

January:
1. Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather - Kindle - EN - 298p - 3.5 stars
2. The New Yorker. Lo humour dei libri by J.L. Chiflet - paperback - IT - 187p - 2.5 stars
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - Kindle - EN - 490p - 4 stars
4. The Professor's House by Willa Cather - American Author Challenge + 1,001 - 4 stars
5.
6. Der kleine Alltags-Buddhist by Maren Schneider - hardback - German - 140p - 4 stars
7. Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan - Kindle - EN - 305p - 3.5 stars
8. La Promesse de l'Aube by Romain Gary - 1,001 book and January TIOLI - 4 stars
9. Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor - Kindle - EN - 202p - 4 stars
10.Needful Things by Stephen King - audible credit - EN - 948p - 3 stars

February:
11.The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall - Kindle - EN - 208p - 3.5 stars
12.Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks - Kindle - EN - 380p - 3 stars
13. Bartleby & Co by Enrique Vila-Matas - paperback - DE - 226p - 4.5stars
14. Der Tod in Venedig by Thomas Mann - paperback - DE - 129p - 4.5 stars
15. Leben in Venedig by Dirk Schlümer - paperback - DE - 239p - 2 stars
16. Conversazione in Sicilia by Elio Vittorini - paperback - IT - 339p - 4 stars

Reviewed in thread 2 https://www.librarything.com/topic/170830:

January:
5. Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Jodi - Kindle - EN - 449p - 4 stars

February:
17. Garden, Ashes by Danilo Kis - paperpack - EN - 170p - 4.5 stars
18. Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner - audio - EN - 384p - 4 stars
19. The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing - paperback - EN - 159p - 4.5 stars
20. Italian SH book by Louise L. Hay - audio book+paperback - IT - 4 stars
21. The Power is Within You by Louise L. Hay - audio book - EN - 4.5 stars

March:
22. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac Mc Carthy - Kindle - EN - 302p - 3.5 stars
23. There But For The by Ali Smith - Kindle - EN - 355p - 3.5 stars
24. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming - Kindle - EN - 190p - 2 stars
25. Overcoming Fears by Louise L. Hay - audio book - EN - 4.5 stars
26. Feeling Fine Affirmations by Louise L. Hay - audio book - EN - 4.5 stars
27. Dave Barry is not taking this sitting down by Dave Barry - audio book - EN - 256p - 3.5 stars

April:
28. Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - Kindle - DE - 603p - 3 stars
29. The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001 by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - 282p - 3.5 stars
30. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - xxxp - 4 stars
31. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - xxxp - 4 stars
32. Another Mole.. forgot the title - 2 stars
33. Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - xxxp - 3 stars
34. Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - xxxp - 3.5 stars
35. The Last Days of Humanity by Karl Kraus - Kindle - DE - 800p - 5 stars

May:
36. Das Treibhaus by Wolfgang Köppen - library book - DE - 180p - 4 stars
37. La Morte a Roma by Wolfgang Köppen - Kindle - IT - 172p - 3.5 stars
38. Gösta Berling's Saga by Selma Lagerlöf - Kindle - DE - 350p - 3.5 stars
39. Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Kindle - EN - xxxp - 3.5 stars
40. Wheat Belly by William Davis - Kindle - EN - 292p - 3.5 stars
41. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Kindle - EN - xxxp - 3.5 stars
42. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - Kindle - EN - 178p - 3.5 stars
43. Inside Mr Enderby by Anthony Burgess - Kindle - EN - 232p - 4 stars
44. Dog Years by Günter Grass - Paperback - DE - 778p - 4 stars
45. Amatissima by Toni Morrison - Kindle - IT - 384p - 3 stars
46. Enderby Outside by Anthony Burgess - Kindle - EN - 245p - 2 stars

June:
47. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut - Kindle - EN - ?? p
48. The Clockwork Testament by Anthony Burgess - Kindle - EN - 145p
49. Ebdòmero by Giorgio de Chirico - paperback - IT - 119p - 2.5 stars
50. Halbzeit by Martin Walser - hardcover - DE - 778p - 4.5 stars
51. Living Vegetarian for Dummies by Suzanna Havala - Kindle - EN - 358p - 3.5 stars
52. Anständig Essen by Karen Duve - Kindle - IT - 210p - 4 stars
53. La Disubbidienza by Alberto Moravia - free Kindle - IT - 118p - 3.5 stars
54. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope - free Kindle - EN - 136p - 3 stars
55. Peace Food by Rüdiger Dahlke - Hardcover - DE - 330p - 1.5 stars
56. Skinny Bitch by Rory Feldman - Kindle - EN - ??p - 3.5 stars
57. ... then just stay fat by Shannon Sorrels - Kindle - EN - ???p - 3 stars
58. Cecilia by Fanny Burney - free Kindle - EN - many pages - 3.5 stars

July:
59.Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz - Kindle - EN - ??p - 3 stars
60.If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight? By Brooke Castillo - Kindle - EN - ??p - 3.25 stars
61.Loving What Is by Byron Katie - Kindle - EN - ??p - 4.25 stars
62.We Are all Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - Kindle - EN - 321 p - 3.5 stars
63.To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris - Kindle - EN - 337p - 3 stars
64.The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - free Kindle - EN - ???p - 3.5 stars
65. The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt - Kindle - EN - 384p - 4.5 stars

August:
66. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanigan - Kindle - EN - 485p - 3 stars
67. History of the Rain ny Niall Williams - Kindle - EN - 355p - 4.5 stars
68. The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth - Kindle - EN - ???p - 4.3 stars
69. The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee - Kindle - EN - 505p - 4.5 stars

Reviewed in thread 3 https://www.librarything.com/topic/179189
August:
70. The Dog by Joseph O'Neilll - Kindle - EN - 256p 3.8 stars
71. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth - Kindle - EN - 505p - 3.7 stars
72. Orfeo by Richard Powers - audible credit - EN - 384p - 4 stars
73. J by Howard Jacobson - Kindle - EN - 384p - 3 stars
74. Netherland by Joseph O'Neill - Kindle - 256p - 3.5 stars
75. The Road Home by Rose Tremain - Kindle- 456p - 4 stars
76. La Voce del Violino by Andrea Camilleri - Kindle - IT - 209p - 3 stars
77. How To Be Both by Ali Smith - Kindle - EN - 372p - 4 stars

September:
78. Badfellas by Tonino Benacquista - Kindle - EN - 283p - 3.3 stars
79. Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin - Kindle - EN - 272p - 3.5 stars
80. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - Kindle - EN - 597p - 3 stars
81. Lost For Words by Edward St Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 272p - 3 stars
82. Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald - Kindle - EN - 176p - 3.3 stars
83. Us by David Nicholls - Paperback - EN - 399p - 2.5 stars
84. In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul - Kindle - EN - 256p - 3.5 stars
85. Paare, Passanten by Botho Strauss - library book - DE - 204p - 3 stars
86. How to be German in 50 easy steps by Adam Fletcher - Kindle - EN - 104p - 3 stars

4Deern
Modificato: Ott 5, 2014, 10:21 am

Purchases January - June:

January:
- Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather - Kindle - EN - 304p - read
- Food lovers. Viaggio tra i sapori del mondo - paperback - IT - 303p
- Zio Paperone La disfida dei dollari - hardback - IT - 215p
- The New Yorker. Lo humour dei libri - paperback - IT - 187p - read
- The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien - paperback - EN
- Fumetto! 150 anni di storie italiane - hardback - IT - 505p
- The Professor's House by Willa Cather - Kindle - EN - 129p - read
- Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Jodi - Kindle - EN - 449p - read
- Der kleine Alltags-Buddhist by Maren Schneider - hardback - German - 140p - read
- Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan - Kindle - EN - 305p - read
- Bird Song by Sebastian Faulks - Kindle - EN - 480p (1,001) read
- Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor - Kindle - EN - 205p - read
- Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel - Paperback - EN - 240p

February:
- The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall - Kindle - EN - 202p read
- The Bone People by Keri Hulme - paperback - EN
- Garden, Ashes by Danilo Kis (1,001) - paperback - EN - read
- Brésil, terre d'amitié - by Georges Bernanos - paperback - FR - 213p
- Conversazione in Sicilia by Elio Vittorini (1,001) - paperback - IT - read
- Bartleby & Co. by Enrique Vila-Matas (1,001) - paperback - DE - 226p - read
- Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner - audible credit - EN - read
- Leben in Venedig by Dirk Schlümer - paperback - DE read
- The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing - paperback - EN - 159p read
- Il sorriso di Don Giovanni by Ermanno Rea - paperback - IT - 231p
- L'estate senza uomini by Siri Hustvedt - paperback - IT - 231p
- La vita davanti a sé by Romain Gary - paperback - IT - 214p
- I Sommersi e i salvati by Primo Levi - paperback - IT - 188p (1,001)
- The Power is Within You by Louise L. Hay - audible credit - EN read
- Italian self-Help book of which I can't remember the title by Louise L. Hay - IT read

March:
- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - Kindle - EN - 302p (1,001) read
- Casino Royale by Ian Fleming - Kindle - EN - 190p (1,001) read
- There But For The by Ali Smith - Kindle - EN - 355p (1,001) read
- Bossypants by Tina Fey - audible credit - EN - ???p
- Amatissima by Toni Morrison - Kindle - IT - 456p read
- Feeling Fine Affirmations by Louise L. Hay - audio book - EN read
- Overcoming Fears by Louise L. Hay - audio book - EN read
- Dave Barry is not taking this sitting down by Dave Barry - audio book - EN - 256p read

April:
- The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001 by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - 282p read
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - 272p read
- The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - 292p read
- Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - 288p read
- True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole by Sue Townsend - Kindle - EN - 180p read

May:
- Dog Years by Günter Grass - Paperback - DE - 742p (1,001) read
- Wheat Belly by William Davis - Kindle - EN - 292p read
- The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - Kindle - EN - 178p (1,001) read
- The Complete Enderby by Anthony Burgess - Kindle - EN - 672p (1,001)
- Ebdòmero by Giorgio De Chirico - Paperback - IT - 119p (1,001) read

June:
- Living Vegetarian for Dummies by Suzanne Havala - Kindle - EN - 358p read
- Skinny Bitch read
- If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight? by Brooke Castillo read

5Deern
Modificato: Nov 20, 2014, 7:22 am

Purchases July - September:

July:
- Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz read
- Loving What Is by Byron Katie - read
- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - Kindle - EN - 321p - read
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanigan - Kindle - EN - 488p read
- To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Fowler - Kindle - EN - 337p read
- The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt - Kindle - EN - 384p read
- The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth - Kindle - EN - ???p read
- Orfeo by Richard Powers - Audible credit - read
- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth - Kindle - EN - 418p - read

August:
- History of the Rain by Niall Williams - Kindle - EN - 355p read
- The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee - Kindle - EN - 505p read
- "The Dog"by Joseph O'Neill - Kindle - EN - 256p read
- J by Howard Jacobson - Kindle - EN - 384p read
- Netherland by Jpseph O'Neill - Kindle - EN - 286p read
- The Road Home by Rose Tremain - Kindle - EN - 486p read
- La voce del violino by Andrea Camilleri - Kindle - IT - 209p read
- Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin - Kindle - EN - 272p read
- How To Be Both by Ali Smith - Kindle - EN - 379p read
- Badfellas by Tonino Benacquista - Kindle - EN - 283p read

September:
- The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - Kindle - EN - 640p - read
- Gita A Tindari by Andrea Camilleri - Paperback - IT - ??p
- Le Infradito di Buddha by Zap Mangusta - Paperback - IT - 335p
- Diventare Vegani by Brenda Davis - Paperback - IT - ??p
- Rites of Passage by William Golding - Kindle - EN - 276p
- Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald - Kindle - EN - 206p read
- Lost For Words by Edward St Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 272p read
- Us by David Nicholls - Paperback - EN - 399p read
- Io viaggio da sola by Maria Perosino - Paperback - IT - 143p
- In A Free State by V.S. Naipaul - Kindle - EN - 256p read
- How to be German in 50 easy steps by Adam Fletcher - Kindle - EN - 104p read
- The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens - audible credit - EN - 256p read
- You can Heal your Heart by Louise Hay - Kindle - EN - 175p read
- Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong - Paperback - EN - 258p read
- The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens - Paperback - EN - 224p
- Sous le Soleil de Satan by Georges Bernanos - Paperback - FR - 380p
- Taebek Mountains part 1 by Jong-nae Jo - Paperback - FR - 398p

6Deern
Modificato: Dic 29, 2014, 9:41 am

Purchases October - ???:

October:
- Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 256p read
- Rabbit, Redux by John Updike - Audio book - EN - 448p read
- Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - Kindle - EN - 674p read
- Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 258p read
- Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 256p read
- Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 244p read
- At Last by Edward St. Aubyn - Kindle - EN - 272p read

November:
- Colt Seavers, Alf & Ich by Diverse - Kindle - DE - 125p read
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Diario di una schiappa) by Jeff Kinney - Hardcover - IT - 258p
- The Thin Woman's Brain by Dilia Suriel - audiobook - EN - 152p read
- American Boy by Larry Watson - Kindle - EN - 266p read

December:
- Le avventure di Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi - audio book - IT - 142p read
- Il meraviglioso mago di Oz by Frank Lang - audio book - IT - 137p read
- Un cantico di Natale by Charles Dickens - audio book - IT - 77p read
- The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda by Miguel de Cervantes - paperback - EN - 355p
- Grande Sertao by Guimaraes Rosa Joao - Paperback - IT - 455p
- Fludd: A Novel by Hilary Mantel - Audio - EN - 188p read
- Italian Neighbours by Tim Parks - Kindle - EN - 355p
- Il Piccolo Principe by Antoine de Saint-Exypery - audio and paper - IT - 125p read
- Sula by Toni Morrison - Kindle - EN - 174p
- The Artist of a Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro - Kindle - EN - 294p
- A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr - Kindle - EN - 194p
- 50 Ways to soothe yourself without Food by Susan Albers - Kindle - EN - 232p
- But I deserve this chocolate by Susan Albers - Kindle - EN - 216p

7Deern
Modificato: Dic 25, 2014, 3:45 pm

Currently reading and planned:

Reading:

- Eat Q by Susan Albers - Kindle - EN - 320p - 60%
- Italian Neighbours by Tim Parks - Kindle - EN - 355p - 10%




On hold or slow-going:
- Le Infradito di Buddha by Zap Mangusta - paperback - IT - 335p - p25
- Io viaggio da sola by Maria Perosino - Paperback - IT - 143p - p43
- Erziehung vor Verdun by Arnold Zweig - 25%
- Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times by Neil Astley - paperback - EN - 464p - 52%
- Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel - paperback - EN - 240p - p16

no cover pic available

Planned longer reads:

- "1,001 Nights" Richard Burton edition in 16 volumes - finished 5 volumes so far

2014 American Author Challenge:
Trying to read some 1,001s this way

Willa Cather- January - Death Comes For The Archbishop and The Professor's House - COMPLETED
William Faulkner- February - Absalom, Absalom COMPLETED
Cormac McCarthy- March All The Pretty Horses COMPLETED
Toni Morrison- April - Amatissima COMPLETED
Eudora Welty- May - The Optimist's Daughter COMPLETED
Kurt Vonnegut- June - God Bless You, Mr Rosewater COMPLETED
Mark Twain- July - The Innocents Abroad COMPLETED
Philip Roth- August - Plot against America COMPLETED
James Baldwin- September - Go Tell it on the Mountain COMPLETED
Edith Wharton- October - The House of Mirth COMPLETED
John Updike- November - Rabbit Redux COMPLETED
Larry Watson- December - American Boy COMPLETED

8Deern
Modificato: Ott 5, 2014, 3:23 pm

As I said on my last thread it is quite a busy time in the office, so I can't LT as much as I'd like, not even in the lunch breaks. Should be better again by mid-October, I hope.

*****

Today I finally finished The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and now started listening to Bernice Rubens' The Waiting Game to get some brain relief - love it, great recommendation from Ilana!
THoM was wonderful, but SO intense, at least when you identify with Lily as I did of course. And when you know where it's going (how could it not go there), it actually hurts reading about all those attempts to improve things.
I'll have some things to say about the "romance" though when I get to my review...

I haven't yet read a single page of Jahrestage this weekend, but I really had to get the Wharton out of the way, and the new audiobook came in handy with all the housework I am doing today.

*****

I was close to getting away from Merano for another weekend, I already had trains to Padova selected and knew which hotel to book. But then I remembered my car gets new winter tyres tomorrow + the yearly inspection, so I should better pay that first.
And then I looked around in my appartment and decided I am not going anywhere before I've finally cleared those boxes of books out.

So first thing yesterday I cleaned the garage. Then I took from the basement everything I need to get rid off over the next days (paper, clothes for caritas, etc.) and put those next to my car so I'll see them and feel bad if I don't bring them away.

Then with new room in the basement I started sorting through all those books my parents had brought me in August from the storage place in Germany and through the ones on my shelves. In the end there were about 3 basement boxes and about 6 or 7 I'll donate to the library. No great books though most of them, I guess they'll try and sell most of them, if they take them at all.

Next thing I noticed that the remaining books didn't have space on my shelves, so I had to rearrange ALL the furniture in my living room, to use one of the shelves as a room partition with access from both sides. Now the side facing the kitchen door holds all the recipe books.
After rearranging of course I had to clean everything and when after that I still had some energy, I even did some cooking.

I baked oatmeal chia muffins that didn't rise and a spicy cornbread that rose so much that it needed the triple baking time. I am mainly following US recipes, so there's a general issue with the oven temperatures, baking tins not being the exact size, and so on. Both dishes tasted good but were far too ugly for pictures, sorry!

*****
Today was planned as lazy day, but then I thought I could as well do some other dreaded tasks, like sorting my bills, bank and insurance documents, etc. while I was still in the mood for it. So I did that. And now there's all the ironing from yesterday's washing, I haven't done my yoga yet and Sunday is almost over.

I'll try and visit some more threads, hoping my internet box won't work against me as it constantly does now. I am getting a new one next week, yay!! :)

9Carmenere
Ott 5, 2014, 11:19 am

Is it safe to dip my toes into your shiny new thread, Nathalie?

Hurrah for being soooo ambitious! Care to share some of that with me?

I've had similar problems when I bake international recipes. Usually for me it's figuring out the metric conversions. Those Oatmeal Chia muffins sound really good even if a little flat.

10Ameise1
Ott 5, 2014, 11:49 am

Happy New Thread, Nathalie. South Tyrol is so beautiful in autumn. We spent once a week in autumn in the Vinschgau. It was fantastic.

11sibylline
Ott 5, 2014, 12:32 pm

I love hearing about your cleanup and rearranging - some tasks like that I enjoy quite a lot and others I avoid for years on end - but anything to do with arranging and rearranging books..... never a problem!

