MissWatson balances her books, the second ledger

Dies ist die Fortführung des Themas MissWatson balances her books.

Forum2018 Category Challenge

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MissWatson balances her books, the second ledger

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1MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 1, 2018, 12:24 pm

Hi, I'm Birgit and I live in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. This is my fifth year in the Challenge, and I am very much looking forward to hosting a month for the first time this year.
I didn't find many pictures to illustrate my categories on the net, so I created my own, mostly, which turned out to be quite fun. The pretty little lady in the top post was a find on Wikimedia Commons.



I find that tracking the page numbers is useful, so here's another tracker.



January page count: 3648
February page count: 3074
March page count: 3893
April page count: 2735
May page count: 5657
June page count: 3255
July page count: 3340
August page count: 5225
September page count: 3401
October page count: 3191
November page count: 3291

2MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jan. 17, 2020, 3:46 am

Last year I went through my catalogue and marked all unread books as such. This left me with the staggering number of more than 1,000 TBRs. The challenge this year is to get below the magical number of 1,000.
ETA: Updating the ticker for new acquisitions throws me off, so as of now, the number of 1,118 refers to the TBR on March 1st.

There are eight categories in the credit side and four in the debit side. At the end of the year, the credit should amount to double the debit.



3MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jun. 15, 2018, 6:02 am

The credit side: books read

I aim to fill the various categories with books from my shelves. Overlaps are allowed in the quest for CATTricks.



4MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 9, 2018, 11:00 am

RandomCAT



The goal is to read at least one book per month.

January
1. By gaslight, Steven Price
2. Die Giftköchin by Arto Paasilinna
February
1. Biikebrennen by Hannes Nygaard
2. Krabbenbrot und Seemannstod by Christiane Franke & Cornelia Kuhnert
March
1. Women & Power by Mary Beard
2. A closed and common orbit by Becky Chambers
April
1. The enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
2. Pietr le Letton by Georges Simenon
3. Chez les Flamands by Georges Simenon
4. Das Schwert und der Mond by Laura Pariani
5. Le chien jaune by Georges Simenon
6. Washington Square by Henry James
7. The Europeans by Henry James
8. Chenonceaux : Schloß der Frauen by Marguerite Yourcenar
9. Blumen im Schnee by Akira Yoshimura
May
1. Frühlings Erwachen by Frank Wedekind
2. Three act tragedy by Agatha Christie
June
1. Glennkill by Leonie Swann
2. Mal Aria by Carmen Stephan
July
1. Altes Land by Dörte Hansen
August
1. Die Molkenkur by Ulrich Hegner
September
1. Im Sumpf by Rudolfs Blaumanis
2. Die goldenen Schuhe by Vicki Baum
3. Ormond by Maria Edgeworth
October
1. Die Vollendung des Königs Henri IV by Heinrich Mann
November
1. Der Kaffeedieb by Tom Hillenbrand
2. Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal by Anja Marschall
December
1. Die Reise in den Westen

5MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 4, 2018, 4:21 am

MysteryCAT



The goal is to read at least one book per month.

January
Endstation für neun by Maj Sjöwall/Per Wahlöö
Eine undankbare Frau by Karin Fossum
Die Giftköchin by Arto Paasilinna
February
Pay dirt by Rita Mae Brown
Murder, she meowed by Rita Mae Brown
Der Altmann ist tot by Frl. Krise & Frau Freitag
March
La clef de Seize by Patrick Raynal
Maigret s'amuse by Georges Simenon
A rising man by Abir Mukherjee
Cobra by Deon Meyer
L'homme aux cercles bleus by Fred Vargas
April
Pietr le Letton by Georges Simenon
Chez les Flamands by Georges Simenon
Maigret en Auvergne by Georges Simenon
Le chien jaune by Georges Simenon
Three act tragedy by Agatha Christie
May
Le charretier de La Providence by Georges Simenon
Der Kommissar von Barfleur by Maria Dries
June
Die Ballade vom Fetzer by Tilman Röhrig
Rechnung über meine Dukaten by Thomas Meyer
July
Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin
Monsieur Gallet décédé by Georges Simenon
August
Durch Nacht und Wind by Stefan Lehnberg
L'homme au ventre de plomb by Jean-François Parot
A red herring without mustard by Alan Bradley
L'argent des autres – La pêche en eau trouble by Émile Gaboriau
Die Affäre Carambol by Stefan Lehnberg
Reigen des Todes by Gerhard Loibelsberger
September
Woman in the dark by Dashiell Hammett
The Asphalt Jungle by W.R.Burnett
Point Blank by Richard Stark
October
Charlie M by Brian Freemantle
The secret agent by Joseph Conrad
The Night Manager by John LeCarré
November
Übertrieben tot by Frl. Krise & Frau Freitag
Tod am Semmering by Beate Maly
December
The burning page by Genevieve Page

6MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 22, 2018, 8:13 am

ColourCAT



The goal is to read at least one book per month.

January: Black
1. The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
3. Die Giftköchin by Arto Paasilinna

February: Brown
4. Pay dirt by Rita Mae Brown
5. Murder, she meowed by Rita Mae Brown

March: Green
6. Maigret s'amuse by Georges Simenon
7. Die Jugend des Königs Henri IV by Heinrich Mann
8. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

April: Yellow
9. Pietr le Letton by Georges Simenon
10. Chez les Flamands by Georges Simenon
11. Maigret en Auvergne by Georges Simenon
12. Le chien jaune by Georges Simenon

May: Blue
13. Bretonische Verhältnisse by Jean-Luc Bannalec
14. Das Marsprojekt : Die blauen Türme by Andreas Eschbach
15. Le charretier de La Providence by Georges Simenon
16. Out on the rim by Ross Thomas
17. Der Kommissar von Barfleur by Maria Dries
18. Le grand Bob by Georges Simenon

June: Purple
19. Hazard by Nataly von Eschstruth
20. Lila by Marilynne Robinson

July: Pink
21. Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin

August: Grey
22. The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
23. Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

September: Metallic
24. Silver Rock by Luke Short
25. Die goldenen Schuhe by Vicki Baum
26. Le beau XVI siècle by Simone Bertière

October: Orange
27. Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter by Elke Goez
28. The secret agent by Joseph Conrad

November: Red
29. Die Naschmarkt-Morde by Gerhard Loibelsberger
30. Der Kaffeedieb by Tom Hillenbrand
31. Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal by Anja Marschall
32. The red badge of courage by Stephen Crane
33. The masked city by Genevieve Cogman

December: White
34. La fortune des Rougon by Émile Zola
35. Brennerova by Wolf Haas

7MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Nov. 26, 2018, 5:38 am

Kittens



I don't know if I can manage a book for the Scaredy and/or SFF Kit every month, but I'll try.

January ScaredyKIT
Zofloya, or The Moor by Charlotte Dacre
Das Petermännchen by Christian Heinrich Spieß
January SFFKIT
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
February SFFKIT
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
March SFFKIT
Das Marsprojekt : Das ferne Leuchten by Andreas Eschbach
A closed and common orbit by Becky Chambers
March ScaredyKIT
L'homme truqué by Maurice Renard
April ScaredyKIT
Carmilla by J. Sheridan LeFanu
La double vie de Théophraste Longuet by Gaston Leroux
May SFFKIT
Das Marsprojekt : Die blauen Türme by Andreas Eschbach
May ScaredyKIT
Les rouges du midi by Félix Gras
June SFFKIT
A wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
Exiles of ColSec by Douglas Hill
The caves of Klydor by Douglas Hill
August SFFKit
QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling
September SFFKit
Erzählungen aus 1001 Nacht
October ScaredyKIT
The woman in black by Susan Hill
October SFFKit
Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke by Leo Perutz
November SFFKit
The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman
The masked city by Genevieve Cogman

8MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 20, 2018, 9:06 am

BingoDOG plus Popsugar

I have filled in my Bingo card in the first thread and finally made up my mind to try the Popsugar Challenge next. Since this means 40 books (or even 50 in the advanced version) I'm pretty sure I won't complete this. Let's see how far I get...

A book made into a movie you’ve already seen The remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro
True crime
The next book in a series you started: L'homme au ventre de plomb by Jean-François Parot
A book involving a heist
Nordic noir
A novel based on a real person: Dichterleben by Ludwig Tieck
A book set in a country that fascinates you
A book with a time of day in the title: Durch Nacht und Wind by Stefan Lehnberg
A book about a villain or antihero: The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
A book about death or grief The night manager by John LeCarré
A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym: Wenn's nur schon Winter wär'! by Ossip Schubin
A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist: La Maupin – Sa vie, ses duels, ses aventures by Gabriel Letainturier-Fradin
A book that is also a stage play or musical
A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
A book about feminism
A book about mental health Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal by Anja Marschall
A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift: Der tödliche Tanz des Monsieur Bernard by Marie Pellissier
A book by two authors Übertrieben tot by Frl. Krise & Frau Freitag
A book about or involving a sport
A book by a local author Luftschiff by Stefan aus dem Siepen
A book with your favorite color in the title
A book with alliteration in the title
A book about time travel
A book with a weather element in the title
A book set at sea: Ahoi, Kater Nelson! by Michaela Hanauer
A book with an animal in the title: Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin
A book set on a different planet
A book with song lyrics in the title
A book about or set on Halloween
A book with characters who are twins
A book mentioned in another book
A book from a celebrity book club
A childhood classic you’ve never read
A book that’s published in 2018 Strandgut by Benjamin Cors
A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
A book set in the decade you were born Tiedemanns Tochter by Lotte Betke
A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn’t get to
A book with an ugly cover
A book that involves a bookstore or library The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman
Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge (2017: a book that's been mentioned in another book)
A bestseller from the year you graduated high school
A cyberpunk book
A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
A book tied to your ancestry
A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title
An allegory The red badge of courage by Stephen Crane
A book by an author with the same first or last name as you
A microhistory
A book about a problem facing society today
A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

I find I am missing the Bingo, so I am taking another run at this.



