Seven Years in Tibet (1953) by Heinrich Harrer #NonficNov25

🗻 If you've been following my blog long enough, you might probably know that, besides France, Tibet is a country which I've always been fascinated. And so, for my second read for #NonficNov25, I picked Seven Years in Tibet, which I've been excited to read after three times watching the movie adaptation, starring Brad Pitt. If I have loved the movie, I loved even more the book from which it's been adapted. The book is a far cry from the romanticized version of the movie. Only bits of real facts that actually penetrated into the movie; the rest is Hollywood's doing. Believe me, if you want to know about Tibet and the early life of the Dalai Lama (yes, the current one), just start by reading this book!

🗻 The book expands from Heinrich Harrer's escape from the British war-prison in India, at the outbreak of Second Word War. Then he was an Austrian Nazi SS sergeant and a world renowned mountaineer, who always loved mountains and freedom. After several failed attempts of escape, with several different companions, he at last succeeded to flee towards Tibet. Harrer had read many books about Tibet before, and was fascinated by this mysterious country. But succeeding to flee did not bring automatic safety for these men (he was with several friends when starting the journey). One by one the member collapsed, either from physical or mental weaknesses. In the end, it was only Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter, an Austrian mountaineer, agricultural scientist, and geographer, who made it across Tibet after grueling hikes in the roughness of Himalayan cold weather and high altitude. But the simplicity and generosity of the people they've got to know along the way, compelled them to take whatever way to reach the Forbidden City of Lhasa.

🗻 Following Harrer and Aufschnaiter's journey for the first half of the book, I was fascinated by the Tibetans' kindness and generosity. They received these two strangers clothed in rags and must looked like tramps, with warmth and sincere. True, there were some who're malice, but mostly they were pure-hearted, merry people, almost childish at heart. Their devotion to their religion was a striking feature of these people. And they smile and laugh a lot; they could even laugh at themselves, and were rarely offended by other's mimicry, for instance.

🗻 Tibetan's respect for all religions is also an admirable feature. The biggest monastery in Tibet is The Tsug Lag Khang, and while inspecting it, Harrer found a bell hanging from the roof with inscription "Te Deum Laudamus". The building had been a Catholic chapel many centuries ago, and only due to their  respect of other religion, that it was preserved. Christianity and Buddhisn have much in common, anyway - this is from Harrer's view. "They are both founded on the belief of happiness in another world and both preach humility in this life".

🗻 One of the most attractive features in Tibetan life is a habit of going to meet, and seeing one's friends. "When anyone goes away, his friends often put up a tent on his road several miles out of the town and wait for him there with a meal to speed him on his way. The departing friend is not allowed to go till he has been loaded with white scarves and good wishes. When he comes back the same ceremony is observed. It sometimes happens that he is welcomed at several places on his way home. In the morning, maybe, he first catches sight of the Potala; but on his way into the town he is held up at tent after tent by his welcoming friends, and it is evening before he arrives in Lhasa, his modest caravan swollen to stately proportions by his friends and their servants. He comes home with the happy feeling that he has not been forgotten."

🗻 The second half and the most interesting part of the book is of course, when Heinrich Harrer has finally got to meet the Dalai Lama, then a fourteen-year-old boy. Here we could see the Dalai Lama not as a God-King, but a mere boy. An exceptional and very intelligent boy, as Harrer shared his observation when the Dalai Lama asked him to build a home theater: "I observed then, for the first time, that he liked to get to the bottom of things instead of taking them for granted." Though the 14th Dalai Lama used to be boyishly excited about new stuffs, his passions are not of the usual things that fascinate boys; but always ones for the improvement of his people. From this we learn from the very beginning that he IS the perfect choice for Dalai Lama. His "appointment" was of another amazing story that Harrer had got to learn. Strange as it was for us, the boy proved to be the perfect Dalai Lama. And how wonderful it is that the 14-year-old boy that we read in this book IS the Dalai Lama we currently see on news or television.

