All About Books discussion

1. Have you always loved books? Who, if anyone, in your life has most inspired you to read?
I have. I loved being read to, and my grandfather who lived with us when I grew up used to be an expert in not only reading stories but also re-telling them by heart, which was part of the reason I spent most of my early childhood in his room. My mum would read a lot to me too, but since my reading thirst was somewhat unquenchable I got her to teach me how to read when I was 5 as I remember.
There were always books around in our house, but I think it was mostly people outside of my family that influenced what I read as I grew older. I had a lovely neighbour who was one of those wonderful people who have the ability to truly be a friend no matter whether you are 3 and she's babysitting you or whether you are 30 and you're coming around for self-made Schnapps and Pizza and she, along with my closest friends very much shaped my reading preferences.

2. What was your favourite childhood book?
There are a few. One of them was the first book I ever read on my own, which I had gotten from the library. All I remember is that is was about a baby Orang-utan with enormous diapers who struggled to find friends because he was just a little bit to big to really be cuddle-size.
Another one of my very favourites was Emil und die Detektive (Emil and the Detectives) . In fact I loved everything by Erich Kästner. Another one of my favourites was: Drei lustige Gesellen. Erstes Buch ( Three Jolly Fellows. Book 4) by the Estonian author Eno Raud . As I got older: Michael Ende's The Neverending Story won my heart instantly.

3. Which books do you remember studying at school? Did you enjoy them?
I remember reading The Rider on the White Horse, The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, Effi Briest and The Ballad of John Maynard by Theodor Fontane, Romeo and Juliet and Homo Faber by Max Frisch all of which I enjoyed more or less. However I fell in love with Homo Faber and am in love with it still, which might have to do with the fact that I had read it before we HAD to read it in school, so it never felt like it was force fed to me.

The most peculiar book I've read in school was a book that can't be found in GR's database, because it was the socialist adaption of Les Misérables. It was called: 'Gavroche' and I read it in school in the last year of the Berlin Wall still standing . GDR's (East Germany's) ministry for culture had edited the original into a slightly twisted bite sized version in order to serve the purpose of moral education in line with socialist beliefs. I have barely any memory of it, and would actually quite like to re-read it together with the original text.

4. Where do you most enjoy reading? Do you need silence to read, or can you read almost anywhere?
I read everywhere, but mostly I read on my lovely large reading chair or on a rocking chair on my balcony in summer. I do prefer silence. I have never understood how people can listen to their MP3 players and read at the same time unless it is a very particular kind of music. I can very quietly have some Satie or Bach playing in the background, but anything else makes it hard for me to focus, which is odd, because I can quite easily focus on a book whilst sitting in a train or tram packed with people.

5.Choose five of your favourite books and tell us why you loved them so much!

TORTURE!!! I have 78 books in my favourites shelf!! Sigh. I decided to leave out the ones by my favourite authors since they already are mentioned (yes, I did sneak an extra five in with the next question LOL) and just take the first five of the rest that come to my mind.

We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen. I loved this book historical novel about the sea and a small Danish port town whose inhabitants have sailed their ships for centuries. What it really is, is a portrait of the life of those left behind. The women and the children who have somehow grown accustomed to the give and take of the sea and settled into the normality of constant absences.

The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa.
It contains mostly reflections and I struggled with it when trying to read it like I would usually read a novel, but read like poetry, in little bits at a time, it is absolutely stunning.

Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi a book that no-one seems to read but which is a real gem of a book. Very quiet. Very touching.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry another gem of a book. Not quiet at all, but equally touching.

The Memoirs of Elias Canetti: The Tongue Set Free/The Torch in My Ear/The Play of the Eyes
Great autobiography about Elias Canetti's childhood and his early years as a writer, living in Bulgaria, London, Vienna and Zurich. It is a great portrait of the 20's and 30's in Europe, the rise of psychoanalyses, a portrait of several artists of the time as well as an account on the years between and in the World Wars.


6. Do you prefer reading fiction or non fiction?
I think if I had to take a pick it would be fiction, which is also the lion share of my reading in a year, but I love non fiction as well.
I am particularly fond of paired reads, I really like reading reading about a certain subject or person by pairing a fictional adaptation and non fictional account of it.

7. Are you fond of a particular author and what attracts you to their books? (You can pick a few if you can’t choose!)

A recent discovery that I fell in love with instantly are the books by Anne Carson. A Canadian poet and professor for classics she writes what I guess can only be called a unique hybrid between poetry, essay and novel, often referencing Ancient Greek literature. I just received Nox by her, and am immensly looking forward to reading it next year. My favourite book by her so far is Autobiography of Red

The rediscovery of the year for me is Christa Wolf. I love her reflective prose. She doesn't write page turners, the only way to read her is slowly I suppose, but it is worth every minute. I am can't really pick a favourite by her so I'll name the first I have read by her which is Medea

Fyodor Dostoyevsky I always need to get used to that special Russian tone, but I love him dearly. I think he might have been the better Sigmund Freud had he ever picked up psychoanalysis. Not a single corner in human nature that he doesn't throw a torch at. My favourite so far would be Crime and Punishment

J.M. Coetzee for his fiercly intelligent writing and his curiousity to go and try something new all the time. I especially loved Waiting for the Barbarians

José Saramago for the same reason that I like Coetzee plus for the warmth of his writing even if the subject is 'cold' if that makes any sense at all. With him I'd go for Blindness


8. Is there an author you haven't yet tried but you'd really like to?
Again: many!!
Osip Mandelstam, Kate Atkinson, Machado de Assis, Marie NDiaye and Halldór Laxness are a few on that list.

