Coming up in November - Nonfiction, Novellas and German Literature

Just a short post to put a few books on my list for November. I don't really know why I am doing it, because most of the time I never follow the lists. Well, there is always a first for everything. At least I am trying to limit the books into covering more than one challenges. I am not able to follow all. My main aim is Nonfiction.

Nonfiction November

Hosted by five bloggers (see link) for my post Nonfiction November. Always a great and interesting event. I usually go for history books, but wanted to diversify myself this year. I have chosen three book, and one extra if I have time: 

Empire of Pain, the Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Raden Keefe - heard so much about it from fellow bloggers. One of the richest families in the world, a great patron of art and sciences. But, the source of their wealth was vague. In recent years it has emerged that they were responsible for the making and marketing of OxyContin a painkiller that started the opioid crises. 

The Lodger, Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl - there is not much know of Shakespeare's life bu Charles Nicholl has dug deep into the sources and managed to find evidence on the life he lived and worked. 

Gudar och människor (How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization by Mary Beard) - Mary Beard takes a look on how we look at art, how it is defined and that it is an important source to our knowledge. She examines classical art/sculptures around the world, tries to figure out what the artist, or the persons who ordered the art, want to tell us. How it was perceived by the contemporary world and how it has changed through history. Sounds very interesting. 

Am I just seeing that they all could go under the genre of history nonfiction? Well, I have something up my sleeve. Recently went to a talk with economic journalist Andreas Cervenka who has written a book about Sweden; Girig-Sverige (Greedy Sweden). How a country who was famous for its idea to equalise the society with distribution of money to the most needed, became a paradise for the super rich. He held a very inspiring and interesting talk, so looking forward to reading this book. 

Novellas in November

Novellas in November (my post under link) is hosted by Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck. Will try to combine my reading with German Literature Month.

1 – 7 November: Short Classics - The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann (German author)

8 – 14 November: Novellas in Translation - Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (I presume the original is in German). Aha, another one for German Lit month. 

15 – 21 November: Short Non-Fiction - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (96 pages)

22 – 28 November: Contemporary Novellas - The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories by Carson McCullers (wanted to read something by her for some time, and it seems to be a good one to start with. I hope she can count as contemporary. 

29/30 November: My Month in Novellas/ New to my TBR - so far all of the above are new to me and ending up on my shelves. 

German Literature Month

German Literature Month is hosted by Lizzy’s Literary Life. It is the first time I participate and I will just have to see how many books I can read. Hopefully, at least one a week, according to the schedule:

Week 1 – First time for everything (Books 1-4) - The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann

Week 2 – Second Helpings (Books 5-9) - I rarely re-read books and since I have not read that many novellas. I wanted to read Hesse for some time, so will choose (a novella) Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Week 3 – Firm Favourites (Author or Publisher, if stated) (Books 10-15) - Rainer Maria Rilke, I will choose some of his poems. 

Week 4 – Something Different (Books 16-20) - Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Week 5: Read as you please / group read (Book 21) - The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr – E T A Hoffmann (trans. Anthea Bell). If I can find it and have time.