🗻 I have found a 1992 YouTube video of an interview between the Dalai Lama and Heinrich Harrer, many years after their first meeting at Potala. They kept their friendship, and Harrer kept being a Tibet enthusiast until he died in 2006, aged 93. Here's the link to the video.

🗻 Needless to say, this book is going to be my all time favorite nonfiction book. Not only that it is about Tibet, but also due to the profound depiction of the serene and peaceful way of Tibetan by Heinrich Harrer, combined with his concise but beautiful writing style. It is a wholesome book; realistic, but with a magical sense.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Nonfiction in November 2025

hosted by Heather, Frances, Liz, Rebekah, and Deb

Walk Two Moons (1994) by Sharon Creech

🔴 Walk Two Moons is narrated by Salamanca Tree Hiddle (or Sal), a thirteen year old Native-American girl, on a mission to bring her mother back home. After giving birth to a still-born baby, Sal's mother had gone to depression. One day she just went away from home, and her last postcard to Salamanca was sent from Idaho. Hitherto Sal has been tormenting by guilt (was her fall from the tree the cause of her mother's miscarriage?), and by loneliness (does my mother not love me enough to leave me?) Then Sal's grandparents take her on a cross-country road trip, tracing Sal's mother's steps to Idaho, from where Sal hopes of bringing her home.

🔴 During the road trip, Sal entertains her grandparents with stories about her school friend Phoebe Winterbottom, whose mother has also disappeared from home; about her annoyance about Mrs. Cadaver, to whom her father seems to be attached lately; about Ben Finney, a boy with whom Salamanca begins to be attracted. The farther they leave Euclid, Ohio (Sal's current home), the more her story unfolds. We get to learn about her happy life with her father and mother back in Bybank, with the animals and the trees she's grown to love. And of course, the mystery of anonymous messages Phoebe's family has been receiving; and the best part of the mystery, which is about the "lunatic". A young man had been coming to Winterbottom's house and looked for Mrs. Winterbottom. Phoebe concludes that it was him who has sent those letters, and that he is a lunatic. Moreover, after her mother's disappearance, Phoebe's convinced that the lunatic has kidnapped her. At some point, Phoebe (and Sal) even believe that Mrs. Cadaver might have done something bad to Mrs. Winterbottom. 

🔴 At first, Salamanca feels that Phoebe's story is related to her own story; their mother were both disappeared. But the more she tells Phoebe's story, the more she realizes that it's not so. Gram and Gramps (Sal's grandparents) try hard to cheer Salamanca up during the trip by visiting some landmarks. But when Gram is having a stroke when they're near their destination, Sal must drive the car by herself ever so slowly to Lewiston, Idaho, for four hours. What will she find at the destination? Will her mother come home? 

🔴 As is indicated by the title, Walk Two Moons is a novel about passing judgement to others. 'Walk two moons' is derived from an aphorism that Sharon Creech found in a fortune cookies, 'Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins.' It reminded me instantly to Atticus Finch's advice to his children in To Kill a Mockingbird. But beyond that, this novel's also dealing with coping with one's loss, building new relationships, and accepting and being proud of one's identity. All in all, it's a touching story with a twist in the end.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Notes from an Island (1996) by Tove Jansson & Tuulikki Pietilä #NonficNov25 #NovNov25

🐚 For thirty years Tove Jansson, the Finland author who's famous for the Moomin series and The Summer Book, spent her live together with her partner on an island. This 96 pages book is a memoir of that phase of her life, illustrated by her beloved partner Tuulikki Pietilä, or Tooti, a graphic artist.

