MissWatson goes down to the sea again. First voyage

My favourite holidays have been spent on the seaside or at least by a lake, and missing out on our trip to Lake Constance in 2022 made me realise just how much the sea means to me. It reminds me of my Dad, who would have had his 100th birthday this year. And so I'm going to visit the seas that were important to us. Some of them harbour several categories because I couldn't make up my mind.

I am not setting a goal, and I have no ambitions to read a book for every CAT or KIT every month. It's going to be a leisurely reading year. As usual, I'll be keeping track of the page count.

The photos are my own unless stated otherwise.



January: 4,089 pages
February: 2,722 pages
March: 2,330 pages
April: 2,737 pages

Indian Ocean – Bay of Bengal: Portside Out, Starboard Home

That's me and my Dad frolicking on Puri Beach.

GEOCAT / economic history
Many European countries had an East India Company to trade with the orient, so this is the place for my staple category of economic history. And because they were also eagerly conquering territories, it seems like a good place for the GEOCAT.

Economic history
Gold by Bernd-Stefan Grewe
Das Fleisch der Republik by Karl Christian Führer
Restoration Revolution, Reaction by Theodore S. Hamerow

January GEOCAT: Central and Eastern Europe
Die Flucht nach Ägypten by Otfried Preußler
Ungarische Erzähler
Ariane, jeune fille russe by Claude Anet

February GeoCAT: a place you'd like to visit
The corner that held them by Sylvia Townsend Warner
On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin

March GeoCAT: Australia and New Zealand
The Dry by Jane Harper

North Sea: Nordsee ist Mordsee

The view from our holiday apartment on Föhr

MysteryKIT, mysteries in general
This is the title of a seminal German movie from the 1970s, which in turn is taken from a famous poem by Detlev von Liliencron, about the fall of Rungholt. It calls the North Sea a murderous sea, so I'm counting mysteries here.

Mysteries in general
The Cold War Swap by Ross Thomas
Call for the dead by John Le Carré
Das Bestiarium von Mähren by Vlastimil Vondruska
Das verschwundene Fräulein by Elsa Dix

January MysteryKIT: TV detectives
Schutzpatron by Klüpfel/Kobr
Wachtmeister Studer by Friedrich Glauser
Fer-de-lance by Rex Stout

February MysteryKIT: a classic setting
A murder of quality by John Le Carré
The spy who came in from the cold by John Le Carré

April: a classic mystery
Third girl by Agatha Christie

Baltic Sea: If it's Tuesday, it must be Tallinn...

The Bay of Eckernförde

SeriesCAT
I live in Kiel which has grown into an important embarkation port for Baltic cruises over the last years. They usually involve several stops in various cities, so it seems like a good fit.

January: series new to you
Wachtmeister Studer by Friedrich Glauser
Fer-de-lance by Rex Stout

February: series in translation
Das Bestiarium von Mähren by Vlastimil Vondruska

April: can be read out of order
Third girl by Agatha Christie
Phoebe, Junior by Mrs Oliphant
Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser

Mediterranean – Aegean Sea: Thalassa! Thalassa!

Satellite image from NASA

ancient history / ClassicsCAT
The wine-dark sea of Homer. Need I say more?

January ClassicsCAT
The trampling of the lilies by Rafael Sabatini
The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini

February ClassicsCAT: published before 1900
The evil genius by Wilkie Collins
La Reine Fantasque by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Contes de fées

March ClassicsCAT: adapted to the screen
Pünktchen und Anton by Erich Kästner

April: classic mysteries
Third girl by Agatha Christie

La Mer d'Iroise: Qui voit Molène, voit sa peine

St. Mathieu

seafaring / Celts, and Bretons in particular
The Iroise is the littoral sea that borders the Western part of Brittany. It's my favourite part, reaching from the Île Vierge to the Pointe de Pen'march.
The archipel of the Ouessant isles is one of the most challenging areas for navigation because of the rocks and the tide streams.

The Channel – La Manche: 1066 and all that

The coast near Etapes in Normandy

history and historical fiction / Katie's historical fiction challenge
Anglo-French rivalry since the Middle Ages has provided the material for tons of historical fiction. Allons-y!

1. Read a work of historical fiction set in the country you’re from
2. Read a work of historical fiction set in a different country to the one you’re from
3. Read a work of historical fiction set in your favourite historical time period to read about
4. Read a work of historical fiction set in a time period you’re less familiar with
5. Read a work of historical fiction with a speculative element
6. Read a work of historical fiction about a real historical figure or a specific historical event
7. Read a classic work of historical fiction
Bonus: Read a work of historical fiction of over 500 pages

Set in the country I'm from
Der Tote am Hindenburgdamm by Kari Köster-Lösche
Das verschwundene Fräulein by Elsa Dix

Set in a different country to the one I'm from
Der Himmel über Palermo by Constanze Neumann
The trampling of the lilies by Rafael Sabatini
Un long dimanche de fiançailles by Sébastien Japrisot

Set in a time period you're less familiar with
The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
Sommergäste by Agnes Krup
The corner that held them by Sylvia Townsend Warner

With a speculative element
Das Bestiarium von Mähren by Vlastimil Vondruska

With a real historical event or figure
Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser

History
Der Wiener Kongress 1814/15 by Wolf D. Gruner
14 – Der Große Krieg by Oliver Janz

Atlantic – Canary Islands: Cristóbal Colón, con siete camisas y un pantalón

The place where we went swimming when on Tenerife. Yes, it was scary.

new books, new authors
I have been unable to find the source for this quote which my BFF cites with fond memories of Venezuela in the fifties. Columbus started his first voyage from the Canaries.

Die Vögel by Tarjei Vesaas
Sommergäste by Agnes Krup
Jugend ohne Gott by Ödön von Horváth
The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Pacific: If you're going to San Francisco, you're gonna meet some gentle people there

By pexels at Pixabay.

CATs and KITs that don't fit elsewhere
I went to California a long time ago, and that‘s the closest I‘ve come to the Pacific. Faint memories of hippies, communes, and general goodwill and fellowship.


January RandomKIT: hidden gems
Wachtmeister Studer by Friedrich Glauser
January SFFKIT: Cobwebs and Dust
Brothers of the wind by Tad Williams

February RandomKIT: Second or two
A murder of quality by John Le Carré
On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin

March RandomKIT: Water, water everywhere
Der Tote am Hindenburgdamm by Kari Köster-Lösche
Das verschwundene Fräulein by Elsa Dix

April RandomKIT: Seven Ages of Man
Third girl by Agatha Christie
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser

The Caribbean – Leeward Isles: Full fathom five...

A photo of a paper photo, showing SS Sea Cloud in Soufrière Bay.

Diving for treasure in the TBR abyss / fantasy
We once went on a cruise along the Leeward Isles, on board a sailing ship. It's my greatest fantasy to do that again.

TBR
The Belton estate by Anthony Trollope

fantasy
Brothers of the wind by Tad Williams
Histoire de la Belle et la Bête by Madame de Villeneuve

Lake Constance: Jetzt fahr'n wir übern See...

Lindau Harbour

Authors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Lake Constance is known in Germany as the Swabian sea, and Germany shares it with Austria and Switzerland.

