All About Books discussion

This year I will use only one discussion for both books read and challenges.

No new challenges for me, always the same like during the last years.

dely, far and wide through India


visited 17 states (48.5%)
Create your own visited map of India or Amsterdam travel guide for Android


States:
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar: India: A Wounded Civilization
Chhattisgarh
Delhi:
The Wildings
Delhi
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Goa: Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
Gujarat:
The Algebra Of Infinite Justice
Il libro di Krishna
Haryana: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata
Himachal Pradesh: Nine Lives
Jammu e Kashmir: Kashmir Saivism - The Central Philosophy of Tantrism
Jharkhand
Karnataka:
India. Cinque racconti, sei reportage, tre fumetti
Waiting for the Mahatma by R.K. Narayan
Kerala: Idris : Keeper of the Light
Madhya Pradesh:
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster
Un'isola di mistero : seguito delle avventure di viaggio di Dalle caverne e dalle giungle dell'Indostan
Maharashtra:
Sacred Games
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Saturday Date
The Moor's Last Sigh
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa: eFiction India Vol. 1 Issue 07
Punjab: Train to Pakistan
Rajasthan: India Was One
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu:
Shilappadikaram
The Toss of a Lemon
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh:
Sea of Poppies
Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead: v. 1
Uttarakhand
West Bengal:
Freedom at Midnight
The City of Joy
The Sleeping Dictionary
Sister of My Heart
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice
The Lives of Others

India without a real setting:
Kamasutra
71 Golden Tales of Panchatantra
A Fine Balance
L'Induismo
Timeless wisdom from ancient India
The Dance of Siva: Essays on Indian Art and Culture
The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma

Cat Challenge

My previous year: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

1) Pene d'amore di una gatta inglese e altri racconti felini

Novel Cure Challenge

My previous year: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Reading Books I Already Own

My previous year: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

2017:

1) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand Was in my to-read list since 2011, read 18/05/2017

2) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett In my to-read list since June 2012, read 07/09/2017


3) Sommerstück by Christa Wolf In my to-read list since April 2015, DNF October 2017

4) Rising of a Dead Moon by Paul Haston It was in my to-read list since 2013 and now I deleted it from my kindle. It's a terrible formatting and I don't like the book. I already tried to read it 4 years ago, arrived at 8% and then gave up.

5) The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil It was on my to-read list since April 2013. Tried to read it in December 2017 but I give up after 3%.

6) Faust: First Part by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

7) Faust, Part Two by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe In my to-read list since 2013, abandoned October 2017. I have the German editions, downloaded for free from Amazon, but it's not the right time to read them. I tried but gave up because I can't concentrate

8) The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss In my to-read list since 2013, read October 2017

9) Patterns of Childhood by Christa Wolf In my to-read list since 2014, read in September 2017

10) The Satyricon by Petronius Arbiter In my to-read list since 2013, not finished October 2017

11) Insurgent Mexico by John Reed In my to-read list since 2013, read 22/10/2017

12) The New Gods by Emil Cioran In my to-read list since 2013, but I give up for the second time. I tried to read this book a few years ago, I tried again now, but it's not my cup of tea.

13) The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka In my to-read list since December 2013, read 18/06/2017


14) La cucina dell'Islam by Hocine Benchina In my to-read list since 2014, read 04/08/2017

15) Fiabe e storie by Hans Christian Andersen In my to read list since 2014, read from March to December 2017

16) Gli anni by Annie Ernaux In my to-read list since 2015, read 11/09/2017

17) Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez In my to-read list since 2015,
read 22/06/2017

18) The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma by Gurcharan Das In my to-read list since September 2016, read 21/01/2017

19) Dissipatio H.G. by Guido Morselli In my to-read list since 2015, read 20/05/2017

20) The Cider House Rules by John Irving In my to-read list since January 2016, read 06/02/2017

21) Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea by Claudio Magris In my to-read list since 2016, read 02/06/2017

22) Un brigante chiamato Libero by Vincenzo Labanca In my to-read list since January 2016, read 02/03/2017

23) Fantasmi: Dispacci dalla Cambogia by Tiziano Terzani In my to-read list since 2016, read 02/08/2017

24) In Asia by Tiziano Terzani Was in my to read list since December 2016, read 03/09/2017

25) Cathedral by Raymond Carver Was in my to-read list since December 2016, read 06/01/2017

26) Francesco d'Assisi: La storia negata by Chiara Mercuri In my to-read list since December 2016, read 03/01/2017

1) Francesco d'Assisi: La storia negata by Chiara Mercuri 4/5

There isn't an English translation of this book but I recommend it to who knows Italian and that want to know about Saint Francis and why after his death all the papers about him disappeared and there was only one official biography that wasn't trustful. After a lot of years the original papers written by his confreres could be found so they started writing new and trustful biographies. Very interesting, above all the historical background and how things worked in the Francisan Order.

Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


1) Books I own Challenge
Was in my to-read list since December 2016, read 3th January 2017.

2) Cattedrale 3/5

English edition: Cathedral by Raymond Carver

I enjoyed these short stories and Carver's writing style. All these stories deal with less important moments in life, or moments that don't seem important to us, but at the end they are. There aren't great happenings, but the reader is put in the story when things already happened. The many themes of these stories are: loneliness, divorce, alcoholism, loss of a job.

2) Books I Own Challenge
Was in my to-read list since December 2016, read 06/01/2017.

3) The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma by Gurcharan Das 4/5

It could have been also a 5* if it wouldn't have been a bit dragging towards the end. The title says it all: it's about dharma in the Mahabharata, a book I love so I also like to read about it.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Challenges

1) Indian Challenge

3) Books I own challenge
It was in my to read list since September 2017, read 21/01/2017.

4) AAA Libertà cercasi: Amalgama multiforme di pensieri liberi e discutibili sedimentati negli anni by Umberto Cavazzini 1/5

I rate the book despite I didn't finish it. It's by an emerging Italian author and it was really badly written, it was impossible to follow the author's thoughts. You are lucky there isn't an English translation of this book.

My only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

5) Le regole della casa del sidro 2/5

English edition: The Cider House Rules by John Irving

I really liked the first part but then there was no development in the characters. They behaved the same way from the beginning till the end, and the whole story lasts at least 30 years. It isn't believable, it isn't real that people never change and always say and behave the same way. I wanted to rate it with 1* but seen that I liked the first part and seen that I was able to finish it, I decided for 2*.

My short English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my Books I Own Challenge. 4th book of the list. It was in my to-read list since January 2016.

6) Il tempo dei nuovi eroi by Oscar Di Montigny ★★★★★

It's a non-fiction about economics. It was really very interesting and well written and it's a pity it hasn't been translated into English

The author explains how companies have to put at the center of their economy the consumer but not only as a consumer, but as a human being. He wants an economy based on universal values and ideals that stops thinking only about its profit, but has to do also the profit of the consumer and the enviroment. He talks a lot about his own experience, about why and how a person has to change in order to be a better person not only for himself but for society.
The author isn't a dreamer, but he is a management director of one of the biggest banks in Italy and if I don't go wrong he founded also a Corporate University.

Really very very interesting. I loved it.

I have written only an Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

7) Un brigante chiamato Libero by Vincenzo Labanca ★★☆☆☆

No English edition. It's a book about brigandage in Italy after the unification of Italy (1861). It's fiction though all the dates and characters are real and accurate.

I have written only an Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

5th book of my Books I Own Challenge. Was in my to-read list since January 2016.

dely wrote: "All these stories deal with less important moments in life, or moments that don't seem important to us, but at the end they are. There aren't great happenings, but the reader is put in the story when things already happened. The many themes of these stories are: loneliness, divorce, alcoholism, loss of a job. ...."