🐚 Tove and Tooti, who longed to have a simple and peaceful live, decided to move onto an island. The first island they chose, Bredskär, was a perfect one, 'leafy and welcoming'. The way Tove described it, you'd think they have lived in paradise; 'with a little forest with a woodland path, a little beach with a safe place for the boat, even a little marsh with some tufts of cotton grass'. But unfortunately, they boasted about it to friends and relatives, and soon enough, people were coming to their island on holidays, and their live began crowded once more. The only solution is to find another inhabited island which would give them the solitude they had been craving. They found it in Klovharun, a skerry in the Gulf of Finland, that's 'shaped like an atoll', complete with a lagoon in the middle. For me, it is less inviting than Bredskär, and I wonder whether Tove and Tooti had not regretted that they didn't keep secret about it in the first place - I would! Anyway, to make Klovharun habitable, they need to build a cabin. Problem aroused, they need permission from the Government to build, so they erected a tent meanwhile - it could be long to come, or didn't come anyway.

🐚 Then enter Brunström, who would help them building the cabin, and proved to be their true friend for thirty years. Brunström told them not to wait for permission, but start building anyway, which they did. The book consists of logs by Brunström and Tove, telling us how the cabin progressed. Midway building, the permission finally arrived, which they celebrated together. Later on Tove brought her eighty-year-old grandmother Ham to live with them on the island. I was afraid at first, it's hard for an elderly to live a rugged living on the island. But Ham is a bad-ass grandmother. I chuckled reading how, when the tent where she lived was flooded, she just laughed while wading ashore. 🐚 My favorite part is when Tove and Tooti took a helicopter to another part of the island to experience the breaking-up of the ice - 'Unbelievable tabernacles floated by, driven by a mild south-west breeze, statuesque, glittering [...] And they changed colour whenever they felt like it - ice blue, green, and in the evening, orange. Early in the morning they could be pink'. It must have been a once-in-a-life-time experience, and it felt serene and magical. Pity they didn't witnessed the moment when the ice did crack. But maybe it would have been too much for them. They lived on the island until their seventies, when Tove realized that she was becoming afraid of the ocean and its power. It's time to say goodbye! Though living on that island doesn't seem attractive for me - too demanding - this little book is realistic and unique, written and illustrated wonderfully.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Nonfiction November 2025

hosted by Heather, Frances, Liz, Rebekah, and Deb

Novellas in November 2025

hosted by Cathy and Rebecca

Agatha Christie Short Stories 2025: NOVEMBER #AgathaChristieSS25

 

THE KIDNAPPED PRIME MINISTER

(a Hercule Poirot story)

In this story, a national scandal of a kidnapped Prime Minister lands Poirot and Hastings in a spot of international espionage. When the British Prime Minister and his secretary are kidnapped in France, Hercule Poirot is summoned. However, with only a day and a half to find them, even Poirot is tested to his limits. 

The story was first published as a book in the collection Poirot Investigates, 1924, by Bodley Head. It was adapted for the TV series Agatha Christie’s Poirot in 1990, starring David Suchet. Interestingly, it was also adapted for the Japanese anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives in 2004, as a two part episode, which featured Poirot teaming up with Miss Marple's great niece.

BLINDMAN'S BUFF

(a Tommy & Tuppence story)

While lunching in the chic Gold Room, Tommy masquerades as a blind detective. The Beresfords are approached by the elegant Duke of Blairgowrie for help in locating his missing daughter. Before going off to aid the duke, the “blind” Tommy dictates a vital menu to Tuppence. Tommy is imitating Thornley Colton, “the blind problemist,” the sightless detective created by Clinton Holland Stagg (1890-1916). Colton depended on what he heard, felt, and smelt to solve his mysteries; Colton’s “eyes” are his secretary, here played by Tuppence. It was not all, Tommy and Tuppence receive a warning; who is after them? We are on the last stage this year's challenge. I think it's time for me to curate another compilation of stories for next year. Which detective(s) would you like to read next? Or from which collection(s)? Let me know in the comment, and I would give it a consideration. Meanwhile, happy reading!

Six Degrees of Separation, from a Classic Horror to a Children Adventure

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme, now hosted by Kate @ books are my favorite and best.

