I haven't kept up with blogging, but I still write down everything I read, and I want to post it here. I like looking back over my book lists from time to time, and it's nice to have to short descriptions to remind me what the book was about and why I liked it. So here goes again!

Books since 2014

Tarjei Vesaas: The Birds, 1957. Translated from Norwegian by Torbjørn Støverud and Michael Barns, 1969. A sweet and sad book about a mentally retarded man who lives with his sister. The sister has always protected her brother until she unexpectedly falls in love. The story is told from the perspective of the brother and captures well the emotional turmoil he lives in.

Vladimir Vertlib: Zwischenstationen, 2005. I think this must be an autobiographical novel, but I don’t know that for sure. In any case, the protagonist is a Russian Jew who left Russia in the early 70s with his parents when he was five years old to try to find a place to live without persecution. The family lived for short periods in Austria, Israel (twice), The Netherlands, Italy, and the US, before finally settling once again in Austria. The father is the driving force for this wandering, and it is interesting to see how the son and the mother come to terms with it. A lively, funny, entertaining and heartbreaking representation of a chaotic migrant story.

Irena Korschunow: Er hieß Jan, 1979. A truly charming book about a love affair between a German girl and a Polish man in Nazi Germany. Written for young people, this was the text we used in a 300-level German course I recently taught. This book has a special place in my heart because of its sweet story and the role it played in my understanding of myself as a teacher.

Elisabeth Gaskell: North and South, 1855. A “social novel”, Gaskell is my new favorite bedtime author. Her books are long and slow, just perfect for reading in bed and getting sleepy. Not a lot happens, but the couple that’s meant to be together gets together in the end. Netflix has a great adaptation of the novel in four installments.

John Williams: Stoner, 1965. A really depressing story about the life of a college professor. Stoner is the name of the English professor who never really quite makes it professionally and certainly not personally but nevertheless has moments of happiness in his sad, dreary life. The sordidness and pettiness of the academic life is a main theme, and boy can I relate to that.

Elizabeth Taylor: A Game of Hide and Seek, 1951. This is the English author, not the American actress Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor is supposed to be a very good novelist, but this novel was terrible. I usually don’t finish things I don’t like, but I kept thinking this would get better since I read what a good writer Taylor is. The problem wasn’t the writing—it was the characters. There was nothing interesting or attractive about them. A young woman and a young man like each other but both are “duds” in their way and never manage to make much of their lives or even to get together.

Robert Seethaler: Der Trafikant, 2012. A young Austrian man from the countryside goes to Vienna in the 1930s when Hitler is in power and is in the process of annexing Austria. The young man works in a newsstand (“Trafikant”) and witnesses and experiences the Nazi violence and terror. Sigmund Freud is one of his customers, and he and the young man become friends. Like the other Seethaler novel I read (Ein ganzes Leben), the power of the book is getting immersed in the main character’s life and milieu, but this one is way better. At least, I enjoyed the story telling here and felt like I understood the character and his struggles.

Charles Marsh: Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 2014. This is a must-read for anyone interested in German history. So much has been written about Bonhoeffer that it’s hard to believe there could have been anything more to write, but there apparently was. Marsh narrates this biography beautifully—it reads like a novel but is a solid academic work. I didn’t want it to end.

Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford. I forgot that I already read this! I blogged about it here.

Sherman Alexie: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, 2006. Written for young people, I read, but this is for anyone. Alexie grew up on a reservation near Spokane and went on to become a well-respected author. His writing is funny but true, very poignant. This is a bitter-sweet tale based on Alexie’s childhood; there’s lots of trauma but also lots of good.

Daniel Kehlmann: Ruhm, 2014. I loved the last book I read by this author and was disappointed with this one. It is a series of short stories in which the characters all end up being connected to one another in various ways. The stories were clever enough, but the connection angle was not clever at all. I didn’t really understand why that needed to be in there, and I would have liked this better had I thought I was just reading a collection of short stories.