9. Do you rely on goodreads to keep track of your reading or do you have your own method?
I do since I joined goodreads. Before that I had a DATABASE for it. I kid you not. I had a microsoft access database for 'Book and Time' (when did I read what), a book list of books I still want to read, and one for books I already own and in which of my 'homes' and shelves and boxes I would find it should I ever need to, which in some cases can prove to be quite an expedition. I also wrote down the books I read each year into a journal.

10. What's the best book you've read so far this year? What are you reading at the moment? What will you be reading next?
The best book I've read so far this year is Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. For all the reasons I've mentioned above.
I am currently reading Jane Eyre which I enjoy a lot, though I wonder whether my reception of it is irreversibly manipulated by having read and loved Wide Sargasso Sea, the re-interpretation of the story of Rochester and the mad wife dilemma before Jane Eyre ever sets foot into the scene. I am also very slowly making me way through Milton's Paradise Lost and listening to City of Thieves.

Very interesting, Jenny. I'm embarrassed to admit I've not read a single one of your favourites!

Great Journey Jenny!!!!
I bet the DDR had people rewriting books - even if I have to say that Les Misérables are quite "left winged" let alone!!! Anyway I'd love to see this adaptation you mention, but I bet it has not been translated!!!
By the way, Effi Briest was one of my favourite "university book". I loved her way of never wanting something less. Better nothing than that!

This is a fascinating account Jenny. I have only heard of some of those books and authors - and some are completely new to me. Though I do love "Wide Sargasso Sea"!

I'm wondering if you would like to read plays by David Pownall. He wrote one called "MasterClass" about a meeting between Shostakvitch, Prokoviev and Stalin, also two plays about Elgar... he often seemed to write about fictitious meetings between artists/scientists/politicians.

Another playwright and novelist I think you might like is Michael Frayn - especially the play "Copenhagen" (which you may already know of course!) about a meeting between the physicists Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr during World War 2. It's very convoluted with alternative timelines. Fascinating!

And like Laura I would be fascinated to see "Gavroche"!

Thank you for your comments guys! Just realized that half a paragraph went missing with the Anne Carson = favourite author bit, so if you thought I had stopped making sense entirely blame my disasterous copy and paste techniques. (I did correct it now)

Jean, both of the authors you are mentioning sound really interesting and very much like my 'go to' kind of literature (I think I have read something by Frayn but don't remember which one). I will go and have a look at them now! Thank you!

This is a pleasant reading journey. I had thought of many of the books that you had noted and among the authors to be explored I was also recently advised by a Brasilian to try out Machado de Assis.

Interest and varied books here Jenny. I have added wide sargaso sea to my tbr pile :) I too love Jane Eyre. Thank you for sharing your journey with us and your neighbor sounds excellent.

All very interesting.I love Waiting for the Barbarians. It's going to appear in my reading journey also.
Emil and the Detectives was a book I loved as a child also.
Thankyou for introducing me to Christa Wolf this year. I have told so many people about her.

Great compilation of books Jenny. I haven't even heard of most of them! The socialist adaption of Les Mis sounds brilliant, I agree it would be great to get your hands on this again. I'm still working through Les Mis which I started this January!

You've reminded me that I also need to start Jane Eyre for our read along, I'm too worried that my opinions will be tainted by having already read Wide Sargasso Sea and forming strong opinions regarding Rochester!

Oh and I love your cataloguing of books - I have a similar problem with books lists…and book lists of book lists, haha

Oh Pink do!! I am half way through and I have to say the whole Wide Sargasso Sea angle of things is really starting to somewhat influence my reading pleasure. I need to breath my way through some of these passages to not start cursing! LOL

Very interesting! Like Heather, I haven't read any of your favorites (although I will assume that I have read some of the ones you "decided to leave out … since they already are mentioned") :P

I have added Anne Carson to my TBR mountain - thanks for the tip!

And I am intrigued by the idea of the paired reads. I want to read some more of the ancient Greek classics next year & perhaps I might pair them with modern works that revisit the same characters (such as Rick Riordan's YA series which my niece raves about). Not exactly what you described but similar...

Great job jenny! :-)I can't wait to do mine next week. Just got to figure out what to put down. I'll start on it soon but great answers.

Leslie wrote: "Very interesting! Like Heather, I haven't read any of your favorites (although I will assume that I have read some of the ones you "decided to leave out … since they already are mentioned") :P

I ..."