Oatmeal Chia sounds like something my spousal unit would like to sink his teeth into!

I think both you and I live in areas that are lovely in autumn!

12Deern
Ott 5, 2014, 12:52 pm

>9 Carmenere: Not ambitious, I had just left it far too long and couldn't ignore the chaos anymore. :)

>9 Carmenere:, >11 sibylline: The funny thing about those muffins is that the first time I used wrong quantities, thinking a cup must mean "about a small coffee cup", i.e. app. 130 ml (230 ml would be quite correct). But with the tablespoons/ teaspoons I used the right quantity. So compared to the correct recipe, the first time I had too much baking powder and the muffins rose quite well. This time I used the correct quantity of oats, chia and (soy) milk, so they should have been bigger, but they stayed flat, probably the chia was working against the baking powder by binding everything and not letting it expand. So I thought next time I'll leave the pastry for a bit to give the chia time to bind the liquid and then I will add some more milk and also use more baking powder. The taste is nice (if you reduce the maple syrup to almost nothing, oats are already quite sweet, and there's also cinnamon and vanilla).

>10 Ameise1: Vinschgau is beautiful, and all those apples make it extra colorful in September/October. I'll take some pictures soon and post them here.

>11 sibylline: You gave me some extra inspiration with your pot-scrubbing advice. :)

I don't like book rearranging, because they have a certain order and so I have to take them ALL off the shelves when I need to make space. And then usually I lose all energy exactly in the moment when the shelves are empty and I am drowning in book chaos. But this time I kept telling myself "you have a whole weekend, take small steps" and fortunately it worked.

13sibylline
Ott 5, 2014, 12:56 pm

!!! I am so pleased I was of any use at all. Most of the the things I like to do when I am in a state are sort of peripheral - I mean who cares really how the books are organized or if bits and pieces of silver are polished or the undersides of pots..... and yet those are the tasks I am drawn to do and that I get satisfaction out of - anything like, say, vacuuming or dusting or laundry or making beds.... no appeal whatsoever!

That was perfect too, to work in little chunks and rest in between. I think it helps let the mind do some of the organizing work on its own too, which is restful!

14Chatterbox
Ott 5, 2014, 5:02 pm

You are so disciplined! My mother is arriving here on Saturday (well, actually, I have to go and fetch her from Boston) and I have to get things slightly more organized. Ideally the guest room will be ready, but I doubt that will happen, since I have too much work to do. Sigh.

I don't suppose I can hire you to do all this stuff for me while I toil away at the work I have to do, Nathalie??

15Ameise1
Ott 5, 2014, 5:28 pm

Would be great if you could take some photos of those gorgeous apple orchards.

16scaifea
Ott 6, 2014, 6:41 am

Happy New Thread, Natalie!

17Deern
Modificato: Ott 6, 2014, 11:48 am

>13 sibylline: Yes, the little chunks were a good approach. Not starting with the books at once, but first making room for them by clearing the basement for which I had to clean the garage. I confess I was a little proud myself because I usually take the chaos approach which always ends in desperate exhaustion.

>14 Chatterbox: Haha - thank you!! :) But you know if you hired me I'd immediately get lost in your books and when you returned with your mother I'd just look up dreamily from the book-covered floor, asking "why, are you back already?"

>15 Ameise1: I'll try to take some the next time I am walking. But this week I'll need the car on most days and the apples are already being picked, I hope there'll be some left next time, and sun woud be nice as well. Otherwise I'll post some grape pictures from last year.

>16 scaifea: Thank you Amber. I must visit yours again soon. You know, you inspired me so much with all the baking and cooking for Charlie. And you were so right - almost nothing beats the smell of fresh cookies!!

18drachenbraut23
Ott 7, 2014, 6:24 am

Hello Nathalie,
just wanting to wish you a wonderful new thread and I think your food looks absolutely delicious.
One question, when you add chia seeds to your smoothies, how much do you usually add? I sometimes add one teaspoon to yoghurts, but as I do have a very high intake of fibre I don't use chia seeds on a very regular basis.

19sibylline
Ott 7, 2014, 8:00 am

Hooray!

20Deern
Ott 7, 2014, 8:41 am

>18 drachenbraut23: Hi Bianca, I always measure in about a tablespoon per glass. I know the EU "allows" only for 2 tablespoons a day because it's still a novelty food, but in US recipes they're very generous with it.
I found I quite like it, also just mixed with milk, water and a bit maple syrup as an overnight pudding to be topped with fruits, nuts, maybe a spoon of hemp seeds or a chopped date for breakfast. I don't mind the texture and like how it looks with those little black dots. It is rich in omega-3 which isn't so easy to obtain on a near-vegan diet, and has much calcium. The only letdown is the price...

Now I just wish I'd find a real motivation to reduce the sugar. But whenever I think I'll have a carrot or a sweet fruit instead of the cookie I am craving, or some nuts or a dried date, I end up having those things and the cookie(s). :(

>19 sibylline: Hooray back! :)

21sibylline
Modificato: Ott 7, 2014, 10:19 am

Sugar cravings are the worst! You know, after I eat the carrot or apple and maybe a bit of water.... if I am still in a sugar frenzy sometimes I just have a tiny (demitasse size) spoonful of honey. Often that just takes care of it without all the cookie and so on. Sometimes it's maple syrup! Oh dear, now I'm thinking about it!

We've gotten very 'into' different kinds of honey around here. They really do taste differently - lots of fun.

Uh oh. Hope I am not giving you bad ideas!

22LizzieD
Ott 7, 2014, 11:14 pm

Ah, the beekeeper's wife is happy to hear honey enthusiasm. We also have good blooms of several distinctive tastes, and I miss getting new batches every year since DH sold his bees.
Happy New Thread, Nathalie! Everything is gorgeous.
I am awed by your energy and organization and cleaning prowess. I live quite happily muddling through our chaos - desiring to do any kind of cleaning at all is something that I simply do not understand. My Aunt Jean got her share of the clean genes and mine too. Book Slut! I am.
I really came by to say that I now have a copy of Uwe Johnson's Anniversaries: From the Life of Gesine Cresspahl, and it looks wonderful. Only a small part of the whole work has been translated into English, I'm sorry to say. If I like it, I may end up destitute and despairing.

23Deern
Modificato: Ott 8, 2014, 7:10 am

>21 sibylline: How could I not have thought of honey? And I have several glasses from home and here ( always a popular gift) and only ever rarely use it for baking because I am not into jam or honey on toast/ bread. I'll try that today!

>22 LizzieD: I want a T-shirt with " Book Slut! I Am"!!! :))
You must imagine that my third room which serves a guest room, work room, drying room and whatever was so filled up with book crates that it was almost impossible setting foot into it. So for several weeks I just kept the door closed, maybe I was hoping they'd just go away if I ignored them long enough.
Something needed to be done. And about half of the boxes contained my old cooking books and other food books. Not the practical ones I cook from, but those a bit exotic ones, those telling a story, the funny old ones from the 60s and 70s... I really wanted those on my shelves finally. So I was forced to redo the living room. Now I am quite happy and relaxed again when I get home after work, it's so nice my third room is accessible again, just in time for the return of my landlady from her summer house near Rome, who might come for a visit this weekend.

I so hope you'll enjoy the Johnsom! I read a couple of pages this night ( couldn't sleep) and wish I had a different edition with bigger font size.
Now after 300 pages it is becoming denser, storywise, but also less paragraphs, so my eyes get tired quickly (no, I still don't need glasses..).

24BekkaJo
Ott 8, 2014, 9:54 am

Just de-lurking to take a seat and put my feet up on your shiny new thread :)

And drift off into a small fantasy about brown toast with butter and honey (I don't eat bread - don't really miss it except for the honey toast numminess).

25ctpress
Modificato: Ott 8, 2014, 11:25 am

That healthy meal at the top of the thread looks inviting, Nathalie. I make myself regularly a green smoothie - spinach, ginger, banana among the ingredients. Have a happy, healthy reading-time :)

26Deern
Modificato: Ott 9, 2014, 11:30 am

Trying to gain some ground now on Jahrestage - read 100p yesterday, 50 so far today, am now on p 450 and finished the first volume. It was a mistake getting this book from the library, I should have bought it. But the full edition cost so much, had to be ordered from Germany - and I wanted to read it now.

I hope for Peggy that the abridged version has not been reduced in a way that cuts off the American parts. It's a bit pro-communism (pre Prague revolutions) and anti-Vietnam war, but in an unemotional, observing way. It's also fascinating how Johnson captured the racism. It would be such a pity if those parts had been sacrificed, maybe to appeal to more US readers of the 70s and 80s. The parts set in the 1930s in Germany are fascinating as well, but I think it's a foreigner's look on the ongoings in late 1960s US that makes the book extra-valuable and stand out from other German post-war literature.

Edit: The entry of December 26th 1967 is in my edition a 5.5 pages long love declaration to the (1960s) New York Times. And it's a real love declaration in the sense of "I love her for..... and despite... followed by list of flaws". The protagonist Gesine Cresspahl always talks of the NYT as "the old lady" and in this chapter she describes "her" like a real person, it's wonderful - "she takes a seat, folds her legs, orders tea with rum, chews her worldwide respected cigarillo and contemplates". And it's just one example.
If they cut that out, it would be a shame.

****
>24 BekkaJo: Make yourself at home, Bekka! :)
You reminded me that in that short period when we had a M&S in Frankfurt, I fell in love with hot crumpets with butter... Still missing those! And scones with butter as well. Tried several recipes, but it's just not the same.

>25 ctpress: Hi Carsten! I was reluctant trying green smoothies, but Bianca had sent me a fool-proof beginner's recipe, so the first one was a success already. I just can't see them as a meal though, I still feel hungry after a glass. :(

****
Today I had an appointment at the notary's to start officially the closing down process for my old company. Yes, it still existed, "just in case". I've been very busy those last 2 weeks with administrative stuff, and then my partner was once again being difficult and sent the signed mandate only yesterday (he never comes here), so I feared I'd have to postpone today's appointment, but finally I got everything in order. I hope in a couple of weeks this business will be history. Not that I regret it, I learned a lot and it brought me here - but I'll be glad to be rid of it now.

I celebrated by having lunch in the vegan restaurant (really delicious crispy fried tofu in a lemon sauce with roast potatoes and curried fennel, glass of white wine - sorry, forgot to take a picture) and now there's a small slice of their super-yummy only slightly sweet vegan cheesecake in my fridge waiting for the evening. And I bought a new yoga book with sequences "that help in times of stress and insecurity".

27LizzieD
Ott 9, 2014, 10:43 pm

>26 Deern: Nathalie, I don't think that what I bought is abridged. The first volume of over 400 pages is supposed to be the first German volume + a little volume 2. The second book is longer, and I don't know how much of the original is covered. Then, that's all. Nothing else has been translated into English.
Toast with good honey!!! YAY!
I'm very happy that you're about to see the end of the old company. I didn't realize that it was still hanging around. You'll be well rid of it!
Anything - even tofu - in lemon sauce is good.

28Chatterbox
Ott 10, 2014, 1:13 am

Your vegan lunch sounds lovely, Nathalie!

I have to confess that I like the idea of honey more than I like the actual taste. I don't know why... Maybe I'll warm up to it? I came around to marmalade in the end...?

29odudu
Ott 10, 2014, 2:50 am

Questo utente è stato eliminato perché considerato spam.

30Ameise1
Ott 11, 2014, 7:36 am

Nathalie, I wish you a lovely weekend.

31Donna828
Ott 12, 2014, 11:13 am

Hi Nathalie, since I don't have that clean gene, I will just marvel at the care you took with arranging your books. I feel a big purge coming on. There are many books on my shelves that I have no desire to read so why keep them? Maybe that will be my January project. A good snowstorm should bring my busy life to a halt and inspire me to dust those books!

32Deern
Modificato: Ott 15, 2014, 11:58 am

>27 LizzieD: So they just stopped after 2 vols? Strange...
I am now almost on p 800, close to the 50% mark. It really is a slow read because there is so much information. Not all of it is important, but most is interesting and my fascination with this monster work is still growing. I'll definitely buy an own paper copy, maybe already for Christmas, I need that book on my shelf.

All: don't read it if you can't take the time for it. It's not just long in text, it's also a book you'll have to put aside again and again to think avbout what you just read. The parallels to today are so striking.

>28 Chatterbox: Ooooh - I love marmalade - and that's something I can have on toast with butter. Sadly very difficult to find here, what they sell as "orange jam" is horribly sweet.

>30 Ameise1: I am sorry I am late again Barbara... Thank you and a wonderful week + Weekend to you!!

> Ha - you're right Donna. That's one of the advantages of fall/winter: you stay in and are forced to confront your "chaos" (if there is any which I doubt in your case). :)

**********
Crossing my fingers for another rainy weekend and a functioning home internet.
Sorry for not visiting threads, I'll try and catch up this weekend!

33Deern
Ott 15, 2014, 11:56 am

Re-posting from my Booker thread - without wanting to restart the discussion. I know I am no "literature God", but I have been thinking much about those books and why I judge certain books in a certain way. And to draw a line under it until next...err... July I believe?

Hm... thinking about this year's BP I can say:

- WWI/II historical fiction doesn't work for me in 95% of the cases*
- great longlist, some wonderful, even life-inspiring discoveries
- I still wonder who managed to smuggle "Us" into the mix and how. And why.

*definitely very sensitive about that and probably over-critical. Maybe being brought up with "the Guilt" has caused it. I read much literature that was written during or shortly after the war years and imo it often manages to leave a strong and lasting impression without becoming too graphic - the terror was real for the writer and somehow that translates into the work. Just think of how Remarque described the fascination of the front. Or the chill when Powell, after a long introduction, lets some of his characters die in the London bombings. We aren't even with them, but we knew them and just saw them and the way they are just gone in the next instant gave me a chill that hasn't weakened since I read it.

Most of the contemporary fiction on the WWs I read wants too much - as last year's Unexploded or Sebastian Faulk's Birdsong or this year's winner. I almost always feel attacked with too much extra drama that's piled on top, with too much graphic detail and extra cruelty that strangely don't have the desired effect on me and instead make me turn away. When I learn sth new - like about the Burma railway in this case - that's okay. But for me the characters of those books remain book characters and never turn into people. But that's just me.. :)

****************

My own awards go to:

The one that has it all: The Lives of Others
Historical fiction + Commonwealth setting + family story + sadness and violence + switching of perspectives + challenging style + 500 pages + actual political and social relevance

Best romantic love story:
the one in "J", as much as I disliked other parts of the book. I kept thinking of the fragility of butterflies. Heartbreakingly beautiful and believable (independently from the back story)

Best love scenes:
The whole book is about love for books and love for others, but the hair-washing scene in Niall William's History of the Rain stands out.

Let's Bring The Novel Forward Award: How To Be Both
Maybe Ali Smith would have needed a bit more time to straighten out some of those parts that made "the construction" too visible. I was happy with it as it was, but can see why others weren't

The "Books as Know-Thyself-Helpers Award": the overall extremely smart (and challenging) novel The Blazing World with its self-sabotaging heroine. Thanks for showing me where that may lead - and where I sure don't ever want to go.

The book that made me laugh most:
The dentist novel had its moments when Paul has his conversations with his assistant, but for me The Bone Clocks wins that category with its part 5.

Most challenging read:
I want to see "challenging" as something positive and rewarding, so the Flanagan book can't win that category although I almost gave up on it during the Amy scenes.
It's The Wake, of course. That's historical fiction for me! :)

34LizzieD
Ott 15, 2014, 5:17 pm

Thanks very much for your evaluations, Nathalie. I've favorited your post and will refer to it when I get around to some of these!

35sibylline
Ott 15, 2014, 8:02 pm

Your evaluations were so much fun to read!

So how is the 'spoonful of honey' therapy going? I used to like dressing up as Mary Poppins on Hallowe'en.... must have a little of her in me! Hm. I may go dose myself right now, in fact!

36Deern
Ott 16, 2014, 2:05 am

>34 LizzieD: thank you, Peggy! :)

>35 sibylline: thank you Lucy!
Well... I tried another thing first that last weekend - something like 3 detox days to get my over-sweetened taste buds back to start. Didn't really work because I had to have lunch on Saturday with my English friend+landlady who just returned from Rome. She is nice, but one of those people who make me tired, so back home I had to bake vegan pumpkin cinnamon cookies, honey just wouldn't do, I needed the comforting smell of baking. :) I used just a third of the coconut sugar, so they turned out very well, so well that I finished them this morning.
Yesterday a colleague had her 60th birthday and brought a home-made chocolate cream cake. I just couldn't refuse having a slice. But I had 2 spoonfuls of honey in the office last Friday and the glass is right here now. Work promises to be very stressful today so I'll need some.

Tonight I am booked for a vegan cookery class, falafels are on the menu. Much looking forward to learning to make those. I'll have another detox try this weekend, I'd also really like to lose those 6 pounds I gained over summer to fit into my winter dresses again.

37Ameise1
Ott 18, 2014, 6:13 am

Nathalie, I wish you a fantastic weekend.

38drachenbraut23
Ott 21, 2014, 8:48 am

>33 Deern: very interesting thoughts Nathalie. Especially in regards to WWI/WWII historical fiction. I have to say that I, for some reason don't suffer this "guilt complex" and it makes me incredible irritable if people try to instill this in me - Yes, this still happens in the 21st Century.

As you say "the terror was real for the writer and somehow that translates into the work" but that applies to any kind of historical fiction involving discrimination, violence, torture etc.

Love your own lists of awards, also aside from The Bone Clocks I haven't read any of the others. However, I just finished a very small book which was recommended by Joe and what I think you probably would enjoy as well. Strange Weather in Tokyo only 190+ pages, but just wonderful.

Curious to hear more about your Vegan cooking class. I made on Saturday for the first time homemade Almond milk in my brilliant (Hurom 700) juicer, which was given to me by my sister. So, much faster than using a nutbag or muslin and soo tasty. I used it on my "Raw Porridge" and it was delicious. Also, my collegues looked a little suspicious at this yesterday morning, but still asked to taste it and I had to write down the recipe, because everyone enjoyed it soo much.

39Ameise1
Ott 25, 2014, 6:31 am

Nathalie, I wish you a fantastic weekend.

40alcottacre
Ott 25, 2014, 6:32 am

*waving* at Nathalie

41sibylline
Ott 25, 2014, 8:49 am

Stopping by to say hello.

