Anita (FAMeulstee) goes there where the books take her in 2021 (6)

Welcome to my sixth 2021 thread!

I am Anita Meulstee (58), married with Frank (59) since 1984. We live in Lelystad, the Netherlands. We both love modern art, books and walking.

I have been hanging around in this group a few months after finding LibraryThing in March 2008. I skipped one year (2013), when my reading dropped to almost nothing. This was a side effect of taking Paxil. In 2015 I was able to wean off Paxil, and a year later my reading skyrocketed. The last year it is slowing down, my initial "reading hunger" has waned a bit.

I read (almost) everything, from childrens and YA books to more serious literature, mysteries, historical fiction, fantasy and I try not to forget to throw some non-fiction into the mix.
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Pets in my life

I always wanted a dog, but fate sended me some cats first when I moved out to live on my own.
In Rotterdam I lived a few months in a temporary students house (anti-crack). Three floors and 8 rooms at each floor with shared kitchen and bathroom. It was an old building, plagued by rats, and a former resident had taken two cats to keep the rats out. Dikkie and Biertje, mother and daughter, did a good job. But Dikkie had a servere allergy, and had scabs all over her body. She loved to be cuddled, but because of the scabs, most residents pushed her away. So... I took her to the vet, and when it was time to move on, as the building would be taken down, everyone assumed I would take the cats with me.
Meanwhile I got a third cat, when I was visiting a schoolfriend who had kittens. I said if I every would get a cat it has to be an all black one. And of course the one kitten left was... all black. I named him Bobbejaan, shortened to Bobbe, and I tried to turn him into a dog.
He would walk on a red leash, or sit on my shoulder under my hair when he got overwhelmed, as I took him everywhere. He served as my "dog" until I got a real dog a few months later: Youri, a Belgian Shepherd.
When I moved in with Frank, Biertje didn't do well in the appartment, so she went to live at the farm of my uncle.
Then Rowan came, a beautiful ginger, half Persian, who loved to watch snooker with Frank on the couch. And got seriously annoyed when visitors took "his place" next to Frank.
Dikkie got very ill and was put to sleep. Our university life ended, and we found jobs. Sadly Bobbe and Rowan were used to have us around most of the day, and didn't very well on their own. After much deliberation we decided to find a new home for them.
Two days after our desicion Bobbe ran away, and Rowan found a new home.

From left to right: Bobbe 8 weeks old; Bobbe, Dikkie and Biertje; Rowan on his couch
  
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Walking
Our local walking project: walking the dikes that surround the Flevopolder, the largest artificial island of the world.

Once in a while we go by car to the place where we ended the previous time. We walk about 3 km (and back), the total distance is about 142 km. We have walked over 130 km, and 11,6 km left to go.

Left: the province Flevoland (red) is in the middle of our country.
Right: Map of the Flevopolder, the red line is the part that we have walked until now.
 

total books read in 2021: 145
38 own / 107 library

total pages read in 2021: 44.107

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currently reading:
De vertellingen van duizend-en-één nacht deel 2 (2/3) translated by Richard van Leeuwen, 1112 pages, started 01-01-2021
Ideeën van Multatuli. Derde bundel by Multatuli, 782 pages, started 2021-02-01

Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson, 1596 pages, TIOLI #6

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books read in June 2021 (24 books, 8.547 pages, 10 own / 14 library)
book 122: De dag van de doden (The Day of the Dead, Frieda Klein 8) by Nicci French, 365 pages, TIOLI #8 (msg 60)
book 123: De essays (The Complete Essays) by Michel de Montaigne, 1557 pages, TIOLI #12 (msg 61)
book 124: Connemara: Luisterend naar de wind (Connemara. Listening to the Wind) by Tim Robinson, 462 pages, TIOLI #1 (msg 92)
book 125: Vrijwilliger in Spanje (Volunteer in Spain) by John Sommerfield, 172 pages, TIOLI #12 (msg 93)
book 126: De zwarte diamant (Black Diamond) by Martin Walker, 317 pages, TIOLI #6 (msg 129)
book 127: Circe (Circe) by Madeline Miller, 384 pages, TIOLI #9 (msg 130)
book 128: In Siberië (In Siberia) by Colin Thubron, 318 pages, TIOLI #9 (msg 131)
book 129: БAM : een reis van niets naar niets by Jelle Brandt Corstius, 130 pages, TIOLI #14 (msg 132)
book 130: Sneeuwblind (Snowblind) by Ragnar Jónasson, 286 pages, TIOLI #9 (msg 138)
book 131: Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoë) by Daniel Defoe, 270 pages, TIOLI #12 (msg 139)
book 132: Het geluid van de berg (The Sound of the Mountain) by Yasunari Kawabata, 236 pages, TIOLI #15 (msg 140)
book 133: Wat wij zagen by Hanna Bervoets, 94 pages, TIOLI #16 (msg 141)
book 134: Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten by F. ten Harmsen van der Beek, 42 pages, TIOLI #7 (msg 152)
book 135: De tijgerkat. Herinneringen aan mijn kindertijd en andere verhalen by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, 445 pages, TIOLI #12 (msg 153)
book 136: Cliënt E. Busken by Jeroen Brouwers, 257 pages, TIOLI #3 (msg 163)
book 137: Wraak en andere novellen (Legends of the Fall) by Jim Harrison, 273 pages, TIOLI #2 (msg 164)
book 138: De gierzwaluw by Remco Daalder, 205 pages, TIOLI #13 (msg 165)
book 139: Een roos van vlees (A Rose of Flesh) by Jan Wolkers, 194 pages, TIOLI #5 (msg 166)
book 140: Het veelkleurig land (The Many-Colored Land) by Julian May, 393 pages, TIOLI #4 (msg 178)
book 141: De 90ste verjaardag van Louis van Roosgaarde by Jan Terlouw, 319 pages, TIOLI #10 (msg 179)
book 142: De gouden halsring (The Golden Torc) by Julian May, 399 pages, TIOLI #7 (msg 178)
book 143: De druiven der gramschap (The Grapes of Wrath) by John Steinbeck, 603 pages, TIOLI #11 (msg 180)
book 144: Johannes Viator by Frederik van Eeden, 412 pages, TIOLI #14 (msg 181)
book 145: De troonveroveraar (The Nonborn King) by Julian May, 411 pages, TIOLI #12 (msg 178)

June 2021 reading plans
Ideeën by Mutatuli, 3846 pages (1252/3846)
De vertellingen van duizend-en-één nacht deel 2 translated by Richard van Leeuwen, 1112 pages

