<![CDATA[Winnie and Wolf]]>

false <![CDATA[Winnie and Wolf]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1186608656m/1669253.jpg 1669253 4 Winnie and Wolf is the story of the extraordinary relationship between Winifred Wagner and Adolf Hitler that took place during the years 1925–40, as seen through the eyes of the secretary at the Wagner house in Bayreuth. Winifred, an English girl, brought up in an orphanage in East Grinstead, married at the age of eighteen to the son of Germany’s most controversial genius, is a passionate Germanophile, a Wagnerian dreamer, a Teutonic patriot. In the debacle of the post-Versailles world, the Wagner family hope for the coming, not of a warrior, a fearless Siegfried, but of a Parsifal, a mystic idealist, a redeemer-figure. In 1925, they meet their Parsifal – a wild-eyed Viennese opera-fanatic in a trilby hat, a mac and a badly fitting suit. Hitler has already made a name for himself in some sections of German society through rabble-rousing and street corner speeches. It is Winifred, though, who believes she can really see his poetry. Almost at once they drop formalities and call one another ‘Du’ rather than ‘Sie’. She is Winnie and he is Wolf. Like Winnie, Hitler was an outsider. Like her, he was haunted by the impossibility of reconciling the pursuit of love and the pursuit of power; the ultimate inevitability, if you pursued power, of destruction. Both had known the humiliations of poverty. Both felt angry and excluded by society. Both found each other in an unusual kinship that expressed itself through a love of opera. In A.N. Wilson’s most bold and ambitious novel yet, the world of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany is brilliantly recreated, and forms the backdrop to this incredible bond, which ultimately reveals the remarkable capacity of human beings to deceive themselves. 1664199 25 9 2007 Winnie and Wolf total:28|5:4|4:3|3:14|2:6|1:1| 28 87 111 19 5 1 false false Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Feb 16 11:15:10 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 16 16:20:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 11:00:39 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 11:12:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Nov 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 17:50:32 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 15:31:49 -0800 2009
rant over.

I do have to admit to finishing this book in one sitting. I liked it, didn't love it, although there was something about it that really intrigued me and kept me reading. Wha...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 21:02:33 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 21:11:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 27 09:12:28 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 14:13:57 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jan 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 14:50:37 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 15:05:08 -0800 2009 I read this as part of my (self-inflicted!) project of reading all 13 novels on the Mann Booker Prize long list for 2007. This was the one I struggled with the m...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Nov 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 08:44:47 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 08:55:53 -0800 2009
won this as a firstreads, and just got it in this weekend!

sounds like a great book! even my hubby looked at it and said he'd want to read it...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 16:30:40 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 16:36:03 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Oct 27 06:15:09 -0700 2009 Fri Nov 06 20:10:40 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Wed Apr 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Feb 09 12:27:08 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 22 05:39:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 04:43:46 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 04:44:13 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Apr 12 06:17:14 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 12 06:17:46 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 27 01:32:52 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 05:40:32 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 00:17:27 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 00:21:13 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Sat Nov 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Oct 27 10:20:59 -0700 2009 Sat Nov 28 23:43:27 -0800 2009
This is an awesome book. It is so strange to see this side of Hitler.]]> 1 0 false false Thu Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 21 09:20:30 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 17 10:12:19 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri Feb 27 14:52:35 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 20 13:16:15 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 27 14:52:35 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 12 07:08:37 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 12 07:08:48 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Wed Aug 08 17:44:51 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 17:44:55 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Fri Nov 20 06:59:33 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 06:59:46 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1669253