Interest in 2022 year long read of Anniversaries?
Discussions1001 Books to read before you die
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1japaul22
Hello fellow 1001 book readers! I'm thinking about 2022 and I think my project this year will be reading Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson. I own the (very large) book that was recently reissued by NYRB and I want to read it but would love some company!
In my edition, the two volume work is 1668 pages and is written in a diary format, spanning August of 1967 to August of 1968.
From the nyrb book description:
It is August 1967, and Gesine Cresspahl, born in Germany the year that Hitler came to power, a survivor of war, of Soviet occupation, and of East German Communism, has been living with her ten-year-old daughter, Marie, in New York City for six years. Mother and daughter find themselves caught up in the countless stories of the world around them: stories of work and school and their neighborhood, with its shifting and varied cast of characters, as well as the stories that Gesine reads in The New York Times every day—about Che Guevara, racial violence, the war in Vietnam, and the US elections to come. Now, with Marie growing up, Gesine has decided to tell her daughter the story of her own childhood in a small north German town in the 1930s and ’40s. Amid memories of Germany’s criminal and disastrous past and the daily barrage of news from a world in disarray, Gesine, conscientious, self-scrutinizing, with a sharp sense of humor, struggles to describe what she has learned over the years and what she hopes to pass on to Marie. Marie, articulate, quizzical, with a perspective that is very much her own, has plenty of questions, too.
Would anyone consider joining me?
In my edition, the two volume work is 1668 pages and is written in a diary format, spanning August of 1967 to August of 1968.
From the nyrb book description:
It is August 1967, and Gesine Cresspahl, born in Germany the year that Hitler came to power, a survivor of war, of Soviet occupation, and of East German Communism, has been living with her ten-year-old daughter, Marie, in New York City for six years. Mother and daughter find themselves caught up in the countless stories of the world around them: stories of work and school and their neighborhood, with its shifting and varied cast of characters, as well as the stories that Gesine reads in The New York Times every day—about Che Guevara, racial violence, the war in Vietnam, and the US elections to come. Now, with Marie growing up, Gesine has decided to tell her daughter the story of her own childhood in a small north German town in the 1930s and ’40s. Amid memories of Germany’s criminal and disastrous past and the daily barrage of news from a world in disarray, Gesine, conscientious, self-scrutinizing, with a sharp sense of humor, struggles to describe what she has learned over the years and what she hopes to pass on to Marie. Marie, articulate, quizzical, with a perspective that is very much her own, has plenty of questions, too.
Would anyone consider joining me?
2annamorphic
I fear that this was a book that I actually GAVE AWAY (in one of those Little Lending Library boxes) because I could not face reading it.
3japaul22
>2 annamorphic: oh no! It is daunting, isn’t it? But Eliz_M read it recently and seemed to enjoy the experience so I’m hoping it’s worth the time!
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still in that Little Free Library if you want to get it back . . . 😉
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still in that Little Free Library if you want to get it back . . . 😉
4ELiz_M
>2 annamorphic: There is nothing to be intimidated by, other than the shear size of it. It's fairly readable and for me it really helped that the present day strand of events takes place in NYC. It is far less experimental than Dos Passos or V. Woolf, but does use alternate points of view occasionally (such as entries narrated by the NY Times, for example).
5japaul22
Going to bump this up once more to see if there are any takers. Otherwise I have some interest from people on litsy and LT that might join in.
This book gets a lot of good reviews from the people who give it a try, so I'm pretty excited about it!
This book gets a lot of good reviews from the people who give it a try, so I'm pretty excited about it!