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.
