The Content Reader

I bought this book several years ago and it has been standing on my TBR shelves ever since. I bought it because it is a classic and I want to read a classic from time to time. Furthermore, since I mostly read English classics, it felt refreshing to read a classic from another country. However, every time I felt like reading it, its pure size stopped me from actually picking it up. What a lucky day when I did! 
 Sometimes you start a book with not very high hopes. A classic is always a gamble. Will it still be as fresh as it was at the time of writing, or will it seem hopelessly old fashioned? Buddenbrooks feels as fresh as when it was written. You are stuck from page number 1! 
 The novel tells the story of four generations of a bourgeoisie family in Lübeck during the years 1835-1877. Mann's own family comes from this milieu so he was well aquatinted with it. We meet them at the peak of their success and follow the decline over the years.  Major political and military developme...

Hello everyone! It was quite some time since I posted here. A little bit of fatigue entered my life and I have just been letting the days past. I have spent a week in Sweden which was very nice. I managed to get me some energy there, in the fresh winds from the sea. I played tennis and swam, so exercise every day. I also used the opportunity to read two books from my shelves there. Most of my books are in English, but lately I have bought a few books in Swedish since I have spent some more time there. I do prefer to read English books in the original language, but when there is a language I don't read, like Icelandic and Portuguese in this case, I enjoy reading in Swedish. One of my favourite authors is Arnaldur Indridason and I found his Oblivion  in my book case and I read it in one day. It is difficult to stop reading when you start one of his books. What I especially like with his books is, that apart from the murder mystery, there is a very personal and interesting story...

I am joining Guiltless Reading for the Bookmarks Monday meme. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting England and Stratford upon Avon. It was a great visit and I walked around all the places connected to Shakespeare's period. The Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Nash's House, Hall's Croft and of course Shakespeare's birthplace. They were all wonderful places and I really enjoyed walking around Stratford as well. One bookmark and one book was the outcome of my visit there. The book was Roy Porter's Blood and Gut, A Short History of Medicin.  Great book and not as bloody as I expected. The bookmark is all related to Shakespeare and you see it here.

It has been rather quiet here lately. This is partly due to a travel I did to London and Menorca. While in London I also visited Oxford and Stratford and hope to do a couple of posts on these wonderful places later. Otherwise life has been very heavy from the beginning of the year. I am trying to cope with lack of energy and hope that I am now on the right way. Something that helps is to read your blogs which always inspire me. It feels good to see what you are all up to, what you are reading and how you cope with life. I have a couple of book reviews waiting to be written. I read Buddenbrooks  by Thomas Mann. A huge book, but what a treat it was to read it. In Stratford I bought a book, Blood and Guts, A Short History of Medicin  by Roy Porter. Very interesting story on the development of medicin. To help out my present state I finally read Self Power by Deepak Chopra, which has been on my shelves for some time. It contains a lot of useful tips on how to approach life ...

I have been away for 12 days (London and Menorca) and had a wonderful time. More about that later. When I managed to go into feedly to read your blogs, I ran into this challenge. Sounds like a good idea for the summer. It is Cathy at Cathy 746 Books  who hosts this annual challenge;   20 Books of Summer. Well, since she admits the rules are a little bit slack, you can choose 10, 15 or 20 books from your TBR shelves. They should be read between 1 June 2017 and 3 September 2017. Suits me fine, since I want to read at least 50 books from my TBR shelves, if possible more. I have the same problems like some other bloggers, that as soon as I put a book down on a list, I dread to read it. I just don't know why. I hope this list will not cause me look for other books on my shelves. However, whatever book that disappears from there is a good deed. Here is my list: Bowen, McAleer, Blyth - Monsoon Traders, The Maritime World of the East India Company Bryson, Bill - Notes...

"Julien Barneuve dies at 3:28 on the afternoon of August 18, 1943." That is the first sentence of The Dream of Scipio . It is my first book by Iain Pears. Luckily, I have another one waiting on my shelves. This book was such a wonderful surprise and I think he will be one of my favourite authors in the future. 'The Washington Post' has put it right to the core: " A thrilling journey through history, into the human heart and soul ." We follow three men and their beloved through history and it takes place in France. In the 5th century we meet Manlius Hippomanes and his beloved Sophia. In the 14th century Olivier de Noyen and his beloved Rebecca and in the 20th century Julien Barneuve and his beloved Julia. Julien is an historian and is researching the other two.  Olivier is the middle man, already having had an interest in old manuscripts in the 14th century, his researched gives Julien the story of Manlius. It is only in the very last stage of his life, t...

Monday again and this week I have another bookmark for the  Bookmarks on Monday  meme, hosted Guiltless Reading. I bought i recently while visiting Le Mont du Saint Michel in France. As expected it shows the lovely island on a wonderful photo. Visiting was almost like a fairy tale experience although the thick walls were maybe more fortress like than fairy tale like. Small alleys to walk around in, or climb rather. It is rather steep inside the walls. We stayed one night, walked around, up and down and had a lovely dinner watching the tide coming in.