Barbara's (Ameise1) world and adventures (1)

Hello everyone, my name is Barbara and I come from Zürich (Switzerland). This is my fifth time on CR and I really enjoy being part of this group. I've been retired since July 2024, but there's no question of boredom, quite the opposite.
I live together with my husband Thomas. Our daughters and their partners also live not far from us, so we see our two grandsons Juri (who will be three years old on 4 January) and Timo (16 months) regularly.
As I was once a primary school teacher, I occasionally deputise for former colleagues. This would normally be for a maximum of two weeks at a time, but unfortunately a former colleague had an accident at Christmas (he stumbled badly and broke his ankle and has already had an operation) and so I will be standing in for him from 6 January to 14 February. Luckily he only works part-time, so I don't have to travel to school every day.
Apart from that, I'm looking forward to a varied year with various trips, not all of which are planned yet except for the skiing holidays in Davos at the end of February and beginning of March, theatre and concert visits, exhibitions, lots of good books and of course lots of time with my two grandsons.

January
# 1 Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson (4 stars)
# 2 Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher (4½ stars) 🎧
# 3 The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan (3½ stars)
# 4 Schwarzes Gold by Dominique Manotti (4 stars)
# 5 The Forbidden Place by Susanne Jansson (4 stars)

February
# 6 Rauhnächte by Ulrike Gerold (4 stars)
# 7 Madame le Commissaire und die tote Nonne by Pierre Martin (4 stars)
# 8 Provenzalischer Rosenkrieg by Sophie Bonnet (4 stars) 🎧
# 9 Duell: Island Krimi by Arnaldur Indridason (3½ stars) 🎧
#10 Der rote Raum by Roman Voosen (4½ stars)
#11 Das Gewicht eines Vogels beim Fliege by Dana Grigorcea (3 stars)

March
#12 Neid by Arne Dahl (4stars) 🎧
#13 East West Street by Philippe Sands (4½ stars)
#14 Wikmans Zöglinge by Jaan Kross (4½ stars)
#15 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (3 stars)
#16 Ein ungezähmtes Tier by Joël Decker (4½ stars)
#17 Das neunte Gemälde by Andreas Storm (4½ stars) 🎧
#18 Die Rose von Nischapur by Amir Hassan Cheheltan (3½ stars)

April
#19 Zone Defence by Petros Markaris (4½ stars)
#20 My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk (4 stars)
#21 Wie Grischa mit einer verwegenen Idee beinahe den Weltfrieden auslöste by Jakob Hein (5 stars)
#22 Nord Sentinelle by Jérôme Ferrari (4 stars)
#23 The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre (4 stars)
#24 Deadline by John Sandford (4 stars)

Currently reading

 Das Grab der Jungfrau

Currently listening
 The Last Hours

My lazy stats of the year 2024



Authors Gender and origin:

women: 39
men: 49
man/man: 1 woman/man: 2

Albania: 1
Austria: 5
Canada: 1
China: 1
Denmark: 4
France: 2
Germany: 28
Greece: 1
Grenada: 1
Iceland: 1
Italy: 7
Japan: 2
Mexico: 1
Norway: 3
Poland: 1
Spain: 1
Sweden: 8
Switzerland: 3
UK: 9
Ukraine: 1
unknown: 1
USA: 9

duplicate post deleted

I wish you all a happy, healthy and fulfilling new year with lots of exciting books. Happy reading 2025.

Hello, Barbara, and Happy New Year. Our grandson, Toby, is just four and it is a joy to see so much of him and I know you will enjoy your time with Juri and Timo.

Happy New Year, Barbara! Look forward to following your reading again this year.

Let's resolve to do this more in 2025.

>7 CDVicarage: Nice to see you here, Kerry. It's lovely that you can see Toby so often. Enjoy it.

>8 AlisonY: Welcome Alsion. I'm looking forward to your reading too.

>9 richardderus: Rdear, you nailed it with this quote, my thoughts for the future. It's lovely to see you here. Smooch

>9 richardderus: sounds like my reading, RD.

Barbara - following.

>11 dchaikin: Thanks Dan. Welcome. 😃

>11 dchaikin: Doesn't it sound like any good reader's reading, Dan? We just get led by the books.

Happy 2025, Barbara.

I thought I would come and seek you out! I will try to make more visits in 2025.

>14 PaulCranswick: Thank you very much, Paul. I also wish you a happy and healthy 2025.

Happy 2025, Barbara.

>16 DianaNL: Thank you very much Diana. I wish you a happy and healthy 2025 too. I hope everything is well at your place.

Happy New Year, Barbara! I watched the Babylon Berlin series back when it was still available in the US and now I'm going to have to find the German language audiobooks. Is the reader good?

>18 RidgewayGirl: Happy New Year Kay. Sylvester Groth is a German actor, audiobook and voice actor. He does a wonderful job with this audio.

Happy New Year, Barbara. Good luck with your teaching for the next few weeks.

>20 BLBera: Thank you very much Beth. I had actually planned to cover for my colleague for the first week of February. Due to his accident, it will now be six weeks. 🙈

>13 richardderus: i think that’s a hard yes here. It does

Hi, Barbara - sorry to hear you're going back to work, but very nice of you to step in. I'm interested to see what you read in 2025

Happy New Year, Barbara! It's very kind of you to stand in for your former colleague.

Happy New Year, Barbara. I look forward to many good books with you.
All the best for your temporary return to work.

Happy New Year, Barbara! Look at you, back at work already, nice that it is only temporary though.

Hi Barbara, and happy New Year! Best wishes for a wonderful year.

>1 Ameise1: I am sorry about your colleague having that accident at Christmas. They’re lucky that you’re able to fill in for so much time.

