If you want to see what Germans are reading right now – the Stern had a review of popular novels earlier this year. Click here for details. One of our Stammtisch members also suggested a small book fair of German books. Maybe more of you have books you no longer want to keep, or language books you no longer need, but obviously it might be a bit pointless to just give them to a charity shop. Let me know your thoughts!
A few years ago Alexander von Schönburg, the younger brother of Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, described himself as being from an aristocratic family that had to get used to social decline over the past five centuries. At the beginning of the last decade, the journalist and his young family hit harder times after he lost his job. Drawing from this experience he wrote ‘Die Kunst des stilvollen Verarmens – wie man ohne Geld reich wird’ (the art of becoming poor stylishly – how to become rich without money’, which questions our pursuit of consumerism vs quality of life. You can order the book in German and French, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an English version.
So if you’re looking after the pennies, there might just be a site for you when travelling: www.airbnb.com. Instead of staying in hotels, this offers you places to stay in people’s homes. The website, which started around three years ago, now offers accommodation in 9,299 cities in 172 countries around the world and has already arranged more than 1 million bookings.
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