Welcome to Litsy!

Out of words. Because I feel one should best read this book without knowing what it‘s about.

While reading I sometimes hovered between being enthralled and feeling it‘s a bit tedious – although I‘m reading long enough to know that in those books _everything_ will turn out to be important.

And then came the last about 90 pages and my e-reader was glued to my fingers.

And now?
Well, I don‘t know.
Maybe just that: Choose wisely.

When you reach the last 80 pages of your book and in the course of the events suddenly your heart begins to beat faster because you start to fear for your (female) protagonist – then it must be a good, well-written book, mustn‘t it❓

"I‘m afraid," she finally confessed. “This whole thing is getting out of control.“

“That always happens”, Arthur said. “It‘s just like in a war. Actually, we just wanted to conquer Poland – and now we‘re at war with the whole world." (p. 513)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Amusing in a bittersweet way because Arthur‘s statement is so laconic.

I should create a tradition of posting my intermediate report for #EasterExtravaganza one day late.

Yesterday, April, 13th, was a really good reading day for me. I (audio)read a huge deal, although, what I‘m not telling you is, that my results could‘ve been even better if I had not browsed all the #EasterExtravaganza-entries and all the other Litsy posts so frequently. ☺️

But really, I‘m thankful for all of your engagement. Keeps my head busy.

Time for that famous, well-known last chapter before I go to bed. In writing this I completely ignore with my eyes open that it would definitely be wise to call it a day and go to bed because I know what I intend to do tomorrow – and even more important: when I want to start doing all this.
On the one hand.
On the other hand: It‘s just that one chapter. How long can it be❓ I‘m sure it‘s a short and tiny one. 😇

Please tell me I am not alone.

I just read a paragraph where one of the protagonists scans a menu and orders a three-course menu 🍲🥘🍩 with a wine 🍷 and an aperitif 🍸.

And now I feel the need to have a nice dinner. I‘m not really hungry, but … you know … 🤤, don‘t you❓🤷🏽‍♀️

“Basically, she realized, it wasn‘t true that one makes free choices as a human. When it comes to important things, one does not “choose” freely, but the option one thinks to be the better one – and the problem is, that one usually doesn‘t know if that [assumption] is correct. So one doesn‘t decide, actually, one only guesses, with more or less luck.” (p. 434)

I like it that after about 60 % the plot continues where it has stopped at the end of chapter 1.

Enough time to get to know the different protagonists and decide whether to like or to hate them. Here and that was a bit lengthy, but overall I like how Eschbach wove 20th- and 21st-century technology into historical events. Quite often he does this so skilfully that my significant other and I wonder if certain claims are true or not.

“In the time following, they were enjoying themselves in this way, but although it was so pleasant, it made Helene‘s hunger for the right, the real [thing] only stronger: She wanted to feel Arthur again, all his manhood, his power and impetuosity.” (p. 288)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Why is there a need to write about sex and sexual intercourse so awkwardly and pompously❓ I feel nauseated 🤢.

Marie put her hand out, put it on hers, warm, fuzzy and familiar.
“Honestly? Otto and I didn‘t wait until the wedding."
"What? I thought if you‘re Catholic -?"
"Then you confess your sins, and everything‘s fine. I confessed quite often until I finally turned eighteen." (p. 274)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ ???

#EasterExtravaganza – I‘m in‼️
Need some comfort because I just learned that, other than I thought, #27Hours7Days isn‘t about making it to 27 hours in a random week: It ended yesterday. 😟 I wouldn‘t have made it to 27 hours last week, anyway, but still.

Buut: This comes in handy, @Andrew65 – even though I will set rather low goals to avoid pressure:

• Read 1 hour a day
• Finish the tagged book
• Get 150 pages in of Brandon Sanderson

Is there a rule that says: Every cake you make will be wonderful unless you decide to bake one as a gift and put it in front of your parents‘ door so that they have some sweetness for Easter❓

It erupted in the middle and got chapped so that I needed to cut it flat. I hope I will tomorrow be successful with the icing but my hopes are low since I always have too few icing for too much cake surface.

“The others seemed very impressed. Lettke, on the other hand, looked at Himmler and wondered what he had already asked himself when he first saw his face on TV, which was where this cherished gnome actually took the audacity to speak for the Aryan people. Who was an Aryan in the leadership - apart from Heydrich, perhaps, the head of the “Reich Security Headquarters” - not even Hitler himself.” (p. 34/35)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ No words‼️

Oh I love that the responsible programmer in this, as far as I understand it, fictional „Deutsches-Reich“-novel, is a woman‼️👩🏽‍💻

I‘m on the best way to get hooked. 😃

(The [fictional] Nazis invented a cool name for their programmers: programme knitters. 🧮🧶)

Let the pleasure begin‼️☀️😃⛱

Happy reading everyone. 👋🏼

(Feels a bit like Sunday reading – but it‘s Good Friday. Hope nobody feels offended. … It‘s just, you know, I‘m so much enjoying the prospect of 4 days off – that, hopefully, include no other dramas lingering in the corner waiting to occur.)

Concentration, please don‘t fail me.

I got 10 days, okay, let‘s be reasonable, 9 days for the book marked 2 with 800 pages, and, just saying, I still got about 60 to 70 pages left in the book marked 1.

I didn‘t read a word in my Judith-Kerr-book those last 2 days. Especially yesterday I was too mentally drained to. I hope I will be able to finish it today and then hopefully Mr Eschbach will drag me into his story right from the very beginning.

Did I tell you that my not reading significant other recommended it to me because he saw it with enthusiastic stickers on it at the supermarket❓ Well, I put it on hold …

Seems that people are speed-reading during social-distancing-time. The above notification is the _fourth_ (‼️) I get in 3 days.

Chop-chop, there I go. (Meanwhile there‘s only „a bit“ of pressure.)

Spannend