>27 karenmarie: Thank you very much, Karen, and welcome.
You can be sure that I will only be working until 14 February and will then return to my well-earned retirement.
My next engagement is from 3 April to 25 April. I'll be standing in for a former colleague who will be spending her long-service leave in South Africa.

>3 Ameise1: I came to the Babylon Berlin series of books through watching the ?Netflix programmes mentioned in >18 RidgewayGirl:.
Just started Season 4 on DVD, based on Goldstein. Ameise1, it will be interesting to hear how the books work in audio. I wonder if any of the readers were actors in the series.
>9 richardderus: Great word.

>29 SassyLassy: Thanks so much for dropping in.
To be honest, I don't have Netflix and I don't miss such a streaming platform. I'm a series junkey when it comes to books, but not films. I'm not a cinema goer either. I can't even remember the last time I went to the cinema. It must have been before the pandemic.
But what's more important for me is that I've often been disappointed when I've watched a film where I've read the book. A film can never convey what the written word does. I love my head cinema when I read or listen to a book.
I always write something about a book I've read/listened to.

Happy New Year, Barbara. I'm looking forward to following your thread this year.

>31 Trifolia: Thank you very much, Monica. It's great to see you here.

Happy new year, Barbara! And good luck for the next few weeks of substitute teaching.

Well, you've had a taste of retirement, so you'll appreciate even more when you retire again February 15th!! LOL. Happy reading. : )

>33 Dilara86: nice to see you Dilara and thank you for the good wishes.

>34 Berly: 😂 so true. Thanks so much Kim and welcome.

Did you miss me @ 24, Barbara? Anyway, Happy New Year! I do have several streaming platforms, including Net Flix. I think I find the most to watch on Brit Box though.

>36 vancouverdeb: >23 Nickelini: >24 vancouverdeb: >25 SirThomas: >26 Familyhistorian: Dear Deborah, Joyce, Meg and Thomas, I am ashamed that I have not responded to your messages. I was very happy to see you and it's nice to see you here. Welcome. I need to get into the habit of only reading messages when I have time to answer them.
I had a good start at school yesterday. Today I'm off, tomorrow I'll be teaching again.

Oh, no, don't be ashamed, Barbara! Life is just busy, especially as you are just back to work. No worries at all! I'm glad you had a good start at school.

>38 vancouverdeb: Thank you Debora.

Hallo Barbara, habe Dich gefunden :)
Again a very happy new year to you and your family and many happy reads

>40 Deern: Hi Nathalie, it's so nice to see you here on LT again. You are very welcome 💖😘.

>9 richardderus: I like that, especially because there's a dog along for the journey in the image. Happy 2025, Barbara!

>42 lisapeet: Welcome here Lisa. I wish you a fabulous 2025 too. 😃

Last Saturday we celebrated my grandson Juri's third birthday. It was all about building, as he is a big fan of construction machinery and other vehicles.

 

 

book 1 Read in German 

 Silenced

This is the second volume in the Fredrika Bergman series.
Everyone in Fredrika's team of investigators has their own personal problems. Fredrika is heavily pregnant and sleeping very badly. Axel's wife is looking increasingly ill, but they just can't find the courage or the time to have a clear conversation, and Peder, who lives apart from his family, has developed foul language that means he often has to do desk work.

Despite all these difficulties, the team must find out whether an elderly couple have committed suicide or been murdered. Why are illegal refugees being murdered by the dozen and who is stealing personal data from living people? Questions upon questions that initially lead nowhere, but then the cases intersect again. Until it finally becomes clear why all this happened.

Very grippingly written. I will certainly continue with this series, because the ending leaves open what will become of the investigative team.

I have successfully completed my first week of school. It was fun.
Yesterday we had a delicious soup made from leftovers for dinner. It was very filling and warmed the stomach. A little later, two former work colleagues came round. They were on an evening walk and warmed up with coffee and Christmas biscuits.

Belated Happy New Year. As always, I'm looking forward to following your reading and your adventures this years. Cheers!

>47 rocketjk: Thanks so much for popping in, Jerry and welcome 😃.

Juri is adorable!

>49 Nickelini: Yes, he's great, a great little chap. Timo in the second photo has developed into a little rascal 😂

>44 Ameise1: Those photos are adorable, especially the birthday cake construction site!

>46 Ameise1: That soup looks delightful.

Your grandson is so cute. Aren't grandkids the greatest?
The soup looks delicious, and soup is one of my favorite foods. What kind is it? Would you consider posting the recipe in La Cucina?

>51 kidzdoc: Thank you very much, Darryl. When we arrived with his godmother, he called out loudly: The party gang has arrived, now we can start 😂.

>51 kidzdoc: >52 arubabookwoman: Thank you Re the soup. We've been eating soup for dinner once a week for years.

>52 arubabookwoman: Deborah, I need to expand a little. At Christmas we had a 'table barbecue' with the family. So we had a few pieces of meat (veal, lamb, pork) left over. The next day we made a big pot of meat soup out of it, which was enough for two meals. So we froze half of it and ate it last night.
As far as the recipe is concerned, it's getting rather difficult now. We never cook according to a recipe but look at what we have in the house and cook something with it.
I can just list here what went into this soup. The most important thing about cooking is how you do it anyway. Firstly, we sautéed chopped vegetables (carrots, celeriac, onions, leeks, garlic) for a long time. This is the be-all and end-all because of the roasting flavours. Then we added the pieces of meat, which were also fried. Then a portion of tomato puree (fry until brown, about 10 minutes). Seasoned with salt and pepper. Only then was everything topped up with homemade vegetable stock. We always make our own vegetable stock, it's a thousand times better than anything you could buy. Then let it simmer for a long time. Before serving, we added some homemade wild garlic pesto.
We made the 'cheese taler' in the photo from freshly grated parmesan and baked it in the oven. Ditto the bread: drizzled with garlic olive oil and parmesan.
Unfortunately, I can't give you the quantities as we actually cook from our 'gut feeling'.

