5 Book Tips For The Holidays
What could be better than relaxing by the sea while reading a good book? Whether idyllic summer novels or cold-blooded killer thrillers: 5 books you won't put down in a hurry.Man lying on a hammock reading a book
Sometimes you resolve to read more books. But often this thought gets lost in the stress of everyday life. Reading helps to lower our stress levels, trains our cognitive skills and improves our vocabulary. This is also a reason for all those who are shy about reading to jump over their own shadow and try it. A holiday is the perfect opportunity to finally start reading. But what is still missing? That's right, a good book!
Book Tip No. 1: "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
The novel became a Spiegel bestseller and has enthralled an audience of millions worldwide. A touching story about Kya, who lives marginalised in the marsh, set against a beautifully described natural backdrop.
Chase Andrews dies, and the residents of the quiet seaside town of Barkley Cove agree: blame the marsh girl. Kya Clark lives isolated in the marshland with its salt marshes and sandbanks. She knows every rock and seabird, every shell and plant. When two young men take notice of the wild beauty, Kya opens herself up to a new life - with dramatic consequences. Delia Owens tells an intense and atmospheric story about how we remain forever the children we once were. And can do nothing to counter the secrets and violence of nature.
Book Tip No. 2: "Elternabend" by Sebastian Fitzek (German)
With this book, Sebastian Fitzek, Germany's most successful psychological thriller author, does not write a thriller (as he is used to), but a humorous novel in the style of his bestseller "The First Last Day".
Imagine ...
... you have to spend half an eternity at a parents' evening. And you don't even have a child! Sascha Nebel has chosen the wrong car at the wrong time in the wrong place for theft. No sooner has he taken his seat behind the wheel of an off-road vehicle than a horde of demonstrating climate activists parades through the street. In the lead is a young woman who demolishes the SUV with a baseball bat. When the police appear on the scene, Sascha and the unknown woman take flight and barge into the parents' evening of a 5th-grade class. To avoid spending the night in police custody, they have no other choice: they have to slip into the roles of Christin and Lutz Schmolke, the parents of 11-year-old Hector, who have missed every school event so far. Two strangers, between whom there could hardly be greater potential for conflict, pretend to be the father and mother of a child they do not know at all. The fact that Hector is the school's biggest bully quickly becomes the least of their problems.
Book Tip No. 3: "Todesrache" by Andreas Gruber (German)
The Austrian author and multiple award winner Andreas Gruber published the first part of the crime series around the two investigators Sneijder and Nemez in 2012. In the meantime, seven volumes have solved exciting and at the same time shocking murder cases. The latest work in the series, "Todesrache", is full of suspense and thrills.
BKA profiler Maarten S. Sneijder narrowly escaped death on his last assignment and lost almost his entire team. Among them is his colleague Sabine Nemez. Then a clue arises that at least she might still be alive. Sneijder has to put together a new team to track her down and free her from the entanglements of a highly complex case. The cooperation of the eccentric Leipzig police investigator Walter Pulaski is crucial. But he is on the trail of a particularly gruesome crime himself and shows little willingness to help.
Book Tip No. 4: "Still awake?" by Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre
The publication of the novel "Still awake?" by Benjamin Stuckrad-Barre immediately made headlines. This is because it is suspected that the story is an allusion to the abuse of power allegations against the former editor-in-chief of Bild-Zeitung Julian Reichelt. He has been dismissed by the Axel Springer publishing house for misconduct towards female employees.
Berlin: A young woman talks about her new job at a major television station, her new boss, and her new life. She seems happy, inspired, and hopeful, it sounds good. Too good? Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the world is coming to an end. A man who boasts that as a celebrity you can do anything to women becomes President of the United States. In the garden of the legendary "Chateau Marmont", that night playground of spoiled Hollywood kids of all ages, an illustrious gang flees from reality to pass the time.
The narrator is also here - and Rose McGowan, the actress who is said to have become somehow exhausted of late. Shortly afterward, the Weinstein scandal shakes Hollywood, and Rose McGowan is one of the first women to make public sexual harassment by the film producer, who until then had been courted by all of Hollywood. Rose disappears, but she leaves the narrator a cryptic message - or is it rather a mission? Why does she turn to him of all people?
From Hollywood, the #MeToo movement spreads around the world. But the old power structures are more resistant than one might think in the initial euphoria. Back in Berlin, the narrator finds himself no longer just a deck-chair observer, but now an actor in the middle of a confusing event that plunges him into a deep personal conflict.
Book Tip No. 5: "The Girl with Seven Names" by Hyeonseo Lee
A moving life story of a young North Korean woman and her escape. During her journey, the reader is introduced to the customs of North Korea, which seem unimaginable because of knowing the European way of life.
Hyeonseo Lee was born in North Korea, a country from which almost no news reaches the outside world. When she was seven years old, she witnessed a public execution for the first time. She often sees corpses floating in the border river with China, people whose escape to a better life failed. As a teenager, Hyeonseo secretly sneaks across the border into China to escape the shackles of the Kim regime at least once - but then her way home is blocked. A dangerous escape begins.
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