Paul's reading list 2013 - part 3

The Marrtinsloch in the Tschingelhörner (twice a year the sun shines through this hole in the mountain on the church tower in Elm)

One of our orchids:

Books read so far:

1) Das Labor des Alchemisten by Richard Rötzer
2) Das doppelte Lottchen : ein Roman für Kinder by Erich Kästner
3) AG Pinkerton und der Mann mit dem Straussenmagen by Heiner Gross
4) Lauris Krankheit : Erzählung für die Jugend by Johanna Spyri
5) Das Schweizer Kreuz ed. by Heinz Furer
6) War Paul schuldig? by Lisa Tetzner
7) Gefahr in Amsterdam by Carlo Meier
8) Street art New York by Jaime Rojo
9) Urban knits by Simone Werle
10) Romantik edited Robert Klanten
11) Das fliegende Klassenzimmer : ein Roman für Kinder by Erich Kästner
12) Anana : eine Inuit-Legende by Ina Vandewijer
13) Kommt ein Löwe geflogen by Max Kruse
14) Rattentanz by Michael Tietz
15) Der lange Weg nach Kaltbach by Markus Bühler-Rasom
16) Blausäure by Agatha Christie
17) Granatapfelblüte by Chongju So
18) Graffiti bible edited by Fien Meynendonckx
19) After the Laughter by Herakut
20) Book art : iconic sculptures and installations made from books edited by Paul Sloman
21) Anatomie einer Nacht by Anna Kim
22) Mein Name ist Eugen by Klaus Schädelin
23) Märchen aus Litauen edited by Jochen D. Range
24) Der schweizerische Robinson : nacherzählt by Johann David Wyss
25) Our kind of traitor by John Le Carré
26) Der Untergang des Hauses Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
27) The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society : Are we . . a logical people? by Harry Hamilton Johnston
28) Das Haus an der Küste by James L. Rubart
29) Einführender Vortrag zum Epheserbrief by William Kelly
30) Die Drachen der Tinkerfarm by Tad Williams
31) Der Augensammler : Psychothriller by Sebastian Fitzek
32) Blut vergisst nicht : Roman by Kathy Reichs
33) Die Unvollendete : Roman by Michel Faber
34) Leihen Sie uns Ihren Mann? : Komödien der Erotik by Graham Greene
35) 100 Jahre Bobsport by Max Triet
36) Der letzte Wunsch by Andrzej Sapkowski
37) Schweinskopf al dente : ein Provinzkrimi by Rita Falk
38) Engadiner Landschaften : ausgewählte Aufnahmen von Albert Steiner
39) Der chly Prinz by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
40) Orientexpress : Roman by Graham Greene
41) BRZPF die Wichtelfrau : eine Bildergeschichte rund ums Basler Münster by Regula Hess
42) The world encyclopedia of calligraphy : the ultimate compendium... by Christopher Calderhead
43) Arbeit im Wandel der Zeit : eine Ausstellung edited by Thomas Ernst Wanger
44) "Antigua, penny, puce" and They hanged my Saintly Billy by Robert Graves
45) Schweizer Alltag in den 1950er-Jahren by Rudolf Baumann
46) New Zealand landscapes : photographs by Andris Apse
47) The giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel
48) Agnes : Roman by Peter Stamm
49) Zeiten des Aufruhrs : Roman by Richard Yates
50) Kleine Leute in der weiten Welt : die internationale Strassenkunst by Slinkachu
51) Das Schwert der Vorsehung by Andrzej Sapkowski

Happy Easter, Paul!

Wonderful new thread, Paul!
And a very Happy Easter Sunday!

Beautiful pictures, Paul! Happy Easter!

Welcome! Genny, Bianca, and Terri, a blessed Easter to you, too!

March was not a month I've read many books: 9, so 2056 pages, by 8 male and 1 female authors, 6 German and 3 in English
Authors from these countries:
GB 3
CH 2
A 1
NZ 1
USA 1
PL 1

Hallo Paul, great to be here again. Very nice thread opening pictures again!
And I think that nine books aren't so bad. :)

Referring to your final entry on your last thread: Did you go to the re-enactment? Many years ago when I still went on holidays with my parents, we were on Ischia, Italy for the "Karwoche". On Good Friday, there was a very realistic re-enactment of Jesus' final days including last supper and crucifixion. It was quite intense and impressive, but my feelings about such spectacles are still mixed...

Hej Kathy, welcome in my new thread. Well, I started two more books but didn't finish them, one is Deine grünen Augen by Arnošt Lustig, which is not a very easy read...

No, we didin't go. It was two rainy and cold, so we stayed home. The 'play' wasn't so long, I gathered, and it was more the intention of being able to talk with people in the street. I have seen scenes from Brazil and the Philippines of the way of Christ to Calvary with crosses on their shoulders and sometimes real nails being used ... I don't like that kind of enactment. I guess, we share similiar mixed feelings here. More important for me was that they also played the resurrection - the crucifixion was not the end, the resurrection followed: Christ is risen.

I love the photos on the top of your thread!

Hej, Rhonda, thanks. Feel free to come again for other pictures I hope to put here.

Beautiful pictures! Hope you had a great weekend. :)

Welcome, Ren. We had a very quiet weekend, and today the day started cold, but sunny - so, we'll go for a walk.

Here the Martinsloch from the other side and the church of Elm the sun touches when shining through the hole in the mountain (a small whitish point behind the valley in the distant mountain range):

I love the way that church looks (and I'd love to check out the cemetery...)! It's nice to get a perspective on how far away that hole in the mountain is - so very cool to see the sun through there hit the church, I bet.

Hej Ursula, it's really a nice little church. There is a sand watch on the pulpit. I can't remember having seen that in another church (does it help to shorten the sermon??)


There are some interesting tombstones

Today we found some flowers - at least they think it's time for spring

a few add-ons:
- If this is a man and The truce by Primo Levi
- The sinner by Tess Gerritsen
- Hornet's nest by Patricia Cornwell
- Angela's ashes : a memoir of a childhood by Frank McCourt
- The spook's destiny by Joseph Delaney

- Das Licht : schwerer Arbeitsunfall... by Jack Morgen
- Bist du Gottes Sohn, so steig vom Kreuz herab! by Julia Blum
- Die Einsamkeit des Managers : ein Pepe-Carvalho-Roman by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
- Das Rosenhaus : Roman by Sarah Harvey
- Der Glanz der Seide : Roman by Penny Jordan
- Die Teerose : Roman by Jennifer Donnelly
- Was einst aus Liebe geschah : Roman by Sara MacDonald
- Die grünäugige Lady : Roman by Catherine Gaskin
- Aber bitte mit Schokolade! : Roman by Meg Cabot
- Attic : Gefahr aus der Tiefe by Douglas Preston
- Die Kunst des Krieges by Sunzi (from my daughter)

HI Paul,
I love your Spring photos of the flowers. I sincerly hope, that my garden will look like that when I get home on Friday night. I have planted lots of different bulbs in the autumn, with all kind of new and different tulips and "Narzissen".

Very, interesting add on's again. I have read already Angela's Ashes many years ago, when it first came out and I remember it to be a very good read!

Hej Bianca, the pix of the flowers were actually taken on Chrischona, in the little park of the rehabilitation centre. Here is another one from our garden


and thanks for the hint on Angela's ashes.

I just love your pictures, Paul. And thanks for mentioning Angela's Ashes - it's on my reading list for this year. Have a nice second-half-of-the-week!

Those headstones look amazing, Paul! I got to visit a cemetery while I was in Germany and it was cool to see such old graves, since the concept of "old" in the US is on a different scale.

I read Lustig's Lovely Green Eyes back in February; not an easy read, certainly!

Hej Kathy, thanks for coming over, be welcome.

Ursula, there are older tombstones around, maybe I will load up a few (if I find them...). But nowadays we have a problem with the space in cemeteries, so the grave will be 'renaturalized' (graves opened, rest burned, then it's a lawn a few years and then a new corpse will be laid to 'rest'). That happened to my father's and sister's grave. If you have a lot of money, you may buy the place and the grave will stay untouched as long as your progeny pays ...

Hej Genny, I guess I saw Lustig's mentioned by you, and saw a copy in our library and picked it up. First,I thought, 'ah, another concentration camp book', but it's another side of the cruelties done to people - and the style is quite good and readable.

Some gifts:
- Nepal-Klinik : faszinierende Abenteuer am Fusse des Himalaja by Thomas Hale
- Der verlorene Spion : Roman by Joseph Kanon
- Rätsel um das verlassene Haus by Enid Blyton (I read that as a child)
- Das Gift : Roman by Hinrich Matthiesen (Gift means poison)
- Tiefsee : Roman by Clive Cussler
- Haut und Knochen : Roman by Gay Longworth
- Dezembersturm : Roman by Iny Lorentz
- Jakob auf der Leiter : Roman by Henry Jaeger
- Das Land der Bibel : Geographie - Geschichte - Archäologie by Herbert Haag
- Tender Bar : Roman by J. R. Moehringer
- Smaragdvogel : Roman by Linda Holeman
- Das Lied der Elephanten : Roman by Wilbur A. Smith
- Sturmjahre : Roman by Barbara Wood

- Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
- Saving the world and other extreme sports : a Maximum Ride novel by James Patterson
- The other queen by Philippa Gregory
- Through a glass, darkly by Jostein Gaarder

I was going to ask about that sort of thing, Paul, because I didn't see as many old ones as I had expected to. Also, I saw a lot of family stones - they would have the old dates on them but they were clearly newer stones and also included people more recently deceased. In any event, I find cemeteries fascinating and hope that I will get to visit more in other countries in the future.

*wave at Paul* and a big *smile* LOOOOOOOOve Trainspotting MUST READ!

I wish you a beautiful day, Paul!

I am getting all a bit giddy now, just trying to finish my last nightshift before I go home on Friday. Hooray!

Hej Ursula, you're right, there are family graves where the descendants sometimes replaced the stone and then engraved the old dates again.
Here a pic from a small cemetery in Beromünster (near Lucerne):

Hej Bianca, good to hear that come back home. But I also read about your fatigue and so. Suki could get better results when changing some of her eating habits: we especially bought a juice maker for making vegetable juices. It's not healing her but it helps her to keep as it is. And avoiding stress ... (well, you know about that, I guess...)

I saw part of movie Trainspotting but somehow didn't like it. But now I got the book and will look into it eventually.

I've never seen anything like that one, Paul!

Here old tombstones from Seoul (Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery)

James Toft (died 1928)


Ernest Bethell (died 1909)

I feel some kind of fascination towards cementaries - is that weird?
When I'm in another country I love to go to the cementaries there. I think that you can learn so much about the culture "between the lines"...

You're right, Kathy, cemeteries show something about the cultures. Me, too, I go to cemeteries in places I visit (not first priority, whenever I have enough time for that). It's not weird.

In Italy they put pictures of the deceased on the stone, the Jews put small stones on the tombstone when they visit. Some people put toys on their children's grave. In Korea, the older graves are not in a cemetery but there burial moulds/hills in the countryside - once a year the descendants meat at the grave and bring food along (as offerings for the dead). It is interesting how people behave on a cemetery - some feel almost intimidated by - what actually?, others come as tourists fotografing everything...

I'm a cemetery tourist - I take lots of photos and always visit a cemetery wherever I go. My kids have gotten used to it- thanks to me, they've been to a cemetery in New York, Arlington National Cemetery, one in Chicago, one in South Dakota, etc. They've gotten over thinking it's completely weird, although my son has never really understood my impulse to visit them. I've done it since I was a kid, though. It's one way I knew things were probably going to work out with my then-boyfriend (now husband) - we took a trip to Portland and I told him we had to go to a cemetery while we were there and he had no problem with it. :)

Hi Paul, thanks for the advice on the juice. I agree with you on them, I do drink regular vegetable juices and I have got this thing for green smoothies *smile* IMO they tend to give you quite a lot of energy.
In general I do it very healthy, mostly vegetarian with some raw tossed in.

You may going to find that you will enjoy the book Trainspotting more than the movie, also I have to say that I very much enjoyed the movie as well.

