EllaTim's continuing story

Hi everyone! I will be trying the 75 again this year. I like this group, like to read what everybody is doing, but I'm amazed how everybody manages to keep up.
I'm from Amsterdam, Holland, living with my husband, a garden, a garden cat, books. I love to read, mainly fantasy.
Last year I had a bit of a reading slump, I think it will help me to set some goals: I want to read more classics, some non-fiction, some books in dutch.
Wishing you all a merry christmas, and a good reading year.

Reading goals: from the example of the category group I've set up a list of reading categories for the coming year:
1. SFF: my fun category nr1
list here (2)
2. Mystery (1)
3. Awarded books (2)
4. Books in Dutch (2)
5. Children's and Young Adult (2)
6. Non-Fiction (1)
7. French (2)
8. Reading globally (2)
9. Reading through time (3)
10. Books shared with my mother
11. Miscellaneous (1)
12.Not a book at all: movies, exhibitions, music

Options and possibilities enough, I don't like to plan ahead too much.

I'm counting how many books I've read in each category, that's the number behind the titles. Seems like I've read a lot, but each book can go in several categories:)

cat 10 needs some attention.

The list
Finished
1. Afke's tiental ****
2. King's Dragon
3. Pietr-le-letton ***
4. De zeer vermoeide man en de vrouw die hartstochtelijk van bonsai hield ***
5. Sans famille *****
6. Between the world and me *****
7. The Crystal Cave ***
8. H is for Hawk ****
9. The Crystal Cave ***1/2
10. Sourcery ***1/2
11. Macbeth ****
12. Wyrd Sisters *****
13. A single shard***
14. Meneer Beerta
15. Walden ****
16. Le pendu de Saint-Pholien ****

Reading, but not finished (yet):
Princess Bari 100/176 DNF
Les Miserables part 2
Evicted 135/401
Publieke werken 13/341
De 100 allermooiste gedichten van de Europese poëzie
Niet zonder elkaar 57/185

La litterature francaise pour les nuls
Het Bureau

I'm very good at quitting books halfway through, so this is to keep up with those.

Welcome back Ella, I'll be following your readings :-)

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

And what I'm reading now:
- King's Dragon(456pages)
It's good, but daunting, the first of a series of epic fantasy, will I manage to finish it? Now at page 312

- Maigret Pietr le Letton (135pages)
I'm at page 110, not an easy read, having to look up lots of words in the dictionary.

I'm planning to take part in some of the challenges.

And for the AwardsCat I'm thinking of reading Les Miserables

Welcome back!

My first book for 2017, it's a bit of a cheat, to start this early;)

1. Afke's tiental by Nynke van Hichtum ****


It's a classic in Holland, as a book for children. A reread for me, it was in our library, when I was a child. I must confess, I didn't like it then, thought it boring.

Now, as an adult, I can see the good points. It's a touching read, about Afke and her ten children. Poverty, but also the love for the children play a large part.

I wondered if life was really that hard, in that time and place. 1903, Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands)
People living off rye bread with potatoes...it made me think of the painting by Van Gogh "de aardappeleters", The book is now in it's 61-st edition)

Poverty was widespread at that time, Ella. And Nienke van Hichtum (real name Sjoukje Bokma de Boer) was married to Troelstra, who saw lots of it as founder of the SDAP...

Hi Anita, Nice to see you here!
One of my plans for next year, to read a bit more history, I feel pretty ignorant sometimes, and it's so interesting. But I prefer to read it in the form of a novel, history books can be pretty dry.

>6 drneutron: Hi Jim, thanks for the welcome! You must be pretty busy around this time, setting up everything for everyone!

Strange, I didn't see your message last time, and Anita's in 4 I missed as well, because I was posting at the same time?

I'm going to add the page numbers that I'm at in a book, in hopes of finishing, instead of quitting halfway through...

Lovely to see you back for 2017, Ella. What with you and Connie and Anita and Diana the 75ers have built up quite a formidable enclave in the Netherlands. xx

>9 EllaTim: Not all history books are dry, Ella, when I was young my love for history started with the 4 books Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen by Jaap ter Haar.

>Hi Paul, nice to see you as well! Nice to see people from all corners of the world here. I'm following your threads too, though I don't comment on them:)

>Hi Anita. I loved Jaap ter Haar as well, but I didn't know he wrote any history books. Will look out for them! So you're a history lover, nice to know. I've always thought history a dry subject, all the dates, and kings, and battles to remember, and me not liking having to work at remembering things;)) But when it deals with how people lived, it's a lot more interesting to me.

I've downloaded De Ellendigen from Gutenberg. The dutch translation of Les Miserables. Looked at it, translation seems pretty good, It must be older of course, couldn't find who did it, in the book. It's 5 books, total of 3000 pages.. A total doorstopper. This might be a year project.

>10 EllaTim: yup, I'd say it's because we were simul-posting.

>14 drneutron:, That's a good word for it!

For my category other: We went to see a movie, Fantastic Beasts etc. Unfortunately it was sold out. Bummer. Then we thought to see the new Star Wars: Rogue One, but no, it was sold out as well. Must have been the Christmas holidays.
So we finally saw: A Street Cat named Bob
Which turned out to be a nice feelgood movie, with extra points because of the ginger cat, Bob. After the book with the same name. It was a nice evening, but next time I'm going to reserve tickets.

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Happy reading in 2017, Ella!

Everybody thanks, and a happy 2017 as well. And I hope, hope, hope that it will be a good year for the world.

And happy reading!

I finished part 1 of Les Miserables

I was tempted to put it aside, a couple of times. Specially in the beginning, I wondered why this bishop was so important? He gets a really significant part of the beginning of the book, several chapers, to describe this fantastic holy man. Have we gotten so cynical, that it's so hard to believe in someone like that, or would the reaction of readers in Hugo's time have been the same? But the story picked up steam, and I'm glad I finished it. Now what's going to happen to Jean Valjean, I'm rooting for him.

But I am going to have a reading diversion, before I pick up book 2.

Happy New Year! (dropping a star)

>20 ronincats: Hi Roni! Happy New Year to you too.
I had you starred too. I do a lot of reading in this group;)

Hi, Ella. Just stopping by to drop a star!

Finished
2. King's Dragon by Kate Elliott ****



Fantasy. Epic fantasy. Well written, there's this whole world she's describing, somehow familiar, but changed from ours, like having magic (of course) and religion having a Lord and a Lady. It made me think of these medieval paintings that have glorious fantasy landscapes as backdrop.
This is obviously the beginning of a complex history. We follow events through the eyes of a couple of people, so there are several plots to follow.

Lucy (Sibyx) is just finishing up this series and really enjoying them. Congrats on finishing book #1 for the new year.

>24 ronincats: Hi Roni, Then I must have had the book bullet from her! I started in book 2, and I'm still enjoying it a lot.

3. Pietr-le-letton by Georges Simenon ***



well, mixed feelings about this one. It was the first Maigret novel by Simenon. The plot seemed pretty weak. On the other hand, there were parts where there was good suspense, surprisingly, in the slow moving parts where Maigret is following the Latvian, like in a cat-and-mouse game. Simenon is wonderful in creating atmosphere, descriptions of landscape and surroundings.

I'm trying to improve my school french, but this might have been too difficult for me. Having to look up lots of words slowed down the reading to the point where the book became a bit of a slog. Not Simenon's fault, but he isn't is easy to read as he is made out to be!

Lurking back. I re-read King's Dragon and the rest of the series a couple of years ago. It's a long series with a lot of details and characters but I loved it.

>26 EllaTim: That is great, Ella, finishing it in French. I would not even dare to try anything in French!

>27 calm: Yes, I love that it's a long series, and all those details. It's a world that you enter in. Nice to find a fellow fantasy lover.

>28 FAMeulstee: I'm going to look for something a bit easier next time, maybe a book for children? Reading should be fun, don't you think?

>29 EllaTim: Yes reading should be fun, Ella, but I also like to read once in a while a more difficult book (in language or content).

>30 FAMeulstee: So do I, Anita, just reading for fun is like always eating sugar, better to have some variation. But here, I need something to draw me on, it's such a long term project. I changed my category from Maigret to 'french', to give myself more space.

I have done some searching on the web. Looking for a french book for (not too young) children. Looked at the french site of amazon. what do french children read now?
Well guess what? Harry Potter!

I love Harry Potter, but no, not in french.

So I remembered an old favorite:

4. Sans Famille by Hector Malot.



I read this as a child, several times, as I loved it, in dutch of course.

And it turns out this can be found in french for free, not on Gutenberg but here:
ebook-gratuit-francais.com It's similar site to Gutenberg, lots of french ebooks, in the public domain, kept by volunteers.
So great!

Downloaded it, started to read and had another nice surprise, as it turns out that the edition I have read had been abbreviated, and this french original has a lot of scenes that I haven't read before.
Really nice, the comfort of a well known story, but something new at the same time.

About the book:
Remi, a young french boy, lives with his mother in a small village in the countryside. they are poor people. She is not really his mother, but he doesn't know that in the beginning, it turns out he is a foundling. Barberin, his foster mother's husband, who works in Paris as a stone mason, has found him as a baby, and decided to foster him, because of a possible reward.
Then Barberin has an accident, is invalided, tries to get some money through the courts, they have to sell their cow, all their money is spent on this, and he loses anyway. He comes home, angry and bitter. Doesn't want Remi there anymore and sells him to a traveling musician.
From there Remi has a lot of adventures, travelling with Vitali, the old musician, through France and Italy. And at the very end of the story finds his original family, and has a happy ending.

I loved this book and on rereading it still holds up. The way Hector Malot describes what it means for a poor family to lose their cow, or how he talks about the animals in Vitali's "troupe" of performing animals (Three dogs and a monkey), is beautiful. There's a lot of adventure, and heartache in it.

Published in 1878, with drawings, by ? can't find that in the book.

Will take some time to read through, but it's a lot easier than Simenon, so will be faster, in spite of the size.

I read Alleen op de wereld many times, the last time was in 2010, beautiful book!

Reading childrens books in French, I immediately think of Le petit prince and the Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff.

Hi Anita, I've read Le petit prince, but a long time ago. Only vague memories, so I might read it again, good idea.

And Babar, you know, I never read any of those, I don't think so, but I do have an impression of really cute books..

So I went to the public library, I need to walk a bit every day, and this branch of the library is about a good distance for me (meaning really close). But no Babar, not even any french book at all. Noppes, niks, nada! Will have to visit a different branch:(

But after some research I did find Babar on YouTube.
Here :L'histoire de Babar le petit éléphant, avec des illustrations provenant de la seconde édition de 1933.
Musique de Francis Poulenc, texte de Jean de Brunhoff. Helena (récitante), Louis Sauter (piano).
And Here de dutch version, de Magische Muziekfabriek.

Very nice, good suggestion!

