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Über meine Bibliothek

Best books read in 2013 (in no particular order)

1. Touch And Go by Lisa Gardner - A perfect thriller, not too light, not too gruesome, quite long yet the tension never let up.

2. The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. The book has some serious weaknesses in reasoning and the author's preference for neo-liberal economics is very pronounced, yet the book shows the dismal science in its powerful, intellectually stimulating, breath-taking glory. The tongue-in-cheek humor and underlying humanity add a rich, nutty flavor to this wonderful blend.
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Best books read in 2012 (in no particular order)

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, doomed love between two kids who had cancer. A tearjerker, sure, but it's a very beautiful tearjerker.

2. Brian Freeman's Jonathan Stride series, very dark, well written mystery stories set on the beautiful shore of Lake Superior. The one story set in Las Vegas is not too bad, but lacks something.

3. Mitosis by Jürgen Ahrens. It's a weird book. It started out as a murder mystery, then turned into a sci-fi story, in the end, it appeared to be a story about two men's friendship. It sucks at all three though. Still, the meandering storytelling is oddly engaging and it never lets up. It's full of plots and characters that never went anywhere, but I definitively walked away with something.

4. Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst. It's a quiet, thoughtful, imperfect murder mystery that left me a little sad and a little afraid of people in general. It's a great thought-provoking read.
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Best books read in 2011

1. Die richtige Frau by Mark Kuntz: After giving a wrong answer, the protagonist was kicked out of the apartment by his girlfriend on a cold winter night. He wandered through the neighborhood, meeting interesting people, having mini-adventures, reflecting on life, relationship, sex and the peculiarity of Germans. At the end of the night, he made up his mind for a big life decision... The book is very short and very funny.

2. Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown by Edmund L. Andrews. Books about the American housing and financial crisis are a dime a dozen these days, this little old gem still stands out despite all the controversies and faults thanks to its excellent account of a marriage caught up in the big picture.

3. The Accident: A Thriller by Linwood Barclay - A never ending fun thrill ride set against an acutely contemporary background.

4. Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer, featuring a wise-cracking doctor who looks for trouble. The story happened in 1979ish, but apart from the political background, nothing is dated.

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Best books read in 2010 (in no particular order)

1. JAG in Space series by John G. Hemry. Extremely realistic military legal thrillers set in a sci-fi background. I like the easy and even flow of the narrative and the fact that the author never attempted to pull some "big revelation/conspiracy" trick to create suspense.

2. Hank Paulson's On The Brink. I like the author and appreciate the straight-forward manner in which he tells this extraordinary story.

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Best books read in 2009

1. House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street by William D. Cohan - It's the first book in a long time that kept me up all night and I re-read it as soon as I reached the last page. It's better than any thriller.
2. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift - I didn't actually read it, I listened to the audiobook read by Hugh Laurie, in his British accent. Enough said.
3. Marine One by James W. Huston - The story opens with a bang: The Marine One went down, killing the American president on board, what happened? The book reads like the third one in a series, as if the author assumed you already knew the back story of the characters and the setting. This minimalistic approach bring a wonderfully intense story to shine.
4. Something Missing by Matthew Dicks, story about a thief who warms one's heart.

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Best books read in 2008

1. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
2. Three Geoffrey McGeachin thrillers, Fifty, Fat and *beep*, D-e-d Dead! and Sensitive New Age Spy full of cheeky protagonists, funny interaction, cool small characters, stunning adventures, witty political satires ...
3. Empress Orchid by An-Chee Min, life story of China's last empress, a lot of fiction woven into history, good story telling.
4. The Anatomy Of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone. A brilliant historical mystery written by a historian, set in 1889 Philadelphia.

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Best books read in 2007

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi
2. Mengzi Shuo, Renmin Yi Sikao, Huangdi Jiu Jinzhang (Mengzi said: When people think, the Emperor jumps) by Good Bear Xiong Yi
3. Evolution, the Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer
4. Four Dr. Felix Hoffmann mysteries by Christoph Spielberg

Über mich

A wandering German who loves Europe, reading, pesto sauce and only gets the urge to goosestep very infrequently.

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Hamburgerin im Exil. Vermisse die Alster, die Elbe, Winterhude, Alsterdorf, den Alsterwanderweg, Poppenbüttel und das Alte Land fürchterlich.

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Zürich, Switzerland

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