TIOLI June 2021 SWEEP
#1: Read a book with a liquid on the front cover
- Connemara: Luisterend naar de wind (Connemara. Listening to the Wind)- Tim Robinson, 462 pages (library)
#2: Read a Western
- Wraak en andere novellen (Legends of the Fall) - Jim Harrison, 273 pages
#3: Read a book with a standalone capital letter in the title
- Cliënt E. Busken - Jeroen Brouwers, 257 pages
#4: Tagmash Rolling Challenge
- Het veelkleurig land (The Many-Colored land) - Julian May, 393 pages
#5: Read a book with a flower in the title or author's name
- Een roos van vlees (A rose of flesh) - Jan Wolkers, 194 pages
#6: Read a book that completes a square in Seattle Public Library's 2021 Book Bingo card
- De zwarte diamant (Black Diamond) - Martin Walker, 318 pages (library)
- Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) - Uwe Johnson, 1596 pages
#7: Read a book in honor of my 56th birthday (rolling)
- Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten - F. ten Harmsen van der Beek, 42 pages
- De gouden halsring (The Golden Torc) - Julian May, 399 pages
#8: Read a book where at least two of the title words start with the same letter
- De dag van de doden (The Day of the Dead, Frieda Klein 8) - Nicci French, 365 pages (e-library)
#9: Read a book where The title is shorter than the author's name
- Circe (Circe) - Madeline Miller, 384 pages (e-library)
- In Siberië (In Siberia) - Colin Thubron, 319 pages (library)
- Sneeuwblind (Snowblind) - Ragnar Jónasson, 286 pages (e-library)
#10: Read a novel written by a politician or journalist
- De 90ste verjaardag van Louis van Roosgaarde - Jan Terlouw, 319 pages (e-library)
#11: Read a books whose title takes the form "The xxx of yyyy"
- De druiven der gramschap (The Grapes of Wrath) - John Steinbeck, 603 pages (e-library)
#12: Read a book where the first name of the writer comes alphabeticly before the last name
- De essays (The Complete Essays) - Michel de Montaigne, 1557 pages (e-library)
- Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoë) - Daniel Defoe, 270 pages (e-library)
- Vrijwilliger in Spanje (Volunteer in Spain) - John Sommerfield, 172 pages (library)
- De tijgerkat. Herinneringen aan mijn kindertijd en andere verhalen - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, 445 pages (library)
- De troonveroveraar (The Nonborn King) - Julian May, 411 pages
? De tegenstrever (The Adversary) - Julian May, 478 pages
#13: Read a non-fiction book about some aspect of nature
- De gierzwaluw - Remco Daalder, 205 pages (e-library)
#14: Read a book where the title and the author’s name both have a double letter in them
- БAM : een reis van niets naar niets - Jelle Brandt Corstius, 130 pages (e-library)
- Johannes Viator - Frederik van Eeden, 413 pages
#15: Read a book that shares a common word with a book title or author’s name that is #65 on any LT list AND that you read in the past
- Het geluid van de berg (The Sound of the Mountain) - Yasunari Kawabata, 236 pages
#16: Read a book whose title starts with one of the words "who," "what," "when", "where," "why," or "how"
- Wat wij zagen - Hanna Bervoets, 94 pages

Reading plans in 2021
Reading books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list
Read some big tomes (1000+ pages)
Read books by Nobel Prize for Literature winners

I join the TIOLI (Take It Or Leave It) challenges each month.

--
Some big tomes I might read in 2021:
Ideeën (1-7) by Multatuli, 3846 pages
Man zonder eigenschappen (The man without qualities) by Robert Musil, 1785 pages
De razende Roeland (Orlando furioso) by Ludovico Ariosto, 1783 pages
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson, 1596 pages
✔ De essays (The complete essays) by Michel de Montaigne, 1557 pages
De kracht van Atlantis (Atlas shrugged) by Ayn Rand, 1373 pages
De vertellingen van duizend-en-één-nacht deel 2 translated by Richard van Leeuwen, 1112 pages
Luitenant-kolonel de Maumort by Roger Martin du Gard, 1077 pages
De vertellingen van duizend-en-één-nacht deel 3 translated by Richard van Leeuwen, 1047 pages
Baron by Theun de Vries, 1016 pages

Totals since 2008:

Books read in Januari
book 1: Bankier (Banker) by Dick Francis
book 2: Ik kom terug by Adriaan van Dis
book 3: De kille maagd (The Virgin in the Ice; Cadfael 6) by Ellis Peters
book 4: 1177 v.Chr. : het einde van de beschaving (1177 BCE: The Year Civilization Collapsed) by Eric H. Cline
book 5: De dood in Rome (Death in Rome) by Wolfgang Koeppen
book 6: De laatste dag by Beppe Fenoglio
book 7: Wie vlucht en wie blijft (Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay; Neapolitan Novels 3) by Elelna Ferrante
book 8: Het onbekende kind (The golden egg; Brunetti 22) by Donna Leon
book 9: Treindromen (Train Dreams) by Denis Johnson
book 10: Angstige mensen (Anxious people) by Fredrik Backman
book 11: Boven water (Konráð 2) by Arnaldur Indriðason
book 12: De tocht van de tienduizend (The Anabasis) by Xenofon
book 13: De levende berg (The Living Mountain) by Nan Shepherd
book 14: Het Rosie resultaat (The Rosie result) by Graeme Simsion
book 15: De nachtstemmer by Maarten 't Hart
book 16: Reis door de Oriënt by Gustave Flaubert
book 17: Gewaagd leven by Astrid Roemer, 239 pages
book 18: Ideeën van Multatuli. Tweede bundel by Mutatuli

Books read in Februari
book 19: Morgen toen de oorlog begon (Tomorrow, when the war began; Tomorrow 1) by John Marsden
book 20: Het verhaal van het verloren kind (The Story of the Lost Child; Neapolitan Novels 4) by Elelna Ferrante
book 21: Over paden : een ontdekkingstocht (On trails : an exploration) by Robert Moor
book 22: Tegenstroom (A Necessary End, Inspector Banks 3) by Peter Robinson
book 23: Ik, Claudius (I, Claudius) by Robert Graves
book 24: Veranderingen (Change) by Mo Yan
book 25: Het holst van de nacht (The Dead of the Night) by John Marsden
book 26: Nachtvlucht (Night Flight) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
book 27: Kindertijd (Childhood) by Tove Ditlevsen
book 28: Denken aan vrijdag (Friday on my mind) by Nicci French
book 29: Sodom en Gomorra (Sodom and Gomorrah; In search of lost time 4) by Marcel Proust
book 30: Rinkeldekink by Martine Bijl
book 31: Beminde (Beloved) by Tony Morrison
book 32: Lijken op liefde by Astrid Roemer
book 33: Alleen : de Pacific Crest Trail by Tim Voors
book 34: Het nut van de wereld by J.M.A. Biesheuvel
book 35: Het enige verhaal (The Only Story) by Julian Barnes
book 36: Jeugd (Youth) by Tove Ditlevsen
book 37: Huis van volmaakte eenzaamheid (House of Splendid Isolation) by Edna O'Brien
book 38: Afhankelijkheid (Dependency) by Tove Ditlevsen

books read in March
book 39: Een kroon van zwaarden (A Crown of Swords, Wheel of Time 7) by Robert Jordan
book 40: Een kille dageraad (A Killing Frost, Tomorrow 3) by John Marsden
book 41: De avond valt (Darkness, Be My Friend, Tomorrow 4) by John Marsden
book 42: Butcher's Crossing (Butcher's Crossing) by John Williams
book 43: Ik ben er even niet (I'm Off Then) by Hape Kerkeling
book 44: Bergje by Bregje Hofstede
book 45: Bezoek van de knokploeg (A Visit from the Goon Squad) by Jennifer Egan
book 46: Confrontaties by Simone Atangana Bekono
book 47: Het uur van de wraak (Burning for Revenge, Tomorrow 5) by John Marsden
book 48: Wandelparadijs Nederland: te voet door alle provincies by John Jansen van Galen
book 49: Tussen de regels (By its cover, Brunetti 23) by Donna Leon
book 50: Christus kwam niet verder dan Eboli (Christ Stopped at Eboli) by Carlo Levi
book 51: De omweg naar Santiago (Roads to Santiago) by Cees Nooteboom
book 52: Camino (Two steps forward) by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist
book 53: Kameleon, ahoy! by H. de Roos
book 54: Groene Heinrich by Gottfried Keller