I am sorry they had no French books at your library, Ella, can you order them from other branches?
My library has a website where I can login and see all books available in our province, there I can order books from other branches and they will let me know when the books have arrived.

At home we has the first three Babar books, fond memories :-)

Yes, I can do that. It's just something I don't usually do. But my library has become cheaper, very unusual, but I love it. Ordering books is cheaper than it used to be as well, so I might try!

From the library I read

De zeer vermoeide man en de vrouw die hartstochtelijk van bonsai hield ***



A beautifully done combination of text and art work (text by Peter Verhelst, drawings by Kaatje Vermeire)

When you open the book you see, covering both pages, one complete drawing. The texts are inserted in the drawing, and are very short.

I borowed it because I loved the title. (The very tired man and the woman who loved Bonsai)
But the text is a bit over my head, I'm afraid. It's like reading a poem, sometimes beautiful, but for the most part giving me the feeling that I don't really get it. (Which is probably more my problem than that of the writer)
Anyway, it is beautiful, and will go back to the library.

My category 10 is: Books shared with my mother. Goes like this, she chooses the books, and as they are ebooks from the library, I can choose some I like from them and try to read along.
Only problem is that she reads a lot faster than I can.
We have enough in common in our reading preferences, that this could work.

Options for now:
de kathedraal van de zee
Such a beautiful title, a historic novel.

Or: De kroongetuige
We both love Maarten 't Hart.

I've started with Princess Bari Don't know if I like it.
Update: No, I dropped this one.

Now reading: Het Bureau
My mother has listened to the radioplay, with her sisters, and she has read the book. Anita praised it, enough incentive to start reading, and it's very good so far.

>38 EllaTim: Maarten 't Hart is always good, Ella, De kathedraal van de zee sounds good too, so read them both?

Princess Bari is a bit disappointing, but I might try and finish it.

But I think I will try De kathedraal van de zee next. Medieval times in Spain, and I loved the books of Ken Follett about the building of a cathedral (have forgotten the name of the series)

Currently reading:

Evicted



There's a group read of this book going on, so I was curious.
Must say I think it is a very good book, research by a sociologis, but presented by a number of stories about people. So the reader follows what happens to them, you get to know them and their circumstances. He presents facts and figures in between the stories, but the main focus is the stories.

It made me thing of the TV-series 'Schuldig' on dutch television, similar concept, but of course much closer to home for us. That had a large impact on people here as well, everybody talking about it, and following what happened.

Evicted to me is scary.

It's also made me feel very grateful, for having a good home, and not being in debt. Having a good family to fall back upon, when I would need it.

>41 EllaTim: I thought of "Schuldig" too, Ella, when I read what others said about Evicted...

Watching "Schuldig" made us even more gratefull that we survived a 70% income loss in the 1990s without getting in serious debt...

>42 FAMeulstee: Maybe we could get more in the US to pay attention if there was some sort of reality TV show based on Evicted.

>42 FAMeulstee: I can understand that! Seeing what had happened to them, I thought this could happen to anyone, it was all so understandable. Something bad happens, you get seriously ill, don't have the energy to take care of all your bills, get fired on top of that!

>43 drneutron: I must say, I admired the people that were in the show. For having the guts to be on that show, while they were in such a vulnerable situation. 'Evicted' made me feel scared, I can understand that lots of people rather turn a blind eye.

I forgot to add empty posts for my categories.
Still want to make a post for each
Here is my list of sff.

1. King's Dragon
2. The Crystal Cave
3. Sourcery

Reading:
Prince of Dogs

Mysterie
1, Pietr-le-letton

3. Awarded books

Reading:
1. Sans Famille
2. Evicted
3. Niet zonder elkaar

4. Books from the Netherlands

1. Afke's tiental

Reading:
2. Niet zonder elkaar
3. Publieke Werken
4. Het Bureau

5. Children's and Young Adult

1. Afke's tiental
2. Sans Famille
3, A single shard

6. Non-Fiction

Reading:
1. Niet zonder elkaar
2. Evicted

7. Books in French

1. Pietr-le-letton
2. Sans Famille

Reading:
1. Les Miserables

8. Reading globally

1. A single shard

Reading:
Princess Bari

9. Reading through time

Here a list of the years in which books were written.

1862 - Les Miserables
1878 - Sans Famille
1903 - Afke's tiental
1930 - Pietr-le-letton
1970 - The Crystal Cave
1988 - Sourcery
1997 - King's Dragon
1999 - Publieke werken
2015 - Niet zonder elkaar
2016 - De zeer vermoeide man en de vrouw die hartstochtelijk van bonsai hield
2016 - Princess Bari
2016 - Evicted

10. Books shared with my mother

1. Princess Bari DNF
2. Het Bureau

I know, this was in an earlier category as well, I'm counting them double:)

We went to a exhibition in the Amsterdam CIty Archive. Pictures from around 1900.



Interesting stuff. There were a lot of technological developments in that time. And so much has changed. From no cars at all, to streets filled with them. Trams drawn by horses. Sailing boats were the main transport for goods,,,

Fun to see: 3d pictures, in that time! Films, and even the first colour pictures.

My mother has been diagnosed with diabetes. We don't know how severe, or how the doctor will handle it.
And she is 90, so it is a bit to be expected But, diabetes is serious, and we want to help her deal with it. So I will be looking for some good books about it.

But I've also realised that I need to think about the way I am living myself. My mother has lived a healthy life, never been overweight. Grew up in the thirties, on a very moderate diet, as one of ten children, and her father a small market gardener.

But we grew up in richer times, I am overweight, and I don't move enough. I will have to do something about that. And one thing I need to do is limit my computer time. Less sitting, more moving.

I'm not quitting here, just limiting the time I spend here. Will be visiting threads, will write about my reading, but with a stopwatch or something next to me, and lots of breaks for some kind of not-computer activity.

I'm looking into Fitbits for mrsdrneutron and me to encourage us to get more active. We do ok in the summer, but tend to be slugs in winter. :)

>55 EllaTim: Interesting times indeed, Ella, the world has changed a lot in over 100 years...

>56 EllaTim: I try the same once in a while, please share if you find the solution!
I do walk the dog 3 times a day, but some days that is all I do...

Hi Anita. Now walking your dog, being outside three times a day, is not so bad, as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to get a dog, living three floors up, in a small apartment, but have thought of 'adopting' a dog from the asylum.
For now I time myself, and try to vary what I do. I have a bad back, and can't walk too far, or ride a bike too far, or sit too long or.. you name it. So solutions are welcome to me as well.

I have been trying to finish Princess Bari but it's not working for me. I'm almost halfway through and after a short interlude that I did like, it has become a struggle again to get through. So it's DNF.

I have tried to identify why, but I can only say that I don't feel involved in the story, and then I feel too much involved, in that it's very heavy stuff, but all so distantly written...

Now reading:

5. The case against sugar by Gary Taubes

I want to know more about prevention of diabetes. My mother is doing her best, but I don't feel she's getting a lot of help from her doctor. (doctor's assistent says, that her blood sugar levels are not that high etc).
So I want to know more about it, and more specific, how important is sugar, or eating of carbohydrates in general.

When my blood sugar levels were a bit high (looking back it was because of my thyroid did not work well) I went completely without (added) sugar for two years. I am not that strickt anymore, blood sugar levels have been perfect since.

Good for you Anita. Isn't the body complicated, that sugar levels also are influenced by the thyroid? Was it hard, to quit sugar for two years, and did you only go without sugar, or did you also eat less carbohydrates?

>57 drneutron: mentioned Fitbit...EllaTim, I have a Fitbit and love it...well loved it...until I tore my meniscus on both sides of my knee in October...but it is fun especially if you link it with friends and have challenges! I am going to get mine out and see what I can do still.

>64 Cmatha: Oops, that's unfortunate. what happened, did you twist it? Do you have to work around it now?

And those fitbits, I will have to look into them, I see.:)

>62 FAMeulstee: Everything is influenced by the thyroid, Ellen, back then my cholesterol was very hig too, and it all normalised in a few years time. No, I didn't cut carbs.

I finished Sans Famille. A reread, and a pleasure. Just as good now, as I remembered. going to give it five stars, have to look up how to do that. There's just one part that I found a bit less good, that's the part where Remi and Mattia are in England with the family Driscoll. Hector Malot makes this family so uniformly bad, that they are boring, whereas all the other people in the book are interesting.

Haven't started anything else yet, browsing through books about sugar, but haven´t found a really good one. So that's why I'm posting less here.

>67 EllaTim: That was a 5* read for me too, Ella. Indeed the England part was a small dip, but overall it is a great story.

Went to the movies and saw

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them

It was fun, I especially loved the fantastic beasts . Will this be a series? I thought there was a hint of that, maybe.

>69 EllaTim: I believe it's planned to be 5 movies

Wow, five... fun to guess what the plot will be, I thought the president of the American wizards a pretty scary woman, a bit too ruthless, what was she covering up?:)

Finished:

6. Between the world and me *****

Found this one on Anita's thread, and several other's.

Very good! This is going to be a reread for me, as it isn't an easy book to digest in one go. Thought provoking.

>72 EllaTim: Yes it was very good, Ella, I got it from the library but want to get my own copy to read again someday.

We went to see an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum: Machinespektakel, art by Jean Tinguely.

here

This exhibition made me want to smile a lot. Tinguely made art from scraps, parts of mechanical objects, or other found stuff. He made sculptures that move, make noise, or make other art;)). Though there is a lot of serious intention as well, the whole of it feels so light, funny, rebellious, joyful. An extra are a number of movies that are shown, that illustrate his art. For example of the earlier exhibition in the 60's, also in the Stedelijk, wonderful reactions of the public, (It's all junk...)



This wonderful moving fountain is in Basel, at the museum for him, and was now in the Stedelijk, unfortunately without the water. Would have loved to see it really work.

>74 EllaTim: That looks like a wonderful exhibition, Ella! I had not heard of Jean Tinguely before, but art and fun sounds like a very good way to spend your Sunday :-)

It sure was, I came home smiling:)

I don't often go to exhibitions of modern art, I feel that I don't understand it at all, or that it's very morose. But my husband wanted to see this one very much. And I'm glad we did, as I didn't have that feeling of needing to understand it, to enjoy it. It was just fun. I read somewhere that for exhibitions in modern, white and shiny museums he used ugly stuff, on purpose:))

From the library:

De 100 allermooiste gedichten van de Europese poëzie

(Titel translates to: the 100 most beautiful poems of European poetry)

I'm enjoying this. Lots of really familiar dutch poems, most of which I love, like this one:

"Zie je ik hou van je,
ik vin je zo lief en zo licht -
je oogen zijn zo vol licht,
ik hou van je, ik hou van je"

Just the beginning, of a poem by Herman Gorter, written in 1890

But it also has a lot of European poetry from other countries, in their original language, with dutch translations. Fascinating to read, when I do know the language the translation still helps a lot in understanding the poem. There's also poetry in spanish or italian, languages that i only sort of 'understand' the sound of, but i can 'hear' the rythm, and then translation is really necessary of course.

