Book Talk – October 2025

Welcome back to another round of Book Talk. Lets dive right into last month read. If you only read one review let it be the first one.

I who have never known man by Jacqueline Harpman | ★★★★★

Book Blurb: Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus?
Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl – the fortieth prisoner – sits alone and outcast in the corner.
Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others’ escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground. The woman who will never know men.
First Sentence: Since I barely venture outside these days, I spend a lot of time in one of the armchairs, rereading the books.
What I thought: What an amazing read. This was so different from many things I have read. A great thought experience. What if you only grew up with 39 women underground and have never seen anything else. You have no idea what it feels like to be hold or loved. You have never seen children. You don’t know everyday life. You can tell the author has a psychological background. I loved everything in this book because it was so very different, well thought out, great observation of characters and situations.
Elevate count: forgot to count
Characters: no name narrator, 39 woman, 6 guard men
Setting: underground bunker, deserted area/planet
Medium: eBook through Kindle library
Original Language and Title: French “Moi qui n’ai pas connu les hommes”
Publications: German title “Die Frau, die die Männer nicht kannte”
Recommend to: Everyone. Seriously this is a great book. Would also make an amazing book club book.
Author’s Origin: born in Etterbeek, Belgium | July 5th, 1929
Read Around the World: Logged for Belgium in my Read Around the World Challenge
Heard of/Recommended by: seen on Instagram, Engie,

Lula Deans Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller | ★★★★☆

Book Blurb: In Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean has decided to cleanse the town’s reading habits. All banned books have been removed from public spaces, and the townspeople are only allowed to read books Lula has deemed ‘appropriate’.
But a small group refuse to be told what they can and can’t read.
The revolution is coming …
First Sentence: Ronnie Childers was tripping his balls off in Jackson Square when an angel of the Lord appeared before him.
What I thought: Kirsten Miller might become my new favorite author. Political and societal on point. She perfectly draws a picture of what is going on in the American society (as far as I can tell from abroad). This book might be a little over exaggerated and constructed but I think it is necessary to condense all the different beliefs, struggles and challenges currently going on. I like the exploration of the different thoughts and how she put them in a person. That said, there are a lot of people to keep track of. I think it’s an excellent book to understand who one little thing can gain momentum and move into something no one expected and maybe even the person starting it didnt really care.
Elevate count: forget to count
Characters: Wilma Jean Cummings – 84year old retired lawyer, Bella Cummings – great grand daughter, Beverly – school board, Dawn – housewife, Crystel Moore – elementary teacher, Elijah Wright – teenager, Beau Skykes – kid detective, son to mayor, and so many more (trans people, gay people, rapists, fake news believers…)
Setting: small southern town of Troy
Medium: eBook through Kindle library
Original Language and Title: English
Publications: no translation found
Recommend to: Everyone! This should be mandatory read like “The Wave” to understand how politics and society works.
Author’s Origin: born in New York City, U.S.A. | February 18th, 1973
Additional note: I had the chance to meet her through my book club when we read The Change. She is a very smart woman. Her instagram is also very informative. She is fighting the good fight.

Finsterinsel by Bernadette Calonego | ★★★✶☆

Book Blurb: Terrible events took place years ago on Finster Island, a windswept island in the Labrador Sea. The only house there belongs to James Drake, a man with dark secrets who pretends to be a generous patron of young talent.
First Sentence: Heute ist der 4. September 2022, ich bin Lieutenant Brent Shoegy, S-H-O-E-G-Y, mit dabei ist Corporal Adam Fall, F-A-L-M.
What I thought: I love the setting and learning more about the culture and landscape and inhabitants of Canada. I liked the story and the characters and I am invested in how this all ends. However with this book I had a bit of an issue regrind the writing and language. I am not sure but it feels a bit dated. I discussed it with the husband and wondered if the might be because she lives in Canada for so many years and just loses a bit of touch with current German habits. I am not sure but it’s something I was wondering. I will however keep reading this series.
Elevate count: none, read in German
Characters: Calista Gates – Detective, Fred – Constable, James Drake – billionaire who has something to hide
Setting: Great Caribou Island, Labrador Sea
Medium: eBook through Kindle unlimited, library | audiobook through library | paperback | hardcover
Original Language and Title: German
Publications: English title “Dark Moon Island” release date December 5th, 2025
Recommend to: Everyone who has read the series but can also be read as stand alone.
Author’s Origin: born in Stans, Switzerland
Read Around the World: Logged for Switzerland in my Read Around the World Challenge
Additional note: Book six of the Detective Calista Gates series

