Thank you for the Shortest recco, and am just ordering Fatherland. Have you read Walter Kempowski's All For Nothing? Extraordinary, and a place and moment I knew little about. But sandwich it between some lighter readings!
Oh, Luisa, how I will miss your newsletters until the end of August! I am a librarian, and I pore over your newsletters about your reading activity. Best wishes for successful writing sessions in Italy:)
Danke für The Shortest History, will ich auf jeden Fall lesen. Monica McGoldrick, die Familientherapeutin schrieb in <Ethnicity and Family Therapy> über ‘national guilt’ den viele Deutsche auch heute noch in ihrer Gefühlswelt mit sich tragen. Ich möchte nun noch mehr über die komplexe Geschichte meines Landes lernen.
Außerdem habe ich eine dritte Möglichkeit für Dein Manuskriptdilemma. Neuer Rechner! Schließlich ist es Dein Hauptarbeitsgerät. Ja, Geld und so, aber you are worth it!
Love all the recommendations, and empathize entirely with the awful summer scheduling challenges that fall on the mom (typically) to figure out and manage. I wish there was some way to erase the guilt. I comfort myself a little with the fact that our sons are learning palpably that their moms have needs and careers and contributions to the world, too, and their wives or friends or other female people in their lives will also. And that's incredibly good and useful for both them and us in the long run. (And one day Bruno will be 11 and get to savor the freedom!) Right before your newsletter in my in box was this one Substack newsletter from @melindawmoyer (do tags on Substack work? Let's find out. Melinda, if you are not reading Letter from Berlin, it's absolutely marvelous.) https://melindawmoyer.substack.com/p/the-motherhood-fallacy-of-self-sacrifice about motherhood and the fallacy of self-sacrifice. I don't think it will tell you anything you don't already know, but I still found it a comfort to read.
Melinda writes: "I am calling it the motherhood fallacy of self-sacrifice — the pernicious but pervasive idea 1) that we are only good mothers if we are constantly focused on our kids, and 2) that the moment we prioritize ourselves, we are directly harming our children. It’s a fallacy because this isn’t actually how it works. What’s good for us isn’t, by default, bad for our kids. It’s far more common for the opposite to be true: What’s best for us is often best for our kids."
Every time these observations get written aloud, yours and hers, it feels validating and a relief. So thank you, and good luck, good luck with the this stretch of the book!
Every single word of this resonates so deeply. Especially the tugging complexities of writing life for mothers of young children (especially those with partners who have salaried roles that take them elsewhere). Summer is such a mixed bag and when we’re on deadline, especially so. And also about loving a complicated country: it’s comforting to have words to describe that which seems inexplicable at times. You seem to have tapped into so many things I needed to read this morning. 🤍 I’ll be thinking of you on the race to the finish (deadline) and also holding hope you can steal in some swims and sweet moments with your boys.
I do hope you manage to have a good holiday! I’m looking forward to the new cookbook immensely, and will definitely be looking into The Shortest History of Germany. Thanks for the recommendation!!
Yes - I very much liked the Steinmeier quote also. I read The Shortest History of Germany one or two years ago and it was very helpful to understand the underlying rhythm of the country. I'm now reading Eight Flavors by Sarah Lohman but I don't remember is this was a recommendation from you or another source?!? If not you, then you should certainly check it out. AND.... HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Please get out your red, white and blue today.
To love something with a broken heart…. It resonates with so much in a history-lover’s life. Thank you for the reminder, along with the recs. Enjoy your time in Italy. A working change of gorgeous scenery— sounds good to me!
I love that quote about how to love Germany. I know very little about German history, but I feel like that quote could just as well be applied to Canada, which has been responsible for the colonial genocide of Indigenous people over generations. I feel like our country is only starting to come to grips with that.
I loved Girl, Woman, Other. Always appreciate your book recommendations. I read Also a Poet after you wrote about it and man, was that one good.
The book Eight Flavors by Sarah Lohman = great historical context on 8 American flavors: Black Pepper, Vanilla, Chili Powder, Curry Powder, Soy Sauce Garlic, MSG and Sriracha. It's an easy short read. and a great way to get in touch with your American side.
Recognizing the complex history of Germany has a new resonance for some of us in the U.S., now humbled as we are by the recent disintegration of norms, rise of nationalism, and election (and possible re-election) of an odious megalomaniac spewing lie upon lie. You have written about the sadness of witnessing an America you no longer recognize and this sadness is even more profound and devastating for those of us who have no option but to continue trying to have a reasonable life here in America, in the midst of the outright, dystopian insanity and destruction of so much that we hold dear. So to hear it said that one can only love their country with a broken heart cuts straight to the truth of the matter for many of us, not just those in Germany.
Luisa, I was thrilled to see that "Cloud Cuckoo Land" was on your summer reading list. I bought it for my mother this past Christmas and also for my son in Belgium but ended up keeping his copy! (Decided that "Lincoln Highway" was a better fit for him . . . I *loved* that book) Anyway. . I could not get myself to read more than a few pages and immediately gave up. My mother, God Rest her Soul, couldn't get into it either. I am really curious to know if you end up reading it. . . . I am currently hooked on Barbara Kingsolver. "The Poisonwood Bible" is incredible. I *highly* recommend it. I realize I am behind the times on this. . . I'm trying to read her earlier novels before rewarding myself with "Demon Copperhead". I ended up reading "The Essence of the Thing" by Madeleine St. John after you recommended "The Women in Black". I enjoyed it even more then the latter. I love these posts about the books you're reading. Many thanks.
Thank you for the Steinmeier-quote. It made me look up and read the whole speech, which moved me very much.
