Thu 16 Mar 2006
I love books!
You might have already noticed that, if you’ve read my previous posts books, glorious books!, endlich auch mal auf Deutsch (finally in German) or books that Mim enjoyed.
Thanks to my breast feeding, and incredibly distracted, baby I get to read a lot these days. When I feed E I’m not allowed to talk, move or engage in any other type of acctivity that could be classified as ‘distracting’, otherwise she’ll just come off the breast and will not, I mean WILL NOT!!, go back on. She usually then stares at me with the look as if to say “What are you doing?” So I’m an obedient little mummy and just sit there very quietly and try to turn the pages of my book without making too much noise.
This has been an incredibly wonderful thing for me as I haven’t read this many books in a very long time and I’m able to catch up on some of the English-speaking children’s literature I wasn’t able to enjoy as a child. So far, only this year, I’ve read:
- Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”
- Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass”
- Mary Stewart’s “The Hollow Hills”
- Mem Fox’s “Reading Magic”
- Michael Ende’s “Unendliche Geschichte” and “Momo”
- and I’m currently working my way through Sarah Turnbull’s “Almost French”
As I’m coming closer to the end of the book I’m beginning to wonder “And what next???” Going through books at this speed I’m gonna have to hit the second-hand book shops in the area and stock up, I suppose, or pay my library fine so that I’m a respecteable borrower again.
But if you’re reading this please leave me a comment. I’d love to know which book you’d have me read next. Which book was the best book you’ve read in the last year?
I’m seriously desperate!
March 16th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
I’m going through all of Paulo Coelho books. I ususally need to read something else between his books. Right now I’m reading Flight Lessons by Patricia Gaffney. Picked it up at the 2nd hand bookshop. Its a light read…
March 17th, 2006 at 8:28 am
The Narnia series by CS Lewis. I read them a lot as a kid. My wife is now reading them for the first time (Auf Deutsche)
March 17th, 2006 at 10:07 am
farang mum: thanks for stopping by. I have never heard about Paulo Coelho. Does he write totally fictional novels or are they more real live stories?
haddock: my husband made sure that I caught up on that part of English children’s literature and gave me all seven chronicles one year for my birthday. We read all of them together of a year or so and I do have to say I really enjoyed the books. Thanks for the tip though. Any other books worth recommending?
March 17th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Paulo Coelhe are spiritual/fiction books…. Have you read The Davinci Code? by Dan Brown? or any of Nicholas Sparks books? he writes the most beautiful love story. The Notebook is probably the best known…. Books. I love books I love reading !
March 18th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Have you tried any Roald Dahl. I am reading the ‘Big Friendly Giant’ with my class at the moment and they love it to bits.
March 18th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
farang mum: maybe we should start some type of book club
I’d certainly like to hear what you’ve thought of the Davinci Code. I had made up my mind not to read it. Saw this documentary on the ABC TV and they were pretty much disproving a lot of the claims that the book makes about itself like presenting actual proven facts, which according to that documentary, it wasn’t. But it’d be interested to hear what you thought.
What sort of stuff does Coelho write about? Spiritual in what way, I mean, does he have an agenda, what is he trying to bring across?
I’d love to hear what you think.
Steve: haven’t read any other books by Roald Dahl, but have thought I might give it a go after enjoying the two mentioned. Thanks for the tip!
btw: have you thought of installing the Subscribe to comments plugin for wordpress? Would make it a lot easier to keep up with comments on your blog (it’s just my brain, I keep on forgetting to go back and check whether there’s anything new in terms of comments)
March 18th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Well, if a book is controversal that shows that its really well writen ! I read it as a fiction. Most fiction are writen as if it were fact.. eg Grishims books.. but thats beauty of writing. You make things become real! I enjoyed the suspense and all the detail he put into t he book. As to does Coelho have an agenda.. I don’t know. Again I love the story of people who are in search of God. People who are passionate about what they believe in. Thats what I take from his books.
I’d love to be in a bookclub !!! Why not online?
I don’t read book critics here or see any on TV.. Thailand is too far away.. so I just read a book and take what I like, leave the rest .
March 19th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
I don’t read book critics either, I’m only trying to sound knowledgeable
hahaha
Do you think any controversial book is well written? What if the book only makes a few fairly outrageous claims?
I mean, there’s some antisemetic writers out there (can’t remember the name, but we had one on the news just the other day who claimed in a book that the Holocaust never happened) whose books are extremely controversial. However, I don’t think that that’s because their books are well written. I think their books are controversial because they claim to portray fact, but lots of people would strongly oppose these “facts”.
Similarly with the Da Vinci Code (maybe I should really read it though, before I keep discussing it), from what I can gather, Dan Brown claims to present fact. Wrapped in a great story, but nonetheless he says that the things he writes about are true, whereas a great many historical and religious scholars totally dispute these facts.
Hope you’re German enough to not find this offensive, I’m not trying to be offensive, but I’m interested in a discussion where I can say what I think. And hopefully you’ll do the same
That might be the problem with an online bookclub, when the debate gets a little passionate and heated that misunderstandings or strong oppinions can cause offense and hurt.
Hope that’s not the case!
March 20th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
No I’m not hurt but it would be better if you read the book first.. thats sort of the way it goes in a bookclub isn’t it? Online bookclub does have its down side.. no body language and it stays printed F O R E V E R. Which gives what you said more weight.. I might change my mind about something but never bother to correct it ! oh well..
So what book are you reading now?
March 20th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Yes, definitely agree, writing something down gives it more weight and you can’t just casually express ideas, even if you might correct them later. Could cause problems.
I didn’t mean to compare Dan Brown’s writing to that of someone who might claim that the Holocaust never happened. I was just trying to make the point that controversial, to me, doesn’t necessarily mean good writing. I’m starting to think, I really should read the ‘Da Vinci Code’ next. I’m still reading “Almost French” but I’m in the last chapter. So there’s possibility for that.
I’m also reading Mary Stewart “The Last Enchantment” with my husband, as we like reading something together.
March 20th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
I’ll look out for those books and we can ‘talk’ about it
You are right.. because its controversal doesn’t mean its good!!
March 20th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
The Mary Stewart book is the third in a series of four on King Arthur and Merlin. That might be a bit of a lengthy read, though they are beautifully written.
“Almost French” might be more suitable as it’s only one short book, and quite applicable to expat-life (an Australian girl falls in love with a Frenchman and tries to adapt to life in Paris).
What’s “Flight Lessons” about? Would you recommend reading it?
March 20th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
nope not recommendable….. flight lessons is good if you are really bored and really don’t want to use a single brain cell. (lets hope the author never reads this lol some book critic )
March 24th, 2006 at 8:48 am
But you would recommend reading the Paulo Coelho books?? Which one would be a good one to start with?
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:32 pm
[...] I was looking for books I can read and everybody had great suggestions, but this book was the first that came my way and I got sucked in. [...]