I am also a cemetry tourist and I tend to take a lot of photos as well. When I went to Romania two years ago I went to see the "laughing Cemetry" Sapanta, which is in the Maramures. Such a beautiful Cemetry.

Hi Paul- Just stopping through! Love the thread and all the lovely photos. the Tender Bar is outstanding. Hope you enjoy it.

Hej Ursula, welcome to the club :) My first funeral I experienced as a child. I was out playing (skipping school? don't remember) and then Isaw may grad dad following a longish box with some other people. I didn't know what they were doing, so I went to my grand dad and just did what he did. Through the whole procession I didn't realize what was going on ... my mother was quite shocked when her father then later told her that I followed him along...

Bianca, welcome. We also got a smoothie machine and I enjoy now the veggie drinks, but I tend to add an apple to the veggies, which my wife doesn't want...
I have never been to Romania, so that would be worthwhile.

Mark, thanks for coming over. I will have a look at The tender bar, the blurb on the back sounded interesting.

I added one new book: Spider by Michael Morley and ended up sorting out the six different Michael Morleys - phhh, I am tired now. It's a good thing, to be able to differentiate among same name authors - but actually splitting the author's page is some work, it can take hours.

Better go and read something now

Good to know that I'm not alone. :)

When I was in Vienna the last time I visited the Zentralfriedhof/Central cementary - but the older part of it. And it was so beautiful and calm - I even met a roe deer!

Do you know the so-called "Marterl"-cementaries? You can find them e.g. in Tyrol. There are little plates with information about the dead person, but they're a little harsh. This one I found in Innsbruck:

Christ steh still und bet a bissl
Hier liegt der Bauer Jakob Nissl.
Zu schwer musste er büßen hier,
er starb an selbstgebrautem Bier.

(Jesus, stay still and pray a little
here lies the farmer Jakob Nissl.
He had to suffer too badly here
He died because of self-brewed beer.)

Oh dear, first a deer and then the beer.

O boy, beer is really a deadly substance .... it was apparently not Bavarian beer but a stronger brew... Thanks for that Marterl, yes, I have seen some ... but that was before I had a digital camera, I had to be careful with the number of pictures on the film

Here a Korean tomb (from Suki's forebears):

Are there the names carved into the stone?
It's puristic and simple in the middle of green - I like that. That and the seating right at the tomb.

I love the idea of telling a bit about the person or how they died. I'm always excited to find a stone in the US that says anything like that, since it's relatively rare.

Paul - interesting that the characters on that one are Chinese instead of Korean. It sent me off to Wikipedia to look up when hangul came into existence and widespread use.

Hej Kathy and Ursula, I don't know what's written on the stone - I have to ask Suki tomorrow. I have been to that place years ago, too. It's really off any big road, close to the sea. Very quiet, surrounded by trees on three sides, but since every relatives live quite far away, it doesn't get weeded as often as it should. So whenever somebody visits the grave they have to cut the grass and weed around the stones.

Hangul is fascinating. It has only 22 characters and I learned it in a day. So I can read everything Korean - but I don't know what I read *sigh* (like I can read everything Hungarian since they use the Latin script). There is also a Korean drama on TV on King Sejong who invented the alphabet against the Chinese conquerors who tried to prevent him from his goal.

Some add-ons
- Eine Frau zwischen den Fronten : Naemi im 20. Jahrhundert by Traudel Witter
- Die Wächter : bereit sein und den Weg des Messias vorbereiten by Tom Hess
- Claudio im Tessin : Erzählung by Rita Peter
- Mittwinternacht : ein Merrily-Watkins-Krimi by Phil Rickman
- Die Überfahrt by Norah A. Perez
- Wer bist du, Fremder? by Judith Pella
- Ribot : racing- and breeding performance of an exceptional horse by John Aiscan
- Selbstdisziplin : sich selbst überwinden by Dale E. Galloway
- Wir sind das Salz von Florenz : historischer Roman by Tilman Röhrig
- Die Prophetin vom Rhein : Roman by Brigitte Riebe
- Das Silmarillion by John R. R. Tolkien (now I have an English and a German edition)
- Ein Ruch von Heiligkeit : Roman by Frank Yerby
- Die Füchsin oder Louisiana-Fieber : Roman by Frank Yerby
- QB VII : ein Prozess erregt die Welt by Leon Uris
- Die Jagd am Nil : Thriller by Will Adams
- Das fünfte Evangelium : Roman by Philipp Vandenberg
- Der Glücksdiabetiker : Roman by Lars Lindigkeit
- Der grosse summende Gott : Science-Fiction-Roman by Christopher Hodder-Williams
- Der Knochenleser : der Gründer der legendären Body Farm erzählt by Bill Bass
- Abendland : Roman by Michael Köhlmeier
- Dunkle Schwingen : Roman by Chris Bunch
- Sünde : Roman by Katharina Kröhn
- Die Frau des Missionars : Roman by Pearl S. Buck

- Larry's Party by Carol Shields
- The temple : a novel by Stephen Spender
- I am number four by Pittacus Lore

I enjoyed Larry's Party - and all Carol Shields, in fact.

Do you have plenty of shelving for all these acquisitions, Paul? Your house must be like Doctor Who's Tardis...!

Well, genny, one day I will probably make a picture of my bed/book room :) My wife and daughters complain always about me bringing home all these books - and then they are quite happy when the get books like Das Silmarillion just for free (my daughter showed up on the way home from a birthday party in Coburg (Germany) and was quite pleased about my mitbringsel/souvenir...)

I can't resist to share a few pix from Apse's New Zealand landscapes photographs:
Solander Island


Mitre Peak


Mt Aspiring


the last one reminded me of the Matterhorn and the holidays we spent there

I totally forgot to report that I finished reading a book!!

52) Die grosse Scheidung by Clive Staples Lewis. An allegorical story about the end of life (or a fantasy). The narrator finds himself in a run down city standing in a queue waiting for a bus to a better place. Very well written. Nicely written story with deep provoking thoughts/arguments.

Lewis wanted to give a kind of answer to William Blake's marriage of heaven and hell. There is an either-or in our lives: either heaven or hell (or whatever you wanna call these eternities). The decision one makes on earth is binding for the life thereafter.

>49 paulstalder: hey! I recognise those! ;)

Hi Paul- I love that rocky mountain at the top of your thread. Do people gather to see the times when the sun shines through? It is a dramatic mountain, that one.

>46 paulstalder: that is quite some haul there! Enjoy.

Hej Megan, I am glad you do (would be strange otherwise). There were so many fine pix in that book - stunning work, with the light, the clouds, and the scenery chosen - I just wanted to share a few glimpses of his work.

Martinsloch: Yes, twice a year there are tourists going up to Elm. One can book special trips from Zürich (or other places) with an early train and breakfast at a restaurant in plain view of the mountains, waiting for the sun to do its show - twice a year. I was never there at the right time...
The Russian general Alexander Suvorov stayed with his troops one night in Elm, too, on his retreat through the alps. There is a fountain figure in his honour in Elm (but he didn't care about the sun shining through a whole, I assume).

53) Deine grünen Augen by Arnošt Lustig. A tough reading. A Jewish, 15-year-old girl is transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they killed all her family. By 'chance' she is selected as a whore to 'serve' in Feldbordell Nr. 232 Ost as a 'Comfort Woman'. Hanka tells her story full of sadness, brutality, questions, hopelessness, and some inexplicable strength of herself to keep herself alive. When reading I was always awaiting the next blow to her, not knowing, will she be shot or how does she survive all that horror. Definitely worthwhile reading. The horrors are not so blatantly described as shocking the reader, but when taking everything into account, I often felt helpless and worthless as (how much more) Hanka must have felt.

I have to make a 'theological' remark, here. Hanka tells her story also to a Rabbi, who complains that his sacred books are not mentioning concentration camps and such horrors. When reading the Bible (Old Testamant) I often came across verses where God very clearly warns the people from forgetting/denying God and the consequences. Somewhere Lustig writes 'Er kannte kein Buch, das einen lehrte, in einer solchen Zeit zu leben.' (he didn't know of any book, which would offer help to live in such times) Yes, he didn't know the New Testament, because other people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Corrie ten Boom, and Paul Schneider, just to mention a few, knew such a book. Nietzsche declared the death of God - and a world without God, ruled by men alone, is such an outcome.
That doesn't alter the horror Hanka and others experienced. It doesn't 'solve' the 'problem'. It is part of the answers to the questions the author raises in the book.

Spring has apparently arrived, at least, our hedgehog thinks as much, since it made its first appearance yesterday.

54) Stoff für viele Leichen : Krimi aus Paris by Léo Malet. A French mystery. Malet writes mysteries with private eye Nestor Burma, each plays in a different Parisian quarter. A businessman is blackmailed, there are 14 corpses in the end, but Nestor solves it all. A trivial plot and at places, unlikely (like, Nestor was knocked out and finds himself hand cuffed to a corpse - and he manages to put on his trousers, clean the room from his fingerprints and then walks along the corridor into hiding). Easy read, written with some irony.
the new edition offers some pages of historic and touristic information about the 2e arrondissement in which the mystery plays. Which are the best Cafés or that Emile Zola was born there.

Hello Paul, I see you have been able to get tons of new books again :)

I love the landscape photos - are they the one's from the book of Megan's dad?

I hope everything is well, with you, Suki and the rest of your family. I wish all of you a very happy remaining weekend *big smile and a wave*

Hej Bianca, welcome back in Germany. You seem to be quite busy with reading and renovating (?) your house :) I guess, it's not easy going thru all these checks with the doctors and still not knowing what it is all about.

Yes, I copied some of Megan's father pix from his New Zealand landscape books. Such great pictures.

Suki will go into hospital next Monday, probably for an operation on Tuesday. If they operated she will probably have to stay in the hospital for about ten days. We prayed again together this morning, she is confident.

Our garden is now blooming, the bees are busy collecting whatever the like, we have discovered a newt (? Molch) in our garden, and we put out the shell creatures (Schildkröten, tortoise?) into the little garden bassin. And its quite warm.

In the evening we are invited to a concert by a Korean ladies choir. they sing traditional and modern songs from Korea (in Korean). There is a Swiss-Korean anniversary in diplomatic (50 years) and military (60 years) cooperation (there are 5 military personnel still in Panmunjom, NNSC, taking notes of the peace treaty among the two Koreas), not an easy situation at the moment.

We had heard a very good concert. There were two choirs who first sang separate songs and then sang three songs together. The 'Swiss Korean Women's Choir' and the 'Frankfurt Korean Choir' from Germany. The Korean ambassador to Switzerland was the honorary guest. The choirs were singing great, there were about 80 women and three men (the Frankfurt choir is a mixed one), and they sang prisoners' choir from Nabucco (Coro di schiavi Ebrei). They sang mostly Korean songs, 'home', 'homeland' was the theme. They also sang Italian (Nabucco), English (You raise me up), and they sang 'Der Lindenbaum' by F. Schubert in Korean. Well, at the end both choirs were singing Arirang, THE Korean love song - ask any Korean and he/she will sing it: The lover leaves his girl and she is sad, and sings that he will be walking but 2 miles and then his feet will be sore. It was a great evening. and then Kimbab at the apero.

A few more gifts:
- Fehlfunktion : Roman by Peter F. Hamilton
- Der Schatten des Herrn : Roman by John F. Case
- Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer by Patrick Süskind
- Happy Valley : Roman by Meja Mwangi
- High fidelity : Roman by Nick Hornby
- Die letzte Nacht der alten Zeit : Roman by Lukas Hartmann
- NachtAngst by Frances Fyfield
- Die schöne Moireen : Geschichten aus Alt-Irland by Eileen O'Faolain
- Sun Crest : eine Liebeserklärung by David Mas Masumoto
- Ägypten : Menschen, Götter, Pharaonen by Rose-Marie Hagen
- Ladylike : Roman by Ingrid Noll
- Fluchtstücke : Roman by Anne Michaels
- Die Wachsflügelfrau : Geschichte der Emily Kempin-Spyri ; Roman by Eveline Hasler
- Piratenkurs : Roman by Rudolf Braunburg
- Silbermond und Kupfermünze : Roman by W. Somerset Maugham
- Gelber Mond über der Steppe : Roman by Hildegard Plievier
- Die Liebenden von Leningrad : Tatiana und Alexander by Paullina Simons
- Der Dieb der süssen Dinge : Commissario Montalbanos dritter Fall by Andrea Camilleri
- Die schöne Damaris : Roman by Josef Vital Kopp

- Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
- The hidden child by Camilla Lackberg
- Pitcairn's island by Charles Nordhoff
- Stellar : short novels by Judy-Lynn Del Rey
- Jewel : a novel by Bret Lott

>58 paulstalder: gifts from you to you? :)

Hello Paul! Wow, there are some great books you collected. :) I need to check out if "Ein Stoff für viele Leichen" is available in French. I just watched a version of "Arirang" on youtube and it must have been a nice experience to hear it "live on stage". Have a sunny weekend!

