Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner

Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a good book, because even if it was a well known story, it was told from the inside of a "normal family" and it told the struggles to keep "the walls of the family up and to be true to oneself". So even if this is not the first book I read about the DDR, it was probably to most explicative and clear about that period.

È stato un buon libro, perché anche se la storia é nota, sentirla raccontare da una normale famiglia e rendersi conto delle loro quotidiane battaglie per evitare di tradire se stessi e gli altri é stato molto affascinante. Quindi anche se non era proprio il primo libro che leggevo sulla DDR, é sicuramente quello che mi ha fornito piú informazioni sul periodo.

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Review: Only Cold Depths

Only Cold Depths by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: On the Beach

On the Beach by Nevil Shute
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa, Daniel Hahn (Translator)

A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Difficult book, I should have read it completely in one setting so I wouldn't have forget who's who. Plus my complete ignorance about the war in Angola made it even more heavy. I wouldn't recommend it, but still it was worth reading it.

Libro difficile, avrei dovuto leggerlo in una sola sessione in modo da non fare confusione tra i personaggi che andavano e venivano. Inoltre la mia totale ignoranza sulla guerra in Angola ha reso il tutto ancora piú pesante. Non lo raccomanderei, ma sono felice di averlo letto.

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Review: Vathek

Vathek by William Beckford
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Cerchi infiniti. Viaggi in Giappone by Cees Nooteboom, Laura Pignatti (Translator)

Cerchi infiniti. Viaggi in Giappone by Cees Nooteboom

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You can "feel" that the book is not up to date but it was still interesting, mostly for the part about the Japanese literature; but, compared to the book the same author wrote about Berlin where I live, I really had no idea what places and things he was talking about, but as I love all things Japanese, I enjoyed the book all the same.

Si capisce che il libro é stato scritto da parecchi anni, ma resta piuttosto interessante soprattutto per quanto scrive l'autore sulla letteratura giapponese; ma se lo paragono al libro scritto dallo stesso autore su Berlino che ho finito da poco di leggere, é chiaro come mi perda parecchie cose non avendo idea nè di dove né di cosa parli non essendoci io mai andata, ciò non toglie che siccome tutto quello che é giapponese mi piace, il libro rientra nella categoria.

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Calamity Town (Ellery Queen Detective, #16) by Ellery Queen

Calamity Town by Ellery Queen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I hadn't read a book by Ellery Queen since ages, so since this title come up twice in the same day from different sources I decided to give it a try. I cannot say I am disappointed, but I guessed almost immediately what was going on and so it spoiled for me the rest of the novel. It usually never happens....

Era da tempo che non leggevo un giallo di Ellery Queen, quindi quando questo titolo é emerso da fonti differenti due volte nello stesso giorno ho pensato che fosse un segno del destino e l'ho preso. Non posso dire di essere proprio delusa, no, ma il fatto che giá prima della metá avevo intuito lo svilupparsi della faccenda un po' mi ha rovinato il resto del romanzo, anche perché di solito non mi succede mai....

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Review: Tokyo Swindlers

Tokyo Swindlers by Ko Shinjo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Book of the Month

Book of the Month by Jennifer Probst
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: You Can Kill

You Can Kill by Rebecca Zanetti
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: A Healthier Home Cook: Whole Food Recipes, Techniques, and Tips for Families That Want to Eat A Little Less Toxic

A Healthier Home Cook: Whole Food Recipes, Techniques, and Tips for Families That Want to Eat A Little Less Toxic by Shawna Holman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Hero for the Holidays

Hero for the Holidays by Maisey Yates
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked how the author gives the example before giving the suggestions and my favorite part is the summing up at the end of the books. Some things I already knew, some other were new or partially new, anyway an interesting reading.

Mi piace il modo in cui l'autore ha strutturato il libro: prima l'esempio poi il suggerimento, e anche la parte finale che riassume il tutto é molto utile. Alcune cose le conoscevo giá, altre meno, comunque una lettura interessante.

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For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World's Favourite Drink by Sarah Rose

For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World's Favourite Drink by Sarah Rose
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Told as a story of espionage and adventure, this is the biography of Robert Fortune, the Scottish gardner that succeeded in smuggling tea leaves from China to Himalaya, helping the English Empire not to fight the opium wars anymore. Some things told by the author left me a bit doubtful but as he said this is not a scientific essay so.....

