Was convinced I must
have read Forgotten Land already, but it wasn't on my shelves! The groundwas
covered in Norman Davies' Vanished Kingdoms and Anne Applebaum's work
though, so maybe that's why it seems so familiar. Managed to avoid straying
into a romantic yearning for a lost Prussia while explaining the motives of
those that do. A bit chilling in places when reminded that there are still
Germans who refer to the old DDR as 'Mittel' rather than 'Ost' Deutschland.
It's interesting to speculate on what the future holds for the Russian half of
East Prussia; ethnically mostly Russian now, but an enclave with Belarus and
more in between. Will it stay in Russia? Move towards Germany? Become an
independent Republic of Kant?, 'An Uncommon Reader' was a cracker; I read it in
one session on the exercise bike laughing out loud when the Queen asks the
Cabinet if they've ever read Proust.
Just getting ready
for Christmas at the mo; after his birthday and all the parties Fred has been
in a present and party cake frenzy since late November. In the last entry I
said he didn't seem that interested in story books, but Helen bought him some
Horrid Henry which he has loved.
No comments:
Post a Comment