On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

This month we start from yet another book I haven't read:


0. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Summary: Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.
I had almost read this one for last year's #RIP, but decided against at the last moment, as I feared it would distress me. Sorry Mrs. Jackson, maybe another time. But meanwhile, it makes a good start for this month's #SixDegrees, as I have read several books set in a castle. Better still, I picked one, also with "castle" in the title:

1. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl's castle might not be a castle you might expect, but hey... you can call your home whatever you want, right? :) Here's my review.

Fantasy genre isn't my cup of tea, but from time to time I'd read one or two from it. This year, though, my reading has been quite eclectic, that I have read, not one, not two, but three! So, for my second degree, I'd picked another fantasy novella that I quite liked:

2. The Upside Down River by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

It's a fantasy-adventure, where a boy and a girl were in quest of a river with reversed flow, from the sea to a mountain top. I have read this for #ParisInJuly2025, and loved it! You can read my review here. My third degree, thus, is a novel where the river set an important role on its characters.

3. Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

Offshore is about the lives of houseboat dwellers community who lived precariously on the bank of River Thames, at Battersea reach, London. Some of them works on the land, but chose an abode on the houseboat. This novel won the Booker Prize in 1979, and for a change, I loved it (I usually don't like prized-winning books). Here's my review.

4. Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild

The same houseboat dwellers, but on different circumstances, were mentioned in this Noel Streatfeild's charming novel, about an orphaned girl called Margaret Thursday. During her runaway, she lived on a canal boat, which was drawn by a horse, who walked on the canal bank. It was a mode of transporting cargo in England from mid 29th century to mid 1960s. Horse did have interesting career in those days, didn't they? Read my review here. The fifth book on this chain has also horses with interesting career.

5. Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart

Lippizaner stallions seem to be horses with the most interesting career in the world. They are horses who were trained to do traditional dance moves - one of which is called the levade, or 'airs above the ground', where the horse rears up and holds his pose. You might see these moves on a circus, which was one of the main set of this book. Here's my review, if you are interested. And talking about circus, in the last book of the chain, circus was also involved as part of the mystery.

6. Five Go Off in a Caravan by Enid Blyton

When the famous five were going caravan-ing during summer holiday, they met a circus caravan. They even befriended a circus boy and his chimpanzee. But when they were told by the circus owner to move their caravan without apparent reason, they knew something was amiss. No need to tell you, I think, how much I enjoyed this book (or any other by Enid Blyton), as you can read by yourself in this review.


And so, from a horror novel, my six degrees of separation brought me to a children adventure.

Have you read those books? If you did #sixdegree, how it worked out for you this time?

Chasing Vermeer (2004) by Blue Baillett

 

👨🏻‍🎨 First of all, I was quite surprised by the mixed reviews this book gets on Goodreads. There are many two stars, but also four stars. I always liked books where people either love or hate. This book has average stars of 3.72, not that bad. So, why not? Thought I. In the end, I'm glad I have decided to read it. It was an entertaining story about art theft (Vermeer's A Lady Writing painting) and coincidences, full of puzzles and codes, and some suspenseful actions; not mentioning the history of art (particularly Vermeer), that this story induces to middle grader. What not to enjoy?

A Lady Writing by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Calder and Petra, who live in London, are ordinary high school students, but with intelligent and extraordinary passions. Calder is obsessed with pentominoes that he always keeps in his pockets. Pentomino is a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge to edge [wikipedia]. Whenever he is unsure about something, he would pull one block from his pocket, and the letter it represents would be his "guidance" to what he should do next. He and his friend Tommy even created a code using all letters from pentominoes. Petra, on the other hand, is an imaginative girl, who, at present, is obsessed with a book titled Lo, written by Charles Fort, who believes that life is not a series of coincidences but is an interconnecting web of patterns.

The Pentominoes

👨🏻‍🎨 Their class assignment required Calder and Petra to write their interpretation of art - what-makes-an-object-art kind of thing. Calder found out that the painting on the curio box he owns, was none other than Johannes Vermeer's The Geographer. He found that out when delivering books order of to a Mrs. Sharpe's house, and saw the painting. Curiously, Mrs. Sharpe is the previous owner of the book Lo, which Petra has taken from a giveaway box outside a bookstore. Stranger still, an unknown woman in lemon yellow jacket with ribbons on her hair, has appeared in her dream, asked to be rescued. Who is she?

