Books | The Rest of 2018

Now that we’re well into 2019, I’m finally sharing with you the books that I read in the second half of last year (see this post for the first half). By far, my favorite from this batch was Michelle Obama’s memoir, which helped me close out the year. So, without further ado…

A Book of American Martyrs, by Joyce Carol Oates (****)

A timely book about communities and families ripped apart by the murder of an abortion provider in the Midwest by a Christian fundamentalist who convinced he’s doing God’s work. The story is told from two perspectives: the abortion provider’s family and that of the killer and his family. Oates doesn’t allow for either side to take the moral high ground. In the end, the stories of both men are left to be told by their daughters, who seek to make sense of the tragedy in their own heartbreaking way.

Kindred, by Octavia Butler (****)

One of the first African American women to write science fiction, Butler wrote this classic about an African American woman who is repeatedly pulled back in time to a slave plantation in the South in order to save the life of the owner’s son. Certainly a disturbing tale in some ways, but also an important and relevant read.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman (****)

This is a story full of magic and imagination. It is about a man who returns to his home village for a funeral, and gets lost in memories from his childhood – except it’s not quite as straightforward as that. An entertaining read.

Neujahr, by Juli Zeh (**)

I’m making a concerted effort to read more contemporary German authors, and so I picked up two novels by Juli Zeh with a gift certificate I received for my birthday. Unfortunately, Neujahr was not my favorite. The novel takes place on an island in the Canaries on New Year’s Day, where a man and his family are celebrating the holidays. It centers around his memories of forgotten childhood trauma, specifically: an episode of extreme neglect described in great detail for a large portion of the novel. Honestly, I found this quite heartbreaking and difficult to stomach, so I ended up skipping over a lot of the story. The book just didn’t do it for me.

Nullzeit, by Juli Zeh (**)

The second of two novels that I read by Juli Zeh. Again taking place on one of the Canary Islands, this story focused on a diving instructor and two of his customers. It struck me as a bit of a German version of Gone Girl and I didn’t find any of the characters particularly sympathetic.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari (****)

I was fascinated by the first half of this book, which traces the evolution of homo sapiens, homo erectus, and other species of humans. I thought Harari did a great job of breaking down the science into something digestible for those of us who aren’t archeologists or historians. However, I skipped portions of the book related to more recent societal and scientific development and discovery. As a sociologist, these seemed to me to be a little too basic and glossed over – but I suspect that non-social scientists would find these sections just as fascinating as I found the first half of the book. :)

Becoming, by Michelle Obama (*****)

This memoir was a real breath of fresh air. Michelle Obama describes her life in terms of her own personal development: becoming me, becoming us, and becoming more. I loved reading about her childhood, her ambitions as a young woman wondering if she could ever be good enough to meet the expectations of others, and her search for her own place in the world. Of course her insights into life in the White House were also fascinating — trying to carve out normality and stability for their family, while also dedicating herself to making a difference for the causes she believed in. It’s hard not to admire her for using the platform she’s been given to make the largest impact possible to change the world for the better. A definite must-read!

What were your favorites from 2018? Anything I should add to my list for 2019? Please share below!

July 25, 2018

Books | So Far in 2018

We’re more than halfway through 2018, so it’s about time to share the books I’ve been reading so far this year, right?

My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante (***). I have so many friends (mostly those who read the German translation) who have fallen head over heels for this series of Italian books about two best friends. This is the first in the series and begins with their friendship as young girls in Naples during the 1950s. The author does not shy away from the brutality of the time, touching upon issues that were part of everyday life and did not necessarily carry the labels they do today: domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, mafia violence. Maybe for that reason, I found the storyline quite harsh and had a hard time really sinking my teeth into it. I don’t know — should I continue with the series? Should I be reading it in German instead of English?

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls (*****). Funnily enough, this book dealt with equally harsh topics and yet it was one of my favorite books so far this year! It is the memoir of a woman who grew up with eccentric and nomadic (to put it nicely) parents and plenty of adventure, which was sadly counterbalanced by abuse, alcoholism, neglect, and extreme poverty. In the end, the author and her siblings were able to escape to New York one-by-one while they were still teenagers and have created successful lives for themselves. A truly incredible story.

