Search This Blog
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts

Monday, 6 January 2025

Statistics 2024

    

My statistics for the last years are here:
Going back to 2009-12, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023  

And these are the results of my reading lists for 2024:

* Statistics 2024 *
 
I did 178 posts in 2024 which was about six fewer than last year.

My regular posts are either weekly (Book Quotes, Top Ten Tuesday, ThrowBack Thursday, Wordless Wednesday) or monthly (Happy Month, Six Degrees of Separation, Spell the Month in Books), so I posted more or less the amount of weeks or months in a year. I didn't do them all regularly, though. Especially the Top Ten Tuesday, I've participated so long and have done a lot of the topics already, so I just do them from time to time.


I also did a few lists that are more or less statistics about half of the year and a comparison to ten years ago:
I also participated in Non-fiction November.

*****

And then there are, of course, all the challenges I have done over the years.
I read books that contributed to the following challenges. Some of them count for more than one category:

Challenges (number of books read for the challenges in brackets)

I read more on this topic but they were not on this list.
I added all the books he chose this year to my list but haven't been able to read any of them. Yet.
(Das Lieblingsbuch der Unabhängigen = The Favourite Book of the Independents)
Every year I find some more books I can add to my list of favourite books. 24 this year. Not too bad, I guess.
Some books taking place in France.
(German: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels)
We read 1937 and 1970 this year. It's a good idea to add some reads from former years that we might not have touched before.
I read 15 chunky books in 2024 of which 4 are considered a chunkster. Mor-book-ly Obese again.
I read suggestions from friends all the time, just haven't kept up with who recommended which book.

Book Clubs:

Some of the challenges are older and I only add to them if I happen to read one of the books. No new books on these lists:
100 Greatest Fiction Books as Chosen by the Guardian 
101 Best Selling Books of All Times 
I already said this last year. Only three more books on my list, maybe I'll get to "Slaughterhouse Five" one day.
Best European Literature 
I already read most of those that interest me, there are a few more that I could tackle one day.
Books That Changed the World 
Esperanto Books 
Here we mostly read short stories.
Le Monde - The 100 Books of the Century The non-western books that every student should read 
The only thing I miss from our old place is the library that would get me any book I wanted. Not so easy here where we only have a small church library and they only get the biggest best-sellers. And all of them in German only, of course.
Some of the challenges are older and I only add to them if I happen to read one of the books.

Books Read: 73
Pages read: 25,412 which results in 348 pages/book, 70 pages/day, 6 books/month
Last year (2023), I read 83 books with 26,717 pages which resulted in 321 pages/book, 73 pages/day, 7 books/month. So, while I read fewer books, they were larger.
The average novel contains between 140 and 320 pages, i.e. 230 which would make 110 average books (compared to 16 last year). 

Books dating from which year:
Pre 1800s: 2
1800s: 2
1900-1949: 4
1950-1999: 14
2000s: 51 (2 from 24)

Male Authors: 38
Female Authors: 33

Nobel Prize Winners: 7

Fiction: 50
Non-Fiction: 33

Chunky Books - more than 450 pages: 16, of which more than 750: 4
Library/Borrowed: 11
Re-Read: 2
TBR Pile: 18

Oldest Book: 1838
Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39 - 1838/39
Newest Book: 2024
Orth, Stephan "Couchsurfing in Ukraine" (GE: Couchsurfing in der Ukraine) - 2024
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter "We" (GE: Wir) - 2024
Longest book: 1,100 pages
Oates, Joyce Carol "Blonde" - 2000
Shortest book: 122 pages
Fosse, Jon "Morning and Evening" (NO: Morgon og kveld) - 2001
Longest book title: 38 letters
Bontscheva, Antonia "The beauty of Balchik is not a serene one" (GE: Die Schönheit von Baltschik ist keine heitere) - 2021
Shortest Book Title: 3 letters
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter "We" (GE: Wir) - 2024
Funniest Book:
Kishon, Ephraim (english) "Next year everything will be different" (GE: Im neuen Jahr wird alles anders) - 1982
- "Kishon for all occasions. 327 useless pieces of wisdom" (GE: Kishon für alle Fälle. 327 unbrauchbare Lebensweisheiten) - 1987
Güngör, Dilek "Pretty German. My Turkish family and I" (GE: Ganz schön deutsch. Meine türkische Familie und ich) - 2007
Saddest Book:
Weirdest Book:
Erpenbeck, Jenny "Kairos" (GE: Kairos.) - 2021
Most disappointing:
Sieg, Sören; Krohn, Axel "I didn't understand you visually. Overheard German dialogues" (GE: Ich hab dich rein optisch nicht verstanden. Deutsche Dialoge mitgehört) - 2015

