My husband keeps me supplied with books from the library, and earlier this week he brought home a copy of Zeitoun. The title got me curious as I had no idea what it meant or stood for until I read the back cover.

Zeitoun’s story, during the time of Hurricane Katrina, was an unusual one. This was a much better account than the fleeting pictures and video clips we got on TV during that time of confusion. A compassionate non-fiction story, its historical setting and diversity of human traits make this a wonderful read.

In spite of the great many injustices Zeitoun endured under those circumstances:

Quoting: “All author proceeds from the book go to the Zeitoun Foundation, founded in 2009 by the Zeitoun family, the author, and McSweeney’s.

Its purpose is to aid in the rebuilding of New Orleans and to promote respect for human rights in the United States and around the world. The Zeitoun Foundation will serve as a grantor of funds generated from this book…”;

To learn more about the book, visit wikipedia.

Zeitoun from Amazon.co.uk
Zeitoun from Amazon.de

If you live in a hurricane-ridden region of the United States, then you mightwant to pay a visit to Happy DIY Home  to see how much hurricane proof windows cost. They have just updated their comprehensive guide.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak got my immediate attention when I skimmed the first few pages. There were German words such as Saumensch, Saukerl and Watschen which formed a regular thread throughout the whole story. The setting of the story is in Molching, a town in southern Germany and the time is 1939. This was – and maybe still is – they way people talked and I remember my mom using the same words on us children, too. Komm her, du Saumensch! The dialects vary greatly from southern to northern Bavaria, but not the tone.

My Heimat is the northern part of Bavaria, a lovely wine region called Franconia. During the war, the town and district of Schweinfurt was a homely industrial region, which got bombed heavily. Bombs fell on the city’s industrial center, one of Europe’s leading steel factories.

Bombensplitter (shrapnel) killed my grandmother and aunt. My grandmother’s various body parts had been strewn about the fields whereas my 16-year-old aunt lay dead on the dirt road like Sleeping Beauty. They had been on their way home from the fields. Another bomb off target.

The author picked an interesting narrator, a grim and omnipresent figure in our lives. While Nazi Germany was holding its breath during that time, I was too – while reading it.

The Book Thief from Amazon.de

The Book Thief from Amazon.com

The Book Thief from Amazon.co.uk