All those little details ... they matter

I've just finished reading a most unusual book by Walter Kempowski, titled, Schule: Immer so durchgemogelt.  It's filled with short snippets of German society, through the school system, by students during the Nazi years. I picked this up mostly to imagine my dad as a student in northern Germany (Schleswig Holstein). He was eager to join the Luftwaffe and was obviously influenced by the Nazi visions as a young student ... although ... I'm grateful to say, he never joined the party. 

The book's worth reading, but a tad repetitious. It's curious to see what stays in a person's memory about school. The authenticity of these memories is was kept me reading. 

Walter Kempowski wrote many books about the Nazi years. After reading his 1991 novel, Mark und Bein, I've been determined to read more by this author.  His interest in details has made the atrocities under Hitler become more real and relevant. Little things do matter. 

Waltraut or Waltraud?

Finished reading Waltraud by Tammy Borden from my summer reading list, just before fall is set to officially begin. What an amazing book and I’m so grateful to have read it. The author tells the life story of her mother, born in 1927 in the Braunschweig area of Germany. 

Told in first person, it follows Waltraud from BDM days through the war, the confusing time after the war, until her immigration to Wisconsin in the USA.  I picked up the book because of the similar-sounding titles … my Waltraut vs. Tammy Borden’s Waltraud. My book is a novel for middle-graders and stays solely in the voice of an eleven-year-old Canadian girl while Waltraud’s voice moves from young child, to young woman.

It’s very well written and carries an emotional wallop, revealing complicated family relationships that were exasperated by war.  The author does an amazing job of stepping into her mother's world, in a succinct, yet compelling voice.  

I needed five middle grade and YA novels to depict my mother’s journey from 11-year-old Ukrainian kulak to being the mother of an 11 year-old North American girl.  Borden's one book covers decades of her mother's early life. Our protagonists share some similarities (one born in Soviet Ukraine 1919 and the other in Germany in 1927) with both stories being told in first person and written by their daughters. An interesting study in itself. 

I'm delighted to put Waltraud next to Waltraut. Whether it's Waltraut with a t or Waltraud with a d, both spellings mean 'strong' and each girl has a compelling story to share. Read them both!  

Walk, Read, Hope

A friend borrowed this idea from a friend and I will pass the theme on right here. My three words of summer? Let me reflect.  Waiting, caring, reading?  Or maybe, worrying, healing, reading? Or walking, reading, hoping.  Always reading, always hoping, always walking. 

The walking got slower and slower as my dog got weaker and weaker. Slow walking strengthened my patience. It became a way for me to focus on the journey and not the destination.  

Resting during one of our last walks together

Reading. I love how the private act of reading becomes a portal to worlds beyond. Books are my preferred tools of engagement with ideas and other worlds. I read to understand both myself and those around me. Books give me hope.

Hoping. It’s been a strange summer. Even sunny days in July were overcast with grey, ash-filled clouds from northern wild fires. Dark clouds hovered in my family, too, as a dear family member struggles with mental health issues. But hope brightens even the darkest moments.

Summer morphed into fall with some chilly, near-zero overnight temperatures. Today I’ll spread our dog’s ashes in the places we used to walk. I’ll shift the remainders of my summer reading list over onto my fall reading pile, and I’ll continue to hope for light … even as days shorten and darkness falls earlier and earlier. 

Ominous clouds hover everywhere. What stormy times we live in. Take time to walk, to read, and to hope.

Downtown Winnipeg in smoky haze