Monthly reads: April 2022

 

Not 'digressing' all that much, am I? Well, but here's at least another uninspired monthly book post. Maybe I'll finally find the motivation to write about something else. It's not like there aren't other things I could talk about...

The Complete Mapp & Lucia Vol. 1 (E.F. Benson)

I didn't actually read the entire book, just the 'Lucia in London' part because I already knew the first two volumes of E.F.Benson's six-volume series. I think I've read them last year, so there wasn't no need to read them again. Well, not yet, because I love the series and really might want to re-read it at some point. Anyway, Lucia in London was once again highly enjoyable. Before I started reading I was a little bit afraid that we would see less of the people of Riseholme due to Lucia's temporary move to London. That wasn't the case though and both the London and Riseholme parts were simply delicious. I'll probably take my time with the next three volumes, because the books are just wonderful comfort reading and I need to stock up on books like that for reading slumps!

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

I guess basically everyone knows this book (or possibly a film adaption) at least by name. Although...maybe it's just me being an uncultured swine, but I had no idea what it was actually about. (Well, some bloke called Gatsby. Duh.) Well, it's basically about how rich people often fuck up other people's lives and don't even care about the ramifications of their actions. So, while I had a hard time actually liking any of the characters in the book, I quite liked the book itself. A pretty nice, quick and interesting read.

A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)

Bah, I tried so hard to like this one and there were parts of it that were highly enjoyable. But in the end...well, it's not my favourite funny book ever, that much is for sure. I get that the main character Ignatius isn't supposed to be an especially likeable sort of chap, but he got pretty much unbearable after a while. And not in a funny way, honestly. Just thinking of it now...I never want to hear the word 'valve' ever again and people who read the book might know why. But like I said, it wasn't all bad and some of the side plots and characters were genuinely funny. I also sort of liked the open ending. So, well, I don't get the high praise for this book because I thought it to be pretty mediocre in the end, but at least I don't regret reading it or anything. Putting the valve issue aside, that is.

Solaris (Stanislaw Lem)

Well, I definitely didn't like this one. Maybe I shouldn't have read the German translation (I heard that one isn't actually all that good and some sentences definitely felt odd and/or clunky...), but I genuinely wonder if the English translation would've made me like the book more. I very much doubt it though. I know that Solaris is one of the most influential examples of sci-fi literature, and I have to admit that some ideas were pretty interesting. What would happen if humanity were to meet a strange foreign kind of possibly intelligent lifeform, but they had literally no way of communicating with that lifeform? What is is that makes a human human? Sadly the execution of those ideas was less good. I actually had to skip some pages because the narrator was droning on about some scientific theories which had absolutely no relevance to the plot. It was also quite hard to grasp the character's motivations – their actions often seemed entirely random to me. So, to sum it up: it's a book I read because it's a book people interested in sci-fi should've read, but it's not something I would have picked up purely for fun or entertainment.

Daisy Miller & The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)

Even though I'm regularly watching English-language news and TV shows, prefer reading English books over translated ones and write a blog and fanfics in English...this book genuinely made me doubt myself. Henry James seems to use an ungodly amount of words to explain even the simplest thing, and that's just something I don't enjoy in a book. I had a really hard time reading and sometimes even understanding both stories – and maybe that was also the reason why I didn't really enjoy them either. Especially The Turn of the Screw: what's with that ending? What did even happen there? And even without the ending, why is that story considered to be one of the most famous spooky stories in classic literature? I was genuinely more creeped out by the writing style than the actual story, haha...

Maus (Art Spiegelman)

I actually didn't buy this book because I saw the news stories about some overzealous American education board banning it from being read at school because it was on my list anyway due to the Guardian 1000, but...that was the reason why I had to wait quite a while until I could get my hands on a reprint copy. I hesitate to say I enjoyed this one (because how could anyone possibly enjoy any kind of media about the Holocaust...), but still, I genuinely liked it a lot. Banning books is wrong anyway, but banning this books is especially stupid because a comic actually seems to be a great way to explain the horrors of the Nazi era especially to younger and/or more sensitive people. I personally doubt whether I could stand reading an actual book about a survivor's story, but the comic made it quite easy while still bringing the point across very well. Also, the characterisation of all humans as various kinds of animals worked really good, I think. Anyway, I wish we would've read Maus back at my school. There even is a German edition and it would've been so much more interesting and shocking than the dry, emotionless facts we learned at school.