E.M. Delafield: Faster! Faster!, 1936. There are many wonderful English women writers and E.M. Delafield is one of them. This story about a strong woman who is a wife and mother and who runs a company in London seems way ahead of its time in so many ways. Or maybe we just think women didn’t do all these things before our times? In any case, the story is seems like it could be a modern tale; the worries of the stressed main character and her fate are told in an engrossing way, and the many questions about life and work and children that come up are ones we struggle with now.

Dezsö Kosztolányi: Skylark, 1920? Translated from Hungarian by Richard Aczel, 2010. Turn of the century novels from Austro-Hungarian writers fascinate me. The culture of the Empire with its many ethnicities is complex and layered, yet the writers do share a way of looking at the world. This novel tells the story of a simple family—a  father, a mother, and a grown daughter—who all must live together with the disappointment of their failed dreams. The writing is detailed, rich, humorous and engaging; the story is sad but not depressing.

Joe Simpson: Touching the Void, 1988. Not at all well written but still a great story, it’s about the true experience of two mountain climbers in Peru. They are tied together when one of them falls from the ledge in an icy storm and the other one has to eventually cut the rope and leave his friend behind, not knowing if he’s dead or alive but assuming the worst. Unbelievably, the friend, gravely injured and with no food or water, climbs out of the crevasse and makes it back to camp over three grueling days, minutes before his partner was about to leave. Greg and I saw the reenacted documentary of this story a while back and when I happened upon the book, I had to read it.

R.K. Narayan: Waiting for the Mahatma, 1955. A young man joins the group around Gandhi because he falls in love with a woman who is close to Gandhi and is an ardent follower. The young man is very immature and spoiled and doesn’t seem to learn very much along the way, but he stays in the group and endures the hardships for this woman. She, on the other hand, lives the teachings of Gandhi and stays true to her values. The book is written with amazing, delightful irony—we are meant, I think, to wonder about the whole Gandhi movement. Yet, in the end, the light shines through, and we, and the protagonist, come to understand something we didn’t know before. Can you tell I loved this book?

Helen Fielding: Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy, 2013. A light, enjoyable read, not as good as the original Bridget Jones, but still laugh-out-loud funny! Bridget finds herself a single mother after her wonderful Mr. Darcy unexpectedly dies and has to go on to find her guy again. The scrapes she gets herself in are hilarious. She shows growth and maturity since her last adventures, but she still remains quite a character.

Barack Obama: Dreams for my Father, 1995. I kept wondering if Obama had help writing this, but it doesn’t appear he did. It’s really well written and gives a lot of insight into his psychological make-up. He is a strong person, due to wonderful support from his mother certainly, but mainly from his grandparents. This is interesting if you like Obama and want to know more about him. I hope he writes some more about his life (probably a work about his presidency is being planned).

Blake Eskin: A Life in Pieces: The Making and Unmaking of Binjamin Wilkomirski, 2002. I stumbled on this work in the process of translating an article about Binjamin Wilkomirski by Noemi Schneider. Wilkomirski wrote a memoir of the time he spent in concentration camps as a child (called Fragments), but it turns out he made up the whole story. The memoir was a huge sensation when it came out (1995), and the author won several literary prizes and traveled a great deal and gave talks about the work. Naturally, it was a big scandal when the hoax was discovered. Eskin’s book details the story and the man in absorbing prose, weaving in his own family history, since he first met Wilkomirski at a family event, thinking he was a distant cousin (Eskin’s maternal great-grandmother was a Wilkomirski). I really enjoyed this book—it was like reading a mystery.

Daniel Brown: The Boys in the Boat, 2013.  A great American tale about the 1936 Olympic rowing team, a group of students from the University of Washington. Of course, they were the underdogs who came out ahead and won the race! The book is well-researched and very engaging.

Elizabeth Gaskell: Ruth, 1853. This story of a “fallen woman” must have been quite shocking for its time. Unfortunately, the character of Ruth is a passive victim who becomes a Madonna-like figure after her she is abandoned by her lover and sees the error of her ways, which makes this tale not as interesting as other Gaskell novels (North and South is my all time favorite), but it was a good choice for night reading.