>53 Ameise1:--Barbara you are a cook after my own heart. That is the way I cook. I would find it very difficult to write down a recipe for many of the dishes I make, especially soups since they are often put together with whatever is lying around. My mother-in-law used to make a soup at the beginning of the week, and then add various items to extend it as the week went on. Anyway--I followed your explanation, and will keep it in mind.

>53 Ameise1: 😂

>54 arubabookwoman: Thank you very much, Deborah. My husband and I learnt to cook from our mothers and developed it ourselves. Our mothers grew up during WWII and therefore only knew that everything should be utilised and that vegetables and fruit from the garden should be preserved for the winter. We still think this way and have passed it on to our daughters, who also cook this way.
Nice to hear that you cook like this too. Now you might understand why it's difficult for me to post on 'la cucina'.

>55 kidzdoc: 😂 Yes, he is definitely a number in his own right. I love it when he talks.

Happy birthday Juri. You are adorable. Love the cake

>57 dchaikin: Thank you Dan, I will pass on your wishes to him. The cake is the work of my daughter. It was a very tasty chocolate and pear cake. 😋

Grüezi, Barbara! It's really nice to be back on your thread - lovely photos and that cake is amazing. The photo of Juri and the digger cake reminded me of a wonderful place about an hour from Basel that we took the kids when they were little - it had a huge construction area. I want to say it was the Science Museum in Winterthur, but I just went online and looked and I don't think that's right. Anyway, I bet you have many adventures ahead with Juri.

Looking forward to trying to keep up with you again this year and hope being back at school for a bit is fun.

>59 cushlareads: Grüezi Cushla, it's a great pleasure seeing you here, welcome.
Yes, I love my two grandsons Juri and Timo to the moon and back. It's so nice that we can see them regularly.
Have you thought about this museum? (https://www.ebianum.ch/)
You can hardly get Yuri and Timo out of there.
The Technorama in Winterthur is exciting, but they'll both have to get older to visit it.

No it wasn't that museum either, but it looks amazing!! Our oldest would have loved it (he was a big fan of diggers too). I'll look for the photos. It's going to bug me.

😀

Very cute grandchildren, Barbara. Are they Italian names? I had a fleeting romance with an Italian called Juri a lifetime ago, but I got the impression it wasn't an overly common name.

Hello Barbara! I see you've un-retired a little bit :-) I loved the photos of your grandson's birthday party, and the cake was *fabulous*! What a clever idea.

>63 AlisonY: Thanks so much Alison.
Juri is a Slavic variant of the first name Georg, which originates mainly in Russia and Ukraine. Georg in turn comes from ancient Greek and means farmer/agriculturist.
While Timo in ancient Greek, like Tim, is derived from the first name Timotheus and means "the God-fearing one", in Old High German it comes from the first name Dietmar and means "the one who is famous among the people". The two first names Timotheus and Timo are particularly popular in Greece.

>64 susanj67: Nice to see you here Susan and thanks so much re the photos and cake.
😂 un- retired - I like this expression. So far it's good to work a little bit at my old working place.

>44 Ameise1: Thank you for the great pictures - I love the construction site cake

>46 Ameise1: >53 Ameise1: This looks and sounds delicious!

Have a wonderful start into the week.

>66 SirThomas: Thank you Thomas. I wish you a fabulous week too. 😃

book 2 Read in German 🎧

 Babylon Berlin

This is the first volume in the Gereon Rath series and it really grabbed me. The story takes place in Berlin in May/June 1929 at the time of the May Riots.
Inspector Gereon Rath from Cologne is transferred to Berlin through his father's connections after he shoots the son of an influential newspaper publisher while on duty. There he works at Alexanderplatz police headquarters, also known as the ‘Red Castle’, initially for the vice squad under Chief Inspector Bruno Wolter as his superior. His goal, however, is to transfer to the homicide squad, which is headed by the well-known detective Ernst Gennat, who works according to the most modern scientific criminalistic methods and has one of the highest clearance rates. Rath sees his chance when an unidentified body is recovered from the Landwehr Canal and joins the stagnating homicide investigation without being asked.
During his enquiries, Rath discovers a connection to a circle of militant Russians in exile who want to buy weapons with smuggled gold in preparation for a coup. Organised crime and paramilitaries such as the SA are also after the gold and weapons. Rath falls in love with Charlotte Ritter, who works as a typist for the homicide squad, and uses her insider knowledge for his investigations. In the course of his investigations, he also comes across the semi-secret mastermind of the Berolina ring club Johann Marlow, known as Dr M., and makes himself vulnerable to blackmail, not least because he consumes cocaine in one of his illegal nightclubs. He becomes more and more entangled in the case and comes under suspicion himself after he accidentally shoots a man and makes his body disappear, only for it to be found a short time later.
Due to staff shortages, Rath is transferred to the homicide squad to deal with the death he himself caused. He uses the opportunity to cover up his involvement. When he finds out that Bruno Wolter is involved in the illegal arms trade and has murdered a young colleague who was on his trail on behalf of the political police, but Gereon Rath wants to frame him for the murder, Rath reveals himself to the Berlin police chief and, with his help, successfully sets a trap for Wolter by faking the transfer of weapons, whereby Wolter is fatally injured. Officially, however, his death is presented as being in fulfilment of his official duty. In the end, the gold ends up in the hands of Johann Marlow, who gives Rath a modest share.
In addition to an exciting plot, I really enjoyed the detailed description of Berlin. You learn how people lived, about corruption up to the highest levels, but also about the rise of the Nazis.

I’ve never heard of these May Riots

I found a wikipedia article about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blutmai?wprov=sfla1

Thanks. Fascinating

I love the construction cake, Barbara! So creative and cute ! And Juri is a darling! Our grandson is a big fan of construction vehicles too. He would have loved that cake. Timo is so cute too!