There's lots of names of poets that I recognize, but have never read anything by. Gabriele d'Annunzio, (now how could he not be a poet with a name like that), Charles d'Orleans, Goethe etc etc

Not a book to read very fast. One at a time, for me, but I don't have to finish this. Just one at a time, is worth it.

Read:

7. H is for Hawk ****

Very good. The book is only partly about hawks. Helen Macdonald writes about her time taming a goshawk. Funny, very well written, and surprising. But also about losing her father, and the grief that followed that loss. About interacting with the world and people, or not. About the importance of nature, and the wild in the form of that hawk.

At least, that was what the book was about for me. It's also about the writer T.H. White, and his book the goshawk. I loved White from his books about King Arthur, so that part of Helen Macdonald's book was interesting as well.

Much recommended, and found on threads of several people in this group.

>77 EllaTim: Herman Gorter made many beautiful poems :-)

He did, I know he wrote 'Mei', but I like the poem above, because it's so short and so modest, if you get my meaning.

http://cf.hum.uva.nl/dsphome/ljc/gorter/

More of his poetry online.

8. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart ***

I was a bit disappointed by this book. The first book of her trilogy about Merlin and King Arthur.

It tells the story of Merlin's youth, he learns that he can foresee the future. And the beginning of the story of Arthur.

I love the books of T.H. White, about King Arthur. And so I thought I'd love this as well, but no. It is a solid read. But there's no humor, and I kept asking myself why I should read it. Not a good sign.

I read it for the British author challenge, and there are people there who love Mary Stewart, I don't want to disappoint them...

Either you like a book, or not, Ella.
Tastes differ, although I liked the 4 Merlin books by Mary Stewart (after the trilogy there was a 4th book De dag van het kwaad and a 5th that wasn't translated), I can see at the book page some others disliked it even more than you did.

That's right, Anita. But one's own mood, or (lack of) concentration play a part as well. Or the time of reading a book. Outside factors, so I'm a bit hesitant about my own appreciation at the moment. I'll give her a second chance at some other time I think:)

9. Sourcery by Terry Pratchett ***1/2



A Discworld novel. Fun. I'm not going to write a synopsis of the story. It involves sourcery, dangerous wizardry, (cause it's too strong), Rincewind and the Librarian, a magic lamp and a too busy djinni, a flying carpet, and on and on. The fun is often in the details, like in the ado around the magic lamp (timeshared...)

We went to see a movie, a documentary.

"The Islands and the Whales"

About the Faroer islands. Stunningly beautiful scenery. I want to go there... Between Scotland and Iceland, in the Atlantic.



But the content was more depressing. The islands have been inhabited for a long time, but survival there has always been dependent on hunting and fishing. The climate is nearly arctic, and not much can grow or live there. So people catch and eat fish, and seabirds, and also whales. Pilot whales, there is a tradition of catching and eating them. But lately this has become a problem, there's too much mercury accumulated in the meat of the whales. Eating them is not healthy anymore. In the documentary you see people struggling to come to terms with this. There's criticism from animal rights activists as well.
The movie certainly got me thinking.

site

Deja Dead ** DNF

I was looking for a good detective series, and thought i'd try this one. But no. This is not for me.
Too gruesome, too many clichés, too predictable. Serial killers, should have known I wouldn't want to read it. Why is it that in these kind of books of course the best female friend of the female detective is of course going to end up as a victim?

I do like Agatha Christie, or Simenon, or Elizabeth George.

>85 EllaTim: Now you made me wanting to travel to the Faroer one day too :-)
We used to dream of retiring on the Shetlands or Orkneys, that might become more difficult or even impossible with Brexit...

Hi Anita, You can travel to the Faroer by ship from Denmark, would be my favorite trip. And I can imagine, wanting to retire on the Shetlands. Have never seen the Shetlands, but we've been to Scotland, to the north coast, and then to Oban and Mull. Amazed by the beauty of the country, but also felt very much at ease there, friendly people, good fish and chips;).
Yeah, that Brexit, well you can always hope.

I'm reading to slow reads at the same time:

Walden

I'm still in chapter 1, interesting, he's still very relevant for our time. Talking about living a simple life, what do we need to live. What can we do without, what do we buy because we want to impress others. I'm all for the simple life, it saves a lot of energy, but I like to buy things as well...

And
La litterature francaise pour les nuls

(French litterature for dummies)
And here I'm in chapter 1 as well, about the Middle Ages. Very interesting. What a chaos Europe and France were then. With monks keeping christian civilization alive. I'm talking about what we also call the Dark Ages. Would there be any historical novels set in that time? I would like to read one.

Both of these are going to keep me busy for some time..

Happily reading
Wyrd Sisters

Halfway through.

The book is a sort of improvisation on Macbeth
and really funny, and well written.

And as I have never read Macbeth, I might try and read that as well. Going to see how far I will get.

10. Macbeth ****

I'm reading Macbeth in sparknotes, online. Very handy as Shakespeare's language is not easy. Sparknotes gives a 'translation' in modern English next to the original text, and I do need that.
I wonder how people in Shakespeare's time listened to his plays. I find myself having to read sentences twice, looking back from the end to the beginning of a sentence in order to get the meaning. Did his public then really understand everything in one go?
Unfortunately, reading it like this, I find myself enjoying it less. A play is best enjoyed seeing it performed I guess, and I've seen Macbeth can be watched on YouTube, going to try that later.

Added later: I found myself thinking of it. Most touching to me was the part where Lady Macbeth dies, and Macbeth talks about how meaningless and joyless his life has become. It's just a couple of lines, but very strong and touching.

11. Wyrd Sisters *****

Very good. I had fun comparing this to Macbeth. Terry Pratchett has twisted the play around, and then around again, because in the story of Wyrd Sisters, which is a version of Macbeth, is a story about a group of actors doing a play of a version of Macbeth!

In the story the three witches are in fact good, and not bad. The king of Lancre is murdered by his cousin, the awful duke Felmet.
Felmet orders a play to be written, in order to present a good image of himself, and blacken the reputation of the witches.

And lots more funny things happening of course, as this is Terry Pratchett.

All this reminded me very much of alternative facts, we could also say propaganda of course.

This was a reread for me, and I loved it.

>91 EllaTim: On stage there is more that just the text, what might help understanding.
I have one seen one Shakespeare play, in Dutch translation by De Appel, long time ago.

>93 FAMeulstee: I don't go to the theatre much. Have been searching YouTube for a dutch version of Macbeth, but couldn't find one.

I did find, a very very free version, by Herman Finkers.
YouTube

Still reading Walden, finding it really interesting, but I am wondering now what Herman Finkers would make of it;)

>95 FAMeulstee: I am wondering now what Herman Finkers would make of it
You made me laugh, with the image of what Finkers would do with that book!

12. A single shard ****



Read this because it was praised a lot in the threads here.

The book takes place in 12-th century Korea. Orphan Tree-ear, a young boy, lives with his adopted father Crane under a bridge. They scrape together a living.
Tree-ear very much wants to become a potter, and manages to start helping a very good potter. He is rewarded with food, and works very hard. Then the potter gets the chance to work for the emperor of China, a very coveted opportunity, but to get this, he must show work in a far off town. He is too old to make the journey, but Tree-ear offers to do it. He meets danger and adventure on the way.
But all ends well, the potter gets the commission. Tree-ear gets adopted by the potter and his wife, and he can at last learn to be a potter himself.

So alls well that ends well, and hard work and being good is rewarded... which sums up why I felt a bit cynical reading this as well.

All in all still a well written story, and you learn a lot about the art of making pots as well, the glazing, etc.

june 28: edited to add a star, as this book has left a good memory

Inspired by Anita's thread I started on Het Bureau by J.J. Voskuil.

It's a series of 7 books, total of 5000 pages according to Anita. It's been made into a radio play, and as I heard my aunts talk about that, and they were very enthusiastic, I decided to listen to that.

Het Bureau is the title of the series, the first book is Meneer Beerta. I read the first review of that book, here in LibraryThing, and now think I should just go and read the book.

The first part of the radioplay was good, but there are lots of characters to get to know, and sometimes hard to know who is talking. I'll just see what works the best for me, listening to the play, or reading the book.

The podcast of the radioplay is here:
dutch radio

>97 EllaTim: That is a timewise large project, Els, you have started!
I am not very good in listening, so I preferred the books :-)

>98 FAMeulstee: I usually prefer books as well, but something to listen to, while doing the boring exercises for my back, that I have to do every day, that's nice. I can listen to one installment a day, and they are exactly the right length.

And sometimes there's an unexpected extra, for example: coffee is being served at the Bureau, and you hear the little coffee spoons making music:)

I'm at day three, still a long way to go, there's 287 of them.

So I did a comparison. Voskuil's Het Bureau as ebook, versus the audioplay.
Well both have good points, but the book has won, at the moment.

It's available as an ebook, fortunately, much easier.
But the main point is, that the book gives access to the thoughts of the main person, whereas the audiobook relies on the dialogues only. And I prefer understanding a bit better what is going on. And the book is very well written, very easy to read, and actually quite addictive. And as this is not an action thriller, thoughts and feelings are really important, and are much clearer in the book.

The radioplay has good points as well, the actors are really doing a terrific job, making the dialogues very lively and interesting to listen to.

I told you it was addictive ;-) You have enough to read for a while!

Thanks to the English authors thread I'm having a Terry Pratchett fest. These are mostly rereadings, I've been a fan for a long time.
I've just enjoyed Guards, guards! and am now reading Equal rites

13. Guards, guards! features, Vimes of the city guard, and Carrot, and a dragon. It's really one of his best. A 4.5 star read, not 5, cause you never know.

14. And Equal rites is one about the witches, I love the books about the witches. Here a girl is the 8th daughter of an 8th son, and accidentally destined to become a wizard. Unfortunately Unseen University doesn't accept women...

Hi, Ella!

I've just started reading the Discworld books for the first time - I know so many folks love 'em!

Hi Amber, I hope you'll love them too, you're in for a treat when they are new for you. But of course tastes vary:)
When you've started with nr 1 The colour of magic is certainly not the best, Pratchett had to learn the trade, maybe?

>104 EllaTim: I've been told that I really shouldn't start with that one, but it's not in my constitution *not* to read a series in chronological order. I'm in it for the long haul so I won't give up if I don't just love this one. I've read his Bromeliad and the first couple of books in his middle grade series, so I feel like I have a bit of an idea about his style. I've already laughed out loud in a couple of places, so it's going pretty well...

>105 scaifea: Ah, good. I like to start at the beginning as well, happy reading!

