Republished from my old website. The Lonely Empress is a biography about Elizabeth of Austria. Known as Sisi she has mesmerised a whole world and it was with great anticipation I started to read. I think a lot of people, including myself, have a somewhat romantic image of her, but you realise rather quickly that you are wrong. She is far from a romantic princess, rather the contrary. But let's start from the beginning. She was one of a big family of siblings in the Wittelsbach family. Growing up rather freely, close to nature and away from binding court protocol, her future life came as a shock to her. Emperor Franz Joseph's mother Sophia and Sisi's mother Ludovica were sisters and planned to marry off the young emperor to the oldest Wittelsbach daughter, Helen. As it happened, Sisi was accompanying her sister to the first meeting with the crown prince, and, as they say, the rest is history. He fell madly in love with Sisi and persuaded his mother to change her mind about who should become his wife. " Neither Ludovica nor Sophia seems to have given a thought to the fact that Francis Joseph and Elizabeth were not only first cousins, but that Elizabeth was a child of second cousins, both of them Wittelsbachs - a dangerous inheritance for the heirs to the Austrian throne. " After their first meeting in the spa resort of Bad Ischl Sisi had to go back home. " In the most romantic of all Austrian towns they said good-bye, and it seemed as if the Emperor would never tire of kissing Elizabeth's tearstained face. But it was two strangers who said good-bye, two people who as yet knew nothing of one another, and who would only gradually discover the incompatibility of their characters, the divergencies of their tastes. But whereas Francis Joseph's love would be strong enough to survive all the vicissitudes of their married life, Elizabeth's love, fragile and ephemeral as a dream, would fade in the first hour of disillusion. " The last sentence above more, or less, sums up the character of Elizabeth. She lived in an imaginary dream, suffered from melancholia, was very shy and had physiological problems of various kinds. A little bit of paranoia added to it makes a troubled life. Although she did love her husband for some years, it slowly disintegrated. " The tragedy for Elizabeth was that she was married to a man with no imagination. " Two souls that never really met. Elizabeth had very little empathy and could not even give love to her own children, the exception being her last child Marie Valerie. She was a worried soul which made her travel around Europe for most of her life. Elizabeth and Franz Joseph were married for forty-four years, but it seems they only spend around four years together. Elizabeth went from one place to the next, without finding any peace. She got easily bored and ventured on another trip. Part of the problem was the Habsburg court which kept the most rigid etiquette in Europe. Strict rules on how to spend the days, both with the family and the court itself. It came as a shock to Elizabeth who had grown up in a rather unruly household. She never took to Vienna and only reluctantly stayed there when she had to for political reasons. She loved Hungary and even learned Hungarian. She took their political course into her heart and this was the only time she engaged in the politics of the Habsburgs and Austria. Elizabeth was considered the most beautiful woman of her time. She could be very charming when she wanted to and people fell for her spirit. In a way, it turned out to be her curse. She came to worship her own beauty which took peculiar turns. She spend hours every day to do her hair, she let the maids make face cream out of strawberries and she slept with raw meat on her cheeks, just to keep her beauty. She was a fanatic for exercise and walked hours every day. Her main love seems to have been for horses and she was considered an excellent rider and hunter. She could easily compete with any man on a hunt. Her restless energy made it difficult for most people to keep up with her pace. Afraid of becoming fat she dieted most of her life and sometimes only ate an orange or two during the day. I think today she would have been diagnosed with anorexia. All these factors did not improve her health. Elizabeth often talked about how she wanted to die: " I would like to die alone, far from my loved ones, and for death to take me unawares. " In this sense, her wish was fulfilled. She was stabbed by an anarchist on the Montblanc quay in Geneva and died soon afterwards. The Habsburg family suffered many losses of loved ones and various accidents during their lives. When Emperor Franz Joseph received the news that the Empress had passed away he said: "' Is nothing to be spared me on this earth?' Count Paar was the only one to hear the harsh and bitter sobs of a broken-hearted man questioning his God. Then raising his head, Francis Joseph looked across at the portrait of the woman he had worshipped but never understood. And speaking to himself, rather than to Count Paar, he said, ' No one will ever know how much I loved her .'" The biography covers not only Elizabeth but also part of the life of Franz Joseph and the family. The Mayerling drama is here, as well as political events during the latter part of the 19th century. " The tragedy of Francis Joseph was that he was never prepared to make sacrifices until it was too late. " The political upheaval in Europe during the latter part of the 19th century might have needed an Emperor who was more flexible and not so bound to traditions. The biography makes for fascinating reading, both on a personal account of the Habsburg family and their, somewhat, doomed heritage. When looking back on the personal lives of Franz Joseph and Sisi, I think Franz Joseph turns out to be the nicer person of the two. His love lasted a life-time and must have caused him a lot of sadness, considering how Sisi spent her life. Sisi on her side, should not have been an Empress. She would probably have been happier in an ordinary marriage, living a simpler life, close to nature. Having said that, she definitely enjoyed the lifestyle of the rich. That is, she was free to choose the lifestyle she wanted. Joan Haslip has managed to capture the life of a lost soul and a tragic life. The biography is very well researched and documented and gives an in-depth view of the life of the royals at the time. The difficult balancing between private and official lives, having to adapt to external circumstances. Joan Haslip treats the story with great respect, documenting their lives and showing sympathy to the people she is writing about. An excellent biography. (PS I have used the Austrian (and Swedish) spelling of the names of Habsburg and Franz Joseph (except for quotes from the book). It seems in English you can use both b and p for Habsburg and the biography uses p. Franz Joseph is Francis Joseph in English.)

