Actually, most of these key moments occurred precisely because he was there. You have no idea what’s to come! Jonas Jonasson tells us the ludicrous, yet fascinating story of a man who has been present at the most key moments in the last 100 years of human history. You think that’s odd?Īt the bus station Allan, entrusted with a suitcase while its owner takes a bathroom break, takes off with the suitcase upon the arrival of the next bus. In no more than his brown jacket, brown trousers and pee slippers, this is the moment that the centenarian decides to escape. The grand event is also graced by the presence of the Mayor and the press. “Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann”Ī birthday party is planned at the retirement home where Allan Karlsson has just turned 100. Wodehouse is one of the classics I find myself returning to every so often - not just to relive happy memories, but to discover anew the power of wit and humour that can really brush the poisonous cobwebs of life’s stresses away. A tale that - as always - still manages to include a love story where all ends well! And as one disastrous incident after the other occurs on the farm, starting with the arrival of a huge consignment of assorted chickens and the overwhelming task of getting them organized into coops and fences, we find ourselves thick in the middle of yet another bizarre tale this time with cats stuck in chimneys, sick chickens, drowning professors, croquet, tennis and golf games, and of course, a crowning glory of angry creditors. As Garnet is bulldozed into moving in with Ukridge and his wife in the capacity of an adviser, his initial apprehensions are quickly realized as Ukridge reveals himself to know absolutely nothing about chickens. Writer Jeremy Garnet recalls the time when his friend Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge decided to launch a chicken farm. Preposterous people with ridiculous names working on ludicrous schemes - all the trademarks of the inimitable Wodehouse come together once again to form yet another joyous reading experience. What do you do when life’s tensions really start to get you down? You turn to P. And not just because the writing was so brilliant. While this style does not leave room for any twists or surprises, it certainly ensures a constant presence of fear that never lets up we are not even afforded the luxury of a false sense of security.īook-ended by The Grave Digger’s Handbook and The Word Shaker, 33 Himmel Street sits at the core of so much terror, so much sorrow, and yet so much resilience … I prayed for Max and I cheered for Hans and I cried for Rudy, and - like Death - I will be haunted by the book thief for a long time to come. He would one day rule the world”.Īmid all the tragedy, Death does not let up for even a moment as it talks about people and situations and gives a glimpse into an uneasy future with such words of doom as, “For now though let’s let him enjoy it, we’ll give him seven months and then we will come for him”. He would make himself a small, strange mustache. He would part his hair from the opposite side to everyone else. Before we even get into the story, we are surrounded by warm evocative colours: Europe is grey, kindness is soft silver melting … into this visually enigmatic world crashes the heart-wrenching tale of Liesel Meminger, of Rudy Steiner who only ever wanted to be Jesse Owens, of Hans Hubermann who ‘dared’ to give a Jew a piece of bread, of Max Vandenburg who lives a large part of his adult life crouching in a basement covered by old paint cans and dirty drop sheets, fantasizing about ring fights with Hitler or painting over books and writing his own stories, and of scores of other people, whose destinies were decided by the actions of one “strange, small man” who - in the words of Max - decided: “1. Even more unusual is the occasional humour and the sheer poetry that envelops everything Death says and does. One of the things that really set this story apart was its unique narration - by Death itself. Narrated by Death, this flawless story has been one of the greater reading experiences of my life one that I dare not ever re-visit for the sheer horror and grief it evoked, yet one that is unlikely to get out of my memory any time soon. Set in Nazi Germany, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is the story of Liesel Meminger’s life with her foster parents shortly after her father abandons the family, her mother gives her up, and her brother dies en route.
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