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3rd #10BeforetheEnd book read

I really liked this, but it took a while to get going. Generational trauma/mothers and daughters, sad but with a fair bit of light comedy interwoven as well. Hansen particularly pokes fun at city folk with idealistic ideas about rural life. Vera came to Northern Germany as a child refugee from the east just after WWII. She becomes a local eccentric & refuge herself for her niece and grandnephew some 30 years later.

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday I‘m in Northern Germany, outside of Hamburg with a newly separated mother of a toddler and her eccentric Aunt Vera, who came to the village as an ethnic German refugee from what is now Poland after WWII. A bit romantic comedy, a bit family history, a bit satire on society, especially city life vs rural.

A story of loss, regret and redemption, told in loosely connected chapters that each focus on different characters. I smiled, I chuckled, I pondered my own life‘s decisions. Despite making some questionable stylistic choices, Hansen excels at creating deep and ambiguous characters, the kind that could easily exist somewhere out there. I‘m excited to read her other two novels.

A very intimate & special author voice for her first book! I nearly cried a few times. Really enjoyed it.
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I took this picture early in the morning shortly after we arrived. Later the beach was absolutely packed with tourists.
#beach #bookcover #holiday #summer

The five books on the left I brought with me to my parents, the three books on the right I bought today at our local book store.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Die Geschichte der Bienen
Altes Land
Let‘s see if I can read them all in August 🙌.

#bookhaul #shopping #newbooks

Finished my challenge with the excellent Altes Land by Dörte Hansen which my mom sent to me from Switzerland - thanks Mom! â�¤ï¸� This book is available in English under the title This House is Mine, but I‘m not sure how well the beautiful language, the dry humor, the Plattdeutsch and razor sharp observations would translate. One of my favorite reads this year!

#FreshPick #SpringFlingReading @jess.how
This is my #freshpick as I just got it at the library & it's first chapter is titled: Cherry Trees. How spring is that?!

You can't see the book cover very well, but you get the point! 😊Great book, beautifully written, good way to start the year!

Read Harder challenge for 2017. I don't do challenges to increase my number of books read, but to expand the types of books I read and get out of my comfort zone. A debut novel to begin. . . .

The cover made me pick it up. Halfway through and it's good!