Hej Megan, daughter of Andris, I like to get many gifts (bot not Gifte, which would be poisons). I was able to pick them up at a 'bring & take' place (I didn't bring as many as I took, but they are glad when the books are taken because they are renovating part of their premises). Lucky me :)

42,43> Hej Kathy. The Chinese characters on the tomb stone are listing the names and birth places of the ancestors.
Malet wrote a mystery about almost every arrondissement of Paris. And the German new editions add a few pages information about these arrondissements.
Arirang is really a nice song and relatively easy to learn. And when performing such a song wearing the traditional hanbok (clothes) its also an impressive view.

I enjoy a beautiful sunny Sunday, so I took a few pictures in the garden:
our tortoise warming up in the sun




some dew left over

Paul, those garden pictures are beautiful.

Hello Paul, just stopping by to wish you a great week!

I love your garden pictures, especially the one with the tortoise. Doe the tortoise have a name?
And I like the picture of the choire - it is absolutely lovely!

In regards to waiting for results - I do believe you and Suki now how tiring that can be. I don't know how long it will be until I will see the liver specialists and until I know what's the matter with my odd blood tests and the odd results of my other investigations. However, I have never been someone to do a lot of "grübeln" and usually just get on with whatever comes along. So, for the moment I just will ignore all the results until I have my next investigations *smile*.

Your weekly book hauls are absolutely amazing Paul. I wish we would have something like that here. *nods head*

You're welcome, Diana. I especially like the tiny water drop in the leaf - it had a deep blueish color which isn't showing so clearly in the fotograf.

Bianca, you're right about getting on living - Suki changed a few of her eating habits, otherwise she wasn't thinking too much about the results in between hospital or doctor's visits. I wish all the strength and peace for your life.

The tortoise is growing - the shell scales are coming off in the sun. We had three of them (one for each child), but one died within the first two months. The names are 'Georgina' (according to the hero in Eidf Blyton's Famous Five) and 'The Gardener' (don't remember, but must also stem from a story I told the kids during that time). Which one sits here in the sun, I don't know.

55) Libraries by Katy Lee (Editor). A very interesting books about new libraries from all over the world, edited by an architect (or writer on architecture).


examples from China and South Korea:

Suki has been operated yesterday. It went all well - according to the doctors, waiting now for the results from the laboratory. She is okay, sleepy after the chemical knock-out (anaesthesia ?). Probably has to stay till next week in hospital.

56) Das Lächeln der Landrätin : Krimi by Harry Luck. A prostitute commits suicide, a journalist has a deadly car accident, and then a politician just days. The laboratory finds some poison. So Hauptkommissar Sonne starts the investigations and finds out that all three deaths are related. A quite good German mystery.

Hi Paul- Just checking in. Wow! Another nice book haul! Good for you.

Hi Paul,

Stopping by to send good wishes to you and Suki. The photos on your thread are beautiful. The choral concert sounds lovely. Nabucco has one of my favorite choruses: Va pensiero. I never fail to find it stirring.

I'm so glad the surgery went well.
Great photos!

Hello Paul, great to hear that the surgery went well. I send you good thoughts and I hope that she'll recover soon. All the best to Suki and you!

Hej Mark, welcome over here. I was lucky, that's true. :)

Peg, thanks for the good wishes. My mother is also a Nabucco fan.

Rhonda, thanks for coming by. We saw the surgeon today and he was explaining what he did and how he worked, and he is confident, that he cut everything out which was cancerous. So far, so good.

Servus Kathy, thanks for the good wishes - Suki is feeling well under the circumstances. She got bored today during the day .... they woke her quite early in the morning and the usual tests - and then nothing happened. Maybe she can start with physiotherapy in two days.

some add-ons:
- Branog : Roman aus dem Steinalter by Dominik Weiss
- Auf dem schwarzen Berg : Roman by Bruce Chatwin
- Ein Schatten zuviel : Roman by Robert Stalder
- Die Frauen von Weston : Roman by Frank G. Slaughter
- Das Band der Erinnerung by Stephanie G. Whitson
- Der sechste Tag : Roman by Josef Vitalis Kopp
- Die Launen des Pegasus : Roman by Josef Vital Kopp
- Ehen in Philippsburg : Roman by Martin Walser
- Die sterblich Verliebten : Roman by Javier Marías
- Eistod : Kriminalroman by Michael Theurillat
- Wer die Nachtigall stört ... : Roman by Harper Lee
- Gesammelte Werke in einem Band by Christian Morgenstern
- Die Herren von Greifenklau : Roman by Karl May
- Absturz : Thriller by Michael Ridpath
- Der Starost : Roman by Werner Bergengruen
- Ringwelt : Roman by Larry Niven
- Ringwelt - Ingenieure : Science Fiction Roman by Larry Niven
- Tunnel zu den Sternen : Science Fiction-Roman by Robert A. Heinlein
- Aëlita : Roman ; ein Marsroman by Alexej Tolstoi
- Das Echo der Schuld : Roman by Charlotte Link
- Die Fuchsfrau : Roman by Morris L. West
- Ein Fremder kam nach Unimak by James Vance Marshall

- Aphrodite : a memoir of the senses by Isabel Allende
- Total control by David Baldacci
- Winston's war by Michael Dobbs
- The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
- Blood Memory by Greg Iles
- The power trip by Jackie Collins
- The Prussian officer by D. H. Lawrence
- The girl at the Lion d'Or by Sebastian Faulks
- Trading reality by Michael Ridpath

57) Kalter Süden : Kriminalroman by Liza Marklund. A Swedish mystery about Annika Bengtzon, a reporter from Stockholm who gets to write a newsreport on a gas-attack in Spain. The whole family of a Swedish ice hockey player gets murdered with toxic gas in their villa. Annika then finds out that one girl of the family was missing and she wants to find out, what happened to her and what is behind that crime. A bit a complicated plot with many people involved, but well done.

Suki was released from the hospital today - she came home in the afternoon and started cleaning the house and doing her laundry before I came home from work ... Next Tuesday she has the next appointment in the hospital regarding her wound and the results from the laboratory. We will see what they will tell us.

Thank you all for thinking about us.

LOL Suki sounds very much like myself. I am sure we would get on very well. I remember that I had my C-section on a Friday morning, went home on the Sunday evening and on the Monday I was already shopping and cleaning. Although, I do have to admit that I did faint on the Tuesday and after that I slowed down as I was told.
However, I am so glad that she is feeling that well after the surgery and hope that the check-up next week will be ok.
Thank you for your kind words Paul!

I hope you will have a wonderful weekend!

58) Die Geheimnisse der Tinkerfarm by Tad Williams. The 2nd part of the Tinkerfarm. The Jenkins kids are on holidays on the strange farm again, Lucinda starts to communicate with the baby dragon. But then uncle Gideon gets sick - poisoned, but by whom? A story for young adults.

We have been to the hospital this morning. the operation two weeks ago went well and they cut everything which was cancerous out (lymph nodes). Shoulder and arm are still a bit hurting and stiff/rigid. But there will be no further treatment for the time being, because radio- and chemotherapy would both lead to more side effects than do any effective good. Suki has to have physiotherapy. She can't go back to work, with which she has some trouble imagining...

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts which came our way.

I'm glad she's doing well, Paul. I hope the pain and stiffness go away soon, it's hard to deal with not being able to move normally.

Thanks, Ursula, she is doing very good. It was a big help that one of the daughters stayed with us since Friday, but she goes back today and so, Suki wants to make everything on her own... but it makes her very tired.

My last read in April:
59) Agamemnon (Orestie I)by Aischylus. Agamemnon gets home after the victory over Troia. A warm welcome by the people but a rather chilly one from his wife... A classic Greek drama

My first read in May (but started in April):
60) "E" is for evidence : a Kinsey Millhone mystery by Sue Grafton. Kinsey should investigate a fire of a warehouse but then finds herself set up as conspirator in a fraud... tricky and dangerous business. I like the alphabet mysteries

Hello Paul,
I am so glad to hear that Suki continues to improve, also I can understand how she feels about not going back to work. However, I do hope she will not overstretch herself, now that your daugther is gone.
Seeing you listing Agamemnon (Orestie I) makes me want to give it a go at one point. I always shy from this kind of literature away, because I am worried that it will be to difficult to read.
I wish you and your family a great week Paul.

Thanks Bianca, Suki was working today in the garden but then she realized how weak she is - she had to stop everything and lay down - that was tough for her.

I started with Agamemnon and didn't have a clue, then I read a paragraph in the afterward about the content and started again and understood, what's it all about ... a little help from a friend. I am not too good in ancient Greek history nor Greek geography, so the names didn't ring bells, only grains of dust. But it is worthwhile for a change.

I read 8 books in April, 2095 pages, 7 German and 1 English, by 6 male and 2 female authors; coming from these countries:
USA 2
GB 1
CZ 1
F 1
D 1
S 1
GR 1

I added 217 titles to my library (free add-ons or library loans)
when am I going to read all that stuff? *looking at the book wall, scratching my head*

My book wall in my room - I didn't find a proper place so far for these poor books


and from here I get a lot of freebies (a Bring & Take place)


and here I scared our hedgehog coming out of its hiding:

some April add-ons:
- The legacy by Kirsten Tranter
- The bluest eye by Toni Morrison
- Happily ever after by Harriet Evans
- Roadside crosses by Jeffery Deaver
- Millroy the magician by Paul Theroux
- Play the monster blind : stories by Lynn Coady
- No one to trust by Iris Johansen
- Of love and shadows by Isabel Allende
- Mean spirit : a novel by Linda Hogan
- Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
- The Medici : godfathers of the Renaissance by Paul Strathern
- Warlock by Wilbur Smith
- The Englishman's boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
- Man descending by Guy Vanderhaeghe
- A Tidewater morning : three tales from youth by William Styron

- Töchter berühmter Männer : neun biographische Portraits by Luise F. Pusch
- Die Freimaurerin : historischer Roman by Maiken Nielsen
- Jasmine : Roman by Bharati Mukherjee
- Grossmama packt aus : Roman by Irene Dische
- Die Käferfrau : Roman by Mika Frankenberg
- Die Ketzerin : Roman by Peter Berling
- Der Weihnachtsquilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
- Karlsson vom Dach by Astrid Lindgren
- Schmutzige Havanna Triologie : Roman by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez
- Stimmen der Angst : Roman by Dean Koontz
- Das Zittern des Fälschers : Roman by Patricia Highsmith
- Vergessene Stimmen : ein Harry-Bosch-Roman by Michael Connelly
- Öppi der Student : Roman by Arnold Kübler
- Muo und der Pirol im Käfig : Roman by Sijie Dai
- Die Aula : Roman by Hermann Kant
- Das Urteil am Kreuzweg : Roman by Iain Pears
- Gehet hin und tötet : Roman by Claude Cueni
- Picknick auf dem Eis : Roman by Andrej Kurkow
- Wartet auf mich am Fusse des Berges : der Untergang der Apachen by Forrest Carter
- s Tunälldorf by Traugott Meyer
- Die Libelle : Roman by John Le Carré
- Die Weihnachtsrose : eine Weihnachtsgeschichte by Dörthe Binkert
- Väter und Söhne by Iwan Turgenjew
- Traum-Park : Roman by Larry Niven
- Die Pilgerreise : mit einem Essay über Bunyan by John Bunyan
- Die Elfen : Roman by Bernhard Hennen
- Elfenlicht : Roman by Bernhard Hennen
- Elfenkönigin : Roman by Bernhard Hennen
- Der Gallische Krieg by Gaius Iulius Caesar
- Der Sommer vor meinem Fenster : Roman by Eeva-Kaarina Aronen
- Flammen im Wind : Roman by Penelope Williamson
- Isenhart : Roman by Holger Karsten Schmidt
- Der dunkle Thron : historischer Roman by Rebecca Gablé
- Novecento. Oceano Mare : Zwei Bestseller in einem Band by Alessandro Baricco
- Vor der Elfendämmerung : Roman by Jean-Louis Fetjaine
- Die Stunde der Elfen : Roman by Jean-Louis Fetjaine
- Die Zweitfrau : eine Liebesgeschichte by Ama Ata Aidoo

Paul- Wow! You have been adding the books. Looks like you might need to add a few more bookshelves too or build an annex.
I read many Kinsey Milhone books and enjoyed them but haven't picked one up in years.