1: Die goldenen Schuhe by Vicki Baum
2: Verrat am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal by Anja Marschall
3: L'argent des autres – Les hommes de paille by Émile Gaboriau
4: Die Reise in den Westen
5: The remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro
6: The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman
7: Les champs d'honneur by Jean Rouaud
8: Strandgut by Benjamin Cors
9: The Asphalt Jungle by W.R.Burnett
10: The masked city by Genevieve Cogman
11: Die Weber by Gerhart Hauptmann
12: La Maupin – Sa vie, ses duels, ses aventures by Gabriel Letainturier-Fradin
13: Die Affäre Carambol by Stefan Lehnberg
14: Die Vollendung des Königs Henri IV by Heinrich Mann
15: The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
16: Man lernt nie aus, Frau Freitag by Frau Freitag
17: Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier
18: Zwei Männer aus Texas by Lee Hoffman
19: Tiedemanns Tochter by Lotte Betke
20: In distant waters by Richard Woodman
21: The mysterious Mr Quin by Agatha Christie
22: Luftschiff by Stefan aus dem Siepen
23: Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
24: Erzählungen aus 1001 Nacht
25: Der Kaffeedieb by Tom Hillenbrand

9MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Okt. 14, 2018, 3:27 pm

Group reads



Reminder to myself: Heinrich IV in February/August with Kerry (aviatakh)

Year-long short story collections
...alle Bitternis der Welt by Vsevolod Garšin
Boule de suif et autres nouvelles by Guy de Maupassant
Menschen im Krieg by Andreas Latzko

Heinrich Manns Roman: "Die Jugend und die Vollendung des Königs Henri Quatre" im Verhältnis zu seinen Quellen und Vorlagen by Hadwig Kirchner-Klemperer
Die Jugend des Königs Henri IV by Heinrich Mann
Henri IV – un roi français by Max Gallo
Le beau XVI siècle by Simone Bertière
Henri IV : Machtmensch und Libertin by Uwe Schultz
Die Vollendung des Königs Henri IV by Heinrich Mann

Ursula K. LeGuin memorial read
A wizard of Earthsea

10MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 4, 2018, 4:21 am

Discards



I can't part with books unread, but those not worth re-reading must leave the house. Most will find a new home, I hope, others will end up in the recycling bin.

1. The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Eine undankbare Frau by Karin Fossum
3. Pay dirt by Rita Mae Brown
4. Murder, she meowed by Rita Mae Brown
5. Biikebrennen by Hannes Nygaard
6. A year in Provence by Peter Mayle
7. Der Altmann ist tot by Frl. Krise & Frau Freitag
8. Krabbenbrot und Seemannstod by Christiane Franke & Cornelia Kuhnert
9. La clef de Seize by Patrick Raynal
10. Das Marsprojekt : Das ferne Leuchten by Andreas Eschbach
11. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
12. Cobra by Deon Meyer
13. The enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
14. Le chien jaune by Georges Simenon
15. Washington Square by Henry James
16. The Europeans by Henry James
17. Der Spion des Dogen by Stefan Maiwald
18. Der Kommissar von Barfleur by Maria Dries
19. Glennkill by Leonie Swann
20. Die Ballade vom Fetzer by Tilman Röhrig
21. Exiles of ColSec by Douglas Hill
22. The caves of Klydor by Douglas Hill
23. Even dogs in the wild by Ian Rankin
24. Schwarze Flagge Rote Segel by Paul Quincy
25. Strandgut by Benjamin Cors
26. Harte Männer Schwere See by Paul Quincy
27. Luftschiff by Stefan aus dem Siepen
28. Zwei Männer aus Texas by Lee Hoffman
29. Silver Rock by Luke Short
30. The Asphalt Jungle by W.R.Burnett
31. Die goldenen Schuhe by Vicki Baum
32. Henri IV : Machtmensch und Libertin by Uwe Schultz
33. Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter by Elke Goez
34. The secret agent by Joseph Conrad
35. The woman in black by Susan Hill
36. The Night Manager by John LeCarré
37. The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman
38. Übertrieben tot by Frl. Krise & Frau Freitag
39. Tod am Semmering by Beate Maly
40. Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal by Anja Marschall
41. Verrat am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal by Anja Marschall
42. Les champs d'honneur by Jean Rouaud
43. The red badge of courage by Stephen Crance
44. The masked city by Genevieve Cogman
45. Kieler Dämmerung by Kay Jacobs
46. The burning page by Genevieve Cogman

11MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 17, 2018, 10:18 am

I'm not in the mood?



This is the category for spontaneous reading, anything that doesn't fit the CATs, etc.

1. The Yellow Mask and other stories by Wilkie Collins
2. The Biter Bit and other stories by Wilkie Collins
3. Die Muskeltiere Picandou und der kleine Schreihals by Ute Krause
4. Genua und das Habsburgerreich by Manfred Pittioni
5. Chinaman's Chance by Ross Thomas
6. Die erstaunlichen Gerätschaften des Herrn Orffyreus by Niels Brunse
7. Tagebuch einer Verlorenen by Margarete Böhme
8. Les mariages de Paris by Edmond About
9. Der Herr Präsident by Adolf Streckfuß
10. Das Fest zu Kenelworth by Ludwig Tieck
11. The Colosseum by Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard
12. A house of pomegranates by Oscar Wilde
13. Mein kleiner Hund Mister und die Katze im Haus by Thomas Winding
14. Die Känguru-Chroniken by Marc-Uwe Kling
15. Luis & ich und der Ferienmops by Cornelia Franz
16. Schwarze Flagge Rote Segel by Paul Quincy
17. Harte Männer Schwere See by Paul Quincy
18. Der Weg zurück by Erich Maria Remarque
19. Der Aufstieg by Gina Kaus
20. Martinhagen by Julius Stinde
21. Bunte Herzen by Eduard von Keyserling
22. Mein wundervoller Garten by Gabriele Frydrych
23. La Mare au diable by George Sand
24. Kieler Dämmerung by Kay Jacobs
25. La maison du chat-qui-pelote by Honoré de Balzac

12MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jun. 15, 2018, 6:06 am

The debit side: books bought

I have no illusions about stopping book-buying: it's not gonna happen. But I hope that listing and counting them will curb my enthusiasm. Books bought and read immediately (ahem, well, this year) will be marked in italics. Gifts, replacement copies and books for work don't count.



13MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Nov. 24, 2018, 10:18 am

Book bullets



This is for books where I remember precisely who gave me the hit.

1. Das Jahr des Hasen by Arto Paasilinna, recommended by my sister
2. Brombeersommer by Dörthe Brinkert, BB from ChrischiHH
3. Die Giftköchin by Arto Paasilinna, recommended by my sister
4. Blumen im Schnee by Akira Yoshimura, BB from lilisin
5. Revenge by Stephen Fry, BB from Scaifea
6. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, BB from my sister

14MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 12, 2018, 6:01 am

Herd instinct



Books acquired because they received awards, feature in must-read lists, were reviewed favourably, or else.

1. The acts of King Arthur and his noble knights by John Steinbeck
2. Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope
3. The prime minister by Anthony Trollope
4. The duke's children by Anthony Trollope
5. Heir to the glimmering world by Cynthia Ozick
6. Finn and Hengest by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Altes Land by Dörte Hansen
10. Die Sirene by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
11. The god of small things by Arundhati Roy
12. Jacques Offenbach und das Paris seiner Zeit by Siegfried Kracauer
13. Artemis by Andy Weir
14. Mythos by Stephen Fry
15. The wars by Timothy Findley
16. A necessary evil by Abir Mukherjee
17. Der Trafikant by Robert Seethaler
18. Die Fassade by Libuše Moníková
19. Venedig, Wien und die Osmanen by Ekkehard Eickhoff
20. Empress : the astonishing reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal
21. Kieler Dämmerung by Kay Jacobs
22. Sumerki by Dmitry Glukhovsky
23. The empire of ashes by Anthony Ryan
24. Henri IV : Machtmensch und Libertin by Uwe Schultz
25. Der zweite Reiter by Alex Beer
26. Der stumme Tod by Volker Kutscher
27. The son by Philipp Meyer
28. Das fahle Pferd by Boris Sawinkow
29. La fortune des Rougon by Émile Zola
30. L'argent by Émile Zola
31. Les dossiers de l'agence O by Georges Simenon
32. Empire: How Britain made the modern world by Niall Ferguson
33. Das schwarze Pferd by Boris Sawinkow
34. The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman
35. The masked city by Genevieve Cogman
36. Cox oder Der Lauf der Zeit by Christoph Ransmayr
37. The burning page by Genevieve Cogman
38. The lost plot by Genevieve Cogman
39. The noise of time by Julian Barnes
40. Norse mythology by Neil Gaiman
41. A natural history of dragons by Marie Brennan
42. Brave new world by Aldous Huxley
43. Mensch und Maschine by Thomas Ramge
44. Das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation by Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger
45. Herbst des Mittelalters by Johan Huizinga
46. Nomade auf vier Kontinenten by Ilija Trojanow
47. Computus by Arno Borst
48. Gralswunder und Drachentraum by Tilman Spreckelsen

15MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Okt. 21, 2018, 10:50 am

Saved from shredding



Books found in the remainders bin, at flea-markets, in donation boxes, in charity shops etc.

1. Zone by Mathias Énard
2. Eine undankbare Frau by Karin Fossum
3. Tadellöser & Wolff by Walter Kempowski
4. Symphonie Pathétique by Klaus Mann
5. Das Geheimnis des Kalligraphen by Rafik Schami
6. Die bewohnte Insel by Arkadi and Boris Strugatzki
7. Der Gärtner von Otschakow by Andrej Kurkow
8. Notabene 45 by Erich Kästner
9. Die Untergegangenen und die Geretteten by Primo Levi
10. Die rote Agenda by Liaty Pisani
11. Immerwahr by Sabine Friedrich
12. Der Feind meines Vaters by Almudena Grandes
13. Crucible of gold by Naomi Novik
14. Die Könige von Köln by Tilman Röhrig
15. Goethe : Sein Leben und seine Zeit by Richard Friedenthal
16. Krabbenbrot und Seemannstod by Christiane Franke & Cornelia Kuhnert
17. Die wirkliche Mittelerde by Arnulf Krause
18. Die Welt im 16. Jahrhundert
19. La clef de Seize by Patrick Raynal
20. Das Schwert und der Mond by Laura Pariani
21. Le chien jaune by Georges Simenon
22. Monsieur Gallet décédé by Georges Simenon
23. Le port des brumes by Georges Simenon
24. Le clan des Ostendais by Georges Simenon
25. Maigret dans les environs de Paris by Georges Simenon
26. Le passager du Polarlys by Georges Simenon
27. Le charretier de La Providence by Georges Simenon
28. Le fou de Bergerac by Georges Simenon
29. Un crime en hollande by Georges Simenon
30. L'écluse n°1 by Georges Simenon
31. El juego de Ripper by Isabel Allende
32. Chenonceaux : Schloß der Frauen by Marguerite Yourcenar
33. Dorle und Wolf by Martin Walser
34. Fiasko by Stanislaw Lem
35.Das grüne Gesicht by Gustav Meyrink
36. Das Halsband der Königin by Antal Szerb
37. Die Pendragon-Legende by Antal Szerb
38. Der Nobelpreis by Andreas Eschbach
39. Die erstaunlichen Gerätschaften des Herrn Orffyreus by Niels Brunse
40. Kleine Weltgeschichte by Alexander Demandt
41. Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn : Frankreich by Johannes Willms
42. Medusa by Hammond Innes
43. Roman eines Schicksallosen by Imre Kertész
44. Die Islandglocke by Halldór Laxness
45. The woman in black by Susan Hill
46. Marina by Varlos Ruiz Zafón
47. Der Pirat Napoleons by Wolfram zu Mondfeld
48. Jeder stirbt für sich allein by Hans Fallada
49. Erfolg by Lion Feuchtwanger
50. Die Brüder Lautensack by Lion Feuchtwanger
51. Luftschiff by Stefan aus dem Siepen
52. Der grüne Palast by Peggy Hohmann
53. Die Aula by Hermann Kant
54. Die Kinder der Finsternis by Wolf von Niebelschütz
55. Alexander der Große by Alexander Demandt
56. À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs by Marcel Proust
57. Don Gesualdo by Giovanni Varga

16MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 6, 2018, 3:32 am

Now this looks interesting...