This is a great description dely, so true; they are about what seem like the little moments.

Did you know that he worked as a janitor for some time before his writing began to attract attention?

Greg wrote: "Did you know that he worked as a janitor for some time before his writing began to attract attention?"

No, I don't know anything about his life. Thanks for telling me.

dely wrote: "5) Le regole della casa del sidro 2/5

English edition: The Cider House Rules by John Irving

I really ..."

This is really disheartening, dely! :(

I was looking forward to reading this one this year.... Hmmm... that sounds really unlike the author who does character building really beautifully...

Anyway thanks for the heads up.. will let you know what I feel :P

dely wrote: "2) Cattedrale 3/5

English edition: Cathedral by Raymond Carver

I enjoyed these short stories and Carver's writing style...."

This is another one in my TBR. :)

Srividya wrote: "I was looking forward to reading this one this year.... Hmmm... that sounds really unlike the author who does character building really beautifully... "

Do read it. There are a lot of people that really liked this book.

Srividya wrote: "dely wrote: "2) Cattedrale 3/5

English edition: Cathedral by Raymond Carver

I enjoyed these short stories and Carver's w..."

I'm sure you will like Carver!

8) I Vangeli per guarire: Lo straordinario potere del mito cristiano by Alejandro Jodorowsky ★☆☆☆☆

I thought this book talked about some nice and edifying verses of the Gospels but I was so wrong! The author explains some verses and events with his very personal interpretation. It was so forced and often also totally non-sense.

I have written only an Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

dely wrote: "8) I Vangeli per guarire: Lo straordinario potere del mito cristiano by [author:Alejandro Jodo..."
He is also a film director, right?
I think I started watching El Topo once but it was too weird for me.

Esther wrote: "dely wrote: "8) I Vangeli per guarire: Lo straordinario potere del mito cristiano by [author:A..."

Yes, he is. I have to look for the trailer of his movie. If it's like the book then it will be "psychedelic" to say the least!

Esther wrote: "He is also a film director, right?
I think I started watching El Topo once but it was too weird for me."

I looked right now for the movie trailers on YouTube and that man is sick in my opinion. He did three movies and none of them seems normal to me.

9) La Filosofia Perenne ★★★☆☆

English edition: The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley

It is an interesting book but I rated it only with 3 stars because it was really difficult, both the style and the language. But despite this I would recommend it to people who are interested in the philosophical and spiritual side of religions. It talks about the philosophy and the spiritual side that are very similar if not the same in the main religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taosim).

My short English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

10) Pene d'amore di una gatta inglese e altri racconti felini by various authors ★★★☆☆

There isn't an English edition. It's a collection of short stories by famous authors like Honoré de Balzac, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain etc, where cats are the main characters.
The stories were all good, some better some less but there weren't stories I didn't like.

Also part of my Cat Challenge.

11) Il mondo in una scuola: Storie e viaggi dell'operaio europeo ★★★★☆

No English edition. It's a non-fiction about refugees, about the various wars around the world, or countries with a precarious working life, that lead people to flee from their countries.
The book is very well done. After an interesting introduction where the editors analyze all the numbers (how many people flee, how many die during these trips, from which countries, the importance for Europe of all these immigrants, etc), every chapter is dedicated to a different route. The most important are those that start from Africa, cross the Mediterranean Sea to arrive in Sicily or however South Italy.
There aren't only Africans who flee, but also people from Bangladesh, Syria, Irak, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and they usually arrive to Africa (above all Libia) and try there to cross the sea.
But there are also other routes: from the East to Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and then North Italy or Austria. Others who flee from Ukraine or Moldova do another route. There are also many people from South America that had to flee because of the collapse of the economical system of their countries.
All those people are linked because they flee from countries where life has become impossible if not dangerous because of wars.
At the end of every chapter there are real stories told by people who had to afford this trip and these stories are really shocking and moving.