15. Mockingbird **** by Kathryn Erskine

A young autistic girl, Caitlin, loses her brother. We follow how she deals with it. Her father has his own grief, and can't really help her. And due to the autism she has a hard time in school.
This was an interesting story, as it gives some insight into the mind of a girl with autism, but also moving.

Guards! Guards! was the book that made me fall in love with the Discworld, Ella!

>107 ronincats: It's such fun. I'm going to do a complete reread. I just need some fun in between the serious stuff.

I read the first 3 Discworld books back in 2011, and did not really like them....

>109 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, never mind. I do hope you like books that make you laugh? But other ones than discworld?

>110 EllaTim: Yes, I do like humor and fun in books, but didn't find it in Discworld ;-)
I am more a fan of subtile humor than the "laugh out loud" kind of humor.

>111 FAMeulstee: Oke, ieder zń meug:) shall we say. But of course, we don't all have to like the same things, I like subtle humor as well, provided I get it:)

Have to go now, but will update later,

I finished
16. Meneer Beerta by J.J. Voskuil *****

Really good, it made me think. But it also made me cringe sometimes. And I'm afraid I missed some of the humor in it, because of that.

It's the story of Maarten Koning, who takes a job at Het Bureau, an institute for the study of folk culture. The problem for Maarten is that he doesn't believe in what he is doing, he detests science, he thinks it's all nonsense, and the only reason he takes the job is that it doesn't have pretensions, and he has to have a job.

So we follow him in his working life, dealing with the people at the institute. He isn't an easy person. And doesn't feel at ease in a lot of social situations. He feels trapped in the job. But still does his best to do a good job.

Meneer Beerta is the director of the institute, and an important person in the story.

Why it's so good? It's hard to say, I started feeling for Maarten. How trapped he feels, and how awkward. How difficult people can be. His honesty about himself.

I would like to know a bit more about the author, Voskuil.

Testing a ticker:







First ticker is obvious. The second is to keep track of walking. It won't be long distances, as you can see, I have trouble walking due to back and joint trouble. But it's nice to see that I can do something.

>113 EllaTim: Het Bureau is addictive, Els, I can't explain only know I wanted to keep on reading. Only 6 to go ;-)

>115 FAMeulstee: I want to read those, and then his other books. And the library has them this time. :)

Still trying to finish Walden
Reading has slowed down to a crawl. It's mainly descriptive, nature round his house, winter in Walden. With some difficult parts in it.
But maybe I'll manage this weekend, it's going to rain.

>117 EllaTim: My reading has done the same.

Hope the weekend brings it back for both of us. xx

>118 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, thanks for visiting my thread. Wishing you a good weekend as well!

I managed to finish
17. Walden by Henry David Thoreau ***1/2

It was not an easy read for me. In the last chapters he writes about his philosophy again, and I found it hard to understand. What I did understand, I do agree with: simplicity..

Around halfway through the book my reading started to slow down. In the beginning he is writing about his views of society, the reasons he has for starting to live in the woods. Then he seems to settle down, and there follow a number of chapters that I enjoyed. Very good descriptive chapters.
And then it seems like he is slowing down even more, though the chapters about winter in walden are beautifull. He starts to talk about moving on. And for me it started to get difficult to finish. a bit disappointing, somehow.

I stayed the night at the allotment. Very windy, lots of rain, all night long. Long evening for reading.

Glad to see you finished Walden, back to Het Bureau now?
That is brave to stay overnight at your allotment in this weather. Do you spend the weekends there?

>120 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, yes i've looked up part two, of Het Bureau, and will be reading on. But I have several unfinished books, so I'm going to try and finish some of those first.

I sometimes spend the night, when I have to be early the next day. I love being outside, but now it was a bit scary, I started listening to all sounds. Wondering when the roof would crash (I know it won't, but the wind made a lot of noise).
But I'm not alone, there are more people staying the night, neighbours, friends.

Finished another Maigret

18. Le pendu de Saint-Pholien by Georges Simenon ***1/2



I enjoyed this one. Simenon is very good in atmospheric scenes. No wonder the books were made into film. This one starts with a scene in the railway station of Nieuweschans (In the north of the Netherlands, near the German border)
Maigret is following a man, to Bremen. Somehow he manages to swap suitcases with this man... why, what are they doing there? It's the middle of nowhere.
I can see the scene, should be grey, and rainy, with lots of smoke from the old trains.

But the swap has a bad, and unexpected result: the man commits suicide. Now Maigret really has got to find out what has been going on.

I won't tell more, I don't want to spoil the mystery.

Beautiful day today, we saw curlews and lambs, very young ones. It's definitely spring.

I'm reading:
The Poet's Dog
Fulco de Minstreel

Those are two children's books.

And one non-fiction:
Defending Beef

19. Fulco de Minstreel ***1/2

This is a golden oldie, a dutch book for children. First edition 1898.

The writer was a primary school teacher, and that shows in the book, in a positive way: the book seems to be written to be read out loud to children.

It's historical fiction, reminded me of Ivanhoe, or Robin Hood, but the story takes place in Holland. The hero is Fulco, who is a servant of count Gijsbrecht of IJsselstein. There is a war between the count of Holland and the bishop of Utrecht. Gijsbrecht is taken prisoner by the villain of the story. But Fulco comes to the rescue.

I can imagine that children loved this story. I felt a bit uncomfortable about it though, heroism and love of chivalry, it's a bit like watching one of those old movies, Spartacus, Robin Hood, a bit over the top?

>122 EllaTim: I am seriously thinking to collect the Simenon books and then work my way back through them as I can never remember (some of the titles tend to change) which ones I have already read. You are right though he was great on atmosphere.

I am presently reading his journals - When I was Old which are a little strange in truth, but fascinating nonetheless.

Have a lovely weekend.

Hi Paul, thanks, and a nice weekend to you too.

I like the Maigret novels, but I can imagine that it's hard to remember which ones you have read, I was reading this last one and wondering if I hadn't read it already, it seemed so familiar!

The title When I was old is already making me curious;)

A switch in genre

20. Talking to the Dead

I saw this series praised in several threads, here in Librarything. So I thought I'd try it.

This book was a captivating read. About a young detective in the police in Wales. Fiona Griffiths is likable, but strange, for reasons that we find out about. Original, a bit of a hard-boiled story, about drugs, prostitution and violence. But Fiona isn't a hard-boiled detective, and that balances things out.

Isn't it difficult sometimes to say why one like a book, an author?

In the library I pick a book at random, by title, look at the cover, read the backside, open it at random, read a paragraph, and can often say whether I will like it or not, based on that small sample. And why I liked them, I couldn't say.

Reading Now:
part 2 of Het Bureau

21. Vuile Handen

It will take time to finish, it's another doorstopper.

Beerta is no longer director of the institute, and Maarten has become head of his department.

It's difficult for him, he's a shy person, and a lot of the job is dealing with people, his boss, his colleagues, going to a congress and having to socialize.
I can relate, I used to hate the concept of networking, yuck. I feel for him, in his corner of the meeting room, unable to talk easily, uneasy with himself.

Then there is his wife, who hates his job with a passion.

It's very well written, easy to get through, but at the same time this unease comes through.

>127 EllaTim: Good you liked Talking to the dead too :-)
I hope the third book will be translated, the 2nd book was translated 3 years ago...

>128 EllaTim: Glad you are still enjoying Het bureau :-)

>129 FAMeulstee: You liked Talking to the Dead as well, good to hear.
But a pity that they've stopped translating the books. It least that's what it looks like, not Scandinavian enough?

I'm busy gardening as well, the weather is so nice, enjoying the outdoors.

Reading a book that I inherited from my mother in law:

I dream a world: portraits of black women who changed America

It's a series of interviews with photographic portraits, very good photo's. The interviews are sometimes really interesting sometimes less so. Most women I have never heard of, but some are really famous, like Toni Morrison, or Rosa Parks.

This is going to take some time to read, I can read only one or two portraits at a time, trying to read more they lose from it.

Two books finished, in spite of beautiful weather and a busy weekend:

22. The poet's dog *****



A real gem. A Newberry winner.
Two children get lost in a snowstorm, in a forest. They are rescued by a dog, who used to belong to a poet.
A touching story, and really sweet.

And I finished part 2 of Het Bureau
21. Vuile Handen ****



Very well written. it's just part two of the series, and as such a bit less surprising than part one.
Maarten is still working at Het Bureau, and still not really liking his job. I confess I started to get annoyed by him, and his lack of enthusiasm. But then he did a really surprising thing: he spoke his mind, and challenged his colleagues. Very well done, Maarten!
No happy endings here, though, his next lecture is as difficult and awkward as always.

On to part three, and very interested in his ongoing struggle.

>132 EllaTim: I am glad you loved The Poet's Dog too, Els.
You are going steady with Voskuil!

Read part one of a series of detectives

23. Het dertiende sterrenbeeld **

But I won't be continuing this series. Unfortunately another book about a serial killer, and I don't like those.

Cato Isaksen, a Norse policeman, has left his first wife and two teenage sons, for his second wife, they have a young child together.. This part of the book I did like, he is finding out he has made a mistake, his children miss him.

But the serial killer plot, it came across as unbelievable. Lindell has to explain a part of the motives of his killer, in a twist near the end. No, I won't be continuing this series.

A very different mystery:

24. In the Heat of the Night ****

This is an older detective novel. The story takes place in a small town in the American South. Written in the 60's.

Black police officer Virgil Tibbs is passing through town, and gets arrested for a murder, he didn't commit.
It soon turns out he can't have done it, and that the local police have no experience with murders, and as he does, he now has to solve the murder.
It's a good story, a bit old-fashioned now, but still entertaining and interesting.

what impressed me most was how difficult it must have been to be black in those times. Mr Tibbs holds his own very well, but he is walking a tight rope, as a black man, in very hostile surroundings.

>135 EllaTim: I think I remember that one from a television series, I didn't know it was after a book.

>135 EllaTim:, >136 FAMeulstee: The movie was truly outstanding. Sidney Poitier starred. The TV series came later--I never watched it but heard it was also well done.

> 136 >137 ronincats: Hi Roni! I'd love to see the movie. Sidney Poitier. And those older movies, they had a certain style about them.

The TV series I must have missed.

Reading now:

Oorlog en terpentijn

Found in the thread of Anita.
Very good. Just in the first chapters. I love it.

25. Oorlog en terpentijn*****

Translated into English as War and Turpentine.

I thought this was marvelous.
The story of the grandfather of writer Stefan Hertmans.
After his death his grandfather left his diaries/memoires, writer Stefan Hertmans decided to make a book based on them.
He has added his own memories of his grandfather, the stories he told, other family members. starting with his greatgrandfather and -mother.
A very important part in the memories is the story of the years his grandfather spent fighting in the first world war. His story is gruesome, but well written so that everything comes very much alive.
This part of the book is embedded in the rest of the story, and although here there are hard parts as well, it is a balance to the war part. There is love, and life, and paintings.
In total it was a wonderful read.