>71 dchaikin: You're welcome 😀

>72 vancouverdeb: Thanks so much, Deborah. I don't know any child who isn't fascinated by construction machinery. These big vehicles are impressive.

Greetings Barbara as you navigate your old profession again. I'm surprised Juri and Georg are related names! The things we learn on the threads.

>74 richardderus: Thank you very much Rdear. Four more hours at school, then the weekend begins.
Yes, it's always exciting how names are linked and what they mean. It's completely normal on the European continent for a name with the same meaning to be spelt and pronounced completely differently. *smooch*

Aaaaw, your grandkids are so adorable, and finally I “meet” Juri :)
I didn’t know his name was another form of Georg (like my dad’s name Jürgen), there are so many varieties. That cake is lovely, but did he let you eat it normally, or did he want to dig in first with those excavators?
Wishing you a lovely weekend

>76 Deern: Thank you very much, Nathalie. Isn't it exciting what names mean when you take the time to look into it?
The two little rascals are currently on a skiing holiday in Sedrun. Juri was already on the slopes last year. Yesterday we got a video of him skiing down the piste on his own, controlled and with beautiful turns. I think we'll have to dress ‘warmly’ when he comes on holiday with us at the end of February ;-D.

book 3 Read in German 

 The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra

Somewhere I once recognised this book as BB, but I can't remember where.
It's the first volume in the Baby Ganesh Agency Investigations series and only partially grabbed me. This could also be because the story is set in Mumbai and because I haven't read anything from India for a long time. It therefore took me longer to immerse myself in the lively city.
On the day of his retirement, Inspector Chopra stumbles across two mysterious events: The first is the puzzling case of a drowned boy whose death no one seems to care about. The second surprise is a baby elephant. Chopra takes care of both. Without his police badge, but with the active support of baby elephant Ganesha, he searches every corner of Mumbai for the boy's murderer. He soon realises that there is more to both his case and his new protégé than meets the eye.
A branch of my library has the second volume. I don't know yet if and when I will read it.

book 4 Read in German 

 Or noir

I love Dominique Manotti's books. You can really feel her professional (teaches economic history at Paris universities) and personal (CFDT trade unionist) background in her books. Her crime novels are historically sound and the social life in the books is also consistent. Ergo, in addition to an exciting story, her books are also educational.
The author takes us back to Marseille in 1973, and not without reason. 1973 was the year in which the Bretton Woods monetary system collapsed, which meant that the previously fixed exchange rates of national currencies against the dollar (world reserve currency) were liberalised, which in turn opened the door to speculation. 1973 was also the year of the first oil crisis (Sunday driving ban). In the 1960s and early 70s, Marseille was the main transshipment centre for hard drugs to the USA (French Connection).
Marseille is the 27-year-old detective's first place of work. After successfully completing his studies (political science, law), graduating from the police academy and spending a year in Beirut, he arrives one Sunday morning in March 1973 in the port city on the French Mediterranean coast, which is threatened by decline. He is immediately confronted with an insidious murder case, which may have taken place in Nice, but the victim is Maxime Pieri, a well-known businessman from Marseille who is said to have good contacts with organised crime in the city. Because Pieri was more or less gunned down by 10 shots in the street, the Marseille police are keen to categorise the crime as an act of revenge within rival gangs. This hypothesis begins to falter two days later when Pieri's deputy, Jacques Simon, is shot dead in the car park at Nice airport.
Daquin and two local investigators assigned to him search through the past of the two victims and try to get an overview of the opaque business connections of their company. Pieri and Simon ran a small shipping company with 10 ships that transported various legal and illegal cargoes across the Mediterranean, including crude oil of unknown origin. The search for the perpetrators is more like the work of auditors or tax investigators. A thicket of bogus and front companies conceals the real string-pullers, who also walk over dead bodies in their business dealings. An American businessman and his South African wife become the focus of the investigation.

book 5 Read in German 

 The Forbidden Place

The book thrives on the author's vividly evocative narrative style. Susanne Jansson conjures up images of bleak, endless forests in which people play only supporting roles and nature has the upper hand. The moor, often shrouded in mist and atmospherically impenetrable, defends itself against the people who want to take it over and threaten it. Again and again it is portrayed as a human being with a mind of its own, afraid of the threat, but at the same time using threatening gestures and fear against its opponents.
Alongside the two women Nathalie and Maya, the moor is the third protagonist in this novel. It communicates through changes in the weather, cold, fog and sudden absolute silence. The personification is emphasised by the title ‘Opfermoor’ (sacrificial moor). Since time immemorial, people have tried to appease the moor by making offerings to protect themselves from its revenge.
Nathalie and Maya sense that the attack on Johannes is linked to events in the past. Each approaches the problem in their own way. While the artist Maya immerses herself in the myths surrounding the moor, the biologist Nathalie tries to approach the present by understanding the past. Here, too, Jansson manages to portray both women in such a multi-layered and characteristically typical way that you quickly gain access to the characters.
Similarly, all the other characters are presented as unique types, each so distinctive in their own way that they are easily brought to life before the reader's eyes. The quirky ex-physicist who is now a ghost hunter; the inspector who imports strange things from Asia; the somewhat retarded gardener and last but not least Johannes, the student.

>79 Ameise1: This one is very, very tempting to me. I've marked #1 in the series to get, as the Kindle edition is only $2.99! Terrible of you to wave such a tempting crime series at me from all the way up the Alps...shame, shame.

>81 richardderus: You will like her books and her protagonists. Which book from the Commissaire Daquin series do you have?
Nice to hear that I was also able to send a BB across the pond 😉

>82 Ameise1: In English, it's called Rough Trade. #1 in the Daquin series, Hartes Pflaster in German. At $2.99 why resist?