Love the hedgehog! When we were in Germany, my husband and I were super excited to see one outside one night. All the Europeans we were with were completely disinterested and I'm pretty sure they thought we were crazy. Hedgehogs are adorable.

Hej Mark, I wonder myself where to put all these books... my wife and kids are complaining about space. I will read more Grafton when I get to it.

Ursula, we do love our hedgehog. there was a second hedgehod in our garden over the weekend, and since then we haven't seen nor heard anything of them (they can be very noisy during the night - they eat especially noisy). They are becoming rare around here - too many streets and houses, and often people have a very clean garden with no hiding places during winter.

Hi Paul,
love the hedgehog pic :) and did you decide already on a name for this wonderful creature?

So, that's where you always get your books from :) and I agree with you, you definitely need some shelves to give this poor books a home.

Oh, I see that you managed to get Karlsson vom Dach. I love Astrid Lindgren Stories. Although, my alltime favourite is Die Brüder Löwenherz.
And I see you got the Bernhard Hennen books, absolute fantastic fantasy read. I am sure that you will enjoy them.

Hej Bianca, no, I still have no name for the hedgehog - but it's gone anyway now. Maybe one is coming back in autumn. we will prepare the place then again and it/they will be welcome to stay during the winter.

I love Lindgren, too. As a child I read Nils Holgersson several times and I was fond of Kalle Blomquist. I did somehow miss die Bürder Löwenherz - my daughter once came along with them and was fascinated by it - so it came as late discovery for me.

I am looking forward to reading Hennen's books.

Paul, enjoyed catching up as always - lots of lovely and diverse photos here. I make it that you have thus far added/bought/being gifted 490 books this year. Great going mate!

Hej Paul, thanks for coming over. I am pleased that some of my pictures find some admiration :)
Good to have you back home.

Hi Paul

I'm glad the surgery went well and that Suki continues to improve. I send prayers and kind thoughts that the future will be bright and sunny.

By the way Paul Craswick told me that you, he and I have accumulated a lot of books this year.

I guess that might make us members of the book hoarder club.

All good wishes.

And, I love your photos, particularly those of New Zealand.

Hej Linda

welcome in my small world and thanks for all the prayers and thoughts on behalf of Suki and me. I appreciate that very much. Suki came to church this morning but then was too tired to come with me to the Korean church in the afternoon. She has to take life a bit slower.

I know, book hoarding is my hobby? strength? weak spot? addiction? anyway it's fun isn't it - shame we can't get time packages for reading going with the books ...

Hi, Paul! I'm so far behind on your thread! But I'm glad Suki is doing well. I also love all your pictures, especially the cemeteries. I'm also a cemetery tourist--I love touring old graveyards. In fact, my siblings & cousins have planned an outing in June where we will rent a van & tour St. Louis/St. Charles, visiting the graves of all of our forebears. Although I agree with Ursula--"old" in the US doesn't mean anything near what "old" would be in Germany. Some day, I'd like to visit Germany and see if I can find the graves of any of my REAL ancestors!

Anyway, stay well and take good care of your wife!

Hej Terri, where do your REAL ancestors come from? There are a few Swiss Löfflers around, too.

Thanks fo coming by and have good start into the new week.

Hello Paul,
just stopping by to wish you and your family a wonderful week :)
I am off to London again tomorrow, which means I still will be quite busy today :)

Have a good trip to London (and then back again)

Some add-ons:
- Weissglut : Thriller by Sandra Brown
- Schrei lauter, Maureen : Roman by Denise Mina
- Regentropfentage by Melissa C. Feurer
- Ausstieg verpasst : Roman by Elvira Hoffmann
- Briefe aus Atlantis : Fantasy- Roman by Robert Silverberg
- Der Herbst des Patriarchen : Roman by Gabriel García Márquez
- Zeugin der Anklage. Der Prügelknabe by Agatha Christie
- Schloss des Schreckens : Roman by Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Muscheln in meiner Hand. Die Hochzeit by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- Östlich der Berge : Roman by David Guterson
- Der Pfad im Schnee by Lian Hearn
- Der Glanz des Mondes by Lian Hearn
- Die Therapeutin : Roman by Camilla Grebe
- Die verbotene Frau : meine Jahre mit Scheich Khalid von Dubai by Verena Wermuth
- Die Girls von Riad : Roman by Rajaa Alsanea
- Wo die Erde bebt : Roman by Susanna Jones
- Alle sieben Wellen : Roman by Daniel Glattauer
- Geschichte der Päpste by Alex Patuzzi (published in Vienna around 1870)
- Von der Entstehung des jüdischen Volkes bis zur zweitmaligen Zerstörung Jerusalems unter Kaiser Vespasian by Heinrich Graetz
- Von der zweitmaligen Zerstörung Jerusalems unter Kaiser Vespasian bis zu den massenhaften Zwangstaufen der Juden in Spanien by Heinrich Graetz
- Von den massenhaften Zwangstaufen der Juden in Spanien bis in die Gegenwart by Heinrich Graetz (a history of the Jews in 3 volumes, published around 1923, leather bound)

- Scandal takes a holiday : a Marcus Didius Falco mystery by Lindsey Davis
- The accusers by Lindsey Davis
- Natterjack by Niall Duthie
- The dark room by Minette Walters
- The art of detection : a novel of suspense by Laurie R. King
- The state of Africa : a history of the continent since independence by Martin Meredith
- The Kalahari typing school for men by Alexander McCall Smith
- This thing of darkness by Harry Thompson
- Nine by Jan Burke
- The enigma of arrival : a novel by V. S. Naipaul
- The case for God by Karen Armstrong
- Selected tales by Edgar Allan Poe
- A most wanted man by John Le Carré
- The cross of redemption : uncollected writings by James Baldwin
- The house of the seven gables : a romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne (edition of 1924)

the books by Poe and Baldwin gave some quite some work since I wanted to add each tale or writing in the CK, just to document what is actually contained in the book

No, I will not look at all your add ons Paul! Yes, I just will ignore them now *nods head*. *Stoehn* I can' t believe that you always get so many brilliant books for free!

Wish you and Suki a great weekend Paul!

Now up to 526 Paul for the year. Way. To. Go.!

Hej Bianca, thanks for passing by and not looking :)
Besides books we visited also two concert with Korean musicians: One was in Seltisberg (as last year) in commemoration of 50 years of Korean-Swiss diplomatic liaisons, with Eung-Kwang Lee (Theater Basel) who sang from various operas from Verdi, accompanied on the piano by David Cowan (also from the Theater Basel)



the second concert was by a Swiss piano player and a Korean violin player, she was brilliant. I just can't find the programme any more...

Hej Paul, you are right 'Way. To. Go.' ... in reading. Cataloguing all these books takes so much time. But I like adding first and last sentences of each book - it gives always an impression of the book. The first sentence was also a topic at the Solothurner Literaturtage today. There were the first Swiss Literature Prizes awarded today, they went to Erica Pedretti, Fabio Pusterla, and Jean-Marc Lovay for their work. As Alain Berset, a member of the Federal Council, stated, there is no Swiss Literature, there are Swiss Literatures. 'Without diversity/variety, there would be no Switzerland. The diversity is not unity, it widens one's horizon.'
There were also prizes given to single works: Irena Brená's Die undankbare Fremde, Arno Camenisch's Ustrinkata and Matthias Zschokke's Der Mann mit den zwei Augen. I haven't read any of these so far.

I found a little book about Mürren, a village in the Bernese Oberland, between Jungfrau and Schilthorn (Piz Gloria), and there I found a pix of the Belgian king Albert sitting on top of a mountain, quite relaxed it seems.
Führer und Heimatkunde von Mürren by Ernst Feuz


King Albert I. of Belgium and Kurdirektor (tourist/resort director?) G. A. Michel in 1930 on top of the Kleine Gelmenhorn

More add-ons:
- Neue Jerusalemer Bibel : Einheitsübersetzung mit dem Kommentar der Jerusalemer Bibel
- Inspektor Ali im Trinity College by Driss Chraïbi
- Deichgrab : Kriminalroman by Sandra Dünschede
- Der Bauchredner : Roman by Pauline Melville
- Ein Meer aus Zeit : Roman by Merete Morken Andersen
- Der falsche Zeuge : ein Island-Krimi by Stella Blómkvist
- In kalter Absicht : Roman by Anne Holt
- Mio, mein Mio by Astrid Lindgren
- Unter den Sternen von Rio : Roman by Ana Veloso
- Grün ist die Hoffnung : eine Pastorale by T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Feuerpfad : Roman by Judy Nunn
- Suite française : Roman by Irène Némirovsky
- Herz aus Eisen : der erste Fall der Marie Machiavelli by Anne Cuneo
- Der Gesang des Schwarzen Bären : Lieder und Gedichte der Indianer ; zweisprachig by Werner Arens

- Brida by Paulo Coelho
- The Penguin book of carols by Ian C. Bradley
- The jewels of Tessa Kent : a novel by Judith Krantz
- Book of the dead by Patricia Daniels Cornwell

Paul, fantastic pictures! Not to mention very impressive reading progress towards the magical 75 number!

Cheers,
Charles

Hej Charles, welcome over here. I am pleased that you like my pictures. Yes, I had a very good start and am slowing down now. I will get there eventually...

On Saturday before Mother's Day our daughters invited us and my mother for brunch in Lucerne (I had to pay...). But that was good, to be together with the whole family. We were lucky with the weather, too, it didn't rain when we walked through Lucerne.

On the way home we stopped a the Linner Linde (the linden of Linn), an old, huge tree.

On Mother's Day we went to a musical church service in the Theodorskirche Basel, guided by Albert Frey, a Christian song writer.

Theodorskirche Basel


Albert Frey and band (http://www.adams-frey.de/)


Suki is very tired and has pain in her shoulder (she has a fango pad on her shoulder now and is skyping with her sister).

My boss in the shop (one of my jobs) is in Israel at the moment, so I work longer than usual.

Finally I finished another book reading (took me a long time)
61) The book of books : the radical impact of the King James Bible, 1611-2011 by Melvyn Bragg. An interesting book, full of details. He starts with the Tyndale and Geneva bibles as forerunners to the King James Version (AV), and then goes on to show the impact the AV had on literature, language, society, politics etc. in the English speaking world. Especially the beginning of democracy, women's rights, end of slavery were interesting and stimulating reading. He mentions authors like Shakespeare, John Bunyan, John Steinbeck, and Toni Morrison.

He takes the position that being Christian is being religious, and so believing in no God is not religious. A position I very much doubt. I believe that there is a God or that there is no God. I believe that I am created by God or I believe that I evolved out of something else. Religion gives answers to where I come from, where I am going to, and what I should do in between.

He misinterprets the Onan story: Onan was not condemned because he did spill his semen on the ground, he was condemned because he refused to make his dead brother's wife pregnant.

He also takes New Testament apocrypha and argues with those texts - despite the fact that these texts were not in the King James Version.

A very detailed book, worthwhile reading when beinbg aware of his presuppositions.

That one is on my TBR list already, Paul. It is one of the books that was written for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

Hi Paul- Just checking in. Wow, the books just keep rolling in. You are going to make Mr. Cranswick insanely jealous. Love the tree photo. That's a big boy!