If you read any of these and want to tell me what you thought, I'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to tell me what you're reading, you can let me know that too (juliemwinter6@gmail.com). 

Cute Dog Picture and Books

Chris took Beau along with him recently on one of his long bike rides. In case you can't see it well, Beau is wearing his sweater I knit him a while ago--it was a cold day!

Here's a round up of books I've been reading since the last book posting:

Jhumpa Lahiri: Unaccustomed Earth, 2008. A collection of longish short stories, usually about Indians living in the US. The writing exactly captures the characters’ situations, motivations and emotions—it’s easy to get lost in the world each story creates. This is lovely, lovely writing, and I will definitely read more by this author.

Margaret Drabble: The Millstone, 1965. Drabble belongs to the group of “witty British female writers,” and she is wonderful. This is the story of a single, working academic mom in the 1960s, before being that was well accepted. It’s hard to put this one down because you get immediately involved and want to see where it’s all going. I will also read more by this author.

Ari Shavit: My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, 2013. I wanted to know more about Israel, and this was recommended to me. It is a very personal story about Israel’s history and reason for being. The author, born and raised in Israel, is a thoughtful Zionist who struggles with the brutal and aggressive way that Zionism plays out. Sometimes the writing is repetitive, but I didn’t mind that too much, and I learned a lot from reading this book.

Bigit Vanderbeke: Das Muschelessen, 1990. This story is told from the perspective of a teenaged girl in a family from East Germany, now living in the West, with a domineering and boorish father figure. It is probably meant to be a metaphor for the East German state, but it is nonetheless absolutely hilarious, sad and brilliant! It has recently been translated into English as The Mussel Feast.

Joseph Roth: Hiob, 1930. Roth tells the story of a modern day Job. His Eastern European Job lives around the turn of the 19^th century in Russia and immigrates to New York City. He has to bear unbearable tragedies and loses his faith in God until the miracle at the end. The thing about Roth is that he is a marvelous storyteller, and his prose has a mesmerizing rhythm. I think some English translations do capture this. This is my second reading of this book, and the effect was the same each time. I cried tears of joy as I read the ending, even though it’s not mystery how it will turn out!

Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island, 1883. I haven't read a lot of this sort of classic literature, so I thought I should try it. I actually enjoyed this a lot—it’s an exciting story about a young boy who goes along on a treasure hunting expedition and has to fight pirates on the island to win the booty. 

Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, 1816. Mary Shelley was so young when she wrote this—one wonders how she knew the things she did. I found myself writing down memorable passages a lot during the reading of this classic tale, like this one: “Alas! Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might nearly be free, but we are moved by every wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that word may convey to us.”

Volker Weidermann: Ostende: 1936. Sommer der Freundschaft, 2014. Brilliant and wonderful writers were exiled early on during the Hitler years, and several of them were good friends and met each other regularly, often at Ostende, a seaside resort in Belgium. Especially Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth kept up their friendship for a long time and spent a productive summer in 1936 together at this resort. This is a historical novel, based on letters, journals and biographies of these famous authors. It is fascinating to read if you like these authors and this period and perhaps also if you don’t but want to know more about them and this time period.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera, 1985. Well-written and beautifully translated by Edith Grossman, so precise, but I don't love it. The characters seem like caricatures and it's hard to relate to them. 

Stefan Zweig: Schachnovelle, 1936. I read this before and already wrote about it here.

It was still great the second time through!

Robert Seethaler: Ein ganzes Leben, 2014. This novel tells about the life of a simple man living in a mountain village in Austria from about 1900 to about 1970. He experiences both World Wars and monumental changes and modernization that took place in the early to mid-twentieth century. The man remains oddly unchanged or unaffected by his experiences. I think I missed the point of this, although the reading was pleasant and interesting enough.

