Journal Entry 1 by jubby from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, May 01, 2004

Descibed as 'the kind of book that makes us love non-fiction' (Helen Garner), this is part travel recollection, part history and part social-analysis of the former East Germany, and it's place in today's world for it's people and culture.

Anna Funder is often seen (by me anyway) on 'Critical Mass' (ABC Television, Sunday afternoons), and I have always been inpressed with her intelligent responses and thought out arguments and opinions.

Her writing is just as wonderful:

"But this is not one of those hangovers where you write the day off to darkness. It is the more interesting kind, where destroyed synapses are reconstructing themselves, sometimes missing their old paths and making odd, new connections. I remembered things I haven't remembered before - things that do not come out of the ordered store of memories I call my past. I remember my mother's moustache in the sun, I remember the acute hunger-and-loss feeling of adolscence, I remember the burnt-chalk smell of tram brakes in summer. You think you have your past filed away under subject headings but, somewhere, it waits to reconnect itself"
Pages 3-4 

Journal Entry 2 by jubby from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Rather enjoyed this, and have given to a friend. 

Journal Entry 3 by jubby at Bookbox in Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Sunday, July 11, 2004

Release planned for Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at Bookbox in Bookbox, A Bookbox Controlled Releases.

Handing over to Bacardiandlime for a bookbox. 

Journal Entry 4 by bacardiandlime from München, Bayern Germany on Saturday, September 18, 2004

see my review at www.spikemagazine.com 

Journal Entry 5 by Gooby from Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Monday, October 11, 2004

Received from bacardiandlime via post, as part of the Award-winning bookbox. 

Journal Entry 6 by Gooby from Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Thursday, April 17, 2008

Anna Funder manages to get inside the lives of people and to paint vivid portraits. She is gentle & able to expose hypocrises without resorting to black-and-white judgements. Her presence flows through the book without dominating. This is a confronting book that manages to feel light.
 

Journal Entry 7 by Gooby from Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Sent off to AgnesXNitt in the UK. Happy travels! 

Journal Entry 8 by AgnesXNitt from Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Received yesterday in the post! To be honest I had *completely* forgotten I had signed up for this one which appears to be a bookray to my discerning self?
Anyway, started reading last night - Tuesday night tv being lousy at the moment - and although it's harrowing in parts it is proving a very interesting read. As I was a child and teenager the Cold War was going strong and do remember the news that the Berlin Wall had fallen, but had no knowledge of what it was like living - or rather - existing under Communist rule. A fascinating read so far, and hoping to get some time to take every detail of this book in.
Thank you for posting to me Gooby! 

Journal Entry 9 by AgnesXNitt from Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Thursday, October 09, 2008

A very interesting book, I'm very grateful I have had the chance to read it.
Anna Funder speaks to a number of different people who experienced life - or survived in some cases - in East Germany within the Wall.
As I previously said, as a teenager I was aware that the removal of the Wall was a good thing and that life had not been easy for people contained within it, but reading this book has greatly added to my understanding of what a cruel and Orwellian regime it really was.
From the former Stasi buildings where the cleaner tells the author the 'smell of old men' pervaded for months after their departure, to the tale of a woman who was declared an 'enemy of the state' at *16* for daring to speak her mind, through to the couple whose birth damaged child was smuggled over the Wall in order for him to survive in the West this book is both interesting and heartbreaking.
You were either With the State or Against It. And heaven help you if you were - though the Stasi later claimed that 65% of the church were infiltrated by their agents and informers there seemed little point in hoping your confession was just between you and God. Citizens were routinely tortured, kidnapped and punished in horrific ways for the simplest of infractions against the rules of the State - and mostly for rules they were unaware of.
A thought provoking read, a book I found that demanded to be read.
Thanks again to Gooby for letting me have the opportunity to read this.
Hoping to find a further reader in the fullness of time. 

Journal Entry 10 by Phoenix-Flight from - Ergens in de provincie, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Friday, November 14, 2008

This book arrived somewhere in the last week. I wasn't home, so I can't tell for sure when. Kindly sent on by AgnesXNitt, after a request. I visited Berlin last year and saw 'Das Leben der Anderen' shortly before, and find it an interesting, albeit horrible part of history. This book has been on my wishlist for a while, since I knew it existed, and I look forward to reading it very much. Thank you so much for sending this, it's a whole lot appreciated!! 

