edwinbcn 2026 (1)

Thank old-time members for welcoming me back. 2026 will be my sixteenth year on Club Read.

I had a very rough year in 2025: on-going repatriation woes, death of my mother, failing my postgrad course, loss of my job and becoming unhoused. I did not qualify for social security, so I lived on my savings for 12 months, and suffered a serious mental breakdown.

My reading over the past and on-going year reflects all this in the following way:
* I read a lot about politics, social science and recent events in the Netherlands. It is like I have to study my own country to fit in again.

* I read a lot of self-help books: burn-out, minimalism, personality, change etc to cope with my situation.

* I read a lot about identity: queer / LGBTQi+, "wokeness"

* I read a lot of Dutch (finding books so cheaply here in thrift stores / roadside mini-libraries)

I did have a well-paying full-time job for two-and-a-half years, since coming back from China in the summer of 2022. So, I acquired and read very many books. My biggest challenges the coming half year are: finding a job, finding a place to live, and getting rid of a considerable number of my books.

I read a lot of books the past four years:

2025: 341 books
2024: 288 books
2023: 174 books
2022: 220 books

My target is to read LESS (I am sort of unhinged,)

This means, on my thread you will see a lot of Dutch books.

Below are 5-star reads and 4.5-star reads (following Baswood's style), followed by a list of books I read in foreign languages, to give you an idea of my reading in 2025.

5-star reads:
James Baldwin -- Giovanni's room
Ernest Hemingway -- The first forty-nine stories
Jennifer Johnston -- The captains and the kings
Alex Boogers -- Over Otis
Xillan Macrooy -- Mensen als zonnen en mensen als manen
Minke Douwesz -- Weg
Jacq P. Thijsse -- Nu ga ik er eens op uit. Wandeldagboeken 1884-1898
Charlie Porter -- Nova Scotia House
Bregje Hofstra -- December

4.5-star reads
Tash Aw -- The south
Obe Alkmema -- Bewogen selfies
Caspar Wintermans -- Alfred Douglas. De boezemvriend van Oscar Wilde
Nelleke Noordervliet -- Wat er werkelijk is. Een wandeling
Jack London -- Call of the wild
Eric Ambler -- The light of day
Edmund de Waal -- Letters to Camondo
Bernlef -- Help me herinneren. Verhalen
Saskia de Bodt -- Schrijvers onder dak. Wonen in het Witsenhuis
Michael Tedja -- Hosselen. Een diachronische roman in achtenvijftig gitzwarte facetten over beeldende kunst in identiteitsdenkend Nederland anno 2009
Joris van Casteren -- Is u bekend met het alfabet. Verhalen uit een boekhandel
Theun de Vries -- Kenau
William S. Burroughs -- The finger

Books read in English and German in 2025:
Jack London -- To build a fire and other stories (3 stars)
Tash Aw -- The south (4.5 stars)
James Baldwin -- Giovanni's room (5 stars)
Gertrude Stein -- Food (0.5 star)
Alex Hirst -- Almost one (2.5 stars)
Richard Canning -- Gay fiction speaks (3.5 stars)
Thomas Love Peacock -- Headlong Hall (2.5 stars)
Andrea Gibson -- Take me with you (3.5 stars)
Elisabeth Jenkins -- The tortoise and the hare (2 stars)
John Hawkes -- Death, sleep & the traveler (1 star)
Ernest Hemingway -- The first forty-nine stories (5 stars)
Mark Twain -- The innocents abroad (3 stars)
Haruki Murakami -- South of the border, west of the sun (4 stars)
Charlotte Clarke -- A narrative of the life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke (4 stars)
An Rower -- If you're a girl. Selected stories 1985 - 2023 (3.5 stars)
Jennifer Johnston -- The captains and the kings (5 stars)
Diarmuid Hester -- Nothing ever just disappears. Seven hidden histories (4 stars)
Joseph Conrad -- An outcast of the islands (2 stars)
Germaine Greer -- On rape (4 stars)
Yael van der Wouden -- The safekeep (2.5 stars)
William S. Burroughs -- Rub out the words. The letters of William S. Burroughs 1959-1974 (4 stars)
Stefan Schafer -- 25 letzte Sommer (4 stars)
Kathy Acker -- New York City in 1979 (4 stars)
Charlie Bingham -- The life-affirming magic of birds, and the extraordinary things they can teach us (3 stars)
Colm Toibin -- Homage to Barcelona (2.5 stars)
Jack London -- Klondike tales (3.5 stars)
Nia Chiaramonte -- Embracing queer family. Learning to live authentically in our families and communities (3.5 stars)
Erica Benner -- Adventures in Democracy. The Turbulent World of People Power (2 stars)
Larry Mitchell -- The faggots and their friends between revolutions (4 stars)
Stephen Spender -- The Thirties and after. Poetry, politics, people. 1933-1970 (4 stars)
Jack London -- Call of the wild (4.5 stars)
Mark Manson -- Life, love, books. Advice you wish your parents had given you (2 stars)
Jack Kerouac -- Atop an Underwood. Early stories and other writings (3 stars)
Harukl Murakami -- Norwegian Wood (4 stars)
Audre Lorde -- The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house (4 stars)
Charlie Porter -- Nova Scotia House (5 stars)
Colm Toibin -- The heather blazing (2 stars)
Eric Ambler -- The light of day (4.5 stars)
Edmund de Waal -- Letters to Camondo (4.5 stars)
Wendy Trevino -- Cruel fiction (2 stars)
Ocean Vuong -- The emperor of Gladness (2.5 stars)
Jack Kerouac -- The sea is my brother. The lost novel (4 stars)
Jack Kerouac -- The Haunted Life, and other writings (4 stars)
Kyra Wilder -- Gloss (2.5 stars)
Jim Crace -- Continent (3 stars)
Emmanuele Coccia -- Philosophy of the home. Domestic space and happiness (1.5 stars)
Jodie Hare -- Autism Is Not A Disease. The Politics of Neurodiversity (4 stars)
Rebecca Solnit -- No straight road takes you there. Essays for uneven terrain (2.5 stars)
James Agee -- The collected short prose (2 stars)
Wolfgang Koeppen -- Die elenden Skribenten. Aufsätze (4 stars)
John Cowper Powys -- Wolf Solent (4 stars)
Laurie Lee -- A rose for winter. Travels in Andalusia (4 stars)
Robert Frost -- The collected poems (1 star)
Thomas Piketty -- Equality. What it means and why it matters (4 stars)
Frederic Gros -- A philosophy of walking (3 stars)
Robert Seethaler -- Das Feld (1.5 stars)
David Cobb -- Haiku (4 stars)
George Bataille -- Story of the eye (4 stars)
Maya Angelou -- Letter to my daughter (3.5 stars)
Shirley Jackson -- The tooth (3.5 stars)
Shirley Jackson -- The lottery, and other stories (4 stars)
Angela Carter -- The magic toyshop (4 stars)
Hiroko Oyamada -- The factory (2.5 stars)
John Buchan -- The three hostages (3 stars)
Stella Gibson -- My American (3.5 stars)
Daphne Du Maurier -- The breakthrough (4 stars)
Robert Louis Stevenson -- Kidnapped (3 stars)
Andrew McMillan -- Pity (4 stars)
Clarice Lispector -- Agua viva (4 stars)

I’m hoping this is the intended beginning of a thread here. I would love to see what your reading. Happy New Year, Edwin

Missed seeing all your reading, Edwin. Hope you pop in and say hello.

>1 edwinbcn: Point taken! :-)

Happy new thread, Edwin!

>2 dchaikin: Thanks, Daniel. Another try!

>3 labfs39: Thanks Lisa. Brace for impact. (Although my aim is for reading LESS this year.)

>4 thorold: Thanks Mark. You will be one of the few to appreciate the full spectrum of my reading. There is quite some overlap in our reading. i always like reading your reviews on the book page.

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a hard year. Hoping 2026 brings good things. I always enjoy following your reading.

You’ve been through so much! Goodness, i wish you an easier year.

>5 edwinbcn: your first post looks a little different now. I’m glad you’re back again. You are quite reader.

Wow, 2025 was a very tough year for you, Edwin. I've now starred your 2026 thread, I'll follow your literary path more closely, and I wish that 2026 is much kinder to you.

>8 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl.

I (used to) often skim read your thread, but do not always comment. Since 2012, the number of members on Club Read has increased a lot, and it seems to me that people post a lot more "chatter". I cannot keep up with that. I cannot always be interested in the books other members read, especially when they are in a genre which I do not read myself, despite my very broad general interest. I suppose some people may find my threat boring, as it at times features a lot of Dutch books for which there are no translations in English. In fact, I am quite annoyed that there are members on LibraryThing who flag some of my books as SPAM just because they are single copies, with no other readers.

Happy New Year!

>9 edwinbcn: Thanks, Edwin. You raise two excellent points. First, as my reading has plummeted, due to the amount of time and energy I have spent caring for my mother, the fewer comments and reviews I've written about the few books I have read. I only managed to complete 19 books in 2025 and I probably reviewed only half of them. Second, I didn't pay as much attention to books you read and reviewed that were written in Dutch, as aI can only read books written in English and Spanish. I would never label Dutch books as spam!!;That is incredibly ignorant and insulting, and that, IMO, is something that Abby and other LibraryThing powers-that-be should know about.