Republished from my old website This is a very complex book about finding the cause to the First World War. It is not possible to point to one specific cause to the start of the war. Christopher Clark makes a fantastic job in showing us the various events that lead to this terrible war. ” The European continent was at peace on the morning of Sunday 28 June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek arrived at Sarajevo railway station. Thirty-seven days later, it was at war. The conflict that began that summer mobilized 65 million troops, claimed three empires, 20 million military and civilian deaths, and 21 million wounded. The horrors of Europe’s twentieth century were born of this catastrophe; it was, as the American historian Fritz Stern put it, ’the first calamity of the twentieth century, the calamity from which all other calamities sprang’. The debate over why it happened began before the first shots were fired and has been running ever since. It has spawned an historical literature of unparalleled size, sophistication and moral intensity. For international relations theorists the events of 1914 remain the political crisis par excellence, intricate enough to accommodate any number of hypotheses .” This is the opening paragraph of the Introduction to Christopher Clark’s eminent book on how Europe went to war in 1914, The Sleepwalkers . Tremendous praise has been given to the book, and it has been called a master piece. You can’t call it anything less. It is magnificent. Clark gives such detailed accounts on events, you wonder how he has been able to research it all. Christopher Clark is an Australian historian, working at the University of Cambridge. In 2015 he was knighted for his services to Anglo-German relations. His earlier works include The History of Prussia, Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 and Kaiser Wilhelm II . ” This book thus strives to understand the July Crisis of 1914 as a modern event, the most complex of modern times, perhaps of any time so far. It is concerned less with why the war happened than with how it came about. Questions of why and how are logically inseparable, but they lead us in different directions. The question of how invites us to look closely at the sequences of interactions that produced certain outcomes. By contrast, the question of why invites us to go in search of remote and categorical cuases: imperialism, nationalism, armaments, alliances, high finance, ideas of national honour, the mechanics of mobilization. They why approach brings a certain analytical clarity, but it also has a distorting effect, because it creates the illusion of a steadily building causal pressure; the factors pile up on top of each other pushing down on the events; political actors become mer executors of forces long established and beyond their control. " The British historian A.J.P Taylor and the American historian Barbara Tuchman wrote that ’ the war was a result of rigid planning, train schedules and treaty commitments. That is, it was the final stop in a chain of events that could not stop the train, once it started ’. It is a very good description and after having read Clark’s book you can see how all decisions from the persons and countries involved, although aimed at not starting a war, on the contrary, lead directly to war. In 1903, Alexander I of Serbia was killed by a secret network called 'The Black Hand'. The same network that eleven years later organised the murder of the archduke of Austria-Hungary. Christopher Clark considers this to be the very start of the actions that finally led to the outbreak of the First World War. Germany was accused of escalating the conflict, but Clark means they were not alone in their paranoid imperialism. None of the great powers wanted war, but due to how events happened, they walked like sleepwalkers into the war, without anyone being able to explain how it happened. Europe at the time was at a cross road and political changes were in the air. The imperialistic powers of Europe, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Osman empire, Russia, Great Britain, France and Italy were all conspiring to secure their power base. New times were waiting and people were opposing their governments. Clark considers that this totally, illogical conflict is based on how Europe looked before 1914. It was an unstable, hereditary monarchy, hit by ethnical conflicts and nationalistic fractions. The elite suffered from a lack of virility and needed somehow to show their masculinity. Could it be that the war started because the elite and generals felt threatened by the earlier marginalised proletariat? There is not one separate government or individ which could be accused of having started the war. Clark notes in his conclusion that: ” The outbreak of war in 1914 is not an Agatha Christie drama at the end of which we will discover the culprit standing over a corpse in the conservatory with a smoking pistol. There is no smoking gun in this story; or, rather, there is one in the hands of every major character. Viewed in this light, the outbreak of war was a tragedy, not a crime. Acknowledging this does not mean that we should minimize the belligerence and imperialist paranoia of the Austrian and German policy-makers that rightly absorbed the attention of Fritz Fischer and his historiographical allies. But the Germans were not the only imperialists and not the only ones to succumb to paranoia. The crisis that brought war in 1914 was the fruit of a shared political culture. But it was also multipolar and genuinely interactive - that is what makes it the most complex event of modern times and that is why the debate over the origins of the First World War continues, one century after Gavrilo Princip fired those two fatal shots on Franz Joseph Street. ” So much have been written about the First World War. Last time someone counted, in 1991, there were more than 25 000 books an articles written about this disaster. If you are interested in the causes and want to have an overview of events, I can highly recommend this book. The book is almost 600 pages, written in rather small text (at least my pocket version), but it never gets dull. Wonderful prose, easy to read and told in a way that makes it hard to put the book down, once you get into it. It just confirms that the history of real life is much more exciting than any fictional story. What amazed me, was how supposedly, responsible emperors, kings and politicians acted. Many times due to small reasons of self interest, making a decision without a proper back ground, without thinking of the greater picture, a lack of knowing what the others were doing, interpreting what they were doing, rightly or wrongly. It was like these people were sitting with the map of Europe and made their next move with a chess piece. Rather scaring.

