Tales from Germany

The art of breadmaking and baking in this country is on par with their engineering skills. German expats and those of us who have lived in Germany for years, all miss German bread once we are out of the country. It is one of the first thing German expat communities do when they are abroad, set up their own bakeries. My husband had his best ever pretzels outside of Bavaria, at the German bakery in Cape Town. Now one thing that the German bakers even do better is to take a bread recipe from anywhere in the world and turn it into a masterpiece. I spent weeks in Tuscany trying to find a Ciabiatta that was not dry and tasteless. My favourite in this area is with feta cheese and olives on top. Add to that a glass of red wine and it is a meal. Or take baguette, which is big in our area on the border to France. The bakeries here have all sorts of healthy baguettes with muesli, with all sorts of nuts and corns, with cheese. A feast! And on Fridays I buy organic health bread from the market here...

The Leipzig Book Fair which started yesterday is a real feast for authors and readers. Unlike Frankfurt which is THE International Book Fair for rights, Leipzig has a Carnival atmosphere and is designed for readers to hear, see, meet and even touch (well shuffle and push past) authors. It is tangible and real, whereas Frankfurt is haughty and more for agents and publishers and VIP authors and DEALS. 1,900 (mostly German) authors are reading at the Fair and all over Leipzig, as part of the “Leipzig liest” – Leipzig Reading -festival. The organisers are expecting 120,000 visitors and there are exhibitors from 38 countries. I displayed my book From Rock to Kraut there (that's me and my book), last year just as it came onto the market. Well, display is a great word, it was sort of hidden behind a bookcase at Books on Demand’s (BoD) stand and they probably did not think that I would travel across Germany just to check it out . But if you pushed a few people out of the way ...

The Leipzig Book Fair is a feast for readers and authors. It has a magic, carnival-like atmosphere and is not as haughty as Frankfurt. I will be at the Fair on Saturday 14th March. Last year I had my first taste of Book Fairs in Leipzig and took this impressive picture. The German Edition of my book Basteln, Wandern and Putzen : From South Africa to Trier - Living among the Krauts , will be on display with Vito von Eichborn's Edition BoD - Hall 3 D 200

I am a theatre buff and some of my earliest childhood memories are of being taken to the theatre in Johannesburg. One of the joys of living in Germany is its rich theatre tradition. Even a small city like Trier with its 100,000 inhabitants has a small tripartite theatre. However despite the money being spent on the physical structures, I believe that the vast majority of German actors are lousy. The biggest torture for anyone coming from the Anglo-Saxon world is to watch original English-language plays being performed in German, especially Shakespeare. As far as I am concerned most German actors just can’t do Shakespeare or any monologues. If they are angry they scream and if they are emotional or moved they whisper that you can’t hear a word of what they say in the third row from the front. I don’t know whether it is the language or their training but German actors just don’t know how to use the variety in their vocal cords. They obviously have never been trained in the subtle differe...