I do hope that my 2026 threads will feature more book reviews, and that I'll read many more books.

>9 edwinbcn: i think we all pick and choose what interests us. It often unconscious. But a lot of us have enjoyed your reading and commentary… for a long time now!

001. Mystische Fauna. Von der Liebe der Tiere
Finished reading: 1 January 2026



Review:
Mystische Fauna. Von der Liebe der Tiere ("Mystical animals: About the Love of Animals") is an autobiographical novel by Marica Bodrožić. I apply the label "autobiographical fiction" because many facts in the novel seem to overlap with the author's life, and the novel has a non-fiction style. There is even a list of references at the back, although this mainly refers to literary quotations, not sources.

The book has four sections or chapters, the first of which is most dramatic. It describes the incredible cruelty of mostly the narrator's grandfather to animals, particularly the bloody slaughter of pigs, and unprovoked violence on a dog. These events happen in a nearly mythical past, when the narrator may have been perhaps just six or seven years old. This violence and the bloody scenes are later in the book justified by the narrator's mother as "useful in hardening and preparing the child for scenes of war". These scenes are so surreal that they seem mockery, until we realize that they take place in rural Croatia, in supposedly the late 1970s. The author was born in 1973.

The next section describes her life on the island of Gomera, where she drawn into the love for animals, and lives in harmony, appreciating the beauty of nature. The third section, describes how through misfortune in life, a divorce, she had to leave Paris, and decided to settle in Berlin. This is a very conscious step, as she contemplates what is of value in her life, and where she wants to be, and with whom. She considers going back to Croatia, or Gomera, but decides on Germany, where she grew up after her parents had settled there as immigrant workers. In the last section, "spherical learning", she describes how she has come to see the unity of all of life (or creation). She surmises that the cruelty against animals, and eating them, are an ontological but regrettable stage in human development (once we were all born as cannibals).

As the word "mystic" in the title suggests, the ideas in this novel hinge on a mystic sense, but this sense in not religious. Coupled with the almost mythical description of violence in the past, the message of the novel seems expressed at a higher level of consciousness or experience.

Reading 25 letzte Sommer last year, gave the feeling of mockery. I had a sense of this with the first section of this book. However, the book seems to be heart-felt, and keaves a lasting impression.

Source / edition:
First edition (2023) in German. Original language: German.

Why I read this now:
I bought this book last year. It fits my reading of natural history and changing ideas and feelings about nature in view of climate change and transition.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
none

Sorry you’ve had such a hard time — hope 2026 goes better for you. Life isn’t easy in the humanities these days! Yes, we do seem to have quite an overlap of interests, and I often note names to follow up from your threads too — although I’m not likely ever to catch you up in Dutch literature…

002. Verzamelde gedichten
Finished reading: 1 January 2026



Review:
Albert Verwey (1865 – 1937) was one of the most prolific poets of the "Generation of the 80s", de Tachtigers. He published Inleiding tot de nieuwe Nederlandsche dichtkunst (1880-1900), an annotated anthology of "the new poetry" which can be read as a program for their movement.

Verzamelde gedichten is a collection of poems published between 1882 and 1889. In the early years, Verwey translated poetry by Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Racine en Goethe. These translations are not included. Verwey published his first poem, "De roze" (The rose) at the age of 17. This edition of Verzamelde gedichten was first published in 1889.

Stylistically, the poems in this section are a mixed lot, of very unequal quality. Some of the poetry is too sweet-voiced, as is also some of the prose of Frederik van Eeden, notably De kleine Johannes, written in the same period. It describes the elf-like natural world of dew and flower petals. "The Roze", while very beautiful falls in this category. More to my taste are poems in the style of Keats, such as "Persephone" and "Demeter", which also appeared together in a separate volume. "Van de liefde die vriendschap heet" is a cycle of 44 sonnets about love and friendship. (There is also an edition of selected letters between Albert Verwey and Willem Kloos, with the same title.) There are some silly, but fun children's verses.

I was most impressed by the sonnet in memory of Mr. C. Vosmaer.

The poetry of de Tachtigers is based on the principle of "L'art pour l'art ". It is very accessible, generally not very religious and seeking to please only through beauty, with very little difficulty to understand.

Source / edition:
I am reading the 1938 two-volume edition Oorspronkelijk dichtwerk, 1882-1914 (vol. 1) and Oorspronkelijk dichtwerk, 1914-1937 (vol. 2) published by E.M. Querido's Uitgeverij in 1938. This edition does not give years of publication, and the grouping of poems is not very clear. It seems to follow the chronological order, whereby sections represent original publications. I have not checked with sources to see whether this is correct. For reading and reviewing on LT, I will follow this order.

I will not read and review the three plays, although I have read the play Cola Rienzi many years ago (in 1985). This 2-volume edition (about 1800 pages) was published in 1938, a year after the poet's death. It is not clear no me whether it presents the collected works, or a selection, except that the title suggests that translations are not included.

Why I read this now:
This is my on-going reading of the poetry of Albert Verwey which I started last year.

Rating:

Other works I have read by this author
Inleiding tot de nieuwe Nederlandsche dichtkunst (1880-1900)
Cola Rienzi

Good to see you back again. I hope somehow this will be a better year for you.
Your goal of reading less, is probably a wise one.
I always read your threads, although I don't always comment, but there's always inspiration there, as just your list of books read in English demonstrates.

Happy New Year. Here's to an easier time of it in 2026, and, um, less reading (if you say so!). (Just kidding. I do get what you mean.) Cheers!

>12 edwinbcn: and >14 edwinbcn: these are lovely posts, Edwin. Glad you had a good new years day of reading

Good to see you posting again Edwin. Thats a great list of books read in 2025. Its amazing the books you can find in the free libraries and bargain bins.

I enjoyed your review of mystical animals

Happy New Year and hope your life gets a little easier, so difficult to get going again when returning from a different culture.

003. Sleep it off lady
Finished reading: 1 January 2026



Review:
Sleep it off lady by Jean Rhys was published in 1976, three years before her death in 1979, at the age of 88. Most people are aware that Wide Sargasso Sea is a fairly modern work, as indeed it waas published in 1966. So it is a bit surprising to realize that Jean Rhys was born in 1890.

Jean Rhys had an eventful life. She was born in the West Indies, grew up in Britain and had her hey day as a writer in Paris in the 1920s - 30s, when she was in her 40s. She then disappeared from the public eye, living in seclusion in Devon for more than 20 years, and return to writing and publishing at the age of 76!

The 16 stories in Sleep it off lady have a modern feel. They could have been written in the late 1960s, but information on Wikipedia, they were written over a period of 75 years. Perhaps they were. However, they do describe different time periods and places, London during the Blitz, a tropical island, a Parisian night club.

Source / edition:
Penguin Books published in 1979.

Why I read this now:
I read four novels by Jean Rhys in 2021, and a biography about her life in 2024. I had not expected to read much more by her than a Penguin Classics mini, La Grosse Fifi which I read in 2023, but then found this book in a roadside library, so I couldn't pass it over.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I read 5 novels by Jean Rhys
+
The Blue Hour. A portrait of Jean Rhys

>19 edwinbcn: so interesting about Rhys. Many people were surprised to see another book from her in 1966. Margaret Atwood, in her memoir, claims people were most shocked that she was actually still alive.

004. Der arme Mann im Tockenburg
Finished reading: 2 January 2026



Review:
Der arme Mann im Tockenburg is essentially the autobiography of the Swiss writer Ulrich Bräker. Bräker was a self-made man. What sets him apart from other writers of this period is that he was poor, throughout his life.

Half-way through, Bräker mentions that he wrote voluminous diaries, and if he would have wanted he could have fleshed out his book with many more pages. However, what is most remarkable is that the book is only about 170 pages, and sometimes the description of two or three years only takes half a page. Before publication in two volumes in 1789, it was first serialized during 1788 through 89, perhaps in these typically short installments. At least they render the history in high speed.

Only in the earliest sections do we find some Swiss dialect words. He was born into a poor family of farmers. His father had a side job preparing chemicals for the production of gun powder. The young Bräker could only go to elementary school during 10 weeks each winter, and of these many classes were canceled due to snow or extreme weather conditions. At the age of 21 he joined the army. The diary describes the regiment as it marched from Berlin to Bohemia, where Bräker took part in the Battle of Lowositz. He deserted and returned home. His wife wouldn't marry him until he owned his own house. He took up his old employment as a small farmer, and produced cotton thread on the side, which brought in some extra money.

Throughout his life, Bräker kept pusueing literary studies, reading and writing. His wife blamed their poverty on this determination to be above all a literary man. Besides his autobiography he wrote a play, essays on Shakespeare and an unfinished novel.

Source / edition:
Published in the Hardenberg edition of Die große Erzähler-Bibliothek der Weltliteratur (1985).

Why I read this now:
I want to read more German classics.

Rating:

>21 edwinbcn: fascinating. terrific review

>20 dchaikin: True. In fact, up until then her life had been very turbulent and plagued by poverty. Most of the time in Paris, she was destitute. Her husbands, over time she was married three times, would barely take care of her. Her novels published while she lived in Paris were hardly noticed. I think there are several other authors whose writing careers were cut short due to the war. A decade-long interruption for writers in the age of 40 - 50 would essentailly finish their careers.