September is gone and we have been travelling this month, and still are. We did Sardinia with our camper van and am now in Corsica. Fantastic islands and I managed to read a few books connecting with Sardinia so far. Corsica reading will come and will of course be a biography of Napoleon, having visited his birth place yesterday. But, now it is time to look at what I read in September. I managed eight books. Agatha Christie x 2 After a very slow reading in August, due to lack of time, and thick books that never seemed to end, I was ready for a couple of light reads in the beginning of the month. I went to my Nextory app and dowloaded Murder at the Vicarage and The Body in the Library. Both easy reads, and entertaining. Kala by Colin Walsh I think this will be the best book I read this year. A fascinating story of Kala and her teenage friends. Starting with a prolog from past times and then jumping to present day. The story is told by three friends of Kala and jumps from past to present, making it a very thrilling read. This is Colin Walsh (Irish) debut novel and I can't wait to see what he will be up to in the future. There will be a review soon, I hope. I just wanted to tease you with the following paragraph, or long sentence reminding me of Henry James, from the prolog. "Kala's front wheel noses its way over the edge and her bike tips into the fall and time dilates into something unstable once the rest of us pedal after her, turning the world beneath us, our bikes peeling off the top of the hill into the nothing, where immediately there's no need to pedal any more, gravity's taking care of everything now, coiling us through itself and tearing the path apart beneath our tyres as we go faster and faster, the cars growing louder, the gap getting larger, the lads yelping and shrieking, the bike chains beneath us screaming, when we see that Kala has begun to pedal furiously, all of us shouting and her leaning deeper and pulling out ahead of us, gathering herself into a surge, hair streking back at us like dark lightning as the path suddenly runs into road, and the sounds become noise, and in the roar of the moment it feels like we're foam becoming ocean." It is a beautifully crafted novel. The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson I found this book at the harbour in Livorno, Italy, as we were camping overnight to catch the ferry to Sardinia the next morning. It is an English version of a Swedish thriller. I have not heard of either the author or the book, but the story sounded good. And it was. It was a little bit strange in the beginning to read it in English, because I could only think of the Swedish words, but IThe Prin got over that. It is a different story from the usual one, I really enjoyed it and it kept me guessing until the very end. . From Goodreads. This spellbinding new thriller opens when a young father fails to show up for supper on a snowy night just before Christmas. His is not the only sinister disappearance, and before the final breathtaking climax, a secret killer terrorizes an entire frightened town. Despite being on maternity leave, Inspector Ann Lindell is determined to find John's murderer. The cruel cat-and-mouse game that follows leads Ann to a deadly confrontation with a treacherous killer. Ann must decide whether to take a huge risk that could result in many more dead bodies in the snow, including hers and that of her unborn child. Boktjuvarna, Jakten på de försvunna biblioteken by Anders Rydell (The Book Thieves, The Hunt for the Lost Libraries). An interesting nonfiction book on the lost libraries after World War II. Well researched and rather scaring in the determination that the Nazis had in either destroying books or stealing them for their own purposes. Rydell has travelled all over Europe to find out what happened. Unfortunately, so many libraries are still lost. The Queen of Darkness and other stories by Grazia Deledda Grazia Deledda is a Sardinian author from Nouro, of whome I never heard of. To my big surprise she is a Nobel Prize Laureate and got the price in 1926 "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island (i.e. Sardinia) and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general." I found one of her short story books on my Nextory app and downloaded it. It was a pleasant aquaintaince to read her book. She writes about ordinary people who ends up in extraordinary circumstances, and how they deal with their problems, with grace and and an inner strengh that help them through life. The short stories, although written almost a hundred years ago, still felt that they belong to today's world. Howards End by E.M. Forster This book probably does not need any further introduction. It is, I would think, a typical Forster novel, slowly taking us through the lives of two sisters and a brother who happen to be aquainted with the Wilcoxes, the owners of Howards End. Enters a poor, young man who wants to educate himself, but have a lot of problems pursuing his studies. It is about relationships, intellectual versus entrepreneurial, different classes as the world is changing. Forster slowly goes forward with his sharp eye for society, life and a changing world. Only in the end, the story seems to speed up and become quite exciting. Margareth is the only one of the characters that I really liked, the rest of them seemed to be 'floating' around without any goal, or aim, in life. Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Finally, finished Goethe's Faust that I have been reading for a few months. It is a book that has to be read slowly, and I would even say, that I have to re-read part of it anyway to really grasp everything. It was a much easier read that I had anticipated and I appreciated the poetry of the text. I somehow thought it was written in prose. It is satirical, and sometimes hilarious and I really enjoyed it. When you read the introduction and comments you can see the bigger picture of what Goethe wanted with this story. That was my eight books of September. I have already read a book about Garibaldi, in connection with the Sardinian trip. He had a house there, now a museum, and it was beautiful to walk around there. But more about this man and biography in October.

