July and August reads
July
48. The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid
The first part of the Tony Hill / Carol Jordan series, where they meet and the weird sexual tension and friendship is established. Either I’m getting more squeamish or this one is more disturbing than the other books in the series. It also might be that I just don’t like to read about torture.
49. Herr Tourette und ich (Mister Tourette and I) by Pelle Sandstrak
The book is a memoir by someone with Tourette's and obsessive compulsive disorder. Growing up in a small Swedish (Norwegian?) village, this can’t have been easy. I was surprised and disheartened how low it would get before it got better. It’s bizarre to read what he does to avoid bacteria, while at the same time he doesn’t wash and lets his teeth rot. But it all makes sense in his head. And for some weird reason I can understand how you get there.
It’s equal parts scary and reassuring to recognize yourself when reading about other’s compulsive acts. On the one side it’s always good to know you are not alone, on the other - holy shit this could have gone so wrong.
50. Blindflug
A memoir by someone who lost a lot of his eyesight as a child, tried to hide this fact during most of his adult life. Later he got cancer. To make things worse, chemotherapy destroyed his hips and he’s handicapped as well.
As is usual with these memoirs, it has to get very, very bad, before it gets any better. Surprisingly at no point in the book did I like the main character at all. All his life he acts selfish and careless and a lot of people stand by him and help him deceive everyone about his eyesight.
His denial of his own disability makes him powerful in some respects - he never feels sorry for himself and he learns to do a lot of things. But on the other hand it also means he never even learned about Accessibility Software until he’s forced in a training for blind people by the unemployment office.
Now that he found god, is a Buddhist and stopped drinking and doing drugs and started his own consultancy company he has very rigorous rules for the people surrounding him, before he dumps them. Which is beyond unfair, considering how he treated his friends and girlfriends, who he put through a lot of shit.
51. Was das jetzt schon Sex? Frauen, Familie und andere Desaster. Von Stefan Schwartz
Audiobuch. Listened to it on my way to Croatia in the car. The 17 short bits of around four minutes were exactly right for the amount of attention I want to expend on a long journey on a very hot day. The bits were funny, I laughed a few times, so did my friend next to me. But I just don’t really like the whole “women are so different from men (and vice versa)” spiel. It gets old quickly. It might just be me being oversensitive to the gender topic.
52. Past Mortem by Ben Elton
I love Ben Elton as a holiday read. He takes on any topic that gets a lot of media attention, in this case social websites that reunite school friends, and turns it into an entertaining page turner for the beach. After I finished the book it occurred to me that the murder investigation was handled rather bizarrely, but while reading the book, this hardly mattered.
The book is about a serial killer who kills bullies in the way they bullied kids in school.
The bullying/torture scenes were a bit much for my taste and the sex scene was decidedly the most disturbing I have read in a while, all the more so because it was so unexpected in the middle of this rather harmless beach read.
53. Dancing in my Nuddy Pants by Louise Rennison
Crazy little book in diary form written by a british teenage girl with a very distinct voice ;-)
54. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
I got this book as a present from a former colleague at work and it was just the most beautiful book I’ve read in a while. It’s about an Australian book restorer who comes to Sarajevo to restore a 600 year old Haggadah which survived two wars intact.
With every clue she discovers on the manuscript its story and journey is pieced together. It’s definitely one of my favourite books this year.
55. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
A collection of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. Much darker than the other (non-comic) stuff I read by him. I’d probably count it as horror. I’m not a huge fan of short fiction, so it’s already a good sign that I finished the book
August 2010
56. We are all made of glue by Marina Lewycka
Audiobook borrowed from the library. I liked this book even better than the ukranian tractors. The woman who read the story sometimes made me cringe when she did the teenage son’s voice or the Italian smarmy estate agent’s, but other than that, I liked it and found time to listen to it all.
The story is touching, it’s sweet how the main character manages to draw parallels between the family and friendship ties surrounding her and the glue she writes about.
The story she keeps unraveling about her friend’s past and family history is fascinating and the characters are all adorably eccentric. I bet there’s a chick flick with this story starring Hugh Grant as estate agent and Emma Thompson as main character. I’m just not decided yet if it will be Maggie Smith, Judi Dench or Helen Mirren as eccentric older Jewish lady in a rundown house with a crazy accent.
57. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
I found that Neil Gaiman's short stories seem much more personal than any of his novels and graphic novels. Often the main character is a journalist travelling for work, alone in a big, dark city where creepy things happen to him (or other people).
This collection contains the creepiest sentence I’ve ever read:
p276: "On the milk-train back to the city I sat opposite a woman carrying a baby. It was floating in formaldehyde, in a heavy glass container. She needed to sell it, rather urgently, and although I was extremely tired we talked about her reasons for selling it and about other things, for the rest of the journey."