January
Die Muskeltiere : Hamster Bertram macht Schule by Ute Krause
Die Muskeltiere und das Weihnachtswunder by Ute Krause
Kurt : Drachen sind auch nur Einhörner by Chantal Schreiber

March
Bergland by Jarka Kubsova

April
Der Waschbär putzt sein Badezimmer by Hubert Schirneck

BingoDOG



Proudly presenting my Bingo card, courtesy of LShelby and christina_reads. Thanks a million!

1: The minstrel and the dragon pup by Rosemary Sutcliff
4: Das verschwundene Fräulein by Elsa Dix
8: Der Himmel über Palermo by Constanze Neumann
9: Royal Flash by George Macdonald Fraser
10: Gold by Bernd-Stefan Grewe
12: Sommergäste by Agnes Krup
14: Wachtmeister Studer by Friedrich Glauser
16: Pünktchen und Anton by Erich Kästner
17: Der Tote am Hindenburgdamm by Kari Köster-Lösche
18: The Chosen by Chaim Potok
20: The Dry by Jane Harper
22: Third girl by Agatha Christie
25: A murder of quality by John Le Carré

Any reading challenge that catches my eye in the next weeks

I have looked at the 2023 Popsugar Challenge, which suits my tastes very nicely (after some tweaking), so here goes:

Popsugar 2023 reading challenge: Read a book…
you meant to read in 2022
you bought from an independent bookstore
about a vacation
by a first-time author The Dry by Jane Harper
with mythical creatures
about a forbidden romance Sommergäste by Agnes Krup
with “girl” in the title Third girl by Agatha Christie
with a colour in the title On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin
with a fat lead Fer-de-lance by Rex Stout
about or set in Hollywood
published in spring 2023 Bergland by Jarka Kubsova
published the year you were born Restoration, Revolution, Reaction by Theodore S. Hamerow
modern retelling of a classic
with a song lyric as its title
where the main character’s name is in the title Wachtmeister Studer by Friedrich Glauser
with a love triangle The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope
that’s been banned or challenged in 2022
favourite prompt from a previous challenge
becoming a TV series or movie in 2023
set in the decade you were born
with a queer lead
with a map Brothers of the wind by Tad Williams
with an animal on the cover Die Flucht nach Ägypten by Otfried Preußler
with just text on the cover
the shortest on your TBR list
recommended by a fellow LTer
you bought secondhand Ungarische Erzähler
your friend recommended
on a bookclub list
about a family
that comes out in the second half of 2023
about an athlete or sport The Chosen by Chaim Potok
that is historical fiction Der Himmel über Palermo by Constanze Neumann
about divorce The evil genius by Wilkie Collins
you think your best friend would like
you should have read in high school
you read more than 10 years ago The spy who came in from the cold by John Le Carré
you wish you could read for the first time again
by an author with the same initials as you

Advanced
made into a popular movie The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
that takes place entirely in one day
that was self-published
that could count as fan fiction
with a pet character
about a holiday that’s not Christmas
that features two languages
the longest on your TBR
with alliteration in the title
written during NaNoWriMo: The Calculating Stars

And Judy (DeltaQueen) found this very tempting
Interconnected Monthly Challenge:
1. January: A Book That Starts with “A” or “The” The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
2. February: The cover or spine of the book compliments the January book cover On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin
3. March: The Title Starts with the next letter in the alphabet from your February book. Pünktchen und Anton by Erich Kästner
4. April: A different genre from your March book Third girl by Agatha Christie
5. May: The book is longer than the book in April
6. June: The title has half as many letters as your May book
7. July: Set in a different country or part of the world from your June book
8. August: The same genre as the July book
9. September: Turn to page 50 of the August book and your book must have one of the words on this page in its title.
10. October: The book’s title starts with the first letter of the author’s name from your September book
11. November: Set in a different time period from your October book
12. December: Book has to be within 20 pages of the book you read in November.

Welcome to my wharfside bar!

Lovely challenge. Wishing you great reading in 2023.

Happy leisurely reading in 2023!

Great theme--looking forward as always to seeing what you read!

Beautiful pictures. I love the oceans and seas. I will follow your experiences and travels in books.

What a wonderful setup, so special. I am looking forward to following your thread again.

That's a lovely, restful theme!

Beautiful seaside photos!

Good luck with your 2023 reading

Beautiful theme! I look forward to following your reading in 2023.

I love your pictures and the categories you've matched to them. I've placed my star and I am looking forward to 2023!

Beautiful pictures. I hope you add even more oceans to your visited list in the near future. And happy reading!

I like the description of "leisurely reading" for the coming year. I think many of us are beginning to feel a bit burdened meeting plans we made months ago. Best wishes for a lovely year of reading.

Wonderful theme. May your 2023 reading year be leisurely!

>15 majkia: Thanks, Jean. And the same to you!
>16 JayneCM: I hope I can keep up this attitude.
>17 NinieB: I am looking forward to many peaceful hours with the classics.
>18 mnleona: Thank you! Watching water is so relaxing.
>19 MissBrangwen: Thanks Mirjam!
>20 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie!
>21 rabbitprincess: The seaside is so photogenic that even I can manage to take some nice pictures.
>22 lowelibrary: Thank you!
>23 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne!
>24 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy. So am I! Only six more weeks...
>25 pamelad: Thanks, Pam. I would love so much to see the Tasmanian Sea.
>26 clue: Thanks! The CATs and KITs are always so inviting, but there are only so many hours in the day.
>27 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess. I am preparing for retirement, so I need to practice leisure.

I feel more peaceful just visiting your thread. :) Happy reading in 2023!

Lovely photos! The sea just has some kind of magnetic attraction for some of us. I have a cool memory of standing on our veranda on the cruise ship at night when we were at sea, also a memory of the cliff walk at Newport, RI at night (scary!).

>29 christina_reads: Seaside vacations are so wonderful for soothing the soul, aren't they?
>30 LadyoftheLodge: Ah, the sea at night! Such bliss!

Love the seaside images. I grew up by the sea, but am now landlocked - I do miss it.
Hoping to follow along for another year of interesting reading.

>32 Helenliz: Nice to see you dropping in, Helen!

Hope you have a good reading year. Lots of great pictures.

>30 LadyoftheLodge: - I live near Newport and part of the Cliff Walk fell into the water this past year. (So - yes - scary) There are lots of great places to view the water in Rhode Island.

I think we are all looking forward to a more leisurely pace in the coming year. I think we are all just worn out and need a year of peace and calm in which to curl up and read all we can. I hope your reading year is great.

>35 dudes22: Oh, scary indeed! The winter storms are going to take some of the coastline with them on the Baltic, too.
>36 mysterymax: Yes, exactly. I hope we do get a year of peace and calm.

>36 mysterymax: Peace and calm would be lovely.

What wonderful pictures and memories!

>36 mysterymax: Thanks! The seas have been on my mind a lot these days.

Lovely photos and a great theme. I live in Chicago and I am ashamed to admit that I don't visit our Great Lake Michigan often enough. Your pictures and theme remind me to visit the Lake soon, before it is too windy and icy and cold.

Hoping for some calming seas of reading for all of us in 2023.

>40 kac522: I'm the same with the Baltic, I could spend much more time exploring the vicinity, but then I cave in and curl up with a book.

Stopping by with best wishes for your 2023 reading.

>42 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori, it's good to have you back.

I'm happy that you are going to be joining me on the Interconnected Reading Challenge - I have a feeling that it's going to be harder than it looks at first glance. Hopefully it will help in choosing and moving those books along!