New author (for me) that I would like to read more from: 5
Jon Fosse, Matt Haig, Florian Knöppler, Abraham Verghese, Caroline Wahl 

Translated Books:
14 from 9 languages
1 ea from Catalan, Japanese, Swedish, Turkish
2 ea from Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish

Books read in another language:
Dutch: 0
French: 0
German: 24

Numbers in Book Titles: 22,39
Place Names in Book Titles: Baltschik, Cannery Row, deutsch, Europa, Kronsnest, Moscow, Napoli, Revolutionary Road, Siberia, Teufelsmoor, Ukraine, Wigan
Names in Book Titles: Algernon, Austen, Benson, Copperhead, Demon, Jane, Kairos, Kishon, Nicholas Nickleby, Páramo, Pedro, Rebecca, Sommer, tschick, Winter
Colours in Book Titles: Blue

My Favourite Books: 16
Calvino, Italo "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" (I: Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore) - 1979
Falcones, Ildefonso "The Painter of Souls" (E: El pintor de almas) - Die Tränen der Welt - 2019
Follett, Ken "The Armour of Light" (Kingsbridge #4) - 2023
Fosse, Jon "Morning and Evening" (NO: Morgon og kveld) - 2001
Haig, Matt "The Midnight Library" - 2020
Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" - 2016
Janesch, Sabrina "Sibiria" (GE: Sibir) - 2023
Knöppler, Florian "Kronsnest [Name of Village]" (GE: Kronsnest) - 2020
Orth, Stephan (German reviews) "Couchsurfing in Ukraine" (GE: Couchsurfing in der Ukraine) - 2024
Taschler, Judith W. "David" (GE:  David) - 2017 
Tokarczuk, Olga "Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" (PL: Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych) - 2009
Verghese, Abraham "The Covenant of Water" - 2023
Wahl, Caroline "22 Lanes" (GE: 22 Bahnen) - 2023
 
With my books, I visited places in the following countries:
Africa (4):
Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Arctic (1):
Arctic
Asia (5):
India, Indonesia, Israel/Palestina, Japan, Kazakhstan
Australia/Oceania (3):
Australia, Melanesia, Oceania
Europe (38):
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
North America (6):
Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Mexico, USA
South America (2):
Brazil, Venezuela:
Countries "visited" in total: 55

Authors come from:
Africa (1):
Zimbabwe
Asia (3):
India, Israel/Palestine, Japan
Australia/Oceania (1):
Australia
Europe (12):
Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom
North America (2):
Mexico, USA
South America (1):
Chile
Author countries in total: 20

See also "My Year in Books" (and here on Goodreads).

You may find some even greater statistics by better bloggers than me, e.g. at "Stuck in a Book".
 
If you want more information on any of the lists mentioned, please, let me know.
Posted by at 8 comments:
Labels: , ,

Friday, 15 November 2024

Nonfiction November 2024

I have taken part in Nonfiction November for the last couple of years. I have not had the time and energy to participate every week but I want to do a little overview over my nonfiction year.

This is the schedule and the hosts for 2024:

Week 1 (10/30-11/3) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Heather @ Based on a True Story 

Week 2 (11/6-11/10) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
Frances @ Volatile Rune

Week 3 (11/13-11/17) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. You can be as creative as you like!
Liz @ Adventures in reading, running and working from home 

Week 4 (11/20-11/24) Worldview Shapers: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone? (Rebekah)

Week 5 (11/27-12/1) New To My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 
Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life 

I like reading novels but I also read a lot of non-fiction, mainly biographies and history. And I'd like to draw the attention to the books I read this year, so therefore, here is my list.

