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I am a bookworm (like the painting from Spitzweg).
I have some hundred books and they take a good
part of my flat. Some of the best works I want
to present here. I have chosen especially those
from nearly unknown authors and small publishing
companies.
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Novels:
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Jonathan Carrol: Schlaf in den Flammen.
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Jonathan Carroll is professor for creative writing at the
University of Vienna. You will notice this when you read his
books: The stories are always based on some remarkable ideas
and they usually are concerned with literature. Some of
his characters have to cope with nasty figures of some
fairytales (did you ever ask yourself what these
creatures do when they "live happily ever after"?),
sometimes characters come to live because of the
lively stories of their authors. Reading Carrol is
always exciting, and there are often some little
side stories woven into the plot, for example the
most beautiful coffee house story in the world.
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Otto Kinne: Suchen im Park.
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What will a professor for marine biology when he retires?
He finally writes a "real" book, not a scientific
collection of facts, but one that tells a story.
The meeting of some very different characters,
from a simple workman over a theologist on to a
physician, shows Kinne's enormous good eye on
human behaviour and thinking. Not only the differences
between science and religion, but the unplumbed depths
of the human soul become visible when Kinne lets
his characters perform in the park at night.
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Joris Karl Huysmans: Die Kathedrale.
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Joris Karl Huysmans lived and wrote in the time of
Victor Hugo. But in contrast to Victor Hugo who
creates a story of heroism and never ending love in
his "Hunchback of Notre Dame", Huysmans write autobiographic
books concerned with the conflict between human ideals
and real live. His main character is always in trouble
with live, never able to decide between leading a
secular live and entering a monastery. In this book
Huysmans tells us so many facts about mediaeval
architecture and art and the symbolism behind them
that this book could be a very good guide to the
cathedral of Chartres. Even Sedlmayr (Die Entstehung
der Kathedrale) mentions this book though you can feel
his astonishment at the non-scientific perspective
of Huysmans. For Huysmans the cathedrals and their
symbolism is still at live while Seldmayr, 50 years later,
is only able to collect historical facts.
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Non-fiction:
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Douglas R. Hofstadter, Daniel C. Dennet: Einsicht ins Ich.
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After the great success of his work "Gödel, Escher, Bach"
Douglas Hofstadter worked together with the philosopher
Daniel Dennet on this entertaining and instructive book.
Where from do we know that our vis-a-vis is able to think?
What are the measures for intelligence? Where is the
soul of a human? Each chapter consists of a short story
and an according commentary. Authors of the short stories
are Stanislaw Lem, Jorge Luis Borges,Alan Turing and
Rudy Rucker. Again and again we have to ask ourselves
questions about human consciousness and again and
again the book provides amazing answers.
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Pciture & children's books:
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David Wiesner: June 29, 1999.
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How can a human think of these stories?
How on earth can the same human create these images to
his stories? David Wiesner tells the strange story
of a mysterious biological experiment. His pictures
have a epic component, each one catches the readers
eye. A picture book that you will not forget.
Wiesner's stories: strange. His paintings: fantastic.
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Michael Ende: Momo.
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The little girl Momo fights a hard fight against the
grey gentlemen that are stealing the time of the
humans. Only master Hora, a wise keeper of the
times, helps her to proceed. The story is very
touching. And the core of the story is so true
that this is not really only a children's book.
I like it more than "The never ending story"
from Ende, because it still hits the point of
our society and the story is more straight forward.
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James Krüss: Geschichten der 101 Tage.
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With this 17 books series James Krüss created a wonderful
framework for all those astonishing stoires that originate from
his strong phantasy. Haltet die Uhren an. Vergeßt
die Zeit. Ich will Euch Geschichten erzählen. Vergeßt
die Zeit, die man Geschichte nennt. Taucht ein in die Zeit
der Geschichten.. This is worth reading. By the way,
the well-known story of Timm Thaler and the selling of his
laugh stems from this series. The complete series
was first published by Oetinger and afterwards by
Ravensburger.
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 Encouraging, praising & criticizing eMails are highly appreciated.
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