>44 DeltaQueen50: Yes, I'm quite curious to see how this will work out!

Wishing you a happy year of reading!

>46 thornton37814: Thanks Lori!

Lake Constance

I'm back from my holiday and full of pep to start my reading challenges. My sister always lays aside a few recent children's books for my holiday reading, and this Christmas these are:
Die Muskeltiere : Hamster Bertram macht Schule and Die Muskeltiere und das Weihnachtswunder by Ute Krause, and Kurt: Drachen sind auch nur Einhörner.
The adventures of the mousketeers have been adapted for TV, so there's been a flood of them lately, and it shows. Unicorn Kurt has a fabulous adventure with a dragon, and I liked this a lot.

North Sea: January MysteryKIT

We also listened to Schutzpatron, a mystery set in the Allgäu. The first books have been adapted to TV, and the actor who plays the lead character, Kluftinger, also narrates the audiobooks. He was born in the region and speaks the local dialect, which is markedly different from Bavarian. This instalment, however, dragged a lot, there's too much preparation for the art heist, too much sideshow with Kluftinger's vanished car, and the solution is offered in a very unsatisfactory way. Not a good entery in the series.

La Manche / Bingo: flower on the cover / Popsugar: historical fiction

Another book from my sister's library: Der Himmel über Palermo. It describes the time Richard Wagner spent in Palermo with his family, and where his stepdaughter, Blandine von Bülow, met and married a Sicilian aristocrat. The blurb promises a passionate romance, but it was anything but. They barely meet throughout the time Wagners spent there. Quite a few other real people also show up, and it gives a nice impression of Sicily's upper classes during the 1880s. But Il gattopardo feels much more real, the foreigners here remain foreign to the way of life on the island.

And now I'm ready to tackle the threads...

>50 MissWatson: I gave Der Himmel über Palermo away a few months ago and it doesn't look as if I missed anything substantial!

I hope you had a good time at your sister's place!

Hi, Birgit - loving your categories! Best wishes for a great reading year. :)

>51 MissBrangwen: Thanks, Mirjam, a few days of sleeping in and cuddling the cat do wonders! And I can assure you that you didn't miss an important book. It passed the time, but it didn't really move me.

>52 janiceeasterday7: Thanks for dropping in, Liz! I'll be over soon for The Belton Estate.

Mediterranean / La Manche

The trampling of the lilies is an early novel set during the French Revolution and feels like a trial run for Scaramouche. We have a poor, humbly-born young man working as secretary to a marquis who falls in love with his daughter and suffers the consequences, falls in with Robespierre and rises to power during the French Revolution, and then saves the girl's feckless fiancé from the guillotine because he is much more honourable than those decadent aristocrats, of course.
However, it's not quite as black-and-white as my summary paints it, which is one of the reasons why I like these books. He can always see the other side, too.
This counts for the Adventure Classics in January and the "Historical fiction set in a different country to the one you're from".

You've made a good start on your categories!

I like the seascapes you are using especially >11 MissWatson: with the lighthouse.

Happy New Year! I love your theme and the photos. They're really beautiful!

>56 hailelib: Thanks! Counting the holiday reading helps. And I love lighthouses, we have even climbed a few in Brittany.
>57 cbl_tn: Thank you, Carrie.

MysteryKIT / SeriesCAT / RandomKIT / Bingo: rural setting / Popsugar: main character's name in the title

Wachtmeister Studer is the first in a series about a Sergeant in the Bern Police Force. Apparently, the author was inspired by Simenon's Maigret, and the book certainly has strong vibes of this. There are scenes with the locals of the small rural town that strongly reminded me of Maigret's forays into Normandy or Brittany, especially in the books set in the thirties. And yet it is also unmistakably Swiss, and I had to look up a few words. I remember that my sister recommended this to me years ago, and I really wish I had taken her up on it sooner. There are two more on my shelves, and I will seek out the others, too.

Saturday notes

Yesterday, the FAZ had a report on re-reading Die Flucht nach Ägypten, to mark Epiphany. The story of the Holy Family's flight from Bethlehem, via Habsburg Bohemia, and I started reading it last night. Very odd, and very funny.

And today a very positive review of Neil Price's Children of ash and elm which screams "buy me!". On the wish list it goes. Also an essay to mark the centenary of Katherine Mansfield's death which reminds me that I want to read more of her stories. Oh dear, where will I find the time?

>59 MissWatson: I haven't heard of this! Onto the WL!

>59 MissWatson: Wow, 5 challenges in one book! This Swiss series does sound interesting.

You did great with meeting those challenges with one book! I do not think I have ever been able to do that yet. Happy New Year!

>39 MissWatson: I read Thumbprint because NinieB recommended Friedrich Glauser, and I really liked the oddness of it. For a book written in the thirties it's surprisingly modern. I've also read In Matto's Realm, which is even odder, and can recommend it. Your review has reminded me that there are three more of Glauser's books translated into English. I've been meaning to read them.

A Series in Translation is coming up next in the SeriesCAT, so I'm planning to read The Chinaman.

>61 MissBrangwen: It's been at the bacl of my stack for some time and I'm sorry I discovered it so late. I really liked this.
>62 markon: It wasn't intentional, but it gives me a nice sense of accomplishment.
>63 LadyoftheLodge: Thanks, we all hope it will be a better year than the last one.
>64 pamelad: My copy says there are six books in the Studer series and I own three, including Matto regiert. I'm now looking for the other three, but my charity shop didn't have them. So I bought something else instead, ahem.

GEO CAT / Popsugar: animal on the cover

Die Flucht nach Ägypten is a very odd book, and I am a little hesitant to count it towards the January GEO CAT, which is for Central and Eastern Europe. But the setting is so unmistakably Bohemian, in what is now the Czech Republic, and very much reminiscent of a lost world. The story is written as if it were told at a fireside to a family gathering, where an old man passes on the local legends about the Holy Family and the saints, and it has that unique sound of Habsburg Bohemia, with its prolific use of modal verbs and inverted sentences. I think the author uses stories here that were told to him by his own parents and grandparents, in an attempt to save them from oblivion.
And the animal on the cover is the donkey carrying the Mother of God.

La Manche

And a non-fiction history book about the Congress of Vienna: Der Wiener Kongress 1814/15. I read this slowly and in stops and starts, it is a very dry matter told in an almost boring fashion. Numerous repetitions didn't help, and the most useful part was the final chapter where he sums up several other historians' works about the event, and the different ways in which they assessed it.

Atlantic: new authors

Die Vögel caught my eye among the new releases last year and the blurb tells me that it is one of the most highly-rated Norwegian novels. And it is indeed an amazing book, told in deceptively plain, yet lush language – or so it seems in the German translation, but I'm pretty sure the translator caught the author's tone. He was nominated for the Translation Prize at Leipzig Book Fair for this. We spend nearly the entire book inside the head of Mattis, who doesn't think like other people. The author brings this across brilliantly. This book deserves its place on that notorious list.

Stopping by to wish you a wonderful reading read, Birgit.

>69 PaulCranswick: Thank you! And the same to you!

>1 MissWatson: Have a great reading year. I'll be following.

>59 MissWatson: I'll have to see if I can find the English version.

>71 beebeereads: Thanks for travelling along!
>72 thornton37814: I hope you enjoy it, it gives an interesting glimpse of the German-speaking Swiss of the time.

