Keeping track of my reading in 2024 was both fun and helped me read more consciously – so it only makes sense to continue in 2025…
My goals for this year include carrying on reading comics in French, carry on exploring ancient classics (next on the list in that regard is The Iliad) and also to keep pushing myself to read outside of my comfort zone.
Werbung wegen Markennennung. Considered advertising due to naming of brands.
Voyage in the Dark, by Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys’s third novel deals with similar themes to her other three novels from the beginning of her career, Quartet, After Leaving Mr Mackenzie and Good Morning, Midnight. Indeed – all four of these novels belong together as part of a quartet. This time, Rhys’s heroine, Anna, is only 18 years old but already exploited by the cardboard-cutout men that surround her and vulnerable. The glimpses back to Anna’s childhood in the Caribbean are like splashes of colour in her new English life and almost certainly draw on Rhys’s own childhood experiences in Dominica.
These flashbacks reach their highpoint at the end of the novel when memories of wild music and whirling dances take hold of Anna’s mind as she lies extremely ill and in pain.
I have a biography of Rhys sitting on my to-read pile. It might also be worthwhile rereading ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’, which I read years ago, but this time with a better grasp of who the author was.
Der dritte Roman von Jean Rhys.
Caroline Baldwin Sammelband III, André Taymans
Bestehend aus den Episoden Wiedersehen in Kathmandu, Unheilsame Therapie, Grenzgänger und Der König des Nordens, dieser Sammelband ist sehr kurzweilig.
Taymans ligne claire Stil ist ziemlich stilisiert, aber funktioniert perfekt, um die Geschichten in der normalen Welt zu ankern (und nicht in einer düsteren ‘Krimi-Welt’).
The third collected volume of Caroline Baldwin comics. As far as I can tell, they have never been translated into English.
Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A fun post apocalyptic adventure in which a robot valet goes looking for purpose (ideally in the form of a new position as gentleman’s valet) after having inexplicably murdered his master. Lots of nods to classic sci-fi such as Asimov’s laws of robotics and turns of phrase highly reminiscent of Douglas Adams. Tchaikovsky manages to balance humour well with the more serious elements of the plot – although part of me was wondering how a less humorous version of the story might have felt…. something a little more like ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy.
Overall an entertaining read for fans of robots and/or post apocalyptic settings.
Eine unterhaltsame Geschichte über einen robotischen Diener, der aus unerklärlichen Gründen seinen Herrn ermordet und auf die Suche nach einer neuen Einstellung geht. Für Fans von Robotern und/oder postapokalyptischen Settings.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
Read aloud to my children. What can I really say about Harry Potter… possibly the most famous literary character of the last 50 years or so? My boys, 5 and 12 were both enthralled. But I can’t do Scottish accents, despite warming up with bouts of ‘I’m a rover’ and ‘My name is Jock Stewart’… so McGonagall just sounds… wrong. Sorry boys!
Laut vorgelesen – meine Jungs waren begeistert. Ein tolles Buch für Kinder!
Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell
An autobiographic account of Eric Arthur Blair’s (George Orwell’s real name) experiences destitute and then working as a plongeur (dish washer) in Paris and then as a tramp in England. Apparently he rearranged events and changed a few details to make a more interesting story (and also because he didn’t want his parents to know how he lost his money in Paris). Fascinating, full of filth, bed bugs and working conditions that would be unthinkable nowadays. In the back of my mind, I realised that, to quote Pulp, ‘If you called your dad he could stop it all’; Orwell didn’t need to be tramping around England – it was journalistic research. This is very clear in he second half detailing his time in England – it feels like a journalistic exposé – a direct appeal to the middle classes with solutions on how to reform the system. This doesn’t lessen the impact of what he describes though.
I found the first half in Paris especially interesting. Dealing with the same city and period as Jean Rhys in her novels of that period – yet with a huge contrast between the challenges faced by Rhys’s impoverished lower middle class protagonists, reliant on men and lacking self agency, and Orwell, who positioned himself at the very bottom of society, experiencing the hunger and destitution from which there was little to no protection.