August has come to an end, and as the days grow shorter, it's the perfect time to reflect on the books I read in August. Whether you spent your days lounging by the pool, enjoying the breeze in a hammock, or simply curling up on the couch with a good book, I hope August was a good reading month filled with literary adventures. I had a few adventures myself while travelling in Austria in August. If you are interested what I have been up to, you can check out my newsletter The Content Reader (It is a free subscription but if you want to check it out click 'No thanks' and you will come in to the main page). My reading was very slow and I finished just a few books. Partly because of travelling and lots of things to see, or because the novels were rather thick. 1. Antinous: A Poem by Fernando Pessoa It rained outside right into Hadrian's soul. The boy lay dead On the low couch, on whose denuded whole, To Hadrian's eyes, that at their seeing bled, The shadowy light of Death's eclipse was shed. The boy lay dead and the day seemed a night Outside. The rain fell like a sick affright Of Nature at her work in killing him. Through the mind's galleries of their past delight The very light of memory was dim. That is the beginning of Pessoa's poem on a love lost. A beautiful poem and a story of grief and loss. 2. The World of Yesterday: Memories of a European by Stefan Zweig Zweig takes a look on the world as it used to be when he started to writing it in 1934. He had to leave Austria due to Nazi persecution and went into exile in England and later in Brazil. He sent the manuscript to the publisher the day before he and his wife committed suicide in February 1942. It is a nostalgic trip back to how the world looked like during his life time. However, it is not only good memories. As always he has a sharp eye on society and how it works. There are so many insightful comments, valid still today. I think he would have liked how Europe is today, which looks very much like the ideas he had himself so many years ago. A book that all Europeans, and others, should read. A full review will come. 3. The Razor's Edge By Somerset W. Maugham This novel is part of the Classic Club spin, and I am proud to have been able to finish another book off my list. I don't really know what I think about this book. It kept me reading on, although not very much was happening. It is a story reflecting the times, and one man's quest to live a different life. More about it in a coming review. 4. Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sahabattin Ali I read this book for my challenge to read a book by authors from all Europan countries. Sahabattin Ali (1907-48) is a Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet and journalist. He had a troubled life due to his writing and was imprisoned several times. He died under unclear circumstance close to the Bulgarian border. "His short novel "Madonna in a Fur Coat" (1943) is considered one of the best novellas in Turkish literature." (Wikipedia). It is a fascinating story of love, loneliness and life's twists. Review will come. A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade in 1920s Berlin. The city's crowded streets, thriving arts scene, passionate politics and seedy cabarets provide the backdrop for a chance meeting with a woman, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the unfathomable nature of the human soul. (Goodreads) Reflecting on August reading As I wrap up my August reading adventures, it's time to ask myself whether it was a hit or a miss? Did I discover new favourites that will stay with me forever, or did I encounter books that failed to spark my imagination? In spite of the few books I read this month, I will still count it as a hit, due to the books I read. All of them sparked something in me, made me think of the characters and their actions. The characters and stories stayed with me after I had finished the books. I think that is a good measurement. Whether our August reading list was a mix of highs and lows or consistently fantastic reads, remember that the beauty of reading lies in the journey itself. Each book we pick up carries us to new worlds, introduces us to unforgettable characters, and allows us to experience emotions we never knew existed. I can say that these books really lived up to these expectations. Looking Ahead As I bid farewell to August and welcome the crisp days of September, (although since I am travelling south to Sardinia and Corsica, I might be able to enjoy some more sunny days) let's keep the spirit of adventure alive in our reading habits. Let's seek out new genres, discover hidden literary gems, and embrace the joy of getting lost in a good book. I think our blogging world takes us through all of these features. Reviews, recommendations and comments embraces our love for books, and help us find new adventures. So, dear readers, how was your August reading journey? Share your thoughts, recommendations, and reflections in the comments below. And remember, no matter where our literary travels take us, the pages of a book will always be a welcome escape. Happy reading! PS Did you like the writing in this post? It was done with a mixture of AI writing and my own writing. I don't really use AI help, but though I would try it out. Do you use AI help when writing, posts or other things. Please leave a comment.