The Caribbean: from the TBR / Popsugar: love triangle

The Belton Estate is one of Trollope's shorter works, where Clara finds herself wooed by two very different men. I found Clara's stubbornness regarding money matters a trifle unconvincing, but otherwise Trollope delivers what I've come to expect of him.

Lovely photos. I'm with you on seaside vacations! Hope you have a great year of reading.

>75 madhatter22: Thanks!

North Sea / Baltic Sea / Popsugar: a fat lead

Fer-de-lance features Archie Goodwin as narrator and Nero Wolfe, who is described as enormously overweight. It's my first book in this series and it has been adapted to TV several times. I could have also added it to the RandomKIT as a hidden gem, but let's not get carried away.
Anyway, this shows once again that a book needs to be picked up at the right time and in the right mood, because the first time I tackled this I abandoned it after a few pages. This time around I appreciated the leisurely pacing, the enormous amount of legwork Archie has to put in, and the sudden twist halfway in was quite a surprise. I can see more of this in my future.

IF I find the time. Hugendubel have put up these grey boxes again, and I couldn't resist. I should make it a rule to read at least one in two books immediately if I bring home such a haul. They're mostly mysteries and shopuld be quick reads. Here's the list:

Allmen und der Koi
Der Mittagstisch
Kuckuckskind
Tochter des Geldes
Sommergäste
Sturmwand

ClassicsCAT: adventure / Historical fiction: less familiar period / Popsugar: made into a popular movie / Interconnected monthly challenge

And I am returned, breathless, from my voyage with The Sea-Hawk among the Barbary pirates. This was quite a ride, and some minor anachronisms apart, well-researched as usual. I had to look up a few things, so it's educational as well, and the only drawback was that my Vintage edition was littered with typos. I am parting with it, but found a digitised replacement with pictures from the first movie version of 1924. I also find that Oliver Tressilian reminds me of Georgette Heyer's early heroes, especially from The black moth. Sinister ambiguous aristocrats, brotherly love etc.
The Vintage paperback has a distinctive red spine, and there are more like that on my shelves, so that will be my option for the February prompt of the interconnected challenge.

Historical fiction: a time period I'm less familiar with / new authors / Bingo: about art or crafts / Popsugar: a forbidden romance

I found Sommergäste in the bargain bins at my bookstore and what an amazing find it turned out to be!

It follows the lives of Ellen and Charlotte over decades, mostly during their summer vacations in their summer house on an island off the Canadian east coast. Charlotte is a Pulitzer winning author, her life partner gave up her career as a sculptor for her, but on the island she embarks on a friendship with a local ornithologist and learns the art of taxidermy from him. The three of them go on an expedeition to the Belgian Congo to find some rare bird, financed by a Chicago millionaire who wants to use the opportunity for big game hunting. Ellen and the ornithologist have an affair, but they go separate ways afterwards.

I pricked up my ears when the Pulitzer was mentioned, and yes, the author states at the end that this is based on the life of Willa Cather, to the point where you can recognise the novels she mentions here under fictitious titles. How much is real and how much the author invented never becomes clear, but she paints a marvelous picture of the early 20th century in Chicago and on the island. A great love for birds runs through the books, and the various parts of the books are named for birds. And it is also extremely well written.

GeoCAT: Hungary / Popsugar: bought secondhand

Last week the FAZ marked the 70th birthday of Christina Viragh whose translations put Sandor Marai and Imre Kertezs on German readers' radar, and I thought this would be a good time to read Die Glut. And then I couldn't find it. I really need to do something about those piles on the floor.
So instead I picked up Ungarische Erzähler, an anthology of short stories and novellas. It's an interesting mix and all authors are worth exploring more deeply. They were all translated by Andreas Oplatka and I was impressed how he managed to make them all seem distinct in their writing. I'm looking forward to his translation of Miklos Banffy now.

January roundup

It's been a good reading month, but then work is not very busy and there are no distractions to take you away from home. Die Vögel and Sommergäste were the best since they surprised me. The others were good, but exactly what I expected, so they didn't actually bowl me over.
February is a busy month as we prepare our annual report, that's going to eat into my reading time. I haven't made plans, I'll just pick up what my mind feels fit for.

Enjoyed catching up on your thread!

>82 VictoriaPL: Happy to have you here!

Pacific / Caribbean / Popsugar: with a map

I am a few days late for the January SFF KIT with Brothers of the wind, but never mind.

This is a prequel for his first Osten Ard trilogy and I was happy to return to this world. It tells us the story of Ineluki who is such a sinister and yet elusive menace in the first books. But the major character here is his brother Hakatri whose plan to kill a dragon ends in misery for both. It is told in the first person by Hakatri's squire, who is a Tinukeda'ya, a race the Zida'ya consider inferior.
I found that relating the old geographical names to the ones used in the first trilogy a bit difficult, which probably means I should do a re-read. Those would definitely qualify for the "a book you wish you could read for the first time again" prompt. I loved the world-bulding in this. The same qualities also are in this new, comparatively short book which involves journeying to many of the same places that appear in the trilogy.

What strikes me very much in this book is that the argument between the brothers regarding the humans (who have been moving to the elves' lands and threaten to displace them) read very much like those Native Americans could have had about invading white people in a historical fiction setting. And then there is Kes, the squire, who knows nothing about his own people, not even their language, and who is made aware of this during the long travels with his lord after the dragonfight. He calls him master, and it is a disturbing relationship, because it often looks like the one between a slave and his owner. I can't say if this is the author's intention or if it is the result of growing awareness of such themes among readers.

ETC

MysteryKIT: classic setting / RandomKIT: second or two / Bingo: more than 1,000 copies on LT

A murder of quality was a lucky find in my charity bookshop, I started reading on the bus and didn't stop until I had finished it last night. It's the second book featuring George Smiley and it's got nothing to do with spying, other than that he gets involved in the case by a former colleague. The first chapter introduces the public school where most of the people involved teach, and it is a masterpiece in snark.
So now I'm off to find Call for the dead and The looking glass war.

>85 MissWatson: Adding this one to the wish list.

>86 pamelad: I hope you enjoy it. That first chapter reads as if is written with the heart's blood of someone who spent awful years feeling totally out of place at a public school and now wants to get his vengeance.

>85 MissWatson: A BB for me -- I can't resist "a masterpiece in snark"! Does it stand alone, or do I need to read the other Smiley books as well?

>88 christina_reads: It can be enjoyed very well on its own.

MysteryKIT / Popsugar: a book you read more than 10 years ago

Okay, so I have fallen down the rabbit hole of Cold War spy thrillers with a re-read of The spy who came in from the cold which I read last when Alec Guinness played George Smiley on TV. Since the Berlin Station is a classic setting for these thrillers, I am counting it for the MysteryKIT. I replaced my tattered original copy with a new one some years ago and was surprised to find a preface from Le Carré dated December 1989, just after the Wall came down, where he recalls writing the book after having seen it built.

This has aged very well, indeed. I had forgotten that Smiley hovers on the edge of things, not officially employed by the Circus, and there are elusive hints about the past. I hope the other books arrive soon!

>89 MissWatson: Thanks! I really need to read some more John le Carré one of these days.

>91 christina_reads: You're welcome! I'll be able to report on his debut, Call for the dead, soon, as I picked it up at the store yesterday. It's pretty short.