42drachenbraut23
Ott 26, 2014, 4:30 pm

Hi Nathalie,
just stopping by to say Hello as well. Still experimenting with my juicer *grin*. Just made today my first lot of oat milk in there. Turned out really nice :)

43Chatterbox
Modificato: Ott 26, 2014, 6:09 pm

Interesting comments re "The Guilt". I imagine that it's different for every age cohort. So, for instance, I was born in 1962, and one of my earliest reading experiences was visiting Anne Frank's house at the age of 7 and purchasing a copy of the diary to read. (Yes, I was reading books like that at that age... that was the summer that I began reading voraciously; within a year or two I was reading adult books.) We were driving through Europe, and I remember crossing the border into Germany, and my parents remind me that I threw a temper tantrum approaching what was still then a border crossing because I didn't want to go to the country that had killed Anne Frank. (Well, a 7 year old's world view...) On the same trip, we visited Dachau. So these were formative childhood experiences, as were growing up around adults (in England) who had been children during the Blitz. Not that it formed a bias, but it was part of popular culture. Nazis were bad; the Allies were heroes. Dealing with the "guilt" was something that I only began to think about later, in high school in Belgium, when I had German friends and we began studying some of the history more seriously. Still, it was the late 70s, and it was still sensitive. (The "what did your parents/ grandparents do in the war" phenomenon, perhaps?) Also, because we all knew people who had lost loved ones in the war, like our French teacher whose brother had been in the Belgian resistance.

But these are emotions that as time goes by should belong to history, along with the facts. Guilt can't be transmitted as a national/cultural phenomenon, any more than can suffering. African-Americans do still suffer from the consequences of slavery because their disadvantages were institutionalized even after they were nominally free. This isn't true of Germany post 1945. Yes, there was denial (but hey, the US brought in its own share of Nazi war criminals via the CIA and various defense agency divisions....) But even that, now, has dissipated.

All that said, I think there is good/interesting fiction involving both world wars, from both sides. Wars tend to heighten human emotions, create dramatic situations and are thus irresistible backdrops for novelists. Personally, I'm drawn more to the aftermath of wars -- when the sudden end to that intensity creates a kind of void. What, then replaces it? How do people find mean?

I'm blathering on...

Anyway -- loved your Man Booker categories. I think I need to make The Lives of Others my next read in this group. Although I got an ARC of Us that also requires my attention. Morbid curiosity? Anyway, Ii requested it from Amazon Vine's review program.

44drachenbraut23
Ott 29, 2014, 7:30 am

>43 Chatterbox: Very well summarised Suzanne. I very much agree with you on what you say about...."these are emontions that at time goes by should belong to history, along with the facts"... That's pretty much how I feel about it. :)

Nathalie, ich hoffe bei Dir ist alles in Ordnung und Du hast einfach nur viel zu tun mit lesen, kochen etc. Wünsche Dir eine Gute Woche :)

45lunacat
Ott 29, 2014, 9:18 am

It would be fascinating to see how the emotions regarding nationality/patriotism and prejudice towards different countries change once the immediate aftermath is long gone. Of course it is a long time ago now, but it is still in living memory and that makes a difference I think. People remembering the Blitz, even as children, and being brought up to fear a country and nationality must have a lastly affect, however hard they may try and look at things from both sides. I'm lucky in being the next generation who only heard the stories and experiences second hand, although I have seen the grief in people's faces when they spoke about losses, and saw the physical affects of injuries received during WWII on my grandfather.

I guess what I'm wondering is whether, when my generation is the oldest and there is no tangible connection to the events of the major World Wars, the perceived animosity between the Allies and the Germans/Italians will have been consigned to history. I guess there hasn't been the situation before where two huge wars that affected the entire world have happened in such a short space of time and so caused the depth of feeling they did, although of course there have always been long ranging conflicts, such as the continual ones between England and France over the centuries, or China and Japan. It seems as though some bias inevitably continues against a race, even when personal feelings are long gone.

46avatiakh
Ott 29, 2014, 3:25 pm

Interesting, I remember as a child my grandmother was very staunch in never buying a 'made in Japan' product.
And on a sidenote I just read an article this morning about how some Arab writers are starting to write about the lost Jewish presence in their countries and challenging some of the official history of their leaving. Interesting as I'm currently reading an autobiographical novel, The Dove Flyer, about the Jews in Baghdad in the late 1940s.
The renaissance of Arab Jews in Arabic novels

47Deern
Modificato: Ott 31, 2014, 1:32 am

Hi I am back once again!! First of all - apologies: a book took over my life… and I still haven’t finished it. Okay, that’s exaggerated. I have also been socially far more active those past weeks than usually and often came home late and too tired for any internet activities, thanks to some events/ classes I booked which all took place now in October. And work has been much more time-consuming (finally!).

So before I get to individual responses, what did I do since my last post?

I did a vegan cooking class one night which was interesting, although I haven’t decided yet if I want to do another one. Main reason was the kitchen – in a town hall, big, but badly equipped. With 10 people we had to share 3 knives, so most of the time I was just standing around and waiting. Then the 10 of us had to sit down for dinner in that huge empty and quite cool hall with bad lights. The food was lovely, but all the following classes will be in the same location, so maybe I’ll wait for the next semester to see if they manage to book a different kitchen.

We had pumpkin soup (the best I ever had!), falafel in three colors (with carrots, beetroot and spinach) with coleslaw and two types of dips and then potato dumplings filled with fresh plums, topped with (vegan) butter, roasted bread crumbs, cinnamon and sugar. For those wondering: yes, it’s a dessert, Zwetschgenknödel, please try to pronouce that! :)

Traditional Austrian/ Tyrolean, absolutely delicious and one of my favorites since early childhood. You can also fill the dumplings with apricots or other fruit or not fill them at all. The recipe is often made with quark/topfen (German type curd cheese) in Tyrol, but in the vegan version that was no option of course. My mum and my grandmother always made the potato dumpling version, so I was familiar with that one already.

Then I spent most of the following weekend with my landlady-friend from England and her dog Flo. They are back from Rome where they stayed all summer. I also went to a colleague’s 60th birthday on the Sunday morning. It was a surprise garden party and the weather was just lovely that day. Her friend had taken her to a hotel for a big birthday breakfast and while she was away her children and many friends had prepared the garden party. Unlike in the US, surprise parties here are absolutely unusual, so she really didn’t suspect anything and was lost for words when her taxi stopped in front of the house and everyone was there. Later that day I went to the Traubenfest/ grape festival with my landlady-friend to see the Parade with floats and the brass bands. I took pictures and might post something here later.

# Barbara: there was a brass band from Zürich as well!

The next week was all yoga – I had booked for two evening “master classes” with a teacher from Boston and had my regular class as well. That was just wonderful. It was really demanding and the second night I could have fallen asleep after 30 minutes right there on my mat. But my body (and mind) really felt so good after those 3 classes, I am now considering booking a yoga holiday next year, preferably somewhere nice and warm. That teacher offers a retreat in Costa Rica, in “luxury tree houses”. Well… there’s some time left to win the lottery.

Then there was a lecture in the cultural center held by an Italian ex-journalist suffering from MS who had “travelled the world in a wheelchair” for decades and an exhibition of some photos his artist wife had taken during their travels. Another night I tried a new sushi restaurant with a friend (just one type of vegetarian sushi of which they piled 10 big pieces on my plate), more yoga – finally back to daily routine with a new book and a new app…. So I was quite busy and also finally got some good sleep after some more or less sleepless weeks.

There were 2 other things that kept my mind quite busy, one in a good and constructive way (thanks for that link again, Bianca!!) and one in a bad way. I'll write more when I feel like it...

********

And then, there’s THE BOOK. I can only say that I have to buy an own copy and reread it soon. And next time I’ll read it one diary entry per day, maybe starting August 20th as the book does. I’ve been reading this thing for more than 6 weeks now and there are still 300 pages. I am forced to rush through the last part because I have to return it to the library, and I feel I am missing out on so much. Almost every word is brilliant and the book is of a timeless importance that’s just breathtaking – at least for me. I know others despaired and call it incredibly lengthy and boring.

It is a book that has to be read word for word for word. No skimming, don’t read it to complete it, to check it off some list. Then it will certainly become a very long and tough read. But if you read it slowly, every word, every phrase has importance and weight.

I believe that the book has an alarming relevance – maybe now more than 15 years ago. So much has happened since 1967/1968 and somehow we seem to be stuck in a similar place, just many degrees worse – while in the meantime there have been periods where everything looked so much more promising. I guess many of the book’s critics read it during those times when Johnson’s ideas seemed outdated, overrun by a better reality, when he just seemed to be another frustrated leftwing writer longing for “democratic socialism” as the Czech people did during the Prague Spring. Reading it now I am wondering if we wouldn’t be in a better place if some of the mistakes made in 1967/68 (painstakingly protocolled in the daily New York Times extracts) could have been avoided.

I should add that I will count this as four books. The four parts have been published between 1970 and 1983 and each has in my edition about 450 pages. Otherwise my October stats would look too sad. 

48LizzieD
Ott 30, 2014, 11:48 am

Nathalie, your life sounds very good at the moment even if you have something bad on your mind. The food sounds exotic to me, and delicious. The yoga is tempting. I'm sure that your landlady is charming since you seem to enjoy her company. And THE BOOK --- I don't have the mind for it now, but I'm looking forward to the time that I do. You make me think that I have about half of it. If I love it as much as you, I'm not sure what I'll do when I've finished what's available in English. My German lasted one semester 48 years ago, so I don't think that's an option.
And my October stats are sad even if I finish the two I'm reading now, but there's not much I can do about it at this point.
Anyway, I'm glad to see you back here!

49Deern
Modificato: Ott 30, 2014, 2:06 pm

>37 Ameise1:, >39 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara!! I'll visit your thread soon and see if the picture I took of the Zürich brass band came out good enough to be posted here. Have a great Restwoche!

>38 drachenbraut23:, >43 Chatterbox:, >45 lunacat:, >46 avatiakh::
Re "the Guilt": I think I was confronted with the Holocaust "too early" (if that's possible) and what's more important: unprepared. I didn't even know then what a Jew was. Okay, my RE book started with "Jesus was born in Israel, he was a Jew", but no-one explained that expression, it had no meaning. And then I just learned that my grandparents' generation had systematically killed 6 millions of them. I started reading, but not Anne Frank or pink rabbit, instead I got directly to the detailed Auschwitz survivor reports which I read without telling anyone and those threw me off the rails for a while. I got through all the exaggerated shame phases, wanting to run away to a different country, to shave my head, to starve myself, to become a Jew - all completely useless desperate things "to somehow make up for it". Well, I was very young. In the family it absolutely wasn't discussed. Not that it was avoided, it was just "over", no need to talk about it any more. I don't believe my parents or anyone in my family except maybe for one aunt ever confronted it in a similar way as I did. And it is still around me all the time. When I feel guilty for feeling bad (as you know I do often), the Holocaust is always in my thoughts. How can I feel bad for myself, if that happened?
And it's both sides that get to me: how anyone (German, Polish, whatever nationality) could actively participate in it and how many of those victims who would have had means and opportunity to get away went through all those repressions, still somewhat trusting that they already had hit bottom and it couldn't get worse. I read a very good non-fiction book on that, Warum die Deutschen, Warum die Juden which answered many questions, but still... It doesn't feel any milder for me now than in the 1980s. I just see from the touchstone that the book has been translated since I read it - for those interested, I thought it made some really good points.

>38 drachenbraut23: Bianca: and that's why I don't like most historical fiction. :))
It's really not my genre unless it's exceptionally well researched (Mantel's Cromwell books or Eco's Name of the Rose)

>40 alcottacre: yay, *waving* to Stasia :))

>41 sibylline: Hello Lucy! :)

>42 drachenbraut23: Bianca: I won't buy a juicer, I have no space... I won't buy a juicer, I have no space... I won't buy a juicer, I have no space....
O dear, I fear I need a juicer! :((
And sorry for not yet answering the PNs - I wrote pages and pages which I then used for therapy. I'll restart.

>43 Chatterbox: Well, I would have reacted the same way. It's something you can't process as a grown-up, how should a 7year old cope?

I love Bill Bryson's books, but there's one where he travels through Europe, and in Hamburg he starts a rant how disgusted he feels looking at those happy relaxed Germans sitting in restaurants and enjoying their lives, how the allies should never have allowed them to return to wealth and happiness after the Holocaust. I can't help thinking "he's right" when I read such things. Sure, you could discuss the roles of the others, Austria, Poland, Hungary and others "sending their Jews", the countries who sent refugees back, etc., all those who more or less actively helped. But that doesn't take any responsibility off the Germans.

As I just learned from Jahrestage the de-Nazification was handled interestingly in the Soviet Zone - from a certain day on the place was declared Nazi-free. There were only good communists left, and all the Nazis had wandered over to the Western parts.

In the West it took a bit longer, but many ex-Nazis quickly gained ground again and became high-rank industrials or politicians. It must have been a very strange world in the 1950s and early 1960s. There are some books that show the repressed "don't let's talk about it" atmosphere of those years very well, for example Wolfgang Koeppen's Das Treibhaus.

The aftermath of wars? Your're right, it's often not written about. Doesn't even Powell take a convenient time jump in his DttMoT?

50Deern
Ott 30, 2014, 12:15 pm

>44 drachenbraut23: Ja, es war viel zu tun und viel zu denken. Die PN kommt bestimmt! :)

>45 lunacat: Well, I live in a conflict place now, and that conflict has been caused by the events after WWI and still the bitter feelings are handed from generation to generation. I am astonished to see how long those animosities can last. The laws dictate equality and it half works in administrations, but in the private life the borders between the German-speaking Tyroleans and the Italians (whose parents/grandparents were often force-settled here) are as high as ever.

On the other hand I have the impression that all the efforts between Germany and France (and they were arch-enemies since 1870 or earlier) worked out well with all the town partnerships and school exchanges. My dad was once asked his birth year (1946) during a holiday, but that's all.

>46 avatiakh: Thank you for the link, that's something I never thought about.
I'll have a look at the book.

>48 LizzieD: I am wondering how they were able to cut half of the book off, because in any case so much information would be lost. The parts 3 and 4 deal with post-war Eastern Germany. I don't know when the English edition was published, but maybe the contents then seemed outdated. Or - simpler explanation: the last part was published in 1983. Maybe the first parts hadn't been successful so they didn't bother with a translation anymore? Anyway, take your time with it.

Only when I posted it here I noticed that the dessert must sound exotic to many here. That mix of breadcrumbs roasted in butter with sugar and a bit of cinnamon is so addictive and you can also sprinkle it on normal pasta (without sauce of course) or maybe just on fruit? It's a bit like a crumble without the oven.

51Ameise1
Ott 30, 2014, 5:06 pm

Nathalie, it looks like you had a gorgeous time. All your cookings and party.
BTW the link 'Barbara' should it refer to me than it is completely wrong. Sorry.

52Deern
Ott 31, 2014, 1:33 am

Ooops... didn't want to link, just typed @ + name as I do when I send a mail to several people and have some info for only one of them. Changed it now and the link is gone. Thanks for telling me. :)

53drachenbraut23
Modificato: Ott 31, 2014, 9:44 am

Hello Nathalie,

I am so glad to see you and I am glad that it was reading, work and activities which kept you away.
Also the venue of the vegan cooking class sounds like a complete failure - the food you made just sounds marvelous. Maybe, they will offer this class at a different venue next time.

LOL - juicer - yes, that's what I told myself as well...I don't need a juicer.....I don't need a juicer........and now I am in love. Especially, as I actually can make nut milks in this one (I own the Hurom 700), which is one of those slow juicers (more juice and drier pulp), easy to clean, and the pulp (fibre) is so versatile to use. I used the pulp in muffins, stews, smoothies, and I even made oven dried crackers with it. So maybe.............You do need a juicer :) .
I have used my homemade almond milk in my overnight porridge (same as your chia pudding me thinks and I usually add some chia seeds as well) and in the morning I just added my homemade blackberry cordial and took it to work.

So, you had the best pumpkin soup ever? Please, can I have the recipe? Love pumpkin soup, stew and curries.

I am so glad to hear that you had such amount of great activities to keep you occupied.

>49 Deern: Well, reading your experiences I actually do understand why you feel this way. For me, it was completely different and the same applies to Alex. Our holiday this year was completely focused on WWI, WWII, with special interest in Holocaust and Communism. I had grandparents and a great grandmother (who survived both wars) who told us about the war(s), they told us what it meant to be a teenager during that time, what it meant to grow up and what it meant to be a mother/father and how they felt the changes. My grandmother was 17 years old when she was send to Riga to work in a weapon factory and at the end of the war it took her over 1 year to get back to Germany where she came from. Before we went on our holiday to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland this year we did visit her and she told Alex and Dilhan (the son of my friend) in an afternoon about part of her journey back to Germany. How, she got caught by the Americans, how they put her for 4 month into a penal colony in the Netherlands and lots of other things. The boys had tons of questions and just hung on her lips. In a sense we (myself and my siblings) were from a very early age introduced to our history as all of my grandparents thought this was important.

Ok - *sigh* and another novella from little me as well :)

Looking forward to hear from you AND we definitely have to start sharing recipes.

54Deern
Modificato: Ott 31, 2014, 6:53 am

>53 drachenbraut23: Hi Bianca,
I got the recipe in paper form (and in German of course), I'll send you a PN with it. The "secret" is the use of miso broth instead of normal vegetable broth, it gives a really hearty taste and you don't have to use too many onions. Still don't know where to get that broth here, but I should find it in Germany in December.

Thanks for sharing the family story. I believe it is quite an exception that your relatives were so open about their experiences - most people simply wanted to forget. It's incredible what those people went through, I often asked myself if I'd have had the strength or if I would just have given up.

My mother's family's experiences (refugees from Sudetenland) must have been very traumatizing as well (so many refugees were killed by the Russian and Czech soldiers), but it was never ever talked about. They were just glad they survived and did everything to build a better life in the West, to feed and clothe their 5 daughters as well as they could and to give them a nice and safe childhood, once they were able to move out of the crowded refugee home. I know however that my grandmother tried to commit suicide at least once when my mother was still very small.

The other half of the family however... my grandmother always claimed not to have known much and I believed her, because she lived in that little village where there were no Jews at all. Only some years ago she admitted that they were terrified throughout the 12 years because her father had been a communist and there was the constant threat (from 1933 on) that he might be sent to a concentration camp. And only last year my father told me that his father (who died in 1969 before I was born - so whatever spyware reads this you don't need to investigate) had been an ardent Hitler fan as a young man, who even faked his birthdate in his ID to be among the first to go to war in 1939. Many buried secrets, it seems, and no way to retrieve them anymore.

55Deern
Modificato: Ott 31, 2014, 11:45 am

54 Posts and not a single review yet. Time to change that:

Okay, when I read those books, my head was half-full with the future reviews. And then I didn’t write them and now, as usual, I don’t even remember character names. Scenes and my impressions – yes, but names? So for a change some very short reviews. Two of them are such famous classics, you’ll have read them already anyway.

87. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1,001 #343/378)

Middlemarch remains my favorite Eliot, but this book is a wonderful psychological study as well. At times hard to read and almost too intense for me, and so I was glad for the more lengthy parts where my mind could relax again a bit. Some readers say that the love between Maggie and her brother Tom is almost the perfect romance. Well, perfect romance maybe in the sense where also Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are perfect romances – the seemingly impossible longing for the love of another person who can’t or doesn’t want to return it. I must say I am quite sick of that (although I love all three books, but not for any romance aspects). Maggie’s relationship with her brother (and father) is another one of those typical narcissistic patterns you find in literature so often, but really well analyzed and told in this case. The sad thing is that, this being an 1800s novel, you just know early on that Maggie BIG SPOILER is doomed .

Rating: 3.8 stars

56Deern
Modificato: Ott 31, 2014, 11:48 am

88. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1,001 #344/379)

It’s been ages since I read a Wharton novel and this one, as much as I enjoyed it, was a slow read for me. I don’t know yet if it is my new Wharton favorite, certainly the most intense of her books I’ve read. Yes, another one. I am sorry, but it didn’t go that well so shortly after the Eliot book where another young lady struggles with conventions and fails. Narcissistic structures as well here (as in The Age of Innocence very strongly), but with a different emphasis. Here the heroine has received too many contradicting signals in her youth and therefore is constantly doing self-sabotage, and in a very bad way. And again the “romance” is no romance. The “guy” (forgot the name) BIG SPOILER would never have come round in her lifetime – had he found her alive, she would have managed to send him away again or he would have found something in her to put him off again. This is NOT a tragically romantic case of bad timing!
Exquisite writing and another great character study. But I need a break from tragic novels with female protagonists now for a while.

Rating: 4.1 stars

57Deern
Ott 31, 2014, 11:52 am

89. Paradise of the Blind by Duong thu Huong (1,001 #345/380)

October’s GR in the 1,001 group. This was the first modern Vietnamese novel published in Vietnam and the US and therefore gained its place on the list. The author was later imprisoned for her writings, her books were banned and only some years ago she was permitted to leave the country. Wiki says she now writes/ publishes in France. Before the ban her books were hugely popular in Vietnam.

Now, for a Western reader, there’s much most of us in the GR just didn’t get, and we were sure that a Vietnamese reader would perceive the book quite differently. Many of us commented that we didn’t feel involved, didn’t "suffer along" with the main character as we are used from most Western literature. I had the same problem, but I think DtH was already moving along the edge of what she could write and what not. Food is described in detail and religious traditional rituals take a big space and I guess there’s much hidden in there – and be it only that the persistence of keeping those rituals in a communist country is as good as open resistance.

It is the story of a family breaking apart. Of a mother who broke with her brother when she married the wrong man (a “landowner”) with the brother being a communist leader. After the husband’s mysterious death the mother struggles to make a living for herself and the daughter Hang, when suddenly the brother returns into her life, still an ardent communist, but now living in extreme poverty. The mother starts sacrificing herself for her brother, whom she now sees as the main man in the family again, and for his two sons. On the other hand there’s the aunt, the father’s sister, who does the same for the niece, pays the school fees and who insists that old traditions are kept alive. In the middle there’s Hang who misses her mother and feels choked by her aunt’s expectations that she should shine in lieu of her father. A great setting, but it was hard finding a connection to these characters.

Rating: 3.2 stars

58Chatterbox
Ott 31, 2014, 12:44 pm

When I studied history in high school, it was contemporary history, which we defined in class as history that was within the memory of the eldest living members of a community. At that point (mid/late 70s) it took us back to about 1900. I think to some extent these historical issues can endure longer because they sow the seeds for future conflicts, as we see in the Middle East and Yugoslavia. So, to the extent that the Arab pograms of the 20s and 30s and the Holocaust set the stage for 1948 and Israeli policies, we have a modern-day way in which what might otherwise become "history", now can't, in some way. If that makes sense.

And yes, if people can only cope with what happens to them, personally, by not discussing it (personally or as a society), then there can be no resolution. It's national psychology, really. I think there is a hunger to learn, to know, to understand, but if we don't learn and understand in a way that we can process it, it's traumatic. Denial isn't great -- as it wasn't for you, however understandable your family's reaction was in light of their personal experiences -- and probably my parents' decision to just leave me to read the diary at the age of 7 wasn't the smartest choice, either. I certainly wouldn't have given it to a 7 year old, however precocious, without being sure she really understood what was going on. It's too emotionally intense. I suppose that's my issue with the way Germany handled some of this stuff in the postwar era -- nothing to massive, intense data dump, as you describe.

I wish I thought that people learned from this.

59Smiler69
Ott 31, 2014, 12:54 pm

I have no good excuse for going awol on your thread Nathalie, or maybe I do, but really don't want to go into all the boring details, so will say hello for now and mark the last post I read so I can go back and catch up on all I've missed. Meanwhile I want to start a new thread too, but I'll be back to properly comment in days to come. Wishing you well in the meantime. xx

60Smiler69
Ott 31, 2014, 4:06 pm

Would you do me the honour again this year?: http://www.librarything.com/topic/182420#4902314

61Ameise1
Nov 1, 2014, 6:47 am

Nathalie, I wish you a lovely weekend.

62PiyushC
Nov 8, 2014, 11:47 am

So which one did you like better, The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth? Have you tried Ethan Frome yet?

63sibylline
Nov 9, 2014, 8:04 pm

Reading intently all your stories about your families and feelings Nathalie. As ever I admire you for your own openness with all of us here.

I'm just home from a long car trip, but read your thread and wanted to at least say this much.

And that dessert! Dangerous!

64LizzieD
Nov 9, 2014, 8:16 pm

Back again to catch up and to join my thanks to Lucy's. Believe it or not, it's still possible to have the same sort of diffuse guilt and ignorance over slavery here in the American South. You'd think that 150 years after the fact, it would have been dealt with, but it's not; it's not as raw for white folks as your WWII stories, but it's there.

65Ameise1
Nov 15, 2014, 7:54 am

Hello Nathalie, it looks like you are very busy. Wishing you a lovely weekend.

66BekkaJo
Nov 17, 2014, 11:43 am

Hope all is okay Nathalie, just checking in :)

67Carmenere
Nov 18, 2014, 8:09 am

Hi Nathalie! I've been a naughty LTer this year, not much of a visitor but then again it seems that many people are busy in RL too.
Your yoga weekend (way back in October) sounds like it was marvelous! I hope you do go ahead and make plans for more yoga next year.
And! All the Bookers you've read! That's amazing and your brief but insightful comments are great and very useful too!

68sibylline
Nov 18, 2014, 8:27 am

It's been over a week, hope all is well with you and it's just the busy disease!

69Deern
Modificato: Nov 19, 2014, 10:55 am

Hi all, once again apologies for going AWOL yet again…
I really don’t know if I can keep this thread half-going for the rest of 2014. I’d rather just list my books for stats reasons and visit other threads - without feeling guilty for occasional absences and post something here only when I have time and/ or something to say. I’ll be quite busy for another couple of weeks + some of the weekends and also can’t make any more definitive reading plans for the year, except for the remaining GR for the AAC.
I'll soon respond to your posts - now pasting in what I wrote in word earlier:

**************

For the last two weeks at work I had to substitute a colleague at reception. I switched office and computer and had to answer the phone all day additionally to my other tasks of course. I also had to keep the official office hours although I still started earlier and often used that 2hr lunch break to get my own things done. From her computer I didn’t visit any private internet pages, and usually when I came home in the evening I just crashed on the couch, often falling asleep well before 8pm. It was the phone issue that really stressed me, certainly more than necessary. I just thought it wasn’t the best idea to let that job be done by the one person who speaks only broken Italian, no local dialect (think of all the farmers and local bar and restaurant owners that called) and who generally has an issue memorizing (and understanding from hearing) names… Well, I managed, but I wasn’t happy with myself at all. 

***************

Then there was another thing that kept me off the internet/ books/ LT in my remaining private hours, and that was a little health worry that just grew towards a panic over the days when I didn’t hear anything from the doctors. So in that respect the extra work in the office was quite welcome! I am sure many of you have been at a similar point, but still it's always scary, and it's a relief to be declared healthy!

A couple of weeks ago my doctor had asked me to do a BC screening appointment for the first time because I’ll be 44 soon (waaah!). Waiting time for routine checks is usually 5-6 months, so I was surprised when they told me I could come in 10 days if I wanted because someone else had just cancelled. I thought “wouldn’t it be strange if they found something now that ‘fate’ gave me this much earlier date”. So I wasn’t too shocked when of course they found something very very small and told me to return for a biopsy which I had on the 6th this month. They said the results would take 5 working days, but they only called me this Monday and ordered me in yesterday. After 2 hours in the waiting room, the doctor finally admitted me and told me that – YAY!!! – the result wasn’t malign as they had in fact feared it was, but it also wasn’t “benign benign”, and the thing needs to be removed, but without hurry. So I’ll have one of those scary MRTs on December 1st - I hope I’ll behave well in that thing - and then a little surgery probably in January or February. I was annoyed when the nurse told me it wouldn’t be an ambulant treatment; I am really not at all keen on staying in hospital for several days for the removal of something that is smaller than a centimeter! I would have expected local anesthetics, pressure dressing and a taxi ride home. They send you home nowadays hours after childbirth and I have to stay in?

At least I could tell my parents now what I need for Christmas: 2 pajamas suitable for hospital. My mum was so relieved and happy there was something she could “do” after the waiting that she immediately jumped into that task, asking me no end about patterns and colors and cuts I preferred.

*************

So what did I do instead of reading and LTing all those days before falling asleep on the couch with Master Chef Australia running in the background? I played Candy Crush and some of its varieties and Leisure Suit Larry (yes, I’m a fan since the 90s… *blushing*) on my ipad, bought stupid things and ate a totally unbalanced diet of vegetables and pounds of sugar and wheat flour in form of biscuits. I had been improving with the sugar, but the wait for the result made it all worse. At least I consciously watched myself doing it and now I know quite well which emotions make me grab which food and I can also see how my body reacts to them (not well). I even made a list of possible alternative activities. So… no more anxiety or consolation excuses now, starting that body-clean-up-detox thing for real. 

************

Reading:
I did finish 2 books since my last post. One was a brain candy about TV series of the 70s and 80s, not at all well written and read in an hour, but those memories!!! Think Charlie’s Angels, The Cosbys, Colt Seavers, Magnum (which I learned was extremely manipulated and cut in the first German version), Dallas, Married with Children, The A-Team, etc. plus some German shows like the Christmas series “Anna”.

And then I read Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth for the 1,001 GR. It took me really long and I had some difficulties with the last third that’s set post-WWI. On the one hand fascinating themes, on the other hand I found that part really quite dry and long. I am considering reading the sequels, also because the fact that the book was full of hopes for a peaceful future AND published in 1933 made me shudder and I wonder if VB was able to stick to her pacifist ideals through the following years.
What an impressive, exemplary, inspiring woman she was!

I am having serious difficulties listening to Updike’s Rabbit Redux. I am in chapter 7 of 11, but those last chapters are all extra long and I feel older by the minute. The first book had the same effect on me, I remember reading it on the gym’s treadmill (those good old times when I was all fit!), and an extra depressive endless “love” scene ot better "scene of complete indifference" slowed me down so much I had to stop exercising and felt sad and old and done with life for the rest of the day. I am in no way doubting Updike’s writing skills, and even I would probably put the series on an (US) list of must-read books. They are great time witnesses and I generally like the idea that we are seeing the family over several 10 year intervals. But I just can’t connect to the outer events the way US readers will invariably do – and then all those people are so horrid and I just don’t want to read about them anymore.
I guess reading Halftime by Martin Walser might be a similar torture for a non-German.
I’ll try to get it finished until the end of the month and then I’ll read some happy glittery fluff in December. I quite failed on the 1,001 in the second half of this year, but among the books I read were some difficult and long ones.

70Ameise1
Nov 19, 2014, 9:52 am

Wow Nathalie, that was a long report. I hope and wish you that you can be calm and looking positively to what is awaitening you. You are right, the best thing is to remove this nasty little piece what ever it is in the end. So you will be on the safe side.
Kepping you in my thoughts and please take step by step - no rush or stress. Hugs xx

71Deern
Modificato: Nov 19, 2014, 10:29 am

>70 Ameise1: Barbara: what I learned in those last weeks is that I have a very weird way of thinking sometimes, a mix of guilt and superstition, I don't know where I got that from.
I actually felt guilty for hoping it would be benign (in the sense of "what right do I have to hope when others are ill? There are statistics and if I am healthy someone else will be declared ill" - as if such a logic existed!!) which is just ridiculous. I also tried not to think of what to do if it is malign (superstition), so I tried not to think of it at all which didn't work and sent my mind into a tilt.

Thank you for sending me those lovely pics! Today has been the first sunny day after an endless phase of rain, fog and unusually high temperatures. It's so lovely to see the mountains again and not to have to switch the lights on all day!

*****
About buying stupid things: went to a shop during lunch break to buy a kids' game, "Otto il maialetto", for the office. Otto is a plastic piglet; you throw mini plastic hamburgers into his mouth and his belly grows until the buttons start flying. While working at reception I noticed how much some of my colleagues are arguing every day and I thought they might need some fun relief, sth really childish and stupid to bond over it (worked well in my old company). Sadly Otto was already sold out. Bought "Master Chef Italia" the board game instead for myself.. no idea what to expect.
I would have loved to post an Otto pic here... maybe I'll find him in another shop.

72BekkaJo
Nov 19, 2014, 10:50 am

#69 Eeep! I feel for you - it's a horrible thing to have to hang around waiting for the final asnwers. I've had to do it twice (for very diff things I hasten to add) and I've also always gone off the deep end with the food/drink/buying splurges. All about getting through with the least amount of mental breakdown.

And don't feel guilty about going awol! We know your life is full at the moment - we just want you to know we care and we'll still be here when you get back.

Oh and Masterchef Australia + Candy Crush + Minion rush... have got me through the last month of mind numbing stress. Power of brain numbing not to be knocked!

73LizzieD
Nov 19, 2014, 11:47 am

Nathalie, great relief that the thing is benign and regret that you have to go through surgery to get ridof it. But the relief is greater. AND I think that you cope well. I don't know how we (you and I, at least) get the idea that alone of all the world we are supposed to be able to take bad news and waiting like an ideal ancient Stoic. Nobody does. The ancient Stoics didn't either. We all encourage you to give yourself a break!
I am LizzieD, Candy Crush addict - and I don't really know why; I'm certainly not very good at it.
Glad you're reading some. I have to say that answering the phone would have gotten me down completely.

74lunacat
Nov 19, 2014, 12:09 pm

Masterchef Australia is great, good stress relieving for us over here as well and so much better than the UK version. Although it does make me very very hungry, so perhaps not doing so much for my figure!

Good news about the biopsy coming back clear. I would assume they want it out as stray things like that can turn cancerous, and also because you might assume another lump was the original one and so not notice it? I don't really know, but hopefully the removal goes very smoothly. Perhaps they are going to give you a sedative for the surgery, hence being unable to go home immediately? Kind of weird though, I agree - I had a GA for tooth removal and still went home the same day, and my cousin was in hospital for four hours after giving birth to her daughter before walking home, and up five flights of stairs to their flat! Mental.

75scaifea
Nov 20, 2014, 6:40 am

Oh, wow. A big "Whew!" that it's benign, but sympathies that you had to wait and stew so long to hear about it!

76sibylline
Nov 21, 2014, 9:27 am

Oh golly gosh Nathalie, what a relief that you are going to be OK. I was worried by your long absence and hate to think of you lying in mental agony on your sofa watching the minutes go by. Annoying that work was so hard and stressful, I hope at least it helped the time pass during the day.

I do understand your mother's eagerness! You will probably be the best-dressed person there!

77SandDune
Nov 21, 2014, 3:16 pm

Great that it's nothing too serious but boo that you needed anything doing at all!

78Ameise1
Nov 22, 2014, 7:50 am

Nathalie, I wish you a lovely weekend.

79Deern
Nov 23, 2014, 9:38 am

Just back from 2 days in Germany/Austria to have my car inspected (it has German license plates, so every two years has to undergo a German inspection to see if it's still safe and they also control the emissions). I went to Rosenheim, the first service station behind the border and stayed overnight in a hotel that's built after an Italian medieval monastery, the rooms looking like sparse cells, but with all the comfort you need. Fantastic restaurant as well!
Then on my way back I stopped in Innsbruck/Austria to do some shopping and go to IKEA to buy two new chairs.
So many visitors in the meantime, I'm going to activate my notebook now to better able to type...

80Deern
Modificato: Nov 23, 2014, 12:23 pm

>72 BekkaJo: Must check that minion game :)

>72 BekkaJo: and >73 LizzieD:: I play CC, then that new Soda one and the one with the farm because I like the sound effects (... I know...), tried some others that didn't work for me. Now I'm stuck in some later harder levels and am unwilling to spend money or to "ask my FB friends to give me lives"... so no more progress to expect.

You're both so right - it took me 2 weeks to admit to myself (and my therapist) that I was actually scared and not half as relaxed about it as I pretended to the handful of people who knew.

>74 lunacat: I wish they'd show MC UK here - we got Italy of course and Spain and US (actually series 5) and Australia (series 5 as well). The people in the US and AU shows - in AU at least up to season 4 - often cook really well, but the rules and behaviour are so different, the US show being so extremely competitive and the AU version just the contrary with all those hugs and tears when one candidate has to leave. I didn't see much of the Spain show but like the IT one it has many candidates who don't even know the very basics - never in my life would I apply for MC IT if I didn't know how to make fresh stuffed pasta!

Well, I hope that after the MRT it is confirmed that it's just that one small lump and then hopefully they can send me home the same day or maybe keep me for just one night.

>75 scaifea: Yeah, my thoughts went from "if it were bad they would have told me earlier" to "they have to wait till the doctor is available because it is bad, so the nurse can't tell me the result" continuously. I hope the new wait after the MRT won't be longer than the normal 3 days.

>76 sibylline: My mother buys me a pyjama for Christmas every year and usually I don't wear them because they have little teddy bears or smiling stars or other patterns I am 40 years too old for. :)
I explicitly told her that this time she should best look in the men's department for something nice with stripes. We'll see. :)
She was really happy she could "do" something finally after the waiting.

>77 SandDune: yes, booing as well - and still glad I got that early control date instead of the one in April.

>78 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara, a lovely Sunday to you!

81Deern
Nov 23, 2014, 10:36 am

I finished Rabbit Redux! I hope to be able to write the review tomorrow and then to finally also post the other ones which are partly written.