Concerning the title (from Wikipedia). " The novel's title comes from a translation of a verse in the Katha Upanishad, paraphrased in the book's epigraph as: "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard ." I guess that is what Larry discovers along his path to finding a meaning with life. For once, I am pleased to say, I did finish the spin book. And very early as well. It must have been over a month since I finished it. I have not read a lot by Maugham, only The Moon and Sixpence . I did like that one, my review is under the link. This is a total different kind of book. When I read it, and even when I had finished it, I did not know what to think. Usually, it would be a book that I did not finish, since I found it rather slow, but still, I had to finish it, to see what happened to the characters. Having said that, I am not sure what I think about the characters. Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brillant characters - his fiancee Isabel, whose choice between love and wealth have lifelong repercussions, and Elliot Templeton, her uncle, a classic expatriate American snob. The most ambitious of Maugham's novels, this is also one in which Maugham himself plays a considerable part as he wanders in and out of the story, to observe his characters struggling with their fates. (from Goodreads). Larry and Isabel are best friends since childhood and everyone expects them to marry. When Larry comes back from World War II and its horrors, he is another person. He decides to take a few years 'off' and go to Europe to try to find a balance in his life. Isabel is devastated, but agrees as she loves him. Her mother tries to steer her out of the relationship, but Isabel persists. Isabel's uncle Elliot Templeton is an American expat living in Paris, joining the jet set circles and is a snob, in all things in life. The narrator is Maugham himself, who enters into the lives of these characters from time to time. All characters are wealthy people, are proud of it, or at least takes it for granted. Neither of them, except Larry, can think of living a different life. Larry is the character that eveything circles around. Maybe, because he does take a stand in life, he does not just follow the marked, or trodden, path. He is looking for something else. Something that can explains life and one's soul. I did not entirely take to Larry, found him somewhat vague, even in his way of searching for a higher meaning. However, he definitely stands out in the crowd, at the same time as he is part of every crowd he is encountering. One could maybe call him an adventurer, but it is not entirely right. Everyone is against what he is doing, except maybe Maugham himself, who seems to just listen and note without any critisism. Maybe it is the writer in him. I did find Elliot Templeton a rather loving character. At least he stood up for what he was, a snob and enjoyer of life. I loved how he kept up his life style until the very end. It is a difficult book to review since it goes in so many directions. If you are a fan of Maugham you definitely have to read it. Maybe the story is applicable also today, when there are many people, with a lot of money, but not knowing what to do with their life. I think that is the most important thing, that you have a goal or a path to follow in life. Otherwise, you are lost. I find that several of the characters are lost, except maybe Elliot and his sister. She has both feet on the ground in all situations. Maybe that is why these two characters come out as the only real characters of the story. Or, is it the Larry comes out as the winner? If you have read it, I would be interesting in knowing what you think.

Nonfiction November is coming up. One of my favourite challenges. Thank you so much to the hostesses for this year's event. Here are the topic prompts for each week: Week 1 (10/28-11/1) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (Heather) Week 2 (11/4-11/8) Choosing Nonfiction: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking. (Frances) Week 3 (11/11-11/15) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it's a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or (because I’m doing this) two books on two different areas have chimed and have a link. You can be as creative as you like! (Liz) Week 4 (11/18-11/22) Mind Openers:  One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is the way it can open your eyes to the world around you–no plane ticket required. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Is there a book that, if everyone read it, you think the world would be a better place? (Rebekah) Week 5 (11/25-11/29) New To My TBR:  It's been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! (Deb) Usually, I just grab some books, but is really thinking I should have a more planned approach this year. My favourite nonfiction is history and that is what I mostly read. However, maybe I can venture into another subject as well this year. I am looking through my TBR page and have come up with the following books. I don't expect to read them all, but hope to finish a few of them. Evolution Bojs, Karin - Min europeiska familj, De senaste 54000 åren (My European family, the last 54000 years) Desmond/Moore, Adrian/James - Darwin's Sacred Cause, Race, Slavery and the quest for Human Origins Biography Coote, Stephen - John Keats - A Life Lee, Hermione - Edith Wharton History Banning, Tim - The Pursuit of Glory - The Five Revolutions that made Modern Europe 1648-1815 Wesseling, Henk , Imperiernas tid 1815-1919 (Europa's koloniale eeuw. De koloniale rijken in de negentiende eeuw, 1815-1919) Time of Empires Diverse Radden Keefe, Patrick - Empire of Pain Strindberg, August - En dåres försvarstal (Le Plaidoyer d'un fou/the Defence of a Fool Walker, Matthew - Why we sleep - unlocking the power of sleep and dreams Nine books that could be on my list for Nonfiction November.

