So much information that I found it hard to remember who stole how many millions from whom and which Pope dictated what action but, nevertheless, it is an absorbing read and supports my view that most of the world’s religions are mainly vehicles for the enrichment of a self-appointed elite,
Very believable account of a naive young mid-western American abroad in Rome - a young American with the added problem of living there for a year with his wife and newly born twins without a word of Italian and very little money. As a writer though, he brilliantly encapsulates the craziness, dirt, history, art and beauty of the Eternal City, as well as the drama, fatigue and wonder of parenting twins for the first year of their lives. I simply loved this book and would take it with me when I go to Rome again, as I surely will, having tossed a coin in the Trevi Fountain many years ago.
Just too much covered to really hold my interest. A sort of 19th Century Forest Gump with literary pretensions.
Set in seventh-century Ireland a manic priest and scholar has a vision that he is to establish a monastery away from the sinful world. Taking two other monks, a young novice an grizzled veteran this is the story of their endeavour. Sometimes the novel reads like a d.i.y. handbook for Robinson Crusoe and most times travels at the speed of grass growing. Nevertheless the plot gradually tightens to an unexpected ending. If the book did nothing else, it re-enforced my belief in the cruelty and hypocrisy of some relegions.
https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/beneath-drachenwand-mountain/ “When will we ever learn?” It is a story set towards the end of the Second World War as the situation for Germany and its allies is rapidly getting worse. The central character, Veit, a soldier since the beginning of the war is wounded in Russia, and returns to his native Austria to recover. There he realises that the idealism he grew up with has started to fracture and in some cases has become more extreme. The book weaves the personal narrative of Veit around letters to and from other characters, the effect of this is to give a sometimes terrifying picture of how people try to make “normal” lives in the abnormal conditions of deprivation, bombing, death and persecution. It is a work of fiction but it is cleverly written and the reader gets the impression that the author is quoting from real letters from real people. Despite the hope for a post war generated by Veit’s love affair with his married neighbour I found this a very depressing book in the context of the situations in the world today. We are of a generation whose own relatives have witnessed the horrors and effects of the last World War at first hand. Now it seems that their memories are echoed by the events of today. When will we ever learn.