Posts

Showing posts with the label All The Light We Cannot See

Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

Image
A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...

Best books read in 2015

Image
Time to have a look at what I have read in 2015 and what turned out to be my favourite books. It is always difficult to name just one, but I will do my best within the different book categories. Outlander poster Series: I have read books from six series; Outlander (Diana Gabaldon), Poldark (Winston Graham), Lucy Kincaid and Maxime Revere (Allison Brennan), The Nell Sweeny Mysteries (P.B. Ryan) and the family saga by Swedish writer Jan Guillou. The Nell Sweeny Mysteries was a new acquaintance to me, historical fiction on top of it and the books were so good that I had to download all six books and read them in one go! I thoroughly enjoyed them. I must say though, I love all the series so it is really difficult to choose one! Fiction: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - a wonderful tale from World War II, seen from the two teenager’s point of view. I would also like to mention Jan-Philipp Sendker’s The Art of Hearing Heartbeats , a lovely story on a daughter’s s...

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Image
Author: Anthony Doerr HarperCollins UK, HarperPress/ 4th Estate/The Friday Project Loads have been written about World War II, from many different angles. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a lovely account from the view of two children; one French and one German. A mystery is woven into the story by the Sea of Flame , a mythical diamond. The story is set over a ten year period from 1934-1944, continuing with the end of the war and ending with events in 1974 and 2014. It is a wonderful story of how the world changes the lives of two children when war is knocking on the door. Werner Pfennig and his sister Jutta are growing up in an orphanage in Zollverein, a coal-mining complex outside Essen. Most people work for the mine and so did their father, who died in one of the many mining accidents.  The only prospect for Werner is to work there himself, which gives him nightmares. One day he finds a broken radio, takes it home and manage to repair it. As the years...