Auf phantastischen Pfaden (anthology, various authors)

I love the stories by Karl May, and I love fantasy books. That's why I was pretty thrilled when I stumbled across this book because it combines both things. And while – as is always the case with anthologies – not all stories were that good, I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. One thing I noticed though: I don't actually need the fantasy part, I just want to delve into the universe of Karl May's famous characters again. It's about time for a re-read...

Das Star Trek Universum (Ralph Sander)

Earlier this year I finally got into Star Trek. So far I watched the original series and the first two series of The Next Generation, and I love both. This book is sort of a compendium about exactly that part of the Trek universe, so it was a pretty interesting read with lots of information for me. I would've preferred for the author to leave his personal opinion aside more often, though. Okay, so you don't like it if females write fanfictions about their favourite pairings from the show and that's fine (more or less), but why would I as the reader care about that? It's even more ironic looking at how he repeatedly complained about how intolerant some Trek fans are in other parts of the book...

Monthly reads: March 2022

 

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.

Monthly reads: February 2022

 

Not many books, but I did read a lot of manga this month. These don't count here though, so...the little pile looks a bit sad. At least I also read two ebooks.

The Four Just Men (Edgar Wallace)

I don't know if that is just a German thing, but when I heard the name Edgar Wallace, I always thought of a series of film adaptions from the sixties. I never even really watched those films, but from what I know they have a pretty unique feel to them...I don't like to say cheap, but that is actually what I thought, so... So I never came around to read one of his books, but I picked up The Four Just Men for the Guardian 1000 list. And while it wasn't my new favourite crime novel, it was a pretty unique and interesting read. I liked how it felt like the book (or rather the author) clearly wanted the reader to feel sympathy for the dashing criminals called the Four Just Men...and it wasn't like I didn't understand their motivations. Yet I found myself rooting for the politician they were targetting. I'm sure I would absolutely disagree with the man on every single part of his political stance, but I came to admire his inner strenght and determination for his cause. Also, killing someone to stop a bill passing into law...that just doesn't work anymore. If it ever did, that is. That just isn't a legit option in politics, even if I might be hard to remember that in the current political climate.

Piccadilly Jim (PG Wodehouse)

I absolutely did not like this book, even when I was about halfway through. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore other Wodehouse stuff (mainly the Jeeves and Wooster books), but this one was just too much at times. Too much confusion, too many fake identities, too much scheming...I had a hard time keeping up with all this stuff and I didn't even really want to put in the effort because I couldn't really give a toss about most characters. However, I sort of liked the ending. It was funny and not overly complicated. Other than that, I think it shows that this was a pretty early work from Wodehouse because it's just not as polished as his later works. Also, this might work better as a film, and I rarely ever think that.

Das Versprechen (Friedrich Dürrenmatt)

I wouldn't have read this if it weren't for the Guardian 1000 list and frankly, I was glad that it was really short because I didn't like it at all. Of course it is hard to enjoy reading a book about children getting murdered, but even putting that aside...I didn't really see the appeal. It's meant to be a 'requiem on the crime novel', because crime novels with their detectives and lots of evidence left behind and perfect solutions for every case are so bad if we believe one of the characters in the book itself. Well, they might be, but it's frankly weird to compare a novel to a real criminal case, I think. Also, the book does just the very thing it was supposed to criticise: we get a pretty much asspull solution in the end. The difference is that there is no hero left to solve the case and no one ends up happy. Sure, life is like that...but I fear it doesn't make for a very good novel plot. Maybe it's just me though...there must be something about Friedrich Dürrenmatt's novels and plays that I just can't seem to see, or else he wouldn't be that well-known, right?

Sherlock Holmes oder Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Kutsche (Robert Newman)

Well, it's a children's book and I didn't know this at first...so I was seriously tempted to drop it after just a few pages. I don't like stories with children as main characters, I just don't know... However, this turned out to be a lot less annoying than expected and I liked the end, even though it was slightly cheesy. It was weird to read a Holmes story with a third-person narration. Not having Watson as the narrator just makes things feel very odd!