Das Lied der Arktis by Bérengére Cournut | ★★★✶☆

Book Blurb: The moon shines brightly over the Arctic as the ice breaks and separates Uqsuralik from her family. Suddenly, she finds herself completely alone in the eternal polar night. Her only protection is a bearskin, and she knows that she must never stand still. Between fjords and icebergs, she learns the language of nature, how to track seals, and to fear the spirits. After days of solitude, she encounters another nomadic family and joins their community. But what at first appears to be salvation harbors new and unpredictable dangers.
First Sentence: Es ist der Dritte Mond, seit die Sonne hinter dem Horizont verschwunden ist – und das erste Mal in meinem Leben, dass ich solche Bauchschmerzen habe. | It’s the third moon since the sun disappeared behind the horizon – and the first time in my life that I’ve had such stomach pains.
What I thought: I enjoyed the book and it was well written. However, I didn’t really connect with the books. I am not sure if it was the very violent depiction of the clans. Also it felt a bit distant and more descriptive of the culture even though it was well researched as it seems. Not sure but it was only an okay book. I very much enjoyed the photographs that were included.
Elevate count: read in German
Characters: Uqsuralik – Inuit woman
Setting: somewhere in the frozen wilderness
Medium: hardcover from library
Original Language and Title: French “De pierre et d’os”
Publications: doesn’t seem to have publications beside French and German
Recommend to: Everyone liking a coming of age story set in the arctic with its daily challenges and heartaches.
Author’s Origin: born in Paris, France | 1979
Read Around the World: Logged for France in my Read Around the World Challenge

Piece by Piece by David Aguilar | ★★★✶☆

Book Blurb: David Aguilar was born missing part of one arm, a small detail that seemed to define his life and limit people’s ideas of who he was and who he could be. But in this funny and heartfelt memoir, David proves that he can throw out the rulebook and people’s expectations and maybe even make a difference in the world—and all with a sense of humor. At only nine years old, David built his first prosthesis from LEGO bricks, and since then he hasn’t stopped creating and thinking about how his inventions, born from a passion for building things, could fuel change and help others.
First Sentence: I’ve often been asked what it feels like when you miss half an arm.
What I thought: An interesting glimpse into the live of a boy and how he grew up missing a forearm. However, has he puts it how do we know we are not all growing up without an eleventh finger. He taking us through his first twenty years of life. The story is interesting showed me a new world and way of thought. However, the book has some shortcomings. At the beginning I liked the very conversational tone but it got tiring quickly. So so many metaphors and the jumping from one topic to the next just to go back the one before was a bit annoying. It’s like looking into a brain trying to mediate but can’t quiet down. It has been getting a bit better towards the end. For me that took away from the reading experience and by the end I just wanted to get done. Another thing I found very disconcerting is that the mother and sister basically don’t exist. Only mentioned here and there and then in a not very flattering way (mouth agape, mouth wide open, annoying). I didn’t know… didn’t sit well with me while the father was praised like crazy. I get it he’s a papas boy but still.
Elevate count: none, elevator once
Medium: eBook through Kindle unlimited
Original Language and Title: Spanish “Pieza a pieza”
Publications: no German translation found but a few other languages
Recommend to: Everyone wanting to learn about what it feels like growing up with a “diffability”.
Author’s Origin: born in Andorra | 2000
Read Around the World: Logged for Andorra in my Read Around the World Challenge

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow | ★★★☆☆

Book Blurb: The Saint of War spares the life of a servant girl so she can fulfill her destiny as the kingdom’s greatest warrior in this short story of love and loyalty. Always mindful of the debt she owes, the girl finds her worth as a weapon in the hand of the Prince. Her victories make him a king, then an emperor. The bards sing her name and her enemies fear it. But the war never ends and the cost keeps rising – how many times will she repeat her own story?
First Sentence: You were a child the first time the Saint of War came to you.
What I thought: This was a well enough read but I wasn’t as engaged and in love as with The Starling House.
Elevate count: none
Characters: a girl, The Saint, Gwynneth – the squire, Prince/Emporor, Amrbosius – the priest
Setting: a battlefield and a throne room with a magical well
Medium: eBook through Kindle unlimited, library | audiobook through library | paperback | hardcover
Original Language and Title: English
Publications: none found
Recommend to: Everyone loving a dark short story.
Author’s Origin: born in Idaho, U.S.A. | November 9th 1989

