Bespoke libraries

This might be useful to lottery winners.
Suppose you want to have a full-blown library at home, as in many novels and films. How would you go about it? You might want to hire the services of professionals like Heywood Hill of London. Owned by the Duke of Devonshire, it has become a leading purveyor of bespoke (that is, customised) libraries and is the object of a recent piece by The Economist.

'The first major commission, in 2013, was a collection of books on 20th-century Modernist art and design for a chalet in Switzerland. The 3,000-volume library took four months to put together and three days to install at a cost of just under £500,000 ($788,000).'

Click here to read more.

Another option is bookseller and curator Thatcher Wine from Boulder, Colorado. CBS ran this segment about his work last summer.

Finally, a bonus: watch this nice video about libraries that someone took the trouble to put together.

Jane Austen in quotes: 30 tips for a successful life

Undoubtedly Jane Austen is one of the best loved authors in Britain, whose influence lives on and whose ideas are still a beacon for the generations. Tuesday marked the 239Th anniversary of her birth and became the first ever Jane Austen's Day. To mark the historic ocasion, some of the best quotes from the author and her characters were pusblished for our benefit, on the conviction they are amazingly relevant to modern life,
Consider these:

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of luck,
One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid
I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

Is the relevance amazing? Read them all and consider yourself.

Raten Sie mit beim Adventskalender-Gewinnspiel!

Das Jahr 2015 steht vor der Tür und mit ihm viele große Geburtstage. Wir fragen nach 24 berühmten Personen, die im kommenden Jahr Jubiläum feiern. Rätseln Sie mit und gewinnen Sie einen von vielen schönen Preisen.

Start ist am 1. Dezember!

http://www.hueber.de/adventskalender2014/

Der Nünberger Christkindlesmarkt

Hardcore Grimm brothers' fairytales

A new edition of the Grimm brothers' tales shows that the original versions were a good deal more gruesome than the ones we know (further sweetened by the Disney factory). Between 1812 and 1857 the brothers published several editions in which they softened the stories and made them more child-friendly.

According to Jack Zipes, author of this new edition, "Though the Grimms kept about 100 of the tales from the first edition, they changed them a good deal. So, the versions with which most English-speaking (and German-speaking) readers are familiar are quite different from the tales in the first edition."

In 'How the Children Played at Slaughtering', for example, a group of children play at being a butcher and a pig. It ends badly: a boy cuts the throat of his little brother, only to be stabbed in the heart by his enraged mother. Unfortunately, the stabbing meant she left her other child alone in the bath, where he drowned. Unable to be cheered up by the neighbours, she hangs herself; when her husband gets home, “he became so despondent that he died soon thereafter”. 

To learn more juicy details about Rapunzel, the evil queen in Snow White or Cinderella read this article.

Bad Sex (Literary) Awards

OK, this entry is a bit steamy.

Britain's most dreaded literary prize, the Bad Sex Literary Award in Fiction,  seeks 'to draw attention to poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction, and to discourage them.'  The fiction in question is not erotic but 'serious' literature. Now in its 22nd edition, this year's shortlist includes heavyweight authors like Haruki Murakami, and Booker or Pulitzer winners.

To learn more read this article describing the whole thing.

You can also visit the Literary Review. There's a funny video about the selection process.

The Bad Sex Award is one among other weird literary prizes.

25 Jahre Fall der Mauer

25 Jahre Fall der Mauer

Der Song "Wind Of Change" von Scorpions prägte eine Generation. 

Er gilt als Hymne der Wende. 

                         

• I follow the Moskva 

And down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world is closing in
And did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers

The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

Walking down the street
And distant memories
Are buried in the past forever

I follow the Moskva
And down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

The wind of change blows straight
Into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring
The freedom bell for peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

A Harry Potter Halloween tale

Fans of Harry Potter rejoice! J K Rowling has released a Halloween treat, the story of the very mean Dolores Umbridge. You can read it in pottermore.com (registration is free) or by clicking on this link.

Happy Halloween!

Top 10 vampire books

Nosferatu, 1922

Now that Halloween is coming it's a good time to talk about the most popular monsters in popular culture. How many novels about vampires have you read? What about movies, or even TV series you have seen? Take a look at this top-ten list published in The Guardian: just two of the novels were published in the XXIst century, the rest are venerable XIXth century classics. Don't expect any good-looking teenagers!