Leslie, this sounds like a great idea. Infact, I might want to join you for one or two of those if you don't mind!

Jenny wrote: "Leslie, this sounds like a great idea. Infact, I might want to join you for one or two of those if you don't mind! ..."

Sure! I am always happy to have a reading buddy :)

Loved reading your reading journey Jenny. When you wrote about "Gavroche" it made me think how in the west during the cold war we took so much of our most basic freedoms for granted.

Thank you Tweedledum.
I know what you mean I think. To some this may seem bizarre, but I am holding on to that memory of growing up in GDR like a treasure, not because I would ever want to go back, but because I feel it helps maintaining some perspective on what now is my Western normality, besides the fact that being a child in GDR was actually really nice for many reasons. One of which being the fact that there was such a strong culture of helping each other, since neighbourly support was often the only way to get things done.I guess it's the community aspect that I loved. Having no phones and no television and no overabundance of toys you end up spending more time with people or you get very good at creating your own little fantasy islands, or both. Plus you gain miracles. The mysterium of a Kiwi, of an wrapped and ready to buy ice-cone, of micky mouse, of commercials on TV, of TV in general, of how come you don't have to stand in line for bananas anymore, of a world existing outside of the East-Bloc, of the first blueberry joghurt bought with your western pocket money that actually had pieces of blueberry. LOL. However for me that wall came down just at the right time, had I - like my parents - spent 40 years in GDR, I would struggle much more to see the benefits of a childhood there.

My brother used to visit friends in GDR he had met through being a press telegraphist and talking on the wire. He used to send them pop records in classical sleeves with classical labels stuck on the middle. They lived in Potsdam and Dresden. My brother died in 1984 and we do not know what happened to these friends of his. One had haemophilia but was not allowed out of the country for treatment that could have transformed his life.

Tweedledum, it's nice to think that all the while I was being a child in GDR it might have been my next door neighbors that received those records of your brother, since I grew up in Dresden too. It's such a nice thing to do. And I remember the childlike pleasure everybody had from tricking the authorities. A friend and former teacher of my father ( the friend was in his 80's then) used to smuggle technical equipment for my dad (he was an optician, making the first East German contact-lenses himself because all producing companies were Western and therefore off-limits) over the border by taking it all apart and tapeing the individual pieces to his body. Nobody ever thought to check under the trousers and shirt of a feeble old man, nearly deaf and blind and suffering from a bit of dementia. That same old man then quite happily celebrated the deed with lot's of russian vodka and a sudden regain of hearing, sight and cognitive powers.

That's a great story . When the wall came down I remember we were all watching TV with tears in our eyes. What a momentous day that was.

Wonderful inside stories about real people, Jenny. Thank you for being so open :)

I especially like, "Plus you gain miracles." I think folk who were children during conflicts and war probably all feel this in retrospect. But what a poignant description.

Jean wrote: "Wonderful inside stories about real people, Jenny. Thank you for being so open :)

I especially like, "Plus you gain miracles." I think folk who were children during conflicts and war probably all ..."

Yes Jean, real life through real books. This is what a lot of people don't understand, when saying "live, instead of reading" ...

Jenny, can't believe I have only just read this, I'm still playing catch up and wanted to read it properly! Now that I have, I see that I haven't read or heard of any of your favourites, but I rather like that we are from a completely different reading background as that's one of the things I love about this group, the diversity of its members, which makes for much more interesting discussion! There are a couple of authors you list that I would like to try, maybe in 2014!

Thanks for sharing this, it's been very interesting reading!

Oh Shirley, I wish there was a tab I could click to say how much I agree with you :D

Shirley, this is precisely what I love so much about the group as well, eventhough it makes my list of books that I would like to read grow and grow to the size of something insurmountable. It is really comforting to know that there's a few people here that have similiar interests in literature and come from a similiar background, but I also love the fact that I stumble over books, authors and literary passions I haven't even been aware of at all.

Jenny wrote: "Shirley, this is precisely what I love so much about the group as well, eventhough it makes my list of books that I would like to read grow and grow to the size of something insurmountable. It is r..."

That's why, for probably the fist time in my life, I don't know what I'll be reading next month: too many things!!!

Jenny I'm writing my reading journey now ready to put up in Feb. I'm inspired by yours!

OH I am looking forward to yours!! And good thinking to start now, it took half a day to write mine as far as I remember! (I had foolishly believed this would be done in an hour or so)

I know this thread is from awhile ago but I've been reading through the old Reading Journeys. :P Just wanted to say that because of this post I now have Autobiography of Red on my TBR list! I was immediately taken by the premise. I'm also intrigued by Skylark.

I loved the story of Skylark, found it to word perfect. Not a word nor image wasted.

Shannon, I really hope you'll enjoy it! I love most everything by Anne Carson so far, I think she has created something really unique.

Diane: I am really glad I am not alone in how much I love this book. Funny how some of the most moving reading experiences are found in books that no-one seems to read or to talk about, yet maybe the fact that you get discover them by yourself without there ever being a hype is what turns them into such a gem.