We are having an other BOOK CLUB meeting on 7.11., 7.30 am, and you are very welcome to join us - just send a message to mail@wsake.com and I´ll set you up with the details.

It is BOOK CLUB time again and we are reading UNTER LEUTEN by JULI ZEH - welcome to a parallel universe in the middle of Brandenburg nowhere, where you meet a spectacular set of Unterleuten´ inhabitants - all tangled up in a huge dispute spinning out of control, about bird protection and a looming wind power station to be built in their midst, while still battling the aftermath of the former DDR.

In case you want to read along and meet a group of nice book lovers, let me know and I will set you up with the details! We will meet again on 16.5., 7.30 pm at our favorite spot in Regensburg.

It is BOOK CLUB time again - we are meeting on the 28th of March and you are very welcome to join us! Just send a message to mail@wsake.com and I´ll set you up with the details!

We will be talking about MIDDLESEX by JEFFERY EUGENIDES, a novel having celebrated its 15th birthday last year. Being very late to a lot of things, I just discovered it over a year ago and I was so blown away, the inferno of Smyrna is still haunting me - one of the events in recent history I had no idea about, but then I am not very fluent in Greek/Turkish history, or a lot of the other themes in this wonderful (Homeric) book. 

Our BOOK CLUB will be meeting again on 31.1. and you are very welcome to join us! Just send an email to mail@wsake.com and I´ll set you up the details!

It does sound more grand and high brow than it actually is, so don´t be afraid - this is a group of lovely ladies (so far no men, but they are "allowed") of various interests and ages (one of them just turned 60, gasp!), who like to meet up once in a while and talk about books and all the other things that might come to mind, while having a glass of wine, verbena tea or a bite to eat at a nice location right at the Danube. And since it is raining almost every time we meet, there is bound to be a discussion about the best waterproof outerwear, too.

It is BOOK CLUB time again! And we´ve chosen BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE MUSEUM / FAMILIENALBUM by Kate Atkinson for our meeting on 13.12., 19:30, so you´re in for a treat!

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In case you want to join us, send me a message and I´ll let you know all the details!

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I found that cookie cutter of the young Queen at TK Maxx and had to have it since I like weird things and they often come in handy (you never know what you might need one day) and as it turns out it is basically the one piece of Coronation memorabilia our heroine´s sister Patricia doesn´t own and I imagine she would be quite jealous. The SWEDISH RYE COOKIE dough I only used because it looked like they actually might hold their shape while baking and not run into shapeless blobs instead and yes, they turned out perfect! Highly recommended for a twist on the basic bland butter recipes used  for cookie cutters (and there are no eggs in there, so it´s very children-snacking-on-dough-friendly) - it makes about one and a half dozen of huge Queens or a lot of tiny other shapes. And since in my imagination fruit cakes are a very English thing I also threw in some raisins - it´s probable those TEA CAKES´ fault (also straight outta Behind the Museum) or that very lovely honey cake I brought back from Marks&Spencer when I was on a trip to London over ten years ago. Now I might eat all of those Queens when the new season of The Crown starts on Netflix, but they very likely won´t last until it airs.

I´m always very late with those posts, but it took me (again) a while 
to finish the book for our next BOOK CLUB meeting:

AMERICANAH by CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

We´ll meet on 20.9., 7.30 pm - let me know in case you want to join us!

our BOOKCLUB will be meeting again on 26.7., 19.30
and we will be discussing TSCHICK by WOLFGANG HERRNDORF
this means friendship, the hell that is puberty and first love, 
a hot summer school holiday and of course a stolen Lada

in case you want to join, let me know (mail(at)wsake.com) and i´ll set you up with the details
PLEASE NOTE: these meetings are fun, not work!

next up in our BOOK CLUB:

ALL THAT I AM / ALLES, WAS ICH BIN by ANNA FUNDER
we´re meeting on 17.5., 19.30
in case you want to join us, send an email to mail(at)wsake.com 
and i´ll let you know the details

can you actually decipher those tiny blurred pixelated letters?!
yes, yes - i did that on purpose because we´re reading THE SECRET HISTORY by DONNA TARTT
so everything is very hushed up and mysterious
well, it´s also pretty Greek, drunk, cruel, freezing, delirious and fancy 
(one could come up with a ton of descriptive adjectives for this stunner of a novel)
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but we´re not being secretive about the date though in case you want to join our BOOK CLUB:
we´re meeting again on 8.3., 7.30 pm 
for more information just send me an email
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I´m not sure what those buckwheat scones with apple and creme fraiche have to do with this story
but the characters sure had an excessive way of wining and dining so maybe they would have liked them

posting an invitation to our next book club meeting
certainly does feel like a very privileged, living-in-a-bubble thing to do right now
when so many people seem to be living with so much fear and discontent they chose a hateful leader
to help them out of their misery by blaming the very weak for all that seems wrong
causing even more fear and anger
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"later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?