books read in April
book 55: De Cock en de dwaze maagden by A.C. Baantjer
book 56: Wachten op het donker (The Night is for Hunting, Tomorrow 6) by John Marsden
book 57: Een andere kant van vrijheid (The Other side of Dawn, Tomorrow 7) by John Marsden
book 58: Oeroeg (The Black Lake) by Hella Haasse, 79 pages
book 59: De duivelse droom (The Devil's novice) by Ellis Peters
book 60: De man die kon rekenen (The Man Who Counted) by Malba Tahan
book 61: Zondeval (The Hanging Valley, Inspector Banks 4) by Peter Robinson
book 62: Meisje, vrouw, anders (Girl, woman, other) by Bernardine Evaristo
book 63: Van oude mensen, de dingen die voorbijgaan (Old People and The Things That Pass) by Louis Couperus
book 64: Over liefde en over niets anders by Toon Tellegen
book 65: Jheronimus Bosch: Visioenen van een genie (Hieronymus Bosch: Visions of Genius) by Matthijs Ilsink
book 66: Drie dingen over Elsie (Three Things About Elsie) by Joanna Cannon
book 67: De waarheid over honden (The Truth about Dogs) by Stephen Budiansky
book 68: De naam van mijn vader by Rindert Kromhout
book 69: De vriend (The friend) by Sigrid Nunez
book 70: De vergelding (The dark vineyard) by Martin Walker
book 71: De drie musketiers (The Three Musketeers) by Alexandre Dumas
book 72: Leon & Juliette by Annejet van der Zijl
book 73: Alles tegen (Odds Against) by Dick Francis
book 74: Het jaar van de tuinier (The Gardener's Year) by Karel Čapek
book 75: Winnetou (Winnetou) by Karl May
book 76: Verloren woorden (The lost words) by Robert Macfarlane
book 77: Smalle paden (Thin Paths) by Julia Blackburn
book 78: Foon by Marente de Moor
book 79: Archief van verloren kinderen (Lost Children Archive) by Valeria Luiselli
book 80: De drieëntwintig dagen van de stad Alba (The Twenty-three Days of the City of Alba) by Beppe Fenoglio
book 81: Tussen Orinoco en Amazone (In Trouble Again) by Redmond O'Hanlon
book 82: Afscheid van Berlijn (Goodbye to Berlin) by Christopher Isherwood
book 83: Volwassenen onder elkaar (Adults In The Room) by Yanis Varoufakis
book 84: De Schotse marsen (The Marches) by Rory Stewart
book 85: De heilige Rita (The Blessed Rita) by Tommy Wieringa
book 86: De jaren (The Years) by Annie Ernaux

books read in May
book 87: De 3 bestaat niet by Gerbrand Bakker
book 88: De vermiste prins (The Missing Prince, Rangers Apprentice 15) by John Flanagan
book 89: Een vrouw in de poolnacht (A Woman in the Polar Night) by Christiane Ritter
book 90: De eerste wandelaar by Flip van Doorn
book 91: Grijs verleden (Field Grey, Bernie Gunther 7) by Philip Kerr
book 92: Het geheime netwerk van de natuur (The Secret Network of Nature) by Peter Wohlleben
book 93: Een paleis voor de doden by Herman Clerinx
book 94: Overtuiging (Persuation) by Jane Austen
book 95: Ik aanbid je (Falling in Love, Brunetti 24) by Donna Leon
book 96: Het zout der aarde (Salt of the Earth) by Józef Wittlin
book 97: De hengelaars van Castelnau (The origin of the world) by Pierre Michon
book 98: Het pad der dolken (The Path of Daggers, Wheel of time 8) by Robert Jordan
book 99: De Cock en de dode tempeliers by A.C. Baantjer
book 100: Brekebeen (Bonecrack) by Dick Francis
book 101: Wit konijn, rode wolf (White Rabbit, Red Wolf) by Tom Pollock
book 102: Asterix en het gouden snoeimes (Asterix and the Golden Sickle) by René Goscinny
book 103: Vlucht van de havik (Celtic bride) by Margo Maguire
book 104: Als het zaterdag wordt (Saturday Requiem, Frieda Klein 6) by Nicci French
book 105: Een lied voor Achilles (The Song of Achilles) by Madeline Miller
book 106: De betovering van lijsten (The infinity of lists: from Homer to Joyce) by Umberto Eco
book 107: Piranesi (Piranesi) by Susanna Clarke
book 108: Portnoy's klacht (Portnoy's Complaint) by Philip Roth
book 109: In het licht van de vuurtoren (The lightkeeper's daughters) by Jean E. Pendziwol
book 110: De onbeduidende Jude (Jude the Obscure) by Thomas Hardy
book 111: De passievrucht (A Father's Affair) by Karel Glastra van Loon
book 112: De vergaderzaal by A. Alberts
book 113: De zwarte heuvel (On the black hill) by Bruce Chatwin
book 114: Rituelen (Rituals) by Cees Nooteboom
book 115: De bibliotheek bij nacht (The library at night) by Alberto Manguel
book 116: Getemde schoonheid (Briana) by Ruth Langan
book 117: Ik wou (I Wish) by Toon Tellegen
book 118: Quarantaine by Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer
book 119: Claudius de God (Claudius the God) by Robert Graves
book 120: De Cock en de blijde Bacchus by A.C. Baantjer
book 121: Zondagochtend breekt aan (Sunday Silence) by Nicci French

Monthly statistics
January: 18 books / 5.137 pages / 165,7 ppd
February: 20 books / 5.689 pages / 203,2 ppd
March: 16 books / 5.805 pages / 187,3 ppd
April: 32 books / 9.247 pages / 308,2 ppd
May: 35 books / 9.682 pages / 312,3 ppd

--
Previous threads in 2021
book 1 - 18: thread 1
book 19 - 38: thread 2
book 39 - 54: thread 3
book 55 - 86: thread 4
book 87 - 121: thread 5
--
My reading in previous years
2008: 130 books - 35.152 pages (96,0 ppd)
2009:   78 books - 21.470 pages (58,8 ppd)
2010: 121 books - 38.119 pages (104,4 ppd)
2011:   84 books - 30.256 pages (82,9 ppd)
2012:   53 books - 18.779 pages (51,3 ppd)
2013:   13 books - 3.692 pages (10,1 ppd)
2014:   17 books - 3.700 pages (10,1 ppd)
2015:   29 books - 10.080 pages (27,6 ppd)
2016: 253 books - 72.391 pages (197,8 ppd)
2017: 453 books - 110.222 pages (302,0 ppd)
2018: 534 books - 111.906 pages (306,6 ppd)
2019: 413 books - 110.873 pages (303,8 ppd)
2020: 226 books - 79.216 pages (216,4 ppd)

--
Lists on my WikiThing
My best books by year list.
My Five star reads.
The books by Nobel prize winners I have read

Working on: Booker prize winners; Dutch prize winners

Series I read, a list to keep track

Alan Banks by Peter Robinson (re-read 4/20)
1 Stille blik; 2 Nachtlicht; 3 Tegenstroom; 4 Zondeval; 5 Schijnbeeld; 6 Woensdagkind; 7 Zwanenzang; 8 Innocent Graves (not translated); 9 Dead Right (not translated); 10 Verdronken verleden; 11 Kil als het graf; 12 Nasleep; 13 Onvoltooide zomer; 14 Vuurspel; 15 Drijfzand; 16 Hartzeer; 17 Duivelsgebroed; 18 Overmacht; 19 Uitschot; 20 Dwaalspoor; 21 Dankbare dood; 22 Slachthuisblues; 23 When the Music's Over (not translated); 24 Sleeping in the Ground (not translated); 25 Careless Love (not translated); 26 Many Rivers to Cross (not translated)

