Tobi

Sorry, it was meant as a joke. All Americans I know personally (exactly one) are decent drivers. And he even owns a Ford Mustang with a manual gearbox. It isn't my place to judge the way Americans drive their cars, but sometimes the European in me wants to make a joke at the expense of the US and their inhabitants. If the driving lessons are given in the BMW or even the racing car, I will gladly accept that offer

I love the look of the Tesla, sometimes I see one gliding around before my university and I stop to stare at it as long as I can. Environmental friendly and nice to look at. I envy your dad for that car and what would I give to get a test drive in one of these, but I don't think they would give a 20-year-old one at the Tesla dealership here in Frankfurt . Oh, and my mum used to drive a Twingo in the exact same colour, like the one on the picture you posted, but the axis broke while driving to fast over a railway crossing.

I have not seen a thread about cars around here, so I thought I start one, since cars are one of my favourite topics to talk about (books and football are one the same level ). Here some topics I can imagine are interesting to talk about: What is your dream car? What car do you drive at the moment? Do you like it? What are the "must-have's" in your car (AC, automatic gear, ...)? Do you buy a car because it is practical, for the looks or for other reasons? What is your favourite car manufacturer? -- My dream car is the BMW 507, built from 1956-1959. I've never driven one, which could be related to the current price of around 1 million euros, but in my opinion it is the best looking car ever built. Just gorgeous & romantic. Here's a picture of the one located in the BMW Museum in Munich. -- At the moment I do not own a car, because it is much easier and cheaper to get to my university with public transport, but from time to time I borrow the car from my mother. It's a Volkswagen Polo Cross and I really hate how it feels to drive. Can't really say why, it's just feels to smooth for such a small car. And it looks to girly for my taste.. orange is just the wrong colour for this car. Nevertheless I am grateful to be allowed to drive it at all. Prior to that I drove a red Volkswagen Polo Open Air, until somebody crashed into my back, which resulted in total loss and a lifetime fear of cars driving much to close behind me. Luckily I got physically unharmed out of it (it wasn't at a very high speed, around 60-70 km/h), but I still miss my old car, too many fond memories... -- "Must Have's" for me in a car are manual gear (automatic is for old people and Americans ) and AC. "Nice to have's" are a navigation system, a decent audio system and of course all those expansive luxury options like leather or xenon headlights. I think, if I buy my first self paid car (the red Polo was my mother's old one), I'm going to be a little bit irrational and go for the looks and feels of it, because a car is more than a car for me.. somewhat like freedom and self expression. And if I am able to afford it, it will be a BMW. Most likely not the 507 for obvious reasons, but maybe the current 1 series. Anyone as emotional as I am about cars or are all book lovers practical when it comes to cars?

I have not read it yet, but you could associate Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima with the season of spring. According to the comments on goodreads it is a wonderfully written book. Furthermore I would like to mention Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. While I was reading it, I could not stop thinking about these hot summer days, which were so much fun when I was young (They still are ).

Germans and burning books.... not a welcome activity at all. Nevertheless I wouldn´t hesitate to throw Friedrich Schiller´s Maria Stuart on a burning pile (of course I would, it´s a shame to burn decent books, which this indisputable is). However my dislike for this book most certainly derives from the forced read I had to do in German class. On the topic of the most worthy book of not burning I can't decide. I vary between Fight Club and 1984. I think, Fight Club is in the lead. To all the books mentioned and still to be mentioned to ignite last: I think there are going to be some nice inspirations on what to read next. Keep it up

You don't have to apologise, I was simply surprised that nobody had further ideas / recommendations. It isn't anybody's fault

So, as a conclusion to the non-existence of further suggestions I can say that this is a genre nobody except me takes any interest in? Is there simply a lack of good books? Or are the good books not known by western people?

Both look interesting, but I don´t think I have the endurance to read 1000+ pages of "Romance". Maybe I give The Pillow Book a try. Nevertheless thanks for your recommendations No, I haven´t, but from what I´ve read about them, I get the impression, that they are not as nearly as good as Shogun. Would you recommend reading them?

Hi everyone, About 2 months ago I finished Shogun by James Clavell and I loved it. Since then I have been in search for similiar books. I don´t really care if it´s based on real events, but there should be this most interesting and exotic medieval Japanese culture of harmony, perfectionism and "not saying what you mean" (don´t know how else to describe it ) in it. Books i´ve already read or don´t want to read: The Otori Series, read it around 7 years ago, when I was a teenager. Is it worth a re-read? Memoirs of a Geisha, not interested, sounds too much like a Romance to me. Stormdancer, it was ok, but I expected more from it. Thank you for your help

The romance between those two is not described in a single chapter, more over the course of the book. But the more I think about, the more I am sure this is not the book you are looking for, because the teasing part is not really recognizable in this book.

I didn´t say that Tolkien and Martin are comparable, but since lotr contained all the things she asked for (medieval, kings, queens) and is genuinely awesome, I had to post it. Oh, and I can remember Martin being praised as "The American Tolkien", which certainly has no meaning nowadays. I think on half of the fantasy books I own there is a comment about "the new Tolkien".

Maybe Shogun? Only book I ever read with a romance somewhat related to the one your are describing. But I have to confess that I don´t read a lot of books with a focus on romance. To be more specific: I don´t read Romance

Maybe The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams? I liked it, not one of my favourites, but neither is The Game of Throne series, so you could give it a try. And in contrast to George R.R. Martin´s books the series gets better with each book and not worse (only my opinion, the last two from Martin were disappointing). Furthermore I can recommend The Dwarves by the German author Markus Heitz. It´s about kings and stuff, dwarf style. But I can´t say if the English translation is any good, because I only read it in German. Oh, and I should mention The Lord of the Rings

After a quick read through all the post I´ve not seen a single post about The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, which is my humble opinion one of the best fantasy books I have read up to today. You could describe it as Oceans Eleven set in a fascinating fantasy world with a little drop of The Godfather in it. The Name of the Wind was already mentioned earlier, so I can only repeat how awesome that book is. As an addition I would like to recommend The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko and all books from that series (and in general from that author). Modern fantasy (or urban fantasy, even if I don´t know the exact meaning of that term) as a catchphrase may describe them the best. To say something about sci-fi, too: The one book that springs to my mind is Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding. It´s more steampunk than sci-fi, but since I like books with exotic settings, that´s only a postive point for me. Additionally: Pirates. Everybody likes pirates.

I can highly recommend Shogun by James Clavell. It´s set in medieval Japan and is about the rise to power of the Togukawa clan and the simultaneously arrival of a English sailor in Japan.