Joseph Roth: Radetzskymarsch. This is a long and rambling tale about the decline of a family and the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At times Roth’s storytelling genius shines through, but often the writing seems repetitive and the plot is predictable. It is considered one of Roth’s great novels, but Hiob is so much better (imho). Of course, Hiob is also predictable, but the mesmerizing writing really makes it a page-turner.

Helen Dunmore: The Lie, 2014. A World War I story about a young man who returns to his village in England after serving as a soldier along with his best friend from childhood. The friend dies in battle, and the protagonist is wracked with survivor guilt. We learn about their friendship growing up, and there is also a story going on in which the young man is living a lie. It surprised me that this turned out to primarily be a ghost story. It is definitely worth reading, but there were some disappointments. I don’t want to say too much more! If you read it and want to talk about it, let me know!

Iris Murdoch: Under the Net, 1959. This is Murdoch’s first book. She went on to write many more of them. I thought she would be in the category of “witty British female writers,” and she is, but she is a pretty dense writer, unlike the others. I mean this is not light literature at all, and the wit is very subtle. The book was about a 30-something writer who was not working very seriously and kept getting side-tracked by his outlandish adventures. It’s a Bildungsroman, and the young man does eventually find himself and his calling. I liked it a lot.

Shakespeare and Some Pictures

In Neuss, just across the river from Duesseldorf, there is a copy of the Globe Theatre. I got to see "Much Ado about Nothing" here this week, with actors from the real Globe. The theater is small and intimate, and the performance was excellent. It was quite a treat!

Here are a few pictures we've taken from our trips in the area.

Beautiful Art

Franz Marc: Horse in a Landscape, Image from Wikimedia

We saw this Franz Marc painting in the Museum Folkwang in Essen a few weeks ago. It is another example of the "der Blaue Reiter" art movement around the turn of the last century. I love this artist and this period--can't get enough of it here!

Big Storm in Duesseldorf

There was a huge storm in Duesseldorf Monday night--sort of a small hurricane actually. It happened around 9:30 in the evening, when we were home watching a movie. The buildings here are very solid and the windows are tight, so I didn't worry for our safety. When we ventured out on the balcony to see what was going on, it was a wild sight--it seemed as though a wall of trees was advancing on us. I couldn't stand there for more than a few seconds, so terrifying was it. The next day hardly any trams, busses or trains were running, due to all the downed trees and damage to electrical lines, and there still aren't many running today. The cleanup will take quite a while, and many people are still stranded.

Apparently, it's the worst storm of this sort in about 10 years. When the TV weather person was asked if such a fierce storm was proof that climate change is occurring, she answered without skipping a beat that it was indeed proof. I couldn't help but think about how they would have answered this question in the US...they would have probably hemmed and hawed and said no, that violent storms have always occured. But maybe that attitude is changing now in the US too.

Feasting in Brussels

Greg and I took a trip to Brussels this weekend--it's only 2 hours away by train. I should probably tell you about the interesting sights, but all I can think about is how good the food was. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that Brussels has quite the French flair and atmosphere, and this extends to the food. The food is, in short, delicious and well prepared. The beer and pastries are especially divine. Above you see our lunch--steak tartare and the famous pommes frites for Greg, and a filet mignon for me.

Then there are the amazing Belgian waffles...I just never knew what all the fuss was about. Now I do, and I want to go back and eat some more. Here I am buying them from a truck--they are everywhere--after a museum visit.

How to describe them...they may just look like ordinary waffles, but they are more a cross between a cake, a doughnut and a waffle. They are a bit sweet, a bit doughy and a bit chewy. You can get all sorts of toppings on them; above we have caramel, below, strawberries and chocolate. Yes, they do that.

As Greg and I were wiping the chocolate from our mouths after sharing one of these delicacies, I happened to look over at a woman sitting near us, who was also enjoying a waffle. She and I looked directly at each other and both said, at the same time, "This is just so good." It was funny to connect over waffles like that.