Bernie Gunther by Philip Kerr 7/12
1 Een Berlijnse kwestie; 2 Het handwerk van de beul; 3 Een Duits requiem; 4 De een van de ander; 5 Een stille vlam; 6 Als de doden niet herrijzen; 7 Grijs verleden; 8 Praag fataal; 9 De man zonder adem; 10 De vrouw van Zagreb; 11 De schaduw van de stilte; 12 Pruisisch blauw; 13 Vergeven en vergeten; 14 Metropolis

Broeder Cadfael by Ellis Peters 11/20
1 Het heilige vuur; 2 Het laatste lijk; 3 Het gemene gewas; 4 De kwade knecht; 5 De eenzame bruid; 6 De kille maagd; 7 Het vege lijf; 8 De duivelse droom; 9 De gouden speld; 10 Een wisse dood; 11 Een hard gelag; 12 De ware aard; 13 Een witte roos; 14 Het stille woud; 15 De laatste eer; 16 Het rechte pad; 17 Een zijden haar; 18 Een lieve lust; 19 De heilige dief; 20 De verloren zoon

De Cock by A.C. Baantjer 56/70

Frieda Klein by Nicci French 8/8
1 Blauwe maandag; 2 Dinsdag is voorbij; 3 Wachten op woensdag; 4 Donderdagskinderen; 5 Denken aan vrijdag; 6 Als het zaterdag wordt; 7 Zondagochtend breekt aan; 8 De dag van de doden

George Smiley by John Le Carré 4/9
1 Telefoon voor de dode; 2 Voetsporen in de sneeuw; 3 Spion aan de muur; 4 Spion verspeeld; 5 Edelman, bedelman, schutter, spion; 6 Spion van nobel bloed; 7 Smiley's prooi; 8 De laatste spion; 9 Een erfenis van spionnen

Guido Brunetti by Donna Leon 23/27
1 Dood van een maestro; 2 Dood in den vreemde; 3 De dood draagt rode schoenen; 4 Salto mortale; 5 Acqua alta; 6 Een stille dood; 7 Nobiltà; 8 Fatalità; 9 Vriendendienst; 10 Onrustig tij; 11 Bedrieglijke zaken; 12 De stille elite; 13 Verborgen bewijs; 14 Vertrouwelijke zaken; 15 Duister glas; 16 Kinderspel; 17 Droommeisje; 18 Gezichtsverlies; 19 Een kwestie van vertrouwen; 20 Dodelijke conclusies; 21 Beestachtige zaken; 22 Het onbekende kind; 23 Tussen de regels; 24 Ik aanbid je; 25 Eeuwige jeugd; 26 Wat niet verdwijnt; 27 Vergiffenis

John Rebus by Ian Rankin 3/18
1 Kat & muis; 2 Blindeman; 3 Hand & Tand; 4 Ontmaskering; 5 Zwartboek; 6 Vuurwerk; 7 Laat maar bloeden; 8 Gerechtigheid; 9 Door het lint; 10 Dode zielen; 11 In het duister; 12 Valstrik; 13 Lazarus; 14 Een kwestie van bloed; 15 De rechtelozen; 16 Gedenk de doden; 17 Laatste ronde; 18 Cold case;

Konrad Sejer by Karin Fossum 4/12
1 Eva's oog; 2 Kijk niet achterom; 3 Wie de wolf vreest; 4 De duivel draagt het licht; 5 De Indiase bruid; 6 Zwarte seconden; 7 De moord op Harriet Krohn; 8 Een andere voorkeur; 9 Kwade wil; 10 De waarschuwer; 11 Carmen Zita og døden (not translated); 12 Veenbrand; 13 De fluisteraar

Martin Beck by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö 4/10
1 De vrouw in het Götakanaal; 2 De man die in rook opging; 3 De man op het balkon; 4 De lachende politieman; 5 De brandweerauto die verdween; 6 De man die even wilde afrekenen; 7 De verschrikkelijke man uit Säffle; 8 De gesloten kamer; 9 De politiemoordenaar; 10 De terroristen

Martin Servaz by Bernard Minier 1/5
1 Een kille rilling; 2 Huivering; 3 Verduistering; 4 Schemering; 5 Weerzin; 6 Afdaling

Op zoek naar de verloren tijd (In Search of Lost Time) by Marcel Proust 4/7
1 De kant van Swann; 2 In de schaduw van meisjes in bloei; 3 De kant van Guermantes; 4 Sodom en Gomorra; 5 De gevangene; 6 De voortvluchtige; 7 De tijd hervonden

Het rad des tijds (Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson) 9/15
0 Een nieuw begin; 1 Het oog van de wereld; 2 De grote jacht; 3 De herrezen draak; 4 De komst van de schaduw; 5 Vuur uit de hemel; 6 Heer van chaos; 7 Een kroon van zwaarden; 8 Het pad der dolken; 9 Hart van de Winter; 10 Viersprong van de schemer; 11 Mes van Dromen; 12 De naderende storm; 13 De Torens van Middernacht; 14 Het licht van weleer

msg 11
List of Nobel Prize for Literature winners:
(in bold the writers I have read)

1901 Sully Prudhomme
1902 Theodor Mommsen
1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
1904 Frédéric Mistral
1904 José Echegaray y Eizaguirre
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
1906 Giosuè Carducci
1907 Rudyard Kipling
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken
1909 Selma Lagerlöf
1910 Paul Heyse
1911 Maurice Maeterlinck
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1913 Rabindranath Tagore
1915 Romain Rolland
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup
1917 Henrik Pontoppidan
1919 Carl Spitteler
1920 Knut Hamsun
1921 Anatole France
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1923 William Butler Yeats
1924 Władysław Reymont
1925 George Bernard Shaw
1926 Grazia Deledda
1927 Henri Bergson
1928 Sigrid Undset
1929 Thomas Mann
1930 Sinclair Lewis
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1932 John Galsworthy
1933 Ivan Boenin
1934 Luigi Pirandello
1936 Eugene O'Neill
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
1938 Pearl S. Buck
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1946 Hermann Hesse
1947 André Gide
1948 T.S. Elliot
1949 William Faulkner
1950 Bertrand Russell
1951 Pär Lagerkvist
1952 François Mauriac
1953 Sir Winston Churchill
1954 Ernest Hemingway
1955 Halldór Laxness
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez
1957 Albert Camus
1958 Boris Pasternak
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1960 Saint-John Perse
1961 Ivo Andrić
1962 John Steinbeck
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre
1965 Michail Sjolochov
1966 Sjmoeël Joseef Agnon
1966 Nelly Sachs
1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias
1968 Yasunari Kawabata
1969 Samuel Beckett
1970 Aleksandr Solzjenitsyn
1971 Pablo Neruda
1972 Heinrich Böll
1973 Patrick White
1974 Eyvind Johnson
1974 Harry Martinson
1975 Eugenio Montale
1976 Saul Bellow
1977 Vincente Aleixandre
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer
1979 Odysseas Elytis
1980 Czesław Miłosz
1981 Elias Canetti
1982 Gabriel Garciá Márquez
1983 William Golding
1984 Jaroslav Seifert
1985 Claude Simon
1986 Wole Soyinka
1987 Joseph Brodsky
1988 Nagieb Mahfoez
1989 Camilo José Cela
1990 Octavio Paz
1991 Nadine Gordimer
1992 Derek Walcott
1993 Toni Morrison
1994 Kenzaburo Oë
1995 Seamus Heaney
1996 Wisława Szymborska
1997 Dario Fo
1998 José Saramago
1999 Günter Grass
2000 Gao Xingjian
2001 V.S. Naipaul
2002 Imre Kertész
2003 John Maxwell Coetzee
2004 Elfriede Jelinek
2005 Harold Pinter
2006 Orhan Pamuk
2007 Doris Lessing
2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio
2009 Herta Müller
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa
2011 Tomas Tranströmer
2012 Mo Yan
2013 Alice Munro
2014 Patrick Modiano
2015 Svetlana Alexievich
2016 Bob Dylan
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro
2018 Olga Tokarczuk
2019 Peter Handke
2020 Louise Glück

