To throw or not to throw?

I used to move a lot: about 38 times in total, generally only packing papers, books and clothes. The only furniture I took with me a couple of times were four director's chairs and two standing lamps.

In the last 12 years, however, I have stayed put and accumulated stuff. And that includes an awful lot of papers: old banks statements that have to be kept for 10 years according to the tax office, old photocopies of grammar exercises copied out of books, short stories used in classes, articles from newspapers that are either informative for me or that could be used in a classroom. And letters: official letters from the tax office, bank correspondence, letters from when I bought and then sold a flat, and lots and lots of private letters (that will never be thrown). 

Every now and then, I think that I should sort stuff out and get rid of a whole load of papers. However, I always start to think that maybe I shouldn't. Maybe, so I think, I will become famous for some reason. Maybe I will one day start to write books that will either become popular or have great literary value and then everyone will want to know everything about me. An official biographer will then sort through all my papers to build a picture of me and what I did and when. 

These days, so I hear, most people correspond only via e-mails and it is going to be much harder for the biographers of the future to get hold of material they can read and use for their book on the famous person. E-mails can easily be deleted; old e-mail accounts become idle; and the password assigned to them are forgotten. (Who prints off e-mails from beloved friends and relatives and then ties up the piles in ribbon and stores them in a drawer or cupboard?)

So what should I do? Should I chuck large chunks of my life away and risk a biographer not having anything to write about? Or should I leave everything stuffed away in the cupboards? Hmmm...Here's a thought...I could always set up shelves in my room in the cellar. 😃

TV series recommendation: The Murdoch Mysteries

 Finally, finally, German TV has got something right. I have finally found The Murdoch Mysteries on the ZDF Mediathek.

It's a Canadian crime series set in the late Victorian era. One thing that I enjoy about it is that it also takes real characters that were around in that era - including Tesla, for example - and weaves them into the plot. That always gives me a kick.

And even better, you can get see the 'original version' of each episode, i.e. in English rather than the dubbed German version. German dubbing is bloody awful as all the characters sound the same. Even the yokels sound middle class. Terrible.

Anyway, for your delight and delectation, here is the link:

https://www.ardmediathek.de/sendung/murdoch-mysteries/murdoch-mysteries/staffel-1/Y3JpZDovL3dkci5kZTdvbmUvbXVyZG9jaG15c3Rlcmllcw/1

Book series recommendation: Inspector Singh Investigates

Another great find at the beginning of the pandemic were the Inspector Singh books by Malaysian lawyer Shamini Flint, who also writes children's books. I found her on Facebook and told her how much I enjoyed her series. 

Inspector Singh's boss doesn't like him at all, which is why the poor inspector is sent to other Asian countries to help out. The author always finds a good excuse. 

Again, one thing I like about these books apart from a good story s that you learn a bit about the history, culture and cuisine of each separate country. Each book is like a mini-break, a little holiday. And they are humorous. What's not to like?

https://www.goodreads.com/series/51562-inspector-singh-investigates

Book series recommendation: The Charles Lennox Mysteries

 Here's a list of all the books in the series written by American author Charles Finch:

https://us.macmillan.com/series/charleslenoxmysteries

The series is set in London in the late nineteenth century. What I like about them are the four main characters, two men and their wives, and the fact that you learn something about the institutions and events of the time. 

Charles Finch might be American, but he did study in the UK for a short period of time and I have learnt a fair deal about that period in England just through reading his books. And this despite the fact that I have read a lot about the 19th century already.

A highly enjoyable series.

Book recommendation: The Secret Barrister by ?

A couple of days ago, I finally finished the non-fiction book entitled The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken. Who the author is is something no-one knows.

The contents of the book were based his blog entries and here it is: https://thesecretbarrister.com/

Read this book, first published in 2018. It will open your eyes to the current state of the justice system in the UK and, I can guarantee that you will be shocked to your very core. Shocked. 

You'll be scared of ever coming into contact with the legal system in the UK. Horrific miscarriages of justice and a woefully underfunded and hence inadequate legal system are just two elements. 

Good job I've got legal insurance to cover legal costs here in Germany. If people in the UK were aware of the legal system - especially the underfunded legal aid system and the so-called 'Innocence Tax', they'd be petrified. They'd never leave the home.

My Sister, the Serial Killer

Last week, I picked up a book in English at the German library, seeing as how the English Library is celebrating one year of closure, thanks to the former SDP mayor selling off the building known as Die Brücke because he got the town into debt when I got the Tour de France to start from here, just to make himself look big. Unfortunately, it rained heavily, barely anyone came to watch it and the debts added up. Bastard.

Anyway, the book that fell into my hand was My Sister, the Serial Killer by young Nigerian writer Oyinkan Braithwaite. I had heard of the book when it first came out  in 20218, so I thought I'd take a chance on it.

Well, it drew me in. Short, snappy chapters. First-person narrative. The story zips along. And besides the story behind the title, there's also a bit of a mystery that explains why Ayoola does what she does.

What interested me most was the relationship between the two sisters: Korede, the older one, who works as a nurse and is calm and conscientious; and Ayoola, the younger one, who has a habit of killing any man who gets too close to her.

What I could identify with was the unfairness of the way the two sisters were treated by their mother and others. Ayoola is always getting away with things, just because she's the younger of the two. Nothing is ever her fault. She is always excused - because she is so pretty, whereas Korede is plain and so not worth a second glance.

When Korede tells the truth to someone in order to protect him from her sister, she is seen as the evil, nasty sister. When she tells the people around her that her sister is not a good person, she's seen as spiteful and people keep asking her how she can be so horrible to her nice, pretty little sister. 

I know just how Korede feels, so reading this was rather cathartic. It's just a shame that the story has the same kind of ending as A Long Way Down: no ending at all really. More of a resignation that things will just continue as usual. Poor Korede.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

When I was in Berlin recently, I finished another book recommended to me by a student: Nick Hornby's book A Long Way Down.

I remember having watched the film. Primarily to see how well Pierce Brosnan would act. And because Toni Collette is always worth watching. 

It's about four people who decide to throw themselves off a tall building in London on New Year's Eve. They all end up on the same tall building - and start talking to each other. In the end, they decide to wait and see how they feel on St Valentine's Day and on various other dates thereafter.

Well, I didn't get much out of the story. If anything. It ended on nothing and I can't remember anything that anyone else said. Maybe I was expecting too much. Maybe I wanted a neat ending. No...I did want a neat ending and I didn't get it. Which is a bit disappointing. I know life is like that - but that doesn't mean that I want it to be like that.

One thing I didn't enjoy was all the swearing. I've never understood why people feel they have to talk that way when there are such great words in the English language. 

Anyway, of the four books my student lent to me, this was the one I least enjoyed.