Bythell, Shaun "Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown" - 2022
Life in a bookshop
Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996
A book dedicated to help parents raise their childen
Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013
The history of letters
Kishon, Ephraim (English books) "Kishon for all occasions. 327 useless pieces of wisdom" - Kishon für alle Fälle. 327 unbrauchbare Lebensweisheiten - 1987
A humorous book 
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937 
Conditions under which people live in 1937
Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window/Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (TR: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat) - Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen - 2008
Many topics discussed by this Nobel Prize laureate
Tibballs, Geoff "The Good, the Bad and the Wurst. The 100 Craziest Moments from the European Song Contest" - 2016 
Eurovision
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997
Biography
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013
Trying to find out aobut a polar expedition gone tragic

And then some non-translated German books:
Güngör, Dilek "Pretty German. My Turkish family and I" - Ganz schön deutsch. Meine türkische Familie und ich - 2007
A girl with Turkish roos growing up in Germany
Kapitelman, Dmitrij "The smile of my invisible father" - Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters - 2016
Ukrainian born Jews who moved to Germany trying to find their roots in Israel
Kerkeling, Hape "Paws off the table! My cats, other cats and me" - Pfoten vom Tisch! Meine Katzen, andere Katzen und ich - 2021
German comedian who writes about the cats in his life
Matzig, Gerhard "My Wife Wants a Garden. The Adventure of Building a House in the Suburbs" - Meine Frau will einen Garten. Vom Abenteuer, ein Haus am Stadtrand zu bauen - 2010
The adventure of trying to find a house in Munich and then building one on a very narrow plot of land
Orth, Stephan (English books) "Couchsurfing in Ukraine" - Couchsurfing in der Ukraine - 2024 
Schnoy, Sebastian "Smørrebrød in Napoli. A fun journey through Europe" - Smørrebrød in Napoli. Ein vergnüglicher Streifzug durch Europa - 2009
Hilarious book about Europe for supporters of the European Union, but even more so for opponents of it
Sieg, Sören; Krohn, Axel "I didn't understand you visually. Overheard German dialogues" - Ich hab dich rein optisch nicht verstanden. Deutsche Dialoge mitgehört - 2015
Lots of conversations where people mix up the meaning of words
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter "We" - Wir - 2024
A talk of our president about the world as it is
Weiler, Jan "The Book of 39 Precious Things" - Das Buch der 39 Kostbarkeiten - 2011
A selection of short stories, columns, throughts about everyday life
Zierl, Helmut "Follow the Sun. The Summer of my Life" - Follow the Sun. Der Sommer meines Lebens - 2020
A German actor who tells us about his adventurous life at 16

And here are my posts from the previous years.
Posted by at 10 comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, 14 October 2024

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #39

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or olde) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 20th October 2024, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 18th of December 2024 to read it.

This time, I read only the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #38) ("Cannery Row"). But there are always some new books that I can add to my challenge. The books are all in chronological order.

  1. Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411BC
  2. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I" (Faust) - 1772-1808
  3. Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
  4. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias" - 1848
  5. Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary/ Madame Bovary) - 1857
  6. Turgenjew, Iwan Sergejewitsch "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
  7. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
  8. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
  9. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
  10. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
  11. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
  12. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
  13. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
  14. Némirovsky, Irène "Les biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
  15. Cela, Camilo José "The Family of Pascal Duarte" (La Familia Duarte) - 1942
  16. Zweig, Stefan "Schachnovelle" (The Royal Game/Chess) - 1942
  17. Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946
  18. Huxley, Aldous "Ape and Essence" - 1948
  19. Hemingway, Ernest "Across the River and into the Trees" - 1950
  20. Simenon, Georges "Maigret's Memoirs" (Les mémoires de Maigret) - 1951

#3 was picked this time, so for me it's:
Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Posted by at 22 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, 7 October 2024

The 1970 Club

This book challenge takes place twice a year and concentrates on one year and one year only. I call it "Read the Year Club". This time, 1970 was picked. For more information, see Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings (here is Karen's invite and here is Simon's).

If you are looking for inspiration, there are a few books from that year that I read already:

Bach, Richard "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" - 1970
Hanff, Helene "84 Charing Cross Road" + "The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street" - 1970 + 1973
Scott, Mary "Haven't We Met Before?" - 1970
Segal, Erich "Love Story" - 1970
Wallraff, Günter "From the Guy Who Went Forth and Learned to Fear" (GE: Von einem, der auszog und das Fürchten lernte) - 1970

I also found some other ideas (Karen has more on her page):
Blume, Judy "Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret"
Brown, Dee "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" 
Herriot, James (James Alfred Wright) "If Only They Could Talk" 
Morrison, Toni "The Bluest Eye"

This challenge takes place from 24 to 30 October 2024.

