Tag: All That I Am

Monthly Review – June 2012

Posted June 30, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Monthly Reading / 0 Comments

What a great month we have had; with the reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray via the bookclub. There was some interesting discussions taken place about first impressions, the criticism, the idea of Prose vs. Plot? and Style vs. Substance? as well as people’s final thoughts of the book. If you haven’t read The Picture of Dorian Gray yet, when you do get around to it, please feel free to join in on the discussions. Remember next month we will be having a look at unusual settings in Literature and reading Life of Pi.

As for this blog, we have had some exciting conversations and with Armchair BEA being hosted earlier this year we have been pleased to welcome all the new readers and commenters here. It has been such a wonderful experience and I’m so pleased to be involved. My Google reader is now full of awesome blogs to read and comment on.

My personal reading this month has been wonderful; I’ve discovered some wonderful books, but also had a bit of a rage about one book in particular. Highlights from the twelve books I’ve managed to read this month include The Last Kind Words, a book of crime and family with shades of an Noir narrative this book blends mystery with literary elements. Empire State is a fun read set in an alternative world, the book blends Science Fiction with Superhero and Pulp elements; also the publisher has some interesting ideas on expanding this world. Gone Girl was the biggest highlight of the month (review will be up next month) a novel that kept me on the edge of the sit and occupied all my free time.

June’s Books


All That I Am by Anna Funder

Posted June 20, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Historical Fiction / 0 Comments

All That I Am by Anna FunderTitle: All That I Am (Goodreads)
Author: Anna Funder
Published: Harper Collins, 2011
Pages: 384
Genres: Historical Fiction
My Copy: Personal Copy

Buy: AmazonBook Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I wanted to read this book before the Mile’s Franklin award for 2012 is announced as I’m predicting this book will win. All That I Am by Anna Funder is told from the perspective of Ruth Becker and Ernst Toller in alternate chapters. Both Ruth and Toller are remembering life in 1930’s Germany as political activists. Both characters, along with Ruth’s husband Hans and Toller’s lover Dora, publically speak out against Hitler and everything he stands for, advocating independence and freedom of speech for Germany.

This book starts out very heavy; trying to cover all the relevant back story of Germany in the 1930’s while still trying to drive the story along. This is a delicate balance to manage but I think Anna Funder did a good job at managing this. I know people may disagree with me  but I think with the subject matter and the back story that needs to be covered, the author still manages to keep the reader turning the page, and for me, that never felt boring. I love the fact that this story is more about the politics and the effect Hitler’s rise to power will have on the German people rather than dealing with the holocaust.

The simple fact that this book tries to deal with the social impacts of the changing Germany has been the biggest contributing factor to my enjoyment of the book. I couldn’t care less about Toller who is writing his autobiography or Ruth, who after reading Toller’s writing, is remembering her side of the story. I know they risk a lot to speak out and I knew Hitler’s regime were actively trying to stop political opposition so I probably should care more for the characters, but the fictionalised German history was more interesting for me.

All That I Am would be a tough book to write and while at times it was heavy and at other time I might not have cared too much of the story; Anna Funder did do an excellent job at writing this novel. The book reminded me of the 2002 movie Max for some weird reason; mainly because it also was a fictionalised account of Hitler rising to power and how he dealt with the political opposition. For those who don’t know the movie Max starred John Cusack as a fictional Jewish art dealer and a young Austrian painter, Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor). The interesting thing about the movie was it explores Hitler and the view’s that shaped Nazi ideology, while also taking a look at the artistic designs of the Third Reich.

Anna Funder must have done a lot of research in preparing to write this book. I know she has a non-fiction book called Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall but I think that was more about East Germany, but in the course of researching that book she might have gotten all the information needed for All That I Am. I’m glad to have read this novel; I think it offers an interesting insight into a world I was never a part of. It is an interesting piece of history and sociology. Anna Funder has won the Australian Independent Booksellers Indie Book Award for Literary Fiction and has been shortlisted for Miles Franklin Award for this book. I’d be interested to see if this book will stand the test of time.


ArmchairBEA 2012: Introduction

Posted June 4, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in ArmchairBEA / 0 Comments

Most book bloggers or book lovers in America would know about the BEA that will be happening over the next week. BEA is the Book Expo of America, held in New York, and a Book Blogger Convention is run alongside it as a way to get book bloggers to meet as well. While us poor Australian book bloggers don’t have this kind of opportunity we can still participate with Armchair BEA. This is a virtual conference for people that can’t make it to BEA. Over the next few days I will be joining in with this event and their daily blog post topic suggestions.

  • Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

My name is Michael, I’m a new bibliophile and new to book blogging; but not new to blogging. In 2009 I started reading and I’ve never stopped, I started my cultural blog as a way to blog about topics that interest me and what I’ve learned about those topics. I generally blog about Art, Culture, Literature and Philosophy over at Knowledge Lost. I started Literary Exploration as a way to share everything I want to share about books without flooding my other blog.

  • What are you currently reading, or what is your favourite book you have read so far in 2012?

Currently I’m reading All That I Am by Anna Funder, Railsea by China Miéville and Love in the Years of Lunacy by Mandy Sayer which is a bit of a cross section of genres; Literary Fiction, YA and Romance. The best book I’ve read in 2012 would have to be Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway; it was just a thrilling read and a nice example of Genre and Literary styles working well together to make a book that is the best of both worlds.

  • Where do you see your blog in five years?

In five years I’m hoping to still be blogging about books. I hope the readership continues to grow and I want to continue producing great and fresh content. I’m enjoying the momentum I’ve currently got for this blog and I hope I will still have it in five years. Also I hope to have a better theme.

  • Which is your favourite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?

My favourite post would have to be my Confessions of a Reader post, in which I reveal all my bookish sins to the world. I think it was a great idea for a post and hope everyone reads it.

  • Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

I think my tastes will continue to evolve. I try to explore all types of genres and literary styles (as the blog name suggests) and I hope to continue to do so. I have noticed I’ve been picking up books that I would have never considered reading and have been trying to read new release books as well. I like the idea of exploring old and new books and I hope my readers enjoy it also.

ArmchairBEA is a virtual convention for book blogger who can’t attend Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention. Banner by Nina of Nina Reads and button by Sarah of Puss Reboots