Books I save on my shelves - Letter C

Authors' books I have saved on my shelves which names start with C. Turns out to be only five books, of which four are non-fiction. My reviews under links. 

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell - a funny book with quotes from customers in bookshops. Here is an example which highlights the mix of culture today, and confusion. I would say that anything that makes someone want to buy a book is good. Although this customer, sadly, did not go for the book:

"CUSTOMER:  Do you have a copy of Bella Swan's favourite book? You know, from Twilight?

(Bookseller sighs and pulls a copy of Wuthering Heights off the shelf)

CUSTOMER: Do you have the one with the cover that looks like Twilight?

BOOKSELLER: No. This is an antiquarian bookshop, so this is an old edition of the book.

CUSTOMER: But it's still the one with that girl Cathy and the dangerous guy, right?

BOOKSELLER: Yes, it's still the story by Emily Brontë.

CUSTOMER: Right. Do you think they'll make it into a film?

BOOKSELLER: They've made several films of it. The one where Ralph Fiennes plays Heathcliff is very good.

CUSTOMER: What? Voldemort plays Heathcliff?

BOOKSELLER: Well ...

CUSTOMER: But that's Edward's role.

BOOKSELLER: Wuthering Heights was written well before both Harry Potter and Twilight.

CUSTOMER: Yeah, but Voldemort killed Cedric, who's played by Robert Pattinson, and now Voldemort's playing Edward's role in Wuthering Heights, because Edward's character is Heathcliff. I think that Emily Brontë's trying to say something about vampires.

BOOKSELLER: ... that's £8.

CUSTOMER: For what?

BOOKSELLER: For the book.

CUSTOMER: Oh, no, it's OK. I'm going to go and try and find the Voldemort DVD version."

The Sleepwalkers, How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark - a book where real life is more exciting than anything you can make up. Clark tells us in detail the events leading up to the first world war. Here a paragraph from my review.

"The British historian A.J.P Taylor and the American historian Barbara Tuchman wrote that ’the war was a result of rigid planning, train schedules and treaty commitments. That is, it was the final stop in a chain of events that could not stop the train, once it started’. It is a very good description and after having read Clark’s book you can see how all decisions from the persons and countries involved, although aimed at not starting a war, on the contrary, lead directly to war."

It is a book difficult to put down. Clark has written several books about the times, and this must be his magnum opus. So well researched and well written, so everyone can understand. Maybe it is even more actual today when we see the Russian-Ukrainian war. We always thought we learned from the two disastrous war in Europe during the 20th century. Unfortunately it is true what the German philosopher Georg Hegel said, “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

The Rare and the Beautiful by Cressida Connolly - and interesting story about the Garman sisters. From my review: "The Garmans were nine siblings, and this biography is mainly about four of them; Mary, Kathleen, Douglas and Lorna. They turned their world and surroundings upside down with their wild and bohemian life in the beginning of the 20th century." Amazing family in many ways. 

Märta och Hjalmar Söderberg by Johan Cullberg/Björn Sahlen - Hjalmar Söderberg is one of our most famous authors. Famous for novels like Doctor Glas and The Serious Game. The couple had a troubled life, and the author does not come out as a very nice person in the way he treated his wife. 

The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier - I don't think this book needs a further introduction. Tracy Chevalier has written an interesting account of the girl in the picture, and her relationship with the Vermeer family. Delft is very well described. I have visited it three times and the Vermeer museum two times. The highlight came this year when, while visiting Delft, we took a tour to Den Haag for a visit at the Mauritshuis museum and saw the original painting. I wrote about it in my newsletter (linked above). 

At the bottom of the cover is Vermeer's painting View of Delft. A master piece as well. 

A mixture of themes hiding under the letter C. The very best book is The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark. Have you read any of these books? Did you like them?