Bonus.- Not into vampires? Read this terrifying Twitter tale.

"The Cut" von Fatih Akin

Mardin, 1915: Eines Nachts treibt die türkische Gendarmerie alle armenischen Männer zusammen. Auch der junge Schmied Nazaret Manoogian wird von seiner Familie getrennt. Nachdem es ihm gelingt, den Horror des Völkermordes zu überleben, erreicht ihn Jahre später die Nachricht, dass auch seine Zwillingstöchter am Leben sind. Besessen von dem Gedanken, sie wiederzufinden, folgt er ihren Spuren. Sie führen ihn von den Wüsten Mesopotamiens über Havanna bis in die kargen, einsamen Prärien North Dakotas. Auf seiner Odyssee begegnet er den unterschiedlichsten Menschen: engelsgleichen und gütigen Charakteren, aber auch dem Teufel in Menschengestalt.

Obwohl der Film die Welt vor 100 Jahren beschreibt, ist er brandaktuell, denn er erzählt von Krieg und Vertreibung. Aber auch von der Kraft der Liebe und der Hoffnung, die uns Unvorstellbares leisten lässt.

Kinostart: 16.10.2014 

Gone Girl

Gone Girl, the major Hollywood movie based on Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel, opens in Spain today. The film, directed by David Fincher (Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has received mostly good reviews. The novel, which was #1 of the prestigious New York Times Bestsellers list for 8 weeks, is an excellent piece of entertainment, a real page-turner. Nick and Amy Dunne seem like the perfect couple, but then Amy disappears and there's a lot of incriminating evidence against Nick. Did he kill his wife?

Interestingly, the film release has sparked some controversy on whether Amy is a feminist or the story can provoke a misogynistic reaction. To learn more read this piece in The Guardian (spolier alert: the whole plot is outlined). It has a curious word that you will probably never use, 'mansplain', whose meaning is explained here. There's also a reference to Amy's 'Cool Girl' diatribe, which you can read here.

Gone Girl was in our recommended readings list last year and is available at our library.

Tag der deutschen Einheit

Der Weg zur deutschen Einheit

National Poetry Day

2nd October was National Poetry Day in Britain. The Guardian celebrated by publishing videos of readers reciting poems they know by heart. Follow this link to check them out.

Für alle, die auch andere Sportarten lieben: 

DER BERLIN-MARATHON

Das Oktoberfest hat begonnen!!!

¡Feliz verano, lectores!

Un año más ha llegado el verano. Os deseamos un feliz  merecido descanso estival. ¡No perdáis el contacto con el idioma (con un libro, por ejemplo)!

Gabriel García Márquez, 1927-2014

Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel laureate writer, dies aged 87 - The Guardian

Mort de Gabriel Garcia Marquez, légende de la littérature - Le Monde

Der Meister des magischen Realismus verstummt - Frankfurter Allgemeine

Addio allo scrittore Gabriel Garcia Marquez il mondo lo omaggia: il Mandela della letteratura - la Repubblica

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Read by one of our awesome students.



Read the poem here

THE TOOTH

Read and produced by one of our amazing students.

THE FOUR AGREEMENTS

Read by Mafalda, one of our fabulous students





THE FOUR AGREEMENTS (By Miguel Ruiz)

According to an interview, this is what Miguel Ruiz says about the four agreements:

“This book reveals the source of beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, it offers a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to some new experiences of freedom, true happiness and love”.

It doesn’t matter what language or what religion people have, this book is a universal one.

Agreement first: “BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD”

“We can say that whatever we want to change, first we need to start with ourselves. We cannot give what we don’t have. To be impeccable with the word is much more than just doing. What you say, you will do.

Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love”.

Agreement second: “DON’T TAKE THINKS PERSONALLY”

“Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering”.

Agreement third: “DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS”

“Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can, to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With only this agreement, you can really completely transform your life”.

Agreement fourth: “ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST”

“This is my favourite one, definitely, because the first three exist only in our imagination, in our mind, but with the action we make it real. It’s no longer in the mind. We have so many ideas. But if we don’t take the action, those ideas will just dissipate. But if we take the action, we really create it and we can share it with everyone.