It is a book that those little stinky fascists and racists should read but also leaders of countries that want to build wars. But leaders of capitalistic countries are usually the culprits of these many wars because they want to have control over those countries rich of oil, natural gases or because they are in a strategic position. Every chapter analyzes also the reasons of these wars or how people are exploited.

12) Frammenti di un insegnamento sconosciuto ★★☆☆☆

English edition: In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching by P.D. Ouspensky

I'm glad I've read it because I was very curious to know the teachings of Gurdjieff, but I also found out that it's not for me.
It is a good book to know Gurdjieff's teaching, but the problem is his teaching: it was very difficult to understand but also to believe in many things. I'm not able to explain it in English because there are many terms I wouldn't be able to translate (like how the enneagram of personality works, or the "law of three", the "law of seven" that is the music scale but this law has to be applied to everything in the universe, from the Absolut to an atom, in order to understand how everything works).
He talks about awakening the coscience and it is a self-development teaching, but it's nearly impossible to understand. He also says more than once that a person can't "awake" himself without the help of a school or a teacher. There are also several things that are kept hidden because in these esoteric schools there are segrets that can't be told.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

13) Die unendliche Geschichte ★★★★★

English edition: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende


What a great book! It was a long time I didn't feel so good reading a book. Though it was a long time I wanted to read it, I was a bit scared to pick it up because Fantasy is not a genre I usually read but I really loved it.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

14) La fonte meravigliosa ★★★☆☆

English edition: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It is also part of my challenge to read books I already own. It was in my to-read list since 2011 and finally I've read it!

15) Dissipatio H.G. by Guido Morselli ★☆☆☆☆

No English edition.

The book talks about a man that wants to commit suicide, but then he gives up. The day after he finds out that human beings disappeared, he is the only man on the earth. Seen that he wanted to commit suicide to avoid people, he was a solipsist, he should have been happy. His mood goes from happiness to desperation. I didn't like this book. I thought it would have a deep insight of the psychology of a suicide, but it hadn't. It's full of philosophical musings, hard to follow, also because there are a lot of quotes of other philosophers, or quotes in Latin (without translation in my edition!). I also didn't like the writing style and the language that should have followed the confused state of mind of the character.

I have written only an Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my challenge books I already own. It was in my to-read list since 2016.

16) Danubio ★☆☆☆☆

English edition: Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea by Claudio Magris

What a pain to finish this book! I wonder why I didn't give up after the first chapters.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my challenge books I already own. It was in my to-read list since 2016. Already read 8 books of my list, only 18 to go.

17) Rosso Malpelo by Giovanni Verga ★★★☆☆

This short story hasn't an English translation on GR, but I'm sure that it can be found in an edition with the short stories by Verga.

To tell the truth this is a re-read but I had read it more than 20 years ago at school. Now also my son is studying this author at school and they had to read this short story. He liked it a lot so he obliged me to re-read it. It's many years I tell him to read Verga because I like him and his realism a lot, but as usual he never listens to me.

This short story talks about a guy who works in a mine. No one loves him, not even his mother, because his fault is to be born with red hair and this is not a good omen for the people. The only person that loved him was his father, but he died in the same mine. The story is very short but it's enough to understand why this guy has a pessimistic view of life, why he is an atheist and why he thinks that not to be born is better than a life enduring suggering.

18) Questo bacio vada al mondo intero ★★☆☆☆

English edition: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Despite high ratings of GR's friends, this book didn't work for me. I managed to finish it, but I didn't like it. There were several things I didn't like, above all the characters and the events that don't seem real and realistic at all.

My short English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

19) Tutti i racconti ★★☆☆☆

English edition: The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka

Not for me. I'm sorry that Kafka had a sad life and a lot of problems due to his father, but I am not able to like his books. I feel too anguished and anxious while reading them. Yes, this is what he wanted, to let the reader feel like him, but I really don't need it.
I also think that it wasn't a good idea to choose this book as my beach read.
I have skipped some short stories I had already read in another edition.

