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Goodbye to Berlin
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
23 posts | 42 read | 19 to read
Isherwood's classic story of Berlin in the 1930s - and the inspiration for Cabaret - now in a stand-alone edition. First published in 1934, Goodbye to Berlin has been popularized on stage and screen by Julie Harris in I Am a Camera and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. Isherwood magnificently captures 1931 Berlin: charming, with its avenues and cafs; marvelously grotesque, with its nightlife and dreamers; dangerous, with its vice and intrigue; powerful and seedy, with its mobs and millionaires this was the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power. Goodbye to Berlin is inhabited by a wealth of characters: the unforgettable and divinely decadentSally Bowles; plump Fraulein Schroeder, who considers reducing her Busteto relieve her heart palpitations; Peter and Otto, a gay couple struggling to come to terms with their relationship; and the distinguished and doomed Jewish family, the Landauers.
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review
TheEllieMo
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Pickpick

I hovvered between a so-so and a pick for most of this book. It‘s a collection of 6 short, overlapping memoirs covering 3 years of Isherwood‘s life in Berlin. It starts strong with the first Berlin Diary and our introduction to Sally Bowles, finishes stronger with Isherwood‘s account of his friendship with the Jewish Landauer family, and the rise to power of the Nazi party. The middle two chapters felt weak, and I nearly bailed. I‘m glad I didn‘t

BarbaraBB Great photo 3mo
25 likes1 comment
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AnneCecilie
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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This was published in 1935

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Michael_Gee
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Pickpick

This book is a marvel. Isherwood can deftly describe a nuanced, tangible character & does so with insight & humor whether in a paragraph or over the course of an entire story. Combine that with the tense era he is depicting and you have a compelling selection of stories that sparkle with seedy glamor. This was my second time reading it and I hope to read it a third time before I go. 🍸

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Michael_Gee
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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This is a great beach read! The 6 stories are told in short segments, perfect for the stop/start reading time of a family vaca book. Also an appropriate reread for the times: Ppl trying to enjoy themselves as their country collapses into fascism. Bleak fatalism & self-destructive pleasure seeking. The book is much more fun than I make it sound. It‘s marvelous, liebling.

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Lissy1
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Mehso-so

I read this book after someone on postcrossing suggested it to me. It‘s a biography / diary from WW2 about different people and there ways of living. The 1st of which is the inspiration to the stage show cabaret. Although I enjoyed the Sally Bowles chapter, unfortunately that was the only one I really found interesting.
I gave this book 3 stars ✨

#book #books #bookreview #review #read #reading #ww2 #biography #bookshelf

26 likes1 stack add
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Lissy1
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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I finished this book yesterday but I just realised I never posted it on here. Here are my stats from this read and the review will come in the post to follow

#book #books #read #reading #bookly #bookshelf #booklystats #booklyios #stats #readingstats #statistics

review
sarahljensen
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Pickpick

I just loved this. It's been a busy week, but I read it whenever I could steel a few minutes. Some of these sentences are gut punches. I know I'll read it again, and I hope to watch Cabaret this weekend. I haven't seen it in at least a decade. Very excited

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sarahljensen
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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I'm finally starting Goodbye to Berlin! A couple of pages into the introduction (by Alan Cumming, huzzah) he mentions another Isherwood book (Christopher and his Kind) that I hadn't known about. So... Getting started here at long last and now already with a new book on the TBR pile :)

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sarahljensen
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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One waylaid Christmas present and a stack courtesy of an Amazon gift card later, and I'm at the end of my Christmas collection. I've been meaning to read Goodbye to Berlin for years. Years! I'm going to put it at the top of my to be read pile.

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CarolynM
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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I've tried to read this a couple of times but never quite managed it. #MusicalNewYear #Cabaret

TiredLibrarian I liked it, but I love Cabaret and without that background it might not have been as interesting to me. 5y
Cinfhen That cover!!!! 😍😍 5y
LeahBergen I‘ve been considering picking this one up. 🤔 5y
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Cathythoughts Yes ! Great cover 5y
vivastory But this cover! 👏🤘♥ 5y
Tex2Flo Love this cover style. DAMN that‘s fine! 5y
65 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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andrew61
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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#MayLovesClassics #LitsyClassics #Covers
A few catch up posts will follow so apologies in advance - last week i saw this old penguin modern classic and realised with these 3 others what brilliant art is used on the covers.

