Yvonne Zemke: Books for when the World is Quiet

I hold and keep moments alive. I’m a photographer and mainly a wedding photographer. A wedding is the start of a new family and I want to conserve this day for the couple but also for future generations.

At the moment it’s the busiest time of the year – wedding season. In these times I cannot find any free time to read. It’s not only the absent time – I want to get into a book and this requires inner calmness. Ask me in autumn again! But I really miss it. During wedding seasons I prefer photography photo-books like Brassaï: Paris Nocturne by Sylvie Aubenas and Quenten Bajac, and Rodney Smith Photographs by Rodney Smith.

When I couldn’t read by myself, my Mother read Winnetou by Karl May to me. Whenever she stopped I would want to know what’s going to happen next. The only solution was to learn to read quickly. Later, when I was a teenager, my favorite books were from Hesse, Steppenwolf, Siddharta and Narcissus and Goldmund. I think very typical for this time.

I was a teenager in the ’80s. I wanted to rescue the world (or at least some whales!), I was sure I would work for Greenpeace.

I think she would be shocked how normal I am. I’m still a rebel but maybe a slightly more relaxed one.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger.

I prefer the evening or nighttime for reading; when the rest of the world is quiet. Then I lose the feeling for time and often there are only a few hours left for sleeping.

The Luxury Strategy by J.N. Kapferer and V. Bastien. Photography is not only creative work – it also needs some business strategies to survive.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. When I met my husband, we had a long-distance relationship. To feel a bit closer we decided to read the same books. This book was one of them.

Oi Dialogoi by Luciano de Crescenzo – it combines some of my favourite interests in short stories: lifestyle, classic greek philosophy and the art of conversation.

Both but if pushed, I’d say fiction. Life is real enough.

Yes of course! It is not only a source of knowledge, it can connect people and it also helps to calm down and live as many different lifes as you want.

Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh. After school time I detected a certain love for mathematics. The story of mathematical proofs written in a fascinating way is worth reading.

I really prefer real books. When you read a book several times it gets more beautiful with each little piece of damage.

A book of fairytales. You can learn how important courage, confidence, empathy and imagination are.

The Discovery of Slowness by Sten Nadolny. An advertisement for the slowness and the eye for the detail. A great book in our hectic and superficial time.

Perhaps one of my favourite fantasy books: The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I wait impatiently for the next book.

I’m very spontaneous and I do not have a plan for what I want to read in the future. I think it will be a mixture of photography table books, fantasy and some other things. Maybe I can tell you next year?

‘Life does not run straight’.

I spent the first years of my childhood in Berlin. Then my family moved to Austria (skiing 4 months of the year isn’t really a bad thing). After my schooldays, when I was 18 – I went back to Berlin. This city it still my favourite town and I set my heart on it. The only thing that could separate me from it: my husband. So I live in a small town near Dusseldorf now. Shortly before finishing my business administration studies, I consciously decided against an office career and worked towards exactly the opposite: irregularity, creativity, risk and a good deal of spontaneity: my own business.