私の生活

The Adventures of Michael MacInnes

finished the book... was a really fast read... btw. it's targeted at Young Adults...
the story starts with Michael MacInnes transferring to a new boarding school and follows him and the people around him through a year (maybe less)... almost rape, love + sex, drug abuse, mental illness, homosexuality, a guy running amok... it's all in there (though never really explicit)... wrapped up in a nice story package... :)

Set in 1920’s Prohibition-era America, this novel for older readers features eccentric characters in a conservative location. While not exactly historical fiction, the setting does provide a wild ride for characters that appear modern in this unusual setting.

Michael MacInnes is a rebellious teenage orphan who receives a scholarship to an exclusive all-boys high school. Oh the train ride to school, Michael befriends Roger who later turns out to be his roommate. Roger is also a bit of a misfit. Michael’s brilliance lies in his poetry while Roger is an inventor. Both are unconventional, taking risks and defying the rules of the school.

Among MacInnes achievements are steeling the dean’s car, starting an underground school newspaper, knocking out bullies and winning the affection of the prettiest girls in town. Roger, on the other hand, creates a bicycle powered zeppelin out of garbage scraps. With this, he saves Michael from expulsion when he sneaks into an all girls dormitory for an evening of romance.


new book: "Für jede Lösung ein Problem" [=For every Solution there is a Problem]

What would it be like if your family, friends and acquaintances knew what you really think of them?

Gerri writes farewell letters to everyone she knows and tosses them bluntly what she thinks of them. What a drag that the sleeping pills and vodka didn't work after all … and overnight Gerri's life becomes really exciting. Because it is really something when you have to get along with people who know what you really think of them!

-

Into the Wilderness is done... nice book... a bit... uh... lengthy... but nice nonetheless

King Must Die also done... neither the story nor the language got to me... won't read it again... will probably end up on ebay... it's not bad just doesn't fit my taste ;)



The Masqueraders... interesting story... but the language is really not my piece of cake...



so my book count is actually down to 2... (excluding the toilet reading ;))

I started "The Adventures of Michael MacInnes"



I suppose it is supposed to be a book for teens... but I can't really put it there... the language, yes... but the topics, no...
not too thick so I should be done with it by the end of the week... maybe... if I actually find the time to sit down and read :)

-

Comedy Central presents Daniel Cummins...

"You can tell a lot about someone by their email adress...
...
like you see dragonhunter1965...
...
ok, alright... that's a 40 something lonely dude...
...
and then you see sexyladyxxx...
...
that's the same guy
...
["Yeah" shout from the audience]
...
and there he is"


watch the whole show, if you can get your hands on it... I think it's really funny... even the jokes that are not politically correct ;)
It's not the best part of the show, but I couldn't find any other... :)

Right now I'm reading 5 books...


my "toilet" reading (they are slim and not too captivating but still interesting):

• a biography of Oscar Wilde

• a book about common German grammar mistakes "Der Dativ ist dem Genetiv sein Tod" something along the lines of "Eats, shoots and leaves" if you've heard of that

and 3 novels:

• Ilija Trojanow - Der Weltensammler [=The Collector of Worlds] (biographical)

• Sara Donati - Into the Wilderness (historical adventure/romance)

When Elizabeth Middleton, twenty-nine years old and unmarried, leaves her Aunt Merriweather's comfortable English estate to join her father and brother in the remote mountain village of Paradise on the edge of the New York wilderness , she does so with a strong will and an unwavering purpose: to teach school. It is December of 1792 when she arrives in a cold climate unlike any she has ever experienced. And she meets a man different from any she has ever encountered -- a white man dressed like a Native American, tall and lean and unsettling in his blunt honesty. He is Nathaniel Bonner, also know to the Mohawk people as Between-Two Lives.

Determined to provide schooling for all the children of the village, white, black, and Native American, Elizabeth soon finds herself at odds with local slave owners. Much to her surprise, she clashes with her own father, as well. Financially strapped, Judge Middleton has plans for his daughter -- betrothal to local doctor Richard Todd. An alliance with Todd could extract her father from ruin but would call into question the ownership of Hidden Wolf, the mountain where Nathaniel, his father, and a small group of Native Americans live and hunt. As Judge Middleton brings pressure to bear against his daughter, she is faced with a choice between compliance and deception, a flight into the forest, and a desire that will bend her hard will to compromise and transformation. Elizabeth's ultimate destiny, here in the heart of the wilderness, lies in the odyssey to come: trials of faith and flesh, and passion born amid Nathaniel's own secrets and divided soul.

[it sounds bad I know... it's not a trashy romance novel... but nothing serious either... a fun read - counterbalance for "Weltensammler" which is rather mentally demanding]

• Mary Renault - The King Must Die (Bildungsroman and historical novel)

The King Must Die is an adaption of the early life and adventures of the mythological Greek hero Theseus. Beginning with his childhood in the Greek city-state of Troizen, the plot follows him through his travels in Eleusis, where he becomes king; in Athens, where he becomes known as the son and heir of the king; and in Crete, where he learns the Cretan sport of bull-leaping. The novel ends with Theseus's return to Athens.
[not really sure yet if I like it... I'm not fond of first person narrators...]

Books I'm going to read next include:

• Georgette Heyer - The Masqueraders

• Ian McEwan - The Cement Garden

• Ken Follet - Pillars of the Earth

• MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unwed

• Jeanne Kalogridis - The Borgia Bride + Die Seherin von Avignon [=The Burning Times]
  

• Stephen Fry - Making History

• Lian Hearn - Der Ruf des Reihers [The Harsh Cry of the Heron] (=Clan der Otori / Tales of Otori 4)

Now... if I could just find the time... *sulks*

The 12 Days Of Christmas (For the politically correct)


On the 12th day of the Eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival, my
Significant Other in a consenting adult, monogamous relationship gave to
me:

TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming,

ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of
members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in
their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note),

TEN melanin deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal
ruling class system leaping,

NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression,

EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products
from enslaved Bovine-Americans,

SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands,

SIX enslaved Fowl-Americans producing stolen non-human animal products,

FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domestic incarceration,

(NOTE after members of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw
red paint at my computer, the calling birds, French hens and partridge
have been reintroduced to their native habitat.  To avoid further
Animal-American enslavement, the remaining gift package has been
revised.)

FOUR hours of recorded whale songs

THREE deconstructionist poets

TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses

AND a Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.


:D