Andrea’s sister has a small gallery in deepest darkest Nippes. A cosy space where Jana’s pictures adorn the walls. Bright and abstract and at the moment, mostly red. Then there’s the one depicting flowers that Bernd, my Tischnachbar, is totally smitten with. It’s that ganze Blau apparently. He’s got this blue thing going on. And then the bursts of yellow jumping out of the florals. It screams lilac floral and grapes to me, but to Bernd, it is a masterpiece in oils (or acrylic?) and he is still unable to decide if it would look better in that empty wall space in his living room, alongside the piano. We ponder the idea a little longer, waiting for it to start…
It being the Book Reading. Wait, I’m not sure you fully understand. This book reading has spoiled any future book reading I may ever go to. And with lit.cologne coming up, there will be a few. The book reading where Isabella took us on a journey into the mind of a serial killer. With every sentence she transforms into one of her characters. Be it the unwitting Opfer or the savage Jäger (say it, Yay-Ga) out in search of innocent and maybe not so innocent prey, and then what about the police detective searching for a new case to get her teeth stuck into, suddenly getting that call from Europol “a woman’s mutilated corpse found on a balcony in Cologne”? Where her lover from the night before lay still in bed and was oblivious to the soft steps stealing across the carpet in pitch darkness. Or was he? We sit there enthralled by the theatrics that unfolded before our very eyes. Pupils wide, nails a little gnawed, and wondering – how many personalities are still rattling about inside the head of that sweet sandy-haired wordsmith. It must be getting awfully cramped in there…fortunately there is always another book, a fresh Leiche and new plot for all those characters to live out their morbid little interplay. My personal favourite is Anton Zaubert Wieder, but a brief word of warning: Don’t read it before bed, and Keep Out of Reach of Children and/or small animals (the ones that can read, the others may just chew on the corners and leave you with frustrating half-sentences).
litaralee 