Time for another spin with the Classic Club . Here are the simple rules. Publish a post on your blog before Sunday 20th October 2024. Add your list of twenty books that you want to read. You should read the book before 18 December 2024. Which book should you read? You have to wait until Sunday, when the spin number will be generated. Here is an updated list from me. My Spin List (as of 16 October 2024) 1. The Master and Margarita by Michail Bulgakov 2. Zadig by Voltaire 3. Daisy Miller by Henry James 4. The Seahawk by Rafael Sabatini.    5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoj 6. Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast by Oscar Wilde 7. Child Harold by Lord Byron 8. Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean 9. The Red and the Black by Stendhal 10. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 11. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak  12. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James 13. The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster 14. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding 15. The Viscount de Bragelonne by Alexander Dumas 16. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton 17. The Big Four by Agatha Christie 18. The Brothers Karamazov by Fjodor Dostoevsky 19. The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier 20. The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde Is there any book in general that I wish will come up? Not really, this time I am happy with the list. Although if Dostoevsky would come up, I am not sure I will be able to finish it before the deadline. But, who knows.

End of October and time flies. We are already into Nonfiction November. I am behind with everything for the time being, but I will try to catch up. So here is my post for week one, hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story . The first week's meme is: Week 1 (10/28-11/1) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? I have read 21 nonfiction so far this year in the following genres. Many books in Swedish so I make a short summary History From IX to V. Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki León Romarrikets undergång by Dag Sebastian Ahlander Augustus by Eva Queckfeldt En sommar med Homeros (Un été avec Homère) by Sylvain Tesson Undsättningen, Det danska fälttåget till Kristianstad 1678 by Stefan Persson and Jimmy Juhlin Alftberg Sveriges stormaktstid by Dick Harrison The Teutonic Knights by William Urban/April Boktjuvarna, Jakten på de försvunna biblioteken by Anders Rydell Garibaldi: frihetskämpe och folkhjälte by Sven Wikberg Three books about the Roman Empire, still a favourite topic. One book about Homer and his influence on the author Tesson. Great book. Two books about Swedish history; one local history and one of Sweden's 'glorious' 17th century. One book about the Teutonic Knights. One book about the Book thieves, the hunt for the lost libraries during WW II. One book about Garibaldi, the freedom fighter for an independent Italy. In connection with my visit to his home in Sardinia. Biography - Memoirs Tankar efter en pandemi - och lärdomarna inför nästa by Anders Tegnell Vi drabbade samman med våra ödens hela bredd : författarparet Moa och Harry Martinson by Ebba Witt-Brattström Orden som formade Sverige by Elisabeth Åsbrink Övergivenheten by Elisabeth Åsbrink Det är inte jag, det är du, Att göra slut med Gud av Rosi Hageberg The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig Anders Tegnell's book about the pandemic and how the health authorities dealt with it, interesting read. Ebba Witt-Brattström's biography about two of our greatest authors and their love/hate affair. Two books by Elisabeth Åsbrink; one on how certain words and expressions formed the way we think of Sweden, one on mother and grandmother and how their lives influenced hers, and not always in a good way. Åsbrink is one of my favourite authors. Rosi Hageberg and her dealing with a religious upbringing. A very personal and touching account. Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday where he remembers a world that is lost. Travelling by train Rivieran inom räckhåll, Med tåg till de bästa upplevelserna i södra Frankrike by Kristina Svensson och Maria Unde Westerberg/May A hands on book how to travel by train through Europe. Advice on how to book tickets, where to go and what to see. And ... a few funny anecdotes on the way. Philosophy The Discipline of Desire by Ryan Holiday Lessons in Stoicism by John Sellars How to be a Stoic - Epictetus/Seneca/Marcus Aurelius Handbok i livets konst (The Handbook) by Epictetus Filosofi på 30 sekunder edited by Barry Loewer Yes, I got into Stoicism this year. Trying to live a little bit more like the stoics, learning how to deal with people and the world around me. Also added a philosopical book that easily explains the different ideas of the philosophers. It did not make me any wiser. I find reading these different philosophies just make me confused. What were your favourites? My absolute favourite was Un été avec Homère (A Summer With Homer) by Sylvain Tesson. This is a book I could always keep with me, and look up when I need to. Absolutley wonderful. The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig also made a big impression on me. Not only the things he writes about, but how he writes it. The letters and words just fill the pages and you go with the flow. Have you had a favourite topic? As always history is my favourite topic. I could refer 11 of the 21 books I read as history, although a couple ended up under Biography/Memoirs. Is there a topic you want to read about more?   I always tend to be drawn towards history, but am also interested in biographies. In a way I guess it is a little bit like history. Travels, cooking and creative stuff are also genres I enjoy. What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? Interacting with all of you who are interested in Nonfiction. I hope to get inspired to go outside my comfort zone and find new interesting topics to read. Thank you to all the hosts for keeping up this challenge. I am looking forward to see what you all are reading.