>83 richardderus: I have read volumes two and four of this series. I'm going to buy the others too, as my local library doesn't have them.

My lazy January stats



Authors Gender and origin:

women: 3
men: 2

France: 1
Germany: 1
Sweden: 2
UK: 1

book 6 Read in German 

 Rauhnächte - Sie werden dich jagen

You have to run. You have to be faster than them. Faster and smarter.
Young women disappear. On those magical nights between the years. They return twelve days later, confused and distraught. Two of them couldn't take it anymore, they went to their deaths voluntarily. Others left the valley and never returned. The few who remained are silent. After many years of absence, Lisa returns to the small alpine village of her childhood to finally talk to her grandparents. But then her past catches up with her: Young women are still disappearing at the end of the year during the Rauhnächte and returning distraught a few days later. This also happened to Lisa's sister a long time ago - and Lisa swears to herself that she will save this girl.
This crime thriller uses the mystical time at the turn of the year as a backdrop, but the magic and power of these days are hardly used here to influence the plot. Instead, it immediately becomes clear that these are very earthly crimes, rather than continuing to focus on a mysterious atmosphere. It's a shame, as a lot of potential is lost. In addition, the depiction of the village's population seems rather backward and picks up on some clichés - this may well be beneficial to the atmosphere, but it seems rather out of place in today's world. Otherwise, a very dense atmosphere is created, which offers a successful build-up of tension and provides plenty of surprises and twists.

I've been busy elsewhere for a while and am only now getting around to thanking you for another BB. I really enjoyed Schwarzes Echo.
But I've just discovered a few more BBs from you...
All the best to you!

>86 Ameise1: What an interesting idea! Use local superstition to cover dreadful crimes. I'm glad your January was good, if not crammed to the gunwales with reads. May February be even better.

>86 Ameise1: The premise on that one sounds great. Too bad it didn't deliver. If I could read German, I'd give it a try. I can't get enough of that fascinating pagan culture in the Alps, whether German, Italian, or French. And hence why I came to Switzerland for Fasnacht last year.

>87 SirThomas: Thank you very much for dropping by, Thomas. Nice to hear that you enjoyed the first Harry Bosch.

>88 richardderus: Rdear, I always like books with local myths. I can never get enough of this kind. Yes, I didn't get much time to read in January as I was back at work. As of today, I'm back to being a pensioner and hope that I'll get round to reading books more often again. Next Saturday we are travelling to Davos for our two-week skiing holiday. Our grandsons will also be with us for the first week. So reading will probably have to wait a little longer.

>89 Nickelini: Joyce, I'm right there with you, I really like these books too and I can't get enough of all the Alpine myths.

book 7 Read in German 

 Madame le Commissaire und die tote Nonne

This was the fifth volume in the Isabelle Bonnet series and I enjoyed it.
When Isabelle was in the botanical garden, a dead nun was found on the beach. Who is this nun and why do more nuns have to die? Isabelle is in the dark and goes undercover in the convent herself. In doing so, she puts herself in great danger. As a side story, Appolinaire and she also have to catch a thief who is stealing from Appolinaire's partner and Isabelle's best friend's bank accounts.

book 8 Read in German 🎧

 Provenzalischer Rosenkrieg

This was the sixth case in the Pierre Durand series and, as always, he deals with cases that do not fall within his remit.
It's the middle of May in Provence. Pierre Durand is enjoying life with Charlotte, but when her childhood friend Anouk turns up, the idyll is over. The rose grower is suspected of murder - her neighbour has been found dead in his ‘archive of fragrances’ and valuable documents are missing. Charlotte is convinced of her friend's innocence. The evidence is anything but clear, so Pierre sets off in search of the truth. His investigations take him via Grasse to the Mediterranean, where three weeks earlier a perfumer died under suspicious circumstances.

book 9 Read in German 🎧

 Duell: Island Krimi

Reykjavík 1972, the Russian world chess champion Boris Spasski takes on his American challenger Bobby Fischer in the middle of the Cold War.
A fifteen-year-old boy is brutally murdered in a cinema. He is a regular cinema-goer and always recorded the sound of the film on cassettes, which he listens to again and again at home. Why was he killed? Is there anything on the missing cassette?
It's a classic thriller from the Cold War era, but I wasn't entirely convinced by it.

>93 Ameise1: Arnaldur is often hit-and-miss for me, as it always seems I miss out on whatever it is that makes me click with his stories. Never could figure out why.

Enjoy your return-to-pensioner status, and your grands visiting you!

>94 richardderus: Rdear, I also don't know why it immediately pulled my sleeve in. Normally, I really enjoy reading/listening to his books.
Yes, I'm definitely looking forward to being a full-time pensioner again. As I mentioned before, we're going on a two-week skiing holiday in Davos from Saturday. Nevertheless, we are already planning our holidays for May. We will be travelling by train to Salzburg, on to Graz, then Ljubljana and Trieste. Yesterday we already booked an Airbnb for a whole week in Trieste. We will be staying in hotels in Salzburg, Graz and Ljubljana.

>95 Ameise1: Oh my! Lovely trip planned. I've always wanted to visit Ljubljana, so I look forward to seeing your holiday photos. Trieste is a fascinating city and should keep you hopping with cool sights to see. Lots of history...Austria-Hungary's main port then gifted to Italy after WWI? Never made sense to me.

Enjoy the week's reading, dear lady!

I hope you are having a wonderful time in Davos, Barbara. It must feel great to be back to retirement again.

Have a wonderful holiday, Barbara!

>95 Ameise1: Sounds like a wonderful trip, have a great time!

>95 Ameise1: What a lovely trip that sounds like.