Your best is going to change from moment you want. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid to judge yourself and regret”.

A SERIOUS CASE

Read by one of our wonderful students.

Four whimsical short stories from Alexander @McCallSmith

The third edition of the Twitter Fiction Festival was held 12-16 March. What does literature look like on Twitter? Here's a sample by dear Alexander McCall Smith, author of the international phenomenon the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

Alexander McCall Smith

To explore more fiction created in the 2014 festival, follow this link.

On Poetry Day, a Spring poem

Poem

BY RON PADGETT

I’m in the house.

It’s nice out: warm

sun on cold snow.

First day of   spring

or last of   winter.

My legs run down

the stairs and out

the door, my top

half   here typing

The World Wide Web at 25: Changing literature forever

The BBC recently published an article on the influence of internet on literature. The author argues that the World Wide Web has brought about a radical revolution in literature’s form and content – from e-books to Twitter fiction. Initially the internet appears in literature as science fiction, then science fact, curiously in the context of a dystopian society (in the style of Orwel's 1984). The article then focuses on the new literary forms brought about by Tweeter, with micro and flash fiction. There's even a Tweeter Fiction Festival soon to be held.

"These writers see an online world that is dizzyingly complicated, but they may actually be making it even more so. Who knows how mysterious things will get as we follow them down the rabbit hole."

 This link will take you to the article.

Assassinat à L’école de Langues

                                               Assassinat à L’école de Langues

Petite nouvelle policière réalisée par les élèves de 5^ème et 6^ème années de l’école de Langues de Huesca en 2013, avec l’aide du professeur Mr Candie Gilles:

Belén Ancho, Marta Bornaechea, Ana Fuertes, Pilar Garanto, Ana Lacambra, Rafael Mosteo, Zhara Noghani, Elena Ubieto

Note apparue dans le journal le lendemain des faits :

« Hier, lundi matin, la concierge de l’école des Langues de Huesca, a trouvé le corps sans vie du professeur d’italien. Celui-ci était allongé sur le sol de la bibliothèque. Il  avait plusieurs coups de poignards dans la poitrine. Ce professeur venait tout juste de s’incorporer à son poste de travail il y a 3 mois, car il était en congé maladie pour dépression. D’après ce que nous avons pu savoir, il ne s’entendait pas bien du tout avec les autres professeurs, surtout avec son collègue, l’autre enseignant d’italien.

Nous vous tiendrons bien sûr au courant etc…. »

L’inspectrice chargée de cette enquête s’appelait Sarah et elle venait d’arriver sur les lieux du crime. Habillée avec l’uniforme de police, tout en noir, et avec de grandes bottes. De longs et blonds tire-bouchons sortent de sous la casquette. Elle a un beau visage rond, très impressionnant à cause de ses yeux bleus-clairs, presque transparents, et de son apparence très « nordique ».

L’air sérieux, elle parle avec fermeté, lentement en vocalisant bien. Elle connait son boulot parfaitement car elle a travaillé pendant dix ans au département comme spécialiste dans la recherche de criminels.

A 8h du matin, Sarah arrive sur les lieux du crime après avoir reçu le coup de fil de la concierge de l’école de Langues. Elle va directement à la bibliothèque pour observer les éventuelles pistes. Le corps qui gisait sur le dos, avec quinze coups de poignard, avait la bouche ouverte et laissait voir la langue à demi arrachée ou coupée. La flaque de sang inondait un livre fermé à côté du corps où se trouvait aussi un mégot de cigarette.

Alors, elle décide de commencer l’interrogatoire avec la concierge Margarita, qui a trouvé le corps.

À première vue, Margarita, droite comme un « i », est une femme maigre et petite, ses cheveux frisés grisonnent et sont déjà désordonnés, elle a de grands yeux noirs, inquiétants. De plus elle a vraiment mauvaise mine ! Elle semble très timide et bien incapable de prendre une décision, cependant, elle est très rigoureuse dans son travail, elle est toujours la première à arriver et la dernière à partir. Elle a plus ou moins la soixantaine et fume beaucoup.