This is for spontaneous acquisitions, bought just because they caught my eye.

1. Die abenteuerliche Reise des Pieter van Ackeren in die neue Welt by Meinrad Braun
2. Echt Winterküche by Michaela Baur
3. The prince and the pilgrim by Mary Stewart
4. Biikebrennen by Hannes Nygaard
5. A year in Provence by Peter Mayle
6. Der Spion des Dogen by Stefan Maiwald
7. Der Knochenraub von San Marco by Stefan Maiwald
8. De Pavía a Rocroi by Julio Albi de la Cuesta
9. Juste une casserole veggie by Sabrina Fauda-Rôle
10. The vanquished by Robert Gerwarth
11. Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell
12. Georg by Siegfried Kracauer
13. Strandgut by Benjamin Cors
14. Küstenstrich by Benjamin Cors
15. Reigen des Todes by Gerhard Loibelsberger
16. Husaren der See by Ole Groothus
17. Husarenbrüder by Ole Groothus
18. Furies : War in Europe 1450-1700 by Lauro Martines
19. Wolves eat dogs by Martin Cruz Smith

17MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jun. 15, 2018, 6:09 am

Since I'm going on vacation next week, this seemed like a good time to set up the new thread for the second half of the year.

Welcome!

18christina_reads
Jun. 15, 2018, 3:25 pm

Happy new thread, and congratulations on finishing your Bingo card!

19rabbitprincess
Jun. 15, 2018, 6:10 pm

Happy new thread! Have a great time on your vacation! Looking forward to seeing what new challenge you'll do to replace the Bingo card now that you've finished :)

20DeltaQueen50
Jun. 15, 2018, 9:51 pm

Happy new thread and congratulations on completing your Bingo Card. I have been working on the PopSugar Challenge this year and have found it to fit in well with my regular reading, there will just be a couple of topics that I will have to hunt for a book to fit. If you are going to do the PopSugar Challenge, there is a thread in the 75 Group set up for some of the various challenges to give us some book ideas and some motivation. You can check it out at http://www.librarything.com/topic/279363

21MissWatson
Jun. 16, 2018, 10:06 am

>18 christina_reads: Thanks, Christina!
>19 rabbitprincess: Thanks, rp! Still mulling ideas...
>20 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for the link, Judy. I'll check it out.

22MissWatson
Jun. 17, 2018, 9:44 am

Something else

I have finally tackled The Colosseum which I bought a few years back. A very useful introduction to the history of the building.

23MissWatson
Jun. 18, 2018, 4:04 am

RandomCAT

Mal Aria is narrated by a mosquito. It has stung a young woman and is watching while the doctors fail to find out that she is suffering from malaria. There is a bit of history too, as the insect tells how the cycle of transmission was discovered. It is a short book and won several prizes when it was published but I didn't really see why. The observations about the diagnostic shortcomings felt horribly true.

24MissWatson
Jun. 19, 2018, 9:47 am

Popsugar Challenge: a novel based on a real person

Dichterleben by Ludwig Tieck is actally not a novel, but two novellas, both about William Shakespeare and what it means to be a writer for the theatre. Together with the even shorter story Das Fest zu Kenelworth it covers three stages in his career: his childhood, his first writing attempts in London, and the relationship with the Earl of Southampton. In the first part we meet Christopher Marlowe and Henry Greene, and Will is not named until the final pages, it is more about the state of poetry and theatre in general. The second also shows him at some sort of turning point in his writing, as far as it could be put in chronological order at the time (we're talking 1825 here).
Tieck is famous for popularising Shakespeare in Germany, and this is pure hero worship. Very wordy too, and hard to swallow nowadays.

25MissWatson
Jun. 21, 2018, 3:23 am

ColourCAT

I picked up Lila because Marilynne Robinson was mentioned somewhere as a favourite author of Barack Obama and I had never heard of her. It also happens that Lila, although it is a name here of course, is the German word for purple, and there was little else in my TBR that fit for this CAT.
Turns out this is a wonderful book and and a great writer. I had a little trouble first putting this in time and place, but the tale sucks you in gently. It reminded me of a novel by Pearl S Buck which I read ages ago, also set in such rural isolation, where the inner life of the main character was also the main attraction of the book.

26MissWatson
Jun. 21, 2018, 11:15 am

Herd instinct

Jacques Offenbach und das Paris seiner Zeit was mentioned recently in an article about Siegfried Kracauer, and as I was reading a book set in Paris I was instantly interested.

27MissWatson
Jun. 21, 2018, 11:17 am

Well, I'm signing off for my vacation. I'll be offline for two weeks. Au revoir en juillet!

28lkernagh
Jun. 21, 2018, 1:48 pm

>25 MissWatson: - I am also a big fan of Marilynne Robinson's books! While I enjoyed Lila my favorite is Home, with Gilead in very close second place.

29christina_reads
Jun. 21, 2018, 3:34 pm

>27 MissWatson: Enjoy your vacation!

30Helenliz
Jun. 21, 2018, 3:53 pm

>27 MissWatson: Happy holidays!

31hailelib
Jun. 21, 2018, 9:49 pm

Have a good time!

32VivienneR
Jun. 23, 2018, 1:14 pm

Have a good holiday. I hope it is shared with some good reading!

33DeltaQueen50
Jun. 23, 2018, 5:58 pm

Enjoy your holiday!

34MissWatson
Jul. 10, 2018, 5:58 am

>29 christina_reads: >30 Helenliz: >31 hailelib: >32 VivienneR: >33 DeltaQueen50: Thank you ladies! We had lovely weather, lots of fun, did much sightseeing and little reading. Now I'm trying to catch up with LT...

35Helenliz
Jul. 10, 2018, 3:54 pm

>34 MissWatson: Welcome back. Catching up sometimes seems to take longer than being away in the first place!

36MissWatson
Jul. 11, 2018, 4:43 am

>35 Helenliz: So true! I think I'm up-to-date with threads now, and I have entered all the books I bought (museum shops are such a dangerous invention). I still need to sort the photos and select the best.

37MissWatson
Jul. 11, 2018, 4:51 am

Something else

Well, I didn't expect to read a lot while travelling, and I guessed right. Just an ebook from my Kobo: A house of pomegranates by Oscar Wilde, which contains four of his fairy tales. They are quite sad, but written in luscious style.

38MissWatson
Jul. 11, 2018, 4:55 am

Popsugar Challenge: a book you borrowed

It's bad enough that I bought quite a few books on my holiday. But I also borrowed two from my sister! The first one is Der tödliche Tanz des Monsieur Bernard, a cozy set in Paris, written by a German who lived there for a few years. The plot is less important than the glimpses we get at life in Paris as seen through the eyes of the gardienne of an 18th century mansion. Not remarkable, but written much better than other offerings in this genre.

39MissWatson
Jul. 12, 2018, 3:08 am

Something else

Arsène Lupin – L'aiguille creuse is one of my recent acquisitions, one of Leblanc's mystery novels retold as a graphic novel. It features a prominent rock formation off the Normandy coast at Etretat, which is where and why I bought it. It is a mystery with a twist and I am tempted to seek out the books.
I am quite sure that this was also an episode in the French TV series about Arsène Lupin that I watched in my youth, but since I had no memory of it, I won't count it for the Popsugar challenge.

40MissWatson
Jul. 12, 2018, 3:13 am

Ah yes, those acquisitions. I have decided to give myself dispensation, because it was a holiday, and not to count them. Most of them were non-fiction booklets about Normandy history, but I also spontaneously acquired a few novels just on the strength of the blurb, such as:

Promesse de l'aube by Romain Gary
Churchill m'a menti by Caroline Grimm
Au revoir là-haut by Pierre Lemaitre
La frontière by Maurice Leblanc
La confrérie des chasseurs de livres by Raphaël Jerusalmy

and two books from the Nicolas Le Floch series.

41MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jul. 19, 2018, 7:28 am

MysteryCAT / Popsugar challenge: a book with a time of day in the title

I finished an audiobook which fits for the August MsyteryCAT: Durch Nacht und Wind. German poets Goethe and Schiller solve a murder in Weimar, related by Schiller. The audioversion lacks the fun of seeing the old-fashioned spelling the author employs. I also found the voice of the narrator a little grating, he spoke too fast and put too much excitement into his sentences. Otherwise, quite fun, especially the episode where they borrow a balloon from the Montgolfiers without permission. I would have liked to see some consequences, though, the author just breezed over it.

ETA: I belatedly realised I could use this for the Popsugar challenge: "Nacht" is night in English.

42MissWatson
Jul. 16, 2018, 4:36 am

Herd instinct

I went to the mall on Saturday and browsed in the bookstore and walked home with two new books: Artemis and Mythos. But I didn't buy at least five others, though sorely tempted, so I'm rather pleased with myself.

43MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jul. 19, 2018, 7:28 am

ColourCAT / MysteryCAT / Popsugar: a book with an animal in the title / discards

Sunday was very quiet and relaxed and I finished Even dogs in the wild, a Rebus mystery with a shocking pink cover, while waiting for my sister to arrive. I'm not sure how many more books I will manage this month, festival season has started and we're going to four concerts this week. Tonight it's Sir András Schiff playing Schumann, and I do hope the heat won't be too much for him. The venue is a bit superannuated...

44DeltaQueen50
Jul. 16, 2018, 12:14 pm

Coming out of a bookstore with 2 books rather than the 6 or seven that you wanted to buy is indeed a good reason for a pat on the back! Congrats.

45MissWatson
Jul. 17, 2018, 2:54 am

>44 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! I know you kindred spirits would appreciate the willpower required.

46rabbitprincess
Jul. 17, 2018, 7:18 am

I agree with Judy! That is amazing willpower on your part to leave books behind :)

47MissWatson
Jul. 17, 2018, 7:30 am

>46 rabbitprincess: I had to be very stern and remind myself that I used up my book-buying budget for July. Sometimes it works.

48MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Jul. 19, 2018, 7:29 am

Something different / Popsugar challenge: a book set at sea

My sister bought two children's books for her library and we both read them last night: Mein kleiner Hund Mister und die Katze im Haus is about a man and his conversations with his dog, sometimes a bit odd. The other is Ahoi, Kater Nelson! about a small black tomcat who sneaks aboard a sailing ship and has adventures at sea.

edited for touchstone

49-Eva-
Jul. 21, 2018, 7:35 pm

Happy new thread! Well done on your restraint at the bookstore - I recently displayed something similar, but that was due to NOT checking any luggage and having to fit my purchases in my carry-on. :)

50MissWatson
Jul. 24, 2018, 4:11 am

>49 -Eva-: Ah, the limits of luggage!

51MissWatson
Jul. 24, 2018, 4:21 am

Something different

On the long drive to Dalheim (made longer by snarled-up holiday traffic) we listened to a very funny audiobook: Die Känguru-Chroniken read by the author himself. He did this very well, the whole concept of a talking cangaroo moving in with a Berlin comedian would not have worked half as well in print.
We reached Kloster Dalheim in time for the play: Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing reworked as a summer musical for two actors and two musicians, which was amazing fun. I missed their version of a Midsummer Night's Dream last year, and I do hope they will repeat this some time. Dalheim is a former monastery, refurbished as a museum, where they have a small culture festival in the summer. My sister lives close by, which is how we got wind of it.
And I finished the evening with another children's book: Luis & ich und der Ferienmops, where Carlotta tells about life in the new family home. Money is tight, so she and her brother Luis decide to earn some holiday money walking the neighbour's dog. Very nice illustrations, too.

And now I'm back in Kiel, hoping to catch up with my category reading.

52MissWatson
Jul. 26, 2018, 5:22 am

RandomCAT

Altes Land features two women, Vera who belongs to the generation of my mother, and her niece Anne, who could have been my daughter. Vera has inherited an old farm house in the fruit growing region south of Hamburg known as "Altes Land" where she has lived since she arrived with a refugee treck from East Prussia. Her niece moves in with her on separating from her partner, trying to get a grip on her life. Their lives are told in short episodes, things from the past crop up, and they finally come to some sort of arrangement.
This was a surprise hit in Germany a few years ago, and I can see why. There are some snarky swipes at well-heeled Hamburgers invading the countryside, buying up old farms and playing at countrylife. The author shows little patience with this kind of worldview. Her description of farmers' lives and how they have changed rings true.

53MissWatson
Jul. 27, 2018, 5:40 am

Something different

Schwarze Flagge Rote Segel was a run-of-the-mill naval yarn set in the Caribbean, with a young Royal Navy Lieutenant fighting pirates, spies and smugglers working for the American Revolutionaries in 1776, which adds nothing new to the genre, even if it was written by a German.

54MissWatson
Jul. 27, 2018, 5:43 am

Herd instinct

I have almost reached my goal of 100 books, so I thought I could allow myself an acquisition, namely the second Sam Wyndham novel A necessary evil. Unfortunately, I also stepped into the charity shop and found a few others. But what else can you do in this heat but sit and read?

55DeltaQueen50
Jul. 27, 2018, 12:47 pm

Congratulations on reaching your reading goal - and I agree with you about reading is about all one can do in the heat!

56rabbitprincess
Jul. 27, 2018, 6:24 pm

>54 MissWatson: I fully endorse sitting and reading as the only way to deal with the heat.

57MissWatson
Jul. 28, 2018, 10:21 am

>55 DeltaQueen50: >56 rabbitprincess: Thanks, ladies. It feels like an eternity since we've had proper rain.

58MissWatson
Jul. 29, 2018, 6:45 am

Bingo / Popsugar: a book published in 2018 / discards

I picked up Strandgut because it is set in Normandy, Deauville, to be exact. Nicolas Guerlain, bodyguard to a French minister, makes a bad mistake and is sent off to Deauville, to liaise with local police for the upcoming G8 summit set to take place there. Immediately on his arrival, he finds a human hand on the beach...

Unlike many mysteries set in favourite holiday destinations, this was actually well written and shows lots of local knowledge (the author is half French) and has an unusual protagonist and plot. The subplot, a revenge for something that took place in 1967, was a bit too much, though, sort of gilding the lily. And the backstory about Nicolas' vanished girlfriend ended on a cliffhanger, so I've got to read the next book, too. But it's not unusual enough to keep or re-read, so off to a new home it goes.

59MissWatson
Jul. 29, 2018, 6:47 am

And we have had rain, at last! A heavy thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, with some very heavy showers in some regions. It cooled down enough to get a proper night's sleep.

60MissWatson
Jul. 30, 2018, 4:13 am

Something different / discards

Harte Männer Schwere See is the third instalment in the adventures of Lt William Turner, RN. This time he's ordered to intercept a French frigate carrying General von Steuben to North America. Lots of the action is set on land, and some of it could have easily been excised, such as a French sailor's trek back to his Acadian family. I suppose he put it in to give names and destinies to the losers of the American Revolution.

61MissWatson
Aug. 1, 2018, 5:41 am

MysteryCAT

And on the last day of July I finished another one for the police procedurals, a very early Maigret: Monsieur Gallet décédé where he investigates a death in Sancerre. It is amazing how little he changes over the years, he's already 45 years old in this, big and happily married. I was surprised to learn that June is a month where the entire nation is on holidays, today the season starts on July 14. And some modern forensics is supplied by a young man who attempts to decipher letters burnt in the chimney.

62MissWatson
Aug. 1, 2018, 5:49 am

Saved from shredding

I was waiting at the bus stop with a few minutes to spare, and to escape the heat I entered the charity bookshop with predictable results: I found The woman in black and Marina. It's high time this weather changes!
And in the mail I had Der Pirat Napoleons, a fictional account of the exploits of Robert Surcouf, which I instantly devoured, so at least that one doesn't add to the TBR.

63MissWatson
Aug. 1, 2018, 6:10 am

My July reading has been thrown out of whack by the vacation, and we still have tow weekends planned with concerts, so August may be similarly difficult for some of the CATs. But at least I enjoyed most of what I read, and the best of the lot was definitely Altes Land.

64MissWatson
Aug. 3, 2018, 5:40 am

Oh, shiny!

August starts off badly as regards acquisitions. I bought the second in the Normandy series, Küstenstrich. Reigen des Todes caught my eye because of the striking cover, it shows a detail of Klimt's Beethovenfries. Luckily, it also fits the MysteryCAT, as it is set in 1906 Vienna. And I found those intriguing historical fiction books about twin brothers ending up in opposite navies...

65MissWatson
Aug. 3, 2018, 5:44 am

Bingo: Money in the title

Sitting on the balcony late at night in the dark to cool off means I have to read books on my Kobo. I just finished the first part of Émile Gaboriau's Other people's money, which is set in 1872 Paris. Monsieur Favoral is arrested for fraud and his family fret what is to become of them. Interesting look at financial speculation, the instruments may have changed, people's greed has not.

66MissWatson
Aug. 5, 2018, 12:02 pm

ColourCAT / Bingo: published more than 100 years ago / Popsugar: antihero or villain

I picked up The picture of Dorian Gray for the ColourCAT and find that I disliked the main character enough to use him for the antihero or villain of the Popsugar challenge. The most remarkable thing about the book, however, is that it makes an interesting companion read to my lunchtime book, Mademoiselle de Maupin. It covers similar ground, namely the preoccupations and narcissism of a young aestete with too much money to spend. There are passages that strongly reminded me of Gautier's book with its endless descriptions of flowers, clothes and jewelries, and there is sexual ambiguity in both. I think Ackroyd dismisses this influence too easily in his introduction, especially as Gautier is quoted twice. Wilde is a much better writer, though, and I came across quite a few well-known quotes.

67MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 7, 2018, 1:18 pm

Bingo: a book with more than 500 pages

And I have finished my lunchtime book, too, Mademoiselle de Maupin, digitised by the Bibliothèque nationale from a bibliophile edition that ran to 629 pages. It felt twice as long as that, because of the Chevalier d'Albert's extremely wordy letters, endless descriptions of his fantasies. Most of them insufferably conceited, narcissist, self-absorbed and somehow puerile, as if he were still in puberty. There were times when I wondered why I stuck with this. I was rewarded with a surprise ending from a very unusual heroine.

ETC

68MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 13, 2018, 5:20 am

The heatwave has broken at long last and we got rain on our trip to Lübeck. We heard a great concert, though, so it was worth the wet umbrellas. The Artemis Quartet, playing Bartok, Brahms and Beethoven.
And my sister brought some books she highly recommended. Turns out that Qualityland has just been awarded the German Science Fiction Prize, so that's an added incentive. All I need now is a knitting project to occupy my hands while I listen.

ETA

69MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 15, 2018, 3:45 am

Bingo: humorous book

While driving to our concerts, we listened to a short audio book, in which Frau Freitag, who normally writes about her adventures in a Berlin comprehensive school, decides to get a driving licence, aged fifty: Man lernt nie aus, Frau Freitag Which is not an easy endeavour if you have to learn how to drive on Berlin streets. Hilarious, and at the end she still hasn't decided whether to buy a car or not. Public transport is so much more comfortable for getting around in a city, and much less stressful.

ETC

70MissWatson
Aug. 15, 2018, 3:55 am

SFFKit: makes you laugh

It turns out that QualityLand fits perfectly for this month's SFFKit. It is set in the near future, Germany has been re-branded as QualityLand and everything we fear about the internet giants, social media and politics has come true: TheShop knows what you want before you know it and drops it off by drone without orders, people get rated into one of 100 levels and your rating decides what services are offered to you, an android is running for president etc. Basically, it is the present just a little exaggerated, and whenever you laugh it is a hollow laugh because you can easily see it coming true. Dark satire. It has just been awarded the German Science Fiction Prize, and it is well deserved.

And this is the 100th book I've read this year. Another goal achieved, yay.

71MissWatson
Aug. 15, 2018, 2:44 pm

Herd instinct

I was looking for something the other day and found a newspaper cutting with a review for Venedig, Wien und die Osmanen. Ten years old, so I figured there could be used copies available. Yep, found one in mint condition. If only I can find the time to read it soon!

72MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 17, 2018, 2:45 am

RandomCAT

Among the many books I downloaded from OpenLibrary is Die Molkenkur where a retired Army officer is sent to Switzerland by his doctor to take a cure. The latest medical fad is drinking whey, which he duly does. He is accompanied by his niece and her maid, they explore the countryside, make excursions into the mountains and meet new people. At the end of the book the maid is married and the niece engaged. Apparently it was a beststeller in 1812 when it was first published, and it is refreshingly realistic and un-Gothic. The first part consists entirely of letters written by the Colonel to his friends back home, and he often reminded me of the old men in Fontane's novels.

edited for touchstone

73MissWatson
Aug. 17, 2018, 2:49 am

MysteryCAT / Popsugar: next book in a series

I have finished L'homme au ventre de plomb, the second book in the Nicolas Le Floch series. A very gruesome death, much political intrigue. The sleuthing ended rather abruptly, Le Floch says he needs one more week to make his case, and in the next chapter we're a fortnight later and he reports to his boss all that he found out, summarising what went on before. But this is a minor quibble. A very enjoyable book.

