A long,
long
time ago, I used to post about the books I read each month. It's time
to revive an old habit that I quite enjoyed. Only now, I'm not the
only one in the family reading, so I'll add some notes about what the
little ones are enjoying as well.
The List
- Paul Cohelo, The Alchemist
- Heleen van Royeen, De gelukkige huisvrouw
- Harry Mulisch, De Zaak 40/61: een reportage
These were all over the scale of
reading seriousness. The Alchemist is an
inspirational allegory. De gelukkige huisvrouw
(The happy housewife) is modern, sad, raw, triumphant. De
Zaak 40/61: een reportage is a psychological analysis of
Adolf Eichmann written during his trial for WWII war crimes. All good
books. All made me think. Not coherently, of course, but I thought.
I've decided to throw myself at more
reading in Dutch. The last time we lived in the Netherlands, I stuck
with almost exclusively English language books. This presented some
logistical challenges and contributed to an ever-growing collection
of books brought back from vacations and thrift stores as a sort of
insurance fund in case of book shortages. Book shortages never
actually happen. Huge piles of books in our house do. So I'm going to
read more in Dutch. Suggestions are welcome!
We are currently living two doors down
from the downtown library in Nijmegen. It makes for happy mama and
Peanut. Peanut has already got his library card and is having a
blast. Here are some titles from our first run. Two picture books
here are particularly good, Hond in de Stad (Dog
in the City) by Boiry & Frédéric Thiry and Waar gaat
Ollie naartoe (Where is Ollie going?) by Julliette de Wit.
They are both books without words, but wonderfully illustrated. I
particularly like how very Amsterdam de Wit's book is. I know a
bakfiets lover who should have a copy.
oh my gosh, i hated the alchemist! forced and forced myself to read it and barely got halfway through. all the metaphors seemed as delicate as a ten ton rock. always curious to hear why people think otherwise!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's not delicate at all, but ten ton rocks welcome by mamas who have no idea what their future will hold in the non-mama arena!
ReplyDelete