Dream away to other places
These books and movies will help beat the winter blues
A book can transport us to other worlds.
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The dark winter months can be depressing. Books and films are great ways to fight off the winter blues.
The winter days in Germany are cold and gray – that can be depressing. If you cannot or do not want to travel at the moment, there are other methods available to fight the winter blues. Because there are enough films or books that take us to distant countries. With these stories, the bad mood is guaranteed to disappear quickly.
“Eat Pray Love”: love and vacation in one
In the book “Eat Pray Love” romantics and globetrotters alike get their money’s worth. In the acclaimed novel by Elizabeth Gilbert (53), a woman leaves the confines of New York to travel the world after a divorce. First it goes to Rome, then to India and finally to the Indonesian island of Bali. If you don’t feel like reading, you can watch the film starring Julia Roberts (55).
“The Lord of the Rings”: A Journey to Middle-earth
There is less reality and lots of fantasy in JRR Tolkien’s (1892-1973) “The Lord of the Rings”. The novel is one of the most successful of the 20th century and takes the reader into an unknown world – full of elves, dwarves and other beings. It’s all about a ring that must be destroyed in order to defeat the dark lord Sauron. Four hobbits set off with their companions to complete the task.
The novel was also filmed, the trilogy by Peter Jackson (61) was able to dust off 17 Oscars – and is still a celebrated masterpiece to this day. Most recently, the first season of the Amazon series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was released in September 2022, which takes place before the film trilogy.
Off to Italy with Commissario Guido Brunetti
A classic of crime literature: with her inspector Guido Brunetti, writer Donna Leon (80) has created a character that takes readers to beautiful Venice. In her novels, she takes up social issues – whether bribery, environmental scandals or sexual abuse. She describes the canal city so precisely that you immediately feel transported there. In addition, Venetian cuisine is a regular topic, a treat for foodies. There are now 31 cases with Brunetti. From 2000 to 2019, the crime film series “Donna Leon”, loosely based on the novels, ran in the first.
“Hummeldumm”: With a lot of humor to Africa
In the fourth novel by author Tommy Jaud (52), a group of nine embarks on a trip through Namibia. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Matze Klein, who has little to do with his companions. The humorous book is guaranteed to make you laugh – and takes you through the African landscape and wildlife. In 2010, the novel made it to number one on the bestseller lists, including from “Spiegel”.