Die Ungetrösteten (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Ooof, what a weird book. But also a strangely compelling one. Frankly, I did expect the protagonist to wake up in the end, finding out that all of the stuff he just went through was nothing but a dream. But that moment never came, and so I'm left confused, but really intrigued. I can't really say much else about this book, only that I liked it in a really special way. I don't want to read it again, though. Oh, but I should add one thing: I never read a book before that recreated the feeling of my own bad dreams this well. This thing about entering a place which seems totally normal, just to leave it through another door and finding yourself in an entirely different and/or really weird place where nothing seems to make sense? Yeah...seems very familiar. Reading this book even induced the same odd, unpleasant feeling I have after waking from such a dream. But because it wasn't about me I also felt disconnected from that feeling, so it wasn't actually that bad and I just wanted to read on. Well, definitely an unique experience, to say the least.

Monthly reads: January 2022

 

Looking at the books I read this month, I think 2022 will be a great year. There wasn't a single bad book this month, and there even were quite a few ones I really loved! Really nice...but on the other hand, things could only get worse from here on, haha.

The Sacred Book of the Werewolf (Victor Pelevin)

I mostly picked this up because I was going through the Guardian's 1000 books list and the title sounded sort of intriguing. Also, I haven't read that many books by Russian authors yet, so...I bought it, decided to take a short peek into it...and finished it a few days later because it was just so good. I'm not sure what kind of book I expected, but anyway, it defied my expectations. I don't know if that makes any sense, haha. Well, but...first off, I liked the main character A Hu-Li's way of telling us her story, I liked the (pop)cultural references and I also really enjoyed the often lenghty philosophical discussions between the characters. I'm not sure if I really understood everything our werefox storyteller tried to explain to her lover Alexander and thus also to us readers, but nevertheless, it was extremely intriguing! Also, I really couldn't predict where this would be going, but the end was really satisfactory, if a bit sad. Anyway, I really recommend this. I'm not sure if it's a book everyone should read, because I've got a slight problem with saying things like that, but I'll say that much: it's definitely a book worth reading.

Bei Anbruch der Nacht (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Looking back I definitely should have picked another book to start this month's Ishiguro reading spree because it's probably not his best work. On the other hand, it still motivated me to start reading one of his novels right afterwards, so it wasn't actually that bad. Eh, but whatever. This book is a collection of short stories, each one of them being centered around a musician or having some other connection to the theme of music in general. I admit that I didn't really like the stories in the beginning – the first one was alright, but there were some parts in the translation which struck me as odd (yeah, well, I know I'm not the one to complain, looking at how much my English sucks...and yet I'm writing an english blog, oh the irony) and the second story was outright stupid. Wanting to slap all three protagonists throughout the entire story isn't very enjoyable, thank you very much. Well, but it got a lot better after that. My favourite was the title story (I think the original title of both was Nocturnes, which fits a lot better than the german one because of the double meaning), though all but the second one had their strong moments. Not something I will necessarily read again anytime soon, but still better than expected.

Damals in Nagasaki (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Onwards to his first novel...was what I thought after finishing the short stories. And whoa, this was really good, especially since this was his first novel! I have to admit that I knew beforehand that the narrator of the story, Etsuko, wouldn't be a 100% reliable narrator. But I'm sure I would've noticed it at some point. I absolutely don't understand how people could take her narration at face value! First off, the story is set right after WWII in Nagasaki, and I don't think we could expect the memories of a most likely traumatised woman to be entirely accurate. Especially not if she recalls those memories many years later. Second, there were some scenes where the narration was clearly odd – like when Mariko, the daughter of her friend Sachiko, kept mentioning a piece of string Etsuko had on her person and that reference seemed to make no sense at all! There were multiple scenes like that, but what really gave it away was one scene near the end, where Etsuko suddenly mentioned that 'we could come back' instead of 'you could come back', supposedly referring to Mariko and her mother. Granted, it was just a small fleeting moment, a small error...but at that very moment everything fell into place and made so much more sense. Other details about some characters like Etsuko's husband Jiro aren't mentioned again, so I'm not entirely sure about them, but...at this point there couldn't really be any doubt about who Sachiko and especially Mariko really were. Phew. I really loved this one and I just have to re-read it at some point.