>96 richardderus: >97 Familyhistorian: >98 SirThomas: >99 rasdhar: >100 lisapeet: Dear all, we spent two weeks of sunny skiing holidays in Davos. The first week was great fun with our grandsons and our older daughter skiing, tobogganing and building snow igloos.
The second week was spent skiing as a couple and enjoying the almost spring-like weather.
We have booked all the accommodation for our trip in spring, now we just need the Interrail tickets and train reservations.

book 10 Read in German 

This is the ninth volume of the Nystroem & Forss series and I am still very enthusiastic about this Swedish crime series.

book 11 Read in German 

I read this book for my RL book club. Unfortunately, it didn't quite convince me.

My lazy February stats



Authors Gender and origin:

women: 3
men: 2
woman/man: 1

Germany: 3
Iceland: 1
Romania: 1
Sweden: 1

book 12 Read in German 🎧

This is the third volume of the Opcop series and was again very exciting.

book 13 Read in German 

I discovered this book East West Street, probably last year, from Lisa (@labfs39). It grabbed me right from the start and I can highly recommend it.

>106 Ameise1: I'm so glad you enjoyed this one, Barbara. I first learned of it from Rachel/Rachbxl. Philippe Sands has written another book that sounds very good too: The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive.

>107 labfs39: Thank you very much, Lisa. My library has a copy of it. I'm adding it to my never-ending wish list. Have you read this book?

Hi Barbara! I hope you're enjoying the gorgeous spring even away from Davos. *smooch*

>108 Ameise1: I have not yet. It's on my never-ending wish list too. :-)

>109 richardderus: I do that 100 per cent. It's sunny and warm so far today. Unfortunately, rain is forecast for later this afternoon and the next few days.

>110 labfs39: I think we're all in the same boat 😂.

book 14 Read in German 

>106 Ameise1: Great review. I noticed East West Street a while back on the Baillie Gifford prizewinner list. Sounds very interesting.

Glad you had a great ski holiday.

>114 AlisonY: Thank you Alison, I highly recommend this book.
Yes, the skiing holidays were sunny and beautiful. Now it's raining again at home 🙈.

book 15 Read in German The Vegetarian

>116 Ameise1: We're siblings in our response to this book. I left the read furious, but not impressed.

I thought her Nobel win was...iffy...because nothing in that read made me think she was All that great. Anyway, happy weekend-ahead's reads!

>117 richardderus: Thank you very much, Rdear. I'm right there with you with your comments.
I hope you have a great weekend too. It will be like a dovecote here, with children and grandchildren coming and going. Thomas and I are organising a two-day Italian tavolata so that we can spend lots of time with everyone.

>116 Ameise1: Well, you're not making me rush to read my copy of The Vegetarian ;-D

>119 Nickelini: I think you can take your time.😉

Checking back in after some work-related absence.
I read The Vegetarian some years ago. I think I rated it higher, but also found it very disturbing. It is more about feminism than veganism, about the suppression of the individual in an extremely conformist society. It wasn’t a favorite, but left a strong impression, and it all came back with your review. Maybe I should reread it.

The one in >113 Ameise1: sounds interesting, moving it on my WL.

Have a lovely weekend!

I feel like I appreciated The Vegetarian much more than I enjoyed it.

>121 Deern: Hello Nathalie, I know that many people have rated the book better. But I'm me and unfortunately I can't give it more points.
I hope you will enjoy Wikamns Zöglinge.

>122 AlisonY: Alison, that's an interesting statement. What could explain that?

book 16 Read in German 

>123 Ameise1: I mean that I could appreciate the quality of the writing and the inventiveness of the plot, but it was so dark it would be a stretch to say I enjoyed it.

>125 AlisonY: I'm right there with you. I also liked the language in the story, but I struggled with the content.

Just stopping by to say hi, Barbara. I'm not reading anything German, since I can only read English, but I've watched some good shows on PBS that were in German. The last one was Maria Wern, I think it was. There are a few words that I could understand without the subtitles - a few! :-) But maybe if I were younger I could learn German. My SIL has German Citizenship and her her dad is from France, so she speaks both German, French and now English. I'm sure she learned a lot of English in school , but once she met my brother and moved to Canada with him ( and they got married ) she learned a lot more English. I recall my dad and my brother correcting her English. She tells me she thinks in French. I was curious about that , since she speaks 3 languages.

>106 Ameise1: >107 labfs39: I recently read The Ratline and it is excellent. I think reading of it would be enhanced by reading it in conjunction with East West Street, which I am reading now.

Enjoyed catching up your thread. Great reviews, especially of The Vegetarian.

I was impressed by The Ratline when I read it so I should probably look for the other book too. Enjoy your spring days, Barbara!

>127 vancouverdeb: Hello Deborah, yes, languages are one of those things. My mother tongue is Swiss German. I learnt High German at school and German books are also written in this language. My grandmother on my mother's side was French, so French was spoken in her home. French is also a national language here. At school, we had this subject from secondary school onwards. I didn't learn English until I was 16. I had lessons in it for four years. At the same time, I learnt Italian, which is also one of our national languages. After leaving school, I went to Australia for three months. My English improved there. I didn't need English for almost twenty years after that. I learned Spanish in my 20s because Thomas and I travelled through South America for six months on our honeymoon. Of all these languages, I regularly need German and English, and occasionally French too. Italian and Spanish are more in my passive vocabulary.

>128 arubabookwoman: >130 Familyhistorian: Thank you very much for your comments. I'll try to get a copy of Ratline from the library this year.

>129 rasdhar: Thank you very much, Rasdhar.

On Tuesday evening we were at the Book Love Festival. Thomas said he was an exotic at this event. I had to agree with him, because about 95% of the guests were women. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed it. The following authors were present: Cecelia Ahern and Chris Whitaker in the first round. In the second round Nele Neuhaus and Steven Schneider and in the third round Bonnie Garmus.
The authors mainly talked about how they came to write or when and how they write. They also described how they feel when one of their books is made into a film. They were unanimous in their opinion that the films are to be forgotten because they no longer have anything to do with their books. That's why they often consider not releasing the books for film in the first place. They spoke from my heart, because I find films about a book that I have read just awful.
It was a great and enjoyable event to get to know these authors from a different angle.

