Not many books this month. I'm wondering how I actually managed to finish those four books...
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation vol. 1 (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu)
I watched the donghua. I watched the drama adaption called 'The Untamed'. As of yet I even listened to a few audio drama episodes and I'm planning to finish this version, too. And yet I apparently never quite understood or noticed many smaller aspects of the story. Like the fact that Lan Zhan noticed pretty much immediately that the young man he was dealing with was in fact not some random weak lunatic from the Mo family, but rather no other than Wei Wuxian. (That's not the only thing I never quite got in the adaptions, but probably the biggest one.) Also, it's probably due to Chinese censorship laws, but even just this first volume of the story already advanced their relationship so much more than the complete drama and donghua. So that's why I'm especially happy about us Westerners being able to enjoy the original work now. It's just that good. Well, at least if you ask me and the many other fans of the series and the author's other works! Oh, and I also do like the translation. I heard that there were quite a few complaints about some things not being accurate, but...I couldn't really agree with some of the 'translation errors' others were pointing out. Those scenes made perfect sense to me.
Der begrabene Riese (Kazuo Ishiguro)
I enjoyed this a lot, which surprised me a bit. Then again, it's the book I actually wanted to read first when I started looking out for Ishiguro's works in bookshops and bargain bins etc. So I guess we've come full circle now! Anyway, I liked how the book was partially an entertaining historical fantasy story (with dragons, knights and people going on a journey – whee!), but it was also very obviously an Ishiguro book. It was a bit like 'The Unconsoled', but way less confusing. Well, the ending was a bit confusing, and I'm still not sure about Axl's role in his earlier life. Honestly, at one point I expected him to actually be the aged King Arthur, haha. Anyway, I guess that one's one of my favourite books from the author, too. Although nothing beats his first two Japanese-set books in my opinion!
Waffenschmuggel (Eric Ambler)
This one was a bit of a bore at times (the entire part about the annoying woman and the tourist couple...frankly, I expected the woman to pop up later again and ruin things or something!) and the way some characters are portrayed are pretty outdated. Still, it was a quick read and some parts were actually a lot of fun. Not my favourite from this author though.
Das Santa-Lucia-Rätsel (C.H. Guenter)
Well, I guess this book could be considered something like a penny dreadful. Cheap, but fun entertainment – if you're ready to enjoy stuff like that and switch off your brain for a moment while reading, that is. Some plot elements probably wouldn't make any sense if your thought about them for too long and yet I really enjoyed reading the book. I was also quite surprised that issues like global warming and the lack of food and water for millions of people especially in Africa were brought up here. And not in a derisive way, but shown as actual issues humanity has to deal with at some point. That's another thing I really liked about the book!
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