Read the first review of the book here in Librarything, it's much better than mine.

>139 EllaTim: I am so glad you loved Oorlog en terpentijn too!

26. The Fifth Season****



This is SF, real SF, speculative science fiction.

Interesting premise: people living on a world that is unstable, dangerous, because of serious geological instability. Disasters happen every couple of centuries: earthquakes, vulcano's exploding, ash rains. They are followed by a so called fifth season, where nothing grows, because of the ashes.
In these circumstances people have evolved to be sensitive to the earth. People with those abilities are treated differently, they are outcasts.

Jemisin tells the story of a woman who has these abilities, she is shunned and picked out, treated cruelly. We follow her story.

She writes really well. I thought the story interesting and absorbing.

Part 1 of a series. part 2 is out as well.

This book has won a Hugo Award, and rightly so, I'd say.

Now reading:

The Gene: an intimate history

It's a challenge, a doorstopper. I've read about 100 pages now, about the history of the science of genetics. A lot of it is familiar to me, but there is lots of stuff that I didn't know about, in this history, and that I find interesting.

I started the book because I want to know more about recent findings, gen therapy etc. I do hope Mukherjee will come to that.

It's a well written book, it doesn't get very difficult, or boring, though sometimes I wished he'd give a bit more detail, or explanation, or a picture...

Yes, eventually he comes to recent findings :-)
I found the history of genetics very facinating. I thought to know a lot about it, but found many facts that were new to me.

>Ah, good to know. I can read on then, thanks.

Even in those first pages, I'm reading about fascinating stuff I never heard about before.

But I do need some lighter reading to help me along;)

I've neglected to keep up my thread. So here an update.

I have been reading:
27. The Thief ****

Thanks to Amber's thread, and recommendation.

I really liked it. Fantasy.
A young thief, Gen, is released from the king's prison. He has to go on an expedition with the king's magus (not a sorcerer, he's more like a scientist), to steal a magical gem, that belongs to the neighbouring kingdom.

All kinds of adventures happen on the journey.

What I liked most about it, was the voice of the boy, very irreverent, and funny. And the surprising way the plot evolves.

It's part of a series, and I will certainly read on.

Reading now:
A gentleman in Moscow

And still working at the genetics book. The gene: an intimate history
I have finished the first chapters, about Mendel, and Darwin, and evolution. All pretty familiar, though interesting, the way Mukherjee has presented the story.

But now I'm reading about more recent, and more technical stuff. Gene recombination etc. I'm not very technically gifted, I'm afraid. I wanted to know more, but did I want to know so much more? It's intimidating stuff. Combining genes from bacteria and virusses, really?

>145 EllaTim: Yay!!! Oh, I'm so glad that you liked it! And yes, definitely keep going with the series, because it only gets better...

>Hi Amber, nice to see you here. I certainly will keep going, as you said you didn't want it to finish, the other books must be worth it.

Finished:
28. A gentleman in Moscow ****



A good story, we follow the dealings of the Russian revolution from something like the eye of the storm.
Count Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in his hotel in Moscow, in 1922. Because he is an aristocrat. We follow his life in this seclusion. With admiration for how he manages to deal with it.
And as this is a luxury hotel near the Kremlin, we also witness part of Russian history.
Interesting, well written and sympathetic.

Reading Maarten 't Hart again, one of my mothers books. Short stories.
Het vrome volk

Going out to celbrate the king's birthday this afternoon.

Well, my husband has been visiting the free market, and has 'rescued' a series of books:
- de gevangenen van Altona by Sartre
- Kees de Jongen by Theo Thijssen unfortunately with merciless small font
- Wat vind ik daar? (1940)
- De grote reis by Jorge Semprun
- Ierse sprookjes
- Hoe ver we zullen komen, weet ik niet
- Leuke dingen, by Hans Vos (no touchstone)
- Rosemary's baby
- Nikolaas Nickleby
- Een Reiziger die geen handel drijft. In Londen en Parijs probably a translation of The uncommercial traveler by Charles Dickens
The last two book are old editions, and not in very good condition.

It's an interesting collection, and there's more to follow. Meaning also that I will have to cull them again, as I have a small house and overflowing bookcases (double rows in the bookcase..)

>148 EllaTim: A nice haul :-)
I used to add books like that when we had more than enough space. Coming home from the book-market or De Slegte with 20 books or more each week. But sadly those days are over. Now I know all about the problem of overflowing bookcases... We culled a lot when we moved here, we had our books down to about 1.600 and now we have again over 2.200 books.

>Those book collections grow faster than we can cull them. :)
I used to love De Slegte as well. But unfortunately, they're gone from Amsterdam.

My husband can't stand the sight at the end of the free market. Lots of perfectly good books getting dumped in trash containers. So he takes them home.

I will have to be strict, it's easier because they are new, and I'm not attached to them.

And some more books:
- De oorlog die langer duurde
- De Pianiste
- Het Dwaallicht

More to be added later

Finished

29. Het vrome volk ****

Very good short stories.
Most of them about his youth. He grew up in a very christian background, protestant-reformed. It makes for a series of interesting stories, full of contrasts and conflict.
He manages to convey layers of emotions, for instance in the tone-curling story about his uncle the harmonium-seller, who manages to very cleverly cheat his customers with the help of the young protagonist of the story.

A shared read with my mother. She loved it as well.

I like all Maarten 't Hart books.

How is De pianiste going, as it gets very mixed ratings and reviews.

Hi Anita. De pianiste is one of the books my hubby picked up. I wanted to list them here, that's all.

I did start reading them, but as I read the reviews of De pianiste here in LibraryThing, I have my doubts about it. It seems like a very heavy and difficult book.

But maybe I'll try. Maybe.

Ella, I was diagnosed with diabetes last year. I too am overweight, and I have arthritis in both knees so most days, I don't move around a lot which makes it challenging. I had gestational diabetes with the pregnancies of both my sons, and my father's mother was diabetic, so I knew it was probably just a matter of time. The worst part is that my comfort foods are potatoes, bread, and pasta, which makes life a little difficult sometimes. You are definitely smart to be more active now.

I read A Single Shard this year as well, and really enjoyed it. I also read Pietr the Latvian recently. I would agree, I think I expected a little more - I didn't hate it, but I didn't really love it either. I can definitely see the promise in the series though. I own several more, so I'll have to give them a go.

Hi Robin, nice to see you here.

Sorry to hear about your diabetes. It's a difficult combination, being overweight, arthritis, and knowing that you have to move. Do you manage it?

And yes, for comfort food, you have to have some carbs, and for celebrations as well;)

I've read the first couple of pages of De pianiste.

I can understand the controversy, I guess. This is a painful book to read. It's about a mother and daughter who have a close and really awful and stifling relationship.
It's written from the third person perspective. But it's filled with such hatred and loathing, the daughter must hate her mother.
Some books are sugary sweet, but this one drips with venom.
And this comes across so clearly, Elfriede Jelinek must be a very good writer.

And of course books don't have to be nice, and beautiful, or positive or anything at all. But then why should I want to read it? I've put it back in the box for now.

Wishing you a lovely weekend, Ella

Thanks Paul. I've been away for the weekend, home now, tired, but it was nice.

Reading slump? Well a bit, but mostly a reviewing slump. Mixed feelings about books, and hard to say why, and then I forget to post about them.

Now reading
30. The Dragonbone chair

And still working on the gene book. I will finish it! (some day) It is really good, that's obvious. But also a bit scary, I think. All this technology can have it's shadow side, and when I read about small companies working on gene technology somewhere in the back of nowhere, it scares me.

You can also just mention you read a book, you don't have to write a review.

I loved The Dragonbone chair!

Completely understand your feelings about gen technology... we humans have a bad record on using new technologies in a bad way :-(

>161 EllaTim: It is not a reading slump if you can get through that chunkster!

Have a lovely weekend.

Thanks Paul, and the same to you!

You're right The Dragonbone Chair is a chunkster.

And I finished it, and liked it.
It's a good story, around Simon, orphan and kitchen boy in the castle of the old king. He is a bit of a dreamer, wayward, but good at heart. Becomes apprenticed to the doctor, a learned and wise man, and a magician with secrets.
But then the old king dies, and is followed by his oldest son, who does all the wrong things, for the wrong reasons. Simon manages to rescue the younger prince, from the clutches of a bad priest/magician who works for the new king. He has to flee, the doctor gets killed. This is just the beginning of his adventures of course.

I liked the story, but at first I had a hard time, because my attention kept slipping away. I also felt that I recognized bits and parts from other books and stories, like Binabik, the troll, who talks just like Yoda in the Starwars movies...

So not a five star read, but I will be reading on in part two, of this series of chunksters.

Reading now:

31. Vincent in Den Haag



I'm halfway through. The author, Theun de Vries, writes about the years Vincent van Gogh has worked in The Hague. Very early on in his career as a painter. Difficult years, as he is wrestling with his work. He knows he has talent, but he has to learn a lot. The art world doesn't believe in him, and only his brother Theo supports him.

It's an interesting story, and I get the impression that De Vries has understood Van Gogh very well.

Very important is his relationship with Sien, an ex-prostitute that Van Gogh has helped. He is living with her, and her two children, but the relationship is not going well, clearly.

An example of his work from this period:

And I finished Vincent in Den Haag

The story went as I expected, but Theun de Vries makes you feel for both Vincent and Sien.

I really liked the book, Theun de Vries seemed to understand Van Gogh, and the story of this short period of time from his life is well chosen and illuminating.

>166 EllaTim: I love most books Theun de Vries wrote, you remind me I want to (re-)read some of his books.

Hi Anita, Nice to see that I'm not the only one who likes Theun de Vries. What other books of him did you like?
I've read Het meisje met het rode haar,, and I thought that very good.

Since joining LT I only have read 1848, I want to re-read Het geslacht Wiarda and hope to get to his book about Spinoza.

I saw the library has some ebooks. But not Het geslacht Wiarda or 1848 or the book about Spinoza unfortunately. How did you manage to get the right touchstone for that last one? I get an immense list of books, but not the one by De Vries?

Now reading part 2 of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams.

Stone of Farewell

Second books in a trilogy can be a bit less than the first, but here I am enjoying it more than the first book. My impression is that the writing in the first book was a bit stilted, but has improved here.
The story has a lot of threads going on, and now reminds me of a large colorful tapestry. It's impossible to predict where it will be going now, it's full of surprises, but I'm reading on happily.

The weather has been almost too warm, feels like the holidays, leading to lazyness, and taking it easy.

>170 EllaTim: If touchstones don't work you can add the booknumber followed by :: and the title between the brackets, for Spinoza that would be 3830628::Spinoza between the brackets.

