This will be this year's final post. I'm a little sorry that I didn't post more than just the books I've been reading for the past few months, but - at least that, at least that.
So here, the final books for this year:
Paul Watzlawick, Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein
Fun in parts, a little sad in others when I recognised which of the things presented I did myself. Eye-opening, maybe not, but a reminder about certain issues, things to watch out for. I also liked the way it was written. Research notes but still easy and fun.
Literatur für AussteigerInnen, Oder wie sich die Welt ohne Auto bewegt
The second of those small green books our local public transport handed out some time ago. Several short stories about how public transport influences/improves people's lives. Actually quite good. Some stories can be downloaded here as audiobooks, for free.
Paul Wilson, Das kleine Buch der Freude
With useful tips like "Go to your nearest ocean beach and take a deep breath" (haha), recommending to drink (yeeees, drinking Baileys might just make me happy, eventually, for a short while, but...really?), and stating thrice that thinking positive thoughts will make life so much better (...what else is new?), this really wasn't that exciting/helpful/great.
Gregory Maguire, Mirror Mirror
I bought this one on a whim from a fellow student. I wasn't sure what to expect. I certainly didn't expect this. Beautiful use of language, very atmospheric, the BEST version of dwarfs I have ever seen and probably will ever see again, and a lovely combination of fairytale, history, fantasy, religion...except for the a little sudden ending a complete winner.
Banana
Yoshimoto, Kitchen, incl. Moonlight Shadow
I listened to the German audiobook a short while ago but decided I also wanted to read it. Right choice, too. So much beauty in so little space. I also really liked the short story that was included. Melancholy, both of them, but also sweet and hopeful.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Nachtflug
Since I previously only knew The Little Prince, this was quite a different experience. Short, beautiful, sad. It felt to me like quite a male book, being about the adventure of flying back in the 1930s and the hard decisions you need to make, the things you give up for that sort of adventure. Brief sentences, very little comfort. Still, beautiful. The last third was quite hard, because you can sense what's about to happen, the whole atmosphere, so well. I can't bring myself to say it was enjoyable, because it was too tense for that, but I liked it, definitely.
Das kleine Kamasutra
One of those tiny, cheap books produced so you can buy them as gag gifts or something like that. Not very good, but at least it took only 30 minutes max out of my life, and now I can give it away happily.
So, I managed to read a few more of the books from the list I posted
in July, but not all of them. Now, what I will do is, I will look
through the remaining 14 (at least I managed 17, so more than half, YES)
and let go of a few of them, but certainly not all. For example, I
started Der gold'ne Topf, but the first few chapters were mainly
confusing and odd, so I'm not really sure I want to continue. But I'm
not just giving away Ficciones or V for Vendetta because there wasn't enough time. I
achieved my goal, I read loads of books, some of which I'd been meaning
to read for ages, and I was able to get rid of some of them as well
(getting rid = taking them to Bookcrossing meetups and zones and
releasing them again). So all in all, the list was a success.
My goal for January is to read all of my Manga Power books (30 of them), and then give them away to make some space on our bookshelves. Should work. I think.
One more month until One Piece 65. Need to keep myself occupied.
Montag, Dezember 31, 2012
Sonntag, Dezember 02, 2012
November Reading
Mary Poppins, Pamela L. Travers
I only had the German version, but I guess it doesn't matter all too much. I had previously only known the Disney movie, and expected something similar - and while some of the elements certainly are there, I was quite surprised at how vain and strict Mary Poppins is in the books. As well as always admiring how fine she looks in any reflecting surface she encounters, she also has a habit of answering questions in a very flippant and unexplanatory way.
Something else that rather annoyed me was that during their little trip around the world, all the people they encounter speak perfectly fine German (and English, I suppose), except for the inhabitants of Africa. I guess 1934 were different times, yes, but still.
All in all, there were some nice ideas in there, but it wasn't all that exciting.
One Piece 63, Eiichiro Oda
Read once more as a refresher, since a lot of background information happened in this volume.
And then...
One Piece 64, Eiichiro Oda
As soon as it arrived, of course. Well, after rereading #63.I love these guys so much. And while they have become quite powerful by now, I trust that Mr. Oda will still find fun adventures for them to have.
The Big Five for Life, John P. Strelecky
Again, the German version. Funny enough, the English subtitle clearly designates it as showing secrets of good leadership, while the German version seems to put it into the general self-help corner. Well.
Ignoring the super-sentimental ending, there were some interesting points in there. A few new tricks to use, a few new ideas to implement. Always helpful, that.
Blaue Flecken auf der Seele, Francoise Sagan
I actually liked this one much more than Bonjour tristesse. A lovely mixture of plot, reflection on writing (of this story and in general) and musings about life. I think I'll be keeping this one.
Ophelia lernt schwimmen, Susanna Kubelka
This one was odd. A strange trip into the 80s, and something completely different than what I expected from reading the blurb. Some of the time, I though I was reading an 80s magazine, with lots of tips on proper diet, beauty tricks, musings on female empowerment, and the odd advice on how to have great sex. Sadly enough, there only seems to be one perfect formula for that, and everything else is a major failure. Right.
Also, the blurb stated that these were to be the aventures of a single woman over 40, and I thought that meant she would have to deal with the typical problems one associates with that age - not looking your absolute best anymore, not being as fit, possibly newly divorced and trying to find your footing in life...but no. Ophelia has a face/body like a 25-year-old, seemingly loses weight by eating buttered baguette (the fact that it's the vegetables that are responsible for all of the good resulst is mostly glossed over), makes any man who comes into contact with her fall madly in love with her just by means of looking the way she does (and not because she's particularly witty or anything), oh, and did I mention she has loads of money and is living in Paris for 6 months on someone elses cost?