It messes with your expectations and makes the ending very unsatisfying: why did she have to sell? There’s a whole new story in it!
This also contains another story about Shadow, the main character of American Gods in which his real name and identity is revealed.Fahrenheit 451 graphic Novel by Ray Bradbury, Illustrated by Hamilton, Tim
58. Fire Ice by Clive Cussler
I bought the book very cheaply in a sale at Thalia, together with two other Kurt Austin Adventures. I was in the mood for a thriller and that’s what it is. The handsome, all-round talent Kurt Austin saves the world from crazy Russian villain. There’s even the Rasputin look-alike and a claim to the throne. As someone recently remarked: of course there will be huge explosions from which they will walk away not even looking back. It was entertaining, as I expected and not something I’d want to keep or reread, as I expected..
59. Die Ameisenzählung von Daniel Glattauer
Ich hab früher öfter den Standard gelesen und immer als allererstes "dag" auf der Titelseite. Die gesammelten Kolumnen sind immer noch so witzig wie damals, noch lustiger sogar, wenn man mehrere zu einem Thema hintereinander lesen kann. Mein Favorit war glaub ich die zum Älterwerden und den Schuhlöffeln.
Das Buch ist zu einem informellen Buchring ausgerufen werden, als nächstes ist Brigitte dran, dann eligi und dann priemo. Beim nächsten Treffen wird es weitergereicht.
60. Gift von Peer Meter
Graphic Novel about Gesche Gottfried a woman who killed people by poisoning them in Bremen in the 19th century. I love the art, the style really fit in with the story. The story is told as a flash back and deals both with the way the case was handled at the time and a more modern view as expressed by the story teller looking back.
61. We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Oh so disturbing. The book consists entirely of letters the main character writes to her husband about their son Kevin who, as it turns out, is in jail for killing fellow students with a cross bow. The main story teller tries to find out what went wrong, when and how. It's a look at the aftermath and how to deal with it. Great book but oh so disturbing.
62. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Signed Copy)
A colleague lent me Neverwhere on DVD and the graphic novel of the book, both in German, so I finally sat down and read the book I bought last year.
I loved the book, unsurprisingly, as I’m a big fan of Neil Gaiman. It’s a dark fantasy about a life happening underneath London. I thought that it executed both the trope of “the city underneath the city” and of “suddenly being invisible to everyone you know” really well.
48. The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid
The first part of the Tony Hill / Carol Jordan series, where they meet and the weird sexual tension and friendship is established. Either I’m getting more squeamish or this one is more disturbing than the other books in the series. It also might be that I just don’t like to read about torture.
49. Herr Tourette und ich (Mister Tourette and I) by Pelle Sandstrak
The book is a memoir by someone with Tourette's and obsessive compulsive disorder. Growing up in a small Swedish (Norwegian?) village, this can’t have been easy. I was surprised and disheartened how low it would get before it got better. It’s bizarre to read what he does to avoid bacteria, while at the same time he doesn’t wash and lets his teeth rot. But it all makes sense in his head. And for some weird reason I can understand how you get there.
It’s equal parts scary and reassuring to recognize yourself when reading about other’s compulsive acts. On the one side it’s always good to know you are not alone, on the other - holy shit this could have gone so wrong.
50. Blindflug
A memoir by someone who lost a lot of his eyesight as a child, tried to hide this fact during most of his adult life. Later he got cancer. To make things worse, chemotherapy destroyed his hips and he’s handicapped as well.
As is usual with these memoirs, it has to get very, very bad, before it gets any better. Surprisingly at no point in the book did I like the main character at all. All his life he acts selfish and careless and a lot of people stand by him and help him deceive everyone about his eyesight.
His denial of his own disability makes him powerful in some respects - he never feels sorry for himself and he learns to do a lot of things. But on the other hand it also means he never even learned about Accessibility Software until he’s forced in a training for blind people by the unemployment office.
Now that he found god, is a Buddhist and stopped drinking and doing drugs and started his own consultancy company he has very rigorous rules for the people surrounding him, before he dumps them. Which is beyond unfair, considering how he treated his friends and girlfriends, who he put through a lot of shit.
51. Was das jetzt schon Sex? Frauen, Familie und andere Desaster. Von Stefan Schwartz
Audiobuch. Listened to it on my way to Croatia in the car. The 17 short bits of around four minutes were exactly right for the amount of attention I want to expend on a long journey on a very hot day. The bits were funny, I laughed a few times, so did my friend next to me. But I just don’t really like the whole “women are so different from men (and vice versa)” spiel. It gets old quickly. It might just be me being oversensitive to the gender topic.