I had this on my TBR pile, therefore I picked:
Morrison, Toni "The Bluest Eye" - 1970

Posted by at 8 comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, 22 July 2024

🥐 Paris in July 2024 🥐

Welcome to another exciting month where we exchange reviews about books we read about Paris. Last year (2023), I posted the books I read where Paris is either the topic or at least part of the read and the books I read about France or the French language and the books I read last year for Paris in July.

I found the challenge at Lisbeth @ The Content Reader. Tamara @ Thyme for Tea has been hosting a Paris in July challenge for eleven years. Then, she hosted together with Deb @ Readerbuzz. In 2022, Emma @ Words and Peace kindly took over as the host and she continues to do so. The picture  at the top is also created by her.

I don't have a lot of energy to participate this year by reading new books about Paris, but I tried to take part through the Paris Bingo. I will try to add books etc. I have not used in any of the Paris in July years before (though it is hard and therefore cannot be entirely avoided).
PARIS in title
Rutherfurd, Edward "Paris" - 2013

FRANCE in title
Stein, Gertrude "Paris France" - 1940

BOOK set in France
Ernaux, Annie "The Years" (FR: Les années) - 2008

MOVIE set in France
Leroux, Gaston "The Phantom of the Opera" (French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) - 1910

French FOOD
Drinkwater, Carol "The Olive Farm" - 2001

French FASHION
Guiliano, Mireille "French Women Don’t Get Fat" - 2004

French MUSIC
Francis Cabrel "La Corrida"

French FLAG
Hugo, Victor "Les Misérables" (F: Les Misérables) - 1862

French HISTORY (not just French but funny)
Shaw, Karl "Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty" - 1999

TRAVELS in France
Mayle, Peter "A Year in Provence" - 1989

PLAY set in France
Ionesco, Eugène "Rhinoceros" (French: Rhinocéros) - 1957

OTHER!
Voltaire "Candide, or Optimism" (F: Candide, ou l'Optimism) - 1757

EIFFEL TOWER
Dorling Kindersley "Eyewitness Guide Paris" and "Top 10 Paris" - 2020

CROISSANT
I haven't read a book that has a croissant on my edition but I found one that has a croissant on the Portuguese one:

Clarke, Stephen "A Year in the Merde" - 2004 - Um Ano Em França

French ART
Chevalier, Tracy "The Lady and the Unicorn" - 2003

French LANGUAGE
Némirovsky, Irène "La Proie" [The Prey] - 1938

I am looking forward to seeing many posts by other Paris enthusiasts.

🥐 Joyeux Juillet 🥐
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, 17 July 2024

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #38

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or olde) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 21st July 2024, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 22nd of September 2024 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #37) ("Growth of the Soil" and "Rebecca"). But there are always some new books that I can add to my challenge. The books are all in chronological order.

1.    Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411BC
2.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3.    Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
4.    Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias" - 1848
5.    Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary/ Madame Bovary) - 1857
6.    Turgenjew, Iwan Sergejewitsch "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
7.    Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
8.    Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
9.    Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
10.   Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
11.   Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
12.   Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
13.   Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
14.   Némirovsky, Irène "Les biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
15.   Cela, Camilo José "The Family of Pascal Duarte" (La Familia Duarte) - 1942
16.   Zweig, Stefan "Schachnovelle" (The Royal Game/Chess) - 1942
17.   Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row" - 1945
18.   Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946
19.   Huxley, Aldous "Ape and Essence" - 1948
20.   Hemingway, Ernest "Across the River and into the Trees" - 1950

#17 was picked this time, so for me it's:
Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row" - 1945

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Posted by at 17 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Saturday, 29 June 2024

Six in Six 2024

 
From The Book Jotter

I found this through one of my blogger friends, Emma @ Words and Peace who was made aware of it though Jo @ The Book Jotter. Jo started this in 2012, so congratulations on doing it that long and providing us with a great way to reminisce about our books of the year so far.
She has given us 52 categories from which we can choose six and mention six books that belong into those categories. (But one book can be in several lists, see her rules here).

I have tried to stick to books that I liked but didn't succeed in every category.

