Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frey

Harold Fry just wants to insert a letter for his former colleague Queenie Hennessy, who is dying. But then he walks past the mailbox and also past the post office, out of the city and on and on, 87 days, 1000 kilometers. On foot from the south of England to the Scottish border to Queenie's hospice. A journey that he has to start anew every day. For Queenie. And his wife Maureen. For his son David. And yourself. And for all of us.

This book impressed me the most during this trip.

It is one of those rare reading experiences that has a long after-effect. You follow the unlikely journey with tension, with tears, with the insight that so much cannot be planned and that sometimes you have to jump over your shadow to do what your heart wants you to do.

Once again you see the power of literature (“The pen is mightier than the sword”).

Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre

After the death of her parents, the orphan Jane Eyre grows up with her hard-hearted aunt. But for Mrs. Reed, Jane is a burden she wants to get rid of as soon as possible. So, Jane is first sent to a Spartan girl boarding school and eventually takes a modest job as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she knows how to impress her employer, the sinister Mr. Rochester, with her wisdom, her honesty and her wit. When he confesses his love and makes a marriage proposal, Jane's life finally seems to take a happy turn. But the walls of the manor house hold a terrible secret ...

Oh yes, the Bronté-Sisters. All of them gifted, all of them dying young. Enclosed in a world of literature, they themselves form world literature in different ways, be it Anne or Emily with Wuthering Heights or just Charlotte with this hammer of a novel.

And they all died way too soon ...

John Lanchester - Capital

Big city life in times of financial crisis: Every house in South London's Pepys Road has seen good luck, love and sorrow. Based on the lives of the inhabitants of this more or less normal street, John Lanchester draws a highly up-to-date panorama of our present. Everything goes its normal course until, on a normal day, there is a strange message in the mailbox among the proud homeowners of the street: "We want what you have." A novel full of compassion, humor and protagonists that you no longer want to miss.

Sometimes you want to scream or at least call out to the author, that today's world is just like that. But one is silent and moody. Not because of the book, that's world class, but because of everything else ...

Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers

Why are some people winning types - and others are not?

Science guru Malcolm Gladwell investigates what makes a high flyer. Because it's not the how that plays the main role in success, but the where it comes from. It is not diligence and talent that are decisive, but rather origin and cultural imprint.

His exciting exploration of the world of genius is full of stories and examples. So, Gladwell explains why Asians are good at math, how to become an outstanding footballer, and what secret made the Beatles the most successful band of all time.

10 hours to get good at something? The Beatles proved it and so did many others. I still have a lot to do ...

Richard Price - Clockers

Clockers are dealers who provide their junkies day and night with drugs. Also here in the slum, where the world is rougher than anywhere. The police are aggressively helpless, the city resigns. Until the voltage discharges in an explosion.

A world, for us bourgeois bums hardly understandable. Yet, in many ways, one has the impression that the world of drugs is not so different from the mechanisms of today's world. It makes you think ...

 

And here are more books that have accompanied me on my travels:

The Southindia Books

The Laos Books

The Burma Books

The Ladakh Books

The South America Books

The Nepal Books

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