L’interrogatoire :

Sarah : « vous êtes bien la personne qui a trouvé la victime ? »

La concierge : « Oui, ce matin comme tous les matins, j’étais en train d’ouvrir les salles et en entrant dans la bibliothèque j’ai trouvé le corps du professeur allongé face à terre. Quelle horreur ! Quelle catastrophe ! »

Du

Du,
Augen, in denen sich die Unendlichkeit spiegelt,
wunderschön und rätselhaft.

Du,
ein Mund, wissend und doch geheimnisvoll lächelnd,
Sehnsüchte weckend.

Du,
eine Stimme, vertraut und voll Wärme,
die Seele berührend.

Du,
ein Gesicht, schön wie ein Sonnenaufgang am Meer,
strahlend und sanft.

Du,
anmutige Bewegung, bezaubernder Duft,
die Sinne betörend.

Du,
zwei Buchstaben nur, Symbol für eine ganze Welt,
wie das Alpha und das Omega.

Du,
nah und vertraut, unendlich fern,
Sterne berührend.

Für immer in meinem Herzen.

Raina Jeschke, 2006

Jacques Brel, La chanson des vieux amants

L’une des plus belles chansons d’amour de tous les temps

Bien sûr, nous eûmes des orages

Vingt ans d'amour, c'est l'amour fol

Mille fois tu pris ton bagage

Mille fois je pris mon envol

Et chaque meuble se souvient

Dans cette chambre sans berceau

Des éclats des vieilles tempêtes

Plus rien ne ressemblait à rien

Tu avais perdu le goût de l'eau

Et moi celui de la conquête

Mais mon amour

Mon doux mon tendre mon merveilleux amour

De l'aube claire jusqu'à la fin du jour

Je t'aime encore tu sais je t'aime

Moi, je sais tous tes sortilèges

Tu sais tous mes envoûtements

Tu m'as gardé de pièges en pièges

Je t'ai perdue de temps en temps

Bien sûr tu pris quelques amants

Il fallait bien passer le temps

Il faut bien que le corps exulte

Finalement finalement

Il nous fallut bien du talent

Pour être vieux sans être adultes

Oh, mon amour

Mon doux mon tendre mon merveilleux amour

De l'aube claire jusqu'à la fin du jour

Je t'aime encore, tu sais, je t'aime

Et plus le temps nous fait cortège

Et plus le temps nous fait tourment

Mais n'est-ce pas le pire piège

Que vivre en paix pour des amants

Bien sûr tu pleures un peu moins tôt

Je me déchire un peu plus tard

Nous protégeons moins nos mystères

On laisse moins faire le hasard

On se méfie du fil de l'eau

Mais c'est toujours la tendre guerre

Oh, mon amour...

Mon doux mon tendre mon merveilleux amour

De l'aube claire jusqu'à la fin du jour

Je t'aime encore tu sais je t'aime.

A kiss on the forehead

A kiss on the forehead—erases misery.

I kiss your forehead.

A kiss on the eyes—lifts sleeplessness.

I kiss your eyes.

A kiss on the lips—is a drink of water.

I kiss your lips.

A kiss on the forehead—erases memory.

Marina Tsvetaeva 

1892–1941

Die 64. Berlinale

Es ist wieder soweit, man kann in Berlin rund um die Uhr Filme gucken. 

Wenn Sie sich informieren möchten, klicken Sie einfach:
BERLINALE 2014

A horror story

The Inmans had a parrot. Grump (that was his name) was horrible, angry, scheming and nasty. But he was their parrot so they couldn't shoot him. Instead he lived in their house, soiled their mail, stole their fried chicken and every so often bit. Then, finally, he died.

Sort of.

Click for more

Holocaust-Gedenktag - 69 Jahre nach Auschwitz

Gemeinsam mit mehr als 20 hochbetagten Holocaust-Überlebenden gedachten Mitglieder der israelischen Regierung in Auschwitz der sechs Millionen Opfer des Holocausts. Soldaten der Roten Armee hatten das Konzentrationslager am 27. Januar 1945 befreit.

Holocaust-Gedenktag

E-BOOKS VS PRINTED BOOKS

You might think the rise of e-books will put the printed book in danger of extinction, but you would be wrong. There's no reason to worry, as a couple of studies have recently found.

