Too much german stuff this month, I think. By now I really prefer reading in English, especially because that's the original language of most books I read anyway, but...there are still a lot of translated books sitting on my shelves and I just can't buy all of those again. So...I'll just slowly get rid of them by reading them!
Die drei Sonnen (Cixin Liu)
This is the first volume of Cixin Liu's most famous trilogy, the book series with which reviewers keep comparing his other stories. Of course everyone seems to prefer this one over his short stories, but you know what? For me it's the other way round. I loved most of his short stories – yes, there's a lot of scientific stuff going on and I didn't understand a word of most of it, but yet the stories never felt overwhelming. This book is taking it a bit too far, though. I feel like I would need to be a scientist to fully appreciate some of the plot points, but alas, I'm no scientist. Don't get me wrong though, I liked the story idea and I'm still curious about the next two books. Hopefully I'll like them better, but I will probably still prefer the short stories.
Die Maske des Dimitrios (Eric Ambler)
I've only read one other book by the author before this one and really loved it, so...the stakes were pretty high, I guess. Thankfully I did like this book quite a bit, too. The story was pretty endearing and I especially liked the earlier part with the main char searching for clues about Dimitrios' earlier life. The later developments came a bit as a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. Looking at the other books by Eric Ambler I read this month I'd say this one is my second favourite so far.
Der Fall Deltschev (Eric Ambler)
And this one is probably number three on my list – both chronologically and regarding how much I liked it. At times I was a bit confused about the political situation in the fictitious Balkans country the book was set in, but the story was nevertheless really interesting. Sometimes the main character's action didn't feel entirely right to me, but at least everything worked out in the end, I guess. My favourite part was probably the sort of thought-provoking political intrigue stuff. I wondered how I would react if I were faced with the same situation as Deltschev...
Schirmers Erbschaft (Eric Ambler)
Not quite as good as the former two books, but still prett entertaining. The main char felt a bit bland, but I'd say that didn't matter too much as this wasn't the usual run-of-the-mill crime novel with a charismatic sleuth. And generally...I had a hard time liking or even caring for any of the characters. They just weren't that likeable, although I could at least understand the logical reasoning behind their behavior. Still, I enjoyed the book. Not my favourite one by the author, though.
Der dunkle Grenzbezirk (Eric Ambler)
So I did like the other three Eric Ambler books I've read this month, but I can't really say the same thing about this one. Apparently it was his very first published book. And well, the good thing is: I already know that he improved a lot. Even if some of his other main chars are kind of bland, they are still better than the 'boring professor who loses his memory and thinks he's an spy novel hero' guy from this book. Honestly, that guy made the whole book feel like a James Bond parody, but as it was written earlier than the Bond books that's not even possible. So maybe 007 is a parody on Conway Carruthers? I guess not, but I can see it! Well, I also didn't really enjoy the plot set in yet another fictional Eastern European country. He did that way better later on.
The Thin Man (Dashiell Hammett)
I didn't especially expect to like that book, but I really did. It was surprisingly immersive – America during the prohibition isn't exactly my favourite time in history, nor do I possess deeper knowledge of that time, but when I read the book I could just picture the setting the characters were living in pretty well. And even if it wasn't easy to like some of the characters, it was really easy to get interested in them and I occasionally found myself thinking 'I hope he isn't the murderer, that would be a shame' or something along those lines. Also, the solution came as a surprise...it did make sense though and it explained the title of the novel. I was wondering about that the entire time while reading the book!
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke)
Well, there it is. The first candidate for my personal 'book of the year' category. I just loved that book so much. I rarely ever feel like a book should be longer than it actually is, but I wouldn't have minded another thousand pages in this case. It's not even like the book was full of action and thrills – quite the opposite actually because the storytelling was pretty slow and meandering at times. But that was exactly what I loved so much. I also immensely enjoyed the use of footnotes referring to other books about magic and magicians. Of course those books don't even exist in our boring mundane world without any magic, but that detail honestly made me feel like I was actually living in the same world as the characters. Oh, and I loved the combination of fantasy with really unique ideas about magic etc with the style and setting of a historical novel. Even better, it was even set during the Napoleonic Wars, and I love that era. Anyway, I don't think I'll manage to add anything meaningful here, so I'll stop. Sometimes it's just impossible to put love into proper words, I guess ;)
Orlando (Virginia Woolf)
An odd, yet really intriguing novel. My main reason for wanting to read it was the gender-changing main character Orlando – I couldn't even imagine how his sudden change from a Tudor-era nobleman to a modern woman would work out. But it really did, and it didn't even feel weird or anything. It felt just that that was just how things were supposed to be. And while there are obviously differences between men and women, a person is still first and foremost themselves, no matter the gender. Well, I think I'm sounding really stupid there, but the book still just really impressed me. Looking at today's discussion about trans issues and gender roles it feels odd that a book written almost one hundred years ago has more modern takes on those issues than many bigots living today in the year 2022. Whew. Sometimes I feel like humanity hasn't made progress at all.
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