Twisting Letters : September Wrap-Up

Welcome to another Wrap-Up. Writing these is always so much fun. Mainly because I can reminisce over the past month and I can revisit all the stories that I read the past month.

Although, to be honest, this month I did not read that much fiction.

I have a paper due in October so I read a lot of non-fiction for that. I decided to include that for this month. Normally I don't do that because I read quite a bit for Uni each month so these posts would be super long. This time I thought I would shake things up a bit.

The wrath & the dawn - Renée Ahdieh

The wrath and the dawn follows Shahrzad a 16 year old girl, volunteering to marry the Caliph of Khorasan. Which wouldn't be all that bad if he was a monster. Known to take a new wife each day only to murder her at night. After Shaharzads best friend died at his hands, Shaharzad decides to take the Caliphs life, even if doing so means to sacrifice herself. Once in the palace she finds the Caliph to be not so monstrous at all. But she could never love a monster, could she ?

This story intrigued me. As of right now, I am still unsure whether or not I liked it. While reading I enjoyed it, but some things were a bit of. First and foremost: the pacing was off. I read for 2 hours and everything felt like the first 30 minutes of a book. And then all of a sudden everything happens at once. Which worked in some aspects (eg. feeling stressed during a suddenly stressful scene) but in terms of the whole book, it felt wrong.

THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE CONTAINS SOME LIGHT SPOILERS

During the first two thirds of the book there is hardly any mention of magic. If there is, it is treated as a thing of mystery as if it was non existent. Then magic gets suddenly introduced. Without any explanation of further exploration of the topic. Again, as with the pacing, it works in some scenes (eg. carpet-scene) but in terms of world building, there is to litte to work with. Especially since magic plays an immense role in the finale of the book.

The magic that we deal with is very raw, there aren't any rules yet. So everytime a new magician steps into the story everything changes. Which I personally do not like. I like magic in books, but it needs to obey to some rules. Otherwise the suspense is lowered because magic will save the day in the end.

This is more of a trigger warning as a critique. In the first few chapters there are some sexual scenes tipping into rape which are very uncomfortable to read. The author does a good job to translating this trauma onto the reader. This is especially remarcable since the two parties involved engage in mutiple sexual acts in the last part of the book, only then it is the opposite of uncomfortable.

SPOILERS OVER

What I liked about the book was the scenery, the main character and the schemes everybody is playing. Overall I rated the book with 4/5 stars.

Zeitenzauber - Die magische Gondel

Eva Völler

transl.: Time Magic - the red gondola

This german book is about the 17 years old Anna, who is forced to spend her summer holidays with her parents in Venice. Which is quite nice until Anna meets a mysterious boy, gets given a cat mask and is thrown back in time into the year 1499. With seemingly no way back into the present...

This book was my surprise favourite this month. A friend of mine recommended it to me, but I was hesitant at first. One of my all time favourite book deals with the same topic of time travel and I thought that I would not like it due to the comparison. I am so glad that I am wrong.

The aspect that blew me away was that the past is not romanticized at all. The author researched the time period very well and does not shy away form the bad hygienic standards of the time. After finishing this book I felt like I had learned something about the past.

The only thing bothering me was, that the lovestory felt a bit rushed. I like pining in these types of books, although I have to say that is was more realistic this way.

I rated this book with 4,5/5 stars.

The Gaveyard book - Neil Gaiman

I am of the deepest conviction that it is impossible to describe what a Neil Gaiman book is about. But since it might be of interest to you, I will try my best.

The graveyard book starts with a gruesome murder. Leaving a baby boy as the lone survivor, saved only by the ghosts of the neighbouring graveyard. They do their best to raise the boy called Nobody. But hes alive and they are not and when the world of the living is calling for its missing inhabitant, things are starting to get strange.

This was the second book of Neil Gaiman that I read. The first was stardust. Ans holy moly this guy deserves all the praise that he gets. His characters are so interesting, you feel with them eventhough he creates a distanced feeling. This book was so melancholy in a very good way. I also liked the open end.

Overall I am at a loss for words to describe this book. I rated it with 4/5 stars. Read it for yourself.

Scientific Books

I wont say to much about these books. I read them for a paper on the intercultural object identity of the aleppo-room. I don't think that that is interesting for a reader of this blog. But since I spent so much time with these the past few weeks, I felt a need to include them.

Wege zur Vermittlung von Religionen in Berliner Museen