Journal Entry 11 by Phoenix-Flight from - Ergens in de provincie, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Monday, December 01, 2008

What an interesting book! I was about 10 I think, when The Wall fell, and I don't think I had the faintest clue what that meant, even though I remember seeing it on TV. I visited the former Stasi HeadQuarters in Berlin last year. Unfortunately, my German is awful, and very little of the exhibition is translated into English. Reading about that same building in this book made certain things more clear.
Reading this book showed me how little I know about this piece of history. I knew the Stasi had many collaborators, virtually everyone was tapped into in some way, and I knew you weren't allowed to go over the wall. However, I had no idea they actually tortured people in the most inhumane ways, and used radioactive material to mark people.
Reading the interviews with the former Stasi men was quite interesting as well. What I missed was a story of someone who made it over the wall. I also wonder if there were any women working in high positions at the Stasi and if not, why. I think I'll have to find more reading material, as I feel I've only skimmed the surface so far. It's a shame there is so few interest in this part of history in the world. I'm actually pondering going back to Berlin and have a closer look sometime. Thanks so much for sharing! 

Journal Entry 12 by Phoenix-Flight from - Ergens in de provincie, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Wednesday, December 03, 2008

This is going to be a ring, it seems there are more people intersted in reading it :)

Participants:

-oehoeboeroe
-Iez
-Emmeken
-Violoncellix
-iiwi
-rroos
-saskia74
-EmEli
-Plinius
-Sonje
-You?
And back to me!

Book is going to oehoeboeroe on December 8th 2008 

Journal Entry 13 by oehoeboeroe from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Monday, December 08, 2008

phoenix-flight gave me this book today. I dindn't realise it's in english. I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that, but will try ofcourse! Thanks for ringing anyway phoenix!
 

Journal Entry 14 by oehoeboeroe from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, January 03, 2009

and now i've finished. What a book, what a country. I never knew it was so terrible there.
For the other dutch readers: hagen koch (part 17) will be on the dutch television in the program: 'in europa'.
the book will travel further to iez one of these days. 

Journal Entry 15 by oehoeboeroe at Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, January 08, 2009

Released 3 yrs ago (1/9/2009 UTC) at Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands

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i'll bring 'stasiland' to the postoffice on it's way to iez. 

Journal Entry 16 by iez from Eefde, Gelderland Netherlands on Sunday, January 11, 2009

found it yesterday. The mailman was trying to be nasty and was slamming the mail through the mailbox. I offered him a cuppa tea and a home made cookie because it was so cold. He even called me nasty for always getting those books in the mail. But he turned out nicely when drinking tea ( I think he defrosted:))
I started reading yesterday and cann't stop myseld. Halfway now but still what a country. 

Journal Entry 17 by iez from Eefde, Gelderland Netherlands on Monday, January 12, 2009

goss what a book. It caught me. It took me by surprise and forced me to keep on reading. Just to know what happened in the DDR. I'm surprised how well everything worked (I mean the way of controlling your people) compaired to other East-Europe countries.
Well I will contact the next person, ask mr Iez if he still wants to read it and then if yes force him to read it fast..
Thanks for letting this book travel 

Journal Entry 18 by Emmeken from Nijmegen, Gelderland Netherlands on Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The book arrived safely yesterday (due to computer-problems, the journal entry is a day late). I've already started reading! 

Journal Entry 19 by oehoeboeroe from Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, January 22, 2009

even een klein hackje (met toestemming van phoenix-flight) voor de nederlandse lezers: de uitzending van in europa waar werner koch in voorkomt wordt aanstaande zondag uitgezonden. Ik ga kijken (in de week erna, via het internet). 

Journal Entry 20 by Emmeken from Nijmegen, Gelderland Netherlands on Saturday, January 31, 2009

I really enjoyed reading this book, very interesting! I discovered I really knew very little from what happened over there... It's hard to imagine what it must be like to live like that, but Anna Funder paints quite a vivid picture in her book. Thanks for ringing, Phoenix-Flight!
The book will continue the journey either today or monday. 

