The Lord of the Rings

Don’t we all want to crawl inside our reads from time to time? My answer is both yes and no. Yes, because I would love to explore some of those places myself; no, because I don’t really want to stay there for an extended period of time, either because those worlds are lacking our modern comforts or are incredibly dangerous. And I know myself; I wouldn’t survive there for long. Still, here are the five books I’d love to visit – even if the stays come with an asterisk …

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 …

… that is the question! For many people, there seems to be an easy answer. There’s so much hating out there, it makes me sick to my stomach, especially since some people just can’t distinguish between Tauriel, a fictional character, and Evangeline Lilly, an actual person who breathed life into said character because that’s her job as an actress. Seriously, people, what the hell is wrong with you?! If you’re in for a Tauriel witch hunt, fine, suit yourself. Just keep Evangeline out of it. For what it’s worth, she did a bloody brilliant job. It’s not her fault that the material she had to work with turned the whole thing into a mess …

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 …