Hej Lori, good, let me know how you felt about it. I saw a review somewhere (New York Times ?) and asked the theological department of the University of Basel Library to buy it, then saw that Paul C. has read it and finally finished it myself (I only read short junks on the tram when going or coming from work). And I am still intrigued by it - especially by all the other books which are mentioned by Bragg. I think I make a list of all the titles mentioned in it and make a TIOLI challenge with it... (big maybe).

Hej Mark, welcome. I hope that Paul isn't getting too insane :) I know, I have a huge advantage: I don't have to pay for the books. I got another two bags full waiting to be catalogued. But I feel like I should be reading a little bit more, than just cataloguing them. The Linner Lindenbaum is really a big boy and I showed it to a lot of our relatives from Korea and the USA; even so they have seen larger trees, they are still impressed.

We had a Night of Faith in Basel last Friday when over 70 events happened in 35 locations in Basel. http://nachtdesglaubens.ch/
Suki wasn't too well, so she stayed at home and I went alone to a concert by a Swiss couple singing spiritual German songs, looking at comics by Alain Auderset, being present at the opening session, listening to Ulrich Knellwolf (mystery short stories) and Titus Müller (from his latest work), and then I enjoyed two concerts, one by a Swiss band and Jars of Clay (playing a few songs which will be on the new album coming out in September).

Easter / Alain Auderst / Titus Müller / Jars of Clay

Switzerland beat USA at the ice hockey championship - hooray!

Paul Stadler: That night of cultural events in Basel sounds fantastic. Just the kind of thing I love (except of course in this instance I can't, unfortunately, speak German. Something I plan to do something about one day). Also, 'Go Switzerland!'. Woot!

Hej Charles, welcome over here. That was a great night and we hope that something similar will come around next year. For the concerts there was no need to speak or understand German - English was good enough for Jars of clay, and the pantomime Carlos Martinez is a Spaniard - so you may have understood his Spanish pantomime much better than we did :)

Hopp Schwiiz!! for the final match

We have been to the Isle of Mainau yesterday, beautiful weather, beautiful flowers.

Wonderful photos!

Thanks, Rhonda

62) Schloss des Schreckens : Roman by Marion Zimmer Bradley. A young nurse starts work in a castle on an island where she should take care for a mentally handicapped girl. But what happened to the girl? Is there any connections with the previous nurse who was found drowned on the island? A darkish mystery by an author who is better known for her fantasy books (and I prefer these to that mystery).

Lovely photos. The flowers are really pretty.

Hej Lori, it was a beautiful day and the Isle of Mainau is also called the Island of Flowers. Here are a few more to enjoy:

the Lake of Constance (Bodensee) panted with blue flowers:

I had to order a book for a reader and then got quite interested when I received it:
63) Vögel und Blumen : Japanische Meisterholzschnitte by Kono Bairei. Kono (1844–1895) was a Japanese woodcutter and art teacher who had made fascinating woodcuts of birds and flowers. the book contains around 50 pages of colored reprints of woodcuts, the book is bound like a leporello. It also contains a short history of Japanese woodcutting art.


enjoy some birds:

Some graves I found last week in Muttenz:

It's time for a few add-ons:
- Von der Liebe und anderen Dämonen : Roman by Gabriel García Márquez
- Die Kaiserin : Roman by Tessa Korber
- Die wechselnden Winde : Roman by Almudena Grandes
- Brennende Lichter : mit 39 Zeichnungen von Marc Chagall by Bella Chagall
- Der Hahn ist tot : Roman by Ingrid Noll
- Sämtliche Erzählungen by Ingeborg Bachmann
- Afroasiatische christliche Kunst by Arno Lehmann
- Die Kondom-Story by Hannes Bertschi
- Small World : Roman by Martin Suter
- Business Class : neue Geschichten aus der Welt des Managements by Martin Suter
- In einem anderen Land : Roman by Ernest Hemingway
- Vom Kleiderbügel bis zum Regenbogen by Hans Martin Dunkel
- Der Fänger im Roggen : Roman by Jerome David Salinger
- Das Kindermädchen : Roman by Elisabeth Herrmann
- Gefrorene Seelen : Roman by Giles Blunt
- Der Feind im Schatten : Kriminalroman by Henning Mankell

- The story of General Dann and Mara's daughter, Griot and the snow dog by Doris Lessing
- The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
- The Lady & Sons, too! : a whole new batch of recipes from Savannah by Paula H. Deen
- Between the monster and the saint : reflections on the human condition by Richard Holloway
- The birthday present by Barbara Vine
- On rue Tatin : living and cooking in a French town by Susan Herrmann Loomis
- The rainbow : a novel by D. H. Lawrence
- The Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette
- The secret scripture by Sebastian Barry
- Blessed is the busybody by Emilie Richards
- Let the great world spin by Colum McCann
- Mystery man : murder, mayhem & damn sexy trousers by Colin Bateman
- The island by Victoria Hislop

Sad news: the bring & take place is closed down - too many people were just bringing things (and a lot of rubbish, too) and nobody was looking after the place and cleaning the 'debris' away. The place was a three-minute-walk away from the library... so, no more free books from that place *sniff*

Hi Paul,

Sorry to hear about the Bring & Take place. It's a shame when people misuse such great community places but aren't willing to contribute productively.

I love the pictures of graves in Muttenz. Quite beautiful. Finding interesting graves or the graves of notable people is something I enjoy doing when I travel, too. A couple of years ago I was in Copenhagen and slight out the graves of Kierkegaard, Hans Christian Andersen and Niels Bohr at Assistens cemetery. Interesting enough that cemetery also had the graves of several African American jazz musicians who moved to Denmark in the 1950s and 60s, which I wasn't expecting even though Copenhagen had a noted jazz tradition.

Cheers,
Charles

Hej Charles,
welcome. The bring & take was a good idea: bring everything which you don't need anymore and take everything else you like - but people brought broken toys, torn clothes, broken furniture, dirty tapestry etc., some of the books were having missing pages, some were soaked in coffee (or worse) ... They are looking for a new local team who would be present more often, let's see.

Interesting about the jazz musicians in Copenhagen. I find it interesting to look at the different stiles of gravestones. Here are some more:

Sorry to hear that your free supply is becoming unavailable Paul ~ can you get them to relocate to Kuala Lumpur!
573 add-ons so far by my reckoning, way to go mate.

Hope that Suki and yourself have a lovely weekend.

Gravestones have a maudlin charm I would agree.

Hej Paul, pleased to see you over here. The bring & take place is a community thing of that city district - all you need are some people you have time, a covered place (like a large garage) and then spread the word (well, I don't know if this idea would work in Malaysia).

We have a very rainy weekend. What's the difference between May and December - none, December has just more letters (it's a very cold and wet May this year...)

Thanks for the new word 'maudlin' - I had to check my dictionary. Hopefully I can use it some time... it is always good to learn new words.

Some more flowers from our garden (they blossom despite the rain):

lovely flowers, and can it be true- 573 add ons!!??
:)

I love your pictures, Paul. Beautiful flowers and fascinating gravestones. If I ever get across the sea, I'm taking a cemetery tour.

Way back up to #100: "Loeffler" is just my name by marriage, and I never changed it back after I divorced. But I've traced the Loefflers back to Hanover Germany in the late 1700's. Haven't got further back than that yet.

I was an Allman, which I've traced back to England. I also come from Voss, Gerst, and Terbrock (or Terbrack, or deBrack), so I'm a lot more Germanic than English!

Hi Paul

What a wonderful thread you have -- books, travel, flowers!

Thanks for trying to locate the Leon Frederic painting Fragrance! I appreciate your efforts.

Megan, welcome so far North. There are so many beautiful flowers all over the place. It always makes me wonder about these wonders given by our Creator - and I like to share these beauties. Yes, I added more than 600 books to my library this year (some are take outs from other libraries, books I had to consult for my work or church). I am a Bibliothekar (librarian) and when you mispronounce it, it sounds like Biblio-taker - and I just can't leave these books out there in the cold, can I? ;)

Hej Terri, you have a long family history - our family comes from the Emmental (you know, where they make the cheese with the holes) and that's all I know, so you know much more about your ancestors

Hej Linda, welcome, it was a pleasure. Working as an Information Librarian helps to find things in catalogs or in the internet. I've never heard of Frédéric, but you posted some interesting paintings, so that intrigued me to search for this painter and that's how I came across this exhibition in Vienna about symbolism.

I also love walking through graveyards, and enjoyed your photos, especially the puppy. You must have a lovely garden--great photo of the bleeding hearts.

My whole neighborhood is kind of a give-and-take---people leave boxes of unwanted items at the curb, so any walk around the neighborhood can net a used book, t-shirt, or set of slightly chipped dishes.

Hej Rhonda, pleased to see you here. It is interesting what people choose to be on their grave stones. .. fish, bird, dog, cat, angel, Mary, crucifix, any abstract form ... a whole bunch of never ending motives.

When putting rubbish on the streets, we have to pay a fee for each rubbish bag (each city has different bags or sticker/labels on the stuff). So, there are some people who try to avoid the waste fee and just drop there rubbish everywhere ... and that makes every bring&take tiresome.

Hi Paul- Just checking in, good sir. Love the colorful flowers and I see the books just keep rolling in. LOL.

Hej Mark, nice of you flying by, thanks.

The reader who ordered Vögel und Blumen : Japanische Meisterholzschnitte by Kono Bairei came along today to fetch the book and we started talking art. She works at the Kunstmusem Basel http://www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/. They are working on a exhibition on James Ensor, an other Belgian symbolist, a contemporary of Leon Frédéric. They want to look into the Japanese influence on Ensor (that's why they asked for the paintings by Kono).

Here some pix: The Rower / Pinks / Christ's triumphant entry into Brussels

Very interesting - and well-timed, as I'm trying to learn a bit about various aspects of Belgian history and culture!

Welcome. I am glad to serve you

64) Und Friede auf Erden : Reiseerzählung by Karl May. May himself travels from Cairo in Egypt to Ceylon, Penang (Malysia), Oleleh (Indonesia) to China. He once did a similar trip, but here he wants to show that East and West are equal and prejudices hinders the Westerner to appreciate the Eastern philosophy and religions, and therefore always war against other peoples.
Charley meets a donkey driver, a devout muslim, and takes him with him on the trip further East. They also meet an American missionary who travels with his daughter in order to crush all heathen temples and convert the Chinese to Christ. Because of this attitude the American gets into troubles and finds friends in Charley and Omar (the Christian and the Muslim), then they happen to meet in Indonesia again, this time with Chinese and Malays. The hero knows everything and its always going well for him and his friends. He tells interesting local details and behaviours. But quite often the main theme is devouted to discussions on East-West and interreligious discussions. An interesting tale and insight from 1901.

Must have been boring books....

Nice pictures. Who is the artist? And yes, they must have been boring books. Also obviously decaffeinated tea. ; )

Sorry, Charles: the painter is Francine Van Hove, a Parisian painter. http://www.francinevanhove.com/
1)At breakfast (but I don't know the original title)
2) La bel été au Luxembourg (2000) (she is probably misusing the book as a bra)

she seems to be reading bare chested quite a lot

And why not! They're really nice art, actually, she has great technique and a nice sense of colour and framing the subject.

Yes, she made nice paintings. I like how the woman and the cat stare at each other. And the Chinese book is actually French 'Pays de neige'

Yes, the cat one is my favourite I think!

I agree with you, Charles

I read 'only' 5 books last month with 1436 pages, two in English and three in German, written by 2 female and 3 male writers, coming from these countries:
USA 2
GB 1
J 1
D 1

I added 168 books to my LT library, 20 thereof I've taken out from different libraries, and 21 of them are from my father's library. I also added one of my oldest books:
13909068::Anleitung zu gründlicher Verständniss der Heiligen Offenbahrung Jesu Christi, welche Er seinem Knecht und Apostel Johanni Durch seinen Engel gesandt und gedeutet hat by Johanna Eleonora Petersen, printed in Franckfurt 1696
(Instructions for thorough understanding of the Holy Revelation of Jesus Christ, which He has sent and interpreted his servant and apostle John through His angel)

An interesting quote by Ernst R. Hauschka: Das Lesen im Bett zeugt von völliger Hingabe an die Kunst: Man überlässt es dem Dichter, wann man einschläft. (Reading in bed is evidence of complete dedication to art: It leaves it to the poet, when you fall asleep.)