Ein (semi) autobiografischer Bericht über die Erfahrungen von Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwells richtiger Name), als mittellose Plongeur (Tellerwäscher) in Paris und dann als Landstreicher in England. Sehr interessant, mit vielen Bettwanzen…
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote
A perfectly crafted and thought provoking novella about one of those people that flit into our lives; those rare free spirits who defy convention or expectation and leave us feeling touched by something rather special and fae-like, but who we also sense hide depths of pain in their souls. Holly Golightly is one of these individuals.
We are never told the name of the story’s narrator. Holly Golightly gives him the name Fred, and that seems perfectly natural, for, through the eyes of the narrator we see how Holly exerts as sort of powerful gravity that shapes reality around her.
And yet the well of pain is there, brushed over maybe, but there. Only 18 at the start of the story, a child bride at 14 and with hints of having engaged in sexual intercourse even before then (and as children cannot under any circumstances be consensual partners in such an activity, one must conclude that she was abused), I can’t help but feel that the Holly persona is a construct, woven by our protagonist (albeit with outside help) to escape her past and cope with the world.
Overall a mesmerising novella which seems so simple and yet has depths that will leave you deep in thought.
Also worth mentioning is the gorgeous Folio Society edition of this novella that I read. I picked it up in their January sale. Sewn binding, hard cover with a beautiful design, gorgeous illustrations and a slip case. Wow! I will be buying more from the Folio Society. The prices might be steep – but they are worth it.
Eine großartige Novelle über eine Protagonistin, Holly Golightly, die eine ungeheurere Anziehungskraft an ihren Mitmenschen ausübt, vor allem an dem namenslosen Erzähler. Insgesamt eine Novelle, die so einfach erscheint und doch eine Tiefe hat, die einen zum Nachdenken anregt.
Mysterieuese: matin, midi et soir, par Jean-Claude Forest
Basé sur le roman L’Île mystérieuse de Jules Verne, mais avec le sens de la fantaisie absurde et créative habituel de Forest. Une île en forme de point d’interrogation, un arbre géant, des pirates, des robots… beaucoup de mystère et…. Barbarella elle-même. Une lecture amusante ! Les dessins sont, bien sûr, excellents – typiques de Forest.
Based on the novel L’Île mystérieuse by Jules Verne – but with Forest’s usual absurdly creative sense of fantasy. (This comic has, as far as I can tell, never been translated to English or German, only to Italian – in the Italian version of Pilot magazine). A giant tree, an island shaped like a question mark, pirates, robots, plenty of mystery and…. Barbarella herself. A great read and excellently drawn.
The Descent of Inanna Into the Underworld
Ever since having read The Epic of Gilgamesh I wanted to read more Sumerian and Akkadian texts – translated obviously! One character that intrigued me in the Gilgamesh epic was Ishtar / Inanna. Inanna, Queen of Heaven, was the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, fertility and sensuality, later becoming / heavily influencing the Phoenician goddess Astarte, and eventually the Greek Goddess Aphrodite. The Descent of Inanna (or Ishtar in the later and in my opinion inferior Akkadian version) tells us about Inanna’s descent into the underworld, the domain of her sister Ereshkigal. There is reason to believe that this myth might even be the oldest surviving myth in the world.
A short text, it is nevertheless worth tracking down various translations – unless you are fluent in Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform – as comparing different translations helps get a feel for the exact meaning as well as the poetry of the piece.
Die Geschichte von der Göttin Inanna und ihren Gang in die Unterwelt. Inanna war die mesopotamische Göttin des Krieges und der Liebe und spielt unter anderem eine wichtige Rolle in dem Epos von Gilgamesch.
Ekhö Monde Miroir 4: Barcelona. Scénario: Christophe Arleston, Dessin: Alessandro Barbucci
Encore une BD du monde miroir que j’ai lue en français. L’histoire est amusante et les dessins sont comme toujours superbes. Ce tome est probablement mon préféré de la série jusqu’à présent.
Noch ein Spiegelwelt-Comic, auf Französisch gelesen. Dieser Band ist mein Lieblingsband der Reihe bist jetzt. Großartige Zeichnungen, amusante Geschichte – macht Spaß!