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng (****). I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t *love* it the way so many others did. The story takes place in a town where everything is predictable, orderly, and (from the outside) perfect — and centers around an unconventional woman and her daughter who arrive one day. Definitely entertaining, and probably a good beach read. (Though I haven’t admittedly been to the beach yet this year!)

Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid (*****). A cleverly written story about a young couple who escape their war torn country after a discovering a “door” leading to a safer place. Ultimately, they find themselves having to make their way through several doors, and are greeted with varying degrees of welcome, safety, and stability each time. A beautiful book offering such an accurate portrayal of the state of our world at the moment.

No One Is Coming To Save Us, by Stephanie Powell Watts (****). This is a modern day take on the Great Gatsby, and although it was entertaining enough, it wasn’t really my favorite.

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle (*****). After hearing about the recent film remake of one of my favorite childhood books (though I think I preferred A Wind in the Door at the time), I immediately reread A Wrinkle in Time. Though first published in 1962, the story touches on so many important themes that are still relevant for today. What a nostalgic read!

Hunger, by Roxane Gay (*****). 2018 seems to be my year for reading memoirs. With Hunger, Roxane Gay offers a difficult and unapologetic look at her relationship with her body. “I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.” Roxane definitely doesn’t have it all figured out, but she is candid in a way that demonstrates a self-awareness that many of us will never possess.

Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee (*****). This is hands down my favorite book so far this year. Covering multiple generations of a Korean family living in Japan, it is such a beautiful story about culture, identity, and duty. In telling the story of this family, Min Jin Lee offers fascinating insight into a piece of history that I had no idea about — namely the Japanese occupation of Korea, as well as its aftermath. I couldn’t recommend this book more!

The Residue Years, by Mitchell S. Jackson (****). While not a memoir in the strictest sense, this novel is heavily influenced by the experiences of Mitchell Jackson growing up. The book alternates between the voice of a young black man who’s a successful college student at Portland State University (as well as a successful crack dealer on the side) and his crack-addicted mother who was just released from rehab and is trying to stay clean. The disconnects in their lives are powerful and ring so true that you wonder how either of them ever made it to the other side.

The Keeper of Lost Things, by Ruth Hogan (****). An entertaining story that I tore through rather quickly. Unfortunately, due to the heavy weight of the three books I read just prior to this one, it came off in places as a bit trite and predictable. Probably a good beach read though.

Ellbogen, by Fatma Aydemir (****). This is a novel that I picked up randomly from a box of books that a neighbor had put out on the street to give away. For whatever reason, I’ve had a hard time recently finding contemporary German novels that capture my attention (if you have any good recommendations, please let me know!), but I really enjoyed this story from the perspective of an angry and misunderstood Turkish-German teenage girl growing up in Berlin. About halfway through the book, she ends up fleeing to Istanbul, but discovers that she doesn’t fit in there anymore than she did in Berlin. It’s a fascinating look at this dichotomy that exists so starkly in modern-day Germany. I expected more from the ending though, which is why I ended up giving it only 4 stars.

So that’s it! I honestly wasn’t expecting to already have finished 11 books by this point in the year, so I just started a nice long one (752 pages of A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates) that should carry me through the rest of the summer.

What are your favorite reads so far this year? Any recommendations for me?

July 21, 2018

Travel | A Few Days in Vienna

Vienna | No Apathy Allowed — The main entrance to the Hofburg Palace

Can you believe that in all my 10 years in Germany (click here for my very first post from Hamburg), I had never made the journey across the border to Austria? To make up for that, I spent my 10-year Germanniversary in Vienna, and it ended up being a fantastic trip! There are so many centuries of European history contained in this one city, and I knew there would be absolutely no way to see it all in five days (including the train rides), so I just decided on the things that really interested me the most: palaces, views of the city, and art. Ok ok…so in Vienna, that doesn’t really narrow things down much, but I did try!