Rhys was tracked down by an editor who wanted to ask permission for publication of one of her older novels. She went on to write Wide Sargasso Sea and some of her older short stories were reissued. The stories collected in Sleep it off lady had not been previously published.

I'm sorry you had such a rough year, Edwin. May 2026 be a better one for all of us (although I'm doubtful it will be true for most of us in the US). I always read through your thread, although I do feel quite unequipped to comment much of the time. I'll try to pop up more often so you know I'm here.

>24 labfs39: Thanks, Lisa.

005. Langs de vloedlijn. Gedichten
Finished reading: 2 January 2026



Review:
Langs de vloedlijn. Gedichten is a small volume of poetry, published as a limited edition of 600 copies in the series PS Poezie 3 for Perfect Service in Schoonhoven. (with ISBN).

The first and last poems in this collection describe the frailty of especially young animals, and plants, in the face of the cruelty at the hands of human beings. The peoms express feelings that cannot be imagined, really. For instance in the first poem, "Langs de vloedlijn": how does a dead duck feel? Or the second poem, "Zeegezicht": How will a baby crab feel as it crawls over a hand, fear, feeling its warmth. The fourth poem, "Jonge kraai", a young crow, frightened to be grabbed by a man. What right have they to kill, in they eye of God? And the last poem, "Als in een spiegel". Does the buttercup fear the shadow of my hand as it approaches to pluck it, and likewise would not run-away-robin (Glechoma hederacea) run away from my hand? The animals in the poems are all young, as if they haven't hardened, literally in the case of the baby crab, or grown to withstand man.

The poems in the middle are about humans. They are characterised by a broken up sentence structure, barely comprehensible because of faulty grammar.

Source / edition:
A limited edition of 600 copies in the series PS Poezie 3 for Perfect Service in Schoonhoven. (with ISBN). Original language: Dutch.

Why I read this now:
Last year, I read a selection from the author's diaries. This is the first volume of his poetry for me.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
Een web van dromen. Keuze uit de dagboeken 1960-2003

I just noticed your book numbers are 1, 2, 10, 11, 12. Have you already read 12 books this year? !!

>26 edwinbcn: another interesting discovery

<.

>27 dchaikin:

Yes, Daniel. Both in the catalogue and my reading log, I distinguish works rather than books, to get the full benefit of connections, and access to reviews on LT.

This means that editions of collected works or omnibus editions are listed as the contained works plus the book edition, for instance 3 novels as works plus the omnibus edition. If an edition is published in two volumes, the two volumes are listed separately and also as a pair.

I do not separate out short stories or novellas, even if book editions exist. On the other hand, if I own separate editions and have already read them, they will be listed separately.

The practical advantage is shown in my reading of Ginsberg's Collected poems 1947-1997. I was unable to finish reading the whole book, and removed the book edition from my catalogue. However, by then I had already finished reading 9 volumes of poetry in that book edition which I had finished reading, including Kaddish and related poems (1959-1960) and Howl, before & after. San Francisco Bay area (1955-1956). These were listed and counted as finished works, but not the paper book Collected poems. I still own, and intend to read a separate annotated edition of Howl, which I intend to read.

The same happened with my reading of Verwey. I am reading volume 1 of the collected works, which lists sections as separate works. I was unable to establish clear concordance for the works with paper book editions, but found some concordance. Thus, the first 119 pages (dense) of poetry are listed as consisting of 7 works in the catalogue (in fact 8, but one was read last year).

This somewhat inflates my reading numbers, but not by a great margin. I do not always do this consistently. It depends on the total size of the edition, the total size of the works, the practical ability to distinguish works, and general logic.

More in general, I would say the volume of publications is totally arbitrary, and subject to change and commercial interests. I think pocket books published between 1960 and 1990 were often very thick, with small print, whereas nowadays publishers bring out many small editions of around 100 pages. The volume of poetry I reviewed as number 11 this year only has 21 pages. On the other hand, I read several doorstoppers last year of 1200+ pages, some very big novels and biographies.

>29 edwinbcn: I see, I think. You clearly have a system

This is such an interesting thread!
I'm sorry you had an awfully tough year. Let's hope things fall into place in 2026...

>31 Dilara86: Thanks, Dilara. I had never thought I would need professional help, but it was there, and I got it when I needed it. I had totally underestimated the lifestyle shock of returning to my own country (but there were several other major problems). I myself have changed, but the country I returned to has also changed.

The experience is bewildering, but also an opportunity to learn and grow.

006. The longest journey
Finished reading: 2 Januarty 2026



Review:

it is the only book that has come near to describing England. I was turning from Italy, I hadn't yet turned to the East.

E. M. Forster wrote these sentences in his memoirs in the early 1920s. Indeed, one of the most attractive things of The longest journey are descriptions of nature and the countryside, particularly Wiltshire. There are descriptions of country houses, manners and class.

Large parts of the book seem straighforward, but they are not.

the train passed through a coppice in which the grey undergrowth looked no more alive than firewood. Yet every twig in it was waiting for the spring.

The sentences before, and after these two convey nothing but the vaguest of hints. In fact, this holds true for many sentences and parts of the novel.

Superficially, the plot is fairly straighforward. I young man, Ricky Elliot, has a poor start in life, and is bullied at university. He gets a posting as a teacher at a second-rate school, which makes him lose some of his ideals. His marriage strands within two years, in quite a scandalous fashion. His high fidelity and loyalty to his half-brother, who is a bit of a cad, is quite surprising. Separated from his wife, he starts off on a writing career.

There are quite some similarities between E. M. Forster and Frederick Elliot. Forster had a club hand, Ricky has a club foot. Both were teased about it at school, and thus in some sense set apart. However, there are marked differences. For instance, E. M. Forester was never married.

However, while the plot seems so straighforward, the story is a poor read. It is confusing. It doesn't seem to say what is does. It is easy to lose track and interest. In fact, The longest journey is Forster's least popular novel. The third time, I basically pushed through, reading till the end.

I twice had a false start reading this novel, abandoning it after about 150 pages. The longest journey is relatively short, at 336 pages. I have read several other novels by E. M. Forster. I do not think it is because it is Forster's first novel. I think it is because Forster is trying to write a novel, but intentionally hiding his newly discovered homosexuality. The last part of the novel, after the separation from Agnes, is clearly the best, and most beautiful. There is a slight hint at attention for and attachment to men, more generally living in the company of men.

The longest journey was published in 1907. In 1906, Forester fell in love with a 17-year-old boy whom he tutored in Latin. It seems the novel is a very camouflaged attempt to write about the predicament of gay men at that time, however, in such a covered way to be unattractive to modern readers.

Source / edition:
I read the Penguin Classics edition published in 1988, with an introduction by Elizabeth Heine. This addition also prints fragments from his memoirs and an essay with materials pertaining to the period and the work.

Why I read this now:
In November, I read Nothing ever just disappears. Seven hidden histories by Diarmuid Hester, which opens with a long chapter on E.M. Foster.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I read four other novels by E. M. Foster, and most recently:
Arctic summer in July 2021.

>33 edwinbcn: congrats on pushing through. I enjoyed your review and learning about this book. Forester was published by Woolf’s Hogarth Press. But not in 1907, as it didn’t exist yet.

>33 edwinbcn: I found The longest journey troubling and depressing when I first read it in my teens, and somehow I never seem to have got back to it. Your review reminds me that I really ought to — even if it’s unsatisfactory Forster, it’s still Forster…

>35 thorold: Indeed. I still gave it 4 stars. There is value in the attempt. Basically, the last part is quite beautiful, and the break up of the marriage is quite spectacular.

Pouring over sentences, I actually think there is more hidden there, but I am not a scholar. The idea that there is more than meets they eye at first glance was satisfactory enough for me.

Colm Tóibín writes: "It is a tribute to Forster's skill at creating masks and smoke screens that Trilling did not realize that the drama in Forster's novels operated partly as metaphors and systems of disguise, that the energy and tension in Forster's fiction were nourished by his secret sexuality." (in On Baldwin, p. 55).

>34 dchaikin:
Yes, Daniel. I have not yet read so much by Virginia Woolf herself (13 books) but I have always been very interested in the period, and the Bloomsbury group.

007. Der Strom
Finished reading: 3 January 2026



Review:
Angela Krauß was born, and grew up in the German Democratic Republic (DDR). She has been active as a writer since 1980. Der Strom ("The Stream") is her latest novel, published in 2019.

Der Strom is an experimental novel. Chapter 2 has only 1.5 pages. Chapter 6 is subdivided into 7 sections, which are more like poetry than prose. In Chapter 3, the narrator describes the physical sensation in her body as that of a stream that pushes things out. However, it more seems as if her experience is plunged into a stream, that is some sense resembles a stream of cosciousness.

Within this stream, the narrator reaches a state of bliss: past, present and future seems to flow into one state of being, a mix of memories and dreams.

Source / edition:
Suhrkamp first edition, hardcover.

