Books can entertain us, educate us and carry us away for a few precious hours. But sometimes, they help us survive.
In this edition of The Lisa Burke Show, Lisa is joined by writer, translator and lifelong bookworm Tom Weber, Mariana Mendes, founder of Between the Lines, and Maïté Ademes and Hendrik Dennemeyer from Luxembourg City Library's children's projects team.
Together, they explore summer reading, Luxembourg’s open-air library D'Stad liest, the magic of book clubs and the inner strength that reading can give us when life turns serious.
The conversation begins with Tom Weber’s courageous account of being diagnosed with testicular cancer very recently aged just 29. What began as pain and a visit to his GP rapidly became blood tests, a urologist appointment, emergency hospital care, surgery and confirmation that two tumours had been found.
Tom's candour is striking. The surgery went well, scans showed the cancer had not metastasised, and he is now waiting to see whether chemotherapy will be needed. But his most urgent message is clear: men and boys need to check themselves.
What makes Tom's presence so moving is the way he holds fear without being consumed by it. Having previously spoken on the show about his late autism diagnosis, he explains that his philosophy is to focus on what can be done, rather than spiral into what cannot be controlled.
From there, the conversation turns naturally to reading, as a way to make sense of life and emotions. Tom read voraciously as a child, then lost that habit during depression and personal struggle in his early twenties. After his autism diagnosis, therapists encouraged him to think back to what he loved before masking and social pressure took over. The answer was obvious: books.
This is where the episode opens into its wider love letter to libraries. Luxembourg City Library's D'Stad liest, meaning 'the city reads', began in 2021 during the pandemic years, when open-air cultural life became a way to gather safely.
This summer, the open-air library moves to the Grund district, at Place St Ulric, where readers can settle into books and magazines from Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6.30pm.
Hendrik Dennemeyer and Maïté Ademes explain that the library's children's mascot, Tuffi the fox, represents their mission to foster a love of reading among children, while multilingual storytelling sessions, author readings and workshops make the library feel alive for families.
"Most kids still love books," Hendrik says, adding that comics, manga and graphic novels remain a powerful doorway into reading.
Maïté highlights Saturday morning storytelling sessions, including inclusive events and a new collaboration with the Centre de Logopédie, where stories will also be translated into German sign language.
Community is also at the heart of Between the Lines, the English-language book club founded by Mariana Mendes. What began four years ago as an Instagram page, shared with a few friends, has grown into monthly discussions of around 20 to 30 readers.
You can follow the club at https://www.instagram.com/betweenthelines.lu/.
Mariana speaks about the sensory pleasure of physical books: the touch, smell, colours, covers and bookshop browsing experience that no screen can fully replace. She also organises book swaps, where the exchange becomes personal.
“People bring the books that they like and they really want someone else to read it. And maybe it’s not life changing, but I think it gives you a piece of someone else.”
Tom's summer reading list brings the episode its intellectual sweep.
That, perhaps, is the perfect ending to an episode that begins with illness and moves towards courage, community and creative life. Books do not remove pain. But they can give us language, companionship and a way to imagine what comes next.