Leftcoastzen OMG!there are no words to describe how much I love those covers!!! 6y
andrew61 @Leftcoastzen yes i think i will try and find more 👍 6y
saresmoore Lovely! 6y
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LeahBergen Awesome! 6y
Aimeesue Isherwood is fabulous. I mean, the others aren't too shabby either, but I really like Isherwood. 😋 6y
erzascarletbookgasm Love these covers. And the Holmes covers you posted. 6y
batsy These are fabulous. 6y
33 likes7 comments
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Kimberlone
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Attended with @Saknicole and some girlfriends tonight. I was the only one familiar with the movie so it was a big surprise to everyone when a certain German political party gets involved in the story. I‘ve always wondered how Isherwood‘s book compared to the show based on it.

Also, Joey McIntyre from NKOTB was the MC!

Saknicole Yeah those Nazis came out of nowhere. Even though it should have been an obvious conclusion. Great show! 6y
21 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Wilkie
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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1) Cabaret (even though it‘s nothing like the book! Both are brilliant.❤️2) The Royal Tenenbaums (Everything about that film is perfect)❤️3) Grease 2 (say no more) 4) My top 3 cinema treats are: Jaffas, Chico Babies and freckles, tragically these Australian sweets are not available in The Netherlands😔 #manicmonday @JoScho

lucylovestoread Grease 2! What a film! I will forever remember Michelle Pfeiffer astride a ladder singing Cool Rider! 😁😎🏍️ 6y
Wilkie @lucyinedinburgh so many great songs: Reproduction, Girl for all seasons, Let‘s do it for our country and my personal favorite, Let‘s Bowl! 6y
CarolynM Do you need some sent to you? It could be arranged 6y
Wilkie @carolynM That would be amazing! I could send you some Dutch treats in return. 6y
29 likes4 comments
quote
BarbaraBB
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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“The Nazis may write like schoolboys, but they're capable of anything. That's just why they're so #dangerous. People laugh at them, right up to the last moment...”

Scary thought, this...😳
#QuotsyFeb18

Ole I‘m going to read this for my LitsyClassics challenge. Looking forward to it. 6y
Suet624 Very scary thought. 6y
Liz_M How do you find such perfect quotes? 6y
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BarbaraBB @Liz_M Just another spreadsheet... where I write them down while I read the book. I have been doing that for years and now I can easily search by word! (edited) 6y
Liz_M Darn, I was hoping you were referencing a public resource. ;-) 6y
BarbaraBB @Liz_M 😀 So sorry! 6y
batsy So true and so relevant... 6y
Leftcoastzen Love Isherwood 6y
78 likes2 stack adds8 comments
review
Wilkie
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Pickpick

In the musical, Cabaret, Sally Bowles sings, ‘what‘s the use of sitting alone in your room?‘ Well Sally, my divinely decadent little minx, the answer is reading your friend Christopher‘s brilliant book! I sat alone in my room and read and read and read until I had about 15 pages left and then I put it away for a while because I did not want it to end. I loved this book. A very enthusiastic 5 stars!

Ole Nice review! I‘m going to read this later for LitsyClassics challenge.. 6y
Wilkie @Ole I hope you like it! 6y
20 likes2 comments
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Wilkie
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Wilkie
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Christopher Isherwood....I think I love you❤️ #queer

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CoveredInRust
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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This doctor guy is nuts, but sadly more than likely based on someone Isherwood actually met in Berlin.

This book is fantastic, ya'll. I have to read everything by and about Christopher Isherwood now.

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cristiana_de_sousa
Goodbye Berlin | Wolfgang Herrndorf
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Mehso-so

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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BarbaraBB
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Mehso-so

Berlin in the 30s. Isherwood lives there and writes about the people he meets. A lot is being unsaid, partly no doubt because Isherwood couldn't imagine what would happen, partly because it is the somehow polite way he writes. In any case, he doesn't judge people and lets them be. With all that happened so soon afterwards, it makes this story rather special. #1001books Picture: The Berlin Wall

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Verity
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Late night 📺 to keep me company: Cabaret. I've read the book as well, but there's something about the music that just appeals to me. We did it as our school musical when I was in Year 7 and I was in the band. It was one of my best school experiences- 20 years on I still remember the lyrics and how it felt to play the music. Oh and Liza is amazing in the film.

Gezemice Great movie! 7y
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JenlovesJT47
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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Day 7 - #alltheworldsastage - I haven't read the book but Cabaret is one of my favorite musicals. 🎧 What's not to love? #feistyfeb

Hobbinol Great choice! 7y
Zelma I used to have the Alan Cumming-Natasha Richardson recording and played it incessantly. 7y
25 likes2 comments
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Ericareads44
Goodbye to Berlin | Christopher Isherwood
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