Behind the cover of box 2 we have - George Saunders. George Saunders is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. A multi talented man in other words. Since 1997, Saunders he is also teaching creative writing for the Syracuse University and its MFA program. I have read his A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, which is an interesting novel, where he analyses some of the great, classic authors. He also wrote Lincoln in the Bardo , of course, which I still have to read. Saunders has a vivid Substack account, where he talks about reading and writing. One part is The Story Club. Recently, there was a post titled: How Much Do We Need to Read to Have a Chance to Be Good? To be a good reader—or writer—I assume, means having a solid foundation for your reading. Take a look at the article; it's interesting. Among the comments, you’ll find suggestions for people’s favorite reads from each century, spanning from the 1300s to the present. Ultimately, it’s up to you and your own favorites. There are certainly more of mine that are missing from the list. Here is my list : 1300-1350 Divine Comedy (Dante) - The Decamerone (Boccaccio) 1350-1400 Canterbury Tales (Chaucer) 1400-1450 ? 1450-1500 ? 1500-1550 The Prince (Machiavelli) 1550-1600 Hamlet (Shakespeare) 1600-1650 Don Quixote (Cervantes) 1650-1700 Paradise Lost (Milton) 1700-1750 Gulliver's Travels (Swift) / Robinson Crusoe (Defoe) 1750-1800  Candide (Voltaire) 1800-1850 Anything by Jane Austen / Anything by the Brontë sisters / Frankenstein (Shelley) 1850-1900 Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyevsky) / Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Nietzsche) / Heart of Darkness (Conrad) /Madame Bovary (Flaubert) /Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) Moby Dick (Melville) 1900-1950 To The Lighthouse (Woolf) / 1984 (Orwell) / The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) / The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) / Gone With the Wind (Mitchell) 1950-2000 Fahrenheit 451(Bradbury) /To Kill a Mockingbird /Harper) / One Hundred Years of Solitude (Márquez / Lolita (Nabokov) /The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov) / Lord of the Flies (Golding) / The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) / The Bell Jar (Plath) 2000 - Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies/The Mirror and the Light (Mantel) / The Sense of an Ending (Barnes) Which of your favorites would make the list? Let me know in the comments! Also, if you have any suggestions for the 15th century, I’d love to hear them. If you are interested in reading my Substack account, The Content reader newsletter, you will find it here: https://thecontentreader.substack.com/ (when asked if you want to subscribe, click 'No thanks' and you will enter into the main page, where you will find a sample of my earlier newsletters. I mostly write about travel, history, art and culture and everything that makes life fun. I do hope you will subscribe. It is free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." From Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoj I have had this book on my shelves for many years. It is an old edition, with illustrations. I have decided that 2025 will be the year I finally read it.