North Sea

While waiting for my new books to arrive, I re-read The Cold War Swap which also involves the Berlin Wall and spies. It was interesting to compare this to Le Carré’s book which has held up better, in my opinion. The age gap between Alec Leamas and Liz Gold is probably offensive to some people today, but I thought this less reprehensible than Thomas’ attitude towards his gay defectors. Apart from that, it is still a very enjoyable thriller full of snappy dialogue. And both authors definitely know their location.
Next up is Call for the dead which has arrived. That should tide me over the weekend, and then I ought to look to my challenges.

ETA

Just an FYI for Cold War spy stories. This month for book club we are reading Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy. I'm 100 pages in and loving it. Fast paced narrative non-fiction!

>94 beebeereads: Hooray, that one's on my TBR shelf! Macintyre is reliably fascinating.

>94 beebeereads: Oh, thanks!

North Sea

Call for the dead is a mere 150 pages long and a very satisfying start to Smiley's story arc. We learn quite a lot about his war service.

>97 MissWatson: I really need to read this and A Murder of Quality again. I first read them... yikes, 25 years ago?!

>98 rabbitprincess: I started years ago with Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy and for some reason I didn't read his early books, apart from the Alec Leamas book. I don't know why, but I certainly missed out on some great writing. I'm planning to read them all now, let's see how far I get with it.

North Sea: mysteries / Baltic: series / La Manche: historical fiction with a speculative element

Das Bestiarium von Mähren was translated from Czech and is set in the time of King Otakar II Premysl, that's the 13th century. The hero is a kind of investigator on detached service, this time he's sent to Olomouc in Moravia to find out about the robbery of six chests of silver money. There are also a number of dead women, reputedly killed by a werewolf, and an abundance of suspects as well as political intrigue, since the overlord of Olomouc, Bishop Bruno, is in opposition to the king.

This should be interesting because of the unusual setting, but it is marred by much that I think anachronistic (a widow writing private letters on expensive parchment?). The investigation meanders, and the dialogue sounds far too modern, which may be a problem of translation. I am not overly surprised that the German publisher discontinued the series.

Today is my 11th Thingaversary and I can't believe how time has flown. Thanks to all my friends on LT for being such wonderful company!

In keeping with the tradition, I have been buying some books:
The looking-glass war by John Le Carré (not the only one by him, admittedly)
Children of ash and elm by Neil Price (a review made me do it)
Lily : a tale of revenge by Rose Tremain (such a gorgeous cover)
Crimson snow (a BB from Judy last year)
Winchelsea by Alex Preston (which has been on my WL for ages)
Tochter des Geldes by Eveline Hasler (looks interesting)
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (another alluring cover)
Four Princes by J. J. Norwich (another BB, from Tanya)
Das Treffen in Telgte by Günter Grass (he wrote historical fiction??)
Kein Tod auf Golgatha by Johannes Fried (don't quite know what to expect here)
Jakobsleiter by Ludmilla Ulitzkaja (just curious)

And one to grow on:
Babel by R. F. Kuang which is popping up on so many threads.

And now I'm off to the treasure hunt!

Hi Birgit, Happy Thingaversary! I was doing the Treasure Hunt this morning, it was fund, I have two left to find.

>102 lsh63: Thanks! I always find the children's books difficult to identify, but it's fun.

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary!!

Happy Thingaversary, Birgit! Looks like a great haul!

Happy Thingaversary! Babel looks so interesting -- hope you enjoy it!

Happy Thingaversary! Enjoy your haul, and the Treasure Hunt!

Happy Thingaversary - I hope you enjoy your haul. >:-)

Happy Thingaversary!

>101 MissWatson: Happy thingaversary! Looks like a nice chunk of reading on your list.

Happy Thingaversary, Brigit. Enjoy your books!

>104 dudes22:, >105 VictoriaPL: >106 Tess_W: >107 christina_reads: >108 Jackie_K: >109 Helenliz: >110 pamelad: >111 LadyoftheLodge: >112 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, ladies! The Treasure Hunt was fun, as always. And I'm really looking forward to reading my new books.

January GeoCAT: Eastern Europe

I'm putting Ariane, jeune fille russe here because it doesn't really fit elsewhere. It's weird, and not in a good way. The author wrote this while witnessing the Russian revolution of 1917, he writes "Arkhangelsk, October 1918" at the end. But it's set mostly in Moscow, which he obviously also knows sufficiently well. The book is in two parts, the first shows us Ariane in a small southern city of Russia where she is much courted and treats all her admirers equally cruelly. She's craving independence and achieves permission to attend university in Moscow.
That's where the second part is set, she meets an older man and has a passionate affair with him, both insisting they are not in love. She is a modern girl and wants free love, the same right to education as men and to explore her sexuality. He starts obsessing about her previous lovers, the longer things go on. He decides to end the affair, they part at the train station – and at the last minute he sweeps her into the car. The end.

Not my cup of tea at all. Pretentious conversations, in the second part things are mostly told from Constantin's viewpoint, and there are way too many descriptions of her body. How did this get made into a movie? Twice??

>94 beebeereads: >95 christina_reads: >96 MissWatson: I finished Agent Sonya which I mentioned above. I loved it, but wanted to pop on to maybe correct my characterization of it as a Cold War era narrative. It depends on what years you classify as the Cold War, but a large part of the espionage took place during WWII and then goes into post war spying as well. I really enjoyed the book, a page turner for sure.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/347793#8072625

Happy Thingaversary, Enjoy your new books.

>115 beebeereads: No worries!
>116 lowelibrary: Thank you!

February GeoCAT: a place you'd like to visit / Historical fiction: a time period you're less familiar with

The corner that held them is set in 14th century East Anglia in a small convent. Who would have thought that a book about a handful of nuns tucked away in a bleak countryside could be so engrossing? But I found it marvellous. I had to look up quite a few of the terms related to the religious life, but that didn't detract from the enjoyment. I loved how she made the various women come to life in their thoughts, the descriptions of the countryside, the small happenings.
The best scene is when clerk Henry Yellowlees meets the chaplain of a leper house who introduces him to the music of Guillaume de Machaut. He's one of my favourite composers. I have since learned that STW was also a noted musicologist who contributed to a voluminous study of Tudor Church Music.

Happy belated Thingaversary!

>118 MissWatson: I am ashamed to say I had not heard of Guillaume de Machaut, but I am listening to his music now! Beautiful.

>119 MissBrangwen: Thanks, Mirjam. My favourite composers are all pre-1800.

>118 MissWatson: Putting that one on my list for when RTT is on that time period!

>121 Tess_W: I hope you enjoy it!

GeoCAT: a place you'd like to visit / RandomKIT: second or two / Popsugar: Colour in the title / Interconnected: February

On the Black Hill tells the life story of identical twins born on a farm in Wales, which I hope to visit some time. I own the Vintage edition which has the same distinctive red spine as The Sea Hawk.
Another book set in a remote farming community where the landscape, flora and fauna are lovingly described. The story kind of petered out when we approached modern times, so I wasn't quite as much bowled over as by Warner's book, but it's a good read.

And here we are at the end of February and I haven't read a book for the ClassicsCAT, which is weird, because the 19th century is my favourite literary period. But the month is too short, work rather heavy, and besides, I've picked up a cross-stitch project from way back when, and it's turning out to be addictive. There's also been a flood of interesting documentaries on TV where you need to listen only and can continue with your stitching...

>123 MissWatson: that's my habit, stitch with the TV on, listening to it as much as watching it. What's the project?

