... in books

Day 4

Why are these questions so hard to answer? Why do I have to decide on the best ever? How unfair!

Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever

Today is a though one. I can’t just name one book and I definitely can’t name a series. I love all my series that I read, so I will tell you about my favorite book.

I live in Austria, so I am a non-native to English but due to my father who works at the university and is in charge for the university exchange program with some American universities in North Carolina we have a lot of friends in the US or from the US. Many of them are living in Europe right now; some in England and some in Vienna.

So I first got in contact with English when I was around two years old. It was wonderful. I got the chance to grow up with English children and youth books. When I was a child I knew my most favorite books by heart and “read” them to my parents. I knew where to turn over the page and I knew all the right words. And I did this not only with German books but with English ones as well. I knew most of my Berenstain Bears books by heart and was super proud of my English skills.

Learning or better hearing English from an early age onwards was wonderful. In school I had no problems at all with writing texts because I wrote what sounded right to me and most of the time it was right. My problem was grammar. We learned all the English grammar and I had huge difficulties. I knew what to fill in but I could never explain why.

So, when I have to answer what my favorite book ever is, I have to choose a German one. It is also hard for me to decide which one to pick.

So I will tell you about my two favorite books, both of them children or youth books.

The first one is definitely a children’s book. It is called “Die Kinder aus Bullerbü” and is by Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish author. It tells the story of Lisa who lives with her two older brothers and her family in a small town called Bullerbü. This town consists of three houses all in all. The two other houses are inhabited by Britta and Inga with their parents and Ole with his family and his dog Swift.

It is a wonderful book. Definitely written for kids but I really like and I read at least every two years for old time’s sake.

My other favorite book is by an Austria author called Christine Nöstlinger and is called “Gretchen Sackmeier”. It is about a young girl and her problems growing up. All the members of her family are overweight and the story starts the day after her mother attended her high school reunion meeting and realizes that she is the thickest of all so she starts loosing weight. Through this the fragile family structures start to crumble. Her mother moves out and Gretchen and her younger sister with her while her brother lives with the father. During all this Gretchen faces typical teenage problems, like her first relationship, school problems, problems with her brother and her father who wants his happy family back.

This is such a good book. I really really like it and read it regularly once a year in summer. Don’t know why but it is part of my summer routine.