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was an Austrian author, born in Vienna in the then Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In the 1920s and '30s, at the height of his career, he was one of the most translated and popular writers in the world. He studied philosophy and started his writing career early by writing newspaper articles and essays. His work consists of historical biographies of literary and historical persons, fiction and plays. His fiction is mostly in the form of novellas or short stories, the most famous being Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok, and Chess Story . He also wrote librettos for the German composer Richard Strauss, whom he admired. In 1934 he had to leave Austria due to the rise of the Nazi Party, and he emigrated to England. In 1940 he moved to New York and then on to Brazil where he settled with his second wife Lotte Altmann. Over the years Zweig became disillusioned and saw no hope for the future of Europe. He and his wife committed double suicide in February 1942. He started writing his memoirs in 1934 and added the last chapter the day before the suicide. The book was first published in German in 1942, by a publisher in Stockholm. To Zweig’s chagrin his own books were by then banned in Germany and Austria. A European memoir "I was born in 1881 in the great and mighty empire of the Habsburg Monarchy, but you would look for it in vain on the map today; it has vanished without trace. I grew up in Vienna, an international metropolis for two thousand years, and had to steal away from it like a thief in the night before it was demoted to the status of a provincial German town. My literary work, in the language in which I wrote it, has been burnt to ashes in the country where my books made millions of readers their friends. So I belong nowhere now, I am a stranger or at most a guest everywhere ." (my bold mark). The World of Yesterday is Zweig's personal remembrances of life in Vienna at the start of the 20th century. It is the last days of the Habsburg Empire, a world that soon will be gone. Zweig starts his retrospectic journey with a look at his childhood, teenage years, the education system and a view on sexuality, totally changing people's attitude as the psychoanalysis of Freud (who was a personal friend) was introduced. He studied philosophy at the University of Vienna, and later in Berlin, but has nothing good to say about the teachings. Already early on he finds his way to literature and the arts by his own efforts and studies. He traveled the world to learn from other authors, artists and cultures; Berlin, Paris and other metropoles, as well as countries outside Europe. It became more challenging as the political landscape in Europe was changing due to the two world wars. As always, Zweig has a sharp eye on society and how it works. But, he gives us a very personal view on his own work and thoughts, and the pleasure he felt with likeminded friends. There are many insightful comments, still valid today. I think he would have liked the Europe we have today, which looks very much like the ideas he himself had so many years ago. " My today is so different from all my yesterdays; I have risen and fallen so often, that I sometimes feel as if I had lived not just one but several completely different lives." It is difficult to summarise his book. It reads more like a dictionary. Each chapter covers a topic, a certain time and you can open it wherever you want. This is a book I could think of having with me all the time. The same feeling I had with Sylvain Tessin's book A Summer With Homer (Une été avec Homère ). I can see myself making a small package with these two books and keep them close by, to open up anywhere, and start reading. Maybe you can even compare Zweig with Odysseus, who travelled the world trying to get back home. Unfortunately for Zweig, once he left, he never came back to Austria. A life lived The book is translated by Anthea Bell (2009) and from the translators note I quote the following. " Their double suicide raises another point: there has been discussion of the reason for it, since at that date, when the United States had just entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, there were clear signs that the tide was turning against Hitler. Talk of final victory and a 'wonder weapon' may have sounded persuasive in Germany and Austria, where a heavy propaganda system was brought to bear, less so outside those countries. One surmise, with which I concur, is that Zweig's underlying reason may have been a sense that whether the war was won or lost, the world of civilised culture in which he had lived and worked was gone for ever. I concur merely on the grounds that the close work of translation brings one close to an author's mind - as Zweig, who often worked as a translator himself early in his literary career, and knew what translation sets out to do (...) might, I think, have agreed. " Stefan Zweig left behind a testament of a time gone by. He does it with splendour, giving us an insight into his world, his thoughts, and his achievements as an author and literary giant, and the creative world of literature and art in which he lived during his younger years. You only wonder what he could have achieved and produced had he lived on. We have to be grateful for the rather many writings he left behind, which we can still enjoy today. His language and prose is still at the higher end of literature, and Zweig's writings are based on a sharp eye and intellect making him a master in story telling. I am happy to note that I still have quite a few books left to read, especially his many literary and historical biographies. I have read Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok, and Chess Story including a few other short stories, as well as the biography of Marie Antoinette , and Messages From a Lost World.

The Ten Greatest Books Ever Written? Every year various literary connoisseurs publish lists of the best books ever written. Some of them, divided into genres, fiction and nonfiction and whatever theme you are happy with. In the end it is a matter of personal references. Just for fun, I searched for the ten best books and found a website called The Greatest Books . I choose Global Canon, but there are other search criteria if you are interested in checking it out. The List 1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I have read this book twice, and I must admit that I never really fully understood its greatness. I have also seen two different film versions ... did not help. 2. Ulysses by James Joyce - I have not read this one, and I am pretty sure, I will not read it. Joyce is a difficult author, at least that is my idea. That is all I have to say about it. 3. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust - I have not read this one either, but somehow want to. I imagine it is too difficult for me, but I still might give it a try. 4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - I have read this novel and liked it very much. It is a difficult novel to review, I think you just have to read it, and get immersed into the astonishing family of Buendía. 5. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger - I have read this classic novel, but could not really see the greatness. I just felt an irritation with the protagonist. Maybe I have to reread it? 6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - I have also read this, and liked it. Even if the subject is sensitive. Maybe, because of the writing. Which makes me want to reading something else by Nabokov. 7. Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell - I read this many years ago, when I was younger. I think it might be time for a re-read. A classic story of a world we never thought we would be living in. 8. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - I have not read this classic tale, but I have it on my book shelves. I hope to read it next year. Somehow, I am sure I will love it. 9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - One of my own favourite books, which I have read at least three times. It is definitely one of the best ten books ever written ... on my list. 10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - another classic that I have read several times. Love it. What is not to love with Jane Austen? Results 7 - Read 1 - Will Read 2 - Will (probably) Not Read