Der Maler der fließenden Welt (Kazuo Ishiguro)

I went on to his next novel right away (maybe I should just keep on reading them in order of publishing, even though there isn't a connection between any of them), and I enjoyed this one just as much as the previous one. The unreliable narrator seems to be a recurring theme in the author's works, and at least this one isn't an exception. Saying the most important things through omissions is a common theme of Japanese literature (and possibly even a defining Japanese characteristic in general), and so this fits the theme and setting of the novel very well. I feel like the narrator does actually want to come to terms with his problematic past – he worked for the government during the war, e.g. creating propagandistic art to support the war effort – but he also can't quite let go of the old times. His struggle was obvious throughout the book. And yes, I think the things he didn't say were the ones that told the most. I also liked how some scenes mirrored each other, like the recurring theme of the narrator noticing a burning smell at especially crucial points of the story – and mostly the thing about his father and later his arts sensei trying to take away his most prized paintings. There is just one thing I never quite understood, and that's the question whether the narrator really believed in the politics of wartime Japan or if he just went along with everything. Seeing how quickly he was ready to let go of some points I would be inclined to believe he wasn't really into it after all. But maybe that's just what he wanted us readers to believe. However, I don't think not knowing a final answer doesn't take anything away from the experience of reading this book.

Was vom Tage übrigblieb (Kazuo Ishiguro)

(Just a little warning right at the beginning, this will be pretty incoherent because I'm still not even sure what I think about this book. Which is – I guess – a good sign in itself?)

Uh, well. I sort of expected it, but...this is probably Ishiguro's most famous and critically acclaimed book, and yet... Yet I could bring myself to like or enjoy it as much as the former two books. Let's start with the good things though: the setting was a nice change of scenery, and the writing style evoked a vivid picture of Britain in the 50s before my inner eye just as well as the other books did for post-war Japan. I also didn't mind the slow way of storytelling, and the fact that nothing much happened but I still wanted to read on and on. However, there was one big problem...which would be the main character. I just couldn't bring myself to like Stevens. He's just not someone I would like to know, and at times it was also pretty difficult to acknowledge his view on some things. Maybe that's the point, though – I have to admit that it was pretty intriguing to listen to this guy's story and clearly seeing all those things he never even considered to be true. Ultimately, he deceived himself thoughout his entire life, staying away from anything he considered unneccessary for his job as a butler. My main problem was his ignorance of his master's antisemitic beliefs and collaboration with the Nazis. He just pretended not to care – I wonder if that was just what he told himself, because a few chapters earlier he went on about how a butler can only be truly considered a great butler if he chooses a truly great master to serve. Well, and if by chance he picked the wrong master, then he basically had to pretend not to care, or else he would have to admit that he too failed to become truly great.

Only near the very end of the book he suddenly felt human to me. And that was when he was talking to another guy, suddenly realising that he gave everything to others (well, he did give up the years of his life to serve an ultimately probably unworthy master, and he also missed the opportunity to get the woman he loved, so that's about right) so that nothing is left to him in the end. Honestly, I think that other guy never existed though and the other man was just a part of himself, because I just can't see him admitting failure to anyone else. I might be wrong, though. (I'm also pretty sure that the passage about 'the rest of life being empty', which was supposedly from Miss Kenton's letter was in fact a figment of Stevens' inner thoughts. She didn't seem to recognise that passage at all, so I'd say this was rather his subconscious talking there.)

As a final thought, I don't think this book could be considered a love story at all. (The german publisher marketed it as such, I don't know if it was the same for English editions.) To me it felt like a pretty sad story of an ultimately failed life without much meaning, and the story of a man desperately trying to fill that void while with his own convictions without realising that life pretty much passed him by. So, not exactly a pleasant read, but I think I know why it is considered a good book after all.

The Day That Never Comes (Caimh McDonnell)

I wasn't too sure whether I'd like this as much as the first book. But in the end, it was of course just as awesome. I liked the fact how both threads of the story – the disappearance of Bunny and the gruesome murder cases plus the connected public uprising – were connected in the end. And it was also pretty evil how we were almost lead to believe that Bunny was indeed connected to the killings in some way. Well, so the thrilling part was great already, but that's not all there is to this book series. There's also lots of funny stuff and the very lovable weirdo characters. Seriously, during this book I got to love Phil even more and that's why I also really enjoyed the ending. Guess I'm off to the next book right away. Maybe I should take a break and read the prequel first, though. Quite the hard decision, but I'm sure I'll enjoy both books anyway.