Books acquired in 2021: 26

January (2)
De dood in Rome - Wolfgang Koeppen
Veerman - Emile Verhaeren

February (5)
In weerwil van de woorden - Dimitri Verhulst
Ik wou - Toon Tellegen
Gebroken wit - Astrid Roemer
De melancholie van het verzet - Lásló Krasznahorkai
De reparatie van de wereld - Slobodan Šnajder

March (2)
Olga en haar driekwartsmaten - Astrid Roemer
Alles tegen - Dick Francis

April (4)
Hele verhalen voor een halve soldaat - Benny Lindelauf
Winnetou - Karl May
Bloedgeld - Dick Francis
Brekebeen - Dick Francis

May (13)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 1 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 2 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 3 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 4 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 5 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 6 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood. Deel 7 - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Nieuwe wandelingen door Nederland met pen en potlood - J. Craandijk (e-book)
Radetzkymars - Joseph Roth
De wereld van gisteren - Stefan Zweig
Het zout der aarde - Józef Wittlin
Cliënt E. Busken - Jeroen Brouwers
Wat wij zagen - Hanna Bervoets

Welcome!

A new thread! And I'm the first to comment. I don't think I ever have been before. It's a good day to start. I'm looking forward to your next walk.

>14 CDVicarage: Thank you, Kerry!
It is the second time, last month you were also first in.
The next part of walking the Pieterpad will be in October.

--
I am pondering about our next walking project, as we nearly rounded the Flevopolders. Not sure yet. We might round the other part of our province, the Noordoostpolder, but that is further away and would mean more driving for a walk. An other idea is walking all bicycle paths in our city. There are very few walking paths, but the bicycle paths can be used for walking. We already did some of those, our first project was walking all 66 bicycle bridges and tunnels of our city, as car and bicycle traffic is almost completely separated.

Happy new thread! I enjoyed reading about your feline friends. I love cats and miss the pair that I had to leave in Philadelphia with my ex-husband.

Happy New Thread, Anita. It supposed to be a beautiful week here, so I plan on getting out for bird walks each day.

Happy New Thread, Anita!

Happy new thread, Anita.

Great to see your reading picking up over April and May. I really don't know how you manage to read consistently more than a book a day.

Anita! Good morning to you.

I spotted Winnetou on your list, and it reminded me of a German student we hosted for a month in the 1980s. He was flabbergasted that we'd never heard of Winnetou. I keep thinking I should look for an English translation.

Happy new thread, Anita. I loved the story of the cats, and that picture is wonderful. Hoe did you get them to pose like that?

your walking project is nearly finished, I see. How many days left?
Doing the biking paths seems a good idea as well. Are there any long-distance paths going through Flevoland?

Happy new thread, Anita!

>16 Sakerfalcon: Thank you, Claire.
Cats are nice companions, but I prefer dogs as pets. The cats lived with me a few years, from 1982 until 1988. It bothered that Bobbe ran away, for years I called every black cat I saw, thinking it might be him.

>17 msf59: Thank you, Mark. Enjoy yor bird walks and the weather.
We finally have warm and sunny weather, after a very cool and wet April and May.

>18 swynn: Thank you, Steve!

>19 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul.
Reading a book a day is a combination of lots of time to read, and my thyroid values at the high end of normal ;-)
Lowering the thyroid dose right now, so the numbers will drop this month.

>20 weird_O: Thank you, Bill.
I read all the Winnetou books endlessly in my youth, and had the same experience as the German student when I came to LT: Karl May is barely known in English speaking countries. There are English translations of Winnetou, but don't know if how good the translation is. My recent read was a new unabridged Dutch translation.

>21 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella. The picture of the three cats was taken by a professional photographer. If you look close you can see they sit on a small platform, the photographer used the few seconds before they jumped off.
I think we need 4 more walks finishing the walking project.
The only LAW going through Flevoland is the Pionierspad, it goes a hundred metres from our house. Sadly there is no recent publication of this, the last edition was published in 2004, and a lot has changed since. Nowadays you can download the route on a smartphone, but I don't have a smartphone.

Hi Anita, and happy new thread!

From your previous thread, excellent May and YTD stats.

>1 FAMeulstee: I love the stories and photos of your kitties. The one of all three is particularly wonderful.

>25 karenmarie: Thank you, Karen!

The books have been treating me well in the last month. I just adjusted my spreadsheet for the June reads.

Thanks to you my cats are on my thread now. Last year we talked about cats on your thread, and you were surprised to hear I ever had cats. Then I started to think about having my pets as topper this year. The picture of all three was taken by a professional photographer (see my answer to Ella >24 FAMeulstee:). I would never have managed on my own

Happy new thread Anita. I enjoyed your story about the cats :)

>15 FAMeulstee: How could I have forgotten? It was only a month ago!

Happy new thread!

>1 FAMeulstee: What great cat tales!

I love the story about getting the cats' photo, I hadn't even stopped to wonder how you'd managed it. Clever photographer!

happy new thread!

>27 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba. It is nice to share my furry friends from the past in my toppers this year.

>28 CDVicarage: LOL, Kerry, completely overwhelmed by the fact last month?

>29 quondame: Thank you, Susan, glad you liked the stories of my feline companions.

>30 charl08: Thank you, Charlotte, I had given it a few tries on my own, but never managed to get them all on a picture. The photographer was more experienced.

>31 banjo123: Thank you, Rhonda!

Happy new thread Anita my dear.

Happy new thread, Anita. Beautiful cats, up there! Having pets always tugs on the heart, isn't that the truth

>34 johnsimpson: Thank you, John.

>35 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley.
I lived with pets most of my life, but have settled for now to live without. But sometimes I do miss them...

I have three rather though books going, so I started a fourth.

Reading now:
De essays (The Complete Essays) by Michel de Montaigne
Connemara: Luisterend naar de wind (Connemara. Listening to the Wind) by Tim Robinson
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
De dag van de doden (The Day of the Dead, Frieda Klein 8) by Nicci French

Happy new one!

>38 drneutron: Thank you, Jim!

The winner of the International Booker Prize was just announced, David Diop won with At Night All Blood Is Black.
A very good book that I read last year (short review on my thread).

>37 FAMeulstee: I've no idea what you're up against!
I'm making my way into The Modern Library, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain and Temporary. The last is jarringly idiosyncratic, surreal and not the easy read I was hoping to hop skim and glide through.

