A Cup of Tea & Biscuits

This is not exactly a review - because I don't know the language well enough to write a German review, but I will, in due time. Reviewing the Harry Potter books would take its toll on me because of the details in it - the same goes for the Lord of the Rings. Maybe if I'd  reviewed them as I read them it would've made it easier but... Anyway. Harry Potter in Deutsch . I'm re-learning the language - signed up for the A1 level once again because I haven't retained what I learned three years ago. I can understand random words and simple sentences and make wild guesses at what the more complex sentences convey, but I would like to know the grammar, the structure and the foundation of the language so that I may indulge in German literature. These being my baby steps towards reading Goethe's Faust in German. I thought I'd start with something simple. Fairy tales, not so much, so I picked up a book that I know very well - Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen - wh...

I've known of Hermann Hesse 's (1946 Nobel laureate)  Siddhartha for a long time, over a decade probably, but never got down to reading it till last week. As I made my way through this rather short but intense (to me) book, I wondered why it had taken me so long to pick it up! Here is a doubt that must be expelled. I had thought that Siddhartha referred to Gautama Buddha , whose name when he was the prince of Kapilavastu was Siddhartha Gautama. I was surprised that it wasn't him, though the Gauthama figures largely in this magnificent piece of writing. If follows the spiritual journey of Siddhartha, a young Brahmin  and the perfect son. He realizes, soon, that the knowledge he seeks, the thirst for spiritual knowledge that his soul craves for, cannot be attained where he is and doing what he does. He decides to leave his home and join the ascetics, and once he obtains his father's permission by awaiting the abatement of his father's anger through pure resilience, w...

A coming of age novel, of sorts, in the time of World War 2. The last bits of it, at least. It follows the life of Michael Berg from the age of 15 into adulthood and his rather scandalous affair with a former streetcar conductor and SS guard, old enough to be his mother. That said, this book, "The Reader" (Der Vorlesser) written by Bernhard Schlink , is simple and, if you care to look deep enough into it (or just pay attention to it), profound. There is absolutely nothing hidden in it. Straightforward sentences, no beating around the busy with the story, small chapters, with so much information. While the undertone of the book is distinctly post-war, the essence of it deals with a boy, a teenager growing up and understanding himself. He studies the law, and reasons during a trial for crimes against humanities by women Nazi guards. The turmoil he faces when he finds that the woman he loves, or at least had an intimate physical relationship with, is being accused of murder is ...