Loch Down Abbey (Beth Cowan-Erskine)

What an odd yet endearing book. I expected it to be a classical crime novel with lots of rich people becoming suspects in a murder case while being confined to their villa for whatever reason. Well, and confined they were, due to a mysterious illness spreading around like wildfire. Hmm, I think I heard of something similar in real life not too long ago... But anyway, even though there was a murder it wasn't an actual crime novel. It was more of a cross between a character study of rich and very, very idle people...and a comedy story a la PG Wodehouse. Some scenes were downright funny and even though most of the protagonists were actually right pricks it was a great experience to read about their misadventures. They had to learn to live without their servants because almost all of them fell ill after a while – can you even imagine that? The absolutele horror! My favourite scene was the one where all the family member had to look for hidden doors in the whole manor because the children were missing and giggling could be heard from behind the walls. I also tremendously enjoyed some of the revelations near the end. And, well, the very end came as a surprise too. I liked the part after the final chapter where we learned about the further lives of our protagonists. I assume that most of them might be happier than they were during their time as rich idlers, I guess. Anyway, a nice read, even though it wasn't quite what it said on the package. That's not the book's fault, though.

Wanderungen durch Thüringen (Ludwig Bechstein)

I mostly read this right before bedtime because it was so relaxing, haha. Oh, and because it's about the region where I was born, so it was quite fun. Though I have to admit that I've never even heard of some of the places they visited during their hike. But the chapter about my hometown was pretty funny, mainly so because they apparently couldn't visit most of its many attractions because of the bad weather. Well, that's a way to cop out of having to write stuff too, I guess. Definitely something I need to take note of for my own writings, I'd say. ;)

Heaven Official's Blessing vol. 1 (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu)

I don't know if I should put this rather on my anime blog, but it is a novel and I'm counting it towards my annual reading goals, so... Anyway, I watched the donghua adaptation last year and enjoyed it quite a bit – just like it was with the other works of the author. So it's not surprising that the announcement of English-language releases of her novels made me really happy – I'd always wanted to read the originals! Heaven Official's Blessing aka Tian Guan Ci Fu was the first one I picked up because I wanted to refresh my memory of that story first. And it was totally worth it, because it's highly enjoyable read. If it weren't for the nice visuals of the donghua, I would definitely prefer the written version anyway. By the way, this volume covers the first series of the donghua, so there wasn't actually any new content. But like I said, it was about time to refresh my memory. I can never quite remember the details of most shows I watched...

Monthly reads: December 2021

 

Welcome to the New Year...as it's already 2022 when I'm posting this. But I still need to talk about December's reads, so...let's skip back to the past for a moment, right?

Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon (James Lovegrove)

Well...I'm starting to think that I would be better off by staying away from all those very popular Holmes pastiches. I rarely ever like them. Just like this one: it's not that I disliked it per se, but it was just too long and boring! Okay, to be fair: the original Holmes novels aren't my cup of tea either. Arthur Conan Doyle is a genius when it comes to short stories and that's just how Holmes stories are at their best. It's the same for pastiches. I think I would have enjoyed the story about a creature from the mythology of Yorkshire as a short story, but this book just didn't do it for me. I was mostly pretty bored, to be honest. Holmes also felt slightly out of character sometimes, and that clinched it for me. Also, the ending was way too cutesy and didn't fit the tone of the rest of the story. (Though I'm not one to talk, having written multiple sappy Christmas fanfictions about The Thick of It. Cough, cough.)

Trump's Christmas Carol (Watt T. Dickens)

Nice pun with the author's name, I see what you did there! In fact the book was written by Lucien Young, and I usually enjoy his fun little parody stories a lot. I did enjoy that one, too. But I was sceptical. I mean, Trump as Ebenezer Scrooge...I see the similarities and it's actually a great fit. But as we probably all know: Scrooge actually becomes a nice person in the end of A Christmas Carol. Can you see Trump becoming nice? I couldn't. So I was really curious about how the end of this book would be like. And what should I say, it was awesome. Exactly what I'd expect to happen with the real Trump. Highly enjoyable and I might read this again next Christmas.

