Richard Bach
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Flying high can be learned! It’s not easy for Jonathan, because
Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. … For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.
This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed … “-
This book has many vivid passages. And in the film with the same name, the ocean waves and the flight of birds have been beautifully captured.
In the middle part there are some confusing sentences that are supposed to be philosophical-esoteric. Perhaps the author was “taking off” in this part. Nevertheless, by and large: a pleasant and stimulating book.
PU
Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? …
We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.
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Lorenz Pauli
(Pictures by Kathrin Schärer)
You Call That Brave?
Original German Title: mutig, mutig
This is a story about the meaning of real courage; it is told so simply and with an unexpected ending.
The text works by itself, even without the funny illustrations from unusual angles.
It is listed as a children’s book, but young people and especially adults can get even more out of You Call That Brave.
GK
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s cabin was published in 1852. Nine years later the American Civil War broke out. At the time of publication the contrasting attitudes as to keeping slaves in the Northern and Southern States of the USA are already clearly visible.
Although not much in particular seems to happen on the first pages of the first chapter, gradually an ominous feeling takes hold of the reader. This feeling will not leave in spite of idyllic or funny scenes that are contained in the book.
Uncle Tom and his wife Aunt Chloe have a good master and a good mistress. But the couple gets financial problems which force them to sell Uncle Tom and little Harry, who is the son of Eliza and George. The latter is property of a slave owner who treats him badly.
This introduction already brings to light what slaves constantly worry about. Those who have a good master always live in fear of being sold to a bad one. This may mean that you are seperated from your husband or wife, or, for children, that they are snatched away from their parents. Slaves who are owned by a bad master try to find a way to escape, but then they have to fear the dangers of being chased by slave hunters.
Before I had read this book, I simply used to think: keeping slaves is bad, but I did not have any idea of the far-reaching consequences for the lifes of the slaves.
The narrative not only originates from the fantasy of the author. It relies on events that really took place.
Among the many publications of this book, some are less suitable, as they are retold versions.
SK
Uncle Tom is a slave with great trust in God, who overcomes the most difficult circumstances and also consoles and provides support to others. I often cried while reading this book. Upon finishing the book, the reader has one wish: that the slave trade (which still exists today) be abolished immediately and forever.
Very good characters are portrayed alongside the bad ones.
RK
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Rosemary Sutcliff
Dawn Wind
A historical novel set in the 6th century that depicts the development of an adolescent boy up through the age of 26.
Together with his father and older brother, 14-year-old Owin goes to battle against the Saxons, who are conquering more and more areas of Britain. Owin is the only survivor and is seriously injured. He is joined by one of the British war dogs, who from then on remains his devoted friend. Soon the two meet the orphaned, almost starved twelve-year-old Regina. In order to save the sick girl’s life, Owin brings her into the care of a peasant family and buys her survival by hiring himself out as a slave to one of the warring Saxons, who takes him to his far-off estate.
It is a long time before he sees Regina again. The book describes Owin’s close relationship with horses, dogs and his fellow human beings, all of whom he feels obliged to help. Owin is fearless and selfless; he remains true to himself and his ideals in all situations.
By always making the best of his serf situation and doing every job conscientiously, he wins the of his master and “owner” who finally releases him and gives him his freedom.
This book has something for boys and girls alike. Rosemary Sutcliff knows how to depict, in addition to action and fighting, the sensations, feelings and inner struggle that comes with it in a very moving way.
Ages 12 and up.
Pu
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Otfried Preussler
Krabat and the Sorcerer’s Mill
Also published under the titles:
The Satanic Mill, The Curse of the Darkling Mill, Krabat
Original German language title: Krabat
Challenging and eerie.
PP
Fourteen-year-old Krabat is a homeless orphan who is happy when he finds a mill that provides him with work, a place to sleep and food. There he, like the other eleven assistants, has to hire himself out to the dark “master,” and there he learns the miller’s trade and also the magic. Krabat sees firsthand how satanic magic has the ability to make those who follow it and submit to it mighty and strong. But … it does not make him happy and he is no longer free, for he has subordinated his will to the will of the black master.
After some tragic experiences and the death of two miller journeymen he was close with, he begins to secretly prepare for the fight against the magician master. To do this, he has to learn a lot in order to strengthen his own will. In addition, in order to gain his freedom, he needs the affection and love of a girl.
In the final battle, the power of selfless love and the dark power of black magic face off.
There were several times during the first fifty pages that I considered putting the book down. The story itself is compelling, but I couldn’t take any pleasure in the spookier aspects. However, since I wanted to understand why a teacher and father of four had recommended this book to me, I read on and … indeed, it all paid off in the final part of the book. From then on, the girl Kantorka, the young man Krabat and his friend Juro have been among my favorite heroes.
Anyone who wants to follow Krabat along his path to freedom and redemption should know what they are getting into with this book: many, many pages full of magic formulas, black magic, influencing the thoughts of others, transforming people into animals, fear, humiliation, distrust, murder and death …
Pu
Otfried Preussler on his work:
[Preussler was born in 1923 and belonged to a generation that followed a false “Führer” to war.]
My Krabat is not a story aimed at young people only, nor is it a story for an exclusively adult audience. It is the story of a young boy who gets involved with dark forces. He is fascinated by them until he realizes what he has gotten himself into. At the same time, it is my story, the story of my generation, and it is the story of all young people who come into contact with, and get caught up in, power and its temptations. There is only one way out, the only one I know of: a strong will to free oneself from it, the help of loyal friends, and the kindof help that comes from the power of love – a love that is stronger than the forces of evil and all the world’s temptations.
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Abd-ru-shin
In the Light of Truth
The Grail Message
Original German Language Title: Im Lichte der Wahrheit – Gralsbotschaft
I was won over by the consistent and easily understandable logic with which the author explains everything according to natural laws.
As a physicist, I try to work out a logical view of the world. The book In the Light of Truth helps with this as it describes all the processes in this world and in the hereafter in context and shows how a uniform law and logic permeates everything, thereby making it understandable. This leaves no room for esoteric speculation. Mysticism becomes unnecessary. The reader of The Grail Message sees creation clearly before them and the light of simple principles that shines through it.
The Grail Message serves as inspiration to also act in the sense of the laws that govern everything around us.
SD
A book for a lifetime … and beyond!
RK
“And they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.” This is how contemporaries spoke about the effect of Jesus’s words. And something similar happens to some of Abd-ru-shin’s readers. I was certainly thrilled when I started reading Volume I of his work In the Light of Truth at the age of sixteen. Volumes II and III came later.
If you are wondering whether this book will also benefit you, you will find the following words from Abd-ru-shin in the preface to The Grail Message:
I am addressing earnest seekers only. They must be able and willing to examine this matter objectively!
In order to understand this matter, the reader does not need to be “learned” or “scholarly,” for Abd-ru-shin has a down-to-earth approach for explaining the world and all its many paths and places one could go astray. Thus, The Grail Message serves as a “map” for me, whose contents I can use to find out which paths are available to people and where they lead when they take them.
The explanations can help the reader to discover and develop capabilities that lie in wait in order to use them for their own path, which leads out of the man-made labyrinth.—
The language of Abd-ru-shin is very noble and extraordinarily powerful, and he expresses himself clearly and, where necessary, sharply.
A glance at the table of contents shows that every seeker will find their topic covered.
Anyone who longs for purer, true humanity and has a childlike ability to be open to new things will find an immeasurable amount of use and joy, just in the first volume of In the Light of Truth alone.
GP
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