it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere."

living in a body that does feel a lot like the world Warsan Shire tries to comfort in her beautiful poem
(found it yesterday in one of the many instagram post rushing in after a long eery silence)
i can understand how you might reach out for the crudest solution to ease your pain,
follow the obscurest path for a promise to ease your suffering, to make you great again
blaming someone/thing else for your despair
but this never has, never will be a solution to make it not hurt anymore
everyone wants to be heard, their voice acknowledged and respected
and we have to do our best to not look away from the anger building up all over the world
that makes people choose the most inhumane radical directions
there must be other ways, broader horizons
like i said - i am fortunate
i have taken education, safety and equality for granted 
and never feared someone might take anything away from me 
what has do be done i do not know
since i too feel anger sometimes and the wish to punch someone/thing
i know this is a acceptable human feeling and that my anger always rises when i feel hurt or overwhelmed
but sometimes there just can´t be anything done about the things hurting me
and all i can do is ease the sting and be okay with the fact that perhaps all will be good again sometime
but not great
so i wish for everyone to be seen without having to cry this loud
and i do hope for the basic rights for everyone, the soil to plant the seed for a life in equality and peace




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BUT: we´re actually having an other BOOK CLUB meeting
and this time it´s all about the book everyone has been raving about the last couple of years
a story about the joy and pain of friendship
book one of the neapolitan novels - MY BRILLIANT FRIEND by the (former) mysterious writer ELENA FERRANTE
we´re meeting up on 30.11., 7.30pm
in case you want to join - let me know and i´ll send you the details
(including lots of interesting links and such - also we´re doodle-ing by now, such fun)
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also one of our members (HEIKE CZERNER) will tell us a little bit about her work on book covers
and i can´t wait to hear about some of the behind the scenes´ stories 
THE MAKING OF THE SQIRL COVER
MAKING A MAGAZINE COVER
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so sorry, but i´m currently not riding a very creative illustration wave
all i came up with was red wine and a classic italian font

because Italy, blood, passion, violence and such...
i asked my mother if i could use that picture of her and her classmates
for this post hinting that the children in this book are not very nice
and she was like "sure! that picture is an excellent choice - we were a really mean bunch!"

next up in the BOOK CLUB - a little something to prolong summer just for a tiny bit:
BONJOUR TRISTESSE by FRANCOISE SAGAN
apparently it´s scandalous, amoral and very french - and sad too
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also it is a very small book, so a fast reader might still join us, since i´m late again in posting the invitation
in case you do - let me know
we´ll meet on Wednesday, October 5th, at 7.30 pm

we´re reading THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY by PATRICIA HIGHSMITH
for our BOOK CLUB meeting at 17.8., 7.30 p.m.

(in case you´re a really fast reader and from the Regensburg area AND want to join - let me know)

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what impressed me most was the decision to turn into someone else

partially because Tom Ripley didn´t like himself so much and the state he was in

so i was thinking how about i´d turn into something else too

just for taking pictures - since what i really want to be is something i just can´t "pretend" to be:

me being in excellent health and everybody else too

and there not being a single pain in the world

somehow i had no idea how to impersonate that fact...
my vision of this life is a bit blurry, BUT:

it would be careless and beautiful and full with minor tragedies like mildew hitting the vinyard,
sneaking POPPY SEEDS from a neighbor´s garden,

getting on a sugar high from drinking Italian blood orange lemonade 

and then, when melancholia (or ennui, in case you´re like Michel from Gilmore Girls) hits 
all is well again after drinking a mug of Golden Milk
and in case it gets really bad - just light a weather candle to ward off any kind of storm, even domestic ones
oh yes, the label says so - the nuns living on the Fraueninsel in the middle of lake Chiemsee do not joke around

and somehow it would be great if it all would look like the SAIPUA´S INSTAGRAM STREAM,

Heidi Swanson´s COUNTERTOPS
and a bit like ANA KRAS´ SUMMER
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apparently the greatest works of artists emerge after periods of profound sadness and distress
(there´s RESEARCH and proof)
but i´ll say let us all be average and content instead
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(quick detour: i was discussing with my workshop helper if he´s suffering from depression 
or if he´s just really tired of his friends,
or maybe something in the middle - i suggested it might be ennui - a condition he didn´t know of
so we looked it up and found the Austrian synonym "Fadesse" for it
and we were both so amazed - he wanting to work on an exhibiton of that theme right away, he´s an artist,
in which he will be boring his aforementioned friends to no end
and me, well, i´d actually go for a life of boredom if that´s what it takes to avoid the lows)
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THE MOON LISTS
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@violetcakeslondon - the author of one of my favorite baking books - is making eclairs 
wearing one of our PUZZLE RINGS
what could be sweeter than that!
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the lovely mug i´m drinking from is from 3punktF
and i won it in MIMA´s Advent kalender waaaay back before Christmas