I like that quote!

Hej Charles, there is one by George R. R. Martin: Sleep is good, books are better (slightly altered).

65) Die unsichtbaren Stimmen : Roman by Carolina De Robertis. An interesting historical tale of three generations Uruguayans: It all starts with a baby falling out of a tree, and then the author develops the lives of three generations of different women - and also tells a lot about Uruguay and its becoming a nation. Well told.

66) In einem anderen Land : Roman by Ernest Hemingway. An American serves in the Italian army during World War I in the Alps. He gets injured and meets a British nurse during his stay in the hospital. But how long is happiness going to last in times of trouble? Good reading.

And soon I'm off in the steps of Paul: Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, Philippi. We make a missionary tour visiting an Evangelical church and a Bible school (I am sure to check out their library). I am traveling with the same man who took me up to Lithuania.

I do not know when and if I find access to the internet. I will be back in a week.

Hi Paul- Just checking in and ogling the Van Hove pictures. They are gorgeous. I especially like the top 2. I may have to snag one of those for my own thread. Public domain, right?

Good luck on the trek!

Hej Mark, you better check yourself. Here are the links:
http://angelawriter90.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/francine-van-hove-31.jpg?w=521
http://sp1.fotolog.com/photo/33/18/23/pinturasoleos/1270124876061_f.jpg

Thanks Charles, I better get some sleep now - in three hours I have to get up again.

Hej everybody, I am back from Greece with a lot of pictures and impressions and a cold. Our Greek guide give really everything - even his cold. We were following the Apostle Paul (not in chronological order) and went to Athens (the Areopagus where Paul was talking and debating), Corinth (put to prison as usual), Beroia (where the Jews were kinder and checked everything Paul was teaching), Thessaloniki, and Philippi (where Lydia, the first European became a Christian and where the prison ward converted, too). Greece is full of ruins (not just ancient ones...). But the food was excellent (apart from inner organs of goats which our guide promised to be delicious - but my inner organs were not so pleased about other inner organs).
The Areopagus, the Akropolis in the back

the library of the Greek Bible College in Athens (we stayed three nights here)

chilling in Nafpoli

monasteries on the rocks



Paul's prison .... (well, maybe, the place is not to bad chosen - the Roman 'police' station was nearby)

a sign in Thessaloniki airport

some add-ons
- Tausend strahlende Sonnen : Roman by Khaled Hosseini
- Das dritte Gesicht : Roman by Sidney Sheldon
- Ein Job in Taschkent : Thriller by Greg Rucka
- Das Schwert : Thriller by Daniel Easterman
- Tödlicher Absturz : ein neuer Fall für Julia Durant ; Kriminalroman by Andreas Franz
- Der Buschkrieger by Peter Dickinson
- Herzstoss : Psychothriller by Joy Fielding
- Der Brief für den König : Abenteuer-Roman by Tonke Dragt
- Die Täuschung : Roman by Charlotte Link
- Die schwarze Schatulle : Roman by Batyā Gur
- Keiner wars : Roman by Isolde Schaad
- Sehnsucht nach Jerusalem : 3 historische Novellen by S. J. Kreutner
- Sag ich's oder sag ich's nicht? by Viktorija Samojlovna Tokareva
- Et hjem : billedog af Carl Larsson by Carl Larsson (I am fond of Larsson's pix, in whatever language)
- Vom wahren Reichtum by Jean Giono
- Die Göttin im Stein : Roman by Gabriele Beyerlein
- Fliegt mit! : Erlebnis und Technik des Fliegens by Walter Ackermann
- Der Geheilte : zwei Novellen by Siegfried Trebitsch
- Der kleine Grenzverkehr, oder, Georg und die Zwischenfälle by Erich Kästner
- Die verschwundene Miniatur oder auch, Die Abenteuer eines empfindsamen Fleischermeisters by Erich Kästner

great pictures! And whats that I see.....sunshine? wow! (it raining here and has been all day and all night)

Fantastic pictures Paul, and a good story of your travels too! Yes, I'm not so sure of internal organs myself either!! I hope your cold gets better soon.

Hej Megan, well, Greece is a sunny country - summer is coming and they have 28° C (and now we brought that back to Switzerland) :) I had the wrong clothes with me. Although we had rain three evenings (but the temperatures didn't sink much). We were taking part in 'park outreach' where we played games (bowling, ring throwing) I was helping with 'body painting': the kids came to us, pointed on a picture on the board, and then we draw that on their arms or legs. The first kid asked me to draw a cat, the second asked for a scorpion. But then rain started and we had to pack.

Thanks, Charles. I couldn't sing today in church, my throat was too much aching (and miss-sounding). When we arrived in Thessaloniki somebody said 'Calimera' to me and I answered: 'Yes, please, I like them'. When I didn't receive but a strange look, I realized that she was greeting me and not offering 'calamari' *sigh*

Hi Paul- Sounds like you had a great time in Greece. I would love to go one of these days. Love the photos and of course I love the T-shirt you are wearing.
It looks like another fine book haul too! Paul C will be jealous.

Hej Mark, I heard that Mythos is the best beer there (I don't like beer but the colleague was always drinking that). I preferred to drink water and then we were given two bottles of self made wine by a befriended winemaker - that was definitely worth trying (he had a selfmade etiquette on the bottle, and produces not much, I think he also delivers the supper wine (Abendmahlswein) for the church). But I also learned how to make Greek Frappé (iced coffee).
We also found that:
Caputsino? Sounds pretty kaputt in our ears...

I just was searching the author Peter Peter on LT - but the author search delivers as many hits as when searching for Peter only (3543). Strange behavior. I located then one book by him and so found his author page ... http://www.librarything.com/author/peterpeter

Searching for authors with the same name as first and last name is very tedious ...

Some add-ons:
- Die Sage vom Rodensteiner : Verbreitung, Motive und Entstehungsgeschichte by Friedrich Mössinger
- Geschichte der studentischen Vereinigung "Die Rodensteiner" zu Freiburg im Ue. by Max Richter
- Geschichte der schlagenden Korporationen der Schweiz : Kurze Beiträge zum schweizerischen akademischen Leben by Max Richter
- Der Regengott weint über Mexiko : Roman by László Passuth
- Die Weltenbaum-Saga 1 - Das Original : Die Sternenbraut - Sternenströmers Lied by Sara Douglass
- 13895944::Acte de médiation fait par le Premier Consul de la République française, entre les partis qui divisent la Suisse : deutsche Übersetzung der Mediationsakte vom 19. Februar 1803
- Eine leidenschaftliche Frau : Roman by John O'Hara
- Venedigs Löwen schielen nicht : Roman by Jutta von Sonnenberg
- Die Familie Moschkat by Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Der Nobelpreis : Roman by Andreas Eschbach
- Das Zentrum : Roman by José Saramago
- Scarlet : Herr der Wälder ; historischer roman by Steve Lawhead

- Scapa Flow in war and peace by W. S. Hewison
- No highway by Nevil Shute

607 books added this year

first lines of the books above:
- Diese vor weit mehr als hundert Jahren gedruckten Sätze haben auch heute noch ihre Geltung, wenn man, dem Wandel der Wirklichkeit folgend, die Worte über die Eberbacher "ärmlichen Hütten" in "schöne stattliche Bauernhöfe" zu ändern geneigt ist.
- Die Stadt Freiburg im Üchtland, dem alten Nuithonien, liegt auf einer Flusshalbinsel der Saane (Sarine) in ähnlicher Lage wie Bern, in einer Höhe von 632m über Meer (Schwellenhöhe).
- Unter einer schlagenden Korporation versteht man eine Vereinigung von Studenten der gleichen Hochschule, deren Mitglieder sich zur Einhaltung des Prinzips der unbedingten Satisfaktion mit der Waffe verpflichten.
- Aus den Spitzbogenfenstern lehnend, befand er sich schier in gleicher Höhe mit den Türmen.
- Die Frau kämpfte sich durch den kniehohen Schnee, und das Bündel Altholz auf ihrem Rücken wog fast so schwer wie das Kind, das sie im Leib trug.
- Bonaparte, Erster Consul der fränkischen und Präsident der italienischen Republik, an die Schweizer!
- Am Mittwoch, dem vierten Juli 1817, regnete es morgens, und das Festkomitee trat zusammen, um darüber zu beraten, ob man das Fest nicht lieber auf den Sonnabend verschieben sollte, auch wenn der vierte Juli in diesem Jahr auf einen Mittwoch fiel.
- Das gibt es also doch: Liebe auf den ersten Blick.
- Fünf Jahre nach dem Tod seiner zweiten Frau heiratete Reb Meschulam Moschkat zum dritten Mal.
- Das bestgehütete Geheimnis Schwedens, sagt man, sei das Menü des Nobelbanketts.
- Der Mann, der den Lastwagen fährt, heisst Cipriano Algor, er ist Töpfer von Beruf und vierundsechzig Jahre alt, obgleich er nicht so alt wirkt.
- Wohlan denn: Eines Tages, in nicht allzu weiter Ferne, werden sie mich als Schurken hängen.
- Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy's main United Kingdom strategic base and harbour in two World Wars, has played a vital role in British maritime history for over two hundred years.
- When I was put in charge of the Structural Department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, I was thirty-four years old.

607 books so far added Paul - impressive in the extreme. Very extreme!
Look forward to seeing more of your Greek photos.

fastfood in Athens


the Areopag with the Acropolis in the back


the Greeks were casting a talent show for gods: Poseidon was hitting the ground with his trident and salt water sprang from a well, then Athene came and planted an olive tree - and so the Greeks choose Athene as city patron of the city now called Athens (imagine: Poseidon should have brought a calamari well or something but not a salt water spring and he would have won the contest, stupid)


Epidauros is the biggest amphitheater on the Peloponnes, dedicated to Asklepios, the healing god: the accustics is fantastic: when sitting in the top row you can understand every single word spoken in the center clearly


dessert


on the road from Marathon to Athens


a kiosk with books, even the fridge is filled with paperbacks...


there was a book fair (Φεστιβάλ Βιβλίου, Festival of Books, is written in the banner) on the main place in Thessaloniki;: but our guide didn't tell me because he thought I would get renegade of/to (?) him *grumble* (he might have been right)

67) Emil und die drei Zwillinge by Erich Kästner. Emil's second adventure: The Professor (one of the detectives) inherits a house at the sea, so he invites Emil and the others to spend their school holidays there. There they meet an acrobat with twin boys who perform stunning acts and then there comes the movie 'Emil und die Detektive' into the theatre. Great children's book.

68) Die verwegenen Vier retten das grosse Pferderennen by Enid Blyton. The Adventurous Four are invited to a stud farm in Ireland and help save the horse race. Fun, but not as good as other adventure series' by Byton.

"I don't like beer." What?? Was?? Did I read you correctly? I am a little tired this evening in the states, maybe my eyes are playing tricks.

Hej Mark, sorry to disappoint you, but that's the truth. I once was alone at home and drank a whole bottle of my father's beer, since then I can't stand the taste of beer anymore (I was a preschooler then)... I buy occasionally beer for my wife and kids, my in-laws in Korea made me taste Korean beer (I drank it, but well, it was beer), we once lived on the Brauereistrasse (Brewery Street next to a brewery), I was often ordered to be 'beer watch' in the army (I wouldn't drink the stuff, so they trusted me), beer is one of the subjects I am responsible for searching new literature here in the library, and a friend of mine published the book Bier und wir - so, dealing with beer, I have no problem with, but drinking it ...

No problem, Paul. I was just kidding you. You seem perfectly fine without the beer. LOL.

Have a wonderful weekend, Paul!

Hej Mark, be my guest - let me know when you show up here, my son will share a beer with you, and I will enjoy my glass of wine.

