Reading Matter(s)

Some quick reviews of books I recently read. Consider this a book club where only I get to speak.

Reviews are always written in the language or translation I read the book in – every book will also be rated on good reads (in English), yet here you will get a more personal (re)view in my standard punny style.

Robert Sloan: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour-bookstore

This book as been in my shelf for quite some time. Somehow, when I stumbled upon it in a little bookstore in Norwich, UK, I was mesmerized by it and had to buy, and consequently inconsequently as I am, blatantly ignore it. Since my fascination was vague to begin with, by the time I pulled it out to read it, I had forgotten why I bought it. I just remembered that I stood in that nook book store with the overwhelming urge to BUY IT RIGHT NOW. And now I wonder whether it was hyped back then and I had forgotten or whether it was recommended and I had forgotten and whether that subconsciously had put me off reading it – because not enjoying a book someone you listen to recommended is one of the worst feelings and the pressure is real! So anyway, I read it. And I enjoyed it. It is not the best thing ever written but it is a pleasant combination of all the necessary ingredients for a good story: an old, antiquated bookstore with an equally antiquated and very peculiar owner; a slightly dorky protagonist; an even dorkier love interest; a rich friend so money is not a problem; a National-Treasure-like hunt for a thousands of year old secret; a secret society; and nothing less than the secret of eternal life. There has been worse and there has been better – overall I would rank it in the upper half in that genre. The style reminds me of Terry Pratchett and although it could have been smoother here and there, it is if not a diamond than at least a gemstone in the rough and worth your time. And it has the most amazing cover designs – something I am immediately drawn to. Books and wine need a good label and I WILL buy it. Simple as that.

Here’s my favourite quote – if you prefer to read the book first, skip this quote and go straight to the next review! You have been warned.

You will hold this book in your hands, and learn things I learned, right along with me: There is no immortality that is not built on friendship and work done with care. All the secrets in the world worth knowing are hiding in plain sight. It takes forty-one seconds to climb a ladder three stories tall. It’s not easy to imagine the year 3012, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. We have new capabilities now – strange powers we’re still getting used to. The mountains are a message from Aldrag the Wyrm-Father. Your life must be an open city, with all sorts of ways to wander in. After that, the book will fade, the way books fade in your mind. But I hope you will remember this: A man walking fast down a dark lonely street. Quick steps and hard breathing, all wonder and need. A bell above a door and the tingle it makes. A clerk and a ladder and warm golden light, and then: the right book exactly, at exactly the right time.

– Robert Sloan, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore

Bonnie Garmus: Lessons in Chemistry

Very predictable but nonetheless enjoyable! It focuses on the struggle of a woman of science who has to fight fpr her right to exist in that field, facing all the obstacles women had and have to endure and overcome if they wanna succeed in a male-dominated world. Elizabeth Zott is sometimes annoyingly stubborn and often comes across quite irritating – a little too on-the-nose Sheldon Cooperish. Thrown out of the institute and with a child out of wedlock, she needs to find her place and her voice in 1960s America and does so in an unusual way: a cooking show. Yoo know what they say: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and the way to be a scientist as a woman is to disguise it as domestic chores. The beginning drags a bit but as soon as [SPOILER]* happens, it takes up pace and becomes a super fun read and while reading you gonna wish you could have watched that show. Apropos: the book has been turned into a miniseries with Brie Larson as Elizabeth Zott and plot-wise and all, I believe it is gonna work amazingly well on TV, so yay!!!

*[death of a major character]

Sungs Laden

Ein typisches Feel-good Buch, das die Probleme vietnamesischer Immigranten in Deutschland roman(t)isiert und deren Autorin sich deswegen des Vorwurfs der cultural appropriation aussetzen musste. Mein Eindruck beim Lesen war weniger der der Aneignung als vielmehr Liebesbekenntnis zur deutsch-vietnamesischen Kultur. Empfohlen und geschenkt hat es mir eine gute Freundin, die Vietnam sehr verbunden ist – eventuell war ich also voreingenommen. Unabhängig von allen Kontroversen finde ich: dieses Werk räumt eben dieser Kultur einen Platz in der Populärliteratur ein und schafft damit eine awareness, (sehr neudeutsch, I know), die ich vorher nicht besaß und mich dazu brachte, mich erstmals mit der Geschichte vietnamesischer Einwanderer in Deutschland auseinanderzusetzen. Wie ist es denn aber nun, das Buch?Es ist eine entzückende Geschichte und es ist eine Freude, mit welcher Leichtigkeit Brücken geschlagen werden, sei es zwischen Kulturen oder Häuserzeilen. Ein leichtes, seichtes (aber nicht dummes!) Buch für Zwischendurch, wenn die Welt mal wieder sehr finster wirkt und man einen Hoffnungsschimmer an Menschlichkeit braucht.