I did read more books this month yet again. Which feels almost weird, but...I just slowly felt my book-reading mood coming back? Haven't felt like that for a while now, but I'm not sure how long this'll last.
Die Chronik der Unsterblichen: Der Vampyr / Der Todesstoß / Der Untergang / Die Wiederkehr / Die Blutgräfin (Wolfgang Hohlbein)
I usually really enjoy books and book series by Wolfgang Hohlbein. And this one is no exception. Sure, the stories and prose aren't especially deep, but his style is just really engaging and fun and easy to read. Perfect to huddle on the couch with a blanket and a hot cup of tea and escape reality for a while. That's exactly what I want and need in Autumn, so it wasn't hard for me to pick this book series from my huge unread list. And I'm glad there are still ~10 more volumes to read!
Dear Oxbridge (Nele Pollatschek)
I usually don't read books by Germans telling stories about their life and experiences in other countries anymore. In most cases I just can't bring myself to care about what the narrator wants to tell me, and often enough I even find the narrator/author pretty unlikable. Not in this case – judging from the writing style and the things she was writing about I often found myself agreeing with her. And there were quite a few things I found really interesting, even if I've already read countless books about life in the UK. (And we're not even talking about all those TV shows I've watched...) So well, I was pleasantly surprised here!
Lebensgeister (Banana Yoshimoto)
A few years ago I read a few books by Banana Yoshimoto and I mostly remember really liking „Kitchen“. The other books were pretty good, too. But...I just didn't like this one here at all. Sure, the descriptions of Kyoto were pretty good and atmospheric. Everything else was less good, though. I couldn't connect to the characters at all and the book felt way too...esoteric? spiritual? for my tastes. It wasn't even the thing about the mainchar being able to see ghosts, but rather the fact that she herself seemed like a ghost herself, with all this weird esoteric talk about inner healing and stuff. Nah, not my favourite by this author. Definitive not.
Frauen in Japan / Das verhasste Alter (various authors)
Two anthologies with short stories by Japanese authors. I already knew some of the authors, but I also discovered a lot of new ones. The stories were pretty good, too, but there wasn't one that made me want to read more from the same author ASAP. Still, decent anthologies, because there weren't any really bad stories and that's worth something, I think.
Angels in the Moonlight (Caimh McDonnell)
I was a bit sceptical about this prequel, because frankly...as much as I love Bunny (who doesn't?), I was sure that I would miss the other characters from the original trilogy. And well, I did miss them, but I still liked the prequel a lot. Even though I still prefer the trilogy, haha. But we still get a cast of quirky, interesting characters instead of the ones we already know and the crime part is also pretty good. So...while I still have the final book of the trilogy left, I'm not worried about whether I'd enjoy the prequels and other related books anymore. Which is pretty nice.