My August books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.

"Hildur - Die Toten am Meer" = "The Secrets from the Deep" by Satu Rämö, first published in 2024
(Hildur 4)

Hildur Rúnarsdóttir is a police officer on the west coast of Iceland.
Four skeletons are found on the farm of Hildur's late parents. A badly hurt kitchen worker escapes off a cruise ship. And a close friend of Hildur's mother dies unexpectedly in her nursing home.
Are these cases connected?

I skipped the third book in the series because it was about animal abuse, but wasn't too enthusiastic about this one, either.

"Zwei Sommer mit Christiane" (contains the books "Recht nette Mädchen" and "100 Tage mit Christiane") by Barbara Hug, first published in 1954 and 1957

The first book tells the story of the four Andresen daughters Andrea, Martina, Petra, and Christiane who live in a small town in Southwest Germany with their mother.
The second book, set a few years later, tells the story of Christiane taking care of Martina's son while she and her husband are in Italy for work.

In this heat, I needed a nice and quick read (one of many re-reads over the years in this case) and I have loved these two books since childhood. They are not as fluffy as they may sound as they also touch on the topics of displaced persons after the war, poverty, community, and thinking about the future.

"The Third Man" by Graham Greene, first published in 1950

Rollo Martins is invited to post-war Vienna - still divided among the Allied powers - by his old friend Harry Lime. When he arrives, however, he learns that Harry has died in a traffic accident. Rollo meets Major Calloway who tells him that Harry was involved in a racket with diluted penicillin, but Rollo doesn't believe him and starts investigating on his own.

I re-watched the movie for a random Saturday blog post and then read the novella which was just a treatment for the movie originally and differs a little from it in some details.

"Miss Buncle Married" by D. E. Stevenson, first published in 1936

Miss Buncle, now married to her publisher Mr Abbott, has found a new house at Wandlebury and has just as much interest in her new neighbors as she had in those in Silverstream, but will she write a book about them?

I really enjoyed the first "Miss Buncle" book, but think I liked this one even better because it's calmer. I didn't laugh as much, but I grew fonder of the people, especially Barbara and Arthur as a couple.
"The garden — as a garden — did not interest Arthur very much, but the garden and Barbara combined interested him enormously. Barbara was enchanting in the garden, so eager and pleased and happy, so surprised to find the things that she had planted — or caused to be planted — in the Autumn were really coming up. Barbara was more Barbara-ish than ever when she was in her garden, and Arthur could never have enough of the blend."

"Lulu in Hollywood" by Louise Brooks, first published in 1982

The book contains seven autobiographical essays by dancer and silent movie star Louise Brooks, for example her view on Bogart, on Gish and Garbo or on her experience on filming in Berlin. There's also a later edition with an eighth essay.

I had heard about Louise Brooks before, but haven't seen a movie with her yet. The most interesting essay for me was the last one on her filming "Pandora's Box" in Berlin (pet peeve alert - in the filmography it says "Die Buchse der Pandora" which gave me another eye roll because it's "Büchse", a "Buchse" is a socket!).

"The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints" by M. V. Carey (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1971 😸
(The Three Investigators 15)

Why has the eccentric man called The Potter disappeared just when he's expecting his daughter and grandson? Who are the men watching Mrs. Dobson and Tom and why do they do it.
Once again, the Three Investigators get confronted with the secrets of a small European country.

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it.

"The Red House Mystery" by Alan Alexander Milne, first published in 1922

Antony Gillingham just wanted to visit his friend Bill Beverley who's staying at the Red House, but instead he and Matthew Cayley - the cousin of the house owner Mark Ablett - find a body in the office!
Gillingham becomes a veritable "Holmes" and makes Bill his "Watson".

I hadn't known that Milne wrote a mystery - just this one - before seeing it in a book post by Jeanie from "The Marmelade Gypsy". Thank you, Jeanie, I enjoyed this one a lot! What a pity that Gillingham stayed a one hit wonder.

"Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters" by Laura Thompson, first published in 2015 (also as "The Six")

You would think this is just a biography of the six Mitford sisters Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah (there was also a brother Tom) who are known for their very different positions on life and politics in their time (communism, anti-semitism, fascism to name just a few keywords).