Since I'm trying to record the books I read about in The Modern Library in Excel, not my favorite app, in 10 book chunks less reading than I'd like is happening.

>41 quondame: Two of them are 1500+ pages, Susan, I decided to tackle some big ones in June.
The first is The Complete Essays, an e-book from the library, that I started in March, and hope to finish this month.
The second is Anniversaries, I hoped that it would be a rather smooth read, but it tuns out to be dense. And it is a heavy book, which is hard on the hands. I do like it, but it will take more time than expected to finish.

I just finished the last added book :-)

So your readings are not as smooth as expected either.
I don't use Excel, still using my very old Microsoft WORKS spreadsheet.

>42 FAMeulstee: There is simply no way I can manage the thickest books anymore, Anita, so I'm both impressed and a little jealous that you're doing it!

Happy new thread, my dear lady.

>43 richardderus: I am sorry you can't manage the thickest books anymore, Richard dear.
I usually avoid the problem by lending very thick books from the e-library, even when they are on the shelves. But this is a recent translation, so not available yet in the e-library.

Happy new thread, Anita.

Thank you, Stephen.

Happy new thread, Anita!

I like the introduction to your cats.

>47 humouress: Thank you, Nina.
This was the last non-dog topper, the rest of the year my canine compagnions will feature in my threads.

Happy new thread, Anita.
Wonderful pictures of the cats, thank you for sharing.
We used to have a dog, a small black German spitz.
His best friend was the neighbor's cat, a big black Persian.
They looked pretty much alike!

>49 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas, it is fun to dig up pictures en memories.

That must have been a lovely sight, a black German Spitz and a black Persian together!

Yes it was, I thought I still had a picture of the two of them, but I can't find my old pictures.
This one, I scanned for other reasons, but he was a very old man by then:

>51 SirThomas: How lovely, Thomas, thanks for sharing. What was his name?
He looks like a "Kleinspitz", a bit larger than the "Zwergspitz" (Pommeranian).

My sister has a white Japanese Spitz, small and dainty but she's very much the boss ;0)

>52 FAMeulstee: You are right, he was a "Kleinspitz", his name was "Sam" - 6 Kg full of charm.

>53 humouress: They are beautiful, Nina, some dogs like to be in charge ;-)

>54 SirThomas: He was charming indeed, Thomas, with his greying muzzle.
Our Pekingese Ari had a black Pommerarian friend here in the neigborhood called Sammy.

Read, not yet reviewed:
#122: De dag van de doden (The Day of the Dead, Frieda Klein 8) by Nicci French
#123:De essays (The Complete Essays) by Michel de Montaigne

Reading now:
Connemara: Luisterend naar de wind (Connemara. Listening to the Wind) by Tim Robinson
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
Circe (Circe) by Madeline Miller

>56 FAMeulstee: Oh, Circe is a lush and lovely read. I hope you enjoy it!

Love seeing pictures of your cats, Anita!

>57 richardderus: I enjoyed The Song of Achilles very much, Richard dear, so I couldn't resist Circe when I saw it was available in the e-library.

>58 vikzen: Thank you, Vic!
They are long gone, sweet memories.

book 122: De dag van de doden by Nicci French
library, e-book, translated, original title The Day of the Dead, 365 pages
TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book where at least two of the title words start with the same letter

Frieda Klein, book 8
And after book 7 (Sunday Silence) I went straight to the next book again.
The time has come for the final confrontation between Frieda Klein and Dean Reeves. Frieda has gone into hiding to protect her loved ones. But she is found by a criminology student, Lola, who want to write a paper about Frieda. Dean communicates by committing murders at certain places, in a way only Frieda understands. This time the police tries to help, but they are not able to find facts in time.

A good conclusion to the series.

English and Dutch title are the same

book 123: De essays by Michel de Montaigne
1001 books, library, e-book, non-fiction, translated from French, English translation The Complete Essays, 1557 pages
TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book where the first name of the writer comes alphabeticly before the last name

After having it from the library a few years back, but not getting very far, this time I lended it from the e-library. Such large tomes are much easier as e-book, I had to renew a few times and now finally finished.

While France was plagued by religious wars, Michel de Montaigne retraited in his castle and wrote about everything he could think of. He was extremely well educated in Greek and Roman classics, so there are many quotations through the essays. From education to marriage and all aspects of life (and death) to the present religious troubles where Montaigne chooses to stay with the Catholic Church (funny to read about the hero Balthasar Gerards, the man who assasinated Willem of Orange, our Founding Father. In our history books he is the very mean villain). Remarkable the parts where he writes about the Spanish conquest in the New World, condemning the complete destruction of both the Aztec and the Inca Empire.
Also remarkable, as it was written before the Age of Enlightning, is how he writes about animals. Not the "machines" Descartes made from them, but freely writing about their emotions and desires.

Of course there is way more in over 1500 pages. Most parts are highly readable, some a bit of a bore. I am glad I persisted this time

Dutch title translated: The essays

>61 FAMeulstee: I've only ever dipped into these Anita. I have a lively three volume set. One day I'll read it in its entirety.

>62 Caroline_McElwee: Three volumes would be easier handed than this tome, Caroline, it is indeed a classic.
I hope you do get to it, one day.

We booked a hotel in Kassel (Germany) for next year. Assuming traveling within Europa will be allowed by then, at least for the vaccinated. We will stay in Kassel from June 19th until June 25th, 2022, because on June 18th Documenta 15 will start, the great art exhibition that takes place every 5 years.
We went there before in 1992 and 2017. Looking forward to our first non-walking vacation since we went to Berlin in May 2019.

>64 FAMeulstee: - That sounds great! Fingers crossed that nothing pops up to change those plans!

>65 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley, it is over a year from now so you never can be sure. The reservation can be cancelled up to the day of arrival. Last time we were late, most hotels were full or way above our budget, and we had to settle for an appartment 15 km from Kassel.

>64 FAMeulstee: Oh, that sounds wonderful! My sister and I want to visit Kassel because it's where our grandfather came from. Maybe we will try and go next summer too.

>67 Sakerfalcon: It looks like it is going to be a great experience again, Claire. This time a collective from Indonesia will compile the exposition.

--
Other news: I just got my first Pfizer vaccination!
After a scare at the door, where a piece of paper was that said no entrance for compagnions, while the invitation said you could take someone with you if needed. Frank was allowed to come, but that needed some talk :-(
That set off near panick mode for a moment, but rest went very smooth. The woman who put the needle in, distracted me very well. Even so much that I never felt the injection!
No side effects yes, except for a very mild headache.

Congrats, Anita! So happy to hear that it went well. The second time should be easier, because of this. I hope your side effects remain mild and few.

>68 FAMeulstee: Yay for your first shot! And I'm so glad Frank was able to be with you!

>68 FAMeulstee: Yay. Glad it was OK in the end Anita. Mixed messages are frustrating.

Hi Anita!

>60 FAMeulstee: “A good conclusion to the series.” I agree 100%.

>68 FAMeulstee: Congratulations on your first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I’m glad they let Frank in, after some persuasion. I hope you have nothing worse than the minor headache.

>69 jessibud2: >70 scaifea: >72 Caroline_McElwee: >73 karenmarie: Thanks Shelley, Amber, Caroline and Karen.
Even the slight headache is gone, so it looks like I go side-effect free.

I am only a little slow, as I took a diazepam (valium) before we went. Without that the scare at the start would probably have resulted in a full panick attack and a straight return home.

