pickF, by Daniel Kehlmann (2013, transl. 2014)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Premise: A trip to see a hypnotist sends three brothers on different yet shared trajectories, when the experience inspires their father to abandon them.
Review: The odd title in theory refers to the main character in a book-within-the-book, but it could equally stand for “Fate,” “Freedom,” “Faith,” or “Fraud,” since each of the brothers‘ stories deal with all of these themes. ⬇️
I‘ve gone down the Fleetwood Mac rabbit hole this year after hearing Gold Dust Woman on Daisy Jones & The Six (listened to it on repeat for a month straight). This song sung by Lindsey Buckingham is my current obsession. It starts at 42:35 https://youtu.be/9suHkG7QfYw?si=bfkBq2zoK1kvYPry
so i‘ll go insane
like i always do — yeah,
he‘s a lot like you.
(I‘m missing a syllable & changed she to he since it really resonates with me)
#haikuhive
Hinrich finds his wife Doro dead at her desk, with an annotated manuscript of his in front of her. She had things to say about his embryonic novel, about him and about their life together, and it's not pleasant. It's also at odds with his view of himself and his own memories (although those are unreliable too). This definitely wasn't a feel-good novella, but it made me think.
#Germany
#Bibliophile #ZInTitle I read this years ago and really liked it . Captures the culture of Germany between the Wars .Rainer Werner Fassbinder did a 15 hour film version of this book. This book was also in the list of titles in this week‘s #ThreeListThursday quiz. Franz is out of prison, trying to built a life , gangsters, petty thieves,unemployment lines,& other challenges stand in the way of his stability.
A book I bought in Edinburgh and couldn't resist picking up to read straight away.
A collection of short stories by a 19th Century German author. The title story is sort of a ghost story, with much digression into the backstory. It was interesting to see the framing techniques used so that the author could present the end of the tale before proceeding to have a character relate a linear narrative.
#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65
I‘ve chosen the collection of authors for next year‘s Author Spotlight Series that I host on Voxer every Sunday. With a brilliant group of readers from around the world, we will dive into a collection of these author‘s works to understand their craft, themes, and style. I will post sign up links for each author before we start reading their work and I hope you will consider joining if any of these writers spark your interest!
"During the afternoon there had been a christening."
#FirstLineFridays
Just about to start this collection of stories.
For September bookclub. This is sooooo good 😍 Add this to your shopping cart, please!
pickThe German edition of The dead girls‘ class trip contains the title story(the memory of a class trip before WW1 and the subsequent lives of the girls during the Nazi regime),Mail to the Promised Land (the story of a Jewish father who flees pogroms in Poland,raises his son in France,moves to the Promised Land in old age& continues to receive letters from his son after his death) &The End (post WW2:a former camp inmate hunts down his KZ guard).👍
Bookish Pair: Robertson Davies‘ Canadian classic, Fifth Business (1970). 2w