of course I used my last days of the semester break not only for spending a lot of time with my sewing machine, but also for reading. And naturally, I'd like to present you with what I occupied my mind with:
Probably not as impressing as in January, but hey, I do other things besides reading too (^.-)
Guido Hofenbitzer - Bekleidung: Schnittkonstruktion für Damenmode (German, 368p.)
Let's start with a book that is not really literature, I didn't "read" it in the classical sense. But I'd like to mention it here because I do like to improve my sewing skills, and besides online tutorials I prefer to buy books on the matter. Like this I can learn on my own terms and pace, and exactly what I want to learn, instead of attending an overpriced class - but that's only my opinion, it's just the most comfortable for me because I'm an autodidact.
So this book explains the basics of pattern construction for women's outer garments (so any womenswear except for undergarnments). I can highly recommend it if you already know a bit about sewing, since it only covers the pattern making and not the actual cutting and sewing part, also I think it's an advantage to follow the steps if you have some experience on how patterns look like and work. Other than that, the steps are explained well and it covers pretty much every garment and its alterations, so the investion was definitively worth it for me. I'm looking forward to actually try and make my own patterns from scratch!
Michelle Halbheer - Platzspitzbaby (German, 206p.)
- A book with a one-word title
- A book based on a true story
Michelle was born as daughter of a heroin addict who was part of the open drug scene during the 80ies in Zurich and grew up seeing and experiencing things no child should ever be exposed to. It is an amazing story of a really really strong girl who had to grow up early in order to survive. Now, with 29, she told her story to a journalist who wrote the book for her. While it's easy to read, the content touched me all the more, as it's written in quite figurative language.
It made me also think about drug politics in Switzerland, or rather the lack thereof, as there are still children left with their addicted parents. This happens, just as with Michelle, under the pretext that the child would help the parent with the fight against the addiction, while it's clear that they can't even take responsibility for their own life, left alone for a child.
M.E. Thomas - Confessions of a Sociopath (English, 321p.)
M.E. Thomas is a law professor, a trained musician, a successful woman, and a sociopath. After running the blog sociopathworld.com for a while, she wanted to share her whole life story. It's really interesting to read about her inner thoughts, how her logic works, and, what astonished me, how insecure she's felt for years, before she came to accept her fate as a sociopath and started the blog in order to seek contact to like-minded people. Our society likes to present this stereotype of the cold-minded psychopath (Thomas uses the two terms interchangeably as they actually mean the same). What hardly ever anyone speaks about is that sociopaths often feel left out, because they think differently, no matter their (assumed) lack of moral values.
The book is well researched and entertaining to read, although I had to look up a few words. I certainly learned a bit more about other peoples minds, something that's always of great interest for me.
Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus (English, 512p.)
- A book with more than 500 pages
I got curious about this book as it kept appearing on my tumblr, and so I decided to buy it, since the booklovers on tumblr have great taste in general. And I was not disappointed!
The Night Circus arrives at night, without warning. Inside its gates are the most wonderful things to see, every tent exhibits another sensation. One might almost think it's magical...
I highly enjoyed all the descriptions of this extraordinary circus, it's occupants and surroundings. The only thing that bothered me is that the story is not told chronologically, but in the beginning of every chapter, a different time and place are indicated. It all comes together in an unity in the end, but for the first half of the book I was constantly confused and had to go back and forth, also because there are a lot of characters involved. But that's a great excuse to read the book again! (^.^)
And that's the status quo of my reading challenge! Still a long way to go (and it's already March! Where did the first two months of the year go?)
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