A Rather Long Book Update

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey (2011). I really admire Tina Fey—she is so smart and so funny! I was curious to read what she wrote about herself and her life, but I was a bit disappointed that she didn’t seem so funny in this form (although still smart). What is really interesting to me about this book is that Fey managed to write an autobiography while not revealing very much about herself.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (2000). Now here’s a guy who knows how to write about himself. The traveling chef star comes across just as he does on his TV shows—very clever and self-centered but surprisingly not conceited. This book about Bourdain’s career as a chef and about the way things really are in restaurant kitchens is well written, interesting and entertaining.

Rausch der Verwandlung by Stefan Zweig (1982).  This novel is set in post WWI Austria where things are very difficult for people in the lower and rural classes. A young woman’s dreary life is quickly changed when her rich aunt invites her to spend time vacationing with her in an exclusive resort in the Alps. The young woman discovers how the other half lives, and how much is denied to her due to her class, a discovery that makes it impossible to go back to her normal life afterwards. The style of writing and the story really pull you into this book.

This has been translated into English as The Post Office Girl; a literal translation of the title is something like “intoxication of the transformation.”

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (1945). What a wonderful discovery this author is! She reminds me of Barbara Pym but is funnier and also bleaker. This is a story about a family belonging to the vanishing British upper class and about one member’s search for love. It’s beautiful and heart-breaking.

A Family Madness by Thomas Keneally (1985). Set in modern Australia (where the author is from), the main character falls in love with the daughter of a crazy Belorussian immigrant. The author skillfully goes back and forth between the events of the current time told from the protagonist’s perspective and the history of the Belorussian and his family in WWII under Nazi rule, told through letters and diaries. It’s all made up, but the historical details concerning Belorussian collaboration with the Nazis are true and very unsettling. I learned a lot about this topic from reading this book.

Going Home Again by Dennis Bock (2013). A story about a man who is living through a painful separation from his wife and daughter in Madrid, who decides for professional reasons to “go home again” to Canada. There he encounters his past, his former love, and his estranged brother, who wants to make amends. I like the amazon.com blurb about this book: “Masterfully rendered and deeply felt, Going Home Again is a beautiful exploration of the unexpected contours of life.” I think so too.

Unwiederbringlich by Theodor Fontane (1891).  A count from Schleswig Holstein and his rather critical wife are having marital troubles when the count is called to Denmark (where he is a member of the Danish court) to keep the princess company. He has an affair while there, with disastrous results for his marriage. The title could be translated as “Irretrievable,” so you can imagine what happens. The novel is long and rambling and very 19^th century, just the way I like them.

Weeds Like Us by Gunther Nitsch (2006). I read a lot of stuff that a lot of people might not like (see above), so I usually don’t recommend things to others to read. This book is an exception. It’s an absolutely engrossing first-person account of what happened to the Germans of East Prussia who were forced to live under Russian rule after 1945. The book has literary weaknesses, but the story makes it worth reading, and the author does tell a good story. If you are at all interested in WWII, Germans, Germany, or the fate of refugees, or if you just like a good survival story, read this book!

Stretch: Coming of Age in Post-War Germany by Gunther Nitsch (2010). This is the continuation of the above story about the author’s life after the family managed to get out of East Prussia. It’s not as good as Weeds Like Us, but I had to read it to see what happened next.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (2013). Harold and Maureen have been married a very long time, and things are not going very well anymore. Harold has recently retired and does very little with himself; his wife is critical and unhappy. One day, Harold spontaneously starts on a long walk across England to see a former friend and co-worker who is dying of cancer. This should have been good, and I did want to read more to see what would happen, but it was, all in all, very disappointing. I found it trite and predictable—two weaknesses that ultimately spell the failure of a story.

Die Vermessung der Welt by Daniel Kehlmann (2009). (English: Measuring the World: A Novel). This is another must read! I guess this would be called historical fiction…it’s about the German mathematician and scientist Carl Friedrich Gauß and the scientist and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Both were eccentric geniuses, and the author positively delights in describing their lives and personalities in a humorous way, yet filled with awe at their undertakings and abilities. Style is everything in this novel. In German, the story is told almost completely in “indirect speech,” which gives the reader the feeling that they are there, listening to the dialogue, and also lends an air of quaintness to the writing.

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (1901). The book portrays the decline of the wealthy Buddenbrook family in a hanseatic city in northern Germany in the late 19^th century. Not a lot happens—the fun of the novel is Mann’s character development and, of course, his famous irony.