For December I am only planning the AAC book. In the 1,001 group they read Orlando and I'm glad I know it already, so no more forced reading this year. :)
As usually at that time of the year I get a bit childish and yesterday bought a bunch of DVDs (Disney's "Cinderella", "Susi und Strolch" (I believe "The Lady and the Tramp"?), "Up", plus "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" and "Full Monty"). I'll certainly read some children's books and Christmas books but nothing political, nothing difficult, I just want my brain to completely relax outside work.

Must/ Want to go back to my yoga routine which I badly neglected, maybe book some extra classes. The weather is finally sunny so I can start my office walks again after weeks of rain. I must drag myself out of that physical and mental dullness I fell into those past weeks. I am also seriously considering taking skiing lessons this year when the season starts mid-December. My financial situation is finally stable and I can afford a season ski-pass. Exercise up in the mountains in the sun might be just what I need this year. :)

LT wise 'll start visiting threads tomorrow and see if/ how far I can catch up.

Thank you all for you lovely messages!! I wish you a wonderful relaxing Sunday!

82Deern
Nov 24, 2014, 8:20 am

Okay, one short review and then the monster review for Jahrestage:

90. The Waiting Game by Bernice Rubens

This one was recommended by Ilana, and because (like her) I often enjoy stories about quirky old people, I immediately got the audio book. And yes, I had fun with this one. It isn’t especially demanding and every reader will know quite soon what the “big secret” is that involves two of the old ladies living in this exclusive old peoples’ home, but it’s nice and comforting and did me some good. And sorry – as usual I forgot names and places since reading it, so for a more coherent review please refer to the book page where you’ll certainly find Ilana’s thoughts.

Rating: 3.5 stars/ 4 stars for the audio

83Deern
Modificato: Nov 24, 2014, 8:26 am

91., 92, 93., 95. Jahrestage vols 1-4 by Uwe Johnson (1,001 #346/381)

I decided to count Jahrestage as 4 books as it consists of 4 volumes of which at least the last 2 were published separately over 13 years.

“Jahrestage” is usually translated with “anniversaries”, but it’s one of those German words which can have a second meaning as it was the case with Jenny Erpenbeck’s Heimsuchung (=visitation, but also containing home and seeking): here we have “days” and “year”. The book has the form of a diary, covering all days from August 20th 1967 until August 20th 1968, i.e. the days of a year. And as it contains the history of Gesine Cresspahl’s family, it is automatically full of anniversaries, personal ones like birthdays and political ones like the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Jew’s uprising in the Warszaw ghetto.

Gesine Cresspahl is the protagonist, a 34year old woman from Mecklenburg in the North-East of Germany, post-WWII part of the GDR. When the book starts she has been living in Manhattan for 6 years with her now 10year old daughter Marie. Gesine reads the New York Times from cover to cover every day, the purchase and the lecture have taken the form of a ritual. Why she does that, how she came to live in Manhattan, if Marie’s father exists anywhere, her relationship with a German man called D.E., and what her mysterious job at a bank implies – the reader will learn it all over the next 1,800 – 2,200 pages.

The diary entries usually start with some information from the NYT, and the information is often political. It’s the high time of the Vietnam War and the book protocols the slow change in public opinion. The second main theme is racism and the protests of the Afro-American population. Here I should add that the book naturally uses expressions from the time it was written – so it’s not Afro-Americans, but “negroes” (= Neger - you can't say that anymore today) and the English word “colored” is strangely translated into German as “gefärbt” instead of the now accepted “farbig”.

The actual political themes trigger Gesine’s memories. She is slowly telling Marie the history of her family, the role her father played in the Third Reich and later after the take-over by the Soviets. Sometimes there are bits of dialogue where we see that Maries believes her mother to be an unreliable narrator and tries to find gaps in the story.

Johnson takes all the time and space he felt he needed and the result is a rich and extremely detailed work that can imo only very, very slowly be read and digested – maybe one diary entry per day over a year. We see certain characters like Gesine’s father slowly emerge from the shadows, but never becoming fully visible and comprehensible. Just like that we see the development of the fictional town of Jerichow in Mecklenburg, close to Luebeck and the Baltic Sea, how it gets through those years from 1933 to 1945 as so many small towns did: being part of the monstrosity without really being touched by it, it seems at first. Post-war the town is at first occupied by the English but then becomes part of the Berlin deal where the Western allies returned parts of their territories to the Soviets in exchange for some bits of Berlin. Coping with the Soviets is for most of the Jerichow people harder than living with the Nazis, there are many suicides and escapes to the West. Cresspahl becomes mayor for a short time but then gets arrested and disappears in a Soviet camp for years, and 13year old Gesine has to cope with the loss of her father and all the hardships the first post-war years bring along, including typhus and hunger.

On the other hand the reader sees a 1960s Manhattan that has long ceased to exist. A Manhattan through the eyes of a German immigrant who notices flaws and welcomes new things, often wondering. A Manhattan that 22 years after WWII is full of European immigrants, many of them Jews, that slowly and very reluctantly opens some of its doors to the black people. A Manhattan that goes through all seasons and weathers of a year, that is often described like a living breathing body.

While the first two books concentrate on WWII/ Vietnam war, books 3 and 4 slowly switch focus towards two different views on communism – on the one hand there are Gesine’s memories of life in the Soviet occupied territory, on the other hand there’s the then-presence: the Prague spring and hope for a democratic way to live socialism.

Gesine and Marie don’t really come to life as characters for whom we can feel, their emotions rarely shine through. We might feel for side characters, but these two are like studies. They are Johnson’s voices, the narrating one and the questioning one. Gesine becomes more fragile towards the ending after a tragic event that really came unexpectedly and made me very sad.

It is really difficult to express how I perceived the book. It’s above all a brain book (not a stomach book like Grass’ Dog Years), but while it makes you analyze all the information in a logical way it also works on a more subtle level.

Can I just say it is a conceptual masterwork, perfectly executed?? I can’t even start thinking about the effort Johnson had to put into it. And then: add what I believe must be the best modern German post-Thomas Mann I’ve ever read. Again it’s a very precise high language, but interspersed with dialect (the north German “platt” which is much related to older English) and at times really creative when he uses English expressions or phrase constructions and turns them into German.

This was a very long review for what might become my book of the year 2014. I read some great German works this year, thanks to the “unread” list in the 1,001 group, but this one stands out and I can’t believe I never heard of it earlier.

Rating: 5 stars

84Deern
Modificato: Nov 24, 2014, 12:10 pm

94. Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn

I started reading the Patrick Melrose novels some weeks ago, but am now stuck in #2. Stuck, because I feel so terribly sorry for the protagonist, that lost rich kid with the horrid past. You just want to hug and comfort little 5 year old Patrick in this first book towards the ending and take him far away to a safe place, when he sits on the stairs, waiting for his alcoholic mother who’s kept at the dinner table by his psychopathic sadistic controlling father who raped him that very afternoon. The style is light and often humorous in a sarcastic way which makes the book easy to read and just the harder to digest.

I read that the series is based on St. Aubyn’s own life and while knowing that at least gives me hope for Patrick that he’ll eventually find his way out of the mess, it makes the reading just sadder. But the books are all short, I bought the complete series, and I’ll try to get through them in December/ January. #4 is a 1,001, which doesn't make much sense, they should have listed the series as they did with other works.

Rating for this one: 3.7 stars

85Deern
Nov 24, 2014, 8:57 am

96. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (1,001 # 347/382)

annamorphic in the 1,001 group wrote a great review for this book, wonderfully expressing her controversial feelings while reading it and I hope she isn’t cross with me if I quote her:
“I found this book remarkable, even stunning, but also quite unlikeable. Vera Brittain's character comes across vividly and even though I recognize and respect much in her, she's a hard one to love. So unforgiving of herself, so relentlessly introspective, so sure her conclusions are right, so incredibly intense. Not to mention so sure that we want to read every thought she ever had and every word she ever wrote. But to some extent, we do, because the story she has to tell is deeply meaningful and in the end, so are her conclusions about it.”

As I wrote here earlier, this was another book I had to fight my way through. There were many parts I disliked and still I believe I’ll read the two sequels. Maybe I should best say that the writing for me didn’t feel that great, and there are some real lengths early in the book and later when she describes her political and other activities during the first post-war years. But the unbeatable spirit and courage of that woman is so impressive that it carried me through it and this book will stay for me for a long time – as one of the best anti-war books I ever read.

It also shows that “nothing beats experience” when it comes to writing about war or other traumatic events. This is the story of Vera Brittain's own youth, and the losses and hardships she suffers during the war years are real and unimaginable for us today. And yet she spares us detailed descriptions of her grief and also all the horrid stuff from the army hospitals. It’s not necessary – her arguments hit home very well without that.

Today’s literature is often over-emotionalized in my opinion and in my case that has a converse effect: I turn away from the book because it often feels like the authors write with future movie deals in their heads. No doubt VB’s desperation must have been unbearable at times, but the book was published 15 years later and she focused on the beliefs and ideals that carried her through those hard times and leaves the rest mainly to our imagination.

As an anti-war book I recommend it very much, if you’re looking for a dramatic war story (maybe with some romance), better read Bird Song.

Rating: 4 stars

86Deern
Modificato: Nov 24, 2014, 9:38 am

97. Colt Seavers, Alf und Ich by Diverse

Towards the year-end I always get nostalgic and a bit childish and this year more and earlier so. I buy DVDs and read children’s books. There’s a whole collection of German TV shows from the 70s waiting to be ordered on my amazon WL and somewhere along the way I stumbled over this non-book which was available on Kindle and didn’t cost too much.

I call it non-book because it’s just a collection of not well-written pieces/ impressions by “people”. Who are those people? I believe most of them are journalists or maybe friends of journalists or bloggers – the writing in most cases is really weak and it often felt like reading a school magazine.

It’s clear that this one works on a different level: the TV show is mentioned and immediately your own memories come into play, so you read the piece and start raving about those good old times when the TV had only 2 or 3 channels, when there was “Kinderstunde” (children’s hour) at 6pm and something again on Sunday afternoons. When there were Familienserien (family shows) that really assembled 3-4 generations in front of the TV for each new episode (for the Germans: think “Traumschiff”, “Ich heirate eine Familie”, “Anna”).

The US shows were often broadcast in the so-called “regional 1st programs” so depending where you lived you got “the A-Team” and “Colt Seavers” when you were lucky (Frankfurt or Cologne region) or some home-produced far less popular stuff (Bavaria). “Dallas” of course was a must – the first soap opera for us and we didn’t know the rules yet then, believing that once J.R. and Sue-Ellen/ Bobby+Pam got together again they’d live happily ever after and not divorce and remarry again. Characters returning with new faces and bodies after some explosion on an oil field or a car crash were also a new concept it was hard getting used to, but just a couple of years later German stations happily started producing their own soaps – and successfully selling them to other countries like Italy where long dead shows like “Unser Charlie” are running on forever. 

Just for the records: other US shows mentioned were "Married with Children", "Mc Gyver", "ALF", "The Cosbys", "Magnum", "Charlie's Angels" and many more of which I don't know the original English title.

Well, you’ll understand why I had to rate this badly written book with 3 stars, I guess…

87LizzieD
Modificato: Nov 24, 2014, 10:09 am

Busy! Busy! Busy! GOOD for you!
I've saved your review of the Johnson for later, and now I'm off to see whether I own any Edward St. Aubyn or if not, why not. I do so agree with your review of the Brittain. I also read every blessed page of her Testament of Friendship about her relationship with Winifred Holtby; it's even worse in the aspects that you criticized but without quite the emotional impact of *Youth*, and yet still worth reading.
ETA: Your link to Never Mind goes to a book by somebody called "Avi." And I just remembered that I put the P. Melrose novels on my Kindle. Yay!

88Smiler69
Nov 24, 2014, 11:56 am

I'm glad you enjoyed The Waiting Game Nathalie. I've been enjoying discovering Bernice Rubens this year and can see I'll want to reread/relisten to some of her books, and this is one of them. I also have the Patrick Melrose novels both on Kindle and audio and been wanting to start on them lately.

Sorry to hear about all your worries with your small lump. I totally understand how and why you drove yourself mad over it though. I had a large lump removed in my underarm a couple of years ago that had been there for many years and suddenly started hurting me and somehow convinced myself they had no idea what they were talking about when they said it was benign and they would find it was actually a tumour when they removed it, but of course this didn't happen. What did happen was that it was actually quite a very large mass when they did remove it and whatever it was, I'm glad it's not inside me anymore, even though it left a scar.

I've wasted plenty of hours, days, and doubtless months too with silly video games and other time-wasters, not to mention sleep I probably didn't actually need. I did remove Angry Bird from my iPhone when I started actually spending money on that game though, because then I thought they had really made a fool of me and I could find free activities to occupy myself with instead. We all have times when we need to occupy our minds with random things. I console myself by thinking some people only do that with their time and never make a moment for a worthwhile book or activity, which of course isn't the case for us oh-so-clever LT folks! Good to hear from you, however and whenever you can make time to be here. xx

89Deern
Nov 25, 2014, 5:13 am

>87 LizzieD: Thanks - changed the touchstone! Ew... now I'm less eager to get to the next "Testament", but I am also curious to see how she got through that second war with her beliefs.

>88 Smiler69: Hi Ilana! I'll try and get to the other BR of which I (of course) forgot the title before the year-end. The Melrose novels are intense - part one is sad and in part two he uses so many drugs that I just had to take a break from it. It's interesting that his seemingly easy style makes the story just harder to read (at least for me).

I fully understand about your fears - I was also secretly convinced that it must be malign and for a while didn't even allow myself to hope (I guess many people think that way).
On the other hand I fully expected to get a 100% safe diagnosis from a biopsy where they actually look at the cells, and instead I got that B3 grading which in some rare cases still is upgraded into something worse once they take the thing out and check it, though usually then it's a very low malignity, so I am far less worried now.
I imagine an underarm surgery to be very nasty and painful?

I actually spent some Euros this week on some additional moves for Candy Crush Soda and I believe that now I'm done with it. Yes, they make it that difficult because they want my money, I got it. :(
I'll reactivate my Nintendo in future when I need a brain time-out. And of course I had a look at "Angry Bird" last night. :) But it's not for me, it's that easy Candy Crush principle that always had me hooked, be it Diamonds, crystals or whatever.
Yes, I knew people who totally got lost in online games like "Second Life"and the stories they told me about their parallel lives were quite scary. Luckily those big games never interested me.

90Smiler69
Modificato: Nov 25, 2014, 1:31 pm

Nathalie, I think they put me to sleep for the surgery itself so of course I didn't feel anything then, and the recuperation period wasn't especially pleasant, but I had a lot of painkillers so it was surprisingly quite ok. Just the nuisance at first of not being able to lift that arm, and mostly being quite horrified at how large the scar was, because the mass they removed was the size of an orange (I thought it was maybe a medium-sized egg, but no), but now I don't notice or care much about it anymore. Apparently it was... (forget now the actual clinical term for it) basically additional breast tissue which some women have, apparently much more frequently than we think in that area. I also made the mistake of taking off a part of the bandage that was supposed to stay on, and took it off much too early so the wound took much longer to heal than it should have, but all that was maybe 3 years ago now and is all water under the bridge at this point.

My big time suck these days is I finally discovered The X-Files with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson a couple of months ago, which I never watched the first time around and now watch daily, sometimes up to 3 episodes a day (that was mostly the first 3 seasons though), now I'm at season 4 (of 9 in total!) and really enjoying my daily show or two. I watch the show via NetFlix.

I invited you a while back to pick a book for me to read in 2015... I reserved the spot for you if you're still interested, but it's as you wish of course, don't bother if it's too much trouble, but if you decide to do it, please make sure to read the instructions properly and be aware that several books in my "to read" collection are there as rereads, though my tags indicate when the book has been previously read usually. The link is here on your thread in message >60 Smiler69:.

I saw my three stepbrothers wasting most of their life as teenagers on various video games, mostly the very advanced, big games and also when I rarely saw them as adults, saw them doing the same and vowed that would never be me. So while I do enjoy playing and have been known to spend more time than I should at it at various phases (just on the little easy games), it's always just that—a phase that quickly pases, because I just feel much too guilty about it to really enjoy it and the thought that it makes me into something like my step-brothers who I really can't respect keeps me from indulging too too much. And spending money, more than the few dollars I did spend anyway, is where I draw the line! Besides which, I'm always trying to get myself to do things with my time I will be proud about, like spending time on my drawings, which I never do enough of!

91Deern
Nov 26, 2014, 8:16 am

>90 Smiler69: how did I overlook that invitation? Thank you SO MUCH for inviting me! :)))
Of course I'll select a book and if it works like last year with a random choice, I'll probably again pick one I myself never heard of.
I'll reply later to the rest of your post.

92Ameise1
Nov 29, 2014, 5:40 am

Nathalie, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

93drachenbraut23
Modificato: Dic 3, 2014, 9:57 am

Hello Nathalie,

sorry to hear that you had such a stressful time. I thought you are still reading/cooking :)

I am incredible relieved to hear that your tumor is benign and I am sure that surgery will be quite short with a quick recovery time.

I hope you are having a nice Adventszeit :)

Thank you for the pumpkin soup recipe it was brilliant. Made already two different versions of it. *big smile*

94sibylline
Dic 3, 2014, 9:24 pm

I'm thinking you had the MRT on Monday? Wondering how you are doing? Thinking of you.

95Deern
Dic 5, 2014, 2:48 am

>92 Ameise1: Thank you so much - the same to you, though already a week later

>93 drachenbraut23: cooking yes, reading not so much. I tried some vegan Christmassy recipes but so far haven't found the perfect ones yet. For example I tried a maple roasted parsnip soup which I quite liked but I know my parents would only eat it with lots of cream to dampen that typical parsnip taste.
I am so glad you liked that pumpkin soup! Yes, maybe I'll do that one for Christmas as a starter...
I wish you a wunderschöne Adventszeit as well!

>94 sibylline: Thank you!!! I'll post an update in spoilers in my next post.

96Deern
Modificato: Dic 5, 2014, 6:04 am

When I arrived at the office this morning, I found a red gift bag with nuts, an orange and some chocolate and gingerbread on my desk: tomorrow is St Nikolaus day. Such a nice surprise after a lousy week!! 

This week I worked long hours almost daily, but with tasks I won’t describe because it’s just embarrassing. Let’s say it was work that took lots of time but needed no concentration at all, so at least I was able to listen to audiobooks and – yay – finished book #100 – A Christmas Carol, this year in Italian. So at least the objective of reading less (planned 100 books instead of 150) has been fulfilled, although the LTing more somehow didn’t work out.