It's not that easy, though.
It was interesting if you already know something about the family - I had seen documentaries - but you are better prepared for a lot of names (and nicknames!) and time jumps, and you really should have read Nancy's novels first because they get referenced a lot as well as names that were never explained.
In short, this is not really what I expect from a biography.
I was never in danger of DNFing, but I felt there was some fangirling/whitewashing - I can't excuse fascism even for a bit just because someone has a strong personality, intelligence, a gorgeous face and elegance, and that's just one example.
Maybe it's too difficult to explain the Mitford "phenomenon" in just one single book.

"Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull" = "Confessions of Felix Krull" by Thomas Mann, first published in 1922 (the first fragment)

The unfinished novel (written from 1910 to 1913 and late 1950 to 1954) tells the story of Felix Krull who, after the suicide of his father, a bankrupt maker of sparkling wine, goes to Paris to work in a hotel and then substitutes for the Marquis de Venosta on a trip around the world paid for by the Marquis's parents who try to tear their son away from a French singer (and if you think that was a long sentence, you should see the book).
The narrative ends with Krull being in Lisbon, the first destination of the trip.

According to Wikipedia, - I honestly didn't feel like checking more sources - the novel is supposed to be a parody on Goethe's autobiography "Aus meinem Leben. Dichtung und Wahrheit" (Poetry and Truth). Remind me not to read that one because I seriously struggled through this one (and I don't care how autographical parts of it are).
It's practically a miracle and a sign of my dedication to this project (reading at least one German classic a month) that I didn't DNF it. There were big parts which bored me almost to tears.
I say narrative, but nothing really happens in hundreds of pages! The protagonist is a smug little punk, and the pompous rambling - which I guess is the parody part - made me happy for not having to put up with this kind of speech in daily life.

"Tennis Shoes" by Noel Streatfeild, first published in 1937
(Shoes 2)

Dr. Heath and his father had been good tennis players, but the father is too old now and Dr. Heath suffered a leg injury in World War I.
What about the children, though - the twins Jim and Susan, the younger Nicky, and David? Have they got what they need to become successful tennis players?

This is the second book in the "shoe series" although the only connection are the shoes in the title.
I never played tennis, I don't watch tennis, but I needed some light after Felix Krull and the book worked perfectly - although I have to admit that I wasn't a fan of Dr. Heath's methods of motivating and educating his children.

"Go Gentle" by Maria Semple, first published in 2026

Adora Hazzard, former comedy writer turned philosopher who tutors the twins of a rich couple, lives in New York and has started a "coven" in her building of single women who have each others' back - then she happens to meet a man and her life is not what it was before.

I'm not sure what this book wants to be. I liked the idea of the coven, I enjoyed the philosophical quotes, but then we get flashbacks (trigger warning sexual assault), art crimes, and a romance all of which seemed very muddled to me. Spoiler:

Spoiler: Adora is the heroine of the day in the end. With huge happy ending and a super rich man.

At about 60 % I was very close to DNFing. Maybe I should have.

"Death on the Cherwell" by Mavis Doriel Hay, first published in 1935

Four undergraduates of the Persephone College in Oxford meet on the roof of the boathouse to form a secret society when a canoe comes floating in which they find the body of their bursar Myra Denning.
The young ladies wonder how a drowned woman can get back into her canoe ...

I have a soft spot for vintage crimes at Cambridge and Oxford (time to read "Gaudy Night" for the umpteenth time, I think), probably because I work at a university made up of a lot of concrete.
I really liked this one.

"Goodbye, Mr. Chips" by James Hilton, first published in 1933 (in the Christmas edition of "British Weekly") and in 1934 (as a book)

Mr. Chipping was the Latin master of Brookfield School - a public boarding school - for decades and has helped out even after his retirement.
Now he remembers his life in and for the school.

A re-read (in English this time, I own the German translation) for a future blog post about the novella and adaptations.

A fun little P.S. This is listed as a translation of the book into Urdu. Obviously I can't read Urdu and can't tell you if that's true ... and I have absolutely no idea how that cover is supposed to make any sense if it is!

"To You Mr. Chips!" by James Hilton, first published in 1938

In this book, Hilton talks a little about his own school experiences and tells some more Mr. Chips stories.

When I re-read "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", I happened to find out about this book which I didn't know before.

"Bright Young Things: Lives in the Roaring 20s" by Alison Maloney, first published in 2012

The book gives you short glimpses into the life of the "smart set" mostly in the London of the 1920s.
It includes chapters about jazz, cocktails, scandals, debutantes, and more.
A quick read with quotes and short biographies, a nice appetizer to start you off if you are interested in that time.