>171 EllaTim: I read the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books in Dutch translation 5 years ago and loved them.
Way to warm, so glad we got airco upstairs last year, now our house stays cool on these days :-)

So glad you are enjoying the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books. The first book of the new trilogy, The Witchwood Crown, is coming out at the end of June and takes up some thirty years later. But you still have at least 1100 pages to go in this trilogy. Enjoy!

>172 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. I'll have to try that out. there were way too many books with Spinoza in the title. So what was so special about him?

>173 ronincats: Hi Roni, Settling down with 1100 pages still to go. Not good for my 'books read' total, but I'm enjoying it, and that's the main thing.
And then a new trilogy, wow.

>174 EllaTim: So what was so special about him?
Spinoza was an important philosopher, his Tractatus theologico-politicus and Ethica influenced many philosophers after him.

32. Een zomer in Italie

Translation of After Hannibal by Barry Unsworth



This was the first book by Unsworth I've read. And I really enjoyed it. Very good.

The story of a group of people, mainly immigrants, living on a small byroad in the hills of Umbria, Italy.

Living in a country where they don't really know the rules, they are vulnerable. They have bought houses, and have to find people they can trust, to help with building, dealing with neighbours, and so on. But the story isn't as simple as innocent immigrants getting ripped off by Italians, there are some unsavoury characters among the immigrants as well. And honourable Italians.

Unsworth mixes in some of the historical background of the region.

Amusing, wry, enlightening, and very well written.

I borrowed my last read from one of the library bookcases outside. This one was filled with bright and shiny new books, probably all relics from Queen's Day,
I think these bookcases are such a great idea. A place for books one doesn't want to throw in the garbage, no more library fines, and it's so surprising that it's even possible in a bigger city.

And now I'll return it to a different one, keep those books rotating.

Reading now:
started on part 3 of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
To Green Angel Tower


This is a very large book over thousand pages, so it will take me some time, as I don't like to rush it.

And reading two books about nature:
Teaming with Microbes


About life in the soil, subtitle is A Gardener's Guide to the soil Food Web. I'm in chapter five, and it's really interesting, lots of new things
Presented in a very accessible style.

Added 5 june: Read a number of chapters. It's very interesting, about all the groups of organisms that live (often invisible to the naked eye) in the soil, and their interactions. Groups I'd never even heard of, like the Archaea (a completely new group), or that I didn't know much about. Like fungi, and the way they make their life in the soil. Like, who knew a fungi can catch a nematode (small worm) and eat it? Or that almost all plants make use of fungi to help their roots function? So, very interesting. Lots of information to digest.

And something lighter as a counterpart:
Ruim Duizend Dagen Werk by dutch journalist Koos van Zomeren. All nature columns that were published in the paper the NRC. Very short pieces, no more than one page each. They're something in between a story. nature observation, essay..

Added 5 june: Reading a couple of columns a day. I catch myself heaving a sigh of satisfaction closing the book. I'm somewhere on page 100, don't want to read too fast.

Sunday we had an afternoon in the park with friends. We talked about reading. One of them doesn't read books at all, only the papers. He hardly watches TV, feels it's a waste of time. He asked me what I read and what I got out of it. Good question.
So what do I get out of reading?

An escape to another world or a glimpse into another time/culture/etc.? (Depending on what kind of book/tv-show and what mood you're in) More understanding of other people? You can get lots out of both reading and watching TV. It's been proven that people who read fiction regularly have more empathy than others, so you can tell your friend that!

Paul's thread provided inspiration to try and read more from countries all over the world. I'm going to copy and paste his list here, and fill in what I've read so far. And as it seems like I've seen more movies, than read books, I'm going to list those as well (fill it up a bit)

1. AFGHANISTAN: Khaled Hosseini - The Kite runner


2. Albania


3. ALGERIA: Albert Camus - The Stranger


4. Angola


5. Antigua


6. Argentina Movie: Kiss of the Spider Woman


7. Australia Movie: Rabbit-Proof Fence


8. Austria: I saw the movie The Wall, would like to read the book by Marlen Haushofer


9. Bangladesh


10. Barbados


11. BELGIUM: Stefan Hertmans -Oorlog en Terpentijn


12. Bosnia


13. Brazil


14. CANADA: Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye


15. Chile


16. CHINA: Book: Jung Chang Wild Swans
    Movie: A Chinese Ghost Story


17. Colombia


18. Croatia


19. Czechia


20. DENMARK: Hans Christian Andersen - Sprookjes
    Movies: Babette's Feast, Lars von Trier, The Kingdom


21. Dominica


22. Dominican Republic


23. Egypt


24. Ethiopia


25. FINLAND: Tove Jansson - Finn Family Moomintroll


26. FRANCE: Hector Malot - Alleen op de Wereld
    Movie: La Grande Vadrouille with Louis de Funes


27. Germany
    Movie: Die Blechtrommel,


28. Ghana


29. Greece


30. Haiti


31. HOLLAND: Voskuil Het Bureau


32. Hungary


33. ICELAND: Hannah Kent Burial Rites
    Movie: Rams


34. India


35. Indonesia


36. IRAN
    Movie: Mohsen Makhmalbaf - Salam Cinema


37. IRELAND


38. Israel


39. ITALY: Primo Levi - Het Respijt
    Movie: Bertolucci - Novecento


40. Jamaica


41. Japan: Movies: Tampopo, Spirited Away


42. Kenya


43. Korea


44. Lebanon


45. Malawi


46. Malaysia


47. Mexico


48. Morocco


49. Mozambique


50. New Zealand


51. Nigeria


52. Norway


53. Pakistan


54. Palestine


55. Peru


56. Philippines


57. Poland


58. Portugal


59. Romania


60. RUSSIA: Tolstoy - Oorlog en Vrede
    Movie: Tarkovsky - Solaris


61. Saudi Arabia


62. Senegal


63. Serbia


64. Sierra Leone


65. Singapore


66. Somalia


67. South Africa


68. Spain


69. Sri Lanka


70. St. Kitts


71. Sudan


72. SWEDEN: Sjówall and Wahlö - De vrouw in het Gótakanaal
    Selma Lagerlöf - Niels Holgerssons wonderbare reis


73. SWITZERLAND: Johanna Spyri - Heidi


74. Syria


75. Tanzania


76. Trinidad


77. Turkey


78. UK Charles Dickens David Copperfield
    Movie: A Fish called Wanda


79. Ukraine


80. USA John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath
    Movie (too many to count of course) The Green Mile


81. Zambia


82. Zimbabwe: Doris Lessing The Grass is Singing

Seems to me that there are lots of countries not on this list, how many countries are there in the world?
197 I found on the internet.

This was fun and interesting to just look up what I have read or seen. More later, have not finished yet.

>181 EllaTim: It depends on your definition of "country". Sovereign states are the most common way to define a "country", but you can't just declare yourself sovereign and have that be it - you have to be recognized by other nations too. There are plenty of self-declared nations that are not recognized by other nations or only by a few.
The United States recognizes 206 sovereign states (193 are members of the UN).

Hi Paws, Yes it isn't so simple to define what's a country and what not. The site I found had a list of 197
here: https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/all-countries.html. Now I'm curious what are the 9 countries that are not on this list? (206 - 197)

But there are 'countries' that are according to this definition not formally countries, but still so different that it would be worth while to read a book of theirs.

I'm going to adapt this list of 80 countries anyway, as I want to include the USA, and England in my list.

Are you working on a similar project?

>183 EllaTim: No, I'm just interested in geography. (I do have a thread in the "Endless European Challenge" group, but it's not something I'm too invested in)
England is a "home country", but not a sovereign state, so is an example of a country that wouldn't be recognized by the UN (The UK is).

It'd take up a bit too much time to go through the list so I'm not going to do that, but here is a list of the member states of the UN: http://www.un.org/en/member-states/ (the Vatican and Palestine are not member states, but permanent observers).

There are a TON of non-recognized countries out there, and just googling "unrecognized countries" will throw up interesting results.

Googling "unrecognized countries" sounds like fun, will give it a try. I know there are some weird 'states' out there. ;)

Found a thorough list of recognized countries here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states

I'm interested in geography as well. Would be impossible for me to visit all these countries, but books and movies can give a good impression.

You're right about England of course, I'll change the entry I made in my list.

>185 EllaTim: Yeah, living vicariously through books and films is the only way sometimes. And VR headsets! (Have you ever tried one? They're amazing.)

>186 PawsforThought: Oo, virtual reality, no I shouldn't try that... too addictive. But it's nice to imagine other countries, different landscapes, while lying on my back on the couch looking at rain and wind outside the window.

>187 EllaTim: My brother brought home a VR headset last year and let us try it and it was amazing. The film we got to see was about flying over Iceland, looking at glaciers from above and into ice caves. It was amazing, and definitely something I'm unlikely to experience in real life. I keep imagining what you could do with it and museums and cultural heritage sites would be amazing, I think.

I don't really know what to expect when you say virtual reality, but when you say cultural heritage sites: We saw a movie in 3D, some time ago, shot in a prehistorical cave, with cave drawings. (Cave of Forgotten Dreams, by Werner Herzog)
It was wonderful to see the drawings, so lifelike and coulourful in 3D. Those caves are not open for the public anymore, the drawings can't be exposed to the public, to the open air. So this was a great way to see them.

FLying over Iceland seems wonderful, too, Ice caves, gletschers, vulcanos.

>189 EllaTim: They are VR headsets where you can look in every direction (up-down and 360 degrees around) and walk/fly/etc. in different settings. Like the glaciers of Iceland, or a famous museum (literally walking around for instance the Louvre without setting foot on French soil). It's not the same as 3D, which requires those special glasses - some VR headsets work with your smartphone as the "film projector"!
With a VR headset you can walk right up to a painting or turn around and see what's on the other side of the room (or run around the room).
I'm thinking of asking for one for my birthday, but I'm not sure how much footage is available. Most people who buy them seem to be gamers who get them to be able to "live" the games they're playing.

OK, now I get it a bit better. yes, that would seem marvelous. I love the idea of walking the louvre without having to actually walk;) It's immense.

Too bad, I have the (maybe mistaken) impression that culture and travel are a small market while games take precedence. And then War games, yuk.

>191 EllaTim: You will still have to walk, I'm afraid. Since you're wearing the "screen" on your head, it doesn't move unless you do.
And yeah, I think they probably take a backseat for financial reasons.

>192 PawsforThought: Ah,now I would really like to see it in action, because how do you avoid bumping into things when you walk around with a screen on your head?

>193 EllaTim: That can be a problem.

>193 EllaTim: We use headsets at work that superimpose VR on the real world. It wouldn't work for immersive experiences, but lets us avoid the bumping-into-things problem. We have a detailed simulation of the spacecraft and use it to practice difficult operations before actually doing them. The latest was when we attached the upper half of the spacecraft to the lower body - lots of delicate parts that don't want to get hung up on and such. Made the real op go very smooth.