Raccontata come una storia di avventura e spiónaggio, questa é la biografia di Robert Fortune, che riuscí a penetrare fino ai piú remoti confini dell'impero cinese per contrabbandare le foglie di té e portarle nei possedimenti inglesi ai piedi dell'Himalaya e contribuendo alla caduta del celeste impero, che perse il suo monopolio sulla pianta. Alcune cose mi hanno lasciato un pochino dubbiosa, come per esempio il modo dell'autrice di raccontare dei cinesi, ma come dice lei, questo non é un saggio scientifico....

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Review: Africa Is Not a Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa

Africa Is Not a Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa by Dipo Faloyin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: The Ice Guy & The Cool Girl T05

The Ice Guy & The Cool Girl T05 by Miyuki Tonogaya
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Demon Slayer, Tome 19

Demon Slayer, Tome 19 by Koyoharu Gotouge
My rating: 0 of 5 stars



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What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories by Nathan Englander

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories by Nathan Englander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Englander goes back to short stories and some of them are even funny, which is something new for this author as far as I know. This time also everything has to do with Hebraism as well, and my only problem is that there were many words (maybe yiddish) that I couldn't understand and there were no explanations in the book, that was upsetting. Anyway a very good book, specially for somebody who likes short stories, I usually don't but these were worthy.

Englander dopo il romanzo, torna a scrivere racconti, alcuni dei quali addirittura divertenti, che sicuramente, considerato quanto aveva scritto fino ad ora, é una novitá assoluta. Anche stavolta tutte le storie ruotano attorno all'ebraismo e il mio unico problema con questo libro é stato che piú volte c'erano parole che non conoscevo, probabilmente yiddish, che non venivano spiegate....mah, scelte editoriali forse, comunque era piuttosto frequente e quindi noioso. Per concludere un buon libro, specialmente per gli amanti dei racconti, come io non sono, ma mi é piaciuto lo stesso.

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Review: The Dividing Sky

The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds

The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds by Amir Raz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting book and certainly narrated in a captivating way, perhaps the author also used with his words the power of suggestion that he talks about so much.

Libro interessante e sicuramente narrato in modo accattivante, magari anche l'autore ha usato con le sue parole il potere della suggestione di cui tanto parla.

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Review: The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds

The Suggestible Brain: The Science and Magic of How We Make Up Our Minds by Amir Raz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If this book didn't compared Hitler to Trump every single time, it would have been much more believable. The point is that I don't like trump myself, but this doesn't mean that to sell more books you have to made the problem bigger as it already is, because, as the author said, if the tyranny is already in power it's too late. But if he got to publish this book and sell many copies of it then tyranny is not already in power. So which one of the 2? It's ok to read book that reflect our own point of view, but it's even more important to be critical because otherwise where is the difference between two different types of Zelots?

Se questo libro non paragonasse costantemente Hitler a Trump sarebbe, secondo me ovviamente, molto piú credibile. Il punto é che nonostante non sia a mia volta una sostenitrice di Trump, paragonarlo ad Hitler solo per vendere piú libri non mi sembra una buona cosa, anche perché come dice lo stesso autore: se la tirannia é al potere é giá troppo tardi; ma se tu pubblichi un libro del genere senza problemi e vendi un sacco di copie allora la tirannia non é giá al potere o no? Quale delle due? Per come la vedo io non é sbagliato leggere libri che riflettano il nostro pensiero, ma proprio per questo dobbiamo esserne ancora piú critici, altrimenti diventiamo soltanto un altro tipo di zeloti, inteso nel senso piú ampio del termine.

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Review: In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft

In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft by Joe R. Lansdale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Views

Views by Marc-Uwe Kling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Il Ministero dei Casi Speciali by Nathan Englander, Silvia Pareschi (Translator)

Il Ministero dei Casi Speciali by Nathan Englander

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

E io che pensavo che il primo libro di racconti di questo autore fosse triste, mi sono dovuta ricredere parecchio considerato quanto sia tragico questo. La vita di una famiglia ebrea a Buenos Aires nel 1976. Padre, madre e figlio universitario, e a questo punto non credo di dover aggiungere niente altro. Tra situazioni paradossali, che parecchi hanno definito kafkiane, l'autore scrive una storia che spesso tocca vertici assurdi, ma che in qualche modo si dipana in modo omogeneo fino al finale, che pure non c'é nemmeno bisogno di accennare.

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Review: Suggested in the Stars

Suggested in the Stars by Yōko Tawada
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: My Kind of Trouble

My Kind of Trouble by L.A. Schwartz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Preston was a nice character, but I personally think Harmony was a bit too much. The plot always held up too little, and even the secondary characters were almost all gimmicks, starting with Alice. In short I am not so happy with this book.