74MissWatson
Aug. 21, 2018, 4:29 pm

Group reads

I have finished Boule de suif et autres nouvelles, a collection of stories by Guy de Maupassant. This was my first encounter with Maupassant and I'm glad we didn't read him in school. I'm sure I would have hated the title novella back then, and some of the stories are very hard to take. They all share a rather bleak, pessimist outlook on life. Well written, though.

75MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 24, 2018, 12:23 pm

Bingo, Popsugar: LGBTQ protagonist

Oh, the wonders of the internet! I was intrigued enough by Gautier's Mademoiselle Maupin to look a book on the real person and I found one. A very obscure title by some French gentleman written in 1904, so no touchstone yet: La Maupin – Sa vie, ses duels, ses aventures.
Given the dearth of primary sources, it contains much speculation. But also lots of detail about French opera at the time, where she was cast in some premieres, such as Campra's Tancrède. I was amused to learn that Maître d'armes was a skilled trade in the times of Louis XIV, you had to serve an apprenticeship and take an examination at the end.

76MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 24, 2018, 12:23 pm

Herd instinct

I saw this reviewed in the Economist and couldn't resist the impulse to buy: Empress : the astonishing reign of Nur Jahan.

77MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 25, 2018, 8:28 am

MysteryCAT

I have finished A red herring without mustard with delightfully precocious Flavia.

edited for touchstone

78MissWatson
Aug. 26, 2018, 2:15 pm

Something different

I finished Der Weg zurück, which shows us a group of young men returning from the front after the armistice in November 1918 and trying to find a place in civilian life. Harrowing.

79MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 27, 2018, 2:44 am

MysteryCAT

I also finished the second part of Gaboriau's L'argent des autres which is both a mystery, as the Marquis de Trégars tries to find the men who swindled his father out of his fortune, as well as social comment on the greed and rapacity of stock traders and financial investors. Pretty much like today, actually.

ETC

80MissWatson
Aug. 29, 2018, 2:58 am

Bingo: 2017 purchase / Popsugar: made into a movie you've already seen

I have finished The remains of the day and I feel somewhat baffled. I had only vague memories of Anthony Hopkins treading sedately through a country house without the slightest awareness of other people's emotions. I was surprised to find this written as a first person narrative. Who exactly is this monologue addressed to? When and where does Stevens write it down? And the stilted prose requires concentration, this was not a quick read. The inflationary use of "one" made him sound like a caricature aping his betters. Not to mention the soul-crushing suppression of all emotion, this was not an easy read. So much is left unspoken and vague. A book I need to re-read at some time.

81MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Aug. 29, 2018, 6:07 am

group reads: year-long short story collections

I read Menschen im Krieg during lunch breaks, a collection of six novellas about the First World War. The words conjure up images of trench warfare in Flanders and Picardy, but these hail from the opposite end of the continent, written by an Austrian, and they centre on the battlefields of the Isonzo and Russia. They have different protagonists, most of them middle-aged officers or invalids, but what they share is the furious, feverish rage in which they denounce the politicians and generals praising the war, and the women who let their men march off without protest. His descriptions of shell-shocked veterans are some of the most vivid and yet clinical I've ever read.

Not an ideal book for lunch, as the subject matter is bound to spoil your appetite.

82MissWatson
Aug. 30, 2018, 3:19 am

MysteryCAT / Bingo: read a CAT

Die Affäre Carambol is a loan from my sister and needs to be returned. Luckily it was a quick read: Goethe and Schiller pay a visit to Goethe's mother in Frankfurt and get roped in to investigate the death of two city councillors. The French are bleeding the city dry with contributions, and the two poets foil an attempt at grain racketeering. Some nice local colour, but I found the relationship between the two men not entirely convincing.

83MissWatson
Aug. 31, 2018, 6:55 am

ColourCAT / Bingo: 1001 list

And on the last day of August I also finished Agnes Grey. A little pedestrian, but enjoyable nonetheless. (Touchstones not working)

84MissWatson
Sept. 1, 2018, 4:45 pm

MysteryCAT

Also finished on the last day of August: Reigen des Todes. This is set in 1908 Vienna and should not be read on an empty stomach: Inspector Nechyba likes his food, and there's lots of delicious Viennese meals, not to mention the coffee in the coffee-houses. The pace of the mystery is leisurely, there's lots of other events going on, among them the 60th anniversary of Franz Josef's reign. Great local colour, and I'll be on the lookout for the other books in the series.

85MissWatson
Sept. 1, 2018, 4:47 pm

So, time for the August roundup. Lots of different books, and the best were the least comfortable: books about the First World War by Erich Maria Remarque and Andreas Latzko, and the novellas by Maupassant. All of them very powerful writers.

86MissWatson
Sept. 1, 2018, 4:52 pm

Saved from shredding

The new month started off badly, acquisition-wise. The Hugendubel branch in one of our malls had a very different selection of books in their remainders bin than my usual branch, so I got carried away and brought home six new books, four of them published by Aufbau (the former GDR's flagship publisher). If only they sold the time to read them!

87rabbitprincess
Sept. 1, 2018, 5:41 pm

>86 MissWatson: Agreed! Glad to hear you found some interesting titles.

88MissWatson
Sept. 2, 2018, 10:21 am

>87 rabbitprincess: Thanks, RP! Most of them are of the "I always wanted to read this" variety which means they will probably spend some time on the shelf.

89MissWatson
Sept. 2, 2018, 10:32 am

Bingo:something in the sky / Popsugar: local author

And the first book from my recent haul is finished: Luftschiff by Stefan aus dem Siepen, who was born in Essen where I lived in my youth for two years. I'm not sure how to classify this: a middle-ranking official takes a holiday and travels to America in the latest and biggest airship. The journey should last only three days, but somehow the ship veers off-course and they continue flying...there's no explanation, and the protagonist doesn't even seem to care. He's quite content to spend his days doing nothing, in this strange kind of limbo. As a reader I wonder how they manage to feed the passengers over such a long time when space is at a premium and they must strictly minimise weight. Weird, but in a good way.

90DeltaQueen50
Sept. 2, 2018, 10:55 pm

>86 MissWatson: If only they sold the time to read them! If you ever find a way to buy this, let me know! ;)

91MissWatson
Sept. 3, 2018, 2:48 am

92MissWatson
Sept. 3, 2018, 2:55 am

MysteryCAT

I took a short break from my chunkster with Woman in the dark, Dashiell Hammett's penultimate book. A bit too short, the characters didn't have time to come into their own.

I spent half of Sunday browsing our monthly fleamarket and came away with two very big books: Alexander der Grosse and Die Kinder der Finsternis, so I didn't make much headway with Die Vollendung des Königs Henri IV. I have a strong feeling I won't like the d'Estrées woman. And it is increasingly difficult to keep the political players straight.

93MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 5, 2018, 4:03 am

Something different

Spent my lunchtime reading a short novella by Gina Kaus: Der Aufstieg. It was her first published work and won a prestigious award. This is a very strange subject for a young woman: the narrator is a young man, a penniless writer, who returns to his old haunts on the eve of his wedding day and spends the night reminiscing about how he got where he now is: the future husband of a high society girl he doesn't love. He is a very unsympathetic person, vain, arrogant, greedy. I can't help wondering if he is based on other famous social climbers. Time to read Bel-Ami?

edited for touchstone

94MissWatson
Sept. 9, 2018, 5:09 am

Bingo: X in the title / discards

I picked up a western I've owned for decades, Zwei Männer aus Texas, and I'm afraid I've grown out of this genre. The blow-by-blow accounts of the fistfights were tedious, and the clunky German translation doesn't help.

95MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 10, 2018, 3:32 am

ColourCAT / discards

One more western to fit the ColourCAT: Silver Rock by Luke Short. I was surprised to find this takes place shortly after the First World War, the main character is a veteran. Otherwise, a typical western story about an outsider trying to set up a mine and overcoming local vested interests. Just with cars and telephones tacked on.

ETA

96MissWatson
Sept. 11, 2018, 12:18 pm

Saved from shredding

It was raining, so I stepped into the charity bookstore and came away with two books. I took pity on À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs and Don Gesualdo. If the rainy weather continues, I may even get around to reading them.

97MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 14, 2018, 4:08 am

Popsugar: female author with male pseudonym

I finished another lunchtime book, Wenn's nur schon Winter wär'! by Ossip Schubin, which is the pseudonym of Aloisia Kirschner. One of my guilty pleasures, a late 19th century romance set among the Austrian aristocracy in Bohemia.

edited for touchstone

98MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 14, 2018, 4:11 am

MysteryCAT / Bingo: longtime TBR / discards

I've owned The Asphalt Jungle for decades and if I've read it before I do not remember it. I do remember the movie, one of the seminal examples of noir, and it is much better than the book. Compared to other books in the genre it is almost tame, and there are far too many exclamation marks.

ETA

99MissWatson
Sept. 15, 2018, 9:34 am

Herd instinct

Two new books: Sumerki because the Glukhovsky's latest book has just been translated and from the reviews he sounded like an interesting author, and Kieler Dämmerung because I want to know more about Kiel before I go to see the exhibition about the sailors' uprising. Here's hoping I get around to it soon.

100MissWatson
Sept. 16, 2018, 12:31 pm

Group reads

I felt the need to know more about events during Henri IV's lifetime, so I picked up a biography I bought in Normandy: Henri IV – un roi français. It's very short, hence very condensed, but it provided some of the information I miss in Heinrich Mann's book. Gallo quotes extensively from the papers of Sully and Henri, I assume, he fails to list his sources. However, despite this failing it is a very readable account. The most interesting part was the first, which is told from the perspective of his murderer, Ravaillac, probably taken from his interrogation transcripts. Now back to Mann's version...

101MissWatson
Sept. 18, 2018, 3:17 am

SFFKit / Bingo: a number in the title

I have finished Erzählungen aus 1001 Nacht which I bought at a fleamarket because of the illustrator, Ruth Koser-Michaëls. Childhood memories, so to speak, she was the illustrator of our Grimm's fairy tale book, and she has worked on other fairy tale collections.
These are aimed at young readers, so the tales selected here are of the non-erotic kind. Some are well-known, like Sindbad, Ali Baba and the 40 thieves and Aladdin, others less so. The author does a very good job of adapting them to his readership, making the language modern but not too modern, and without dumbing down the convoluted sentences. Very enjoyable for adults, too.

102MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 19, 2018, 4:35 am

Something different

I also finished a short book by Julius Stinde, Martinhagen, a slightly moral tale about a young governess taking up her first job on a farmstead in Schleswig-Holstein. She's a spoiled little thing choosing her profession because it is fashionable, and she has to learn a few lessons herself.

edited for touchstone

103MissWatson
Sept. 18, 2018, 7:27 am

September RandomCAT

By accident I came across Rudolfs Blaumanis who shares my birthday (not year) and because I have, to my knowledge, never read something from Latvia before, I downloaded one of his novellas. It is set on one of the huge Baltic estates with lots of personnel and rigid hierarchies. The main characters are Christine, a maid, who is in love with Edgar the groom. Her mother strongly opposes him because he is a drunkard and she herself had a miserable life with Christine's father who also drank.
This is a fascinating glimpse into a vanished world. However, there are so many people running around on this estate that I wasn't always able to identify them, which could be sloppy writing or sloppy translating – the ebook was produced from a translation made in the GDR in 1953. According to Wikipedia, Blaumanis wrote first in German, later in Latvian, but did his own translation into German. I'm intrigued enough to go hunting for more.

104MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 21, 2018, 4:00 am

RandomCAT / ColourCAT / Bingo: fits 2 CATs / discards

Well, Die goldenen Schuhe fills quite a few slots. Vicki Baum was a very popular author in the first half of the 20th century, and this was her last book, as far as I can find out. It was published two years before her death.
The theme here is art, in the form of ballet dancing, and how to combine it with married life. And there's a lot about being at home anywhere and nowhere. The main character is at the high point of her career and has gone from Vienna all over the world with her various companies. The countries and the audiences vary, but the closed world of ballet is the same everywhere.

Intriguingly, I have been unable to find out if she wrote this in German or English, no cataloguing record names a translator for either version. I think she wrote both versions, but it would be fascinating to know how she did this: parallel, or did she stick to one language and then do her own translation?
Her German struck me as a little rusty, and the flavour is still Austrian, although she spent much time in Germany. She actually lived in Kiel in 1916/1917 and one of her sons was born here. But she left for America when Hollywood called after the success of Menschen im Hotel, just in time before the Nazis seized power. Her autobiography will be re-issued next month, and I think I'll pick it up.

ETC

105MissWatson
Sept. 25, 2018, 3:43 am

ColourCAT / group reads

I made another attempt to get to grips with French history and how France got into the mess she is in when Henri IV is crowned by reading Le beau XVI siècle. This is a volume of potted biographies of the queens of the Valois kings, starting with Anne de Bretagne. She also figures on the cover wearing a spectacular gown of gold cloth, which is why I'm counting this for the ColourCAT. The book ends with the death of Henri II, when Catherine de Médicis seizes the reins of power. The next volume is already ligned up which will concentrate on the Wars of religion and Catherine's rule, and Henri IV will show up there.

However, this book focuses on the queens, and the author handles her subject deftly. She concentrates on the queens and a few members of the family, and the main events shaping the lives of these women. Usually it is difficult to tell these people apart, since they all share a handful of names, but she gives them individuality, which is no mean feat. She explicitly says that her book is not aimed at historians, but lay readers, so no footnotes. I think this is a pity. You can always ignore them while reading, but I believe many readers would have liked to know whom she quotes.

106MissWatson
Sept. 26, 2018, 3:40 am

MysteryCAT

Another short one was Point Blank by Richard Stark, and although it doesn't feature a private eye, mysteries don't come much more hardboiled than this. Very high body count, well written, and it would have been a five star read if it had not been for the starting point. I found Lynn's betrayal of her husband entirely unconvincing. All the women in this book get a raw deal which is par for the course at the time, but still annoying. I prefer the movie.

107MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Sept. 26, 2018, 10:02 am

RandomCAT

Standing in front of my shelves I didn't feel really drawn to EM Forster, who was born on my birthday, so I turned to Maria Edgeworth instead and finished an ebook during lunch breaks. Ormond is the story of a young orphan who spends time in two very different households, and we follow his progress from a wild, untamed youth to a serious young husband. A bit moral and edifying, set in the middle of the 18th century in Ireland and Paris, a time she did not know from her own experience, having been born in 1767.

108MissWatson
Sept. 27, 2018, 2:49 am

Herd instinct

I succumbed to the lure of new books again, because Henri IV : Machtmensch und Libertin caught my eye and fits perfectly with my read of Heinrich Mann's voluminous book about him. I can't wait to start on The empire of ashes, the final book in Anthony Ryan's dragon trilogy but have told myself to do some serious reading first. And I learned that the city of Vienna awards a prize named for Leo Perutz, an author I admire very much, so I went to look which books have won this prize so far, and Der zweite Reiter was the one that jumped out at me.

109MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Okt. 3, 2018, 12:07 pm

Group reads / discards

And I have finished Henri IV : Machtmensch und Libertin. This was rather short at 218 pages and basically compiled from recent (at the time of writing, which was 2010) French biographies. There are no new stunning revelations, and I'm still on the fence whether to keep this or not. There are some ridiculous spelling mistakes and a rather convoluted style, at times it was difficult to work out to whom he refers. He chose to start his book with Henri's assassination, just like Max Gallo, which I found a curious coincidence.

ETA: I gave the book to my sister for her library. Should I ever feel the urge to re-read, I know where to find it.

110MissWatson
Okt. 3, 2018, 12:27 pm

I just finished a very long weekend+national holiday with my sister, so I have no reading to report. But we had fun going to the autumn market at the local farmhouse museum, and a fleamarket, and generally spending time together. The weather was almost perfect, too, crisp, but no rain on Sunday and Monday for our outdoor activities. And she brought books which I need to return soon...

111MissWatson
Okt. 4, 2018, 7:38 am

Something different

Eduard von Keyserling died one hundred years ago, so I picked one of this novellas for a quick read: Bunte Herzen. His descriptions of gardens and nature are incredibly atmospheric, you can smell the flowers.

112DeltaQueen50
Okt. 4, 2018, 11:52 am

>110 MissWatson: Sounds like a lovely weekend. My husband and I took a drive yesterday to check out the fall colors, we drove up the Fraser Valley from Vancouver on one side of the river and came back down on the other. We stopped for a short walk and enjoyed scuffing along through the fallen leaves.

113lkernagh
Okt. 4, 2018, 10:25 pm

>110 MissWatson: - Fall/ Autumn is my favorite season. Sounds like you and your sister took full advantage of the offerings at hand. Wonderful weekend.

114MissWatson
Okt. 5, 2018, 2:18 am

>112 DeltaQueen50: >113 lkernagh: Hi, Judy and Lori! Thanks, we had a wonderful time indeed. The leaves haven't really turned colour yet, but the hazelnuts and beechnuts are falling and from my office window I can see squirrels chasing after them...

115MissWatson
Okt. 6, 2018, 12:28 pm

Something different

My sister gave me Mein wundervoller Garten where a Berlin woman moves to the outskirts and has to take care of a garden for the first time. She is much more interested in the wildlife passing through, especially the birds. Enjoyable, but not going to leave a lasting impression.

116MissWatson
Okt. 7, 2018, 2:36 pm

Herd instinct

I ran afoul of a used book store again and came away with The son, which was favourably reviewed a while back, and Der stumme Tod. I missed the latest TV event, Babylon Berlin, because of my sister's visit and decided I could just as well read the books on which it is based. Now I need to find the first in the series...

117MissWatson
Okt. 8, 2018, 4:30 am

ColourCAT / discards

Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter has an orange cover which prompted me to read it. It is a non-fiction history book about Italy in the Middle Ages and I found it less than satisfactory. Lots of typos, one embarrassing mistake (where she confuses konzertant and konzertiert), and she relies far too much on people being familiar with the times and the people. Time to pass it on.

118MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Okt. 15, 2018, 5:32 am

RandomCAT / Bingo: rank in title / group reads

And I have finished Die Vollendung des Königs Henri IV, all 981 pages of it and feel like I need something lightweight and funny.

edited for touchstone

119MissWatson
Okt. 16, 2018, 4:02 am

MysteryCAT

I turned to something completely different with a re-read of Charlie M after nearly forty years. It's the Cold War, MI6 has seen a major reshuffle after some disastrous event, and Charlie Muffin finds himself relegated to the lower ranks despite having brought down a major Soviet spy ring. And now an even bigger fish looms: a KGB general is making overtures to defect. Cue rivalries between the Brits and the US, inflated egos, backstabbings, secret meetings in Eastern Europe, and a very clever man playing two ends against the middle.

120MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Okt. 20, 2018, 8:41 am

Herd instinct

We're running out of superlatives for the weather we're having. Last Saturday I walked around Hamburg in a shortsleeved t-shirt, browsing for books, and spent Sunday more or less all day on the balcony in the sun. The temperatures have finally dropped, but it's still sunny and pleasant outside. Anyway, I forgot to mention that a few books came home with me last weekend: Das fahle Pferd, La fortune des Rougon, L'argent and Les dossiers de l'agence O. I had started on the first Zola in a downloaded PDF, but I found an annotated folio edition for the amazing sum of 4€, so I caved in and bought the other one, too. I was surprised how easy it is to read.
And today I acquired a pristine copy of Empire : How Britain made the modern world on my bookmooching site. So now I'll go and read.

edited for touchstone

121MissWatson
Okt. 21, 2018, 10:54 am

ColourCAT / MysteryCAT / discards

And I have finished The secret agent by Joseph Conrad. My copy is a Pocket Penguin in vivid orange, so it counts for the ColourCAT, too. But I can't see myself re-reading this, so I'll try to find a new home for it. I found the writing very stilted.

122MissWatson
Okt. 21, 2018, 10:55 am

ScaredyKIT / discards

The woman in black was a good read, although I do not really care for ghost stories. But the description of the marsh landscape was very atmospheric, I was instantly reminded of Rosemary Sutcliff and the Romney Marsh.

123DeltaQueen50
Okt. 21, 2018, 1:29 pm

>122 MissWatson: I remember The Woman in Black as quite a good ghost story, it's hard to find one that doesn't go too far over the top and become silly. Great atmosphere as you said.

124MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Okt. 22, 2018, 5:13 am

>123 DeltaQueen50: I wondered a little about the time this takes place, there's obviously electricity on the island, but how did they manage it for a single house on a remote island? A generator? And I really liked the way she wrote this, in plain yet evocative language.

ETC

125DeltaQueen50
Okt. 22, 2018, 12:53 pm

>124 MissWatson: I think I placed the timing in the early 1900's, but I don't think it was ever exactly stated.

126MissWatson
Okt. 24, 2018, 7:01 am

SFFKit

I finished Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke which is set in Prague in the early 17th century and has Rabbi Judah Löw doing magic, as well as many other strange episodes. The language is marvellous, he really captures the spirit of the times. We meet many historical figures: Emperor Rudolf II, Kepler, Wallenstein, Mordechai Meisl.