>118 MissWatson: Adding The Corner That Held Them to my wish list for the same category in the Historical Fiction Challenge.

>124 Helenliz: "The Queen Mermaid", a design by Nora Corbett/Mirabilia. It's a bit glitzy with all the beads, but it will look nice in the bedroom, I think.

>125 pamelad: I was very pleasantly surprised by this, I hope you enjoy it.

>126 MissWatson: Oh they're lovely patterns. I've done Wisteria Fairy before.

>127 Helenliz: Yes they are. My sister has The Winter Queen in her bedroom, and she looks quite spectacular.

ClassicsCAT: published before 1900 / Popsugar: about divorce

The evil genius is one of Wilkie Collins' lesser known works, and it doesn't surprise me. It gives the impression of having been planned as a play. There are many interrupted conversations or people meeting unexpectedly, he frequently tells us where they sit and look (imagine people shouting "behind you" in a theatre). He pads out a mediocre plot with a lawyer explaining matters at the beginning and the end, and there's a completely false start with a buried treasure and a secret message in cipher to be unravelled, which led me to believe this would be one his mysteries. But instead we get a husband and wife, he falls for the governess, they separate, he demands custody of the child and she resorts to Scottish law and a divorce. And then he shows us the consequences of the divorce for the woman, her child, the governess and the adulterer.
Collins knows his legal facts, he usually gives us sympathetic lawyers and he is nearly always on the side of the woman when things are taken to court. But here he can't quite make up his mind about most of his characters, especially his portrait of the mother-in-law goes from one extreme to the other. And he pays too much attention to Victorian prejudice in the end. Not to mention that people are insufferably teary in this.

Indian Ocean: economic history / Bingo: a book that taught you something

Gold is part of the CH Beck "Knowledge" series, short little monographs on a wide range of topics. Here we learn about the origins of gold, the importance it had for various religions and cultures, and finally its role as a means of payment. The section about gold mining and currency policies in the 20th century were the longest and I learned quite a lot from it.
I picked this up because the author was invited as a talking head for a TV documentary about gold. They focused on gold in archaeology, because that's always an audience magnet. The Bretton Woods system is not.

The Caribbean: fantasy

It's not properly fantasy, but is has a an abundance of fairies, so I'm counting "Histoire de la Belle et la Bête" here.

I found the version of Mme de Villeneuve in volume XXVI of the "Cabinet des fées" and I think Mme de Beaumont was well advised to rewrite this. She cut out three brothers and three sisters from the merchant's family and also the tedious family history of the Beast, who turns out to be Belle's cousin. Belle's mother here is a fairy married to the King of the Fortunate Isles who is in turn the brother of the Beast's mother. It's rather incestuous and during her final summing up of events (much like Hercule Poirot gathering the suspects for the unveiling of the mystery) it's hard not to lose track of the various characters.
The most remarkable thing about this is what must surely be the earliest instance of streaming: there's a room in the palace with four windows, and when Belle opens them, she can watch a performance at the Theatre, the Opera, the Italian Opera or the Fair of Saint Germain.

Aegean Sea: classics

La Reine Fantasque is also contained in my "Le Cabinet des Fées", and I really don't know how to classify it. Rousseau calls it a fairy tale, and we do have a queen who gets pregnant after a long wait, is expected to produce a son and asks a fairy for a daughter. But the style is so odd, and there's a druid playing the audience for the tale, who interrupts with comments of a political nature, that it's definitely not a common fairy tale. Maybe a moral tale, written for an Ancien Régime readership? I'm pretty sure his contemporaries would have drawn comparisons with Marie Antoinette.

edited for touchstone

It's March, and the spring flowers are in bloom, the ice-cream parlours have opened, and here we are in the midst of a snowstorm. I don't need this now.

>133 MissWatson: As I get older, I feel like you about the snow storms--I don't need them--ever! We had two days of 70 degree weather in which I gloried, but now we are back to 40's in the day and 20's at night! Hope your snow goes away soon!

Our February here was mostly pretty mild, but I saw a few flakes of snow earlier today, and the forecast for the next few days isn't great. I think that north and east of us will have it worst, but we might catch the tail end of the snow. I like it to look at and think it looks pretty, but once I've acknowledged its beauty it's definitely time for it to go away! I can't be doing with snow hanging around longer than about half a day.

I am sorry to hear about your snow. We usually have early springs here on the west coast but this year it is very cold and we had a snowfall last week. Today, we have some sunshine and it's nice to see it looking a little more spring-like.

>118 MissWatson: Thank you, I've taken a BB for The corner that held them.

>134 Tess_W: >135 Jackie_K: >136 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for your sympathy! Today the world is white and it feels like we're back in January. The forecast says it will stay until the weekend, and of course the buses were all late this morning. I'll be glad to go home after work.

>137 VivienneR: It's a good book to be reading when the weather outside is frightful.

>133 MissWatson: >138 MissWatson: I feel the same. Today it is a winter wonderland where I am, and it is absolutely beautiful, but I don't need this in MARCH!!!

I am in Minnesota and in a winter weather advisory and about 15-20 miles north of me is a winter storm warning.
I feel for the people in California.

>139 MissBrangwen: It's a good thing that snow on the ground doesn't last long, but it is still so icy cold with this strong wind.
>140 mnleona: And here I am moaning about half an inch of snow. Yes, I'm a bit of a wet blanket when it comes to cold.

February ClassicCAT

There's not really a better category for my latest read, another download from Gallica. This time it's a collection of fairy tales, some by Perrault, one by Mme d'Aulnoy (L'oiseau bleue) and Leprince de Beaumont's version La Belle et La Bête.
Beaumont did a good job on the story by cutting out the superfluous siblings and the goings-on at the various courts. She also offers us a proper fairy tale ending, where the jealous sisters come by their just deserts.
"L'oiseau bleue", on the other hand, was way too long and convoluted, and has no sense of a folk tale. The princess receives four eggs from the good fairy, which is not a magical number at all; there's endless description of finery and jewels, jostling for position among the fairies etc. All of which reminds you that these are literary tales invented at the French court, and they mostly come with a "moralité" at the end which tells you what you should have learned from it.

>142 MissWatson: Four eggs sounds all wrong indeed!

>143 MissBrangwen: And they were squandered on the journey, instead of securing her three consecutive nights in company of her beloved, as in "Allerleirauh". But La Belle et La Bête is very satisfying as a fairy tale.

I've been watching too many documentaries lately to get ahead with my reading, really need to get my skates on. But there was a very fascinating look at the work going on at the rebuilding of Notre Dame in Paris. And Tudor Kings!

ClassicsCAT: adapted to the screen / Interconnected: title starts with the next letter in the alphabet / Bingo: 4+ rating

I am mired in two serious and rather depressing books, so I sought to escape with a childhood favourite: Pünktchen und Anton. I had quite forgotten that the author also discusses serious issues with his young readers here, so it's not just a barrel of laughs. Still, more fun than Paranoia. I think I'll put that on hold, I am feeling not up to this right now, mentally.

ETA: I just noticed the Kästner has a rating of 4.22 on LT. So that's one for the Bingo, too.

>146 MissWatson: Oh, wonderful! I did not read any Kästner as a child apart from Das doppelte Lottchen, but they are on my WL. I'm not sure if I am just experiencing a déjà vu, but I think we might have a conversation about Kästner before in one of your threads.