This year I didn’t buy the usual chocolate advent calendar and instead put 24 post-its on my wardrobe door with nice things to do before Christmas. I started a bit earlier as I’ll leave for Germany on the 21st a and want to be done by then. So far on some days I was able to take off 2 post-its, on other days like yesterday I was so tired that I couldn’t do a thing. Activities include exercise like power yoga, one long winter walk and booking a ski lesson (booking, not necessarily taking it yet), tasks for the brain (memorizing an Italian poem, watching an Italian cine-panettone – that’s a fun Christmas movie with usually very lame jokes and the same actors every year, a bit like a Christmas carry-on -, learning to play a carol on my e-piano), nice things for the body (visit the spa/ sauna, do a body scrub, book a massage)… So far it’s working okay, although I might not get all things done. Last weekend for example I went to the Christmas market with a friend, bought a book of carols set for the piano, googled for those poems, watched not one but two terribly bad cine-panettoni on Sky. It’s still too warm and there’s no snow so I guess that ski-lesson will have to wait a bit, but I’ll at least call and ask for the prices and waiting times.

However, my mood isn’t great and I am feeling a bit down today. I know it’s stupid self-pity, but it’s a combination of “that time of the year” and being scared of that surgery. Update for those interested: they did the MRI on Monday. I got the results yesterday and when I read them my mood went bad, because it looks like there are several tiny “things” on both sides. I know - the MRI sees everything and most of the everything is normal, but still... The very nice and competent doctor did another very thorough ultrasound scan (the first one had been done by someone else), and yes, now there’s something that’s not a cyst also on the other side… She believes it’s harmless as well, but I just hope the whole biopsy + waiting process isn’t going to start all over again. She took lots of pictures and will analyze them today and rewrite the report. Then next week we’ll have an appointment with the head of the surgical department to see what exactly has to be done and when…. I know it’s most probably all harmless and will be over soon, but it’s annoying (and a bit scary!), and somehow I just felt sad and lonely and sorry for myself last night when I came home. Looks like I need to watch some more of those Italian slapstick movies.. My mum called and described in detail those pyjamas she already bought and which I’ll unfortunately really need because the doctor confirmed it’ll be 3 days and a general anaesthesia. Grrrrr…

97Deern
Dic 5, 2014, 3:22 am

Reading plans for December: I started American Boy for the AAC but then put it on short hold to listen to some more uplifting Christmassy Italian audio books first. I also downloaded the IT version of The Wizard if Oz which so far I never ever read, watched, listened to. Right now I’m listening to the original un-Disneyfied Pinocchio which I am loving.

I accidentally downloaded the English version first, read by that same Italian narrator Silvia Cecchini whose Italian books I usually enjoy. That version however was horrid and I have no idea why she did that - the Italian accent was so strong with countless extra “e”s, really difficult to understand and I wondered who the intended audience is because it wasn't a free AB like librivox. Italian students learning English certainly shouldn’t use that to improve their comprehension or own pronunciation. Anyway, when I got the Italian version the narration was great as ever and I am enjoying Pinocchio's adventures altough I was a bit shocked when in one of the first chapters he kills that cricket, I had completely forgotten about that.

98CDVicarage
Dic 5, 2014, 4:55 am

>96 Deern: I read your 'spoiler' and you have my sympathy. I have just been diagnosed very early with breast cancer and all medical staff are very upbeat about it: I will not even stay overnight when I have my surgery. My brother died the day after my diagnosis so it was all pushed to one side for a while and is only now beginning to affect me but I do have my family close by so I don't have to support myself as you are having to. It does help to be able to talk about it when I want to (and not talk about it when I don't want to). My cheering-up-TV of choice is always episodes of Dad's Army and I think I will be doing lots of comfort re-reading in the next weeks rather than starting anything new and challenging. I have a wonderful audio version of A Christmas Carol that I'm looking forward to (in English, none of my other languages are nearly good enough for a whole book!)

99Deern
Dic 5, 2014, 6:19 am

>98 CDVicarage: Kerry, that's so terribly sad, I don't really know what to say. Sending you thoughts of sympathy and crossing crossables that your surgery goes well and that all other treatments will have immediate positive effect!!!

Re. staying overnight: I don't really get it, but that's Italy. There are many rules that don't make sense, but they have to be followed through and this seems to be one of them, although I'd save the health system some money if they'd let me return home. My parents have offered to be here, but I don't know yet if I'd really want that. It's such a small surgery and there isn't much they could do anyway, just sit around and feel awkward, especially if I am sharing a room with other people.

Listening to A Christmas Carol was a good way to get into Italian audiobooks because I know the story so well. No way could I listen to some contemporary fiction however and I still watch my movies with subtitles on. I also own an English Version on CD, I must look for it. Might be just right for my long drive to my parents.

100BekkaJo
Dic 6, 2014, 3:00 am

#96 Oh Nathalie that's just plain pants. After going through it all once it's just piling it on to go through it all again when you were hoping to be able to just get the surgery done and relax. Re staying in, I'd just take it - honest! When I had my gallbladder out in Feb I was in way more pain than they seemed to think I should be and sent me home the next day anyway with some paracetemol. You will be absolutely fine but at least at the hospital they have the good drugs just in case :)

You take care of yourself - there's nothing wrong with comfort reads and comfort programmes and comfort food! Anything that brings your mood up is A-Okay in my books. I love your post-it idea - I may have to steal it (I don't eat chocolate), plus it sounds very positive energy-y if you see what I mean.

Anyway I'm waffling now - I just repeat, you take care of yourself and keep us posted.

101LizzieD
Dic 6, 2014, 10:33 am

Dear Nathalie, I wish you were not facing this. Since you are, you seem to take hold and cope. I would be a sniveling mess all the time - unpleasant for myself and everybody else. You have a program! Good!!!!
Do take care of yourself and keep us posted as Bekka says.

102sibylline
Dic 6, 2014, 11:20 am

Came by to see what's been happening. It's good news, bad news all right. Good because they are catching it now, bad because you have to go through it. Keep posting and we will do all we can to cheer you up.

103Ameise1
Dic 6, 2014, 11:51 am

Nathalie, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

104Deern
Modificato: Dic 9, 2014, 7:55 am

So many reviews to post... better get started:

98.Rabbit Redux by John Updike (1,001 #348/383) CONTAINS SPOILERS ALSO FOR PART 1!!

It needed the AAC to let me finally continue my read of the Rabbit series of which the first 3 books are 1,001 listed, and I have doubts I’ll read #4 without “having to”. How should I best say it? I don’t doubt the value of the series at all. It’s definitely a “must” for US readers, in the same way as books like Halbzeit should be musts for Germans. This is amazingly great writing imo and the most painstakingly observational writing as well. And it causes pain reading it. It’s not feelgood stuff.

I am sure if you can relate to Rabbit’s world because you share a history, the books are far more readable. But for me as a non-US reader there’s just too much I can’t relate to at all. And I compare it to someone not German forcing themselves through Martin Walser’s Anselm Kristlein books (unlikely as they haven’t been translated although Halftime is 1,001 listed). They might admire the observational skills and the language and follow the story to a point. But they’ll most probably dislike all characters and won’t understand certain actions – and certainly at some points be bored to death.

I always feel paralyzed by the Rabbit books and I guess that’s partly intended because the protagonist Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom is such a passive, almost numb person. Things happen to him and he lets them happen. In the last book he ran away from a very unhappy marriage and you thought “yay” for a second – but then he just fell into a relationship with really the next best woman like 5 minutes after leaving home and the overall passivity just continued. Now it’s 10 years later, Harry is reunited with his wife Janice, and he is jealous, but at the same time strangely untouched by her having an affair. When he offers her to continue seeing the guy if it makes her happy, instead of finally showing some emotion, Janice packs her things and leaves him with their 12 year old son. Harry’s life continues just as passively, he lets himself almost be seduced by a friend whom he doesn’t even find attractive, is invited into a “black” bar in the towns “bad quarter” by a black co-worker, smokes a joint there because everyone does and is persuaded (without too much resistance) to take a 17year old (white) runaway girl back home to live with him. Of course they start an affair, of course started by her. And of course some weeks later he agrees to let Skeeter move in, a friend of hers, an Afro-American dealing with drugs, wanted by the police.

Now with Skeeter the book finally got some life, and while I disliked him as much as all other characters, he added a nice drive to the story and he at least got Harry’s thoughts moving though not his actions. Another character who brought some life late in the book is Harry’s sister Mim.

Of course there’s a political background to the book – the landing on the moon which is half-heartedly watched on TV by Harry and family without the slightest enthusiasm or pride, unlike in all other books/ movies I know. The Vietnam war is going on and the Afro-Americans fight for equal rights. Harry, while being a conservative man, is surprised when his neighbors complain to him about having a black guy living in his house. It seems like his main concern is not to be disturbed in his routines. He doesn’t care that Skeeter and Jill have an affair as long as they have it at daytime while he’s working. He wouldn’t mind at all that his wife has taken a job as long as she’d still put dinner on the table (which she doesn’t). Have a drug dealer live in your home? It’s okay as long as he leaves the boy alone.

On the one hand I’d like to see how the story about Rabbit continues, on the other hand I always need a long break after a book to recover from the numbness.

I should add that although I of course disliked her as ever I felt some sympathy for Janice in this book. She wants so much in this new and liberated world and has no idea where to find it while still also wanting some security.

Rating: 3.5 stars because I just (sorry!) didn’t enjoy it…

105Deern
Dic 9, 2014, 5:39 am

99. The Thin Woman’s Brain by Dilia Suriel

This audiobook was recommended by audible because I am reading Eat Q on Kindle. This book here is basically the same – just shorter and far easier to understand and with a better and quicker approach. I am still not through with the other one which is one of those self-help books that demand you to do 1,000 things and while the essence is the same I just feel over-tasked by it. I listened to this one twice and I wish there was a German version because this would be just the book for my dad.

Maybe the main difference between Eat Q and this one is that this author has been an “emotional over-eater” herself for many years and doesn’t just watch others with the issue. It helps if an author strews in experiences like lying awake at night for hours because there’s that one slice of chocolate cake left in the fridge and finally giving in and eating it because she knows she wouldn’t get sleep otherwise.

Dilia Smith has interviewed numerous “naturally thin women” (the book’s language is typically self-help: over-simply, repetitive, but that’s what gets into your brain so I don’t mind.. although by the middle of the book I wished she’d just called them NTWs). From their behavior she deducts a strategy which is quite easy to follow in the beginning. Of course it gets harder when the more serious emotions are analyzed and the book doesn’t promise any quick success regarding one’s weight.

Well, I’ll see how this one will work out. The post-it advent’s calendar was the first active result of my reading this book (to stop eating because there’s nothing else to do), but I am also trying to confront the more serious emotions now without the "help" of baguette, and the last 2-3 days have been interesting...

Rating: 4 stars

106Deern
Dic 9, 2014, 5:41 am

100. Un Cantico di Natale (A Christmas Carol) by Charles Dickens

My yearly reread, this time as Italian audio book (“listen to an IT audio book” was on one of my advent post-its). This is the one story that never fails to make me cry happy tears. It also worked with this AB to which I listened in the office while doing some tiresome undemanding tasks last week. And yes, I cried in the office, but I had wisely waited until everyone else had left for their 2hr lunch break before I came to Scrooge’s great conversion.
2 days later I watched “Scrooged” with Bill Murray on Sky and of course I cried again and will undoubtedly do so a third time when it’s time for my Muppet DVD. Yeah, I am ridiculous pre-Christmas, I know…

5 stars as every year

107Deern
Dic 9, 2014, 5:42 am

101. American Boy by Larry Watson

This concludes the 2014 AAC for me. Watson is the only one of the 12 authors who never got one of his books 1,001 listed, so I was without guidance what to select. I got some test chapters on my Kindle and then decided for this book simply because – sorry, mushy brain – it seemed the easiest one and it cost a bit less than the others. I just wasn’t in the mood for the more lauded Montana 1948.

Well… this is quite your typical American boy coming of age story I’d say and for me it almost read a bit Stephen Kingish which isn’t bad at all, but also made it “not so special”. If anything I most enjoyed the episode where Matt gets caught in the storm in his car and meets the two Indians (sorry, the book calls them so and I really don’t know what’s correct now – Native Americans?). It made me realize that while I read lots of US books in the past years, none of them even remotely dealt with the Native Americans. So I’ll probably get to Montana 1948 when my brain can take it. And if you have any recommendations?

Apart from that it was a quick and okay read, but I doubt the main story will stay with me very long.

Rating: 3.5 stars

108Deern
Dic 9, 2014, 5:45 am

102. Le avventure di Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

I am grateful that my early memories of Pinocchio go to the original version which was quite popular in Germany. There was also an Italian film or TV series of 1971 that as far as I remember comes close to the book. Then there was a Japanese animated series in the later 1970s that we all watched and loved. So when I finally saw the Disney version in the early 80s I was quite overwhelmed by those bright colors and I actually found Disney’s Pinocchio a bit freaky looking. I realize however that – if you grew up with that version – the original story must be quite a shock. Collodi’s Pinocchio in the first chapters is really an annoying and stubborn brat and one of his first actions is killing the cricket that became Jiminy in Disney’s movie. I had also forgotten that he bits off the cat’s paw when fox and cat try to kill him for his 5 gold coins. And I absolutely didn’t remember he was almost pan-fried by a fisherman.

There’s far more death and violence than in the Disney movie, there’s strict morals, but there’s also a fascinating world of talking animals and especially the episodes with the turquoise-haired fairy sometimes reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. It’s also clear that it is set in a poor region of Italy (beans and tripe, now Tuscan specialties, were food for people who couldn’t afford bread). When Pinocchio invites his friends around, his main argument is that there will be panini (bread rolls, certainly made of wheat flour ==> special), buttered on BOTH sides!

It was great to reread this book after so many years, thanks to Paul for bringing it back to my attention. I listened to the Italian audio and read some chapters in the free Kindle version as well.

Rating: 4 stars

Sky showed Disney’s “Snow White” in the new HD version 2 days ago. The whole arc around the evil queen was well done and scary, what a pity they didn’t leave some of the darkness in Pinocchio as well.

109Deern
Modificato: Dic 10, 2014, 5:31 am

103. Bad News by Patrick St. Aubyn (Patrick Melrose series #2/5)

I am wondering how this book might be perceived by people who haven’t read Never Mind first. Doubtlessly the drug and money spending trip 22year old Patrick goes on in what must be pre-HIV Manhattan looks like the ultimate tasteless decadence.

If you read the first book in the series however and remember 5year old Patrick lost and crying on the stairs of his father’s mansion in France you can just half-admire him for still being alive. You know that now, 17 years later, he is beyond outside help. No-one consoled that little boy when things might have been changed for the better, and now he’s found a way to deal with those memories – suppressing them by a neverending mix of hard drugs and alcohol and wasting his hated father's money wherever he can.

Patrick has been called to New York where his father has died suddenly. Since the last book his parents got a divorce, so he has to deal with the issue all alone. Before going on the flight he decides to give up the heroin, now that his father can’t hurt him anymore directly. A mix of coke, pills and booze keep him up, but quickly the more mental than physical need for heroin overcomes all noble resolutions.

The writing is truly impressive. You could argue that drug abuse is gloryfied here and yes, in some way it is. Or you might believe is is if you haven’t read the first book. At times it was really hard for me to bear it and only the knowledge that Patrick is St. Aubyn’s alter ego and therefore must get out of this mess at some later point helped me through it.

I love the general set-up, each book focusing on just a couple of days in Patrick’s current life phase that are exemplary for his actual situation but also steer him towards something new. Book three, again 8 years later, seems to be set around a high-society event, again a very limited timeframe.

Rating: 4 stars

110Deern
Modificato: Dic 9, 2014, 10:46 am

>100 BekkaJo: Hi Bekka, thanks for the advice! Well, I'll see about the hospital stay... after the surgery I'll stay a night in any case, but maybe I can return home the night before. I live just 5 mins away by taxi and could easily come in at 6 or 7am.

Yes, the post-its are quite helpful, they also (see >105 Deern:) mostly keep me from eating when I'm not hungry. I put them on the door of my wardrobe in the hallway, so they are the first things I see when I get in. And I used the pink-yellow-mint combo, not just the yellow ones to make the whole display a bit more cheerful.

>101 LizzieD: I admit I was a snivelling mess half of the weekend, but that's also something I must learn: allow myself to be that snivelling mess from time to time. :)
And when I had run out of tears I put on my sunglasses (sunny weather, yay!) and went to the Christmas market or on a walk, and in the evenings I really spent some time practising playing the e-piano, something I haven't done for 2 years.

>102 sibylline: Thank you, Lucy!! I know it isn't really bad, probably it's normal still to be scared...

>103 Ameise1: Barbara - thank you so much for those lights, and again a wonderful advent time for you!

111sibylline
Dic 9, 2014, 7:38 am

Such a sensitive review of your latest Harry Angstrom book. Updike is a writer I could discuss for hours--he wrote about a generation (my parents) and he captures a certain aspect of it (the passivity)- known as the Silent Generation. Preceding them were the folks who fought in the war and were very energetic, after them, of course, comes my own ghastly generation of Boomers. So he is showing how the torpor of the fifties gets eaten away when the sixties 'vibe' and culture invades even a little city in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. (which is, despite being on the East Coast and having two large cities is essentially a very rural state) and Harry and Janice are, despite themselves, jolted into some sort of response. You really got that.

I've got St. Aubyn on my xmas list, hope I get at least the first one!

112Deern
Dic 9, 2014, 9:56 am

>111 sibylline: Thank you for the comments and also for correcting the name. I listened to the audio and always heard "Armstrong" (and was to lazy to look it up..). :)

This second Rabbit book set me thinking much about that generation and how they dealt with those big events around them. It also somehow fit in well with Jahrestage which observes the same period, but from the eyes of a foreigner living in the US.

There is so much going on in the background - contrary to book one where I felt the characters were mainly dealing with their personal issues, in Harry's case his inability to fulfill the high expectations his parents and mainly his mother had put into him. 10 years later the world is changing at high speed and it's overwhelming for people who just want to live a quiet and undisturbed life.

113lunacat
Dic 9, 2014, 10:04 am

Fingers crossed that the biopsy reveals they are just normal lumps and bumps that crop up in breast tissue and nothing more suspicious, but at least they've been discovered early if they are something more. What a horrible thing to be having to think about just before Christmas though.

On a brighter note, skiing lessons sounds like fun! Hopefully some snow will arrive and you'll be able to get out on the slopes. I'd love to try skiing but as I'm not 100% I'd like it, and we have neither slopes nor snow nearby, it isn't something that is likely to occur.

114BekkaJo
Dic 9, 2014, 12:14 pm

Currently reading Rabbit Redux so running through blindfolded for a wave!