 Chris Whitaker and Cecelia Ahern

 Nele Neuhaus and Steven Schneider

 Bonnie Garmus

Wow, what a great event, thanks for the wonderful pictures.
I would have loved to have reduced the percentage to 94% if it had been near me....
Have a wonderful day!

>132 Ameise1: Thank you very much Thomas. I think you would have fitted in wonderfully. There will be another festival next year. I received an email yesterday where I could take part in a survey about how I liked the event etc.. At the end I was allowed to submit my ‘favourite authors’ for the next festival. Let's see if one of them will be there ;-).

>132 Ameise1: Sounds great. Any interesting stories that stood out on how they got into writing?

>135 AlisonY: For Chris Whitaker, writing is a kind of therapy. He has experienced a lot in his life and has been in prison, but his worst experience was when he was stabbed and his life was hanging by a thread. Once he was physically healthy again, he worked with his psychiatrist to work out how he could process everything. That's how he came to write and still does. It sometimes takes him weeks to write a chapter. If his publisher is pressing, he can ignore the emails he receives from him for up to a year.
Cecelia Ahern settles in comfortably before she starts writing, by candlelight. She writes everything by hand first and only uses the computer when revising.
Nele Neuhaus is a diligent newspaper reader. Sometimes she discovers a news item that sparks her interest. Then she puts it aside. When she starts a new book, she rummages through these articles and builds her story on one of them, even if it doesn't appear identically in the book. She lives in the countryside, where everyone knows everyone, and the villagers always think that one of them is in the book. Nele Neuhaus is a good observer and brings the peculiarities of the population into her books without thinking of anyone in particular. Very importantly, she emphasizes that there must be direct speech within the first two pages of the book, otherwise the reader will put the book aside immediately.
I've known Steven Schneider for a long time. Together with his wife, he wrote a weekly column about their family life. Since his children and mine are the same age and we live in the same place, I saw myself reflected in his columns. The historical novel he had now written began with a lot of research. It gripped him so much that he wanted to use it all for his novel. But his publisher said that brevity is the spice of life. Now his novel has 400 pages instead of 1000.
Bonnie Garmus lived in Zurich for seven years before moving to London in 2017. There she devoted herself to writing. The role of women in the past and today is very important to her. As well as their oppression. For me, she is a fighter for women's rights.

book 17 Read in German 🎧

book 18 Read in German 

My lazy March stats



Authors Gender and origin:

women: 1
men: 6

Estonia: 1
Germany: 1
Iran: 1
South Korea: 1
Sweden: 1
Switzerland: 1
UK: 1

>136 Ameise1: That's so interesting - thanks for that

>140 AlisonY: You're welcome. 😊

>139 Ameise1: Oh yeah! It's the end of the month, time for stats!

>142 richardderus: For once, I'm early 😆. It's probably because I saw my osteopath early this morning and finished reading a book yesterday, so I was able to do everything in one go on LT 😅.

>132 Ameise1: The Book Love Festival looks like an interesting event, Barbara. I hope Spring is mild and colourful where you are.

>144 Familyhistorian: Meg, the Book Love Festival was a hit. I'm already looking forward to the next edition.
Our garden is in full bloom. Even the cherry tree has been in bloom since yesterday, the daffodils and forsythia have been in bloom for some time and now the first tulips are blooming. It's a blaze of color and I'm really enjoying it. Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours reading on a deck chair in the middle of this colorful spectacle.

book 19 Read in German 

Zone Defence is the second volume in the Inspector Kostas Charitos series and it gripped me from the first page to the last.

>146 Ameise1: That sounds like a series I'd like to read, if only it was translated. Reminds me, from your description at least, of the Brunetti books and those are big fun.

Happy week-ahead's reads, Barbara!

>147 richardderus: Rdear, the first two volumes of this series are available in English. I haven't checked whether the others are also available.
I'm sure you'll like them.

>148 Ameise1: My author search turned up blank! I'm not sure what I did wrong but I'll switch to Amazon and see how far I get. Thanks for telling me!

>149 richardderus: Maybe this link will help you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petros_Markaris

>150 Ameise1: You angel you! *smooch*

>151 richardderus: You're welcome 😘

>146 Ameise1: No sooner are you back from vacation than you're hit by a BB - sigh.
Have a wonderful start to the week!

>153 SirThomas: 😂 you're very welcome, Thomas. I would recommend starting with the first volume, then you will get to know all the main protagonists and their wonderful quirks.
Have a wonderful week too.

Stopping by to say hi , Barbara! I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter season.

Hi, Barbara - I hope you are doing well. I'm wondering if you got to see the famous Zurich rose fountains. I must visit while they are happening some year

>155 vancouverdeb: Thank you very much, Deborah, I wish you and your family the same. Yesterday our older daughter and her family were with us. We spent a cosy afternoon.
Today we went to the farmers' market and bought the first white Swiss asparagus and the remaining herbs for the garden. Apart from that, we're having a very cosy time.