>147 MissBrangwen: I'm not sure either, but it's possible. I like to revisit his children's books when I'm not in the mood for serious reading. What I really want to do now is read his "grown-up" books, I never got round to those.

La Manche: history

To be honest, reading a non-fiction book about the First Word War at a time when there's a war going on in Europe is pretty depressing. That said, I found 14 – Der Große Krieg to be a good book to (re)familarise myself with the topic. It's short but covers much ground, from the build-up to the aftermath. It's written for German readers, so events in Germany take first place but they don't dominate. I do wish he had said a bit more about Austria, though. New to me was the fatal part that Gabriele D'Annunzio played in Italy's decision to go to war who comes across as a truly nasty character.

March RandomKIT: Water, water everywhere / Historical fiction: set in my own country / Bingo: regional author

I watched a documentary about the building of the railway dam linking the island of Sylt to the mainland the other day, and when Der Tote am Hindenburgdamm caught my eye at the charity shop, I bought it. It's set on the island in 1923, hyperinflation is rampant and the businessmen on the island are keen on the dam because they need it to bring more tourists. The mystery is pretty mediocre, and the author is more interested in the conflict of the various local interests. There's an early environmental protection programme, most of the islanders are without a job and starving, and social unrest is brewing.
Quite a few things struck me as unusual: the boss of the small police station moonlights as a communist organiser (which is not something you expect a Prussian police officer to be), we have a budding nudist colony and our hero has been transferred from Mecklenburg to Sylt for disciplinary reasons, because as the son of a shipowner he is politically suspect to the socialist government.
The author lives on one of the small North Sea islands called "Halligen", so she's regional.

Lake Constance / Popsugar: published in spring 2023

Bergland has been on my mental wishlist since I read a review and when I saw the paperback edition among the new releases on Friday, I picked it up. It's a quick read, about three generations of hill farmers in the South Tyrol and how farming has changed over the decades. The dual timeline was a bit disorienting at times, and I was frequently reminded of Altes Land which covers similar ground. Quite good, actually.

GeoCAT: Australia / Bingo: popular author's first book / Popsugar: first-time author

The Dry is Jane Harper's first book, and a very successful one, too. As a mystery, it's nothing out of the ordinary, but the setting was new and therefore interesting to me. It was also a reminder that harassment, hate and poisonous gossip are nothing new. The way the other residents persecuted Falk was truly shocking, and that kind of behaviour is only getting worse with the ubiquitous and toxic social media.

Saturday notes

High praise for the new German translation of Ferdydurke, that's one for the wishlist.
I was pleased to find that a local bookshop has Far from the Madding Crowd in stock, and the Penguin English Library covers are lovels and tempting, but the paper inside is so cheap and ugly that I gladly desisted. I also think I want notes for this, which this edition lacks. Maybe I'll order the OUP edition after the Easter holidays...

Ferdyduke has been on my shelf for ages, probably because the print is tiny. Perhaps a chapter a day would work. It definitely looks to be worth reading.

>154 pamelad: It's one of those books that have always been on a mental "you should read this" list, and the news about a good translation gives it an additional push. Unfortunately, not something the local library is likely to buy.

Mysteries / March RandomKIT: Water, water everywhere / Historical fiction: set in my country / Bingo: next in a series

Das verschwundene Fräulein is fresh off the press, fourth instalment in a series of historical mysteries set on the island of Norderney. It's late July 1914, the ultimatum is running out and tension is running high when an admiral's daughter goes missing. However, foreign spies are soon abandoned as a line of inquiry, and the police officer in charge concentrates on the family. His love interest, an upper class teacher, as usually takes a hand and annoys me by going off on her own into dangerous situation just because she is pig-headed. There's a showdown on a shipwreck just off the island, and then time runs out, war is declared and Viktoria Berg makes up her mind and agrees to marry her police officer. There's a good chance he'll be called up, and I wonder if the series is going to continue.

>156 MissWatson: I still haven't continued with that series and have so far only read the first book, but your review sounds very good and I am already looking forward to the fourth one. Apart from the pig-headedness - protagonists wandering off on their own into obviously dangerous situations is one of my pet peeves in crime novels!

>157 MissBrangwen: I am a sucker for books about the North Sea, and she certainly has a way of evoking the atmosphere of an upper-class holiday place. But this time the plot is a little disorganised, and I'm doubtful about her knowledge of naval matters. In that light, continuing the series in the war years when Norderney was turned into a maritime fortress may not be a good idea.

>158 MissWatson: We‘ll see! I certainly hope that, should the author decide to continue, her research will be thorough!

March roundup

I haven'te read as much as I planned, being busy with my cross-stitch project in the evenings. I am happy to report that the queen is finished, now I need to find a pretty frame. Maybe I'll get lucky at our first open-air fleamarket tomorrow. The weather guys have promised us sunshine all day which is hard to believe when I look out into the rain pouring down right now. It's also very cold, and the idea that they are going to start the bathing season tomorrow as well, all I can say is Brrrr!
Reading-wise, none of the books really stood out. On to April, then!

Saturday notes

A new study of Thomas Mann's work, highly praised but also very daunting at 1,500 pages: Thomas Mann : Werk und Zeit. Something to keep in mind for my retirement.
Howard French's Born in blackness looks interesting, and a new biography of Nero by Alexander Bätz. And Isidor by Shelly Kupferberg. As if I didn't have enough books waiting for me...

The weather forecast was right: brilliant sunshine. But it's also very cold, and if you're standing in the shadow it's freezing. I pity the people who had their fleamarket stall on the dark side of the street...but there were lots of people browsing, so hjopefully it's worth their while. The book people haven't shown up, so I didn't buy anything. But it's always nice to go and look.
And now I'll go and sit in the sun on my balcony!

Indian Ocean: economic history

Das Fleisch der Republik is a hefty tome about meat production and consumption in the Federal Republic of Germany until 1989. I read a very enthusiastic review last year and had to wait for my library to acquire it.

Well worth the wait, it is full of fascinating stuff and the amount of reading the author did for this is amazing. He writes clearly, there are footnotes, so no constant leafing back to cumbersome endnotes. And I liked the way he set it up: from consumers who insist on buying their meat as cheaply as possible and consume amounts unheard of before the war, to the supermarkets who enable this habit, to the slaughterhouses and the farmers who rear the animals and who are the fall guy everyone loves to blame.

I'm signing off for the Easter holidays and will be back next week. Have a nice weekend!

>164 MissWatson: Happy Easter!

>164 MissWatson: Have a good time!

>165 christina_reads: >166 MissBrangwen: Thanks! The holiday weekend was very nice. But my library has been hit by a cyber attack, and the situation is serious, so my mind is not really on my own books right now.

Nevertheless, I finished two: Un long dimanche de fiançailles which I thought was disappointing, and Restoration, Revolution, Reaction which was a very interesting history of Germany from 1815-1871. I hope to comment once things at work have settled down.

My sister had two books waiting for me: The minstrel and the dragon pup which I'm using for the Bingo square "music or musician". And Der Waschbär putzt sein Badezimmer, which is also a picture book. It "explains" the names of various animals by taking them literally. For example, Waschbär is literally "washing bear", so he is decribed as being obsessed with cleanliness. Great fun for old and young.