Journal Entry 21 by Emmeken at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, January 31, 2009

Released 3 yrs ago (1/31/2009 UTC) at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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On its journey to Violoncellix! 

Journal Entry 22 by violoncellix from Groningen, Groningen Netherlands on Tuesday, February 03, 2009

The book arrived safely today. I'm reading another ring book just now, bit this one will get its turn right after that one. 

Journal Entry 23 by violoncellix from Groningen, Groningen Netherlands on Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Last year during a conference in Leipzig, I visited the Runden Ecke, former Stasi Headquarters for Leipzig, and was shaken by the combination of the cold terror of the place and the courage of the Leipzig people who had protested and finally started the revolution in 1989. So of course I wanted to read this book when Phoenix-Flight offered it as a ring. But I wasn't prepared for the wonderful writing - sometimes detached, with an eye for the quirky detail, sometimes heartfelt. A great book!

If, like me, you want to know what the Lipsi dance, the ideological, GDR version of Rock-and-Roll (but completely non-sensual, without any hip moves) may have looked like, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8mBxA2YJPw 

Journal Entry 24 by iiwi from Utrecht, Utrecht Netherlands on Monday, April 20, 2009

I received it today. 

Journal Entry 25 by iiwi from Utrecht, Utrecht Netherlands on Friday, May 01, 2009

I went ahead in the ring because I travel to Berlin next week. With collegues I talked about Berlin and the wall and we discovered (how stragely) that there's a whole generation a young adults now that haven't witnessed the world with the Berlin wall. I can't imagine what that has to be, the wall went down when I was 21. Although I didn't realy think about it then, my whole vision of the world was, is, made by this wall. In that fact I'm a true Cold War kid.
It was a strange country, the GRD (I will give it the dutch acronym, DDR, in the rest of the text). In what you could call a German tradition it seems like a communist country made perfect. The story of Julia in the book I found the most interesting, because it gives a different view on the way the state can bring someone down. Without the brutality, without torture, without imprisonment, (wich offcourse were also widely used in the DDR), but with elusive hidden mindgames, with the pretext that something would happen, with being everywhere and making people aware that you are.
Heartbreaking is the way people still suffer from the DDR-regime, not being able to continue. This is as much true for the true victims of the regime, like Miriam who still doesn't know if her husband has been burried or that he was murdered by te Stasi and they covered this up by cremating the body, as for the Stasi-members who still come together every month in their military way to gather information about improper media-covering about the Stasi or the former DDR.
There are lessons to learn from the DDR, and we never will. Like that building a wall makes you weaker, or that when you know everything there is to know you still can't predict the future, or keep something from happening. 

Journal Entry 26 by rroos from Utrecht, Utrecht Netherlands on Thursday, May 14, 2009

I received it a couple of days ago in our new house ;). Finally I have some time for reading again. I am looking forward to reading this one.

it took some time, but I enjoyed the read. I've been to Berlin some years ago and the book took me back to the places I've seen then.

This morning I personally gave the book to the next reader in line: Saskia74, have a good read! 

Journal Entry 27 by saskia74 from Tilburg, Noord-Brabant Netherlands on Tuesday, July 07, 2009

I recieved the book personally from rroos!

What an impressive book! I have been in Berlin a few months ago but now I am shure that I have to go back again!

I will send the next one a PM so the book can travel on. (we are on vacation so that is why this book is just now editted) Sorry for the delay. Teh book is on its way to the next reader 

Journal Entry 28 by EmEli from Leiden, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, August 15, 2009

I have received the book and will try to read it as soon as possible! 

Journal Entry 29 by EmEli from Leiden, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Sunday, August 30, 2009

I really liked the writing style. The stories touched me, I knew that the Stasi was highly influential in peoples lives in the GDR, but I had no idea how far they really went. Radioactive tagging???

 

Journal Entry 30 by Plinius from Schiedam, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, September 05, 2009

in the post when I came home from the BXmeeting - thanks EmEli! 