Rating:

>38 edwinbcn: stream of conscious zen? Sounds interesting

>39 dchaikin:
Yep. This book is not so widely read, at least there aren't many reviews by readers. Ideas voiced by the publisher and media speak of a stream that pulses through the body and pushes "matter" out, and one review mentioned "stream-of-consciousness" as in Virginia Woolf.

I felt neither completely applies; they do, to some extent, but the overall feeling I read into it is of being inside a flow, sensing a fluidity of past, presence and future.

So yeah, like you said: Stream of conscious -- Zen.

008. The burning cactus
Finished reading: 3 January 2026



Review:
Stephen Spender is mostly remembered as a poet. Besides, he wrote a considerable amount of autobiography, notably World within world. The autobiography of Stephen Spender and non-fiction, some of which is still very readable, such as the biography of T.S. Eliot, and his volume of literary criticism called Love-hate relations. A study of Anglo-American sensibilities. His best known work of fiction, The temple was published posthumously, written in 1929, but published in 1988.

Going for the loose morals and the free sexuality and body culture of Germany in the 1920s and early 30s, Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, and Wystan H. Auden became natural observers of the rise of Hitler. They traveled Europe, and saw what was brewing before many others. Still, 1936 was just about the beginning.

In 1936, Stephen Spender published The burning cactus, a collection of five short stories. The characters in the stories are an international cast, with resounding German names such as Werner and Conrad, who travel all over the European continent, Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna, Switzerland. "The Burning Cactus" is the ominous title of a short story in which somebody gives up a job in Berlin, to become a paid tenant to take care of someone's house in Barcelona. The first, and longest story is called "The Dead Island". This dead island most likely refers to the islet Poveglia, located in Italy's Venetian Lagoon. During the Black Death and later plague outbreaks Poveglia was used as a quarantine station for ships, before entering Venice. Victims from the city were brought there to die. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people died there.

In Spender's short story an woman is lounging on the island as if it were a sinister Corfu. The story describes the rise of an idealised leader, and the militarisation of Germany. Thus, in the story, the Dead Island is like a waiting station for the plague to burst in on the mainland.

Source / edition:
First edition, hardcover, published in 1936.

Why I read this now:
In October I read The Thirties and after. Poetry, politics, people. 1933-1970, a collection of prose non-fiction and essays which covers the rise of Hitler and fascism in Germany in the 1930s, and eye witness reports of the devastation of the bombings of German cities after the war.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 6 books by Stephen Spender,
most recently: The Thirties and after. Poetry, politics, people. 1933-1970 in October 2025.

>33 edwinbcn: I very much enjoyed your review of The Longest Journey. Oddly it's an author I've never read, even during my classics of English literature phase. .

>42 labfs39: Well, I don't think you should start with The Longest Journey, but I thought A room with a view a 5-star read.

At university, I read English but never heard about Wilkie Collins. Wondering why, I looked into it and found that, indeed, academia paid very little attention to Collins in the 1980s / 90s. So, I came to Collins very late.

>41 edwinbcn: absolutely fascinating

>43 edwinbcn: I need a starting point with Forster. Noting.

>43 edwinbcn: Wilkie Collins always seemed to be in the shadow of his sometime writing partner Charles Dickens. It's regrettable that he was so ignored for so long, as his novels almost all reflect some social wrong that needs correction, usually written in a credible way. I admit, he can get carried away with some of his characters, but he has created some of the best nineteenth century villains while he was at it.

I'm a major fan, and happy to see his works being reissued beyond the top five or so.

>43 edwinbcn: >45 SassyLassy: I studied with the Open University in the 90s, and Collins was just beginning to be mentioned as something more than pioneer of the detective story at that point. One of my classmates wrote a paper about his complicated relationship to Victorian religion.

009. Het verdriet van de vrede
Finished reading: 3 january 2026



Review:
As a child, the Dutch writer Chaja Polak survived the war in hiding. Her parents were deported. Her father was murdered in Dachau, but her mother survived Auschwitz. After the war they were reunited and lived in Amsterdam.

Polak's latest novel, Het verdriet van de vrede, puiblished in 2023, is about four Jewish women and a boy who survived the war. They represent different generations belonging to one family, the Sterngolds. Judit, the oldest, the wife of the oldest son, Selina, wife of Max, and Roza, children of the second generation, and Dima, the son of Dora, in the third generation. They are coldly welcomed into their pre-war home, which is stripped of possessions. They live a melancholy life, pondering the past, and the dear family members they have lost.

Guilt is one of the most important themes of the novel, the guilt of having survived. Some of the men declined to escape and flee, choosing to stay with the others, and perished.

Het verdriet van de vrede is one of the most finely balanced and beautiful novels of Chaja Polak.

Source / edition:
First edition paperback.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 6 books by Chaja Polak,
most recently: Zomaar een vrijdagmiddag in June 2025.

010. On James Baldwin
Finished reading: 6 January 2026



Review:
On James Baldwin by Colm Tóibín is a work of literary criticism, not a biography. There are four chapters, altogether just under 150 pages. The second chapter, on Giovanni's Room is the longest, at about 40 pages. This is a superb essay on that novel, and its significance. There are wonderful details placing the novel in the context of the attraction of Paris on American writers, such as Henry James, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book is sketchy. Tóibín basically only focuses on 3 novels by Baldwin in this short book, and presents no clear view of the other works. Although the influence of Joyce on all modern writing is undeniable, parallels between the background of Joyce and Baldwin are strained, while the direct comparison of Baldwin's experience in Paris with Tóibín's experience in Barcelona is awkward.

On James Baldwin shouldn't be missed for its excellent chapter on Giovanni's Room, but is otherwise unremarkable.

Source / edition:
Hardcover first edition.

Why I read this now:
I read this because in December I read Giovanni's Room.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 11 books by Colm Tóibín,
most recently Homage to Barcelona in October 2025.

011. De afwezigheid van het verleden
Finished reading: 8 January 2026



Review:
De afwezigheid van het verleden was published in a series of pamphlets on contemporary issues in Dutch society. With its emphasis on (the lack of) shared tangible and intangible cultural heritage that could help describe the national identity of the Netherlands, it resembles the pamphlet Denkend aan Holland by Thomas Rosenboom, published in the same series.

National identity preoccupied the Dutch shortly into the new millennium. Dutch nationalists tried to rewrite the Dutch canon, determine who could claim the title of "greatest Dutchman of all times" and decide what are the core values of Dutch culture.

The Dutch historian Marita Mathijsen apparently belongs to the more liberal school who believes that the Dutch are characterised by a lack of nationalism. Or rather, as she argues in this pamphet a total indifference about it.

De afwezigheid van het verleden is a lamentation of the loss of cultural identity and tradition. Local culture is increasingly replaced by international uniformity, and local variation is reduced. While Dutch green grocers would carry 20 apple races in the past, which would typically be on offer at different times tyhroughout the season between May and October, supermarkets nowadays merely sell three apple races the whole year round.

In Dutch cities few buildings are marked as birthplaces of famous occupants. Street names follow odd fashion trends rather than pointing to historical localities or features.

The tone of the pamphlet is more pessimistic than optimistic. The author concludes we can not expect much from the government. Somewhat doubtful she concludes and call for action of the public to stop the downward spiral.

Source / edition:
First edition paperback.

Rating:

>47 edwinbcn: I have never read anything by Chaja Polak. Noting this title and the author, both. It looks like only one of her works is available in English, however.

You’re still devouring books

>47 edwinbcn: this sounds like beautiful and important book!

>48 edwinbcn: I’ve heard about this. I’m very interested

>51 dchaikin: I am already 20 books behind reviewing...

Toibin's essay On Baldwin was only published last year, but some other members of Club Read have already read and reviewed it. Mark (Thorold) has written a review.

>50 labfs39: It is a pity we are still limited to access by the number of translations. Maybe one day AI can translate any book into any language instantly (although I would be very worried about the quality of the translation.)

012. Buitenstaanders in brieven
Finished reading: 9 January 2026



Review:
Buitenstaanders in brieven is a collection of letters (emails) between two Dutch authors. Renate Dorrestein (1954 - 2018) was an old hand at writing. In this friendly exchange of letters, she represents the establishment. Alex Boogers is the younger one, born in 1970, active as a writer since 1999.

The title of the book, Buitenstaanders in brieven is an hommage to Renate Dorrestein, whose second novel, Buitenstaanders was published in 1983. This was her first serious, literary work. In this correspondence, these two writers agree that both are "outsiders" in some sense because they are less involved in the media circus that surrounds publishing. They believe the human intrest and sincerity, that led to this correspondence, is not equally shared among other writers.

Boogers is especially concerned about social class, writing that his working class background sets him apart from many other writers. Although Dutch people widely claim and believe to have created an egalitarian society, there are still divisions along the lines of social class and educational background.

The work of Renate Dorrestein is well-known, but not considered top class. Particularly, these final years, between 2015 and 2018 Dorrestein was ill, and eventually died.

I wonder why the authors insist that this is a correspondence in letters, whereas obviously, they are in emails. Some of these emails are very short, more like text messages. They offer an interesting look into a friendly encounter between two writers, and are charmingly open and warm, a warmth that apparently Boogers craved for. They were able to support each other at a difficult time, and with true commitment, not just in letters but also in visits. Perhaps this shows the value of attention in modern times, something many people long for, but find hard to obtain.