>68 FAMeulstee: I'm very happy for you, Anita! The science shows that you're now extremely unlikely to contract more than a very, very mild case of COVID if at all, and vanishingly unlikely to need hospitalization even if you do.

One more jab and it goes down to almost zero on all counts.

YAY!!

>75 richardderus: Thank you, Richard, I am very happy!
Aware of all advantages, and very glad these vaccines exist and are available here.

I will get my next on July 14th, the French national holiday.

ETA And Frank will get his second next week :-D

>68 FAMeulstee: Yay for vaccine! May you remain side-effect lite!

>77 quondame: Thank you, Susan!
Eight hours after the vaccination my arm got a bit stiff, so still side-effect very lite.

I'm go glad you don't have the side effects, Anita! Charlie managed to miss them, too, thank goodness.

>79 scaifea: Thanks, Amber, I feel very lucky.
Hoping the next one goes as well.

Sweet Thursday, Anita. Congrats on the first vaccine! Yah!

Glad to hear the vaccination side effects have not been too troublesome, Anita.

I wondered how the art festival you are going to is organised - I went online and saw they are already having online events, but presumably they are gearing up for face to face ones too (when you visit)? Are the exhibits all over the city or just in museums? The themes sound really interesting, not an approach I had come across before at all. Liverpool has a public art biennial, but they've been hit by COVID I think.

I'm glad you got your vaccination Anita. Husbands can be very useful at time like this ;0)

>81 msf59: Thank you, Mark, happy Thursday to you.
It is a relief to have had my fist dose.

>82 charl08: Thank you, Charlotte. I feel lucky for having barely any the side-effects.

Documenta 15 is next year, so everyone assumes the worst of Covid will be over by then.
The exhibits are all over the city, in public spaces and in museums. The city has acquired some of the artworks through the years, so you can see some artworks of past Documenta's through the city.
In 2017 the refugee crisis and repression were the main themes, and we saw some very impressive artworks.
This is a picture of "The Parthenon of Books", a copy of the Parthenon that was made out of banned books wrapped in plastic. It was outside in front of the Fridericianum museum (were the Nazi's burned books in 1933):


>83 humouress: Thank you, Nina! Not only useful, also very much needed.

>84 FAMeulstee: Oh wow! That is an amazing artwork. It's so layered with meanings.

Thanks, Anita, you're always so generous sharing interesting art.

>85 richardderus: Thank you, Richard dear.
It was one of the most impressive artworks of Documenta 14, with many layers indeed. People could add their own copy of banned books, which made it also an artwork of the community.

An other one that made a great impression four years ago was this very large book case in a museum:

It was titled "Unlawfully Acquired Books from Jewish Ownership" and was filled with books that were still present in the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek (Central- and Landeslibrary) of Berlin.

>84 FAMeulstee: and >86 FAMeulstee: Amazing, and very moving photos of those artworks! Thank you for sharing!

Karen O.

>87 klobrien2: Thank you, Karen!
It was nice to share some memories of our visit to Kassel four years ago. Sometimes art can really make you think.

Hi Anita! Glad you had your first vaccination and all went well. Frank allowed to go in with you, very good.

I can't see any pictures in your last Posts, must be a problem here, I will return and try again later. So nice to be booking a vacation for next year!

>84 FAMeulstee: Wow. Thanks for posting Anita. It reminded me of the Edward de Waal project for Venice/ the British Library on books of exile. Maybe just the books-as-art aspect of it.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/edmund-de-waal-library-exile

>89 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella. I am very happy to have had my first shot :-)
Sorry you can't see the pictures. They can also be seen in my gallery at my profile page, with tag "Documenta".

>90 charl08: Happy to share, Charlotte.
Thanks for the link, books is indeed the common aspect. I have read a lot of exile books, mostly Germans who fled in the 1930s. I love these kind of mixtures of books with art, or art with books.

book 124: Connemara: Luisterend naar de wind by Tim Robinson
library, non-fiction, translated, original title Connemara. Listening to the Wind, 462 pages
TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with a liquid on the front cover

While living in Connemara, Tim Robinson describes the geology, ecology, history, and the inhabitants of this part of Ireland.
Knowing very little of the history of Ireland, some of the content went over my head. His descriptions of the landscape were great. Many encounters with the locals gave nice details about the history, and sometimes locations of buildings long gone. Looking around for details, as his main goal is creating very detailed maps, he sometimes finds geological or ecological odds, and tries to find out more.

English and Dutch title are the same.

book 125: Vrijwilliger in Spanje by John Sommerfield
library, non-fiction, translated, original title Volunteer in Spain, 172 pages
TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book where the first name of the writer comes alphabeticly before the last name

In 1936 John Sommerfield went to Paris to join the International Brigades to fight in the Spanish Civil War. One of his companions was his friend John Cornford, who died in Spain. The book is decicated to him.

Sommerfield mainly describes the daily routines of the soldiers, that could be in any war.
First the long wait in Paris before they can go on a train to the south of France, then the voyage to Spain by boat and finally joining the Republican army. Long days, shortage of weapons (one lot contains French rejected machine guns from the start of WWI, way to heavy to use, but used anyhow), uncomfortable transportations to the next place, and finally to the front near Madrid.
Defending the university buildings many are killed. Sommerfield is lucky, he survives and writes this book. One of the first accounts of the Spanish Civil War, first published in 1937.

English and Dutch title are the same.

Lots of folks reading about the Spanish Civil War of 1935 these days! Is there something cultural I'm missing about the zeitgeist urging it on us?

Happy Sunday's reads!

>64 FAMeulstee: Isn't it fun to start booking travel again?!

and...welcome to Club Pfizer :)

And now I could see the pictures. Just something weird going on earlier. Documenta seems really worth a visit, interesting and surprising.

>94 richardderus: Just a hiatus in my knowledge of history, Richard dear. I have read the books of Hemmingway and Orwell before. The 1930s was an important decade in Europe, I never realised this civil war was an important part of it. And I will never understand why Franco could stay in power as long as he did...

>95 RebaRelishesReading: Oh yes it is, Reba!
And anticipation and planning is part of the joy of traveling :-)
Happy to have joined the club.

>96 EllaTim: The Documenta is always interesting and worth a vist, Ella, and Kassel is a nice German town.

Read, not yet reviewed:
#126: De zwarte diamant (Black Diamond) by Martin Walker

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
In Siberië (In Siberia) by Colin Thubron
Circe (Circe) by Madeline Miller

A belated YAY for your first vaccination shot, Anita.
I wish you and Frank a wonderful sunday!

While my own reading has been atrocious lately (in that I have barely been doing any), I have been entertaining my father who was visiting, and keeping up with my audiobook. I can see your reading is going swimmingly!

>84 FAMeulstee: wow- that is intense!

>84 FAMeulstee: >86 FAMeulstee: Wonderful installations. The bookcase especially poignant Anita.

>92 FAMeulstee: I bought this series a while back, and haven't got to it yet. Will nudge it up the pile.

Happy Sunday, Anita. I hope you are enjoying the weekend. Very warm here so I am not doing any birding this weekend. I will this coming week, as it cools off.

>86 FAMeulstee: That bookcase is really interesting.

>97 FAMeulstee: The same way all dictators stay in power: It suits some very powerful people to have it be the way it is.

Reformers have a strange, unaccountable way of getting assassinated just before/right after their reforms succeed.

Happy Sunday and happy first vaccination! Love the book art. : )

>99 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas.
I had a productive Sunday, finally got to some household chores that were way overdue.