Yes, I was disappointed. I expected something completely different. I had been looking forward to this book for quite a while, since when it came into the house, I had been told it was fun and nicely erotic - only to find out that it was neither. Well.
The one good thing I took from this book was one this one sentence: 'Wirf den Krempel über Bord.' (sort of: 'Chuck out the junk.'). Just what I'm doing at the moment.
Geschmacklosigkeiten von A bis Z, Karl Shaw
One of those tiny books you buy as joke gifts for friends. Strange little facts and anecdotes.
Wanted, Eiichiro Oda
Five manga short stories, written before he started on One Piece. Finally had to get them - it's such a long wait until February! Anyway, the quality of the stories steadily improves from Wanted (which he wrote at 16 or 17 years old while still at school) until Romance Dawn (the first version of One Piece). Finally learning about Ryuma, who appears on Thriller Bark in OP, was quite nice. Main insight: Seems like Mr. Oda has always had no small supply of strange and wonderful ideas.
The Last Hero, Terry Pratchett/Paul Kidby
Finally! I have no idea how long I've had this lying around. Very short for a Disworld story, but then there's all the beautiful pictures, of course. And I always love someone tricking the gods when they thought they already knew all the tricks. ;) Loved the ending also - actually, all of them. The thing with the tapestry? Genius. :D
I make that - seven (new) books in a month. Whew. Very good indeed!
I only had the German version, but I guess it doesn't matter all too much. I had previously only known the Disney movie, and expected something similar - and while some of the elements certainly are there, I was quite surprised at how vain and strict Mary Poppins is in the books. As well as always admiring how fine she looks in any reflecting surface she encounters, she also has a habit of answering questions in a very flippant and unexplanatory way.
Something else that rather annoyed me was that during their little trip around the world, all the people they encounter speak perfectly fine German (and English, I suppose), except for the inhabitants of Africa. I guess 1934 were different times, yes, but still.
All in all, there were some nice ideas in there, but it wasn't all that exciting.
One Piece 63, Eiichiro Oda
Read once more as a refresher, since a lot of background information happened in this volume.
And then...
One Piece 64, Eiichiro Oda
As soon as it arrived, of course. Well, after rereading #63.I love these guys so much. And while they have become quite powerful by now, I trust that Mr. Oda will still find fun adventures for them to have.
The Big Five for Life, John P. Strelecky
Again, the German version. Funny enough, the English subtitle clearly designates it as showing secrets of good leadership, while the German version seems to put it into the general self-help corner. Well.
Ignoring the super-sentimental ending, there were some interesting points in there. A few new tricks to use, a few new ideas to implement. Always helpful, that.
Blaue Flecken auf der Seele, Francoise Sagan
I actually liked this one much more than Bonjour tristesse. A lovely mixture of plot, reflection on writing (of this story and in general) and musings about life. I think I'll be keeping this one.
Ophelia lernt schwimmen, Susanna Kubelka
This one was odd. A strange trip into the 80s, and something completely different than what I expected from reading the blurb. Some of the time, I though I was reading an 80s magazine, with lots of tips on proper diet, beauty tricks, musings on female empowerment, and the odd advice on how to have great sex. Sadly enough, there only seems to be one perfect formula for that, and everything else is a major failure. Right.
Also, the blurb stated that these were to be the aventures of a single woman over 40, and I thought that meant she would have to deal with the typical problems one associates with that age - not looking your absolute best anymore, not being as fit, possibly newly divorced and trying to find your footing in life...but no. Ophelia has a face/body like a 25-year-old, seemingly loses weight by eating buttered baguette (the fact that it's the vegetables that are responsible for all of the good resulst is mostly glossed over), makes any man who comes into contact with her fall madly in love with her just by means of looking the way she does (and not because she's particularly witty or anything), oh, and did I mention she has loads of money and is living in Paris for 6 months on someone elses cost?
Yes, I was disappointed. I expected something completely different. I had been looking forward to this book for quite a while, since when it came into the house, I had been told it was fun and nicely erotic - only to find out that it was neither. Well.
The one good thing I took from this book was one this one sentence: 'Wirf den Krempel über Bord.' (sort of: 'Chuck out the junk.'). Just what I'm doing at the moment.
Geschmacklosigkeiten von A bis Z, Karl Shaw
One of those tiny books you buy as joke gifts for friends. Strange little facts and anecdotes.
Wanted, Eiichiro Oda
Five manga short stories, written before he started on One Piece. Finally had to get them - it's such a long wait until February! Anyway, the quality of the stories steadily improves from Wanted (which he wrote at 16 or 17 years old while still at school) until Romance Dawn (the first version of One Piece). Finally learning about Ryuma, who appears on Thriller Bark in OP, was quite nice. Main insight: Seems like Mr. Oda has always had no small supply of strange and wonderful ideas.
The Last Hero, Terry Pratchett/Paul Kidby
Finally! I have no idea how long I've had this lying around. Very short for a Disworld story, but then there's all the beautiful pictures, of course. And I always love someone tricking the gods when they thought they already knew all the tricks. ;) Loved the ending also - actually, all of them. The thing with the tapestry? Genius. :D
I make that - seven (new) books in a month. Whew. Very good indeed!
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