>195 drneutron: That is SO cool!

>195 drneutron: Here I get the impression of the beginning of a cool science fiction novel, virtual worlds, a trip around the sun, hero in action etc...

>197 EllaTim: I'd read it!

>180 PawsforThought: Hi Paws, I didn't see your post at first, sorry.
Yes, all of those, definitely. I couldn't imagine never reading anymore.

But I liked his questions, they didn't feel like criticism, more like being interested.

>199 EllaTim: I suppose I'm more sensitive than you on this, but I'd definitely feel like someone saying that reading is "a waste of time" was critiquing.

Hi Paws. Well I did feel put on the spot at first, but then he explained, that he spends a lot of time reading the papers, but not books. It came across then as more a personal thing on his side, then as a critique of me.

But that word choice is still very judgmental. "Waste of time" is not a phrase you should be using if it's just a matter of taste.

Yes, but it's all dependent on how it is said. And I think he said that he felt he was wasting his time, not that I was wasting my time.

I know that many older people have grown up with that message, that reading is a waste of time. But my mother was always firmly in favor of reading, she gave me a library membership when I was six. My husband isn't a reader as well, because of being dyslectic. Of course he reads, the paper, magazines. But it's a task for him, not a pleasure. My friend is a lot like my husband, technical background, loves to take photo's, interested in the world, reads two papers. I could have said to him, that making photo's is a waste of time;)

But instaid I said that reading gives me a wider perspective on the world.

33. De aanslag by Harry Mulisch****

This was a fast read. Interesting, the story of the aftermath of an assault during WWII in Holland.
The story is told by the protagonist Anton, who was a young by when the assault happened. As a direct consequence his parents and older brother are killed.
He escapes with his life, but it plays an important part for him. We follow him through his life as he gets confronted again and again with it.

It's a good story, and the one drawback for me, was de distant tone of the narrator. This completely fits the story. But still gave me a feeling of distance and lack of involvement. That I did not like. It still is a four star read. I loved the description of the demonstration near the end. I participated in that as well, so it was fun to read about it in a book. But it also seemed a first time for Anton to get involved in something like this.

>204 EllaTim: I thought The Assault was well done but I know what you mean about the distance of the narrator.

Have a lovely weekend.

Hi Paul. Nice to see you here, and have a nice sunday.

I'm reading a bundle of columns by Koos van Zomeren Ruim Duizend Dagen Werk

At page 199 a short piece about the possible benefits of not reading.
In this case the benefits of not reading a certain book of 900 pages. (De ontdekking van de hemel)

What can we do in the time it frees (like 20 hours)
And of course, what could we read instead?

It's a funny short piece.
Also the feeling that certain books are praised into high heaven, and become must-reads, and how annoying that can be.

>207 EllaTim: Oh, I know about the difficulties of translating (I do it as a part time job). Some words and phrases are just impossible.

Just stopping by to say hello!

I'll weigh in on why I think I read as I have thought about it quite a bit. I've always been an introvert and I am an only child. I think I probably started to read because it was a way for me to make new friends without the risk of having to put myself out there. My grandmother had tons of books at her house and my mother had a bunch of books on a shelf in her room, and I was intrigued by the covers, so I would pick out the most interesting looking ones and read them. Once I discovered that there were a lot of new worlds and places out there for me to discover, I was hooked. I also think now I read to escape having to think about worries in my life. That is probably one reason that I do not read a lot of realistic fiction, as I would only be trading my worries for someone else's!

>208 PawsforThought: Hi Paws. Hey, you're a translator. From what language into what other language? I admire good translators, as I find writing in english, here, a lot harder than I thought. Reading is easy, writing not so.

>209 rretzler: Hi Robin. Thanks for the story! I'm an introvert as well, and I also feel like reading is a good way to get to know people. And as a reader there are no expectations on me.
And picking the books that make you feel good, well what else have people done but tell each other stories to pass the time, bring a smile etc.
I usually avoid thrillers that go into detail about violence, it's out there of course, but why should i choose to immerse myself in it?

No, I couldn't imagine not reading. As a child I used to read everything available, and then reread. But now that there is so much to choose from, I do wonder if some books are worth my while, and why?

>210 EllaTim: I do English to Swedish. I could do the other way around too (and have on occasion), but my employer doesn't have any translations to English.

I'm stilll having fun with the idea of reading around the world. Looking through the books I have read to see what books can be associated with certain countries. I have to skip a lot, as I've always been a fantasy reader.

I have now started my journey around the world by reading something from Germany:

Deutschstunde



I must have found this title in LT, but where?

It's another chunkster, but so far I like it.

But now I'm reading three doorstoppers at once! Slow going.

Been to our garden today. A good place for quiet reading, but we had a good day for birds as well:

heard a sound, almost like a frog. But up in a tree. ??
My husband called to me: an owl in the birch tree.
Turns out it was a long-eared owl (Asio otus, ransuil in dutch).



And they're breading near us. What we heard was the contact sound of the female owl, but we can also hear the young owls begging for food.

>213 EllaTim: Aw, that's amazing! Long-eared owls are really pretty, too (we call them hornuggla ("horn owl")). I love owls and was so excited a few years ago when I heard hooting in the garden. Then spotted one. Last summer I figured out that it was a great grey owl. It was really small the first time I saw it so I thought it was something else (a boreal owl, perhaps) but the hooting is definitely great grey, so it was probably a youngling when I first saw it.

There is a lot of competition over voles and other small animals in my neighbourhood now. Not only are tehre tons of cats (at least five that I know of) and the owl/s, but we've also recently been joined by a fox.

Oh Wow, Paws. The great grey owl is impressive, I had to look it up, it certainly can't be found here in Holland.

So is this owl a stayer in your garden?

Ours is breeding, we're very excited, because it's the first breeding owl in our allotment complex. We moved out of town a couple of years ago, had owls in our old place, but in a new place, only grass at first, no trees, meant no owls. But now we have a couple breeding, with two young ones. Not in my garden, but in a different corner of the complex.

Our owls will problably eat lots of voles as well.

Not in holland, is not completely true, in 2013, a great grey owl had been seen.
Evidence (pictures):
here

Must have caused a lot of excitement:))

But was probably an escaped bird, I hope he found his way back home.

>215 EllaTim: It's not in the garden, but in the small wood across the street. That first time I saw it (when it was really little) it was in a group of trees on the empty lot next to our house, but those trees have been cut down, so I guess the owl moved across the street. There's good vole hunting over there, so a good place for it.
It's really nice to be able to hear it hooting - I like sitting on the front steps and read on warm summer nights and hearing an owl in the background is amazing.
We've had an increase in wildlife in our area in the last few years which I think is really exciting. My co-workers thought it sounded horrible ("deers in the garden, they'll eat the trees!") but I love it. And the deers haven't eaten the trees, they just eat the apples that have fallen down on the ground (that we wouldn't eat anyway). I'm hoping the badgers that used to live in an old barn on the next street over will come back - but only if they leave our cat alone and don't bite him.

That's really cool about the great grey going that far south. I didn't think it lived as far south as I do (I live pretty far north, but I thought they lived in the mountain areas in Lapland) but apparently not!

>213 EllaTim: Awesome! That's a beautiful bird.

>217 PawsforThought: Sitting on the front steps, reading and hearing an owl sounds great. Deers and badgers, I know they're supposed to be a nuisance, but I would love to have badgers in the vicinity.

It's nice isn't it, increase in wildlife, we hear so many bad reports about wildlife, nature, that I love to see that animals can adapt to people as well, and even profit from us.

For us no deer or badgers, but only rabbits (who can damage trees as well), but we see them mainly eating grass in the parking lot.

No, the great grey doesn't live here, it really is too far south. It was probably an escaped one, from a zoo.

>218 drneutron: Hi Jim, It is, isn't it. We heard it last night again, in fact it kept me awake. Mother (or father) owl calling with that weird frog-like sound, and the young calling for food (Keeeee, Keeeee, Keeeee). Very sharp and high and penetrating sound, well they're hungry.

>219 EllaTim: Yeah, I've never had a problem with either of them so don't think they're a nuisance at all. As long as the badger doesn't start a fight with kitty, I'm good. We had plenty of badgers in the neighbourhood when I was a kid and I remember peering out through the window at dusk when they'd be out walking around.
We have lynxes sometimes too, which can be a bit more problematic. I love lynxes but they are a top predator so can kill cats and other small animals so you have to be prepared.
There are bears in the area out summerhouse is in, too, so we always talk or sing loudly when we're in the woods - just to be on the safe side. I've never seen any bear in the wild, but my cousin almost walked right into one a few years ago.

>220 PawsforThought: Oh, now I have an image of you singing in the woods to the bears, and somehow that brings Pooh Bear in mind. With a jar of honey.
But I know it isn't like that, and bears are dangerous.

What kind of bear would that be?

You're definitely in a much wilder area, lynxes. Here the cats are really safe, allthough our cat doesn't always realise that, he's afraid of the magpies, and they take advantage to scare him away from his food bowl. They love cat food as well.

Read:
Rivers of London ***/2

A fun read. Magic in the big city. A policeman who finds out that magic exists.
Fun, and easy to read, definitely fantasy, and the bloody scenes that are there, didn't bother me as much, because of that.

It's a series, and I will definitely read the next one.

Still working on Deutschstunde, but I've slowed down, because the language has gotten more difficult, or I am tired.

>221 EllaTim: Hahahaha! The ones we have are Eurasian brown bear (Ursus Arctos). They're not really dangerous unless you get between a mum and her cub or walk right into one eating or something. They are much more likely to run the other way when they hear you coming than run towards you and attack. That does for all the animals we have in our woods, really.
I actually live in what's basically a suburb, but there are a few woods nearby and the wild animals sometimes make their way into the residential areas. It's been over ten years since I saw a lynx - it was actually having a standoff with our cat. (My brother and I threw pebbles towards it (not straight at it, thought) to scare it off.

Our cat get lots of grief from magpies. They're so smart and have a really good memory so they remember that he tried to climb up to one of their nest some years ago and so bully him now. Lots of squaking and flying at him.

>222 PawsforThought: So you can go walking in the woods safely. I know brown bears only from the zoo, but I'm pretty impressed by them, even if they're not dangerous. We fed one in the zoo with some small raisins (you're not allowed to, so shhh). One raisin rolled under a big rock, in their space. The bear lifted the rock up easily, to get at the raisin. (But of course, you never know, it could have been a fake rock)

Magpies have grown on me, they are so clever, you can see it in their eyes. And of course they still remember your cat!

>223 EllaTim: Yeah, as long as you keep your wits about you and don't do anything stupid you're perfectly safe in the woods here. The only animal I've ever been warned about is the European adder, which can only kill you if you're very young, very old or have an immune issue. Otherwise you'll just feel ill. This is a very safe country! Basically the antithesis of Australia - animal wise.