127MissWatson
Okt. 24, 2018, 7:37 am

Herd instinct

I also added Das schwarze Pferd by Boris Sawinkow to the pile, because this is the one where I actually read a review and it is now available in paperback.

128MissWatson
Okt. 26, 2018, 9:24 am

Something different

La Mare au diable was a very quick read, mostly dialogue, and showed that nostalgia for the better mores of bygone times and the simplicity of the rural life is not a recent phenomenon.

129MissWatson
Okt. 29, 2018, 7:41 am

MysteryCAT / Popsugar: a book about death or grief / discards

The night manager fell a bit short of expectations; I have no patience for men obsessing about other men's trophy girlfriends. However, one of Jonathan's women was dead, he blames himself, so it fills one of the Popsugar slots. All in all, a rather depressing read, because I believe this is much closer to real life than we care to think.

130MissWatson
Okt. 30, 2018, 7:48 am

Herd instinct

Time to 'fess up: during my trip to Hamburg I came across The masked city in the special offers bin and couldn't resist, so of course I also had to get the first book in the series, The invisible library. Not least because there's a prompt in the popsugar challenge. It is also shaping up to be a very entertaining read...

131christina_reads
Okt. 31, 2018, 5:09 pm

>130 MissWatson: I enjoyed The Invisible Library -- you've reminded me that I own the next two books and should really read them soon!

132MissWatson
Nov. 1, 2018, 3:56 am

>131 christina_reads: Yes, it is very enjoyable. And my copy of the second book has a vivid red colour, so it will work for the ColourCAT.

133MissWatson
Nov. 1, 2018, 4:45 am

Soooo...October was a middling month for reading, with two holidays there was more time spent on activities with other people. But I managed to read at least one book for every CAT and even the Kittens, and these were by far the best: The woman in black and Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke.

We're also back on winter time, and it gets dark at 6pm. Perfect for staying at home and reading.

134rabbitprincess
Nov. 1, 2018, 8:01 pm

I'm looking forward to going back to winter time this weekend!

135MissWatson
Nov. 4, 2018, 9:26 am

SFFKit / Bingo: new to you author / Popsugar: involves a library / discards

The invisible library fills quite a few slots in my categories, and an entertaining read it is. Not outstanding, however, I find Irene a little irritating, to be honest, so it will go to a new home.

136MissWatson
Nov. 6, 2018, 3:13 am

MysteryCAT / Popsugar: two authors / discards

I don't have many books that would qualify as cozy mysteries, so I picked up Übertrieben tot where two teachers play amateur detectives. Only this time around, they don't do much actual sleuthing. They stumble across the solution to a presumed suicide by sheer accident. Most of the book is taken up with their shenanigans on a farm in a godforsaken Brandenburg village where they have parked some of their most disruptive pupils, without the knowledge of their principal. Neither funny nor convincing.

137MissWatson
Nov. 6, 2018, 3:18 am

MysteryCAT / Popsugar: two authors / discards

I don't have a lot of books on my shelves that would qualify as cozies, so I picked Übertrieben tot which at least has two female amateur detectives. In real life, they are teachers at a Berlin comprehensive, and their daily work takes up a lot of room in this book. They don't do any active sleuthing, they just stumble across the solution in the course of their travails with some of their most disruptive students whom the have parked on a farm in some godforsaken Brandenburg village. The joint writing is a bit of a mess, it's not particularly funny, and

138MissWatson
Nov. 7, 2018, 3:59 am

ColourCAT

Die Naschmarkt-Morde has a beautiful cover with a detail from a Klimt painting, Danae, and shows a woman with vivid red hair.
This is the first in a series about a police officer in Vienna in the last years of the Habsburg monarchy, and if I had read this first I might not have continued with the series. We jump from person to person in small chapters and it takes a long time until the first murder happens, the investigation is rudimentary, and there's a huge gap between the killing of the second victim and the next scene. We have no idea how her co-worker, who is Inspector Nechyba's love interest, receives the news and reacts to it – the next time we see her she has a new assistant. This part of mystery writing is handled much better in the second book of the series.
However, I read this mainly for the atmosphere of old Vienna and for the food: Nechyba is a passionate amateur cook and we get descriptions of how to prepare classic k. u. k. cuisine.

139MissWatson
Nov. 9, 2018, 3:48 am

MysteryCAT

Work is a bit hectic at the moment, so I picked up Tod am Semmering hoping for a little fluff. Which is what I got, it's a nice cozy mystery about a retired teacher in post-WWI Austria. She gets tickets for a benefit tango lesson in a plush hotel and takes her landlord along, a snowstorm isolates the hotel and a murder happens. Miss Ernestine Kirsch jumps at the chance to play detective...
She reminded me a lot of Miss Marple as portrayed by Margaret Rutherford, always barging in, taking charge and dragging poor Mr Stringer along, but she solves the case. Not perfect, but nice.

140MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Nov. 14, 2018, 6:48 am

ColourCAT / RandomCAT / Bingo: involves travel

Der Kaffeedieb caught my eye at my BF's last weekend, and I borrowed it. The dustjacket shows a nice 17th century harbour, but the hardcover book has a dark red binding.
This is a truly gripping story, well researched and also very well written. Obediah Chalon is hired by the Dutch East India Company to steal coffee trees in Mocha from under the Turks' noses. He gathers a team of specialists, for which he travels around Europe, and then takes his team to the Near East. They succeed (as we know), but along the way we learn a lot of fascinating things about the 17th century and its politics. The time covers 1683 til 1693, England replaces the Stuart dynasty with a Dutchman, natural science plays a huge part, and cryptography is second nature to everyone because the secret service of Louis XIV reads all mail and sees conspiracies and spies everywhere. This was the most surprising part, I had no idea how closely the French monitored all correspondence. Hillenbrand's book on these services would surely be a good read.
Another pleasant surprise was that our hero does not ogle, grope or bed every female in his reach, he is far more fascinated by science.
A few minor anachronistic phrases are easily overlooked.

ETA: I realised belatedly that this is all about money, too: Obediah lands in jail for forging acceptance bills of the Amsterdam Wisselbank, the VOC promises huge rewards for the coffee trees, and of course they expect to earn a fortune by breaking the Turks' monopoly on coffee.

141MissWatson
Nov. 15, 2018, 4:25 am

ColourCAT / RandomCAT / popsugar: a book about mental health

Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal was another pleasant surprise. Normally, these mysteries set in a particular region are mediocre efforts, but here we have a well-written story (the odd anachronistic phrase apart) set during the bulding of the Kiel Canal linking the North and Baltic Sea. The main protagonist is an interestingly conflicted character: a former merchant navy captain who lost his ship and is the only survivor of the desaster with absolutely no memory of the tragedy. He has spent time in an asylum where the judicial authorities vainly tried to beat the truth out of him, which has left him with severe panic attacks. He is now a member of the newly set up criminal investigation force in Kiel, always a short step away from dismissal.
He is sent to investigate an accident in the canal, still under construction, at the western end which turns out to be murder for mercenary reasons: the contractor has embezzled vast sums. The author gives very atmospheric descriptions of life on the huge construction site. I recently visited the canal museum and can appreciate the research she put into this.
It fits the ColourCAT because the title is printed in red on the cover.

142MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Nov. 17, 2018, 11:44 am

Bingo: name of famous person in the title

I finished Verrat am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, the second of historical mysteries set in Kiel.This time it's 1895, the Kiel Canal is operational and has been renamed by the Kaiser after his grandfather, who is the famous person for the Bingo square. The book reads as if it had been rushed into print, quite a lot of typos and grammatical slip-ups. Our police officer gets dragged into an espionage affair during a state visit from Russia, and the author gets the spelling of the only two Russian names she uses wrong, which annoyed me. It was interesting to follow the characters as they walked along streets I know, but I'm not entirely convinced she got her distances and walking times right.

143MissWatson
Nov. 17, 2018, 11:46 am

Herd instinct

And I bought another book because it is finally available as a paperback: Cox oder Der Lauf der Zeit which I should read immediately, to use it for the ColourCAT. It has a lovely red cover.

144MissWatson
Nov. 21, 2018, 4:57 am

Bingo: autobiography or memoir / discards

I finally picked up Les champs d'honneur, a short but intense book in which an unnamed narrator looks back on the members of his family who died within a rather short time of each other. Very unusual structure, as he moves back in time with each chapter, and he starts his tale with a long chapter about rain in Brittany and its impact on the people and the land. I don't think I'll re-read this, so I'm parting with it. And some of the mysteries I read, they're going to eager new readers.

145MissWatson
Nov. 21, 2018, 6:58 am

Acquisitions

The German edition of Furies : War in Europe 1450-1700 caught my eye on a recent trip to Hamburg when I was reading about the Thirty Years' War. It looked interesting so I got myself a copy in English. No idea when I'll get round to this...

146MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Nov. 24, 2018, 10:16 am

ColourCAT / Popsugar: an allegory / discards

And I have finally read The red badge of courage by Stephen Crane. I noticed in the work details that it is classified as an allegory, so I'm using it for the Popsugar prompt. But the concept has always eluded me, I have no real idea if this is meant to be read as an allegory.
I can see why it holds a place a classic example of American realism, and why it still counts as an excellent psychological study of men in war, but I was left underwhelmed. I found his grammar odd, and the detailed descriptions no longer work in a world where our images of war are defined by what we see in the movies.

ETA: This is a very old book falling apart, so it leaves the house.

147Chrischi_HH
Nov. 23, 2018, 5:58 pm

I'm trying to cath up and on my way a few BBs hit me: The regional books you recently read, Der Kaffeedieb and Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal sound good. I have problems picking up these locally set books because I'm afraid they won't live up to my expectations, but I'll put these two on the "should be ok" list.

I'm also glad to see you liked Altes Land which I enjoyed immensely when I read it.

148MissWatson
Nov. 24, 2018, 10:15 am

Hi Chrischi. I agree, most of these regional or tourist destination books are mediocre at best. And the sequel to Tod am Nord-Ostsee-Kanal fell a bit flat, but it was still better than most I have read in this genre. And Hillenbrand was a real find, I'm contemplating now to buy my first-ever e-book to find out more about 17th century intelligence agencies, "Des Königs NSA". My sister also speaks highly of his mystery series about Xavier Kieffer. I hope to read Dörte Hansen's new book during the Christmas holiday at my sister's.

149MissWatson
Nov. 24, 2018, 10:25 am

Book bullets / herd instinct

Okay, German retailers have discovered Black Friday as a marketing ploy and Hugendubel offered twenty per cent off on English language fiction. It worked, I bought five books. Homegoing comes warmly recommended from my sister, The noise of time and Gaiman's Norse mythology have been frequently mentioned to me, and I also want to find out what happens next at the Invisible Library, so I bought The burning page and The lost plot. It's a good thing that temperatures are near freezing point. Such a good excuse to stay home and read!

