Harry Potter

Triggered by Kai Meyer’s Die Spur der Bücher, here’s a walk down memory lane: Remembering Libretto, the tiny bookshop of my childhood and teenage years, a handful of book orders and bookish incidents featuring Libretto’s very helpful bookseller Johannes, and a bookshop visit bringing back the good old times …

Hey, I’m even a little over a month earlier than last year! As always, I semi-prepared this but didn’t finish in time, but wanted to finish it nevertheless. It’s supposed to be functioning as a memory aid for my future self. Anyway, here are some of the books I’ve read in 2016 and my thoughts on them …

I don’t mark my favourite parts in books. Instead, I either write down the page numbers or take pictures with my phone. Afterwards, I go back and copy the lines in my little black notebook. Currently, I’m a little behind on transferring but I’m trying to catch up. I love browsing through all of my favourite quotes from time to time. It’s like revisiting the books I’ve taken them from; their hearts and souls contained in a couple of sentences …

When I was younger, my grandpa read lots and lots of books to me: Erich Kästner, Otfried Preußler, Wilhelm Busch, Janosch, Paul Maar (basically all German children’s classics except for Michael Ende – I’ve never read a single one of his books), and Astrid Lindgren. Although there’s one or two I’d enjoy reading again, I’ve forgotten all about them. Seriously, I just had to consult Goodreads to come up with a list of children’s books that were read to me. I’m sure I loved them all very much – after all, they made me fall in love with the written word, – but they just don’t feel like “my” books, because I never read them myself …

I’ve probably forgotten countless characters I love and would love reading more about, but here are a couple of favourites I do remember …

I think when one hears the term classic, one immediately thinks of old, literary novels. Still, every genre has its classics and every person has a different opinion guided by personal preferences and context. So here are some of the novels I read and consider classics …

Actually, I didn’t get tagged but I saw it on numerous blogs and decided to jump on the bandwagon. You’re supposed to name at least five of your favourite literary couples. I had a list with over twenty but decided to cut back because it really isn’t that easy to find great quotes in novels you haven’t read in the last couple of years. In some cases, I remembered what I wanted and where I could find it, in others I got lucky and just stumbled upon a great quote. So here are my twelve favourite literary couples in no particular order – well, except for the first one because Rhaegar and Lyanna are my absolute OTP …