Friday Eye Candy - Denmark

Book Quiz

We haven't had quizzes in a long time:

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Book of the Month: Half of a Yellow Sun/Die Hälfte der Sonne

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

For a very long time, I have wanted to blog about this novel and recommend it to everyone. Here is the text from the official website:

"A masterly, haunting new novel from a writer heralded by The Washington Post Book World as "the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe," Half of a Yellow Sun recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra's impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria, and the chilling violence that followed.

With astonishing empathy and the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves together the lives of three characters swept up in the turbulence of the decade. Thirteen-year-old Ugwu is employed as a houseboy for a university professor full of revolutionary zeal. Olanna is the professor's beautiful mistress, who has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos for a dusty university town and the charisma of her new lover. And Richard is a shy young Englishman in thrall to Olanna's twin sister, an enigmatic figure who refuses to belong to anyone. As Nigerian troops advance and they must run for their lives, their ideals are severely tested, as are their loyalties to one another.

Epic, ambitious, and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a remarkable novel about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race—and the ways in which love can complicate them all."

This text and more about the author, reviews and background of the novel can be found here.

This isn't an easy novel when it comes to content, but it is a deeply satisfying novel, very well written, plausible characters and it fulfils the goal of all good literature, it instructs you about the ways of the world.

The only thing I regret is, that I didn't buy her Purple Hibiscus when I was in London where is was part of the "buy 3 pay 2."

Diesen Roman wollte ich schon sehr lange empfehlen. Mich hinterließ er mit diesem Gefühl tiefster Zufriedenheit, das nur sehr gute Literatur hervorruft.

Im Mittelpunkt der Handlung, die vor dem Hintergrund des Nigerianisch-Biafrischen Krieges stattfindet, stehen Olanna und ihre Zwillingsschwester, beide aus gut-betuchtem Hause. Olanna hat ihre Privilegien aufgegeben, um mit einem Universitätsprofessor zusammenzuziehen, bei dem die zweite Hauptfigur Ugwu als Diener angestellt ist. Die dritte Figur, um die die Erzählung kreist, ist der englische Geliebte ihrer Zwillingsschwester. Diese Figurenkonstellation erlaubt es Adichie, sowohl das intellektuelle wie auch das bäuerliche Biafra/Nigeria darzustellen ebenso wie Kolonialismus und sein Ende. Neben den politischen und ethnischen Konflikten im Makrokosmos, kommt es aber auch zu persönlichen Konflikten im Mikrokosmos, die die Ideale, Loyalität und Liebe der Charaktere auf die Probe stellen.

Ich bedauere nur, dass ich in London nicht den anderen Roman von Adichie, den es dort gerade reduziert gab, gekauft habe.

Hier gibt es noch eine deutsche Rezension zu dem Roman.

The Golden Compasss

Lately, I heard, that the movie The Golden Compass has not been a succes at the box office and therefore, there will be no sequels to it. What a pity, now we won't get more of those wonderful knits. This cardigan has been inspired by the one Lyra wears and you can see how proud my daughter is and how much she loves it.

Kürzlich hörte ich, dass es keine Fortsetzung zum Film Der Goldene Kompass geben wird, da der Film an den Kassen nicht erfolgreich war. Wie schade, nun gibt es nicht noch mehr der schönen Stricksachen zu sehen. Diese Jacke ist inspiriert von der Jacke, die Lyra im Film trägt und man kann sehen wie sehr meine Tochter die Jacke mag.