The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer

👨🏻‍🎨 Meanwhile, more strange things are happening. Three persons in London have received a mysterious anonymous letters asking for their helps to solve an art mystery. On the other hand, a valuable painting of Vermeer, A Lady Writing, has been stolen when in transit between the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and The Art Institute of Chicago, where it would be exhibited. An equally strange advertisement has been published in newspapers, apparently from the thieve, claiming that he/she had stolen it for a good cause: to raise awareness that someone else painted some of what we believe are Vermeer's works. From so many coincidences - or are they 'interconnecting patterns' in Charles Fort's theory? - Calder and Petra believe it is they who must solve the mystery, and find the stolen painting. Can they do that, while FBI has failed?

👨🏻‍🎨 Needless to say, this was an exciting read for me. I always love books with art theme, especially paintings. And Vermeer is one of painters I always admire (Girl with A Pearl Earring is my favorite by Vermeer). Apart from the far-fetched dream of Petra (the Lady asked for help and guided Petra to her location), this is an educational and entertaining read for middle grader. Just as common people who don't have interest in art before, become art connoisseur, thanks to the thief's challenge, so do middle graders who read this would have been interested more in Vermeer and his works. Such a good idea from the writer! I also love the coincidence, or strange phenomenon topic in Charles Fort's book Lo, which does really exist. Is coincident real? I believe so, co-incident means more than one incidents that occur at the same time, concerning one particular object, right? So, if two people with some interest gather forces in one project, they would be focusing in the same field, and so, there's bound to be many such co-incidents happening all around them. Charles Fort's Lo also taught us to be more open minded to strange occurrences - that we cannot fathom what's happening, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

What an entertaining, educational, and inspirational this book proved to be!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Year in Nonfiction #NonficNov25 Week 1

The yearly Nonfiction November is one of annual bookish events I'm looking forward to this year. It's currently hosted (or co-hosted) by these five wonderful women: Heather, Frances, Liz, Rebekah, and Deb. They would alternately host each week from 27 October to 30 November 2025.

To kick Nonfiction November 2025 off, here's the first week prompt (hosted by Heather):

My Year in Nonfiction

I'm not an avid nonfiction reader; fiction always has more appeal to me, as it enables me to be immersed into another universe. So for me, #NonficNov25 is a good opportunity to explore more of non fiction.

What books have you read?

I haven't read many nonfiction this year, because I keep most of it for #NonficNov25 😁. The two books I have managed to read were all for #ParisInJuly2025:

A Year in Provence

by Peter Mayle

Peter Mayle is perhaps the pioneer of the sub genre of foreigner-falls-in-love-and-moves-to France. There are so many similar kind of memoirs out there nowadays. A Year in Provence is the first of a series. It's quite entertaining; I rather liked Mayle's dry humor. But one thing's for sure, I won't read any of this genre again for the time being; one or two is enough, they are all almost the same in gist.

Garlic, Mint, and Sweet Basil

by Jean-Claude Izzo

It's an essay on Jean-Claude Izzo's (a native Marseilles poet and noir novel writer) love for Marseilles: its sea, its cuisine, its people and culture; and the subject that made him famous: Mediterranean Noir. It's probably the most charming nonfiction I've read lately.

What was your favorite?

I must say Garlic, Mint, and Sweet Basil. Izzo wrote it so passionately, that it's impossible not to fall in love a little with Marseilles!

Have you had a favorite topic?

Isn't it obvious that everything about France, I would devour with gusto? 😃

Is there a topic you want to read about more?

Birds and Nature are two subjects which I am interested right now, besides traveling. But the latter is probably limited to countries or regions that I really want to explore.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

To induce myself to the love of nonfiction, of course. Also to find more interesting nonfiction from other participants, to wider my choices.

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Would you participate in #NonFicNov25 too?