Writing about Translation

Lately I've been writing about translation for Source, an online publication of the literary division of the American Translators Association. It's a lot of fun to do this because I get to look into topics I might not have thought to look into on my own. The links below are to a couple of book reviews I wrote on translation and an article about the Kenyan writer and translator Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

http://www.ata-divisions.org/LD/newsletter/2013/SourceMar29Spring2013%20.pdf
http://www.ata-divisions.org/LD/newsletter/2014/SourceSpring2014.pdf

My assignment now is to do an interview with the superstar Spanish to English translator Edith Grossman. Her authors include Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargos Llosa, and Cervantes! I will post the link here when the interview comes out.

Wooly Mice

A friend asked me to make a knitted cat toy--she said just a tube of some sort--that she could fill with catnip to give to her kitties to play with. I quickly found this pattern for knitted mice and it's been hard to stop making them ever since. I read that the cats prefer the toys made out of all wool or other natural fibers; that is no problem for me since I almost always only use natural fibers. And I have lots of leftover yarn...watch out, cat owners. You may be getting a shipment of these soon.

Hat Giveaway!

Here's a fun slouch hat I knit recently. The yarn is 100% wool, very soft with variegated color (Malabrigo Merino Worsted--a really nice yarn). It's kind of a pinky purple color, which brings me to the problem and the reason I am giving it away--it's just not my color. I love wearing the hat because it's comfortable and doesn't mess up my hair, but it really doesn't look that great on me color-wise. If someone who can wear cool colors would like to have it, just let me know, and I'll be happy to send it to you. Write to juliemwinter6@gmail.com. 

Here's a picture of the designer Natalie Larson showing how the hat is worn. 

So why did I knit a hat for myself that isn't my color? Well, the yarn was on sale with the pattern, and they didn't have any other colors, and I loved it so much and wanted to make the hat. I will look for a better color for me and make another one now that I have the pattern. Can't wait to hear from you!

Catching Up with a Few Projects

It's been a while since I posted about knitting, but I haven't stopped knitting ha ha. Here are a few recent and older projects.

The picture above is of a scarf/cowl/neckwarmer I made for Akiko a long time ago--her daughter Alicia (in the picture) borrows it from her all the time. I decided that Alicia needed her own version; here it is in blue below. Both are made of worsted weight wool, and the information about the pattern is in my previous post here.

The lacy shawl below is "Phoenix," and the yarn is a DK weight camel and silk blend called "Tundra" from Pagewood Farms. I made it for my ballet teacher, Tamara, and she wears it with a lot of flair!

The sweater pattern on the left below is called "Brynna" and is made from a light worsted weight cotton "Cascade Ultra Pima." On the right is "Summer Flies" knit with the beautiful sport weight wool by Malabrigo "Arroyo." Both are real hits and I wear them a lot. I wear the little shawl as a scarf wrapped around my neck. All the patterns can be found at ravelry.

The Falls in Spring, March 2014

Picture taken by Pava Young

For the past two years I've posted about our tremendous Falls in the spring, and here they are again. The video from last year will give you a feel for how powerful they are: Last Year's Video

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.

Drachenfels...and a Translated Song

Before Greg left to return to Spokane in January, we took a day trip to "Drachenfels" near Bonn on the Rhine. We took the train to this little town

and then hiked a few kilometers up the hill

until we got to the top where we found this famous ruin from the 1100s called Drachenfels. I used to walk up this hill with my German grandparents when I would visit them in Bonn. There was a cafe at the top (there still is, but it's bigger now and not as quaint), and we would have refreshments while my grandmother recited poetry by Heinrich Heine, who wrote beautiful verses about many things, including the Rhine.

The day was gorgeous, no clouds in the sky, but there was haze below, so our picture is a bit fuzzy.

                                      

On the way down we enjoyed the view of this castle, Drachenburg, built in 1882.

