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Glass Room
Glass Room | Simon Mawer
7 posts | 12 read | 15 to read
A New York Times Best-Seller Honeymooners Viktor and Liesel Landauer are filled with the optimism and cultural vibrancy of central Europe of the 1920s when they meet modernist architect Rainer von Abt. He builds for them a home to embody their exuberant faith in the future, and the Landauer House becomes an instant masterpiece. Viktor and Liesel, a rich Jewish mogul married to a thoughtful, modern gentile, pour all of their hopes for their marriage and budding family into their stunning new home, filling it with children, friends, and a generation of artists and thinkers eager to abandon old-world European style in favor of the new and the avant-garde. But as life intervenes, their new home also brings out their most passionate desires and darkest secrets. As Viktor searches for a warmer, less challenging comfort in the arms of another woman, and Liesel turns to her wild, mischievous friend Hana for excitement, the marriage begins to show signs of strain. The radiant honesty and idealism of 1930 quickly evaporate beneath the storm clouds of World War II. As Nazi troops enter the country, the family must leave their old life behind and attempt to escape to America before Viktor's Jewish roots draw Nazi attention, and before the family itself dissolves. As the Landauers struggle for survival abroad, their home slips from hand to hand, from Czech to Nazi to Soviet possession and finally back to the Czechoslovak state, with new inhabitants always falling under the fervent and unrelenting influence of the Glass Room. Its crystalline perfection exerts a gravitational pull on those who know it, inspiring them, freeing them, calling them back, until the Landauers themselves are finally drawn home to where their story began. Brimming with barely contained passion and cruelty, the precision of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession, and the fear of failure - the Glass Room contains it all.
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Hooked_on_books
The Glass Room | Simon Mawer
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Pickpick

In the late 1920s, Czechoslovakia has been newly formed and a young wealthy couple decides to have a house built. Their fate and that of the house is followed over the years to 1990. I really liked this. Great character development and enough plot to move things along nicely.

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Simiki
Glass Room | Simon Mawer
Pickpick

Nice book, easy to read (I read it in English); I got used to the characters; now I need to visit the Tugendhat villa in Brno and find out how was the history in reality. The story flowed nicely, no unnecessary elaborations or philosophical thoughts. The ending was nice, although I would not mention in the begging that Hana will survive-would be more dramatic, surprising and sentimental not knowing :-)

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andrew61
The Glass Room | Simon Mawer
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#winterwonderland #crystaldays
I was racking my brains to think of a book with crystal in but hit a blank so scrolled through my gr books read list - i loved this book telling the story of a house built by a visionary architect for a Jewish family in post ww1 czechoslovakia then follows the house through the lives that touch it over the following decades - i imagine the glass room glinting in the sunshine like crystal -think I'll reread this soon.

Reggie Nice!! 6y
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Centique
The Glass Room | Simon Mawer
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Pickpick

I discovered I have a neighbour who is a great reader so I‘ve been excitedly sharing books with her. She gave me this one which Id never heard of before. It‘s set in Czechoslovakia before, during and after WW2, most of it framed around the life of a house, a piece of very modern architecture. Its more about interpersonal dynamics with the war coming in over the top of that. Really good, would work well for a book club to pick over.

Centique The things I think a book club could pick over are; male/female power dynamics, how that changes during war, how privilege/wealth is played out over peace time versus wartime - and the very interesting modern history of Czechoslovakia. It‘s got me thinking anyway! 7y
rockpools This sounds SO good! 7y
Centique @RachelO it was! Took me 50 pages to get into it though, then I was hooked. 7y
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LeahBergen Stacked! 7y
ValerieAndBooks This looks really good, stacking!! 7y
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MsLeah8417
The Glass Room | Simon Mawer
Pickpick

This book was given to me as gift from my Aunty and Uncle who live in Prague. I read the book on my flight from the states to Prague this fall. It is well written and gives the point of view of those living in the Czech (Czechoslovakia) prior and during WWII.

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BookBabe
The Glass Room | Simon Mawer
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Coale dove right in to the library sale #bookhaul that @MrBook and I scored today...I think he approves! 😸

katcanwrite 😻 8y
MrBook 😻😻😻 8y
DeeLew Is it terrible that I'm thinking of taking a day off from work to go to a library sale? 😜 Looks like you found some great books! 😊 8y
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hgrimes I love your couch. 8y
Hollie I loved the audio for A Thousand Splendid Suns... And In the Garden of Beasts has been on my TBR forever. Nice haul! 8y
hgrimes And witch cat. 8y
Suzze Looks like Coale was lucky you didn't get a few more books and fill the couch. 8y
BethFishReads Nice job! 8y
Darthdad Love Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. Such a great read 8y
ReadingEnvy I loved The Glass Room and wonder why I gave it away!! 8y
britt_brooke Seriously, the couch is 👌🏻👌🏻. Nice haul, too! 8y
Dragon Great selection and your cat 🐱 is so cute 8y
GatheringBooks i lovelovelove library sales :) 8y
ApoptyGina69 Coals likes Started Early, Took My Dog (far,far away) Also likes A Thousand Splendid Suns, but you know, the crying... 💖🐱😿 8y
Reagan Nice! In The Garden Of Beasts was fascinating. 8y
Mariposa_Bookworm I wish I could add a picture to my comment. I have Coale's twin, my Binx Twiselton Charles currently curled up napping on my bed. He loves to hide in my bookshelves too. 8y
Thedrunkstrawberry The Glass Room is amazing. I read it in one day. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the inspiration for the book, but the house really exists. Read that one first ;) 8y
Reese_Pearly.Pages A thousand splendid suns was such an emotional book. I love it. 8y
bookishchelle 😍😍😍📚👍 8y
156 likes3 stack adds19 comments
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Reviewsbylola
The Glass Room | Simon Mawer
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My #24in48 bookmark collection. I just stuff them all on my shed and grab them as I need them.

Vblancsbooks I do this too! 8y
LitHousewife What an excellent idea! Then you know where to find just the right one. 8y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders I have The Glass Room on my shelf too! And 8y
marixa Love love love AS Byatt 8y
HardcoverHearts I do the same thing! 8y
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