115Deern
Dic 10, 2014, 2:02 am

>113 lunacat: No matter what it turns out to be, I'll forever be grateful to that unknown woman who cancelled her screening appointment so I could have mine 5 months earlier than normal.

I'll do my best to finally get that try-out ski lesson. :)

I haven't done that in my past 5 winters here because the whole planning for just 45 or 90 minutes of lesson means so much effort, not to speak of the cost. They don't offer any packages with hired ski/boots added, there's just one place to get the equipment where it's difficult to park, etc...

>114 BekkaJo: Hi Bekka, I hope you are enjoying it more than I did!

116Deern
Modificato: Dic 10, 2014, 5:32 am

Hi all...
I'd like to apologize for not being more present in your threads. I haven't been much on LT lately and of course I'd like to change that. I'll try out a more relaxed approach next year, checking in and commenting when I find the time and not feeling guilty anymore for having missed posts and then forcing myself to read all old threads before commenting on the new ones which quickly became impossible this year.

This is just ridiculous, really. I love this place and I feel at home here. And I want to make my thread something like an additional home. I don't know yet exactly how to do it, but I am planning to read even less than in 2014 and to do more other things and share what I can in my 2015 threads.

I might open my thread later in January when I have made up my mind of how to shape it. I might keep those lists or abandon them all, I'll see. I'll participate in challenges, but not with the goal to make 100%, I don't want to put any more pressure on my reading.

This is very personal, but I am someone who all her life has been guided by real or imagined expectations of others and in those past months for the first time I got a glimpse of the person that I really am or would like to become. I know... very typical "finding myself in my 40s", but better now than never, my parents sadly always serving as a bad example of how I don't want to be in my late 60s.

Reading will always be a very important part of my life, but it has also often helped me to cover up other needs. So what I'd like for 2015 is more of a social life, in the RL, but also here on LT.

So for all those whose threads I haven't visited in a long time (which means everyone...): for now wishing you a wonderful December!!

(I'll do a Christmas/ New Year round as every year, but I won't fully catch up on most threads anymore, I am sorry )

117Deern
Dic 10, 2014, 2:28 am

104. Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn (Patrick Melrose series #3/5) - CONTAINS SPOILERS

I started book 3 of the series right after having finished part 2. They were published over several years, but now that they are all available I believe they should best be read without long breaks in between, and be it just because some characters seem to turn up in every book and even if you’re just half as bad with names as I am, you’re likely to forget some of them between books.

Patrick is 30 now and has been clean for 2 years. He’s managed to waste so much money that he’ll soon have to consider taking some job. While he’s off the drugs, he’s still continuously struggling with the demons of his past – mainly his abusing father and his mother who never defended him.

The book is set during a weekend when some big birthday bash is taking place in the mansion of Sonny and Bridget. Bridget is the “hussy” of book 1, the girl Nicholas had brought along for the weekend and who had been close to running away. It now shows that her decision to return to David Melrose’s house had been the first determined step upwards in society.

Among the countless guests of the event there are many old acquaintances (to my great joy even a character from the second book makes an appearance) and many more illustrious society people, among them Princess Margaret. (I am wondering if such a real royalty can just be used in a book without asking permission first? She isn’t pictured nicely, so…?).

St. Aubyn wonderfully manages to show the whole dullness of high society. The numerous dialogues, though witty, quickly become boring and are mostly just pointless. You won't want to spend a single minute among those awful people.

As a contrast there’s Patrick, realizing that he can’t fight his past forever and that instead he must come to some kind of acceptance to be able to finally, finally let go and to face his future and life as an adult. For the first time he sees a shimmer of hope in his life – and he is in vain searching for the German expression that uses just one word. Here it is: Hoffnungsschimmer. :)

Actual spoiler
He comes to this conclusion in a beautiful scene in the attic, while some doors further the party is
in full swing. And then there is the encounter with Belinda, Bridget’s daughter, who sits on the stairs all sad and lonely. And Patrick sits down with her and promises her to read her a story. He clearly sees himself in the lost child. And then Bridget turns up and lovingly cares for her, so along with Patrick we see that things can take a different turn.


Written beautifully once again. This series is really growing on me and I am looking forward to part 4, Mother’s Milk.

Rating: 4 stars

118Carmenere
Dic 10, 2014, 8:01 am

but I won't fully catch up on most threads anymore, I am sorry Oh, dear Nathalie, don't ever apologize for re-discovering a life beyond LT. I've been quite absent myself this year, but the wonderful thing about the 75ers they usually treat everyone who's been AWOL like the prodigal lamb, always welcoming them back into the LT fold.
I've just now read about your MRI's and planned surgery and I hope all is going well with you. Hopefully, just a speed bump along your route.
Take care.

119sibylline
Dic 11, 2014, 8:53 am

Stopping by to say I'm thinking of you.

On more mundane fronts, managing LT 'just right' is a work in progress - I feel that at the end of year 5 as a member I am just achieving a balance and also, perhaps, a tougher attitude towards threads that move fast that I simply cannot read all of. I like making a new thread each month, for example, but don't like that I often have to pad it out a bit to get to 150. So I am thinking about how to manage that, perhaps to only make a new thread every two months, for example. It takes time to set up a new thread too, and I wouldn't mind having that time for reading and other things!

120Ameise1
Dic 13, 2014, 7:35 am

Nathalie, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

121Deern
Dic 15, 2014, 5:58 am

Hi all, I'll respond to posts later from home, just copying 2 reviews now from Word:

105. Mother’s Milk by Edward St. Aubyn (Patrick Melrose series #4/5 / 1,001 #349/384)

Reading the reviews I learned that the series was planned as a trilogy and this book and part 5, At Last, were added on. This makes sense because this book has a different structure and is darker in tone compared to the others. It is set during the August summer holidays of the Melrose family in 4 consecutive years. 3 of those holidays are spent in St. Nazaire, in the mansion in South France owned by Patrick’s mother Eleanor. The 4th holiday is a nightmarish trip to the US and to various relatives.

smaller spoilers:
As could be expected after book 3, Patrick has reconnected with his mother, but not with the results he has been hoping for. Eleanor has turned into a spiritual, charity-obsessed person who neglects her family and puts all her remaining money into a shamanic cult, even leaving them her house in her will, thus in fact disinheriting Patrick’s family. She feels no remorse and is unable to see that she is copying the actions of her own hated mother who handed her vast fortune to her spendthrift second husband, leaving to her daughters only small parts. Patrick sees the family as poisoned and he doesn’t know if he can keep that poison dripping from one generation to the next.

The summers are written from different viewpoints. We start 2000 with Robert, Patrick’s 5 year old son, an extremely sensitive and observant child who watches his parents and his newborn little brother Thomas. He ponders on language and the power Thomas has who isn’t able to understand and use words yet, comparing him to their grandmother who after several strokes can no longer speak coherently. We see Patrick and his wife Mary though his eyes, a loving couple who share the same humor and the same ironic and fatalistic view on their parents. I loved that part and it seemed to me that despite all obstacles, Patrick had made it and was on a good way.

BIG SPOILERS following in the next 3 paragraphs which I didn’t want to put in spoiler tags

August 2001 is written from Patrick’s viewpoint and things have changed dramatically. He fears that he’s losing his neverending fights against the demons of his past and present life. He needs love and reassurance from his wife, who however since Thomas’ birth “has stopped being a wife and turned into a holy mother”. She sleeps in Thomas’ room and spends every minute with him, no longer able to be a partner to her husband. Patrick has started drinking and considers an affair, desperate for warmth of any kind.

In August 2002 we read Mary’s thoughts and it’s significant how long it takes for Patrick to make an appearance there at all. She is fully focused on Thomas and while, given her own history, I understood her needs to a certain point, she still really annoyed me. She knows about Patrick’s issues and his drug abuse, and while she feels sorry for him, is quite unwilling to consider her own ways. She just watches him sinking and accepts it.

August 2003: the family are on their way to the US, St. Nazaire having been handed over to the spiritual group already during Eleanor’s lifetime. Eleanor has moved to a nursing home in Kensington (honestly, I would have left her in France!) and now of all things asked Patrick to assist her committing suicide with the help of a Swiss euthanasia group. Patrick can’t take the strain anymore, he is lost, alone and bitter and has turned into a heavy drinker. His marriage is obviously broken. (At that point I was really asking myself how poor Thomas would ever turn out with that overbearing mother who still shares his bed every single night and who in fact uses him as a shield against her husband. Robert will have his damages as well, but was lucky to spend his first 5 defining years in a loving and normal family – although that means that it must be hard for him to watch the decline).

Spoiler end

I found this book hard to read. It almost completely lacks the lightness that made the equally hard plots of the first three books more bearable. If I had read this as a separate book, as I had been planning initially because it is 1,001 listed, I would have disliked it strongly. In my opinion it is important to read the series in order to be able to build a connection with Patrick and also to understand why he feels this duty to sacrifice himself for his selfish fanatic mother who never did him any good. Family ties – okay. But sometimes those have to be cut to save yourselves and the ones you’re really responsible for. I was terribly saddened at the end and now all my hopes are on At Last.

Rating: 4 stars

122Deern
Modificato: Dic 15, 2014, 8:11 am

106. Fludd: A Novel by Hilary Mantel

Peggy recommended this book and I got the audio almost immediately, because it sounded like something I really might enjoy - and in fact I quite did. That I rate it with “only” 3.5 stars has 2 reasons which have nothing to do with the book and I am planning to relisten to it soon.

1. I had a really, really bad weekend and the world’s funniest book wouldn’t have been able to lift my mood up
2. I didn’t listen to it the way I should. I often put it on and fell asleep, then woke up, rewound to the last bit I could remember, at some point fell asleep again… So I never really got into this quite short story while consciously and also subconsciously listening to it through 3 nights. At least it always managed to calm me enough after a while to make me sleep again and the story was interesting enough to make me listen at all (I tried other audios this weekend and this was the only one I could follow).

I think the book is set in the 1950s, in a small town in northern England whose inhabitants are mainly Catholic. The local priest (whose name I never really understood) has lost his faith but keeps practicing, being extra strict so no-one notices. After a visit by the bishop he’s forced to remove the statues of most saints from the church and he’s ordered to “modernize”. For that second issue, the bishop will send a curate for assistance.

That curate, Father Fludd, turns out to be a strange guy, he makes people share their secrets without hesitation, he eats without eating and drinks without drinking. Soon his influence spreads to the nearby convent where Sister Perpetua rules over her nuns with an iron fist, keeping special watch on Sister Philomena, "the one with the fake stigmata that turned out to be dermatitis", a young nun from Ireland who was forced into the order by her family.

The narration was okay, but I believe it could have been done better, doing more justice to the quirky characters.

Rating for now: 3.5 stars

123Deern
Modificato: Dic 15, 2014, 12:49 pm

Phew..... okay. I decided to take the afternoon off because, honestly, I just can't take "it" anymore. I'll explain in a minute what "it" is. I have to get through the next 4 days, then it's a week in Germany and then I'll need to talk to some people to improve my work situation.

Thing is I had a real meltdown this weekend, and I mean a real one with almost non-stop crying and feeling ill. I know... again?? I'd think the same, but I guess this is now really something like a turning point I have been "working" towards. One element that got me there is that (you might remember) about 2-3 weeks ago I decided to ride through my emotions instead of grabbing the next loaf of bread. Well, it makes quite a difference. I eat less and I cry more. But the crying forces me to face the issues behind it, and I hope will also force me to finally do something.

So, as I said earlier - I had to admit to myself that my work kills my brain. And my loneliness kills my soul. Since I know I'll have to go to hospital eventually it has got worse simply because I realized that no-one is going to come and see me there. Yes, I call it self-pity myself, so you don't have to. :)
Mix in the usual advent blues and what feels like lack of sugar, and there you are...

Something about work: I keep saying how grateful I am that I got this safe job in these difficult times and I shouldn't complain. But fact is also that the work I've been doing over the past months is so undemanding I could cry in frustration, and I do. The area I have been hired for works less well than could have been hoped for, but that's quite outside my influence. So I did what many would do and asked if I could help out elsewhere. As a result I now have a set of duties from several areas that fill the 8 hours, but kill my energy and my creativity. To get an idea: enveloping 600 letters and putting stamps on and then checking the incoming answers off a list. Ordering delivery documents by number. Running the same statistic with only client number changing 15 times a day and turning it into an excel. And that's not exception work, those are my weekly/ monthly/ daily duties now and I'll refuse to take on anything more. Some weeks ago when I actually asked a (nice and overworked) colleague if I could help her out she said "I'd give you something, but you're overqualified and you caught enough c**p work already". That's when I realized that yes, I caught all the c**p work the others wanted to get rid off.

But on the other hand of course I feel ungrateful - because after all they hired me when they didn't have to and I'd really love to add some value to the company. Finding a fix job here as a foreigner is as good as impossible because people here simply can't be fired. That's why our unemployment rate is so high - if you hire people you're stuck with them forever. So companies give you a one-year contract and then let you go because otherwise they'd have to give you a fixed contract next.

Believe me, I tried to do other things, started a new website initiative and tried to get into an IT project - because I've been IT analyst and project manager for 12 years. But to no avail. Sometimes I feel like I'm invisible.

So today I finally talked to another colleague. She gave me an interesting explanation (she is having issues as well). She said "you know, you and I we are foreigners". I haven't even been considering that before, but the people from this region do have a certain closeness that I haven't experienced anywhere else. They aren't exactly hostile, they just have their ways and we don't fit in.
She is Italian, but not from this place, she moved here from Veneto 15 years ago and hasn't since been able to make a single real friend! We started laughing and I said that then there was still hope for me, after only 5 years. We decided we'll meet for coffee and shopping after the holidays.

And I remembered that 5.5 years ago I actually had been warned to come here by a local who said the people don't take well to foreigners. I thought then "I am a solitary person anyway, I don't mind". I would never have thought it could be so hard here. But two of the three friends I've made here are from England and Switzerland and are almost never in town (I wonder why). #3 is local and works like crazy to save money to be able to leave.

I know I am not an outgoing person myself and that makes it more difficult of course, especially with the Italians who want their new friends to be open and "solare" (happy, like the sun).

So what I decided over the weekend and started today: instead of hanging my head in shame, I'll now simply ask people/ colleagues for assistance and I'll concentrate on the Italians. Maybe someone knows a Verein/ association that could be interesting for me. The discussion with my colleage today showed me that there are others with similar issues and that the difficult part is admitting it.



124Deern
Dic 15, 2014, 10:12 am

>118 Carmenere: yes, speed bump is a good expression. Thank you for the good wishes!!
LT is just wonderful, it feels a bit like coming home. :)

>119 sibylline: I have no plans for month-themes yet. Maybe I'll have food themes instead and post cookbook covers. I guess I'll keep my lists of books read and books I spent money on to have a bit of an overview myself. What takes me longest is picture posting because I haven't found an intelligent way yet to get the pics from the mobile phones or ipad to LT. Somehow all my devices aren't compatible it seems and I have to take the MPs to the office computer or to upload the ipad pics directly on the ipad, but then need a "real" computer with keyboard again for the posting... There are too many steps involved and most often the pics I took especially for LT never find their way into my thread.

>120 Ameise1: Thank you so much, Barbara! A great week to you!!

125LizzieD
Dic 15, 2014, 7:20 pm

Dear Nathalie, I had no idea how stultifying your work is on top of everything else. Bless you! Come to LT OFTEN!!!!! I also think that your new plan sounds interesting and helpful.
Themes --- Oh golly. I have given that no thought at all. I do have an idea for a self-challenge, which is to read one book from each shelf in the house until I'm through. It may take more than a year. I don't know how to translate that into a thread topper though. Meanwhile, I think that your food theme sounds like a great idea. I'd look forward to it - especially if you posted your own cooking!

126Ameise1
Dic 16, 2014, 1:06 am

Nathalie, when I take the photos with my smartphone I store them in my gmail-google photo account. Therefore I never have to upload again because they already have the gif information which is needed to post them.

127sibylline
Dic 16, 2014, 8:14 am

Nathalie - thank you for trusting us with your reflections on your situation. I am sure I am not the only one who read your post at 123 and wanted so much to be able to invite you over for tea and then for a ramble through a favourite used book store and perhaps up a mountain path.... If only it were simpler to do that in reality!

It's wonderful that you talked to someone and maybe have the beginnings of a friendship at work!

One thought - social signals and customs vary so widely from place to place. Part of being 'in' is reading and responding accurately to those. You might want to look for the books of Edward Hall - The Hidden Dimension and The Silent Language come to mind -- if nothing else they will fascinate you, I think. One snippet that remains for me is that the French officials who have many dealings with Americans often have their furniture fastened to the floor because Americans like to pull the chairs up close and generally feel free move things around which drives les francais completement fou! They are quite serious books, anthropology not 'how to get along with foreign folks' - but since reading them I feel much more alert and able to figure some things out just by observation.

There is an Englishman who lives in Italy who writes fun mysteries and also memoirish books that you might like - the mysteries are light reading and the memoirs are very pleasant. I can't think of his name at this moment. But perhaps you have read them all.

128Deern
Modificato: Dic 16, 2014, 12:16 pm

>127 sibylline: Just this morning I was considering a "Tour de LT" for my holidays. Actually, I thought something like "where can I travel next year where I am far away from my office tasks?" and then I had the idea of putting an ocean between them and me and maybe meet some people in RL if they wanted to meet me as well. That's something I'd definitely love to do one day, though probably not in 2015. If the US let me in, that is, after I put my name on so many anti-internet-spying lists last year. I also signed Italian and German petitions of all kinds, but I believe the US authorities are the only ones who actually evaluate those lists.

Some generalizations:
I'd say the people here, as much as they believe to be "German", are clearly Austrian-Tyrolean. Tyroleans are known to be not exactly trusting. They always were extremely poor and understandably looked after their own things above all. Now many are really wealthy thanks to tourism and political autonomy and there's almost no unemployment here, but they haven't really opened up. They feel persecuted by the Italian government who wants their taxes and tries to erode autonomy and sends them all those African immigrants. If they could, many would happily unite with North-Tyrol and Bavaria, before things get worse. They are super-friendly to tourists, and more to German tourists than to the Italians which they see as chaotic. But it happened several times, that those smiling faces fell when I answered to the usual question "how long are you staying?" with "I live here". Next question usually is if I am married to a local and when I say I'm alone and came to work here, more than one talk has abruptly ended. I steal good work from locals, it seems.

I remembered today that last year when I did that French summer class in Bolzano, the teacher told me that after years and years in the village where she lives with her husband she's still seen as "that foreign hussy who stole away (name of husband) from a perfectly good local girl". Just that she had met future husband in France and he and ex-GF had split up more than a year earlier.