150Chrischi_HH
Nov. 24, 2018, 11:36 am

Good to see I'm not the only one who couldn't resist. :) Homegoing is excellent, I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!

151Jackie_K
Nov. 24, 2018, 12:38 pm

Nothing wrong with a bargain! I'm going to be reading The noise of time for December's RandomCAT.

152DeltaQueen50
Nov. 24, 2018, 12:51 pm

It's hard enough to resist buying books, so when they put them on sale it's impossible! You are right, the colder weather is a great incentive to curl up in a comfy chair with a good book. :)

153MissWatson
Nov. 25, 2018, 4:27 am

>150 Chrischi_HH: I hope to fit it in next month, thanks for the encouragement.
>151 Jackie_K: Yes, indeed, that's a good idea.
>152 DeltaQueen50: I was so proud of myself for avoiding the charity shop a full week, and then this. Ah well, accidents and all that.

154MissWatson
Nov. 26, 2018, 5:44 am

ColourCAT / SFFKIT: creatures / Bingo: beautiful cover / discards

The masked city has a very stylish cover in dark red and features dragons, Fae and the occasional werewolves. Another fun adventure, even if Venice remains more backdrop than an actual, live city.

155MissWatson
Dez. 1, 2018, 12:35 pm

Something different / discards

I picked up Kieler Dämmerung for the Reading Through Time challenge, it is set in 1911 in Kiel and the second in a series of historical mysteries. This time the Kaiser is going to visit to inaugurate the new city hall, and the police have to track down an assassination attempt. The book suffers the same problems as the first, too many typos and shoddy grammar, and the jokes fell flat for me. There's a lot about the relationship between Wilhelm and his brother Heinrich, rather gossipy. What redeemed the book for me was the way he handled several different plotlines that come together in the end, in the final showdown during the ceremony in city hall, and the way the various police forces rival with each other. The constant misinterpretation of facts and bits of information by authorities eager to present a suspect also ring very true.

And this completes my November reading. All categories filled, the SFF KIT, too, and one outstanding read: Der Kaffeedieb.

156MissWatson
Dez. 4, 2018, 4:30 am

MysteryCAT / discards

I think The burning page fits the mystery category, as Irene tries to find out what arch enemy Alberich is up to and tries to prevent him from destroying the Library. The whole book is one breakneck rush to foil his plots, everyone seems to run around like headless chickens, and the trip to an alternate St Petersburg is over in the blink of an eye. This is one of the major disappointments of the book: the book to be retrieved from the Winter Palace is merely a McGuffin for initiating another chase and dungeon escape, with no time spent on the planet or giving a sense of the world. And then Irene drops all attempts to secure the book to go chasing after Alberich. For a series where books are instrumental to keeping the world stable, we learn precious little about the books themselves.

157MissWatson
Dez. 6, 2018, 3:36 am

Herd instinct / shiny

I have acquired three more used books: Brave new world mostly because it looked pristine and has a gorgeous cover, and I am not sure if I have read this before. Wolves eat dogs because of fond memories of Gorky Park. I must have missed some other Renko mysteries... And A natural history of dragons because so many others on LT liked it.

158MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 8, 2018, 1:00 pm

Herd instinct

Ouch. I was browsing through a secondhand bookstore and bought far too many books, but two of them were such handsome editions and all of them featured on my list of books to keep in mind, so I took them home with me. Nomade auf vier Kontinenten is a biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton, Gralswunder und Drachentraum tackles Arthurian romances and has some gorgeous illustrations. Plus two new ones, Mensch und Maschine featured in the Christmas recommendations of the Frankfurter Allgemeine as a great introduction to Artificial Intelligence.

159MissWatson
Dez. 9, 2018, 11:07 am

RandomCAT / Bingo: originally written in a different language

Die Reise in den Westen was my birthday present this year, in January. It is the first complete translation into German from the Chinese original (the 1663 version) and contains gorgeous 17th century woodblock print illustrations. It took me almost a year to finish the 1319 pages, for someone not familiar with the philosophical and religious concepts presented here, the episodes can be a little repetitive. In small doses this is fun.

160lkernagh
Dez. 9, 2018, 4:18 pm

>158 MissWatson: - Looks like interesting book finds!

161MissWatson
Dez. 10, 2018, 5:05 am

>160 lkernagh: Yes, I am really excited about the Burton biography.

162MissWatson
Dez. 10, 2018, 6:48 am

Bingo: poetry or plays

Plays are not really my thing, but Hauptmann's Die Weber was at least a short read. It is a social drama, considered revolutionary at the time, about handloom weavers in Silesia in the 1840s whose livelihood is threatened by machine looms. In their desperation they rise against their employers. At the time of writing (1892), it was considered daring and novel. Today the arguments strike me as oversimplified. The Silesian dialect was difficult at times, not even the Grimm dictionary had all the words.
So I have now three empty squares left to fill, and chances are good that I can do this before Christmas.

163MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 12, 2018, 6:15 am

ColourCAT

The French folio classics all have white covers and spines, so I'm using La fortune des Rougon here.
This is the first book in the series and we meet the first generation of the family at the start of the political era Zola wants to examine, the Second Empire. The political side of events in this book is well covered, as it happens in the small provincial town of Plassans, but the protracted soap opera of Miette and Silvère resulted in half a point deducted from my rating. He endlessly repeats that their relationship is innocent and describes it in excruciating detail that retards the main action. The members of the family are all pretty unappealing, but at least Félicité has smarts.
Lots of description and dialogue, which means it is an easy read. I haven't quite decided yet which series order to follow, but I think Son Excellence Eugène Rougon would be a good companion piece to this, to see how Louis Napoleon's putsch played in Paris.

ETC

164MissWatson
Dez. 15, 2018, 12:01 pm

Bingo: relative name / Popsugar: set in the decade you were born

I picked up Tiedemanns Tochter which translates as Tiedemann's daughter for the relative name. It's a book for teenage girls, published in 1958 and set a few years earlier, about a Hamburg merchant's daughter who tries to keep her father's coffee trading company going after he suffered a stroke while at the same time studying music. Not very convincing on the commercial side of the plot, the musical side suffers from sugary musical genius worship (Bach! Mozart! Brahms!) and it completely glosses over the recent war and that Germany started it. At the end, her brother returns from the Soviet Union as one of the last repatriated POWs, and from the easy way he slips back into his life you'd think he'd been on vacation. Off into the dustbin.

165MissWatson
Bearbeitet: Dez. 17, 2018, 10:19 am

Something else

Work is a little too busy to concentrate on a serious non-fiction book, so I picked La maison du chat-qui-pelote for my lunch-time reading, downloaded from OpenLibrary in the first volume of the Comédie Humaine. This one is pleasantly short, but not a "Wow!" experience. At a mere 49 pages I'm not counting this as a book.

ETA

166MissWatson
Dez. 18, 2018, 4:14 am

Bingo: Pacific Ocean-related

In distant waters belongs to a series about an officer in the Royal Navy, the year is 1808 and he is sent to the Pacific to – well, there's the rub, to do what exactly? His orders are vague, his crew is restless, he loses his ship to the Spanish, runs into some Russians and finally gets his ship back.

This didn't work for me at all. The Spanish commander of the Presidio in San Francisco and his daughter were real people, and she had a rather romantic love story with some Russian explorer, but the author fails utterly to bring this to life, or any of the other characters for that matter. I need to reconsider reading the rest of the series.

167MissWatson
Dez. 20, 2018, 9:26 am

Bingo: set on a holiday

And the card is full! I used Agatha Christie's The mysterious Mr Quin because the first story is set on New Year's Eve, and later it is mentioned that one takes place on Midsummer's Eve. This is a very unusual setup for Christie: twelve stories in chronological progression, where Mr Satterthwaite encounters Mr Quin and finds the solution for a crime committed long ago, or a romantic mystery. The name of Mr Quin is a play on Harlequin, but since I am not familiar with the character and the related dramas (or a ballet by Rimsky-Korsakov?) the significance must have passed me by. The most amazing feature was that the life of these upper-class Britons seems to have been entirely untouched by the Great War. There was a Russian émigré suffering persecution during the Revolution, but otherwise...and the usual prejudice against everyone non-British, including Canadians and Australians.

168MissWatson
Dez. 20, 2018, 9:29 am

And with this I have completed my challenge, since the KITs are optional. I may yet add a few books, it depends on how miuch reading I get done during the holidays.
A very satisfactory number of books read, too many bought. Must try harder next year.

169Jackie_K
Dez. 20, 2018, 11:27 am

>168 MissWatson: Congratulations! I know the feeling about 'too many bought, must try harder next year'. I suspect lots of us do.

170DeltaQueen50
Dez. 20, 2018, 12:23 pm

Congratulations on completing your 2018 Challenge and your Bingo Card, Birgit.

171christina_reads
Dez. 20, 2018, 1:28 pm

Congratulations on finishing your challenge! I hope you enjoy some "free" reading in the next couple of weeks!

172rabbitprincess
Dez. 20, 2018, 8:54 pm

Excellent work on completing your challenge, and have fun with your free reading!

173MissWatson
Dez. 21, 2018, 4:06 am

>169 Jackie_K: I hear you, Jackie, but the lure of the bookstore is like a siren song that I cannot ignore.
>170 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy. It's been fun to follow your reading!
>171 christina_reads: If Santa ignores my Christmas wishlist I can always find something on my sister's shelves.
>172 rabbitprincess: Thanks, rp, and I am looking forward to next year's challenge with breathless anticipation!

174lkernagh
Dez. 21, 2018, 9:10 pm

Congratulations on completing your challenge!

175MissWatson
Dez. 22, 2018, 8:04 am

>174 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori!

176MissWatson
Dez. 22, 2018, 8:09 am

ColourCAT

I squeezed in one more book with a mostly white cover, Brennerova. This is an Austrian mystery written in a very quirky style and with lots of black humour, just the thing I needed to wind down after a hectic week at work.

And now the preparations for the holidays are nearly finished, the suitcase is packed. I'll be offline until January (except for a quick peek at tomorrow's scavenger hunt, I am a little disappointed I won't have time for the final clue).

I have enjoyed my year's reading and I am looking forward to see you all next year. Happy Holidays and a Peaceful New Year to everyone.

177Helenliz
Dez. 22, 2018, 8:28 am

Well done on finishing the Bingo card and your challenge.
I, too, know the lure of the bookshop. It's an illness, and the first step is admitting you have a problem... Nope, me neither >:-) I can think of worse vices to have than too many books!

178Jackie_K
Dez. 22, 2018, 9:09 am

Happy holidays, Birgit - enjoy your time off. Looking forward to the 2019 reading adventure when it comes!

179rabbitprincess
Dez. 22, 2018, 11:11 am

Enjoy your holiday and see you in 2019!

180thornton37814
Dez. 31, 2018, 1:04 pm