>156 Nickelini: Hi Joyce and Happy Easter to you and yours.
This 'new' tradition started in 2021. It always lasts from Palm Sunday to Easter Monday and is indeed a spectacle of colour.
Here is a brief overview of why this came about:
Switzerland was in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic when the Reformed Church in Zurich made a statement for the first time with thousands of roses. At a time marked by suffering, grief and death, the roses in Zurich's fountains around Easter were intended to bring a little colour into the dreary everyday life and give people joy and confidence. The churches wanted to bring light into the darkness, colour into the dreariness of these days and also show their presence outside the church walls.
No thorns, no roses! No Easter without Good Friday!

book 20 Read in German 

My Name Is Red

book 21 Read in German 

>157 Ameise1: There is much I miss about not living in Germany, but high on that list is missing the white asparagus. Munich goes a little nuts, with asparagus menus at every restaurant and different stores advertising where their asparagus was grown. I don't know if asparagus grown in Heidhausen is different than the asparagus grown in Schoppenhausen, but I did like how very local they made it. And the sellers at the Viktualienmarkt would peel your asparagus for you, which was very helpful.

>161 RidgewayGirl: Kay, the soil conditions really do make a huge difference to white asparagus. That's why we only buy them from Flach when they're in season.
It's also great that there are so many different ways to prepare them.
I'm not surprised that you can get the asparagus peeled at the Viktualienmarkt, which is a high-class market. We don't mind peeling the white asparagus ourselves.

>158 Ameise1: ah, I see. That explains why the rose fountains seemed to suddenly appear. I’ve followed all things Swiss since my first visit in 2017 and I don't remember them from the beginning. It’s nice that they decided to keep the new tradition alive.

My daughter Nina is back in Luzern. She spent the winter traveling in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand and now she’s back and looking for a new job

>159 Ameise1: that sounds interesting. I think I might actually own that book. Must take a look

>163 Nickelini: Yes, it really is a nice new tradition. If the weather also plays along, it's almost kitschy. 😂
Nice to hear that Nina is back in Lucerne. Wasn't she planning to do some special training in Canada, or has she already done that in addition to travelling?
Is she only looking around for a new job in Lucerne or also in other places?

>164 Nickelini: To be honest, I also forgot that I've owned this book for ages. At first I thought it belonged to one of my daughters 🙈. After I asked about it and read it, they now want to read it too.

Frohe Ostern Barbara! :))

I didn’t know about the rose fountain, feeling very moved by its story.

Oh dear, the season of the white asparagus! In Germany you just can’t escape it! :D
Sorry, I know I’m a total killjoy here, but I hated it as a child and it was a revelation when in Italy I first tasted the green one in a risotto. When I moved here I thought I had left the white one behind me forever, just to find that we have white asparagus from Terlan here as a local specialty and for a couple of weeks it’s put on (pizza!) or into (lasagna, bread) everything.
I’m having a lasagna with grilled green asparagus and other green veggies for Easter.

Must get my hands on the Grischa book!

>166 Deern: Yes, the rose fountains are really something beautiful, including the idea behind them.
To be honest, we also prefer the green asparagus. They are much tastier than the white ones. We bought the white ones because 1. they were asparagus from Flach (about 20km away from us) and 2. they were freshly cut. They were very juicy and a dream with the homemade hollandaise sauce.
Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to eat too much asparagus since my gout attack two and a half years ago, as asparagus contains a lot of purine and this is poison for gout patients.
I hope you like the Grischa book as much as I do.

Frohe Ostern 🐰🥚

>167 Ameise1: oh, thanks for that information, didn’t know it. So it was very wise of me to dislike asparagus (and meat) as a kid, with gout and arthritis running in the family. And I have a great excuse not to order the white asparagus now :D

>168 Deern: you're welcome 😀

Happy Easter, Barbara!

>160 Ameise1: That one looks excellent - I hope there's an English translation at some point.

>165 Ameise1: Nice to hear that Nina is back in Lucerne. Wasn't she planning to do some special training in Canada, or has she already done that in addition to travelling?
Is she only looking around for a new job in Lucerne or also in other places?

Oh who knows with Nina! As her younger sister says, Nina decides day by day. So, no, she didn't come back to Canada to do further schooling. She's looking for work in Zurich, or even Zug. Luzern is an option too. It's so charming, but I think she needs to move on. But her infrastructure is in Luzern, so there you go.

>170 susanj67: Thank you very much, Susan. Yes, I also hope that this book will be translated one day.

>171 Nickelini: Well, you have to let the next generation do it. I hope she finds a job she likes. In any case, this means we can meet up again :-D.

book 22 Read in German 

>173 Ameise1: try to fathom the cause of the violence and hatred - against the backdrop of a seemingly degenerate society in which the brazen tourists and the deceitful locals are in no way inferior to each other in terms of wretchedness.
It is a great story

A great juxtaposition!

>173 Ameise1: Thanks Lisa, the whole book is full of such juxtapositions.

Thursday orisons, Barbara! Your reading is inspiring me to up my pace.

>172 Ameise1: In any case, this means we can meet up again :-D.


Absolutely! I look forward to it

Hm, wondering if I should add this one to my tbr, as we have a similar situation here. Overtourism, greed, „autonomy“ which is a great concept but also hinders progress and co-operation and opens the way to corruption, deep-rooted distrust between language groups.. I‘ll check if my library has it.

>177 Nickelini: Thanks so much Rdear. Sunday smooches.

>178 Deern: :-D looking forward to it.

>179 Ameise1: I hope you find this book Nathalie. I could imagine that you would like it.

book 23 Read in German 

I discovered this book because the latest book by this author was on display in the new releases section of my local library. As I didn't know her, I looked to see what other books she had written. So I picked this one up. The English title is: The Godmother in French (original language): La daronne.
Hannelore Cayre works as a defence lawyer in Paris. You can tell from the story that she has professional knowledge.

>180 Ameise1: How interesting to use Rothko's work in this way! You know I agree with her nutty old mama in their synesthetic qualities, so I'm even more interested in the book.

Happy week-ahead's reads, Barbara! *smooch*

>181 richardderus: I hope you can find a copy of this book. 😃

book 23 Read in English 

@BLBera thank you so much Beth for reminding me that I've had a Sandford on my book pile for ages. I really enjoyed reading it once again.