Six new authors to me

Fosse, Jon "Morning and Evening " (Morgon og kveld) - 2001 
Harris, Robert "Fatherland" - 1992
Hyde, Catherine Ryan "When I found you" - 2009
Leky, Mariana "What You Can See From Here" (GE: Was man von hier aus sehen kann) - 2017
Tsumura, Kikuko "There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job" (Konoyoni tayasui shigoto wa na/この世にたやすい仕事はない) - 2015
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013

Six authors I am looking forward to reading more of
Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead" - 2022
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937
Şafak, Elif "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" - 2019
Taschler, Judith W. "David" (GE: David) - 2017
Towles, Amor "A Gentleman in Moscow" - 2016
Weiler, Jan "The Book of 39 Precious Things" (GE: Das Buch der 39 Kostbarkeiten) - 2011

Six books that took me by the hand and led me into the past
Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" - 1857
Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (NO: Markens Grøde) - 1917
Krall, Hanna "Chasing the King of Hearts" (PL: Król kier znów na wylocie) - 2006
Lessing, Doris "The Grass is Singing" - 1950
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013

Six From the Non-Fiction Shelf
Clinton, Hillary Rodham "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" - 1996
Kerkeling, Hape "Paws off the table! My cats, other cats and me" (GE: Pfoten vom Tisch! Meine Katzen, andere Katzen und ich) - 2021
Tibballs, Geoff "The Good, the Bad and the Wurst. The 100 Craziest Moments from the European Song Contest" - 2016
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997
Uusma, Bea "The Expedition: a Love Story: Solving the Mystery of a Polar Tragedy" (SW: Expeditionen: min kärlekshistoria) - 2013
Zierl, Helmut "Follow the Sun. The Summer of my Life" (GE: Follow the Sun. Der Sommer meines Lebens) - 2020

Six classics I have read
Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" - 1857
Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (NO: Markens Grøde) - 1917
Lessing, Doris "The Grass is Singing" - 1950
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937
Shute, Nevil "On the Beach" - 1959 
Yates, Richard "Revolutionary Road" - 1961

Six pretty book covers
Noort, Tamar "Eternity is a good place" (GE: Die Ewigkeit ist ein guter Ort) - 2023
Shute, Nevil "On the Beach" - 1959 
Taschler, Judith W. "David" (GE: David) - 2017
Towles, Amor "A Gentleman in Moscow" - 2016
Tsumura, Kikuko "There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job" (Konoyoni tayasui shigoto wa na/この世にたやすい仕事はない) - 2015
Wahl, Caroline "22 Lanes" (GE: 22 Bahnen) - 2023

As you can see, I like the covers quite minimalist. My favourite is the one by Caroline Wahl.

If you like the idea as much as I do, go ahead, choose your own "Six in Six" and let Jo know.


Six in Six 2022.
Six in Six 2023.

Posted by at 8 comments:
Labels: ,

Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Read the Year Club

This book challenge takes place twice a year and concentrates on one year and one year only. I call it "Read the Year Club". This time, 1937 was picked. For more information, see Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings.

1920
Undset, Sigrid "Kristin Lavransdatter" (NO: Kristin Lavransdatter) - 1920-22
1924
Mann, Thomas "The Magic Mountain" (GE: Der Zauberberg) - 1924
1929
Kästner, Erich "Emil and the Detectives" (German: Emil und die Detektive) - 1929
1930
Buck, Pearl S. "East Wind: West Wind" - 1930
1936
Mitchell, Margaret "Gone With the Wind" - 1936
1937
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937
1938
Herbert, Xavier "Capricornia" - 1938 
1940
Stein, Gertrude "Paris France" - 1940
1944
Brecht, Bertolt "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" (GE: Der kaukasisiche Kreidekreis) - 1944-45
1947
Camus, Albert "The Plague" (F: La Peste) - 1947
1951
Greene, Graham "The End of the Affair" - 1951
1954
Thomas, Dylan "Under Milk Wood" - 1954
1956
Mahfouz, Naguib "Palace Walk" (arab: بين القصرين/Bayn al-qasrayn) (Cairo Trilogy #1) - 1956
1962
L'Engle, Madeleine "A Wrinkle in Time" - 1962
1965
Scott, Mary "Freddie" - 1965
1968
Dick, Philip K. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" - 1968
1970
Morrison, Toni "The Bluest Eye" - 1970
1976
Ditfurth, Hoimar von "Der Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel: Die Evolution unseres Bewußtseins" [The mind did not fall from the sky: the evolution of our consciousness] - 1976
1977
Vargas Llosa, Mario "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" (E: La tía Julia y el escribidor) - 1977

 I also have a list of "A Century of Books" where I list a book of every year of the century, if I read one.