Preston era un bel personaggio, ma personalmente ritengo Harmony un po' troppo eccessiva. La trama reggeva sempre troppo poco e anche i personaggi secondari erano quasi tutti delle macchiette, a cominciare da Alice. Insomma.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

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Review: Depeche Mode: Live

Depeche Mode: Live by Dennis Burmeister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: The Schubert Treatment: A Story of Music and Healing

The Schubert Treatment: A Story of Music and Healing by Claire Oppert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: The Labyrinth House Murders

The Labyrinth House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Vom Ende der Einsamkeit by Benedict Wells

Vom Ende der Einsamkeit by Benedict Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ich hatte fast die Hoffnung verloren, einen Tag ein deutsches Buch mit einem echten Plot zu lesen, und das sollte in chronologischer Reihenfolge stattfinden (mehr oder weniger). Aber hier ist es der perfekte Roman, gut geschrieben, tief, ungeheuer traurig und vor allem verständlich! Ich denke, dass ich mehr von diesem Autor lesen wird, sobald ich aus der Grube von Traurigkeit entstehen können, in dem er mich mit dieser Geschichte stürzte, natürlich.

Avevo quasi perso la speranza di poter leggere un giorno un libro tedesco con una vera e propria trama e che si svolgesse in modo cronologico (più o meno). Invece eccolo qui il romanzo perfetto: ben scritto, profondo, immensamente triste e soprattutto comprensibile! Penso che leggerò altro di questo autore, una volta che riesco a riemergere dal pozzo di tristezza in cui mi ha precipitato con questa storia ovviamente.

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Review: Shock Induction

Shock Induction by Chuck Palahniuk
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: The Promised Neverland, Vol. 8

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 8 by Kaiu Shirai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Demon Slayer, Tome 18

Demon Slayer, Tome 18 by Koyoharu Gotouge
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: 約束のネバーランド 9 [Yakusoku no Neverland 9]

約束のネバーランド 9 [Yakusoku no Neverland 9] by Kaiu Shirai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: 約束のネバーランド 10 [Yakusoku no Neverland 10]

約束のネバーランド 10 [Yakusoku no Neverland 10] by Kaiu Shirai
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: 約束のネバーランド 11 [Yakusoku no Neverland 11]

約束のネバーランド 11 [Yakusoku no Neverland 11] by Kaiu Shirai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: 約束のネバーランド 12 [Yakusoku no Neverland 12]

約束のネバーランド 12 [Yakusoku no Neverland 12] by Kaiu Shirai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1 by Sui Ishida
My rating: 1 of 5 stars



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Review: Lo spirito bambino

Lo spirito bambino by Banana Yoshimoto
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: Barnaby Rudge

Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: My Name is Maame

My Name is Maame by Jessica George
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: L'impossible retour

L'impossible retour by Amélie Nothomb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine

I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine by Daniel J. Levitin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Crux (Southern Arcana, #1) by Moira Rogers

Crux by Moira Rogers
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I gave up around the middle of the book, it was bad written and boring in my opinion, and it's strange because the Moria Rogers duo are usually one of the best authors around in my experience.

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Review: Erotica dei sentimenti: Per una nuova educazione sentimentale

Erotica dei sentimenti: Per una nuova educazione sentimentale by Maura Gancitano
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Apprentice to the Villain

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: Playground

Playground by Richard Powers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read some chapters for my MOOC in Neuroeconomy. Interesting but I didn't get everything, still the topic is absolutely fascinating for me.

Ho letto alcuni capitoli per il mio corso sulla Neuroeconomia. Interessante ma non é che abbia proprio capito tutto, ma di quel poco ho trovato tutto molto affascinante.

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Regretting Motherhood: Wenn Mütter bereuen by Orna Donath, Karlheinz Dürr (Translator), Elsbeth Ranke (Translator)

Regretting Motherhood: Wenn Mütter bereuen by Orna Donath

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Molto interessante, anche perché, come dice l'autrice stessa non é che di questo argomento se ne parli spesso, anzi pure mai. Purtroppo c'é ancora chi accusa le donne di egoismo se non vogliono diventare madri, salvo poi relegarle in secondo piano specialmente dal punto di vista lavorativo quando poi i figli li fanno. Non é un modo giusto né tanto meno corretto, ma se almeno cominciassimo a parlarne non sarebbe male.

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