Books

The Citadel by Kate Mosse: Third book in the series about the Languedoc and the Cathars which started with “The Labyrinth” and “The Sepulchre” but can be read as a stand-alone. The book is about the female participation in the resistance in the south of France during WWII but also has a supernatural part. I liked the book but found it lacked depth, the characters all stay on the surface. What I missed was the rush of wanting to know what will happen. I remember that I couldn’t put “The Labyrinth” down, this didn’t happen with “Citadel”.

Pereira Declares: A Testimony by Antonio Tabucchi: Lissabon in 1938. Meet Pereira who is old and fat and lives his life in the past. He is talking to his dead wife’s picture and thinking about dying. When he meets a young man who writes about death but wants to live, his whole life changes gradually. I was unsure after the first couple of pages where this book was heading, but the slow transformation of Pereira who at first doesn’t even want to know what’s going on to getting involved, is a marble to read. One is never too old to change.

Heart of Darkness by Josep Conrad: Maybe it’s just me, but if I hadn’t read a synopsis beforehand, I wouldn’t have known what’s going on in the book. It is about the journey to Africa but also to oneself and the values we uphold in dire circumstances. The cruelties done to the African people under colonialism which are described in the book just show that a lot of time might have passed but people are still capable of the same atrocities in modern times. Will we ever learn from history?

Das große Los by Heike Winnemut: My cousin lent me this book as an inspiration for my travels. First I was a bit skeptical because who wants to read about other people’s travels? Instead it turns out that the mind can travel right along with the book. The author won quite big on the German version of “Who wants to be a millionaire”. After that she decided to visit 12 cities in 12 months. Very inspiring! If the travel bug has bitten you or you just want to spend a couple of hours outside your daily grind, go ahead and read it! Try to go slow though and savor every month!

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