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Transblawg | 10. Juli 2011 —This is the last post in this accursed meme. I think the book I've most often given is Dr. Seuss You're only old once, although it may not always have been appreciated much.…
Transblawg | 8. Juni 2011 —I am merging two topics into one here, as I have no good ideas. I assume the meme was written by a person who prefers film to books, or would rather see books in film form. So many questions on film! All that occurs to me is: some years ago I missed Chaucer - Canterbury Tales - in Middle English, I …
Transblawg | 19. Mai 2011 — Bleak House was a novel I didn't really appreciate until after Andrew Davies' TV mini-series. Not that the series was perfect, but it cast a different light on the novel, and I read a criticism of it that brought out some other aspects. Bleak House is famous for its opening, describing the court of…
Transblawg | 1. März 2011 —This is difficult. Maybe Black's Law Dictionary, with 1800-odd pages. A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth, has only 1400. Then there is Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage, but that doesn't count, because it's two volumes.…
Transblawg | 15. Februar 2011 —The most stupid play I encountered at school was the play some of us acted in in the sixth form. We had an English teacher who had been assistant stage manager at the local theatre for a couple of years, and she was very into drama and very popular, but I didn't share her taste in literature, and at…
Transblawg | 15. Februar 2011 —This is going back a long way. I think Horace's poems were quite good. Digressing a bit: we had four books each for French and German A Level, and the French choice (it depended on what board you did A Levels for) was greatly superior: Beaumarchais, Mariage de Figaro; Gide, La Porte Étroite; Mauriac…
Transblawg | 8. Februar 2011 —This is an odd question. It must refer to large and difficult books one expects to be rewarding. I think perhaps Blackstone's Commentaries, although I've read a little bit. Here they are online. But 'always'? I can't have wanted to read them much before 1976. But I think memory has drawn a veil over…
Transblawg | 30. Januar 2011 —This is difficult. I tend to forget covers and look at the inside of a book. Sometimes I hesitate to buy a book with a cover showing the actors in the latest TV or film adaptation, especially if I read the book before it was adapted. Most covers seem to date. Possibly a foodie book, like Jennifer Mc…
Transblawg | 28. Januar 2011 — ... Mantel, which I read last year. In fact, I was on the ferry from Dunkirk and they had no English Sunday papers, and I had nothing with me, and this was the only book they had I could face reading. It was a great read. I know the author is working on a sequel, but in the mean time she was ill -…
Transblawg | 18. Januar 2011 —I just went to another bookshelf, and what I got was Wolfram Siebeck, Die Kaffeehäuser von Wien. Eine Melange aus Mythos und Schmäh. Great photos, but a rather opinionated text - as was to be expected.…
Transblawg | 9. Januar 2011 —Bevis, the Story of a Boy, by Richard Jefferies. It's a boys' book really, but I can remember wanting to build a boat the way Bevis did, while doubting his ability to float it. It was written in 1882. It's not on Project Gutenberg, but it can be seen on Google Books, and free ebook versions can be f…
Transblawg | 4. Januar 2011 —This is a bit ambiguous, but assuming it's meant seriously, one book translation I have mentioned before that I still find funny is Der tiefere Sinn des Labenz, a translation by Sven Böttcher of The Deeper Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. It takes obscure place names and uses them to…
Transblawg | 26. Dezember 2010 —I am thinking of The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki. I can't swear it was recommended to me, but I remember a friend who lived in Japan mentioning it. I have read it at least twice and could imagine reading it again. I might not have found it if it hadn't been mentioned.…
Transblawg | 25. Dezember 2010 —I've been racking my brains but can't think of an example. In any case, from love to hate seems a bit too big a step. I can think of books that have lost their appeal. I once thought James Fenton's poems, such as The Memory of War, poems about Germany and Vietnam, very impressive, but the magic seem…
Transblawg | 18. Dezember 2010 —This is rubbish - haven't I already done this? Anything by Thomas Bernhard or Kazuo Ishiguro, perhaps (not sure if I have any one favourite author, though).…