Hej Diana, thanks, it already started quite nicely: our daughter graduated from design management high school, so we went to Lucerne for the handing over of the documents. It rained when we went there, but there came some sunshine on the way back. Enjoy a good weekend yourself.

A fridge filled with paperbacks - my word it is not surprising that we can thank the Greeks for Western Civilisation!
Have a great weekend Hercule.

Ah, Paul, je suis très honorè de votre visite, mon cher - et oui, les Grecques sont foux.

69) Tinkers by Paul Harding. A dying clock repairer's and his father's, a tinker, lives are told. But there are several insertions which disturb the story (like the grands mals the characters experience). There were some good sections in the novel, but I feel a bit disjointed after the read.

I read five books in June, together 1286 pages, written by 2 women and 3 men; one in English, four in German. The authors coming from these countries:
Uruguay 1
USA 2
Germany 1
GB 1

and here are the first lines:
- Manche sagen, sie flog, andere sagen, sie fiel.
- Im Spätsommer jenes Jahres lebten wir in einem Hause in einem Dorfe, das über den Fluss und die Ebene zu den Bergen hinübersah.
- Herr Oberwachtmeister Jeschke hatte einen dienstfreien Nachmittag.
- Peggy strampelte sich verzweifelt auf ihrem Fahrrad ab, um mit den grossen Geschwistern auf gleicher Höhe zu bleiben.
- George Washington Crosby began to hallucinate eight days before he died.

I added 47 books to my library, ca. one third coming from public libraries.
I added 40224 Common Knowledge items since joining LT.

Great Athens pictures, Paul! I love the amphitheatre - isn't the science of acoustics fascinating?

Thanks Charles, Greece was a great experience - not just sound-wise

Here one of the monastieres on a rock in Meteora:

some add-ons:
- Die Familie Hardelot : Roman by Irène Némirovsky
- Ein Kreis im Gras : Roman by Oek de Jong
- Sehnsucht nach Sansibar : Roman by Micaela Jary
- Im Bann der Sturmreiter by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
- Ich schlage vor, dass wir uns küssen : Roman by Rayk Wieland
- Der Schmetterlingsbaum : Roman by Jane Urquhart
- Ein sicheres Haus : Roman by Nicci French
- Zeit der Verirrung : Roman by Mary Wesley
- The countess by Catherine Coulter
- Friends are friends forever : and other encouragements from God's word by Michael W. Smith

the first lines:
- Sie waren beisammen, sie waren glücklich.
- Der Regen hatte sich angekündigt.
- Viktorias Herz raste.
- Der Regen war ohne Anfang und ohne Ende, ein unentwegtes Klopfen wie das Getrommel von ungeduldigen Fingern.
- Es war im Jahr 1988, da hatte mein Freund Bert den perfekten Plan, die DDR zu verlassen.
- Schauen Sie aus dem Fenster.
- Mit der Tür fing es an.
- Vollmond beleuchtete die Strasse vor ihr; es war eine lange Strasse, und sie war leer.
- Of course I didn't know who he was the first time I saw him.
- If I were to make a list of my strengths, I guarantee you that public speaking would not be in my Top Ten.

617 books added this year

70) Die Sternenbraut - Sternenströmers Lied by Sara Douglass. A fantasy I started last month for challenge 8. An old prophecy tells of rise of the Zerstörer (destroyer) who will destroy all peoples of Achar and the coming of the Sternemann (star man) who will take up the fight, unite all peoples and save the world. This is the first volume of the Weltenbaum-Saga (Axis trilogy). A good read.

first line:
Die Frau kämpfte sich durch den kniehohen Schnee, und das Bündel Altholz auf ihrem Rücken wog fast so schwer wie das Kind, das sie im Leib trug.

That monastery on the rock is amazing! I'd love to see Greece one day.

Hej Ursula, Greece is great: historical and scenic
Her another monastery:

and sunset in Nafplio:

Paul- I felt exactly the same way about Tinkers. There were amazing stretches of writing and then...not so much. Enjoy your weekend.

Hej Mark, Tinkers has some interesting characters with a good description of their behaviour...

I work in the library today - and its quiet, school holidays started and its sunny and warm. Have a good weekend yourself.

71) Der stille Amerikaner : Roman by Graham Greene. A British journalist during the Vietnam war tries to neutral. But there are times he has to get engagé.

72) Die Siedler von Vulgata : Roman by Titus Müller. Arrick, a fifteen-year-old settler on the planet Vulgata rebels against the strict rules (250 commandments which have to be learned in school) and the technology hostile society. He steels one the most guarded and hidden treasure of the patriarch: the Bible, and learns where the names of all the 66 clans come from. Then a group a giant lizards come and ask for asylum, there spaceship was flown into the sun after they landed. So what to do? A gripping story

some add-ons:
- Der Wolkensegler : vier Märchen und eine Legende by Robert Roth
- Einer vom Hause Lesa. Im Hinterwald by Johanna Spyri
- Weihnachtsgäste by Axel Hambraeus
- Das Licht : Roman by A. J. Cronin
- Eine Frau kann von Glück sagen : Roman by Eveline Amstutz
- Lighted windows : Advent reflections for a world in waiting by Margaret Silf
- Kaputt : Roman by Curzio Malaparte
- Der vollkommene Schmerz : Roman by Ugo Riccarelli
- Indianische Liebesgeschichte : Roman = Laughing boy by Oliver La Farge

First lines:
- Kaspar war ein winziger Käfer, der, wohl behütet, auf dem tiefen Grund einer Frühlingswiese lebte.
- Am grünen Abhang über dem Dorfe Leuk leuchtete die Junisonne auf das frische Gras, das weithin die Höhe bedeckte und die Luft mit Wohlgeruch erfüllte.
- Dies trug sich zu, als Frau Vang zum zweitenmal nach ihrer Verwitwung Weihnachten feierte.
- Die Turmuhr der Markuskirche zeigte einige Minuten nach acht, als sich Henry Page eines feuchten Februarabends von Maitland, dem stellvertretenden Chefredakteur, wie üblich verabschiedete und das Zeitungsgebäude verliess.
- Es gab einiges, wofür Gabriele Moon nicht zu haben war; am Sonntag in aller Herrgottsfrühe aufzustehen, um das Familienfrühstück zu bereiten, gehörte dazu.
- The first of December, and Christmas is just around the corner!
- Prinz Eugen von Schweden blieb in der Mitte des Zimmers stehen.
- Unmittelbar bevor sie starb, tauchte Annina, an den Haselnussbaum im Garten gestützt, aus dem Schatten auf, in dem sich ihr Verstand seit vielen Jahren verborgen hatte, und sah in diesen wenigen Augenblicken, die der Tod ihr noch gewährte, wie im Flug das Haus mit der Pinie erneut vor sich und die Mena, die an eine Ecke des Backtrogs gelehnt betete, und gegenüber der Mena sah sie, wie ihre Mutter sie gebar und dabei in einem Schmerz schrie, der ihr vollkommen zu sein schien, und erst zuletzt erblickte sie, beinahe lauernd, ihren eigenen Kopf, der aus dem von der Anstrengung roten und prallen Leib heraustrat, und roch zum letztenmal den Veilchenduft ihres Zwillingsbruders, der sie aus dem Bauch hinaus in die Welt schob.
- Er ritt die hundert Meilen von T'o Tlakai nach Tsé Lani, um einen Tanz mitzumachen, aber eigentlich des Pferderennens halber, das darauf folgen sollte.

73) Alles Gaza : geteilte Geschichten by Etgar Keret and Samir El-Youssef. A collection of 13 short and shorter stories by the Israeli Keret and a story by Samir El-Youssef who was born in a camp in the Lebanon. It seems that the English contains 15 stories ('For Only $9.99' and 'Crazy glue' are missing). They are quirky little stories, some quite funny, others more thought provoking:
-Gaza Blues: An lawyer drives over into Gaza to meet with some injured Palestinians. Informative.
-Schuhe: A boy is told in a Holocaust memorial to hate all Germans and everything German but then he gets brand new sport shoes from a German brand.... what to do now? Clever
-Menstruationsbeschwerden: A man dreams to be 40-year-woman getting her menstruation and having no tampons left and she can't make her husband to get some ... Interesting, but not worked out.
-Der Sohn des Chefs vom Mossad: A boy who thinks his father owns an earth moving business but is actually the boss of the Mossad, then gets threatened and has to strip naked and made walk home like that ... Great
-Nylon: A soldier is asked to put all his army stuff into plastic so it will stay dry and clean when crawling thru mud. But he also plastifices himself. Only when meeting his girlfriend he finds her tasting synthetically... Surreal
-Der höfliche Junge: A boy is so proud of his self made model airplane, but his parents are so occupied in quarreling they don't even look.... sad
-Simion: A woman marries just because she doesn't want to go to the army. She doesn't even kiss him properly and forgets him. Now she is asked to come to the hospital in order to identify him. Good
-Asthmaanfall: Some thoughts about asthma. Okay
-Der Stich: When kissing she felt a cut in her lip, he excused himself for having bitten her. But one night she saw him sleeping with an open mouth, and she found a little zipper under his tongue and unzips him. An other man lies next to her, uncircumcised... What next? Surreal, great
-Pudding: A man gets kidnapped, had to change into school clothes, and then was brought to his parents flat just in time returning from school for his supper. A dream? Good
-Mein Bruder ist deprimiert: A guy is told by his brother that he thinks of committing suicide. Okay, could be better
-Überraschungsei: A surgeon (?) dissects a corpse from a suicide bombing and finds the body of that woman so cancerous that he figures she would have died a few days anyway. Now, tell these findings to her husband or not? Thought provoking
-Schlechtes Karma: An insurance agent (but not insured himself) gets injured by a young man committing suicide jumping from the building unto the restaurant tables. After the coma he has no money so he sells insurances. Good
-Der Tag, an dem die Bestie Durst bekam / Samir El-youssef: The story tells of Bassem, an inhabitant of a Lebanese refugee camp, his life depends on pills and the daily listening to the political rants of Ahmad. A bit rambling, but interesting story.

A lot of these stories make good ideas and could be worked out into good, gripping stories. They all have sad undertone, some are quite cynical. If you like short stories: Read it!

some more grave stones:
....

74) Der Rabbi schoss am Donnerstag : Kriminalroman by Harry Kemelman. An old, rich but unliked man gets shot and only the Rabbi finally finds out who did it ... fun, short read

Hi Paul, it seems you have been quite busy with reading and hoarding books. Are you trying to reach a Swiss Alps' summit? Or break some kind of record? Or is there a competition going on with your namesake? :-) Anyway, I think it's a lovely idea to throw in a children's book every now and then. I loved Enid Blyton, way way back. One of these days, I might try one of those old books myself.

Hej Monica, nice to have over here - collecting is just what I do, and I always have too many books and my wife is often complaining about the books *sigh*. There is a (?African) saying: Better barefoot than without books. I once used that at a conference advertising the book table: I came barefoot on stage with shoes and books in hand ... I offered a book in change of someone leaving his shoes behind but no-one accepted that offer.... but I had very good talks with some folks.

Hello Paul,
I am slowly doing my rounds in catching up on threads and what do I find here? Wonderful photos of your holidays and other objects of interests.
I loved the pictures of the paintings by the French artist, I definitely have to check them out.
And *stöhn* so many interesting add-ons since I last visited. I am not going to comment on the fantastic children books you read.
However, I read Die Sternenbraut and the second book in the series when they first came out, thought it was an interesting story concept, but felt that the author didn't quite deliver. I think because I like details and in depth descriptions so much, that I was a bit dissapointed at that time. Well, I got the German editions some time ago and I have been tempted to give them books another try.

I wish you and your family a wonderful week Paul and thank you for posting the wonderful flower photos on my thread and for all your kindness :)

Hej Bianca, I am very pleased that you come over to my place, enjoy the pictures 'on the wall' and the tidbits of literature scattered 'on the table'.
You are right about Die Sternenbraut - Sternenströmers Lied. It's an easy read, but don't expect satisfying explanations or background. Especially the religious stuff I find quite interesting but it's not 'finished', thought-through: the concept of god is split into different idols which present themselves (in the first volume at least) as a cosmic force which some people can use (anzapfen). And we is she constructing such a macho culture? It's not the first time that I wonder why fantasy worlds often are male-dominated in culture but female dominated in heroes (similar George R.R. Martin's Die Herren von Winterfell).