"Victorian Fairy Painting" by Jeremy Maas et al., first published in 1997

The book was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Victorian Fairy Painting" which travelled from London to Iowa City, Toronto, and New York.
It includes a catalog with short biographies and comments and essays on fairy painting, writing, music, and illustration, but also the connection to the stage, especially Shakespeare.

I stumbled upon this one after finding the sketchbook by Charles Altamont Doyle which I listed in my July roundup.

"Japanese Gothic" by Kylie Lee Baker, first published in 2026

After murdering his roommate in college, Lee flees to the house in Japan that his father has moved to. However, something is strange about this house that used to belong to samurais. Who is the girl looking in from another world and time?

Every, now and then I think I should read a book outside my comfort zone. This shouldn't have been one of them.


DNF

"The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House" by Kate Summerscale, first published in 2008

The non-fiction book tells the story of a child murdered in Victorian England and of Jack Whicher who was one of the original eight members of London's new "Detective Branch" at Scotland Yard.

I watched the TV show whose first episode is about this case and wanted to read the book more because of Whicher than the case, but I gave up quite early as it was so boring to read. 



By the way, if you write book reviews or blog posts about other book-related matters - even movies based on books - please check out "A Good Book and a Cup of Tea", a monthly bookish blog link party that I co-host with  Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. You can find out more about it here or directly click through to the current party via the image in the right hand column.

From my children's book cabinet - Dunkles Glas und Fisch in der Lampe

The German title of the book I have for you today translates to "Dark Glass and Fish in the Lamp".
It was published in 1963. Ingeborg Engelhardt, the author, wrote novels with the aim to make history accessible for children and young people. Instead of writing books about famous personalities of a certain time, country or region, though, her books told stories of ordinary people. For that, she also visited some of the places where her novels were set and did research, for example in archives.

I'm aware that you won't find an English version of this book - actually it's out of print here as well -, but I hope you'll be able to enjoy hearing about it anyway, just as I like to discover what children in other countries got to read.
I must have read this for the first time when I was about 11 because it was a recommendation by my Latin teacher who very much believed in children learning not through mere facts, but also stories and pictures (she and her husband traveled a lot and in every last class before vacations she would show us slides).
That fits well with her also being responsible for the small school library meant for the lower classes where my friend and I spent happy hours helping out. I remember how delighted she was about my becoming a librarian.
Mrs. Evler, this post is for you.

Germania inferior (red) within the Roman Empire
around the time of the book,
picture by ArdadN (public domain) on Wikipedia

We are in Germania inferior ("Lower Germania") towards the end of the first century AD, in Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, to be precise, the province's capital and military headquarters from which the city of Cologne developed.

Römerturm in Cologne (the only surviving
of 19 Roman towers which were part of
the city walls), picture by Mediatus,
CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

During a stormy night, three travelers look for shelter at an inn, a young boy and his two Egyptian slaves. They ask for a glassmaker called Timon whom they visit the next day.

The young boy is Lysander, son of the famous glassmaker Ennion of Aquileia who has been executed by Emperor Domitian, allegedly for inventing unbreakable glass which would have upset the economical balance.
After fleeing from Aquileia to escape the wrath of the Emperor who had also confiscated his inheritance, all Lysander has left are the slaves Nemo and his brother Mutus who worked with his father.
Now he wants to work for Ennion's old friend Timon until he can return home. Timon has been about to close down his workshop because he can't compete with glassmakers from other Roman provinces. His daughter Fides, called Fugilo ("little bird"), however, convinces him to give Lysander a chance although it might prove dangerous for them to host a wanted man.
Lysander, on the other hand, who lives with them at first is shocked to find a fish scratched into their oil lamp and thus learn that Timon and Fugilo are Christians.

Roman perfume bottle
(around 1st to 3rd century),
 picture by Hermann
 Junghans, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

With their beautiful glass, Lysander, Nemo, and Mutus get the attention of a big merchant who makes a deal with them to sell it to rich people outside of the province.
Therefore, the workshop's reputation spreads until a Gothic king and his daughter arrive to have Lysander replicate a glass that's important for a wedding ritual. The experienced Nemo takes on that task, but Lysander holds back the finished glass having fallen in love with the beautiful Svanadis and not wanting her to return home.
He also finds out that Nemo is actually the one who has invented the unbreakable glass and kept experimenting. Nemo offers to share the secret with his master in exchange for his and Mutus's freedom.
Everything changes, however, when the workshop goes up in flames.