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Here's a link to my translation of a song by Bettina Wegner that was published in an online journal called Ezra. The title and the tune of the song are taken from Buffy St. Marie, but Bettina Wegner wrote her own words. You'll have to scroll down a ways to get to it.

http://www.ezratranslation.com/Spring_2009.html

The Blue Rider

Painting by Franz Marc

After our fabulous week in Berlin, we wanted to keep on doing fun and interesting things, so we continued on to Munich. The highlight there for me--besides seeing a couple of friends, including the wonderful Pickls--was a visit to the Blue Rider collection at the Lenbachhaus. The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) is the name given to a group of artists who produced many vibrant paintings like the one above during the years 1911-1914. It is considered to be part of the Expressionist art movement and ended when World War I broke out. Check out this link if you want to read more about the Blue Rider group and the Lenbachhaus: http://www.lenbachhaus.de/collection/the-blue-rider/introduction/?L=1

When I was living in Munich I was never able to see this huge collection of paintings because the Lenbachhaus was closed for renovations. It was really neat to be able to see it this time.

New Year's Eve in Berlin

Brandenbug Gate from website berlin.de

Last night was just about the best New Year's Eve I've ever spent. I guess that should not be surprising--we are in Berlin, after all! I had heard about this enormous celebration at the Brandenbug Gate here and wanted to try to see what it was all about. However, we were warned that it is so crowded (over a million people were expected) that it is impossible to see or really do anything there. Also, we didn't relish the idea of standing around for hours and hours in the cold. So we decided to go early, see what was going on, and then go home and watch the rest on TV.

And that's what we did. Greg, Chris, and I arrived in the late afternoon around 5 pm. The area is enormous, stretching from the Brandenburg Gate a kilometer or two towards the Victory Column. The street is closed off to cars, food and trinket vendors line both sides, and there is a huge stage beneath the Gate. After we arrived, we promptly purchased our Gluehwein, watched the band on stage for a while, then strolled along the boulevard all the way to the end. We made our way home, had a nice dinner, then settled down in front of the tube with drinks and snacks to watch the festivities.

We ended up switching between the party at the Brandenburg Gate and a documentary on the Bee Gees (who knew they were so interesting?). A little before midnight the special guest performed on stage--it was Heino, the famous singer of German folk songs! He sang a couple of more modern, pop-style tunes, very cool to watch. He just turned 75 and looked a little funky and out of place up there, but what a treat to see him. At midnight the fireworks went off.

Heino

(Apropos fireworks in Berlin: they are everywhere on New Year's Eve, all day and all night long. Chris wrote on facebook that "New Year's Eve in Berlin is the single most horrifying, deafening and absolutely amazing experience"--which sums it up well! We thought it was probably good that most people who experienced WWII in Berlin are no longer living because it sounded like a war zone out there, and it could set off a lot of post traumatic stress if you had actually lived through the war here.)

It was indeed a memorable evening and a fun way to start the New Year!

A Quick Merry Christmas from Ddorf

Yesterday, on Christmas, Greg and I walked from my apartment in the Wersten neighborhood in Duesseldorf all the way to the Rhine River. We walked through some areas of town we hadn't yet seen, and ended up in Althimmelgeist near the river. Here we happened upon a brass band playing Christmas songs, and we were given the words to the songs and encouraged to sing along. The band then walked to another street corner nearby and played some more songs; we went with them and sang along again. Finally, we broke away and continued to the Rhine.

Today we are headed to Berlin to spend a week with Chris and see what interesting things we can find to see and do there. We have some opera tickets lined up too.

Merry Christmas!!!

Conrad and Chris are Traveling

Conrad has been on a two month around the world trip, of sorts. He went to Japan in mid August for a few weeks (I joined him for 10 days), and then spent September in Hamburg at a Goethe Institut, polishing his German. In his usual way, he saw and did a lot on his travels! After Hamburg he went to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit Chris, and now they are traveling together through Sweden and Norway.

I'll see Conrad for a couple of days when I arrive in Duesseldorf tomorrow. He flies home from Duesseldorf, with a week stop in Washington, D.C.

Chris went to Copenhagen in early September, and now he is planning to go to Berlin and work on his German at a language school there. Greg and I will be able to visit him at Christmas in Berlin (since we'll both be in Duesseldorf then).

