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Elke Heidenreich, author and book critic
Vivienne Westwood died and she once said something wonderful: 'This thing about beauty is getting more and more unbearable.
People should try harder to be less stupid.
That would dress her best.
The recommended accessory is a book.« With this in mind, we too would like to please be more beautiful this year.
Not by getting our lips pumped into obscene inflatables, but by reading more.
Don't tell me I don't have time to read.
You take this time.
The brain also needs to be cared for.
Do you think I always feel like digging through these mountains of books?
Neither.
But I always have something within reach.
And now I've discovered two books again, apart from the mainstream, which you'll notice anyway, which are interesting and exciting and maybe nice for you to read.
The first is from Kerstin Holzer.
It's called "Monascella" and was published by dtv.
This is a book about what is probably the unhappiest of the Mann family's not particularly happy children.
We remember, the two oldest, Erika and Klaus, highly intelligent, androgynous magic creatures.
Then the two middle ones, Monika and Angelus, called Golo, and the two little ones, Elisabeth, father's darling, coddled by everyone, and cute little Michael.
But the ones in the middle, they just kept going.
The Monle, Katja always said and couldn't relate to Monika at all.
And they didn't like the Golo in the family either.
He was considered unsavory and ugly,
and he was certainly the smartest of the Mann-Children.
But the parents Katia and Thomas Mann, who were very busy with themselves, didn't notice that.
You wouldn't want to have been a child with this man.
Kerstin Holzer has now taken care of this poor Monika.
And it's mainly about her fulfilling years on Capri.
Monika Mann and her life on Capri.
Of course, with excursions into the terrible humiliations caused by this family and in their life, which was shaped by new setbacks again and again.
As a child she was not liked, pushed back and forth by her mother and Erika only ever disciplined her, her father ignored her at all.
Kerstin Holzer writes: »The family is now complete with six children.
From now on, parental tasks concentrate on taming the big ones and pampering the little ones.
The middle ones follow along.
Or in Monika's words: 'I can say that my childhood ended when the little ones were born'.« She was eight years old then.
So Monika sits between all stools right from the start.
Unfortunately, the fraternization with Golo doesn't work either.
The two are not close.
And the exile to which the Mann family now has to travel, because of the Nazis and also diligently tore, first to Switzerland, then to America, to Italy in between, is particularly bad for this child who is nowhere located and anyway pushed around and lonely .
Then Monika finally finds a boyfriend in London, a Hungarian, a husband.
They marry.
She is 26 and he is 38. They marry in 1939 and in 1940, six months later, they go on a ship to follow the family into exile in America.
And that ship is going down and her new husband, whom she loved dearly, is drowning and she is being saved.
So the next horrible stroke of fate.
This book tells all of that.
And then it tells about how Monika finally finds peace in a rented apartment in a beautiful villa above the sea in Capri.
She has found a companion, the son of bricklayers and fishermen, Antonio Spadaro.
Son from a humble family, of course not recognized or even mentioned by the Manns.
And he affectionately calls her Monascella.
That gives the book its title.
And Monica has kept in touch with her family over the years.
She lives on Capri for 31 years and the book tells the story of these years.
30 years of it with Antonio, who then dies in 1985 at the age of 78.
And she moves back to her parents' house in Switzerland and lives there with Golo, who has been there for a long time.
But living together is also difficult.
And Kerstin Holzer's book about Monascella is a book about an excluded woman, a disabled woman who has found her own life and actually about a person who, in contrast to the rest of her family, we really like, namely Monika Mann.
to Switzerland and lives there together with Golo, who has been there for a long time.
But living together is also difficult.
And Kerstin Holzer's book about Monascella is a book about an excluded woman, a disabled woman who has found her own life and actually about a person who, unlike the rest of her family, we really like, namely Monika Mann.
to Switzerland and lives there together with Golo, who has been there for a long time.
But living together is also difficult.
And Kerstin Holzer's book about Monascella is a book about an excluded woman, a disabled woman who has found her own life and actually about a person who, unlike the rest of her family, we really like, namely Monika Mann.
The second book is certainly quite autobiographical.
Ursula Fricker "Healthy Enough", published by Atlantis.
"When will we finally be healthy enough?" the child asks his father, who is driving the family to the edge of their nerves with his obsession with health.
