The Discworld has returned. Much is said about it, but it does not become boring. And I think it will never get. Again Pratchett centers a story around great philosophical topics of mankind: Religious stories (Golems), Politics (the inner anarchist of the commander of the watch) or minorities (or how would you call …

This book has relationships to two books I have been reading earlier this year: It is the second one authored by Hemingway and the second classical American novel set at a World War stage. And in both cases I felt a lot of similarities. For "The Old Man and the Sea" it seems obvious, but also in Joseph Heller's "Catch …

These guys are crazy. I mean it. When I heard about this book I expected a cruel depiction of what happens in war. Fear, brutality, insanity, butchery. And fear, brutality, insanity, butchery it was. But very different than how I expected it. The book begins in a style that reminded me of M.A.S.H. (the movie and TV …

When will I be able to make toast with my radio?

Good fellow Mister Wilde would for sure have been one interesting person to talk to. He really is a master of the play on words, independent of the story line and its depth. This short play was really fun reading, although the plot is not really twisted and somewhat foreseeable. The characters are portrayed in a …

The series must go on, this is Discworld N° 18. For the loyal DW reader this book holds no surprise. Main characters are witches Nanny and Granny, always good for surprises, as we know them. They dive into the world of opera, foreign to them as it is to me, I have to admit. For me this was none of the outstanding …

When tidying up my room today I stumbled upon an unmarked, self-burnt CD. By the looks of it, it had to be a very old one, from the time I still roamed the university in Linz. Without much hope that it still works – which CD-R is still readable after 15 to 20 years? – I put it into my drive; and voilá, the listing of …

I bought this book with mixed feelings. For me it is evident that financial help to developing countries are a mixed blessing, at least.1 On the other hand I know how easy it is to shift polemics from one side to the other. Like ex-smokers who often fail to yield to reason. Perkins is solemn; that is a style that is …

The vampire genre was never one I was much attracted to. I have seen no vampire movie (save Roman Polanski's great 'The Fearless Vampire Killers'), the popular TV series I love to hate and I have never read a vampire story (save their appearance in Larry Niven's 'Ringworld'). But it had to end, when I saw the …

When I browse my buying history at the Amazon cartel website and go to the very first order, I see it was January 1999. I was working in Germany then, and it was my first commercial transaction on the internet. Amazon was still young, fresh and traded only books. It was easier, as well as cheaper, to get English books …