Books I own challenge: In my to-read list since December 2013, read 18/06/2017.

20) Vivere per raccontarla ★★★★☆

English edition: Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez

It was a very interesting, flowing and enthralling book. I like Marquez's writing style and I already liked One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. Reading his autobiography I could see from where he took inspiration (his family and his many relatives and events of his life). Trust me, some events of his life are as magical and surrealistic as those in his books.
Of course there is also a lot of political events of his country, Colombia.

My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my challenge books I already own. It was in my to-read list since 2015.

21) Istigazione a delinquere by Danila Comastri Montanari ★★★☆☆

No English edition. It is a collection of short stories in which common people turn to be killers of people they can't stand anymore: a noisy neighbour, a mother in law that is a pain in the ass, a rude stepson, etc.
These stories are funny and for once we are on the side of the killer. With these stories it's as if we take revenge of all the people we would like to kill but, of course, can't kill.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

22) Un nuovo mondo: Riconosci il vero senso della tua vita ★★★★★

English edition: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

This books talks about the awakening of our consciousness. I already knew several things about it from Yoga, but this book explained the most important things in an easy and comprehensible way. It isn't a book about Yoga, but about the awakening of consciousness that we can find in every spiritual path. It helps to see the traps of Ego and to have a more present, conscious, fullfilled and happy life.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

23) I funerali della Mamá Grande ★★★☆☆

English edition: Big Mama's Funeral by Gabriel García Márquez

A collection with short stories. It was one of my beach-reads and I borrowed it at the beach's library. I often had the feeling that the characters were only sketched and not well depicted. There also wasn't a deep plot. Though I usually like short stories and there are severals that are well written, with a real plot and well depicted characters, I had the feeling that in these ones something was missing. If I don't go wrong Marquez wrote these stories before his more known masterpieces.

Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

24) 1984 by George Orwell ★★★★☆

I have read the English edition. It is my son's book and he loved it that much that he obliged me to read it too.
It is a real pageturner, I was never able to foresee what would happen, and everytime I thought I knew what would happen, it never happened. I liked it but for me it wasn't that easy, there were a lot of words I didn't know so I'm sure I missed the feeling and the emotions of the book.

25) Storie di vagabondaggio ★★★★★

English edition: Wandering by Hermann Hesse

It's a collection of very short stories (1-2 pages), some poems, and there were also two longer stories. Also this book I borrowed at the beach library but I must buy it because it was wonderful.
This was really amazing. I loved the poetic prose, the stories were so touching that they moved me to tears more than once. All the stories deal with the lust of going away, explore new places, but sometimes also about nostalgia about the homeland. I could feel the romantic vein of Hesse, the love for nature, the Wanderlust, but also the longing for God and above all a spiritual life.

Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

26) Il canto di Bernadette ★★★★★

English edition: The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel

Another amazing book that moved me to tears more than once. It's the fictionalized story of Bernadette, the saint of Lourdes, that has seen the Vergin more than once. I didn't know anything about her so, seen that someday I would like to go to Lourdes, I thought it would be good to know something about Bernadette, her life and her apparitions.
I think this book could be interesting also for people that aren't Catholics.

Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

27) Fantasmi: Dispacci dalla Cambogia by Tiziano Terzani ★★★★★

Sadly there isn't an English edition and it is really a pity. The book contains the reportages and articles he wrote from 1970 to 1996 about Cambodia while living there as long as he could or going again to the country after the war of Pol Pot. As usual his is a flowing and easy style, he adds personal considerations and the reader has an excellent description of what was going on in Cambodia before, during and after Pol Pot. There are also some photos.

Also this book too is part of my challenge books I already own: it was in my to-read list since 2016.

Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

28) La cucina dell'Islam by Hocine Benchina ★★☆☆☆

No English edition. Title could be "Cuisine in Islam".
I have always been interested to see the difference of food related to different religions. Sadly this book was only ok for me because it talked above all about the cuisine in Arabian countries and the part dedicated to Islam was pretty short. It also hadn't interesting concepts and it was boring. In the second part of the book there are 60 recipes but I won't be able to try them because I'm vegetarian and the Arabian/Islamic cuisine uses a lot of meat.

Also part of my challenge books I already own: it was in my to-read list since 2014.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

29) Cronaca di una morte annunciata ★★★☆☆

English edition: Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

It is 3,5*
I like Marquez's writing and prose, but I can't rate it higher because I liked a lot his two masterpieces so I always compare his other books to these ones and I can't give them the same rating.
The reader knows from the beginning who will be killed and by whom. But his isn't a thriller, it is a depiction of the mentality of the people of that place in that time (Colombia, around 1950). I like how Marquez describes people and their behaviour. It is also a real life event and Marquez was a friend of both the killers and the victim.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

30) Il ragazzo mucca by Michele Serra ★☆☆☆☆

No English edition. It was a useless book that talks about a 40 years old man with a good job that has a midlife crisis. I also didn't like the style and the language: pretentious and forced.

Only Italian review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

31) In Asia by Tiziano Terzani ★★★★☆

No English translation.

The book is a collection of some news reports he wrote while living in Asia for 30 years. He talks about Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, North and South Korea, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong and Macao and their passage to China, Pakistan, India, Japan but also the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin (Russia), Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Philippines.

As usual, his pieces are very interesting and he is really able to engage the reader. He is as usual very curious so he is one of those reporters that want to go on place to see by their own what is going on. He doesn't talk only about wars or dictatorhips, but in some reports he talks also about his life in those countries or considerations about the modernization and westernization of Eastern countries.
I found very interesting the pieces about countries I didn't know a lot about, as for example Japan, Nepal and Burma. About the other countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and China, I had already read his other books where he talks in details about them, so in this book for me they were a kind of repetition of things I already knew.

English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my Books I Own Challenge: it was in my to-read list since December 2016.

I don't know if I will add it to my India Challenge because though there are several chapters dedicated to India, they happen in places I have already visited through books (Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir.)
I will think about adding it to my India Challenge!

I deleted Rising of a Dead Moon by Paul Haston from my kindle. It was in my to-read list since 2013 and I already tried to read it 4 years ago but gave up at 8%. Now I tried again but it's a terrible formatting and I already don't like the first sentences of the book.
I don't remember if I downloaded it for free from GR or if I received it for free from the author.

32) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett ★★☆☆☆

Only 2 stars because I decided to finish it, but I can't rate more than this such a book full of racism and colonial mindset. What did the author teach to the children of her time?! Nope, I can't stand racism so the fact that it was the typical mentality of her age can't be an excuse.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my challenge books I already own.

33) Gli anni ★★★★☆

English edition: The Years by Annie Ernaux

I tried to read this book already last year, but I had to give up because of the writing style and because I didn't know what the author was talking about. This time I didn't give up and I'm very glad because this is a wonderful book once you get into it.

My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my challenge Books I already own: it was in my to-read list since 2015.

34) Trama d'infanzia ★★★☆☆

English edition: Patterns of Childhood by Christa Wolf

I liked the topic (a common German family during Nazi Germany) but not the writing style. I really struggled a lot with it.

My English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also part of my challenge books I already own: this was in my to-read list since 2014. To tell the truth, I had the German edition but seen that it was too difficult for me, I had to buy the Italian edition (and I had problems also with my mothertongue to follow the author's style!).

35) Der schweizerische Robinson ★★☆☆☆

English edition: The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

The book is about how a family of six, shipwrecked passagers, survive on a deserted island.
Too long and boring because of too many detailed descriptions.

My Italian/English review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...