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What I've just finished reading
Since we're on holidays, a lot of the time was spent in a cabin high up in the Alps with extraordinately bad weather - so children's books it is...

Das kleine Gespenst (The little Ghost) by Otfried Preußler. I've read this book countless times, still like the plot with the ghost that gets from haunting the night to haunting the day because the clock it is tied to was overhauled. But how on earth could I have missed the subtext till now? The subtext celebrating being white over being cursed to be black (because the ghost turns black as soon as the first ray of sun hits it), to be more precise? Passages like this:

Das kleine Gespenst warf seinem Spiegelbild einen giftigen Blick zu.
"Schrecklich, mir vorzustellen, dass ich mein ganzes weiteres Leben als schwarzes Scheusal verbringen soll! – Ob es vielleicht ein Mittel dagegen gibt: ein Mittel, das einen wieder weiß macht…?"

The little looked at its image in the mirror with disgust.
"How horrible, should I have to spend the rest of my life as a black abomination. - If there is any cure for it: a cure that makes me white again?"


I mean, so far I already always had to comment on Preußler's depiction of family life (you know, the happy 50ies model with overcautious stay at home mum and cool dad) - I couldn't omit it while reading because it was worked too deeply into the story, so I had to resort to preaching and ranting... - but I honestly didn't realise this blatant affirmation of racial stereotypes until now. Speaking of bias you don't realise because you're sitting safely on the side of well-meaning priviledge.

The kids, being white kids (although with poc-friends), didn't realise the stereotyping, of course. I'm now asking myself if I should point it out to them the way I point it out when a washboard enabling Princess Li-Si to finally do her own washing is considered a brilliant engagement gift (for a 8y old!) in Jim Knopf... raaah, why are the so little children's books without stereotyping and still a gripping story?
(If there are, please point me in the right direction!)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The kids loved this way more than CoS - no creepy snakes, no Voldemort himself (I'm honestly curious if we'll ever progress further then GoF). We finished the book and immediately started the re-read - because, hey, turns out that you can read everything about Sirius and the Grim and who is deciving whom in a totally new light if you know about the real traitor! :)

Fun fact: the parts they like the most (which I had to re-read numerous times) are the ones where Fred and George poke fun at Percy and his pompous ways.

The translation is still atrocious, from simply misconstructing sentences (Der Blick der Hexe wanderte von Krätzes angeknabbertem linkem Ohr zu seiner Vorderpfote, an der ein Zeh fehlte, und er tat sein Missfallen laut kund.) over clunky language up to the fact that it's only ever the female characters who get their names germanified (Hermione -> Hermine, Aunt Marge -> Tante Marga). Luckily this can be easier rectified while reading the kids than all the gender stereotypes and the serious lack of female characters doing anything meaningful in a positive way (besides Hermione, of course).

This re-read is as much fun as it is disentchanting, sigh.

I also read a book for grownups: Hannas schlafende Hunde (which was recently made into a movie) about a girl finding out she is Jewish aged 16.

What I'm reading now
On with the questionable children's books: now with Der kleine Mann und die kleine Miss (The little Man and the little Miss) by Erich Kästner - which, while also stemming from the 50ies, so far doesn't seem to spout as many vicious stereotypes as the Preußler ones. And is quite the cute story about 5 cm tall Max Pichelsteiner and his godfather, the magician Jokus von Pokus.

And in the grown-up department: After long silence by Helen Fremont, also on discovering Jewish identity.

What I'm reading next
Well, perhaps we'll start Goblet of Fire? Well, the father of the children certainly did and is now reading HP for the first time in his life... after murmuring Dumbledore! in an as mystic as possible voice at every fitting and not fitting moment for the last ten years or so. Fandom's coming home... :)
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I thought I try this reading-thing? To get back in the swing of posting? We'll see how it goes...

What I've just finished reading
That book on fanfic by Anne Jamison that everybody else has read ages ago: fic - Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World. It has been lurking on my shelf for quite some time now, and I'm quite happy I finally read it: very entertaining, especially those bits on Harry Potter and all the gossip re: Twilight and 50 Shades of something. And the part on RPF was quite interesting. But man, this My Little Pony guy... "My brain runs over with great gib chocolate fountains of creativity and I can never turn it off, not ever."

What I'm reading now
Lots and lots and lots of stuff for work - this will drag on for the forseeable future. This week it's monks from the year 300 and environmental activism.
And Harry Potter: PoA - German translation - The Horror! - with the kids and OV for my personal pleasure (and so that I can bitch informed about the translation). And then Crumpet has re-started PS for his prescribed daily reading for school.

What I'm reading next
Harry Potter? And more stuff for work, next week: on Jewish biographies and Jewish holidays.
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There are words I only ever encountered in fanfic. Words like muchneglected, as in: Merlin fumbled with the fastenings of his breeches to pay some attention to his own muchneglected cock.

But now, as the grandparents have arrived on the scene and the kids have attached themselves like leeches, there actually is time to start the book on The Private Lives of the Pre-Raphaelites - and just some pages in I find this praise of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's apparently beautiful looks:

His thick, beautiful, and closely curled masses of rich brown muchneglected hair fell about an ample brow, and almost to the wearer's shoulders. (And so fort, covering nearly every part of the male physique thinkable.)
Sounds like LOTRips, but was actually written 1894 by someone called F.G.Stephens.

Now I just wait for muchneeded to crop up. Hopefully exactly like in muchneeded friction. You never know with these painters... :)
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I'm not sure Dykes to watch out for was meant to be read lying in a bed shared with three persons of the male species - of which one pretends to be still asleep while the other two use me as a mountain / cave / climbing device for a game of I'm a little mysterious being and you're walking along saying la-di-da there surely are no little mysterious beings here and then you see me and ask "are you a little mysterious being?"

Still fun :)
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'Bravo!' said Mr Goodacre. 'That really makes it quite a gay party. Now! It is my prerogative to distribute the sherry.'

Spending time better dedicated to cleaning and working by re-reading Dorothy L. Sayers. (Well, and reading Merlin-fic - I really have no survival instinct.) What a joy! Although, while finishing Busman's Honeymoon, I find myself relieved not having to live in a time or society where women are automatically expected to be inferior.

Also, I'm reading it, unimaginable as it seems to be, for the first time in the English original version. And it shows how strong and addictive Sayers' writing is, for I fell in love even with the horribly stuffy translation some... OMG, I'm OLD...25 years ago. For:

'Kein Wunder, dass Peter dich immer Onkel Pandarus nennt, du nichtsnutziger alter Sünder.' Paul erwiderte: 'Aber du kannst nicht leugnen, dass ich ihn sein Handwerk gelehrt habe, und er macht keinem von uns beiden Schande.' Darauf gab es nichts zu antworten, also fuhr ich nach Hause... Versuchte mich erneut an Die Sterne blicken herab und fand nur lauter unangenehme Leute darin... Tatsache ist, dass man nie eine richtige Vorstellung von seinem eigenen Sohn hat...

is something quite different than this:

'No wonder Peter calls you Uncle Pandarus, you evil old wretch.' Paul said, 'Well, you can't deny I had him thaught his job, and he's no desgrace to either of us.' There was no answer to that, so I came away... Tried The Stars Look Down again, and found it full of most unpleasant people... The fact is, one never really visualises one's own son...

Suddenly the dots get meaning... *g* And of course a best man is by no means a Brautführer - would get quite crowded on the walk to the altar that way.

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