Source / edition:
First edition paperback, published in 2025. The book is autographed by both authors, a stamp for Dorrestein by the foundation that cares for her estate.

Why I read this now:
When I picked up this book, I had forgotten that last year I had written a book by Boogers, who is a new author to me. I like reading books in this series as they are invariably interesting auto documents, diaries, letters, etc by both histrorical figures and increasingly by contemporary authors/

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 1 book by Alex Boogers, namely:
Over Otis, in 2025

and I have read 5 books by Renate Dorrestein, most recently:
Liever horen we onszelf in 2023.

>48 edwinbcn: I'm currently reading Baldwin: A Love Story, a relatively new biography by Nicholas Boggs, and I'm reading the section which mainly concerns Giovanni's Room. One of my local library systems has copies of On James Baldwin so I'll probably borrow and read it later this year.

>54 kidzdoc: Nice, Darryl. I look forward to your review about that biography. I am not sure about reading it, at least not in the short time (but you never know ;-).

Reading a big (like 600+ page) biography is a real commitment, and I haven't (yet) that much experience reading Baldwin. On the other hand, I have a strong interest in the Left Bank, Parisian queer literary scene, to which Baldwin belongs, albeit post-war.

My purchase of Toibin's book was a bit on the spur, and I had hoped for more biographical detail.

013. Mijn lesbische roman
Finished reading: 10 january 2026



Review:
Mijn lesbische roman is the Dutch translation of Rene Gladman's latest book, My Lesbian Novel, published in 2024. The Dutch translation came out in 2024 with the Velvet Publishers.

Rene Gladman has been around for a while. Her first book of prose, Arlem, came out in 1994, followed by further works in 2000 and 2003, but her literary career as an author took shape more firmly after 2007. Novels (the Ravicka novels) and prose works are characterised as experimental prose. Alongside her career as a writer, from the mid-1990s until the present, Gladman has been working as a publisher for a magazine and books of experimental prose. She has won several awards.

The interrelated novels in the Ravicka cycle are described as "social science fiction", while her fiction is compared to the work of Samuel Beckett, Anne Carson, and Julio Cortázar.

Mijn lesbische roman is an experimental novel that blends interview with prose. The interview is a book length interview between "I" (Interviewer) and "R", a character that strongly resembles Renee Gladman. The interview is a convincing conversation in which the "author" describes how she works on her lesbian novel. Fragments of this novel that is in the process of being written appear in between with the text of the interview, in fragments of usually a half page or a bit more, printed in italics. The lesbian novel, embedded in the book seems a rather conventional love story between June and Thena. However, "the novel" is so fragmented and short that there isn't really a story.

The story is really the interview. The interview, then, resembles a piece of autobiographical prose, in which fact and fiction are indistinguishable. "R" shares many characteristics and interests of Renee, but in the tradition of post-modern fiction we cannot automatically assume that the author within the fiction is the author Renee Gladman.

As a piece of experimental prose, the book is interesting, but ultimately, I found the work as a whole too cerebral. The discussions in the interview section are very intellectual, while the novel section is underdeveloped. Personally, I could not enjoy the book at an emotional level. Perhaps that is intentional (?), as certainly the contrast between the high-brow intellectual discourse of the interview and the "pulp fiction" of the love story couldn't be bigger.

Velvet Publishers in a new Dutch Publisher, established in November 2023. They aim to publish queer literature both in original Dutch and translated into Dutch.

Source / edition:
2025 Dutch translation by Nicolette Hoekmeijer.

Why I read this now:
I had seen the book in the local queer bookstore (De Queer Boekenkast is the only fully-owned queer bookstore left in the Netherlands, founded in 2023). Then, I picked up the book in a roadside mini library, and read it despite the fact that it is in translation (I usually prefer the original language).

I would even consider going on to read the book in English, as in the case of experimental prose this might make a difference.

Rating:

>55 edwinbcn: I'm at roughly the halfway point (page 295 of 620), and it continues to be a eminently readable description of Baldwin's life, his loves and inspirations, and how they influenced his literary output. There is plenty of rich descriptions of the queer scenes in Paris and Greenwich Village in particular, along with trips he took to Turkey, Switzerland, Ibiza and other locales where friends live which were essential to him being able to concentrate on and complete his works. There is an excellent chance that I'll reread everything by him after I finish this outstanding biography, both fiction and nonfiction, as I'll be able to approach Jimmy, my favorite author, with a brand new understanding and appreciation of him.

ETA: Great review of My Lesbian Novel.

014. Der arme Spielmann
Finished reading: 10 January 2026



Review:
Der arme Spielmann is a novella by the Austrian writer Franz Grillparzer. It was published in 1848, but its origins went back to the 1830s. Grillparzer worked on the novella for more than 10 years. The novella has characteristics of the Romantic period, gthose early decades of the Nineteenth century and Realism, as it describes the poverty of the main character, Jakob. However, the social condition described in the novella is not the result of class or inevitable circumstances, which are characteristics of the more sinister Naturalism later in the century.

The novella makes use of a framework. The narrator is a character in the story, who met the main character and relates his story as he was told by the fiddler. The atmosphere of the novella is like a fairy tale, like Grimm or Andersen or one could even think of Dickens's A Christmas Carol. With the latter it shares the idea that the condition of the main character is the result of choice or character. Through his choice for music, Jakob fell out of favour of his rich father, and had to rely of his own effort to scrape out a meagre existence as a musician and tutor. Courting the beautiful Barbara is another failed pursuit in love. In the end, he dies as a hero, after saving the lives of several children during a flood.

Despite his ill fortune and poverty, Jakob takes pride in his livelihood as a musician, even though his art is not appreciated very highly. While sneer was his share in life, in death he is held up as a pathetic hero, and even Barbara sheds a tear.

Source / edition:
Published by the German publisher Insel Verlag, this edition includes the chapter "'Der arme Spielmann'. Der Einbruch der Subjektivitaet" from the book "Wiklichkeit und Illusion. Studien ueber Gehalt und Grenzen des Begriffs Realismus fuer die Erzaelende Dichtung des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts" by Richard Brinkmann.

Why I read this now:
I am trying to read more German.

Rating:

It's wonderful that you are such a polyglot, Edwin. How many languages do you read in? I had a professor in grad school who spoke 14 languages.

>59 labfs39:

I read fluently in 5 languages, English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish. I cannot read very well in Chinese. I can read Chinese essays on literature, culture and education, but with difficulty and so very slowly.

>60 edwinbcn: That's impressive, Edwin. About how many Chinese characters do you think you know?

>61 labfs39: I have no idea, because I did not systematically study (writing) the characters. I guess I know about 2500 characters. About 4000 characters are needed to read a newspaper.

>62 edwinbcn: I see, thanks for sharing.

015. Thomas Love Peacock
Finished reading: 10 January 2026



Review:
Lionel Madden wrote a concise biography about Thomas Love Peacock in the Literature in Perspective series. Peocock wrote most of his major works between 1815, when he was 30, and 1860.

Almost 15 years younger than Coleridge and Wordsworth, and a few years older than Shelley and Byron, Peacock was close friends with them, and outlived all of them. In old age he wrote a biography of Shelley. All four Romantic poets feature recognizably in Nightmare Abbey, one of Peacock's seven short novels. With Headlong Hall. Crotchet Castle and Gryll Grange they are four satirical novels in dialogue style.

Most of Peacock's work, with the exception of Maid Marian, which is a unique "different version" of the story of Robin Hood, are difficult to understand without a considerable amount of background knowledge of the Nineteenth century. Although this could be said of any historical novel, I feel this is more so for Peacock's work.

Prior to 1815, Peocock wrote some poetry which is of little interest. Between 1838 and 1850, his work as a high-ranking civil servant in the East India Company occupied him so much that there was no room for literary friendships and writing.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 5 novels by Thomas Love Peacock,
most recently Headlong Hall in December 2025

016. Door eigen hand. Zelfdoding en de nabestaanden
Finished reading: 10 January 2026



Review:
Authors are rarely remembered for their essays. Like Susan Sontag, Joost Zwagerman's essays, though not of the stature of Sontag's, are much more impressive than his fictional work. Zwagerman's fictional work is praised for recreating an image of our time, a reflection of Zwagerman's deep involvement of the seedy side of the world of culture in the 1990s, but his essays show that the fount of his depth is very broad reading. His essays show an erudition and intellectual scope one could not glean from his fiction.

Door eigen hand. Zelfdoding en de nabestaanden, a collection of essays and interviews, is another work of profound significance, magnified by the author's death at his own hands in 2015, ten years after its publication.

This new edition, published in 2025, is expanded with more material, and previously unpublished essays about David Foster Wallace, Ernest Hemingway, David Vann and Kurt Cobain, and a previously unpublished interview with Andrew Solomon.

There are also commemorative texts on Zwagerman by Lucas Rijneveld and David van Reybrouck.

Source / edition:
Third imprint of the new 2025 edition.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 12 books by Joost Zwagerman,
most recently Pornotheek Arcadië in October 2025.

017. Things I have withheld. Essays
Finished reading: 11 January 2026



Review:
Not every book can or needs to be (fully) understood by every reader. Things I have withheld. Essays by Kei Miller is a creative outburst of ideas and anger. The emotion and recognition of that emotion will be stronger in communities the author moves through, the queer community, and people in Britain (Scotland) and the West Indies, with an excursion into Africa.

