"Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”
Jane Smiley
Meike Winnemuth is a journalist who won 500.000 Euros at Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2011. She decided to use that money to go travelling. For 12 month she wanted to live in 12 different cities. During that time she wrote a blog that won awards and finally got published as a book. In 12 letters Winnemuth writes about her experiences during her year away.
This book was recommended to me by my mother and it sounded amazing. I love to travel and the idea of living in 12 different cities was just brilliant. I went with the audiobook because with my limited time it seemed to be the best option. And driving to work while being in Sydney or Mumbai was wonderful.
Winnemuth is reading her book herself. At the beginning I was not sure that was a good idea. I got into her reading style after some time but I still think a professional narrator would have been better. The book itself disappointed, too. I was expecting interesting stories about life and culture in 12 different countries. Instead I got a self-help book (seriously, I was asked by a friend if I listened to a self-help book when she happened to listen to 5 minutes when Winnemuth was in Copenhagen). It depended from city to city if Winnemuth described her life and the difficulties of living somewhere else or if she went on and on how this year changed her and how everything is possible and YOU should change your life, too.
Cities that were described well: Sydney, Buenos Aires, Mumbai, Honolulu, Addis Abebai
Cities that had good parts: Shanghai, San Francisco, Barcelona, Havana
Cities I have no idea how they are because it was all about the author’s mid-life crisis: London, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv
Instead of buying the book I would recommend people to have a look at her blog. Most texts are from the blog anyway and the ones that are missing are the self-help kind of texts that nobody needs anyway. On a positive note at the end, I loved her last chapter where she gave great tips for people wanting to travel for a longer time or do a year like hers. I caught the traveling fever again…