Brilliant.
Thank you for the Shortest recco, and am just ordering Fatherland. Have you read Walter Kempowski's All For Nothing? Extraordinary, and a place and moment I knew little about. But sandwich it between some lighter readings!
Oh, Luisa, how I will miss your newsletters until the end of August! I am a librarian, and I pore over your newsletters about your reading activity. Best wishes for successful writing sessions in Italy:)
Danke für The Shortest History, will ich auf jeden Fall lesen. Monica McGoldrick, die Familientherapeutin schrieb in <Ethnicity and Family Therapy> über ‘national guilt’ den viele Deutsche auch heute noch in ihrer Gefühlswelt mit sich tragen. Ich möchte nun noch mehr über die komplexe Geschichte meines Landes lernen.
Außerdem habe ich eine dritte Möglichkeit für Dein Manuskriptdilemma. Neuer Rechner! Schließlich ist es Dein Hauptarbeitsgerät. Ja, Geld und so, aber you are worth it!
Love all the recommendations, and empathize entirely with the awful summer scheduling challenges that fall on the mom (typically) to figure out and manage. I wish there was some way to erase the guilt. I comfort myself a little with the fact that our sons are learning palpably that their moms have needs and careers and contributions to the world, too, and their wives or friends or other female people in their lives will also. And that's incredibly good and useful for both them and us in the long run. (And one day Bruno will be 11 and get to savor the freedom!) Right before your newsletter in my in box was this one Substack newsletter from @melindawmoyer (do tags on Substack work? Let's find out. Melinda, if you are not reading Letter from Berlin, it's absolutely marvelous.) https://melindawmoyer.substack.com/p/the-motherhood-fallacy-of-self-sacrifice about motherhood and the fallacy of self-sacrifice. I don't think it will tell you anything you don't already know, but I still found it a comfort to read.
Melinda writes: "I am calling it the motherhood fallacy of self-sacrifice — the pernicious but pervasive idea 1) that we are only good mothers if we are constantly focused on our kids, and 2) that the moment we prioritize ourselves, we are directly harming our children. It’s a fallacy because this isn’t actually how it works. What’s good for us isn’t, by default, bad for our kids. It’s far more common for the opposite to be true: What’s best for us is often best for our kids."
Every time these observations get written aloud, yours and hers, it feels validating and a relief. So thank you, and good luck, good luck with the this stretch of the book!
Every single word of this resonates so deeply. Especially the tugging complexities of writing life for mothers of young children (especially those with partners who have salaried roles that take them elsewhere). Summer is such a mixed bag and when we’re on deadline, especially so. And also about loving a complicated country: it’s comforting to have words to describe that which seems inexplicable at times. You seem to have tapped into so many things I needed to read this morning. 🤍 I’ll be thinking of you on the race to the finish (deadline) and also holding hope you can steal in some swims and sweet moments with your boys.
I do hope you manage to have a good holiday! I’m looking forward to the new cookbook immensely, and will definitely be looking into The Shortest History of Germany. Thanks for the recommendation!!
Yes - I very much liked the Steinmeier quote also. I read The Shortest History of Germany one or two years ago and it was very helpful to understand the underlying rhythm of the country. I'm now reading Eight Flavors by Sarah Lohman but I don't remember is this was a recommendation from you or another source?!? If not you, then you should certainly check it out. AND.... HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Please get out your red, white and blue today.
To love something with a broken heart…. It resonates with so much in a history-lover’s life. Thank you for the reminder, along with the recs. Enjoy your time in Italy. A working change of gorgeous scenery— sounds good to me!
I love that quote about how to love Germany. I know very little about German history, but I feel like that quote could just as well be applied to Canada, which has been responsible for the colonial genocide of Indigenous people over generations. I feel like our country is only starting to come to grips with that.
I loved Girl, Woman, Other. Always appreciate your book recommendations. I read Also a Poet after you wrote about it and man, was that one good.
The book Eight Flavors by Sarah Lohman = great historical context on 8 American flavors: Black Pepper, Vanilla, Chili Powder, Curry Powder, Soy Sauce Garlic, MSG and Sriracha. It's an easy short read. and a great way to get in touch with your American side.
Just finished Fatherland. Very powerful. Beautifully written.
Recognizing the complex history of Germany has a new resonance for some of us in the U.S., now humbled as we are by the recent disintegration of norms, rise of nationalism, and election (and possible re-election) of an odious megalomaniac spewing lie upon lie. You have written about the sadness of witnessing an America you no longer recognize and this sadness is even more profound and devastating for those of us who have no option but to continue trying to have a reasonable life here in America, in the midst of the outright, dystopian insanity and destruction of so much that we hold dear. So to hear it said that one can only love their country with a broken heart cuts straight to the truth of the matter for many of us, not just those in Germany.
Luisa, I was thrilled to see that "Cloud Cuckoo Land" was on your summer reading list. I bought it for my mother this past Christmas and also for my son in Belgium but ended up keeping his copy! (Decided that "Lincoln Highway" was a better fit for him . . . I *loved* that book) Anyway. . I could not get myself to read more than a few pages and immediately gave up. My mother, God Rest her Soul, couldn't get into it either. I am really curious to know if you end up reading it. . . . I am currently hooked on Barbara Kingsolver. "The Poisonwood Bible" is incredible. I *highly* recommend it. I realize I am behind the times on this. . . I'm trying to read her earlier novels before rewarding myself with "Demon Copperhead". I ended up reading "The Essence of the Thing" by Madeleine St. John after you recommended "The Women in Black". I enjoyed it even more then the latter. I love these posts about the books you're reading. Many thanks.