I saw a great documentary on crows a few years ago - they're incredibly intelligent. They were given tasks and to solve them they (the birds) made tools, which had only previously been witnessed in primates before that, I think.

Oh, owls are so wonderful. It's so cool that you saw one!

>223 EllaTim: Polar opposites, sweden and Australia. holland is the same, adders, but they only bite when you frighten them.

They're not the most beautiful birds, but crows, and jackdaws as well, are really intelligent, and sociable.
I have a book about them Kauwen in de spiegel that's really interesting. The author tells about adopting young jackdaws. He has been looking at them and their social life very closely, and tells a lot about them. From the blurb "They know love and hate, strict monogamy, and cheating, homosexuality, hierarchy and career planning, lying, fraud, and also altruism and helping, play and frustration" (not translated, unfortunately)

>225 Heather19: Hi Heather, nice to see you here. Aren't they wonderful. But the picture is much better than I saw them. It was twilight, we saw a greyish looking bird, and just a silhouette when it flew away.

Fun from the local newspaper.

King Kong has been spotted in Amsterdam. On top of a sculpture, 6 m high, he suddenly has made his appearance:



Two neighbours saw two men with ladders, but noone has really seen where it came from.

The airplane he is holding is supposed to be the Airforce One:)

He will be allowed to stay for the time being.

>226 EllaTim: Yeah, all members of the crow family are intelligent, and so fascinating.
Shame that book hasn't been translated - it sounds really interesting. I understand a little bit of Dutch/Flemish (or can make educated guesses) but I'd never be able to read a book in Dutch.

Oh, I forgot to mention that two years ago we got a nesting couple of white-tailed eagles in the bay where we have out summer house. Mum and I were so excited! It's great news environmentally, because the existance of a top predator like that means that the eco system is doing well, and it's also great news for us who live there because it means there will be fewer cormorants (who destroy nets and the beaches) and geese (who poo everywhere). Also, there's been a return of seals, which fishermen aren't happy about but it's also good news environmentally-wise. These past few years are the first times I've seen eagles and seals (only swimming in the water, not up on the beaches and rocks) there i my life, and I'm in my 30's.

This is a pretty impressive sight (I've never seen one close, just the outline of one as it flew across the bay):

>228 PawsforThought: That's a beautiful picture. And a beautiful bird. I get the excitement, and it sure is a good sign that they can breed and thrive.

I've only seen one here in Holland, in a very cold winter, standing next to the road in the snow. It seemed like it was a meter high, just standing there, and then it flew away. Flying tablecloth;) It was overwintering here from somewhere to the east. But now they breed here, and it seems we have ten breeding pairs over the country.

And well fishermen will complain of course. But I'm glad the seals are doing well. That would be the Baltic sea, that you are talking about? Seems wonderful to have a house there.

Ohoh, you're happy for fewer cormorants and geese;) Well I know they can be difficult, and they do poo everywhere, but I can still remember when they were rare in Holland. Now we've got large populations of both. With a lot of discussion about shooting geese. But I still love to see them flying.

>229 EllaTim: Cormorants poo everywhere (and they have toxic poo so it kills the plant life) and also eat so much fish that it hurts the fisheries, so definitely enjoy fewer of them. And the geese would be fine if they were native geese, but they're Canadian geese that were implanted ~50 years ago and have spread like wildfire and pushed out local native fauna so the fewer of them, the better. And birds are always pretty when they fly.

And that eagle probably was about a meter tall - they can grow to that size.

I'm talking about the Gulf of Bothnia, which is to the north of the Baltic Sea (it stops being the Baltic Sea just north of Stockholm and becomes the Gulf of Bothnia).

In the week we were gone an Oehoe (eurasian eagle-owl) was spotted in our neighborhood!
So I hope to see it too, although there have been no sightings in the last couple of days...

On eagles, I have seen the white-tailed eagles that nest in the Oosvaarders plassen, very impressive birds.

>231 FAMeulstee: Aw, cool! Eurasian eagle-owls are some of my favourite owls. And they have a great Latin name (Bubo bubo).
Hope you get to see it.

>227 EllaTim: *snerk* That's awesome!

>230 PawsforThought: Canadian geese, no native ones? People don't seem to learn not to do that, implanting species from elsewhere. It so often goes wrong.

Oke, I knew there was something about those seas I had forgotten.

>231 FAMeulstee: I hope you see it, they're wonderful impressive birds. I saw the pair that was breeding near Maastricht. I wonder if it will manage to live and breed, it's such a different environment.

>233 drneutron: I thought you'd like it;)

Update: reading my way slowly through Deutschstunde it's excellent, but I'm reading it in German, and that's tiring. So one chapter at a time, and then I have to switch to something else.

I finished the first half of To Green Angel Tower, but have put it aside for the moment for something lighter.

And that's the second book about Peter Grant: Moon over Soho that's a fun read.

It's going to be a hot day here, so might get around to a bit more reading than usual. sitting in the shade.

I'm impressed that you're working your way through a book in German. I normally read in either Swedish or English, and I've only ever managed half a children's book in a different language (French) - it was exhausting. You're doing it right by taking breaks and reading something else from time to time.

Yes, it is tiring. I normally read in English or dutch. I have had German lessons at school, for two years, but dropped them because of all the grammar involved, and all the memorising (I hate that).

But german and dutch are very related languages, so I can get by. With help of the dictionary of my ereader. And the book is well worth it.

No reading in German here, reading a whole book in English is hard enough...
I dropped all languages at school as soon as it was allowed, so I had 4 years French (didn't help), 3 years German and 6 years English.

German and Dutch are alike, but sometimes similair words have different meaning. Like See=meer and Meer=zee ;-)

>238 FAMeulstee: Still, you're such a fluent and fast reader, I'm surprised that you didn't like the languages.

Yes, the similarity can be very tricky!

We had a grey and rainy day today, it feels like autumn. And I felt a bit autumny as well. Still a good day for reading, but I still have nothing finished. Maybe tomorrow.

I was looking for a song with a nice and rainy feel, but "singing in the rain" was much too happy. Now listening to "purple rain"

Out today, visited my mother and brother. We saw a common kingfisher, at the garden behind my mother's house.
Very spectacular, as far as I'm concerned, as the water used to be not good enough, and the environment not suited.
And now it obviously is.



Bought a new book, Vijver, sloot en plas by Marten Scheffer and Jan Cuppen. (Weird, no touchstone)

It's a guide to waterlife, in ponds and ditches. First a part with general ecological information. Then a larger part with information about plants and animals living in and near the water. It's interesting stuff, but I immediately missed the ringed snake, and a whole chapter about mammals, I mean come on, why are we missing otters, rats, voles, etc.
Sigh, but oke, there still is a lot of good info.
I'm not a completist, I know that it's impossible, (did you know there are 110 species of midges in the Netherlands alone?) but when you write a book that's meant to give an overview over all groups, please don't leave a whole and important group out.

Kingfishers are beautiful with their bright colors!
They make me happy when I see one. Strangly the first one I ever saw was in Het Park bij de Euromast in Rotterdam. Where I live now I have seen one twice.

I understand your rant about Vijver, sloot en plas. The touchstone trouble might come because the only copy that is listed on LT has the title "Vijver, Sloot en Plas (Pond, Ditch and Lake)", I have written () in the title, but they are square brackets and they give trouble I think.

>241 FAMeulstee: Aren't they wonderful. I love the bright colours as well, and they are so fast, they flash by, leaving only an imprint of their brightness.
Funny to see one in the middle of the big city, but Rotterdam does have a lot of water, so lots of fishing opportunities.

And you have managed to make the touchstone work! Thank you!

Okay, you have told me how to do it once before;) So how did you manage it?
Vijver, Sloot en Plas
Yeah!

But now I'm thinking the details for the book are not in order. The title should be just the dutch title, and there is a second author who is not mentioned. Is it possible to correct the entry in LT?

>242 EllaTim: If it is your book you can edit the title and add the other author. If it is from someone else you can change the "gangbare titel" in de "Algemene kennis" van het boek.

Your waterlife book sounds interesting (despite lacking mammals). I have a couple of similar books centred on different types of ecosystems but they're not as thorough and only mention the most common or well known species. I'd love a series of really thorough books about life near freshwater, the sea, woods, open areas, etc.

I know what you mean. There are thorough books, but they're usually specialized in certain kinds of species, plants, birds, etc.
Problem is of course that when you go really thorough there is so much to be covered, I mean 110 species of midges, I thought there was only one!
But when you have some entry information there is the internet where so much more can be found. And then a book like this is useful.

>245 EllaTim: I did know there were lots of species of midges, but since they're not an animal I am particularly fond of, I hadn't bothered to learn how many.

I'm not fond of them too. But they're there in my garden, and I wanted to know why (and why not in lots of other places in Holland). So I wanted to know how they live, how do the larves live etc. Seems they are carnivores and eat larves of other bugs. Doesn't tell me how to get rid of them though:(

>247 EllaTim: I've never heard of them eating larvae and such! I thought they lived off blood and nectar (like mosquitos). You learn something new every day!

I think they like water, so might be that your place is close to a river/lake and the midge-free areas are drier?

The adults live of blood, at least the ones that are such a bother, but they are a kind of flies and so they have larves. Prevent the larves, get rid of the adults...

Yes, my garden is next to a ditch. But my parents house is surrounded by water as well, and we weren't bothered by midges there, so why is that? Well riddles.

I finished a book:

Deutschstunde****1/2 by Siegfried Lenz

I thought it was excellent.
The story: Siggi, a boy living in an institution for young delinquents, has to write an essay for german language lessons about 'the joys of duty'.
But he doesn't manage it, and has to return an empty page at the end of the lesson. He is then punished, he has to write and finish the essay, and isn't allowed out of his cell until he has done so. At last he manages to start writing, and then he keeps on, because he just has too much to write about.

We read about his memories, about his father, the police commissioner of Rugbüll during WWII. About his duty, and how he (the father) goes about his duties. The consequences of that attitude.

But also about the landscape, the surroundings, paintings, life. The landscape plays a really important part in the novel and is beautifully described. It's the northgerman/danish wadden Sea. Very similar to the dutch Waddenzee that I know very well, so that added to the impression the novel made on me.

That it's not a 5 star read for me, is just because I had to wrestle with the german language, and that made for slow reading, and it is nearly 500 pages. But it is in fact not a difficult novel, it's just the german that made it hard.

Not difficult to read, but a very lively and original story, and I thought it very much worth the effort.

>250 EllaTim: Sounds good, added the Dutch translation to mount TBR.

>251 FAMeulstee: I'd be interested in your opinion of it. I read some of the reviews here, and was surprised to see that some people found it dull or tedious.
Lenz does describe a lot of details of things that happen, but I didn't think that boring at all.