According to an American survey, 'Most people who read e-books also read print books, and just 4% of readers are “e-book only.” Overall, 89% of those who had read an e-book had also read a book in print.' (Read the article).

This echoes another British study, accoding to which, perhaps surprisingly, 62% of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer traditional books over their digital equivalents. The top-rated reasons for preferring physical to digital products were: "I like to hold the product" (51%), "I am not restricted to a particular device" (20%), "I can easily share it" (10%), "I like the packaging" (9%), and "I can sell it when used" (6%). (Read the article).

DRM: Digital Rights Management

The “’real books’ vs. ebooks’” debate has been around for years, of course. And, unlike other types of media, there are good reasons to prefer the old medium. Paper books don’t need electricity. You can resell them or give them away without sparking a battle over copyright infringement. They can suffer a coffee spill without completely crapping out. It is impossible to get distracted by pop-up emails and other apps. Paper books can’t disappear from your library due to company policy, technical malfunction, or technology obsolescence. And no matter how handy an ebook is, its intangible nature strips its ability to evoke the sentimental memories a dingy, dog-eared paperback can elicit. (Read more)

I'm a happy user of an e-book reader. I find it very useful and convenient. It's light and easy to hold when I read lying on my bed. It's also easy to carry on holiday or to a doctor's appointment. The books are cheaper and there are loads of classic works in the public domain, if you care to read them. I no longer need storage space in my cluttered bookcases. Having said that, I enjoy getting a printed book for my birthday. So, this is my experience. How about yours? Feel free to leave a comment.

For a wider perspective, have a look at these infograms on the business side of the issue.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Amiri Baraka, 1934-2014

Poet and political activist Amiri Baraka died earlier this month at 79. Mr Baraka was a founder of the black arts movement in the 1960s, in the context of the Civil Rights Movement.

Baraka "adopted a confrontational style for his poetry, drama, fiction and essays. With intent to create awareness about the concerns of African-Americans, his writings ... on one hand have been praised as a voice against oppression, on the other hand, have also incited controversies." (CNN)

His poem Somebody Blew Up America, about the 9/11 attack, was controversial indeed and cost him his position as New Jersey's poet laureate. (Read and listen more on this story)

Amiri Baraka gave a reading of his poetry in Huesca in 2009.

Full text of Somebody Blew Up America

For more information, read this New York Times article.

More poems by Amiri Baraka.

Praise for female readers

What do men look for in women? Some (many?) are attracted by looks, others by intellect, as explains today's poem by a teacher who beat a student at a rap contest. For more info, visit markgrist.com 

So, what do you go for in a girl?”

He crows, lifting a lager to his lips

Gestures where his mate sits

Downs his glass

“He prefers tits

I prefer ass.

What do you go for in a girl?”

I don’t feel comfortable

The air left the room a long time ago

All eyes are on me

Well, if you must know

I want a girl who reads

Yeah. Reads.

I’m not trying to call you a chauvinist

Cos I know you’re not alone in this

but…

I want a girl who reads

Who needs the written word

& uses the added vocabulary

She gleans from novels and poetry

To hold lively conversation

In a range of social situations

I want a girl who reads

Who’s heart bleeds at the words of Graham Greene

Or even Heat magazine

Who’ll tie back her hair while reading Jane Eyre

and goes cover to cover with each waterstones three for two offer

but I want a girl who doesn’t stop there

I want a girl who reads

Who feeds her addiction for fiction

With unusual poems and plays

That she hunts out in crooked bookshops for days and days and days

She’ll sit addicted at breakfast, soaking up the back of the cornflakes box

And the information she gets from what she reads makes her a total fox

Cos she’s interesting & unique

& her theories make me go weak at the knees

I want a girl who reads

A girl who’s eyes will analyse

The menu over dinner

Who’ll use what she learns to kick my ass in arguments

so she always ends the winner

But she’ll still be sweet and she’ll still be flirty

Cos she loves the classics and the classics are dirty

So late at night she’d always have me in a stupor

As she paraphrases the raunchier moments from the works of Jilly Cooper

See, some guys prefer asses

Some prefer tits

And I’m not saying that I don’t like those bits

But what’s more important

What supersedes

Is a girl a with passion, wit and dreams

So I’d like a girl who reads.