Social signs/ customs: While on the one hand I am a sensitive person in the sense that I often perceive the feelings of others, I am really bad with social customs, even in my own country. It's like I skipped a step in my development and now I am extremely careful not to do/ say something wrong - which, depending on situation and environment, is easily interpreted as arrogance or lack of interest in people.

The French have furniture fastened to the floor?? You mean in hotels, right? That's so funny! :)
I remember that in the 1970s my parents went to France for a weekend with a sports club and the whole group were thrown out of a restaurant because they were moving a table. We always explained it with the old aversion against the arch-enemy, but now maybe it was just that - or both?

No, I never heard of that Englishman. Must search for him.

129Deern
Modificato: Dic 16, 2014, 9:37 am

>126 Ameise1: Barbara, I never thought of anything so simple. I am clearly so not up-to-date. Thank you!! :))

>125 LizzieD: Peggy, the food idea came up for the first time when I got my cooking books from storage this year. I have no exact plan yet and might not start right away with thread 1/2015.

Today's work was better, but those last weeks were extreme. I've done similar work as an intern decades ago, unpaid, so I should see it as an improvement. Only 3.5 days left before my holiday! :)

130Deern
Modificato: Dic 16, 2014, 10:31 am

>127 sibylline: I just found this wonderful website with a long list of English mysteries set in Italy and Italian mysteries translated into English: http://italophiles.com/gialli_mysteries_and_police.htm
Your author should be among them! :)

Should Ilana read this: there are some pics of the Montalbano TV series in the lower part of the site.

131Deern
Dic 17, 2014, 2:31 am

I finished the Patrick Melrose series last night when I couldn't sleep. Fantastic writing throughout, great characters (though not necessarily likeable) and psychological insights which I found quite helpful. "Just" letting go of the past is extremely hard if the bad experiences have been made at such a young age that they escape active memory and instead manifested in reaction symptoms that seem unexplainable. I'll post some interesting quotes from that last book which concludes the series very satisfactorily. As a series among my best reading experiences of the year.

I started The Vicar of Wakefield, just because it was described as a short and easy enough 1,001 book and it was free for Kindle. I needed another 1,001 to conclude the year with 35 books read and a total of 350 (following the 2008 list)/ 385 (complete list). Next year I should easily pass 400 and I am planning to complete the German speaking authors, there aren't many books left.

When I still couldn't sleep at 3 am I put on Il meraviglioso mago di Oz/The Wizard of Oz on audio and promptly fell asleep during Dorothy's talk with the scarecrow.

****************

I found a little booklet for kids on Saturday with a poem of the "Befana" and memorized it (learning an Italian Xmas poem was on one of my post-its). My colleague explained me the Befana tradition and it's so lovely I want to share it here for those who don't know it yet.

I knew that in Italy and other Southern European Catholic countries January 6th/ Epiphany used to be the day when presents were given to children, which makes sense because it's the day when the 3 kings turned up in Bethlehem bringing gifts. But I never understood the befana cult, why you see witches everywhere in the shops and also on TV around that date.

Now "epifania" sounds a bit like "befana", and befana means witch. The legend says that the 3 kings met an old woman in rags who showed them the direction to Bethlehem. They offered her to come along to meet the holy child, but she refused and ever after regretted it. So now she visits the children on Epiphany and brings them presents, hoping that one of them is Jesus and she can make up for her mistake.

It's obviously completely pagan, but then we shouldn't talk about what has become of St. Nicolas, about Father Christmas, the (female!) Christkind (with blonde curls) in Germany and above all the Easter Bunny...

Anyway - kids hang socks on a line around the fireplace or elsewhere before going to sleep and just like Santa Claus, the Befana comes through the chimney and leaves (small) presents in those socks. The socks should be colorful and not too big - greed will be punished with a lump of coal or a piece of garlic. As a true Italian, the Befana doesn't get cookies and milk, but cake and red wine, and she leaves a handprint of ash. She rides on a broom, of course, and receives letters from children with wishes and promises to be good.

I am planning to integrate it into my Xmas season somehow - although I have no idea who should fill my sock. :))

132lunacat
Dic 17, 2014, 6:40 am

What a lovely story about the Befana. It's got me thinking about whether I should try to introduce something similar to various people around me - it could be a nice highlight for the post-festivity blues.

133Deern
Dic 17, 2014, 7:49 am

>132 lunacat: Yes, now I can stretch the festive season to a full month! :)

In Germany and also here we start with St Nikolaus day on December 6th (which again in the Netherlands seems to be the most important day of the Christmas season), where kids put shoes outside or hang up a sock and then the next morning they find sweets and small presents.

On the 24th we used to have the Christkind who leaves the bigger presents under the tree. It's part of the tradition that the living room door is locked all day because we don't want to disturb Cristkind and only after he/she(?) leaves in the evening, a little bell is chiming from inside and the children are let into the room where they see the tree for the first time. You can imagine how nervous kids are throughout the day, trying to look through the keyholes to get a glimpse of the Christkind and the angels...

The 25th used to be a day to meet relatives and eat much, the magic for us is in the 24th. Nowadays Christkind has mostly been substituted by Weihnachtsmann/ Santa Claus although he is Nikolaus just on a different day. I'm glad I still grew up with Christkind.

For St Nikolaus there's the alternative version that he turns up in person in the evening and asks the kids if they have been good. They have to recite a poem and then get some sweets and a small gift. Often Nikolaus has been instructed by the parents to scold the kids for something they did wrong over the year (like neglecting homework) and to threaten them to put them into his bag and take them away if they don't promise to improve. The horror! So December 6th is a day filled with anxieties for many children, followed by a great relief if parents didn't order a real Nikolaus or if the visit turned out okay.
I always put out my shoe on the 5th, to make sure he wouldn't knock on the door in the evening. I thought he'd not turn up twice. But once he did. At least I had learned a poem, just in case. And then I noticed he was wearing high-heeled boots... :)

134sibylline
Modificato: Dic 17, 2014, 9:42 am

Iain Pears is terrific and my spousal unit likes Donna Leon - I haven't tried her. We both like Camilleri but I think you have read those. I don't see my fella on that list, let me go nose around. Then I will read the rest of your comments and comment here again.

Tim Parks - that is his name. The first one I read was An Italian Education.

Love the Befana story!

135Deern
Modificato: Dic 18, 2014, 2:09 am

>134 sibylline: I got the samples of An Italian Education and Italian Neighbours last night and bought the latter, because it's the first book it seems. I envy Tim Parks his Italian family. I want one too, although it might be louder and more chaotic than I am used to...

I read my share of Donna Leon books many years ago and stopped around book 7 or 8 when they became too repetitive and schematic and overall negative.

I love Marco Malvaldi's super simple gialli (he's not on the list), he created great characters with his grumpy barista protagonist and the quartet of nonni (granddads) who frequent his bar and comment on the crimes and investigations.

*******

Considering getting an Italian passport next year as long as it's still possible with EU countries moving towards sharper restrictions again. Currently it's possible after 4 years for an EU citizen and you can keep your old one as well. I like the idea of dual citizenship. It might make some things easier and I'd be able to elect and maybe "do" something in areas that are important for me without being asked why I feel it's my business. Must ask my company if they have any advantages tax-wise if they employ foreigners - that'd be the only argument against it.

And I imagine that travelling with an Italian passport must be nicer. :)

136Carmenere
Dic 18, 2014, 6:28 am

Hi Nathalie, I was so touched by your comments in post 123. Since I know I'll have to go to hospital eventually it has got worse simply because I realized that no-one is going to come and see me there. Awe, your conscience doesn't know that! You can make a lot of side money if your conscience can foresee the future. Hey and if that should be the case, Look at the positive side, our hair is all yucky while in hospital, the vomit tray's on the nightstand beside the lotions and god knows what else. ;0) Seriously, Just continue to be your cute self and good things will happen in their own sweet time. Hugs

137Deern
Dic 19, 2014, 9:29 am

>136 Carmenere: Can I say you convinced me? The vomit tray did it, of course! :))
THANK YOU!
And hey - I'll certainly have 1 or 2 local women with loads of visitors sharing my room , so I'll be happy for any quiet minute. Should take earphones and easy audio books in any case!

138Ameise1
Dic 20, 2014, 7:11 am

Nathalie, I wish you a lovely weekend and Merry Christmas.

139sibylline
Dic 22, 2014, 9:43 am

Just stopping by to visit. Glad you found the Parks. Yes, he does make the Italian family sound enviable, eh? But writers can do that, especially these 'creative non-fiction' types. I really enjoyed the novels too.

140Deern
Dic 24, 2014, 3:07 am

>138 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara - starting the rounds right now and will visit your thread to wish you the same.

>139 sibylline: thanks for the recommendation, it's just the right book for an easy year-end! :)

141Deern
Modificato: Dic 24, 2014, 8:29 am

I arrived well at my parents' place on Sunday after a long drive. The weather is just like every year - too warm, stormy, rainy, but we're quite used to it.
The atmosphere at home sadly isn't too great, extremely tense this year (worse than in the past years) and I'm counting on some kind of explosion before tonight. But I realized there's nothing I can do against it, no matter how much housework and other stuff I do, it just has to happen, so I'll just try to get through it without taking it personally.

There is the option that my parents come with me back to Merano after Christmas and stay for the New Year and my birthday, but I am only going to do that if we can agree on a "no outbreak rule" for that period. I don't want to be alone, but better alone than under the continuous threat of another explosion - and my appartment is too small to avoid each other if needed. I'd love to have them at Merano with me because the post-Christmas time is lovely there, with the market still open and lots of events, but only if they can enjoy it and my mum doesn't get worked up with all the things she has to criticize.

That said - I am just happy to be here, to find my parents in okay physical health (although they could swap a couple of pounds between them), looking forward very much to see my grandmother tomorrow with her new wig. :)
On Monday I met an old friend and today I know our neighbour is coming for a glass of sparkly, and another great news is that the other neighbour who suffered from a heart attack and a stroke is allowed home for the holidays.

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas / Holidays / Year End and I send hugs and good wishes into all directions.

142ctpress
Dic 24, 2014, 5:17 am

A happy and peaceful Christmas to you too, Nathalie.

143lunacat
Dic 24, 2014, 6:03 am

Doing the rounds with a festive Connie to wish you a very Merry Christmas full of joy, love and books.

144Carmenere
Dic 24, 2014, 8:38 am


Have a Merry Christmas, Nathalie! Hope everything works out and your parents will spend New Years with you!

145scaifea
Dic 24, 2014, 11:26 am

Happy Christmas, Nathalie! I sympathize with the tension in the house during the holidays - I'll be facing some of that myself at the In-Law's this weekend...

146BekkaJo
Dic 24, 2014, 4:01 pm

Merry Christmas Nathalie! I have Xmas with my sis etc, therefore will me the power to get through to walking home and relaxing ;)

Hope you have a lovely a relaxing break. X

147SandDune
Dic 24, 2014, 4:29 pm

Happy Christmas Nathalie!

148LizzieD
Dic 24, 2014, 6:53 pm



Merry Christmas, Nathalie, and a joyful Happy New Year!

149Ameise1
Dic 25, 2014, 6:53 am

Merry Christmas, Nathalie. I hope everything goes well at your parent's home.

150kidzdoc
Modificato: Dic 26, 2014, 8:49 pm



Merry Christmas, Nathalie!

151drachenbraut23
Dic 25, 2014, 12:24 pm



Hallo Nathalie,
ich wünsche Dir noch Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr.

152Deern
Modificato: Dic 25, 2014, 2:43 pm

Thank you Carsten, Jenny, Lynda, Amber, Bekka, Rhian, Peggy, Barbara, Darryl, Bianca for all the good wishes! :)

Yesterday went well in the end thanks to the neighbour visiting around 4 pm... we always share some gossip and some wine and she left us in a good mood, I was so grateful! Today's restaurant lunch with my grandma was great as well. I got some nice vegetarian dishes and for the first time I don't feel over-full on Christmas. The traditional food here is roast goose with red cabbage and potato dumplings and gravy, so in previous years I always fell into a food coma after lunch. Right now, 20:40 pm, I am the only one not asleep in this house. :)

We haven't decided yet on New Year. A big snow front is approaching, I hope I can drive back on Sunday as planned.

Have a great Boxing Day or what the 26th is called in your country and a good weekend. I'll try and get those remaining 3-4 reviews posted before year-end.

153cushlareads
Dic 25, 2014, 2:43 pm

Hallo Nathalie,

Frohe Weihnachten! Ich hoffe, dass alles bei deinen Eltern OK ist. Funf Stunden bei meinen waren gestern genug!

154cushlareads
Dic 25, 2014, 2:44 pm

Aaagh we were cross posting! Sounds like you have had a good day. Happy Boxing Day for tomorrow!

155Deern
Dic 25, 2014, 2:48 pm

>153 cushlareads: Hi Cushla, vielen Dank!!
I saw the lovely pics on your thread this morning, looks like it was fun anyway. :)
Yes, it went well so far, but it's like constant walking on eggshells.

156sibylline
Dic 25, 2014, 4:10 pm

Merry Christmas, Nathalie!
On the eve: Do I smell turkey?
During: Worn out:

157rosalita
Dic 25, 2014, 7:14 pm

It sounds like you had a lovely Christmas, Nathalie. Best wishes for an equally lovely 2015.

158Deern
Modificato: Dic 27, 2014, 1:15 am

Thank you for leaving those lovely pics on my thread, Lucy!

Thank you, Julia - and the same to you!

Well, the new 75 group is open now and I left a couple of stars. I have plans and a name for my own thread, but need to find some nice pics for the first post before I start it.

I'm a bit scared of looking out of the window this morning. We are expecting a massive snow front which hopefully will take a short break in most parts tomorrow morning to return with full blast on Monday. I have my trip back to Merano planned for tomorrow, and even without snow the post-Christmas drive is never a nice one, with thousands of people heading south for their winter holidays in the alps via Munich and Innsbruck.

Yesterday was lazy and nice, with friends of my parents visiting unannounced because they had noticed my car and handn't seen me in ages. Then a kindergarten friend who I hadn't seen in at least 20 years, passed our house on a walk with her husband and stopped for a quick chat. She's an identical twin and not having seen her and her sister in so many years I really didn't know which one I had before me (but I like them both so was happy anyway about the encounter), until she finally mentioned her sister with name. She and her husband often travel to Italy with their camper, we exchanged numbers, so next time they pass Merano on their way, they might stop for a visit.

Edit: yep, it's all white outside... :)

159PaulCranswick
Dic 27, 2014, 1:20 am



Always a pleasure visiting your little space in the group, Nathalie. Have a wonderful festive season. xx

160Deern
Dic 27, 2014, 4:17 am

>159 PaulCranswick: Thank you so much Paul. The same to you! :)

Trying to get those reviews done and to keep them as short as possible. For January, I am all set with Sula by Toni Morrison for the 1,001 monthly GR and Kazuo Ishiguro's An Artist of a Floating World for the BAE. I also started Grande Sertao/ The Devil to Pay in the Backlands, a book that it seems is almost impossible to find in English (it's out of print, though there's a pdf online) and that received enthusiastic reviews in the 1,001 group from the few who read it.

161Deern
Modificato: Dic 27, 2014, 7:26 am

107. At Last by Edward St. Aubyn (Patrick Melrose series #5/5)

This book concludes the Patrick Melrose series, at least for now. Or I should say I hope so, because (like St. Aubyn), Patrick is finally in a place where I can leave him without worrying too much about his future anymore. The series is definitely among my memorable reads of 2014, and again I can only emphasize on the importance of reading the complete series and in order instead of just picking Mother's Milk.
Since that book, Patrick has been to hell and is half back. And hell in your 40s with no money and the realization that you failed in your quest for a better life is far worse than the "waste your vast fortune" drug hell of his 20s. This book now is set on just one day, the day where Patrick is finally physically freed from those who caused all his problems (even the very last link to the past falls away during the second half of the book) and where he realizes he can finally let those things behind and face his own life. I wanted to post some quotes, but somehow my marks were not transferred between Kindle devices.

Rating: 4.5 stars

108. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (1,001 #385/350)

I only read this short classic now because I wanted to finish the year with 350 book read from the 1,001 list of 2008. It's short and easy, and I really don't think it's a must. It's a strange mix moralistic tale and satire about the most impossible hardships occuring to a parson's family. The message is "if you always keep your faith and act according to your good values, you'll be rewarded enormously". But said reward was just as overblown as the earlier trials, and I didn't feel any connection to the characters and their fates at any time in the book.

Rating: 3 stars because it's/was Christmas

109. Il meraviglioso mago di Oz by Frank Baum

What a delightful story, although at times a bit too obvious (brain, heart and courage were too clearly there from the beginning). Yes, it's possible to be almost 44 years old without having read the book/ watched the movie/ seen the stage version. whenever I thought that now the story must come to the end, I noticed there were still 3 hours/ 2 hours/ 1 hour left to listen, so I could expect some more twists. Can I say I was a bit disappointed at how easy Dorothy disposed of the evil witch (though accidentally) and at Oz' unspectacular departure?
Nice holiday listen.

Rating: 3.5 stars

110. Il piccolo Principe by Antoin de Saint-Exupery

A reread (inspired by Ilana) after many years, this time in Italian using both paper copy and audio book. Well... I liked it better this time and I finally understand its appeal. And yes, I finally got the thing about seeing with the heart and what makes the rose special. That talk with the fox is wonderful and moving and made the book so famous. But the rest still failed to get me and still I don't really like the illustrations, just like 35 years ago.

Rating: 4 stars

162Deern
Dic 27, 2014, 6:47 am

My parents' Christmas tree 2015 - golden as ever! That little monster under the tree is a battery dog that can bark, whimper, make a headstand, walk... I hoped to inspire my parents toward a new dog this way. We'll see. :)



Err... you remember that some posts up I said I wanted to wait till January with my 2015 thread? Well, I didn't. Looks like I can't wait to leave the old year behind me.
I won't post here anymore, so if you like, please join me here at my Tavolata 2015: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185107

163Ameise1
Dic 27, 2014, 4:19 pm

Nathalie, I wish you a lovely weekend.

164cushlareads
Dic 27, 2014, 7:00 pm

Hi Nathalie - lovely tree and lovely mechanical dog too!

I know the snow is awful when you have to go out in it but if you take any photos I would love you to post them. I miss the Swiss winters and the beautiful snow.

165FAMeulstee
Gen 1, 2015, 4:45 pm

hi Nathalie

after reading some of your posts I feel a bit sad we still did not manage to meet eachother... This year our vacation is going to be a bit closer to home, so no chance this time.

I loved your review of Jahrestage and will keep it in mind for the time I will be really reading again (if a Dutch translation can be found) ;-)

Wish you all the best for the new year :-D

Anita

166FAMeulstee
Gen 4, 2015, 10:21 am

Happy Birthday!