Journal Entry 31 by Plinius from Schiedam, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, September 14, 2009

'the kind of book that makes us love non-fiction': absolutely true! In all those endless Cold War years - I was seven when the Wall was built - there was never an unbiassed answer to questions like; "What is life like behind the Wall?", so we had a long wait before people of the DDR told their stories. Disconcerting and heartbreaking stories from various people; some pro-DDR but none really anti-DDR - most people just wanted to get on with their lives.
Anna Funder portrays all kinds of people with respect, there are no caricatures in her book. She relates to the people she meets and her book reads like a thriller.
Thanks for sharing!
I also saw Das Leben de Anderen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/
and Good bye Lenin! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/
both very interesting films telling about DDR-life.

I'll pm Cynthia6 - turned out to be Sonje. 

Journal Entry 32 by Plinius at Maastricht, Limburg Netherlands on Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (9/16/2009 UTC) at Maastricht, Limburg Netherlands

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travels to Sonje tomorrow 

Journal Entry 33 by Sonje from Maastricht, Limburg Netherlands on Saturday, September 19, 2009

Arrived safely in Maastricht! 

Journal Entry 34 by Sonje from Maastricht, Limburg Netherlands on Monday, December 07, 2009

Wow, what a book! It took me more time than 'planned' for it, because it took some time to digest some of the stories. Like many people who journaled this book, I had no idea how terrible things were for some inhabitant of the GDR. When I read stories like this, I always try to imagine what kind of person I would be if I lived in such a republic. I think the truth is you can never know; especially here you would probably be a completely different person, your upbringing would be different, even your parents would be different. I remember a discussion that I had with a colleague from Dresden that I met when we were both abroad for studies, and him telling me that there was no answer to the question 'How was it to live in the GDR'. Now I know why. And for me, this was really appropriately timed, with the newspapers full of memories of 20 years after the end of the wall. I'm really happy that I got to read this book, so thank you for the ring, Phoenix-Flight. I will come safely back to you shortly! 

Journal Entry 35 by Phoenix-Flight from - Ergens in de provincie, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, December 10, 2009

Book arrived safely! I plan to reread it and lend it to people from time to time. For now, it will be PC. 

Journal Entry 36 by Phoenix-Flight at - Ergens in de provincie, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, December 31, 2011

This book will be taking another tour amongst bookcrossers by popular demand. Please make a journal entry when you receive this book and send it on within 2 months. Thank you!

Travels to:
-dutch-book
-creativechaos
-Fifna
-miertje
-Cahira
-bookguide
And back to me! 

Journal Entry 37 by Phoenix-Flight at Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Released 3 mos ago (2/9/2012 UTC) at Amsterdam, Noord-Holland Netherlands

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This book will be handed over to the first reader in this new ring-round.

Readers, enjoy, and good travels and safe homecoming for this wonderful book! 

Journal Entry 38 by dutch-book at Weesp, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, February 09, 2012

It's here. I seem to focus a lot on Russia recently. I've just read Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport about the murder of the Romanov's family and also will soon read a fiction read, called Eye of the red tsar by Sam Eastland (a triller about a man who needs to discover the true killer of the Romanov's during the time of the great terror.) I look forward to this, no doubt, interesting read. 

Journal Entry 39 by dutch-book at Weesp, Noord-Holland Netherlands on Monday, April 09, 2012

Finished this one yesterday. Very interesting. Psychological warfare, would have liked there to be more experiences from 'victims.' Didn't get the parts about her hangovers. As hoenix-flight said: this is probably only the layer and I will need to read a bit more about this subject to understand things better. I will contact creative-chaos. 

Journal Entry 40 by dutch-book at Leeuwarden, Fryslân (Friesland) Netherlands on Saturday, April 28, 2012

Released 4 wks ago (4/28/2012 UTC) at Leeuwarden, Fryslân (Friesland) Netherlands

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To the mini-meeting, to creative-chaos. 

Journal Entry 41 by creativechaos at Alfabetstad, Groningen Netherlands on Saturday, April 28, 2012

Picked up Stasiland at the mini-meeting at Boekentrol's house. Boekentrol: thanks for organizing this meeting and Dutch-book for bringing the book. I've visited East-Berlin before the wall fell, so I'm really interested in reading Stasiland!