The title of this collection of essays, Things I have withheld. Essays, aptly expresses the pent-up anger that finds expression in the essays that constitute this book.

Source / edition:
First edition (hardcover), 2021.

Why I read this now:
I had just finished reading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. The opening section of this book are a series of fictional letters to James Baldwin.

Rating:

>66 edwinbcn: This book sounds interesting, so I've added it to my local library wishlist.

>67 kidzdoc: Yes, I think you will like it.

018. Jugend ohne Gott
Finished reading: 11 January 2026



Review:
Ödön von Horváth's 1937 novel Jugend ohne Gott breathes the same atmosphere as William Golding's Lord of the Flies. In both novels a group of children degenerates into a lethal mob, culminating in the killing of one of their comrades. In Lord of the Flies, evil arises from within, as the children find themselves cut loose from civil society on an uninhabited island. In Jugend ohne Gott the children are the product of the increasingly fascist society. At the beginning of the book, the children rebel against their teacher, who is cowed into submission. Distrust and hatred come to a culmination point during a summer camp, and lead to the muder of one of the boys. While the teacher in anxious to conceal his role in the drama, he does have the moral strength to tell the truth in the end.

The two novels could be seen as pendants, with Lord of the Flies representing nature, versus Jugend ohne Gott representing nurture. As the parallels with Lord of the Flies, which was published in 1954, show, Jugend ohne Gott is a compelling book which still has a story to tell, sadly once more very apt in our time.

Source / edition:
(Gesammelte Werke, 13). Collected Works vol. 13, Suhrkamp paperback (in German).

Why I read this now:
I bought this book in 1993, but it was in my boxes in Holland while I resides overseas. I was never very eager to read it because of a disappointing reading experience with other work by this author in 1991.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
Italienische Nacht which I read in 1991.

019. In een gewoon rijtuig
Finished reading: 12 January 2026



Review:
Jan Hanlo (1912 - 1969) wrote poems since 1944, which led to the publication of three volumes of poetry in 1951 (2 vols.) and 1952. In 1952, Hanlo was widely despised for having published the poem "Oote". Although he belonged to the Group of the Fifties (Vijftigers), many of whose works were absurdistic, the poem "Oote" was condemned for its utter simplicity. Hanlo himself compared it to chridren's babbling. In a short essays, later included in In een gewoon rijtuig, he states that the mere objective of the poem is pure articulation.

In 1958, his publisher published Verzamelde Gedichten (Collected Poems), and since no new work wa published in the following ten years, a uniform compendium volume of Collected Prose was published, namely this volume In een gewoon rijtuig, which appeared in 1966.

Having published very little up till 1966, the editor freely collected all known prose belonging to various genres, and included some poetry which was overlooked or had appeared in the mean time, since 1958. The prose collected in this volume are mostly very short essays and texts or poetic prose texts.

Surprisingly, Hanlo started writing more prose between 1966 and 1969, the year he unexpectedly died in an accident. Therefore, the 2012 edition of Collected Prose is considerably expanded. That edition also includes the pothumously published Zonder geluk valt niemand van het dak, written in 1947 and first published in 1972.

Source / edition:
Hardcover first edition (1966).

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
Zonder geluk valt niemand van het dak which I read in 2015.

I also read the biography:
Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent. Biografie van Jan Hanlo by Hans Renders (Read in 2013)

020. Landschapspijn. Over de toekomst van ons platteland
Finished reading: 13 January 2026



Review:
Landschapspijn, the title of the book translates into "landscape ache". Its awkwardness is the same in Dutch, and it was the word of the year in 2017. The word of the year points toward the most prominent, pressing problem in society. Landschapspijn. Over de toekomst van ons platteland is a very concise, and very accurate guide to all that is wrong in Dutch agriculture, and the tentacles that keep the Netherlands in its stranglehold.

For more than 50 years, Dutch politicians have kicked the can down the road on nitrogen waste produced by farmers. EU regulators are no longer willing to accept that Dutch farmers opt out, and both local and European courts can no longer grant them exceptions.

Jantien de Boer is an agricultural journalist on the trail of this story for many years. She shows how re-alotment and the evr increasing drive for agricultural efficiency pushed for ever larger farms, resulting in farm factories with hundreds of cows or thousands of pigs or chickens. The dung produced by these hyper farms is highly toxic. She describes how traditional local dairy cooperations have merged into mega international businesses, holding farmers tight by pushing for lower prices in their own pursuit for profits.

EU regulations on deposit values of nitrogen now hold the Dutch economy in a stranglehold, as contruction work, road and infrastructure building are all postponed to stay within national deposit values.

She further describes how agriculture threatens to destroy nature, and how biodiversity has suffered, not only though disrupting ecological systems and habitats, but also how farmers'practices disrupt and destroy bird life on the meadows. Meanwhile, the government is apparently paralysed from taking action, pushing expers reports aside each time, as the crisis persists.

Landschapspijn. Over de toekomst van ons platteland is an excellent introduction to this problem. The original 2017 was revised and expanded into the 2019 edition, but still within 125 pages. An excellent book!

Source / edition:
2019 revised edition

Why I read this now:
I am reading up on the Netherlands.

Rating:

021. Schillen
Finished reading: 13 January 2026



Review:
"Schillen" means peeling, and peeling away is what the successive poems in this volume achieve: the transition from Rose to Thorn, as the poet gave themselves as new name.

Refreshing poetry of a young person, destined to bloom.

Source / edition:
First edition, autographed.

Rating:

022. Het Rijdes-gevoel. Barend Rijdes en het huis van A. Roland Holst
Finished reading: 14 january 2026



Review:
Het Rijdes-gevoel. Barend Rijdes en het huis van A. Roland Holst is a short memoir of Rita Verschuur (1935) about her old high school teacher, Barend Rijdes. Verschuur is a translator of Swedish literature. She grew up in Overveen, and went to school in nearby Haarlem. She studied in Amsterdam and then lived in Sweden for many years, returning to the Netherlands in 1969.

In 2002, she discovers that the a writers in residency program is funded by the estate of her former high school teacher. She delves into his life and discovers that during the 1950s Barend Rijdes published a novel that was serialized in a newspaper. She also discovers and reads his published diaries, in which she finds very little about his work as a teacher. In the memoir she also describes a school trip to Deventer, at which the children were accompanied by Barend Rijdes as well as Anton Pieck, another teacher who is now a very famous Dutch painter.

This small booklet was published in the Bergen-Reeks. Bergen is an artists' colony near Alkmaar, home to numerous writers, painters, composers and other artists for more than a century, spanning several generations. It is located upon the coast, near the city of Alkmaar, about 40 kilometers north of both Haarlem and Amsterdam. Rita Verschuur also wrote a short memoir about Simeon ten Holt, a famous Dutch composer, who also lived and worked in Bergen.

Source / edition:
Hardcover, first edition (2003).

Why I read this now:
I recently moved back to the Netherlands. now living in my hometown Alkmaar, just 12 minutes on my bike from Bergen.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
Over Simeon. Een vriendschap met Simeon Ten Holt (Read in August 2023).

023. De achtertuin
Finished reading: 14 january 2026



Review:
De achtertuin is a beautifully illustrated book about plants and animals, particularly wild life, found in his garden on the island of Texel. Short, fairy tale-like stories were written by Jan Wolkers and the beautiful illustrations, water colours, were made by his children, Bob and Tom.

The short stories would be equally enjoyable read to young children, read by young teenagers or by grown-ups of all ages. Jan Wolkers was one of the greatest Dutch painters and writers of the 20th century, who helped spread the interest and love for the natural world to a wider audience, particularly in his later years, after he had settled on the island of Texel, about 80 kilometers to the north of Amsterdam.

Source / edition:
First edition Hardcover.

Why I read this now:
I have been reading most works by Wolkers.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 32 books by Jan Wolkers,
most recently Omringd door zee in September 2025

I also read the biography:
Het litteken van de dood. De biografie van Jan Wolkers by Onno Blom (Read in December 2025)
and
Memoires van een biograaf. In de voetsporen van Jan Wolkers by Onno Blom (Read in December 2023)

024. Het Tulpboek
Finished reading: 14 january 2026



Review:
Het Tulpboek is a facsimile edition of 103 water colour plates of flowers, mostly tulps and 12 carnations. These flowers were sold at astronomical prices during a few short years in the Seventeenth Century in the Netherlands, before this bubble abruptly burst on February 3, 1637, when a merchant unexpectedly failed to sell a collection of bulbs. The madness was over.

The colour plates are preceded by three essays, most notably by Geert Mak, describing the historical background of the tulip trade and the world's first economic bubble. The three essays are richly illustrated. The original book is part of the Six Collection, held at the historical house of the Six family, now a museum. Geert Mak wrote a multi-generational biography about this family, in the book De levens van Jan Six. Een familiegeschiedenis, although the essay about this was written by Nathalie Maciesza. Mak's contribution consists in an essay about the wider phenomenon of the tulip trade in the Dutch Republic at that time.

Source / edition:
Dutch edition published in 2019.