Only vegetables, never anything sweet, of course, no meat.
They don't even have a knife on the table.
Messer, says the father, is for carnivores.
We only need forks.
If there aren't any biodynamic bananas to buy in town, then the father rides his bike to the neighboring town, even in the pouring rain, of course, to buy the organic bananas there.
If someone smokes downstairs or anywhere in the house where you live, you move immediately.
Changing clothes and obsession with health affect the whole family.
The mother goes along with it all without complaint.
Once married, always married.
You submit.
And the daughter tells the story.
And it starts with this father, who has always lived healthy, lying on the sofa and dying of colon cancer.
And she actually wants to say to him: Well, that's what she's got from it now, you've probably failed all along the line!
But she resists it.
She starts to think about this father, with flashbacks to her own life, how she tried to detach herself, how she finally tried to snack, listen to hits, even feel joy.
Because joy was also forbidden at home.
And she finds out
And that is very touching and moving.
And I thought to myself at the beginning of the new year, when we are all planning to live healthier again, that's a little warning: Being too healthy makes you sad!
Make it a point to read more than live who knows how healthy.
So, and now let's take a look at what's »bestselling« on the Spiegel list.
In tenth place this week, down four places after the Christmas hit: The comforting feel-good stories by comedy author Tommy Jaud.
"Come to nothing - nothing done and still done" were praised as the perfect gift against everyday stress.
Questions like "Why is the tax return more complicated than learning Hebrew?" and "Are you allowed to drive annoying advertising callers crazy?" are likely to remain topical in the new year.
The Hamburg bestselling author Mona Kasten climbed a full 30 places this week: The love story of Rosi and Adam – she hosts the web radio show, he is the drummer – even celebrates a double victory on the list this week.
First volume one of the so-called Scarlet Luck series »Lonely Heart«, ie in ninth place.
And at number eight comes the November release of the heartbreaking sequel to Rosie and Adam's love story, entitled Fragile Heart.
A farewell letter plays an important role in this.
There may also be a film adaptation here, the previous love box-office hit by Mona Kasten, the "Save Me" series, is scheduled to appear on "Amazon Prime" this year.
In seventh place we continue with an old acquaintance on this list, bestselling grande dame Charlotte Link: Her latest crime novel offers us the fourth part of her series about investigator Kate Linnville.
This time, Linnville must solve a mysterious murder case.
One lead leads to a so-called cold case.
Crisscrossed by snow and cold: a thriller that also tells a lot about being alone.
Cologne-based writer Mariana Lecky made it up the sixth place this week: Her collection of humorous stories, which grew out of columns in the magazine "Psychologie heute", also offers comfort in the new year.
After all, it is important to maneuver through everyday life again.
And "sorrow of all kinds" offers us examples from various situations in life.
The author Ferdinand von Schirach is like a board on the list: For 20 weeks his short stories about big topics under the title "Afternoon" have been floating in the top places.
Love, life and death – the autobiographical sketches again took fifth place this week.
US bestselling author Colleen Hoover, on the other hand, has made a bigger leap, having climbed nine places: her love story is told from three perspectives, with the bilingual title »It starts with us – just once more and forever«.
The relationship drama of protagonists Lily, Rile and Atlas is part two of a series that only needs volume three to be complete.
Colleen Hoover won't let her fans flounder for long.
And who thinks that chemist Elizabeth Zott will slowly be forgotten in 2023 - far from it!
The likeable protagonist of debut author Bonnie Garmus wins the "longest on the list" award again this week.
For 40 weeks, a "question in chemistry" has been delighting readers.
This week on the three.
Dörte Hansen from Husum manages a mini climb from one place.
In »Zur See« we get to know the Sander family, who have lived on a small, fictional North Sea island for almost 300 years.
All family members are closely connected to the island, but live completely side by side until a whale strands on the island.
What a turn Hansen brings to the story with it - you can read about it, in second place.
And if you rub your eyes and think you're experiencing a déjà vu: right!
Because there is no movement in first place - and that for several weeks: The dark crime story about the facial expression resonance expert Hanna Herbst seems to captivate the readers / buyers.
Loss of memory and the fear of no longer being able to trust oneself are the victorious horror components in the psychological thriller by successful author Sebastian Fitzek.