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry | no rating

Book Blurb: In an extraordinary story that only he could tell, Matthew Perry takes readers onto the soundstage of the most successful sitcom of all time while opening up about his private struggles with addiction. Candid, self-aware, and told with his trademark humor, Perry vividly details his lifelong battle with the disease and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that shares the most intimate details of the love Perry lost, his darkest days, and his greatest friends. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and hilarious: this is the book fans have been waiting for. 
First Sentence: Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name.
What I thought: What a sad book. I’m staying true to myself and not rating a memoir. I really don’t know what to say. Besides, this is sad. One of the funniest guys has been broken for all his life and the end of the book made it even more sad when you know that he passed away a couple years later. It almost seemed that he has finally figured it out and can start his life away from addiction. There was a lot of drug usage, detailed listing of things he took, and so on. I tried to keep an open mind, but at times it was challenging. I zoned out a bit. He showed me a very different life I have – fortunately – no relation to. I think it is good to know how that disease is treating people and helps me nit to be judgmental.
Elevate count: didnt count as it was an audiobook
Medium: audiobook through library
Original Language and Title: English
Publications: German title “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing: Die Autobiografie des FRIENDS-Stars”
Recommend to: Everyone wanting to learn about addiction.
Author’s Origin: born in Williamstown, U.S.A. | August 19th, 1969

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan | ★★✶☆☆

Book Blurb: Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who’s saying the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable. Forty years later the stories and history continue. 
First of Sentence: My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club.
What I thought: I only were able to get an audiobook version. And this most likely ruined the story. I have no idea what really happened. The narrator ( the auger herself) wasn’t able to let me know whose story we are listening to. They all sounded the same and therefore faded into each other. In order to keep up with book club I also struggled because there were no Parts mentioned or any chapters so I never knew where I am in the book. This was a bit disappointing to be honest.
Elevate count: not tracked as it was an audio book.
Characters: I honestly have no idea.
Setting: USA, China?
Medium: audiobook through library
Original Language and Title: English
Publications: German title “Töchter des Himmels”
Recommend to: At this point I am not sure I would.
Author’s Origin: born in Oakland, U.S.A. | February 19th, 1952

Grünes Land und blaue Wellen by Konrad Reich | ★★✶☆☆

Book Blurb: Stories and tales from land and sea.
First Sentence: Es war an einem schönen sonnenhellen Morgen im Mai, als ich, gerade fünfzehn Jahre, drei Monate und vier Tage alt, an der Hand meines Vaters das elterliche Haus in Altona verlief und mit ihm über das Heiligengeist-Feld in Richtung Dammtore ging. | It was on a beautiful, sunny morning in May when I, just fifteen years, three months, and four days old, left my parents’ house in Altona holding my father’s hand and walked with him across Heiligengeist-Feld toward Dammtore.
What I thought: A collection of essays and short stories. I liked a the fist few but than it dragged on a bit. I don’t think it was a waste of time but you don’t miss anything if you don’t read it. I very much enjoyed the etchings that were printed alongside the stories picturing life on sea and sail ships.
Elevate count: none, German
Medium: hardcover
Original Language and Title: German
Publications: none found
Recommend to: This is very niche. I couldn’t really
Author’s Origin: born in Magdeburg, Germany | June 29th, 1928

Book Stats for October

Books I couldn’t finish

Keeping track of the books that weren’t right for me. This month it was:

• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – I just wasn’t in the mood and the loan had to go back to the library

New books on the shelves

Always buying books even though I am trying to reduce my TBR pile. Here is this month purchases. Please hold me accountable and ask if I read them or just piled them up.

• Mayas Notebook by Isabel Allende – a book from the little free library

Did you read a little Halloween themed book this month? What was a favorite line of quote you found? Any book I must most definitely pick up? What is the last hyped book you read?