52. Past Mortem by Ben Elton
I love Ben Elton as a holiday read. He takes on any topic that gets a lot of media attention, in this case social websites that reunite school friends, and turns it into an entertaining page turner for the beach. After I finished the book it occurred to me that the murder investigation was handled rather bizarrely, but while reading the book, this hardly mattered.
The book is about a serial killer who kills bullies in the way they bullied kids in school.
The bullying/torture scenes were a bit much for my taste and the sex scene was decidedly the most disturbing I have read in a while, all the more so because it was so unexpected in the middle of this rather harmless beach read.
53. Dancing in my Nuddy Pants by Louise Rennison
Crazy little book in diary form written by a british teenage girl with a very distinct voice ;-)
54. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
I got this book as a present from a former colleague at work and it was just the most beautiful book I’ve read in a while. It’s about an Australian book restorer who comes to Sarajevo to restore a 600 year old Haggadah which survived two wars intact.
With every clue she discovers on the manuscript its story and journey is pieced together. It’s definitely one of my favourite books this year.
55. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
A collection of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. Much darker than the other (non-comic) stuff I read by him. I’d probably count it as horror. I’m not a huge fan of short fiction, so it’s already a good sign that I finished the book
August 2010
56. We are all made of glue by Marina Lewycka
Audiobook borrowed from the library. I liked this book even better than the ukranian tractors. The woman who read the story sometimes made me cringe when she did the teenage son’s voice or the Italian smarmy estate agent’s, but other than that, I liked it and found time to listen to it all.
The story is touching, it’s sweet how the main character manages to draw parallels between the family and friendship ties surrounding her and the glue she writes about.
The story she keeps unraveling about her friend’s past and family history is fascinating and the characters are all adorably eccentric. I bet there’s a chick flick with this story starring Hugh Grant as estate agent and Emma Thompson as main character. I’m just not decided yet if it will be Maggie Smith, Judi Dench or Helen Mirren as eccentric older Jewish lady in a rundown house with a crazy accent.
57. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
I found that Neil Gaiman's short stories seem much more personal than any of his novels and graphic novels. Often the main character is a journalist travelling for work, alone in a big, dark city where creepy things happen to him (or other people).
This collection contains the creepiest sentence I’ve ever read:
p276: "On the milk-train back to the city I sat opposite a woman carrying a baby. It was floating in formaldehyde, in a heavy glass container. She needed to sell it, rather urgently, and although I was extremely tired we talked about her reasons for selling it and about other things, for the rest of the journey."
It messes with your expectations and makes the ending very unsatisfying: why did she have to sell? There’s a whole new story in it!
This also contains another story about Shadow, the main character of American Gods in which his real name and identity is revealed.Fahrenheit 451 graphic Novel by Ray Bradbury, Illustrated by Hamilton, Tim
58. Fire Ice by Clive Cussler
I bought the book very cheaply in a sale at Thalia, together with two other Kurt Austin Adventures. I was in the mood for a thriller and that’s what it is. The handsome, all-round talent Kurt Austin saves the world from crazy Russian villain. There’s even the Rasputin look-alike and a claim to the throne. As someone recently remarked: of course there will be huge explosions from which they will walk away not even looking back. It was entertaining, as I expected and not something I’d want to keep or reread, as I expected..
59. Die Ameisenzählung von Daniel Glattauer
Ich hab früher öfter den Standard gelesen und immer als allererstes "dag" auf der Titelseite. Die gesammelten Kolumnen sind immer noch so witzig wie damals, noch lustiger sogar, wenn man mehrere zu einem Thema hintereinander lesen kann. Mein Favorit war glaub ich die zum Älterwerden und den Schuhlöffeln.
Das Buch ist zu einem informellen Buchring ausgerufen werden, als nächstes ist Brigitte dran, dann eligi und dann priemo. Beim nächsten Treffen wird es weitergereicht.
60. Gift von Peer Meter
Graphic Novel about Gesche Gottfried a woman who killed people by poisoning them in Bremen in the 19th century. I love the art, the style really fit in with the story. The story is told as a flash back and deals both with the way the case was handled at the time and a more modern view as expressed by the story teller looking back.
61. We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Oh so disturbing. The book consists entirely of letters the main character writes to her husband about their son Kevin who, as it turns out, is in jail for killing fellow students with a cross bow. The main story teller tries to find out what went wrong, when and how. It's a look at the aftermath and how to deal with it. Great book but oh so disturbing.
62. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Signed Copy)
A colleague lent me Neverwhere on DVD and the graphic novel of the book, both in German, so I finally sat down and read the book I bought last year.
I loved the book, unsurprisingly, as I’m a big fan of Neil Gaiman. It’s a dark fantasy about a life happening underneath London. I thought that it executed both the trope of “the city underneath the city” and of “suddenly being invisible to everyone you know” really well.