Roman glass in the shape of a
Secutor's gladiator helmet, picture
by BS Thurner Hof, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons 

It's still fascinating to me that the Romans used to be here, not just in Cologne, but also in my own town (which was part of Germania superior ("Upper Germania")). When our oldest church was renovated decades ago, archeologists found that in there had been a "villa rustica" in that spot, a farmhouse meant to provide soldiers with food.

Also I was already intrigued by glass even then (and of course loved the idea of unbreakable glass).
According to the Britannica, the Rhineland was one of the great glassmaking areas of the Roman world and there was decorated glass that was a speciality of the region.
The so-called "Schlangenfadengläser" (literally "snake thread glasses") were decorated with glass threads - clear or colored -  curling around the glass and pressed on. I couldn't find a picture I was allowed to share, but you can find one here that shows beautiful examples kept in Europen museums or in the banner of a page on the website of the Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne which holds the worldwide largest collection of Roman glass.

We don't just get the story of Lysander, the glassmaker, though.
We also learn about him as a fugitive to a strange country so different from his own (snow!), as a son who wonders what the real reason was for his father's death and is afraid for his mother and sisters he had to leave behind (rightfully so as we find out at the end), as a young man falling in love with a princess from what's a Barbarian tribe to him who longs for home, as a master betrayed by his slave (from his point of view), and a man confronted with a faith other than his own.

Photo by Mina Meh on Unsplash

I devoured the book as a child and later kept looking for it on fleamarkets.
When the internet came along, I saw my chance, but didn't remember the author and wasn't sure about the title.
Finally, I posted on the "In search of" page of a used book site (the page doesn't exist anymore which is a pity as it was so interesting to read what others were looking for and also informative) and someone told me the title.
After getting it I luckily found I still enjoyed it as much as when I was 11.

Do you have books like that from your past?

Random Saturday - A doll for Marie

It would be saying too much if I claimed to collect children's or young adult books. I have a whole cabinet full which are a few hundred books, but that's mostly because there are my own books from when I was young, books I got as gift, from my godmother and her brothers for example, books that used to be theirs, and of course books I bought myself because they were favorites from the library.

I could read at an early age and was very proud to have my own library card (with the number 5542 ;-)), and there were books I borrowed over and over and over again, so I just had to own them as a grown up - and yes, before you ask, sometimes I read one and if it brings up memories and the magic for a little while ... perfect!

Of course the internet was a great help with my search. Just one example. There was that series of books about Davy Crockett that my brothers introduced me to. 16 volumes from which I could quote at that time, so often did I read them. Well, not all of them. I struggled with volume 16 because of Crockett's death and only read that one as an adult, and volume 8 was missing from the library.
This is one of my favorite library stories (bear with me, people, who have heard it a thousand times). I reserved the book when it was not marked missing yet. These were the 70s. I filled out a postcard that was attached to whatever they used at the time to keep track of their books. Then I waited patiently. Until I got an overdue reminder for a book I never even had! I guess this is what kept me being open minded to the fact that even librarians do make mistakes ;-)
Many years later, I put a request on the ISO page of a sales website for used books - and got the chance to buy the whole series from one person which was really a stroke of luck, and the price was okay, too!

My collection grew, but one book was still missing. The problem was that I didn't remember the title or the author. It was a picture book and I had been very small at the time. All I knew was that it was about a doll in a shop, that this doll wore a beautiful dress and that her long lace knickers were peeking out at the bottom. Every, now and then I would try to google the words doll, shop, window, dress, picture book and more, always hoping for a hint among the found pictures.
I had been searching for literally decades when I stumbled upon an article about an archive of 6,000 historical children's books, digitized and free to read online, from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature. Now the book I was looking for was not from the 19th century, but being reminded of children's books I decided to google once again. I have no idea what I did different this time or if was just lucky or if Google had become tired of my searches, but there it was!
A problem was, however, that I didn't want a new edition and of course I wanted the book in German although the original was in English.
I was lucky again. I found it on a used book site, but there was no picture listed with it and by now I had found that in German there was an edition with a grey cover instead of a picture, and I didn't want that. Next stop - eBay. And there it was. Not cheap, but still affordable, and they even accepted my offer.

And here it is - A Doll For Marie.
It felt almost strange that the search was over - now what will I be looking for next? :-D