Buntschatten und Fledermäuse

Leben in einer anderen Welt
Axel Brauns
Hoffmann und Campe, 2002
ISBN: 3455093531

Im Gegensatz zu the curious incident of the dog in the night-time wurde dieses Buch wirklich von einem Autisten geschrieben.

Das Leben im Autismus ist eine miserable Vorbereitung für das Leben in einer Welt ohne Autismus. Die Höflichkeit hat viele Näpfchen aufgestellt, in die man treten kann. Autisten sind Meister darin, keines auszulassen.

Trotzdem schafft es Brauns aufs Gymnasium, er schafft das Abitur als Dritter seines Jahrgangs und geht später zur Uni. Und das alles, ohne dass jemals jemand merkt, dass er Autist ist. Brauns ist normal genug, um nicht aufzufallen und zu auffallend, um als normal zu gelten. Aber Sonderlinge gibt es genug und nach einer Weile lernt er, dass er nicht alles, was er nicht versteht, erfragen darf, denn erst das ist auffällig. Viel besser ist es, seine Mitmenschen zu kopieren und ihre Erwartungen zu erfüllen.

Durch die intensive Beschäftigung mit Sprache schafft es Brauns, sich etwas zu erschließen, was ihm als Kind große Schwierigkeiten bereitet hat: das Schreiben. Inzwischen hat er seinen zweiten Roman veröffentlich und lebt als Schriftsteller in Hamburg. Das merkt man natürlich auch an der Art, wie er schreibt, denn er klingt überhaupt nicht wie ein Autist, sondern sehr ab:geklärt. Er mag sich vielleicht nicht alles erklären können, was die anderen um ihn herum tun, sagen oder denken. Aber seine Art zu schreiben, bringt ihn uns sehr nahe und seine Probleme, mit Sprache umzugehen, kann man sich gar nicht mehr vorstellen.

Erhältlich bei Amazon.

Tag: Roman

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Mark Haddon
Vintage Contemporaries, 2003
ISBN: 1400077834

The story of a 15-year-old autistic boy, Christopher John Francis Boone, told by himself. Suddenly it just makes so much sense the way they see the world. Like:

And Siobhan says people go on holidays to see new things and relax, but it wouldn't make me relaxed and you can see new things by looking at earth under a microscope or drawing the shape of the solid made when 3 circular rods of equal thickness intersect at the right angles. And I thing that there are so many things just in one house that it would take years to thing about all of them properly. And also, a thing is interesting because of thinking about it and not because of being new.

Now, who of us hasn't had that thought yet. When I show people around in my city or they tell me of things they have seen in my city, I suddenly see so many new things in it that I have never seen before. And I guess that is the way it should be. Maybe it would be good to look at our own lives with a stranger's eyes and see it all new. That gives it a whole new meaning. Not that we need that all the time. But every once in a while is probably not bad...

Available at Amazon in English and Deutsch

Tags: English, humor, novel, Von Katrin

Rosie Dunne

Rosie Dunne
AKA Where Rainbows End
AKA Love, Rosie
Cecelia Ahern
Hyperion New York, 2005
ISBN: 0-7868-9089-4

Now, this book gets the BBEA - the Best Book Ever Award! - for now. I read this book in two days and it has 486 pages! I even did not mind waking up in the middle of the night coughing, because I just got up, made some tea and read for an hour before going back to bed.

But what is it about? Two people who are made for each other, don't notice it, stay in touch, see each other get married and have children, know that the other one means a lot to them but don't want to tell them because they are married and have children... Now, that is all it is about, well, and all the things that happen in their lives.

But what's so special about it? The book begins with notes they write each other when they are seven, it continues with mails when they are separated by a great big ocean, with instant messages and letters. Now, having spent a year on the other side of the ocean as well, and having friends living far away, I have written countless letters and e-mails myself. Reading them now, reminds me of a lot of things that I would otherwise have forgotten. So there I can totally follow that way of writing.

One last warning from the cover which I found out to be totally true: Addictively page-turning, Rosie Dunne will keep readers laughing and guessing until the last page. Gifted bestselling author Cecilia Ahern has written a charming and romantic novel that readers everywhere will find impossible to put down.

Cecelia Ahern, born in 1981, is the daughter of Ireland's prime minister Bertie Ahern. (Now, who wins the Google Fight?) Before starting her carreer as an author, she completed her degree in journalism and media communications. She is the author of PS, I love you and If you could see me now.

Available at Amazon in English and German.

Tags: English, humor, novel

Guerrilla Radio

Rock'n'Roll Radio and Serbia's Underground Resistance
Matthew Collin
Last Gasp, 2002
ISBN: 1560254041

Rock'n'Roll Radio and Serbia's Underground Resistance: Armed only with a stack of old punk records and a dream of freedom, one defiant Belgrade radio station waged a ten year war against Slobodan Miloševič's dictatorship - and won

For most Europeans, the war in Serbia was just a bit of news on TV. Very few of us are probably aware of the fact that the struggle for freedom actually lasted ten years - as they went by unnoticed by the west. What we might have noticed was 24 September 1999. That day, NATO started bombing Serbia in a last attempt to stop Miloševič from attacking Kosovo. But the countless demonstrations against Miloševič were not seen on TV. Nor was the struggle of Radio B92 or of the activist group Otpor ('Resistance'). This book tells the story of Radio B92. But also the story of people who stayed in their country to fight for it without weapons and those who left it because it did not leave them air to breath. How would I have decided if I had been in their position? I don't know and I am glad I never had to take this decision.

But B92 was also about fun, punk and not being conformist. But how can you be all that if people in your country rely on you for true information they don't get anywhere else. Tough question....

Amidst the serious programming were plenty of silly stunts [...]. But there was also a lot of hard-edged, bitterly dark humour. This was the period when Miloševič's mass rallies of nationalist Serbs all across Yugoslavia were reaching boiling point. A demonstration was organized in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia - a city noted for its lack of Serb inhabitants. A B92 presenter began randomly calling numbers in Ljubljana, introducing himself as "Voja, your old friend from the army", and asking whether he could come and stay at their house that Saturday and bring twelve Serb friends with him. The recipients of the call, naturally, were horrified at the prospect of a dozen redneck nationalists descending upon them - but their reactions exposed what the rest of Yugoslavia thought of Serbia's populist frenzy.

Matthew Collin is a journalist from Great Britain who mainly writes about popular culture, music, travel technology and the politics of social justice.

Available at Amazon in English.

Tag: Von Katrin, Sachbuch, English

Cooking with Fernet Branca

James Hamilton-Paterson
Faber and Faber Ltd, 2005
ISBN: 0571227066

"Cooking with Fernet Branca" is a gleefully tasteless bad dream of modern Italy, told through the eyes of Gerald Samper - effete Englishman, culinary adventurer, and ghostwriter to the stars.

Trying to keep his neighbour away from him, Gerald Samper makes her some nice ice cream for a welcome dinner at her house:

Garlic and Fernet Branca Ice Cream
15 large cloves of garlic
150 mg granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cold double cream
1/4 pint Fernet Branca

Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, this is the least strange in a series of recipes. But don't worry, this is not a cook book but rather a highly entertaining tale of two people from different countries living in a third country... Do I need to say more?

James Hamilton-Peterson is a highly acclaimed author of non-fiction books. He actually got teh idea for this book when he moved to Italy himself. In contrast to Gerald Samper, he moved as far away from his next neighbour as possible...

Available at Amazon in English and Deutsch

Tags: English, humor, novel