I have only participated in the years where I included a link under the year. However, I have read books from most of those years and have added at least one for those who are interested in reading a book from that specific year.

You can find all the challenges so far on Simon's page Stuck in a Book under 'Read the year' Clubs.

Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , ,

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #37

         

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or olde) books there, especially French ones.

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 21st April 2024, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 2nd of June 2024 to read it.

This time, I read three books from my old list (Classics Spin #36). But there are always some new books that I can add to my challenge. The books are all in chronological order.

1.    Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411BC
2.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3.    Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
4.    Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias" - 1848
5.    Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary/ Madame Bovary) - 1857
6.    Turgenjew, Iwan Sergejewitsch "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
7.    Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
8.    Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (Markens Grøde/Segen der Erde) - 1917
9.    Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
10.   Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
11.   Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
12.   Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
13.   Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
14.   Du Maurier, Daphne "Rebecca" - 1938
15.   Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
16.   Némirovsky, Irène "Les biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
17.   Cela, Camilo José "The Family of Pascal Duarte" (La Familia Duarte) - 1942
18.   Zweig, Stefan "Schachnovelle" (The Royal Game/Chess) - 1942
19.   Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946
20.   Huxley, Aldous "Ape and Essence" - 1948

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, it's #8, so my novel is:
Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (Markens Grøde) - 1917

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.
Posted by at 17 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, 9 April 2024

TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2024

 

One of my favourite Reading Challenges that I joined in 2016.

I don't think Evie from the Bookish Blog still carries this on, as I can't find it on her page but her words with which she started this challenge are still true: "We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they're gifted to us. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we'll finally decide to pick them up."
As I mention every year, even now, after seven years of participation, my TBR (To Be Read) pile is still a lot longer than it should because I just can't resist buying any new books and going to the library though I have tried to attempt reading more old books than buying new ones. But I read lately that buying books, collecting books and reading books are three completely different hobbies. And I have them all.
I could, of course, try to tackle the 50+ challenge but we all know that is not going to happen, instead, I tried to do at least 11-20 old books in addition to the new ones I'm buying and those I get from the library and wished to be pleasantly surprised at the end of the year. That happened, I have reached the 21-30 (First Kiss) and 31-40 (Sweet Summer Fling) sometimes in the last years, maybe I can get to 41-50 (Could This Be Love?) one day.
I have read
 37 books in 2016,
32 in 2017,
38 in 2018, 
23 in 2019
25 in 2020 
39 in 2021 
15 in 2022 and
13 in 2023
of the books that had been waiting to be read for more than a year.
I hope I will manage more in 2024.
(I always add the German title - when available - in brackets for my German friends)

So far, I have already read 16 of my "old books" in 2024:

Taschler, Judith W. "Sommer wie Winter" [Summer and Winter] - 2011
Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" (Der Professor) - 1857
Yates, Richard "Revolutionary Road" (Zeiten des Aufruhrs) - 1961
Güngör, Dilek "Ganz schön deutsch. Meine türkische Familie und ich" [Pretty German. My Turkish family and I] - 2007 
Harris, Robert "Fatherland" (Vaterland) - 1992
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997
Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" (Der Weg nach Wigan Pier) - 1937
Schnoy, Sebastian "Smørrebrød in Napoli. Ein vergnüglicher Streifzug durch Europa" [Smørrebrød in Napoli. A fun journey through Europe] - 2009
Melandri, Francesca "Alle, außer mir" (Sangue giusto) [Right Blood or Everyone but me] - 2017
Allende, Isabel "City of the Beasts" (E: La ciudad de las bestias) - 2002
Pamuk, Orhan "To Look Out the Window/Pieces from the View: Life, Streets, Literature" (TR: Manzaradan Parçalar: Hayat, Sokaklar, Edebiyat/Der Blick aus meinem Fenster. Betrachtungen) - 2008
Garfield, Simon "To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence - A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing" - 2013
Bontscheva, Antonia "Die Schönheit von Baltschik ist keine heitere" [The beauty of Balchik is not a serene one] - 2021
Stedman, M L "The Light Between Oceans" - 2012
Herrndorf, Wolfgang "tschick" (Why We Took the Car) - 2010
Posted by at 12 comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)