Why I read this now:
I recently read De levens van Jan Six. Een familiegeschiedenis and found this book in the library of my mother.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 11 books by Geert Mak

025. Moord
Finished reading: 15 January 2026



Review:
Doeschka Meijsing is the older sister of Geerten Meijsing, and both are Dutch novelists. Doeschka is three years older than Geerten. Their relationship is marked by mutual irritation and rivalry, although it isn't clear whether this is serious at all or just mockery before their readership. The omnibus edition brings together two novels Moord, written by Doeschka Meijsing and Moord en doodslag by Geerten Meijsing.

The novel written by Doeschka was composed while she visited her brother, Geerten, in Italy, where he resides. Her novel mostly describes this visit to Italy, and the background of their lifelong rivalry. In the novel she ponders on murdering her brother, but this does not happen. The tone is that of irony and mockery.

in Moord en doodslag Geerten describes an Italian murder case, a book reminiscent of Capote's In cold blood. In between chapters, Geerten considers his relation with his sister, the irritation and inconvenience it gives him. The same tone of mockery. To this, Geerten adds some insight into the professional legal opinios of their father about the softening effect of circumstances in most murder cases.

The two books are vastly different. Nothing of consequence happens. The only thing that serves as a tie between these two novels are the lives of their authors as brother and sister, while thematically, both novels describe some form of their rivalry and mocking irritation. Nonetheless, they bring their work together, they succesfully cooperate, although no love is lost between them.

The novels themselves are not very interesting. What is interesting are their little mockeries.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 15 books by Geerten Meijsing,
most recently Werken & Dagen (1974 - 1991) in January 2025

and
I have read 11 books by Doeschka Meijsing,
most recently Vuur en zijde in August 2025

026. Het slimme lichaam. Hoe onze zintuigen onze keuzes beïnvloeden
Finished reading: 16 january 2026



Review:
Het slimme lichaam. Hoe onze zintuigen onze keuzes beïnvloeden is a bit boring to read through, but excellently achieves its objective. It shows that there is an empirical basis for many proverbs involving our senses. In each chapter the author describes a number of empirical experiments to show how people are influenced by sensory perceptions without awareness. The experiments show, for instance, that holding a warm beverage before meeting someone will influence their perception of this person. Greater weight of objects will change our idea of them, for instance change our idea about their quality or value. Lobel reviews similar research into our various senses, touch, vision, hearing, smell etc along various perceptions such as rough versus smooth, light versus heavy, light and dark, but also clean and dirty. In many cases she is able to point to proverbs or sayings, suggesting that although the we may be unaware of the underlying mechanism, folk observation has been quite correct for many centuries.

Source / edition:
I read the Dutch translation of a book that was first published in English.

Why I read this now:
I found it in a road side library.

Rating:

027. Het net, de duif en de dood
Finished reading: 17 January 2026



Review:
Most works by Chaja Polak are about the experiences of Jewish people during the Second World War and the Holocaust, or about the lives of survivors. Het net, de duif en de dood is different. In these short stories she explores the impact of (other) great and shocking events on children.

Source / edition:
First edition paperback, 2024.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 8 books by Chaja Polak,
most recently Het verdriet van de vrede in January 2026.

>71 edwinbcn: Fascinated by this book on nitrogen management. I hadn't realised that Dutch farmers have an opt out. In Canada the process for animal waste goes by the innocuous sounding "nutrient management" rubric, but is at least seen as a must. I fear your book will never be translated. The fact that "Landschapspijn" could become the word of the year, shows how important the whole topic is.

>74 edwinbcn: >75 edwinbcn: More interesting books

>79 SassyLassy: Dutch farmers did not have an opt out. They just found ways to circumvent regulations, but apparently Dutch and European courts leave them no further room for evasion. In those 50 years they just always got away, and no real solutions were ever put forward, or were rejected.

While the main contributers are the farmers, the deposition balance sheet it looked over at the national level, so while the major polluters fail to budge, minor contributers are punished. Local governments cannot grant permits to activities which cause more output of nitrogen, such as construction work, while there is a major housing crisis.

028. Keith Haring journals
Finished reading: 17 January 2026



Review:
Keith Haring Journals, a title without unnecessary embellishment, brings together all journals by Keith Haring from 1977 to 2009.There were many years when very little or even nothing was written. The period 1980 to 1986 counts only 37 pages, as nothing was written for 1981 and 1985, while for some years only a single entry, for instance 1983. 1977 to 1979 is one of the most interesting sections, as it describes his formative years, and journal entries often reflect thinking about the development of his art.

Keith Haring started writing about the Aids epidemic early on, as he was right in the middle of it when the first cases started emerging and people all around started dying. His journals are a testament to the onset of the epidemic, describing how the disease was talked about and seen in the beginning of its emergence throughout the early 1980s. The journal for 1987 is one of the larger sections, but Haring does not mention that he tested HIV-positive during that year. Neither does he write about being diagnosed with Aids in 1988. The journal for 1988 has several entries for January and the jumps to the end of July. In August and September 1988, the journal only lists activities. However, most of the journal consists of running text.

On various pages, photos and sketches appear alonside text of the journals. Each year is followed by 1 - 3 pages listing exhibitions and publications in that year. The journals are preceded by a short introduction by Shepard Fairey.

Keith Haring's journals are a fascinating time document, describing the art scene from the late 1970 through the 1990s, and numerous other artists belonging to that scene. The journals are also a testament to the beginning and unfolding of the aids epidemic.

Source / edition:
Penguin Classics Deluxe edition, published in 2010.

Rating:

>69 edwinbcn: I like your comparisons of Lord of the Flies and Youth Without God.

>75 edwinbcn: Never knew the first economic bubble involved tulips.

>76 edwinbcn: Interesting premise for a book: two bickering siblings. I assume both books were written for the purpose, not cobbled together after?

>82 labfs39: Yes. Those books were written for that purpose. In the mean time I have moved on to reading their correspondence, and I have just finished reading the first volume of her diaries. It seems my suspicions about the socalled feud are "artificial" or faked for the fun of hoodwinking their readership.

029. Satori in Paris
Finished reading: 17 January 2026



Review:
Several writers of the Beat Generation were interested in Chinese and Japanese culture and (Zen) Buddhism, as was Jack Kerouac. "Satori" -- the Japanese word that appears in the title of this novella, Satori in Paris, signifies the Buddhist concept of a moment of awakening, a moment of reaching some deep insight.

Satori in Paris is a short novella in which Kerouac describes a trip to Paris. Belonging to his later work it is characterized by his late style of stream of conscious writing, while the writer appears to be inebriated or otherwise high. In this particular work, the overall effect of that is a feeling of happiness. To Kerouac, his trip to Paris was a quest to look for his French identity. Early on he explores the possible origin and meaning of his name. What exactly his moment of awakening would be, is not mentioned very clearly in the novella. As Kerouach points twice toward the taxi driver, both at the beginning and at the end, at least part of his experience lies in interaction with this man.It seems to be a profound feeling of connection at the human level. Apparently, the trip to France was a kind of homecoming to Kerouac, which, however, went much deeper that his identification as belonging to a French background, more so a deeply and spiritually experienced sense of humanity.

I that sense, Satori in Paris should not be seen as a minor work easily dismissed, but as a text central to Kerouac's work.

Source / edition:
Penguin Modern Classics edition of 2012.

Why I read this now:
I have been reading a lot of Kerouac and other Beat Generation writers ever since Club Read members, particularly StevenTX recommended their writings, some time back in 2008.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 20 books by Kerouac,
most recently: Atop an Underwood. Early stories and other writings in September 2025.

030. Sinkende Sterne
Finished reading: 18 January 2026



Review:
Perhaps it is best to see Sinkende Sterne by the Swiss author Thomas Hettche as a dystopian science-fiction novel. Alternatively, it could be seen as a bleak fantasy novel of a surrealist kind. At the heart of the story is the trip of a man into Switzerland to sell the holiday home of his parents after their death. However, the entire Swiss setting, both the physical landscape and society seem a grotesk distortion of reality. However, which reality? Is this a nightmare of a child, or the fear of the adult, or a strange mixture. Certainly some of the grotestk particularities seem enlarged twisted versions of reality, such as a sense of backwardness and seclusion, and fear of and barring outsiders. Natural phenomena seem to be extreme as well, like an avalanche of rock, a landslide which supposedly led to this state. The peculiar phenomena are linked with modern-day threats such as climate change and wokeism. The sale of the holiday home is apparently blocked by insurmountable financial obstructions. However, the narrator should not be seen as entirely rational. Doesn't the bleak distortion stem from his griefing mind?

Source / edition:
First edition hardcover, published in 2023.

Rating:

031. Island
Finished reading:



Review:
Had Aldous Huxley's work been published in our time, it would have been characterised as a great novel of mindfulness. Island is a philosophical-political novel, sometimes described as a dystopian science-fiction novel.

Aldous Huxley belongs to the generation of writers before the Beat Generation. Like the writers of the Beat Generation, Huxley was interested in and experimented with the use to drugs, which connects him to writers such as William Burroughs and Timothy Leary, with his books Heaven and Hell and The Doors of Perception. Huxley was also deeply interested in philosophy and Asian philosophy and religion, as for instance with his work The Perennial Philosophy. Huxley was early to publish a dystopian science-fiction novel, Brave New World, for which he is still most widely known.

