1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

Yes, I did it! I finally finished this monster book.
It has been such a long time since I've last read such a big book, probably over two years and I wonder why it has taken me so long to do so. I noticed that I quite enjoy reading books with at least 600 pages as it allows me to really dive into the story.

But now about the content.
I have to admit that I bought this book without knowing what's awaiting me and I didn't know for a long time even reading it.
People kept asking me what it was about and I had to keep answering that I didn't know which caused a lot of confusion by the way ('How can you buy a book without even knowing what it's about?').

Anynway, 1Q84 is narrated by two protagonists, Aomame and Tengo who live in Japan. They went to primary school together but then lost track of each other.
In 1984, when the story takes place, they both are 29 years old and spend their days mostly on their own but their lives are somehow interconnected.
All of a sudden the world doesn't seem to be the same anymore and they find them themselves in the middle of something surreal, something very dangerous.
They both fight for themselves to survive in this new, different world but for some reason they can't forget about each other. Although they haven't met since they have been ten years old.

The first chapters this book seemed to tell a totally normal story and it felt like reality.
But then all of a sudden Haruki Murakami throws surreal occurences at you and when I was about 200 pages in I just sat there with my mouth open.
I don't want to say anything about what happens because everyone should have the chance to be as amazed as I was.

Despite the book being so big it didn't feel like a long time reading it because mostly it was fast-paced and exciting so I just had to keep reading. I haven't read this much of a book in one day for a very long time.
The plot just absolutely absorbed me and especially the ending was totally satisfying.

I have to say that there isn't much left that can surprise me in a book but 1Q84 did it all the time.

Haruki Murakami's writing style is really fascinating and I will most definitely read more of his books in the future.
Maybe I will even reread this one because I can imagine that it adds a lot to the book if I already know what I have to expect. I probably have missed al lot of hints at the beginning because I was just confused and didn't grasp the meaning of sentences that would make sense to me now.

I absolutely recommend reading books by Haruki Murakami, although perhaps it would be easier to start with a shorter book.

Rating:

Zwei Lückenfüller ...

Ich lese gerade 1Q84, was ja ein absoluter Wälzer ist und da ich es in den nächsten Tagen wahrscheinlich nicht schaffe, es zu Ende zu lesen, ist hier ein kleiner "Lückenfüller".
Denn ich habe zwei neue Bücher!



Das erste habe ich aus einer spontanen Eingebung heraus bestellt: "Animal Farm" von George Orwell. Ich habe letztes Jahr "1984" gelesen und war von dem Stil sehr angetan, weshalb ich jetzt nicht mehr widerstehen konnte und auch nicht wollte.


Und das andere Buch war ein Schnapper bei Thalia, denn ich habe "Der Wolkenatlas" von David Mitchell als Mängelexemplar entdeckt.

Zu guter Letzt muss ich noch meinen größten Traum im Moment loswerden, denn ich liebäugele schon seit längerer Zeit mit einem allseits bekannten Regal (Stichwort "Billy"). Ich bin schon regelrecht verzweifelt, weil ich kein Regal in meinem Zimmer habe und meine Schätze sich somit nicht ständig in Sichtweite befinden.
Außerdem ist das derzeitige behelfsmäßige Bücherregal nicht sonderlich groß, was bedeutet, dass ich meine Bücher mittlerweile auf jedem Brett in zwei Reihen stellen muss und darüber hinaus noch welche obenauf liegen.

Ich bin total unzufrieden damit, wie es jetzt ist und ich denke, es dauert nicht mehr lange, bis ich aus lauter Frust diesem Streben nachgebe.

Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

Katie is Amish and she is accused of murdering her own baby. In addition to that she is eighteen years old and not married.

That's what I knew about this book before reading it and was very curious about it but in the end I got something totally different from what I expected. Mainly we experience the story from the perspective of Katie's lawyer, Ellie, who comes to live on the Amish farm. Not from Katie's point of view as I expected but after finishing it definitely makes sense as it is.

I definitely enjoyed the writing style and also the setting as I found it interesting to learn something about the Amish life and I also got to love all the characters.
But a big part of the book was about the trial and the investigation beforehand. And that's what I didn't like so much, not because Jodi Picoult couldn't make it interesting, but because I don't like to read about American trials in general.
I don't like how it's all just a show and I don't know if it really is the way it is described in the books I have read so far, but it just doesn't seem fair to me.

But I don't want to talk about American trials here.

Summed up I can say that I enjoyed this book and I couldn't stop reading at times but it's not my favourite.

I wonder if this is the author's thing because I have seen the film 'My sister's keeper' and it's all about court as well.
Maybe that would mean that Jodi Picoult is not what I want to read although her style is really good and I hope that I will come across a book by her that is not about a trial.

Rating:

Was stimmt nicht mit mir?

Wie kommt es, dass die Monate, in denen ich Prüfungen schreibe, viel lesereicher sind als die davor und danach?
Das habe ich im Januar erneut zu spüren bekommen, denn im Gegensatz zum Dezember mit nur vier Büchern habe ich im Januar sieben gelesen! Obwohl ich sage und schreibe acht Prüfungen geschrieben habe.

Noch deutlicher war es bei meinen Abiturprüfungen. Im Februar, dem Monat vor den schriftlichen Prüfungen, habe ich vier Bücher beendet. Und im März ganze neun Bücher!
Und das, obwohl ich zu der Zeit nicht einmal frei hatte zwischen den Prüfungen.

Es ist einfach faszinierend, wie meisterhaft ich es beherrsche, das Notwendige hinauszuschieben.
Wahrscheinlich lese ich dann so viel, da ich zum Beispiel beim Fernsehen ein schlechtes Gewissen bekomme. Aber dass ich Bücher lese, dagegen kann ja keiner etwas sagen, schließlich tue ich auch dann etwas für meine Bildung.

Hinzu kommt, dass ich jetzt in den Semesterferien so viel Zeit habe, dass ich mir andauernd sage, ich hätte ja noch den ganzen Tag Zeit. Ich könnte auch später noch lesen.
Dabei wäre doch jetzt die Gelegenheit, meinen Stapel ungelesener Bücher abzubauen und ich habe mir wirklich eine Menge vorgenommen.

Deshalb starte ich auch jetzt den nächsten Versuch, mich hinzusetzen und eine Stunde zu lesen. Wirklich.