I love to read! I begin every day reading and end every day reading. And sometimes I read for several hours in between. But I love BOOKS--not e-readers. I tried one once and thoroughly disliked it. There are better ones now, and maybe I'll try one sometime again.
Most of my books come from the library. We have a small library here in town, but we are able to order almost any book through the extended library system. One book I ordered recently was The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding, subtitled, One House, Five Families, and 100 Years of German History.
Thomas Harding's grandmother recalled with great fondness a summer house on a lake near Berlin that her father had built. The family spend idyllic summers there. Thomas became interested in that house and visited it, finding it in great disrepair. He tried to interest his extended family in purchasing the house and restoring it, but wasn't successful.
Through dedicated research and several visits he unearthed the history of the house and wrote this interesting and well documented book about the house, a book which also gives an accounting of the political history of that small town and the country that surrounds it.
One interesting detail is the building of the Berlin Wall which ran right through the property, between the house and the lake, leaving the house in East Germany.
I heartily recommend this well-written book to anyone interested in a family-based history of the last century in Germany.
Two other books I've enjoyed recently are by Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect. The narrator is an Asperger-syndrome adult man. Doesn't sound too promising, but this is very well done and there's lots of good humour in the writing. Not a heavy or deep read, but certainly enjoyable.
I'm always looking for good books to read. If you have any books that you've enjoyed recently--or that you found interesting, stimulating even though perhaps on difficult or serious subjects, such as Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, please make a recommendation! You can leave it in a comment, or you can email me at grammilou@hotmail.com. THANKS!
Most of my books come from the library. We have a small library here in town, but we are able to order almost any book through the extended library system. One book I ordered recently was The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding, subtitled, One House, Five Families, and 100 Years of German History.
Thomas Harding's grandmother recalled with great fondness a summer house on a lake near Berlin that her father had built. The family spend idyllic summers there. Thomas became interested in that house and visited it, finding it in great disrepair. He tried to interest his extended family in purchasing the house and restoring it, but wasn't successful.
Through dedicated research and several visits he unearthed the history of the house and wrote this interesting and well documented book about the house, a book which also gives an accounting of the political history of that small town and the country that surrounds it.
One interesting detail is the building of the Berlin Wall which ran right through the property, between the house and the lake, leaving the house in East Germany.
I heartily recommend this well-written book to anyone interested in a family-based history of the last century in Germany.
Two other books I've enjoyed recently are by Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect. The narrator is an Asperger-syndrome adult man. Doesn't sound too promising, but this is very well done and there's lots of good humour in the writing. Not a heavy or deep read, but certainly enjoyable.
I'm always looking for good books to read. If you have any books that you've enjoyed recently--or that you found interesting, stimulating even though perhaps on difficult or serious subjects, such as Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, please make a recommendation! You can leave it in a comment, or you can email me at grammilou@hotmail.com. THANKS!
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