ClassicCAT / RandomKIT / SeriesCAT / MysteryKIT / Bingo: number in the title / Popsugar: girl in the title / Interconnected: different genre

Third girl fits for so many prompts! It is a late Poirot story, set in the sixties, and he is actually told that he is too old for the job. He briefly questions himself, but in the end asserts himself as usual. The book suffered a bit from odd writing, I can't tell if it's printer's errors or if she really slipped up. The constant harping on young people's lack of manners and hygiene became wearisome, too.

But it helpoed to take my mind off our catastrophe at work. We still haven't got our notebooks back and can't really do anything without internet access. It has brought home to me in a very unpleasant way how much we depend on the digital world.

>169 MissWatson: Oh no! I hope the problems will be sorted out soon.

I read Third Girl two years ago and I think it is the Christie novel that I liked the least so far.

I am sorry to hear about your internet issues at work and the problems that result. When our power went out a few weeks ago, I also came face to face with the lack of accessible tech and how we have come to depend on it. (This from the gal who said she did not want an iPhone--"I just want to make and receive calls, I do not need to read or play games on my phone." Eating those words . . .)

>170 MissBrangwen: Thanks, Mirjam. She was growing a bit cantankerous in her old age, I think.
>171 LadyoftheLodge: Thanks! I hate the way we're being pushed towards using smartphones, so many services now demand it.

The last two weeks have been difficult, my library has suffered a ransomware attack and work has been disrupted seriously. For three days I used my private machine to keep in touch with my team and do some rudimentary work on the WiFi we normally provide for our patrons. I must admit that I found the whole situation very stressful, mentally. My mind kept churning over the dangers of being stuck in this limbo for months (that happened to some other institutes), salaries not being paid, having personal data floating around in the darknet, and other horrors.
But the IT team are doing stellar work, on Thursday most of us got their official notebooks back, and we have internet access again, so we can do proper work again. Most of it, anyway. And it seems the bad guys have been in our system only a few days, so most of our files can be restored at some point.

My reading has suffered from this strain, I often fell into bed at nine o'clock. Things are looking up, and spring is finally here, so there's reason to be optimistic!

>173 MissWatson: I'm so glad to hear that and hope that things will continue to improve!

SeriesCAT

Phoebe, Junior is the final volume in the Carlingford Chronicles, a series that can very well be read out of order. It has a remarkable young woman as its heroine, who thinks rationally and clearly for herself. And it also gives amazing details of life in a Victorian household that male authors usually don't show.

Atlantic Ocean: new authors

Ödön von Horváth is one of those authors whose name is familiar but whose work is unknown to me. So when I saw Jugend ohne Gott at the charity bookshop I picked it up because it's one of those must-reads on most German reading lists. It's also very short, so I plunged right in without knowing what I let myself in for.
It was published in 1937, shortly before the Anschluss, and very much set in that time.
The first-person narrator is a teacher constantly worried about putting a foot wrong in the scary political climate, he is scared of his pupils and their parents.
There is so much in here that is happening again right now. Not the book I wanted to read in my present predicament, but one I'm going to re-read some day.

>176 MissWatson: I've added Youth Without God to the wish list.

>173 MissWatson: - Glad to hear things are getting better. I can't imagine how awful that would be.

>177 pamelad: I hope you find it worth your while, "enjoying" is probably not quite the right word.
>178 dudes22: Thanks, it's really disturbing.

>169 MissWatson: Sorry to hear of tech problems at work. My school was without power for 2 days---so no internet, (which meant I could not access my Google drive where thousands of quizzes, tests, worksheets, powerpoints, etc. are stored) and no copy machine (the power hit it, also). All of my alternate plans are in my drive! Everything at our school is wireless from the attendance taking, lunch counts, copy machine access, connecting computer to projector for power points, etc. So for two days....we played old school.....we used our textbooks and READ, followed with answering questions from the text. I had to write the questions by hand on the white board and they had to write out the answer on a piece of notebook paper. How archaic!;)

>181 MissWatson: Yes, it's so frustrating when every bit of information you want is inaccessible.

>180 Tess_W: I had to laugh when you described "old school" teaching! When I began teaching middle school, everything was written on the board or we used an overhead projector with transparencies! Hardcover textbooks, everything handwritten, "technology" was the copy machine that used spirit masters to make copies, and attendance was marked on little slips of paper and hung outside the classroom door on a clip so an office worker could pick them up. How things change!

>173 MissWatson: Feeling nostalgic for the libraries of the olden days, with the card catalogues, date due slips and the pockets in the backs of books where the tickets went. All very cumbersome, but I think that libraries used to have more books in them (not so many things to spread the budget around? more space when there were no computers?) and were calmer places before technology. Librarians used to work at the desk and talk to borrowers. Perhaps I'm looking back with rose-coloured glasses.

Glad things are becoming more manageable in your library and the damage doesn't seem to be insurmountable.

>182 LadyoftheLodge: Ah, those were the days! In fact, I used a slate and chalk in my very first year at school. But it seems schools are still the poor kids when it comes to technology. We've had a mess with the university-qualifying exams in North Rhine Westphalia this year, and the papers for geography had to be sent out by mail because many schools don't have colour photocopiers on which to print out the coloured maps.

>183 pamelad: Thanks, we're getting there. And the librarians at the loan desk found workarounds: the catalogues are all integrated into union catalogues, so books can be searched for. And then they picked up the phone and told the colleagues in the closed stacks what they needed.

New authors / RandomKIT: Seven ages of Man / Bingo: an accident / Popsugar: athlete or sport

The Chosen starts with a baseball game where Reuven, the narrator, gets hit in the face and has to spend time in the hospital worrying about losing the sight in his left eye. The boy from the opposite team comes to apologise and they become friends. It is a difficult friendship, since Danny's father is a Hasidic rabbi and very strict.
To be honest, I almost gave up when that baseball game dragged over several pages, but I am glad I persevered. As a study of father-son-relationship it was great.

Glad you enjoyed The Chosen. Also glad your the randomware attack was dealt with relatively easily.

>185 MissWatson: I've only read one Potok, but liked it. Will add this to my WL!

>186 markon: We still can't access our work files or our digital holdings, but at least we can lend printed stuff and do routine stuff.
>187 Tess_W: Yes, he's certainly an author I will keep a lookout for.

Sorry to read about the cyber attack at your work - I can't even imagine how frustrating that must have been! Glad to hear that your IT team seemed to get it sorted quite quickly.

>189 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Judy. I'm looking forward to a long weekend with minimum screen time.

SeriesCAT / RandomKIT / Historical fiction: a real historical figure / Bingo: stolen identity

Royal Flash sees our hero reluctantly impersonating a Danish prince marrying the ruling duchess of a fictional German statelet which Bismarck hopes to use as a pretext for war with Denmark about Schleswig-Holstein. We also meet Lola Montez in Bavaria which she has to leave abruptly when revolution breaks out.
The story is straight out of The prisoner of Zenda, told against the grain and politically very incorrect.

And this ends the month of April which has been rather awful, in real life. As it turns out, a service provider for a large number of health insurers has also been attacked with ransomware, including mine, and this at the very moment when I need to find a new GP. Let's just hope May turns out better.

So sorry to hear about the ransomware attacks on your library and now healthcare records. I was at the hospital some months ago and one of the nurses was telling me about dealing with their systems being attacked. Scary stuff. I hope the police manage to track down those doing this.

>192 charl08: Thanks! There's little hope of the bad guys being caught as they are usually sitting in other countries notorious for not cooperating with such requests.

Time to leave this dreadful month behind. Come and see me in my new thread!