I wish you a happy half of the week,too.

The Basel Tattoo will start tomorrow. We got some tickets and will be there! I am looking forward to that event. (despite the promised thunder storm).

Ahem, are you talking about Tattoo as in pictures on the skin *blank stare*?

If so, I don't know why I would not have thought that would be an area of interest to you. Here you go ............... and I am totally wrong .............. *giggle* I just checked it and saw that it is a military festival of some sorts? *big grin*

Well I DO love Tattoo's !!! However, I do mean these absolutely stunning pictures you can put on the skin.

Paul - Interesting review of the Etgar Keret stories - I bought one of his books recently.
Monica - I can't compete with my namesake - I have to buy all mine and he seems to find books everywhere!

Hej Bianca - no tattoos on my skin! Looking at some of these pieces of art is another matter altogether. Yes the Basel Tattoo is a musical event, this year we will have the honor of listening to: HM Royal Marines, South Australia Police, Cape Town Highlanders, King's Gard of Norway, Paris Port Dover Band, Royal Air Force Leuchars, Tonga, Vancouver Police...

Hej Paul, Some of the Keret's stories are really interesting. Enjoy them

Tattoo 2013

Hi Paul, looks like the event was wonderful. Thank you for sharing such beautiful photos :)

Wish you and your family a wonderful weekend :)

> 193

Is the first picture Meteora?

Hej Bianca, it was very worthwhile. It was not the best Tattoo I have seen so far, but the Scotts, French, Norwegian, and Australian gave the best. The horses of the English and Italian were not in the mood: One guy was thrown off... and most of the horses were restless and foaming. Have a good weekend yourself.

Yes, Madeline, both pictures (189 and 193) were taken in the Pindos mountains, the monasteries are called meteora ('lifted up', 'in the skies'). Have you been there, too? Fascinating these mountains and the monasteries on top of these steep rocks.

Wow Paul I have just caught up on so much news here. Loved the photos of Greece and the flowers and gravestones and the Tattoo. Now I am really missing Basel and Switzerland. You have been reading up a storm!! I have another Melvyn Bragg book here that I have owned for ages but the one on the Bible looks interesting. I'll add it to my wish list.

Congratulations to your daughter for graduating. Is she staying in Luzern now or coming home?

Welcome Cushla, I am pleased to see you here. Feel a bit at home in Basel, here.

The daughter is staying in Luzern and tries to find a job. She just finished, two days ago, her motorbike (250 ccm) driving licence. I guess she is enjoying the summer and is on a bike tour with her friend. But she better gets herself a job pretty soon. Since my wife is out of work, we wait for the IV (invalidity insurance) to accept her as entitled to a full pension - until then we can't support the kids not so good anymore.

> 212

I was there back in October, 1973. I'd left Israel, and a friend and I were traveling from Greece to Spain. We found Meteora amazing. How in the world did the monks get to the top of those mountains, and how did they stay fed up there?

I remember walking around that town in the dark. It was so spooky with those massive tall mountains going straight up into the air. My friend met a Greek student there with whom she corresponded for many years. I remember sitting in a café in Meteora with my friend and that guy under a picture of Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos. Everything that guy said to us was spoken in a whisper and always with a glance toward that picture.

That was so long ago... *sigh*

I would love to go to Greece one day Paul. Thanks for all the photos.

Have a lovely weekend.

Paul, I hope Suki's insurance comes through soon. The motorbike trip sounds fun! (not that I have ever been on a motorbike.)

Well, choosing between shoes and books... for a woman, tough choice!

215> Madeline, I guess you have been to Kalampaka, we stayed there, too, and had a very good lunch there - and huge icecream. At some of the monasteries you can see a wooden structure and a Flaschenzug (Block and tackle) with which they are able to hoist food and other materials up.


216> Hej Paul, how was the weekend book haul? Hope you had a good visit there and can enjoy a quiet weekend.

Cushla, we get a visit from the IV next Tuesday. I am not too sure what they want to see and hear. Suki has to go to their physician of trust. - I am happy that I don't know every details of my daughter's bike tours :) She has received more tickets for speeding already than I (since the Honda is licensed under my name I get all the interesting mails - but I don't pay them, no way).

Monica, easy choice for my daughter: she buys the shoes and then comes along and reads one of my books (or her brother's). She was here last week because of the driving tests. She brought three pair of shoes along and bought two new pairs.... *sigh*

75) Das krumme Haus by Agatha Christie. Charles Hayward comes home after the war and wants now to marry his friend, but her grandmother gets poisoned and therefore the marriage is postponed until the mystery is solved. An 11-year-old plays detective and makes fun about the stupidity of the police... good plot.

76) Die fünfte Säule : Wie einer Frieden fand by David Zeidan. Based on a biography. Nabil, a Sunnite Muslim grows up well protected in Damascus. He is the son of a well-to-do higher class Syrian family. He wants to avoid the army service and therefore leaves Syria for Dubai and works there as a bookkeeper. One day he finds a Christian leaflet in the mail about the prophet Issa (Jesus). He reads it and tosses it away. But there were several other pamphlets coming his way till he gets so intrigued that he orders an Injil (Gospels, New Testament) and starts to read it. He finds Jesus' sayings concerning loving your enemy (back home he knew of the Fatwa that killing an Alawite is almost as good as killing an Israeli, so the different Islamic sects in Syria were fighting each other) and Jesus' death on the cross for the forgiveness of everybodies sins (forgiveness is not one of Allah's ideas). But then his brother finds the Injil in his flat and he looses his job and his permit to stay in Dubai. What to do next? Intriguing story about every life in a Islamic country and the finding the way to Christ.
The title talks about the Hajj which Nabil made with 19.

77) Die Herren von Winterfell by George R. R. Martin. Part 1 of volume 1 of the English Game of thrones. Full of intrigues - 'Don't Trust Anyone' should be the slogan. A rich fantasy.

78) Am Samstag ass der Rabbi nichts : Kriminalroman by Harry Kemelman. A man was found dead in his garage. His widow wants to have him buried on a Jewish cemetery with the appropriate rituals. So, Rabbi Small has to find out if his death was accidental, suicidal or murder. Slow going, but with some interesting insights into Jewish reasoning.

Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.
Quote found in: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Some add-ons:
- Pique-Dame. Das Fräulein als Bauernmädchen by Alexander Sergejewitsch Puschkin
- Der falsche Engel : Roman by Polina Daschkova
- Stumm : Psychothriller by Sam Hayes
- Days without number by Robert Goddard
- Cat in a crimson haze : a Midnight Louie mystery by Carole Nelson Douglas
- Eye of the beholder by Jayne Ann Krentz
- The tenth man by Graham Greene
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

- Pique-Dame: Beim Gardechevalier Narumow wurde Karten gespielt.
- Das Fräulein als Bauernmädchen: Das Landgut Iwan Berestows lag in einem unserer entlegeneren Gouvernements.
- Eine weisse Flamme zuckte auf, aber vollkommen lautlos.
- Als Kind lernt man, über einige Dinge nicht zu sprechen.
- He did not regret agreeing to go.
- I want one thing on the record, straight off.
- Avalon, Ariziona Twelve years earlier...
- Most of them told the time very roughly by their meals, which were unpunctual and irregular: they amused themselves with the most childish games all through the day, and when it was dark they fell asleep by tacit consent - not waiting for a particular hour of darkness for they had no means of telling the time exactly: in fact there were as many times as there were prisoners.
- Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder.

.......

634 'new' books this year

79) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. A novel in letters about life during and after the German occupation of Guernsey. Witty, with extraordinary characters.

Paul - Your accumulation accumulates accumulatingly. 634 is one heck of a number.

Trust that your weekend has been a good one.

634, 634, 634 .................. that's incredible Paul.

I also hope that Suki's pension will come through shortly and that your daughter will find a job soon. Although, I guess a holiday on the motorbike for a short time must be absolutely fun.

I love the photo from the monastery. Kalampaka is on my list of places I still would like to visit. However, aren't there several monastery's to find in the mountains?

Hope that Suki and you had a wonderful weekend!

Hej Paul, I am a lucky man :)
It was a very quiet weekend. Wife and daughter left for South Tirol and I stayed home to take care of the cat... I read Shaffer, so that was very good. But I am not getting at 300 pages per day as you do, at least not in English. You are doing very good with the TIOLI challenges.

Bianca, Suki and daughter are off together now, climbing the Dolomites (Tre Cime). They went by car - Suki wouldn't sit on a motobike.
Kalampaka is the nearest city and starting point for going to the monasteries, yes, there are several. We visited only one, but have seen several others. It's a very scenic drive through Meteora

My mother sold the most important part of my father's library: 230 volumes of the 'Manesse Bibliothek der Weltliteratur' and some other books. She got 400.- CHF for it. Ah well, it's hers to make with it what she wants. I don't have the space for it and my wife several times told my mother that we have no space for any more books ..... *sob* *sigh* *relief not to have to transport them and find space*

I think I wear black tonight and light a candle for lost friends

80) Krabat by Otfried Preussler. Krabat, a 14-year-old beggar, finds his way to a mill and becomes an apprentice there. With time he realizes that this a black school for witchcraft - every year one of the 12 apprentices dies. How is he to survive? But somehow I didn't get warm with the story.

81) Der kleine Wassermann by Otfried Preussler. A children's story about a little waterman (aquarius?) who grows up in a little pond. On his first day a lot of other water people are invited from the neighbouring ponds and creeks. Lovely children's story - I was told that story as a child and I still wonder how mother waterman was cooking soup and then serve soup in a bowl - all under water? That stretched my childish fantasy quite a bit and I could not find an answer to that.

82) Mensch und Übermensch : mit dem Brief an Arthur Walkley by George Bernard Shaw. A romantic comedy, mixed with philosophical talks about the Übermensch. Maybe I don't understand this Shaw'she play - I didn't like it.

In July I read 13 books by 11 different authors, 8 males, 3 females, coming from these countries: 4 USA, 3 GB, I Irland, 1 Israel (together with a Palestinian from the Lebanon) and 2 from Germany. That gives a total of 3342 pages.

First lines:
- Die Frau kämpfte sich durch den kniehohen Schnee, und das Bündel Altholz auf ihrem Rücken wog fast so schwer wie das Kind, das sie im Leib trug.
- Nach dem Abendessen sass ich in meinem Zimmer über der Rue Catinat und wartete auf Pyle.
- Arrick stiess die Wiege an.
- Weissmann hatte einen trockenen Husten, der klang wie der Husten eines Tbc-Kranken, den ganzen Weg hustete er nur und spuckte in Papiertaschentücher.
- Wenn ihr Mann eine Predigt vorbereitete, war Miriam stets sorgsam bedacht, ihm nicht über den Weg zu laufen - nicht, weil sie fürchtete, ihn in seinen Gedankengängen zu stören, sondern weil sie ihm keinen Vorwand für die Unterbrechung seiner Arbeit liefern wollte.
- Ich lernte Sophia Leonides gegen Ende des Krieges in Ägypten kennen, wo sie bei der Gesandtschaft einen ziemlich hohen Posten bekleidet.
- "Tut, was ihr für richtig haltet", sagte Nabil Madani unbekümmert, "aber meine Freunde sind meine eigene Angelegenheit, und ihr habt kein Recht, euch in mein Privatleben einzumischen!"
- "Wir sollten umkehren", drängte Gared, als es im Wald um sie zu dunkeln begann.
- ...Am zehnten Tag des siebenten Monats ist der Versöhnungstag - heilige Berufung sei er euch, und ihr sollt fasten...
- Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder.
- Es war in der Zeit zwischen Neujahr und dem Dreikönigstag.
- Als der Wassermann eines Tages nach Hause kam, sagte die Wassermannfrau zu ihm: "Heute musst du ganz leise sein."
- Roebuck Ramsden in seinem Arbeitszimmer beim Öffnen der Morgenpost.

I added 37 books to my catalog, half of them from other libraries.
I added 40701 Common Knowledge items since joining LT.