Island is a threatened island nation, named Pali. Its society is based on principles of Asian philosophy, with much emphasis on harmony and mindfulness. It seems a "Tahitian" world of sensuous delight and pleasure. However, the existence and future of this blessed kingdom is threatened by the attempts of a neighbouring dictator who tries to corrupt the young Crown Prince to sell out to capitalism, ready to exploit the oil resources of the island nation.

Unfortunately, Island is a very boring novel to read, as it involves too much explaining of the philosophical underpinnings of the story. Besides, the story-line of the apparently pedophile dictator attempting to seduce the gorgeous crown prince and thus grab the spoils seems outdated.

Source / edition:
First edition hardcover, published in 1962.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 20 books by Huxley,
most recently: Limbo in December 2022.

032. Die Holländerinnen
Finished reading: 19 January 2026



Review:
Die Holländerinnen by the Swiss author Dorothee Elmiger is a harsh criticism on the modern global lifestyle. The narrator is lost between worlds of reality and fiction, and throughout the short novel there is a paranoid sense of fragmentation, disconnection and estarngement. Told in reported style, there is a clear divide between experience and event. The narrator lives in a world of postmodern literary theory. However, a truly existential event, namely a goat giving birth in a dark stable in the Swiss mountains near Tockenburg scares her to death, while this stands for the essential (historical) Swiss life. Likewise, and attempt to experience the life of her subject in the jungle in South America scares he into delusion. Her disconnectedness is further exemplified by the fact that she never knows the names of the two Dutch women, neither the real-life subjects nor the actresses she works with. Die Holländerinnen is a very densily packed novel, which will be a treasure trove for PhD students to come. However, without digging into all details, I this the average reader, like myself, can still enjoy the best parts of the novel and get a good sense of what the novel is about.

Source / edition:
Seventh imprint of the first edition.

Rating:

033. Buiten spelen
Finished reading:



Review:
Buiten spelen was published as an essay in the Month of Spirituality in 2011. I would wonder if lack of spirituality would also fall within the scope of this theme, as this essays thoroughly disgusted me by the sense of entitlement expressed in its pages. A look at another book by this author confirmed my initial idea that this person is a total and totally disgusting nit-wit.

Source / edition:
First edition hardcover.

Rating:

034. De onzichtbare jongen
Finished reading: 20 january 2026



Review:
Memory in all its forms, distorted or suppressed and often related to forgotten or suppressen memories plays a central role in the work of Bernlef. De onzichtbare jongen is a novel about a friendship between two boys. Their hobbies, particularly Max's interest in wind are lifelong given facts. Close friends in early youth the boys lose track of each other, and their lives are remembered. Only toward the end of the novel pieces of wonderment fall into place, as the trauma in Max's life is revealed in his experience of the great flood of 1953.

Within the work of Bernlef, De onzichtbare jongen is a relatively light and optimistic novel, closely tied in with the landscape of the Netherlands.

Source / edition:
First edition hardcover.

Why I read this now:
Since my return to the Netherlands, I have started reading many more books by Bernlef because he was born near my hometown and lived in the village where I live. Many of his later novels are set in various parts of North Holland, and descriptions of places are sometimes clearly identifyable.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 28 books by Jan Bernlef,
most recently: Het begin van tranen in December 2025.

035. Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 1. Rome
Finished reading: 21 january 2026



Review:
Louis Couperus was the great writer of the Dutch belle epoque. Having grown up in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia), he never enjoyed living in the Netherlands, which he found cold, both in the sense of the climate, as well as the people. Through his love of art, particularly classical antiquity, he spent as much time as possible in the Mediterranean, preferably in Italy. Beside fiction, Couperus wrote travelogues which were published in weekly installments in Dutch newspapers between 1896 and 1915. These travelogues were written in different forms: letters, essays, feuilletons and diaries. At the instigation of the author, from 1912 these feuilletons were also collected in small paper covered editions to be sold at railway stations, a novelty Couperus had observed abroad, namely the publication of the earliest paperbacks. Eventually, they were published in the more prestigious hardcover editions. Many of Couperus books published with Veen, his publisher, have beautiful art deco covers.

Couperus's earliest travel impressions appeared in the slim volume Reis-impressies. These were still largely factual descriptions of various places in Italy. In later collections Couperus mixed his gorgeous descriptive style with his imagination. Instead of describing the ruins before his eyes, he would describe Rome in its full splendor as it appeared in his mind's eye. This resulted in two gorgeous books Uit blanke steden onder blauwe lucht vols 1 and 2. In later works, he introduced a further element of fiction, namely his imaginary friendship with an aristocratic and very rich Italian whom he names Orlando. This person, nor his residence, as they appear in Couperus's work has ever been identified. Feuilletons about Orlando and Couperus in Italy are collected in four volumes of Van en over mijzelf en anderen.

Between 1912 and 1914, Couperus published five volumes of travelogues, in the form of diaries of about 3 pages, in the series Van en over alles en iedereen (five vols.). During the First World War, the Netherlands was neutral. Still, due to the war, Couperus spent the second period in Switzerland. The War is hardly mentioned in these pages.

Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 1. Rome is the first volume, collecting 28 feuilletons in Rome. In these reports from Rome, Couperus appears humorous and very honest, without fear of ridicule or disdain. He describes where to go for tea on a shoestring while appearing to be wealthy. He writes that he has more fun in the cinema (then a novelty) than at the opera house. Sometimes he has a day of ennui and admits that he doesn't know what to write about. Very different from the collections mentioned above, Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 1. Rome is a delightful and light collections of travel writing in Rome.

Source / edition:
Collected works published in 1990.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 24 books by Couperus,
most recently: De ongelukkige in October 2025.

036. Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 2. Geneve en Florence
Finished reading: 21 January 2026



Review:
Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 2. Geneve en Florence is the second volume in this series of feuilletons or travelogues by Louis Couperus. Due to the outbreak of the First World War, in which the Netherlands remained neutral, Couperus travelled to Geneva. The feuilletons in this collection feature some unusual topics unique to the work of Couperus such as writing about various kinds of birds he observed on the lakeside in Geneva. This volume contains 22 essays, about half of which are about Geneva, while the others are about his subsequent stay in his beloved Italy, namely in Florence. Here he describes specific sights of Florence, but also the atmosphere in the streets.

Why I read this now:
This is the second volume contained as part 2 in the Collected Works edition.

Rating:

037. The subtle art of not giving a f*ck. A counterintuitive approach to living a good life
Finished reading: 25 january 2026



Review:
For the past five years I have been having quite some bad fortune, so as of late I have picked up quite a few self-help guides offering different approaches to pulling yourself up out of the Slough of Despond. (No, I did not re-read the Bible.)

Stylistically, this book is obviously a bit more geared toward the younger generation, but it is equally enjoyable and refreshing to read when you are older. And obviously, it has all been said before in ever so many other books.

Fun to read.

Why I read this now:
Another attempt to cope with various problems in life.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read two books by this author,
most recently: Life, love, books. Advice you wish your parents had given you in September 2025.

038. Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 3. Sicilie, Venetie en Munchen
Finished reading: 26 january 2026



Review:
Volume 3 of Couperus travelogues in weekly feuilletons, Van en over alles en iedereen, deel 3. Sicilie, Venetie en Munchen consists of 24 essays about Naples, Sicily, including Palermo and Taormina, 9 essays about Venice, and the remainder about Germany, especially around Munich, where he writes about Wagner's opera Der Ring des Nibelungen and various sights in and around Munich.

Rating:

039. Vuurduin. Aantekeningen bij een wereld die verdwijnt
Finished reading: 27 January 2026



Review:
Eva Meijer was invited to write Vuurduin. Aantekeningen bij een wereld die verdwijnt as an essay for the Month of Philosophy in 2021. She is a philosopher and internationally reknowned scholar in the field of multi-species communities, animal languages and rights for non-human species. In 2025, Routledge published her book Multispecies Dialogues: Doing Philosophy with Animals, Children, the Sea and Others.

In Vuurduin she lightly brings these various field together. The basis for this small book is a trip she made with her dog, Doris, whom she describes as a true companion. She describes her bond with her dog, and the way dogs and humans have evolved together. Referring to Montaigne, and Olga Tokarczuk, she points out how animals have always been mistreated, even by scientists studying their behavior. Her latest book, for instance, Muizenleven (2025), is specifically about the life of mice in labs.

The trip in Vuurduin is undertaken to visit the Dutch Wadden island called Vlieland. Wandering along the beach and in the dunes with Doris, Meijer also reflects on the loss of biodiversity, and the dangers to the landscape and life as we know it posed by climate change. In this context she also speaks of “ecological grief” -- a concept increasingly circulating among younger people mourning the loss of flora and fauna through ongoing mass extinction, and impotence at fighting climate change, wrought on their and future generations, specifically by their parents and grand-parents over roughly the past 100 years.

Eva Meijer is also a novelist and poet. Several of her works have been translated into English (and 20 other languages), such as Sea Now, very different from the BBC science-fiction series "The War Between the Land and the Sea", but still at a deeper level closely related, and Bird Cottage, besides many more.

Rating:

Other books I have read by this author:
I have read 4 books by Eva Meijer,
most recently: Het vogelhuis