Summer reading

Summer holidays have started or are about to start and I want to share a few recommendations for summer reading:

Light and interesting reading:

Martin Davis, The Conjurer's Bird/Die Pflanzenmalerin

The plot structure is reminiscent of A. S. Byatt's Possession, but it is an easier read than the Byatt novel.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In 1774, on Captain Cook's second expedition to the South Pacific, a single specimen of a thrushlike bird was captured. The bird entered the collection of eminent naturalist Sir Joseph Banks—but then it disappeared. Moving adroitly between the 18th and the 21st centuries, Davies indulges in clever speculation about the bird's whereabouts and adds an appealing strain of romance surrounding the identity of Banks's mistress, "Miss B." Alternating chapters chronicle the adventures of Fitz, a present-day London conservationist who's agreed to try to find "the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta" at the urging of a woman he once loved—but it's his spunky female graduate student whose ingenuity and indefatigable research do much to keep the plot spinning past red herrings, dead ends and the machinations of unscrupulous people racing to find the bird first. A third subplot concerns Fitz's grandfather's search for the Congo peacock, and it is to Davies' credit that he renders the novel's botanical and zoological details with an immediacy that helps along the narrative. A few farfetched plot twists aside, this is a captivating novel. (Nov. 22)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Die Struktur erinnert an Byatt's Bessessen, aber es ist ein viel einfacheres Buch, dennoch interessant. Im Mittelpunkt des modernen Erzählstranges steht Fitz, ein Präparator, der beauftragt wird den "Bird of Ulieta" zu finden. Ein Vogel, den Captain Cook auf seiner 2. Reise einfing und Joseph Banks schenkte, der Cook auf seiner 1. Forschungsreise begleitet hatte und kurzfristig ohne Erklärung seine Teilnahme an der 2. Reise absagte. Der Vogel, das letzte Exemplar seiner Art ist im Laufe der Zeit verschwunden. Eine "wilde" Jagd unterschiedlicher Parteinen nach dem Vogel entbrennt.

Dazwischen wird im zweiten Erzählstrang versucht eine Erklärung für Bank's Verhalten zu finden. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Banks und seiner mysteriösen Geliebten Miss B.

In einem dritten Erzählstrang wird die Suche des Großvaters Fitz nach dem Congo peacock dargestellt.

Das ist amüsante, informative und leichte Unterhaltung, genau richtig für heiße Tage.

Gripping:

Andreas Eschbach, Ausgebrannt

If you haven't read this novel yet, drop everything, buy a copy and read it. I listened to the audiobook last year and thought it the most convincing text I had yet read for saving energy. In the 12 month lapse since I read the novel, some of the developments he describes have dramatically materialized.

Marc is the hero of the story, a very ambitious German whose dream it is to make it in America. How he goes about it, how he fails and succeeds is grippingly told. The major subject however is oil, oil resources or the lack of it and what happens to the world when oil fields dry up earlier than expected.

Dieses Buch kann ich nur wärmstens empfehlen. Das Hauptthema ist die Ölkrise, ausgelöst durch ein früher als erwartetes Versiegen der Ölquellen und die Veränderung der uns bekannten Welt durch das Ende des Öls. Spannende Unterhaltung, die das überzeugendste Plädoyer zum Thema Energiesparen ist, das mir bislang untergekommen ist. Im Mittelpunkt steht Marc Westerman, ein junger, sehr ehrgeiziger Deutscher, der in den USA reich werden will. Weitere Schauplätze neben den USA sind die Schweiz, Saudi-Arabien und Baden-Württemberg! Bei Amazon (Titel ist dorthin verlinkt) gibt es eine sehr gute Beschreibung.

Colum McCann, Zoli/ Zoli

The story of a young Slovakian Roma girl from about WW II through the 20^th century. Only she and her grandfather escape a massacre and join another Roma group where Zoli discovers a talent for singing. Following the wish of her grandfather she learns to write and read – although this is a violation of Roma laws. As an adult, she becomes a famous poetress, but is condemned by Romas and betrayed by Slovakians. She flees to Italy, where she finds a new home. This is a gripping story about the history of East-European Romas and about love.

Die Geschichte eines slovakischen Romamädchens im 20. Jahrhundet. Zoli und ihr Großvater überleben knapp ein Massaker, dem der Rest der Familie zum Opfer fällt und schließen sich einer anderen Roma-Gruppe an. Dort entdeckt Zoli ihre Begabung als Sängerin. Auf Wunsch des Großvaters lernt sie sogar Schreiben. Später im Leben wird sie eine berühmte Dichterin und Sängerin. Als sie jedoch von den Roma verstoßen und ihrem slowakischen Liebhaber verraten wird, flieht sie und findet in Italien ein neues Zuhause. Eine sehr spannende Erzählung über die Geschichte der osteuropäischen Romas.

Anita Shreve, Wedding in December

Is adultery inevitable? The answer to this question according to Mrs Shreve is "Yes".

In her latest novel, A Wedding in December, seven forty-somethings meet at a cottage to celebrate the wedding of Bill and Bridget. The seven have been friends at Kidds Academy, but then hardly ever met again during the past 27 years. Their meeting is overshadowed by the death of Steven who drowned a couple of days prior to their graduation from Kidds, half of the group feels responsible for his death.

The narrative style is very fluent and takes you in and I enjoyed the novel for at least 2/3rds of the book, but was very disappointed by the end.

Ultimately, all of the characters - only exception the gay pianist and his partner - have committed adultery or commit adultery during those 3 days.

Nora was the reason why her husband left his family, as she says herself, there is a lot of pressure on the woman that sacrifice is made for and no woman is worth that sacrifice. And still, both Bill and Bridget have been previously married. Bridget was left by her husband a couple of years ago for another woman, Bill left his wife for Bridget. Bridget had been left by Bill for his first wife.

Harrison has always been in love with Nora, who back at Kidds was his best-friend Stevens girlfriend, now Harrison is married with two boys. They are the reasons he won't leave his wife for Nora.

Agnes, another of the characters, writes a novel about the Hallifax explosion and her main character marries the wrong person, too, because his true love won't marry him. At the end of that novel he will meet her again and commit adultery with her.

As much as I love the idea of there being "your true partner" out there, I found the novel very diasappointing, because of its treatment of the betrayed partners. The rectification for the main characters seemed to be, that they had just married the wrong person - for a couple of reasons. Really, their first love was their true love. Though this reasoning may portray the reasoning when you fall for someone else, I would have wished for one character to remain true to his partner.

Although, it is briefly discussed how Bridget felt when her husband left her and what Agnes goes through who has been a mistress for 27 years, the portrayal of betrayed partners is too shallow. In addition, the novel leaves the impression that your first marriages have to end in divorce because you will have chosen the wrong partner in your twenties, early thirties. The years of marriage that lie in between seem to just be swept away. Only reason to stay with your partner after 40: kids.

Now, it may be a fact, that many marriages fail and end in divorce around 40, but is it really inevitable and is it inevitable that the spouse is left? Is the "new (old) love" really always the better one?


You can read more about it here.