Both boys are enjoying using their newly acquired German citizenship and passports in the EU! Here they are touring the world's largest ship that recently made a stop in Copenhagen.

Book Update September 2013

L'Assommoir by Emil Zola (1877).  A friend and I who have similar reading tastes are doing an online book club sort of thing. We both love late 19th, early 20th century fiction, especially by German authors.  My friend introduced me to the French author Zola, and I have been hooked. His novels, written in the "naturalism" style, are bleak, but the characters are fascinating. Zola's characters don't learn anything in the course of the story (which is why the stories are bleak). Instead, they act true to themselves to the bitter end.

This story is about the problem of drinking in the lower classes of Paris and the destruction it wrought. Interestingly, the title of this novel is usually not translated. "L'Assommoir" is the name of a typical, cheap drinking establishment of the time.

Across Islands and Oceans: A Journey Alone around the World by Sail and by Foot by James Baldwin (2012). In the 1980s Baldwin, only in his 20s, sailed alone around the world in a very simple boat, using no navigation technology. He didn't even have a radio on board. He stopped at various islands along the way and hiked across them. The story is told well, and this is an absorbing, enjoyable book.

Yoram by Ulrike Kolb (2012).  A story about a relationship between a German Jewish man and a German woman who meet in the eighties, when Germany is trying to move away from its past and its guilt. The difficulties of this situation are played out in the relationship of the two characters. It is done so skillfully and in such a gripping way that the reading is never trite or clichéd. I love this book!

Nana by Emil Zola (1880). Yes, another Zola! Nana is the name of the daughter of the main character in L'Assommoir. Nana represents all the excesses of Paris in the late nineteenth century. She comes to ruin, of course.

Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1964). Ngugi is a prolific Kenyan author who has written a lot about the oppression of his people by British colonists. This is a work of fiction, but it draws heavily on the author's experiences as a child, when he and his family witnessed and participated in the struggle for independence. It is told simply and eloquently and is very moving. Ngugi is often a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he has not yet won the award.

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy (1994). Grealy, a poet who died at a relatively young age not too long ago, had cancer in her jaw as a child. The operation to remove it greatly disfigured her, and numerous surgeries to try to reconstruct her face failed.  Here she tells her story, and it is a difficult one to read. But the writing doesn't get bogged down in sadness, and the author does ultimately come to terms with her fate.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama (2007). A very light novel, great for reading during long layovers at airports. The lives of two brothers who grow up during WWII in Japan are chronicled here. One brother becomes a sumo wrestler, the other a Noh mask carver. What I found most interesting about this book was the description of what it was like for ordinary Japanese to live through the bombings and the long periods without food and supplies during the war.

Just Some Knitting Stuff

I recently purchased this enormous knitting bag, and it is so handy and so pretty to look at. At the risk of sounding horribly consumeristic and like a spokesperson for the "Vera Bradley" company, these bags are wonderful. They come many sizes and shapes, and if you sign up for the mailing list, you get a coupon for lots of money off. Then you are hooked, I guess. As you can see, the bag has several pockets inside and holds a ton of stuff.

Here's a top I recently finished, made of a light worsted weight wool and linen blend yarn--Berroco "Linsey." The pattern is the "Aria Shell" by Angela Hahn, in the spring issue of Interweave Knits.

And here's another finished project--yes, one more mini-shawl/scarf. You can't have too many of these! They are a blast to make and are just so pretty and practical. But actually, I do end up giving some away; I can't wear them all. (As always, let me know if you like something I've made, and I'll make one for you, in the colors you like!)

The yarn is a DK weight, plant fiber and cotton blend from Queensland Collection, "Haze." The pattern is called "Ripples," by Annelie Wallborn. (You can find it on Ravelry.)

Finally, Our Vienna Pictures

Here's the link for a few pictures from our March trip to Vienna and Bratislava:

https://plus.google.com/photos/103967026405398398091/albums/5861731929418374673