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

Can't very well read a parody version without reading the original thing, right? I actually meant to do that last year already, but I couldn't find the motivation. So, this year it finally happened and well, it's a good read. It's making me a bit sad though, so I'm not sure whether I'd want to read it again next year. I will come back to it though, if only to refresh my memory when watching one of the countless adaptions.

A Very Murderous Christmas/Murder in Midwinter (various authors)

I used to love those Christmas crime anthologies, but they're always a little hit-and-miss. I already knew a few of the stories contained in these two books, I didn't like some of the other ones...and some were quite enjoyable. The best thing was that I discovered the Rumpole stories through them. I need to look into those, they seem to be right up my alley.

Quarantine Comix (Rachael Smith)

One of those books I bought because of, er, the cover blurb...or to be more specific, one of the people who recommended it. Sometimes I'm just like that. I didn't have to regret it though, as I enjoyed this collection of comics quite a bit. Well, of course the topic of Covid, lockdowns and quarantines isn't an especially fun one, so it wasn't the most relaxed read. But even though my situation is quite different I could relate to many of the themes very well, like the struggle with mental health and loneliness.

Die Schatzinsel (Robert Louis Stevenson)

I meant to read the classics in the original English version whenever possible, but...I had bought the German translation already, so I just read that one in this case. Apparently the translation was also pretty good, because I enjoyed the book tremendously! I might even want to re-read it at some point, which happens rarely enough for me. My sort-of favourite character was Ben Gunn because he was both pretty funny and also quite important for the story. Ah, I just like reading about adventures like that, and if they are as immersive as Treasure Island it's even more fun!

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

I watched a film adaption many years ago, but I didn't really get it back then. For example, I didn't even know that the story was supposed to be an allegory about Stalin and the Soviet Union. But once you know that this isn't just a story about farm animals (and frankly, any adult should notice that – my excuse is that I was about 13 when I watched the film, and I absolutely didn't care about politics back then), then reading certain scenes just make the reader realise that he can probably guess very well what's going to happen next. And even though it was a shocking book too it's a much easier read than 1984. So, even if someone doesn't feel up to the challenge of 1984: Animal Farm is almost as good, though in a different way. Reading both is the best option anyway. I'm glad I did.

1984 (George Orwell)

I don't even begin to think that I will actually write something that will make the slightest bit of sense about this book. And I guess everything worth mentioning has been said already anyway. So, just this much: it's shocking to see how many of the things mentioned in this book have either become reality, are about to become reality...or at least don't feel like they would be impossible in today's world. And really, everyone should read this book, even if it surely isn't an easy read. Especially the later chapters were just painful, but...it's just worth it and it might even change the reader's view on our world, society and politics.

The Shop Window Murders (Vernon Loder)

Started off pretty well, but became sort of boring later on. I'm all for lots of talking and gathering clues and evidence, but the police procedures described in this book was too much even for me. Also, I ultimately didn't really care about any of the characters. I just started to dislike Inspector Devenish at some point. And I don't even know why, but he started to annoy me? Well, it just wasn't to be, I guess. Oh, and...while this might be a nice golden age crime story it absolutely isn't Christmassy, no matter what the blurb on Amazon might say....

UK Politics Annual Update 2021 (Nick Gallop)

Eh, well, politics, I guess. It was an interesting read yet again, like all books from this series. But I personally don't think I need the yearly update anymore. By now I'm closely following the daily UK politics anyway, so there's no need for me to do that. The books were really useful to catch up on last year's events though!

Doctor Who: Twelve Doctors of Christmas (audiobook, various authors)

I started listening to these twelve stories last year, and then sort of lost interest and/or seasonal motivation. That doesn't mean the stories were bad, but...well, let's just say it was my fault. This year I picked it up again and getting through the stories was really easy...and also really pleasant, as I enjoyed almost all of them! Most were even properly Christmas-themed (I was wondering a bit about Sontar's Little Helpers and the one set in a hospital...they were less seasonal than the others, but still nice) and meeting the Doctor in all of his incarnations again is always a great thing, isn't it? As for why I picked up the audiobook version instead of the regular book, well...I noticed that the stories were read by people who actually played characters in the series at some point and when I saw that Chris Addison was among them, well... It just was a really easy decision, haha. And the best thing is, he even read one of my favourite stories of the bunch: the very last one with the 12^th Doctor. Twelve is the best Doctor anyway. No, I won't debate this...but I'll of course accept different opinions ;)