So much history

Probably the biggest highlights were the Hofburg Palace and the Schönbrunn Palace: the former homes of the emperors and empresses of the Habsburg Empire who ruled large parts of Europe for many centuries. I still have vivid memories of my 10th grade social studies class and my teacher telling us about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand which ignited World War I — Mr. Ames pronounced Habsburg with such great relish that spit would often go flying towards any student sitting in the first row. Anyway, if you’re a history buff, Vienna is definitely the place for you!

Views from above (and below)

I also took the 343 steps up the spiral staircase of the South Tower of Stephansdom for fantastic views over the city. Definitely not recommended for claustrophobics or anyone anxious about falling down stairs. The stairs made a tight spiral the entire way up, no handrail whatsoever, barely enough room for foot traffic going both up and down, and quite narrow steps. I nearly had a panic attack on my way up, and got dizzy on my way down from the constant spiraling. In contrast, I absolutely loved the view from the slightly lower North Tower — because from there you can admire the beautiful shingle designs on the roof of the cathedral!

If you want a great view from above of the interior, check out the Domschatz exhibition in the West Gallery. You’ll escape the crowds and get a wonderful bird’s eye view of the tourist masses swarming through the cathedral.

However, if you’ve visited the catacombs in Paris (which still house the bones of six million Parisians!), you can skip the mostly empty and definitely less impressive catacombs underneath the Stephansdom.

Museums galore

Of course, checking out the Klimt collection at the Oberes Belvedere is a definite must for art lovers. But my favorite was actually a small exhibition of street photographer Vivian Maier at WestLicht. It was a perfect coincidence that I discovered the exhibition while searching for a way to take a break from the tourist hordes. Her portraits and her story have fascinated me for a long time.

I also traveled a bit outside the city center to visit Freud’s former apartment, waiting room, and office where he treated his patients. While it was pretty cool to see the original rooms, the museum is in dire need of an update, which it will apparently receive in 2020. Most of the original furnishings and property of the Freuds are located in the London museum, where the family fled in 1938 after the Nazi annexation of Austria.

There is a lot more I could add, like the Hundertwasserhaus, the Prunksaal at the Nationalbibliothek, eating Schnitzel, drinking a Kleiner Brauner at a cozy coffee house, having lunch at the Naschmarkt, and just wandering to my heart’s content.

But I think I will end here anyway — for many more photos, check out the Flickr album!

What are your favorite spots in Vienna? (I’m already making a list for my next visit!)

April 1, 2018

My Instagram Takeover of Mein Bremen

Friends, I can hardly believe it’s been a whole three months since I’ve been in this space. The year very literally started off with a flu diagnosis, then got swallowed up by jet lag, long work days, intense deadlines, and half-marathon training (Heidelberg in a few weeks!). On those evenings when I didn’t have to hit the gym, I was working late, and then on the weekends I tended to avoid my laptop as much as possible. Quite honestly, that probably won’t be changing much in the immediate future, but this post counts for something, doesn’t it?

So let’s get on with it! A few weeks ago, I was super excited to be invited to do a week-long takeover of the Mein Bremen (My Bremen) Instagram account, tasked with sharing my own perspective of the city. I’ve only done one other Instagram takeover before this (LOVEBREMEN), but I knew it would be a lot of fun to interact with nearly 8 times as many followers as I have on my own account! It was definitely something of a time commitment, since I wanted to make sure to share my best photos with my own unique perspective. Plus my captions and comments were in German, which just took me a bit longer to write and proofread than when I write them in English. Plus I was spreading the love as often as possible in the #MeinBremen community, adding to the InstaStories, and keeping up with my own Instagram account. But I loved every second of it!

Since I’m most in love with the city’s architecture, that’s where I took my inspiration from for the week. I highly encourage you to take a look over at Mein Bremen to see my photos (and everyone else’s!) in all their glory — but here are a few of my favorites from the week.

Many thanks to Mein Bremen for the invitation! It’s actually quite appropriate that my first blog post in months is about Instagram, since it’s basically where I’ve been micro-blogging anyway all this time. :)

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates, and happy April to all!