>100 LovingLit: Thank you, Megan.
Reading tends to go up and down, and my downs look like your ups ;-)
Entertaining a visiting father comes before reading, for me the same.

>101 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you, Caroline, the bookcase makes you think why these books were never returned.
I had Connemara. Listening to the Wind on my list because I loved his book Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage. Sadly the other Connemara books were not translated.

>102 msf59: Thank you, Mark.
Our weather is the other way around, we enjoyed a rather cool weekend and expect the first heatwave in the coming week.
The only mentionable birds we saw last week was a pair of Hen Harriers.

>103 richardderus: I know, I know, Richard dear, *sad face*. But if I ever could change history...
There are times I think that hope, the last in Pandora's Jar, is just also plague like the rest that was in there.

>104 Berly: Thank you, Kim, very happy I am halfway vaccination wise.
I am always glad to share somee art.

>106 FAMeulstee: Hen harriers are certainly notable! Very special birds.

>107 Sakerfalcon: Yes, Claire, they are beautiful.
We are lucky to have many raptors living near, with even a breeding pair of white-tailed eagles.
At almost each walk near the Oostvaardersplassen we see at least a buzzard or a kestrel. And sometimes we are lucky and see a less common raptor like these hen harries :-)

Love the cat pictures. I recently had a penpal tell me that her flat was too small for a cat, which kind of made me laugh. Our flat is very small, but somehow we have 3 cats (and 2 humans!) in it.

Also very cool that you have raptors to see near you. Birds of prey are among my very favorite animals.

>109 ursula: Thank you, Ursula.
Small can be in the mind, as can be room for an other being. Both cats and dogs can live comfortably in rather small places. Dogs need good walks, and cats need some diversion of any kind.

We live near the Oostvaardersplassen, a large nature reserve.

Frank got his second Pfizer shot today! :-D

--
Read, not yet reviewed:
#126: De zwarte diamant (Black Diamond) by Martin Walker
#127: Circe (Circe) by Madeline Miller
#128: In Siberië (In Siberia) by Colin Thubron
#129: БAM : een reis van niets naar niets by Jelle Brandt Corstius
#130: Sneeuwblind (Snowblind) by Ragnar Jónasson

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten by F. ten Harmsen van der Beek
De gierzwaluw by Remco Daalder
Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoë) by Daniel Defoe

Congrats to Frank for his shot!

Congratulations to Frank!

(>110 FAMeulstee: So I'm imagining that you just chuck them out to play when they get too boisterous and let them come back home when they feel like it.) ;0)

YAY for the second shot!

Congratulations on full vaccination for Frank! It's a great feeling, isn't it?

>68 FAMeulstee: Belated congratulations on the covid shot

>84 FAMeulstee: Wow! @ The Parthenon of Books.

>113 humouress: Thank you, Nina!
I assume you mean the dogs? They are not to walk alone, the walking is also good for their humans.
If you ment the cats: so many cat toys these days to keep them entertained indoors.

>114 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas!
Next month I will get my second, looking forward to resuming outdoor life ;-)

>115 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba.
Yes, it feels very good. It looks like Frank has again no major side effects, so that is a relief.

>116 ArlieS: Thank you, Arlie.
The Partenon of Books was one of the most impressive artworks of Documenta 14.

>117 FAMeulstee: I was just joking. Jasper used to hare out of the gate if he was outside when it opened, apparently in a quest to visit as many other dogs as he could (have I mentioned how sociable he is?) and so we ordered a fence and gate for inside our garden that he couldn't jump over/ go through. But I did train him to sit and wait at the threshold even if the gate was opened (it's an electric gate) and had just managed when the fence arrived and was installed. That was a few years ago, so I doubt the training still holds.

But we had a lot of work done at home last year (just before the pandemic landed) and apparently he did get out because they inadvertently left both gates open and no-one realised he was missing (I wasn't at home at the time) until later when he was sitting outside the now closed gate and barking to be let in. So he did come home again - but I'm not willing to test that.

>118 humouress: Most dogs do return, Nina, but they can get into trouble.
One of mine was hit by a car when she escaped. Luckely she had only minor injury, but it could have been much worse. After that incident I always made sure they couldn't get out by themselves.

Hooray for Frank being fully Pfizered!

Spend a splendid Thursday, Anita my dear.

Adding my voice to the chorus of "Congrats to Frank!"

>119 FAMeulstee: Daisy will go out of the front door occasionally if it open and she wants to say hello to someone. But she knows she is not supposed to wander off and she doesn’t go on the road. Except once when it had snowed and she didn’t seem to realises that the road was still there!

>120 richardderus: Thank you, Richard dear, so glad he got the second Pfizer.
Most collegues at his work don't want to be vaccinated, and neither most of the clients. So better be protected then.
Stayed cool inside most of the day. We did a little bike ride to the wood, instead of walking.

>121 karenmarie: Thank you, Karen.
Next month it is my turn.

>122 SandDune: Daisy is a good dog, Rhian, just saying hello is no problem. Clearly the road is something visible to her.
The escape above started with a chase, our female Chows had a high prey drive.

Sweet Thursday, Anita. Congrats to Frank for his second dose. He can join the Fully-Vaccinated Club!

>124 msf59: Thank you, Mark, I will join the club next month :-)

Congrats to Frank getting his second shot, and I'm happy for you getting yours soon!

Congrats on vaccinations!

>126 bell7: Thank you, Mary.
Vaccination speed is going up over here, today the last group of over 18 year olds can make thier appointments.

>127 banjo123: Thank you, Rhonda.
Never thought we all would ever be this happy because of vaccinations :-)

book 126: De zwarte diamant by Martin Walker
library, translated, original title Black Diamond, 317 pages
TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book that completes a square in Seattle Public Library's 2021 Book Bingo card

Bruno Courrèges book 3
Bruno is going to hunt with his friend Hercule, who teached him a lot about "black diamonds" (truffles), and where to find them. When Bruno arrives at the meeting place he finds his friend brutally murdered. It turnes out Hercule was a French intelligence officer in his working life, spending a lot of time abroad in Algeria and Vietnam. Recently there have been troubles between Vietnamese and Chinese gangs, and Bruno suspects a connection. Meanwhile he is also investigating a possible fraud at the truffle market in the next village.

A well written mystery, with multiple plots, and statisfying conclusions. I learned some more about the troubles in Algeria, and the time Vietnam was under French rule.
Warning: a dog dies.

Sadly this is the last in the series in Dutch translation.

Dutch title translated: The black diamond

book 127: Circe by Madeline Miller
library, e-book, translated, original title Circe, 384 pages
TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where The title is shorter than the author's name

Greek mythology. Retelling of the story of Circe. She is best known as the witch on an island, who turned Odysseus' men into pigs.
We follow her from childhood, as one of four children from Helios and Perse. Finding out she has witchcraft, turning a mortal she loves into an immortal. She is banned to an island because of this.
She uses sorcery to protect herself and her island, but Odysseus outwits her and they have a good time together, until Odysseus has to move on.

I loved the story, Miller makes the Greek gods come to life. It was easy to feel with Circe, struggling with immortality, loneliness on the island, and later in life with motherhood.

English and Dutch title are the same

book 128: In Siberië by Colin Thubron
library, non-fiction, translated, original title In Siberia, 318 pages
TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where The title is shorter than the author's name

Travelogue of Thubrons journey through Siberia near the end of the 20th century.
Under Sovjet rule Thubron tried to get to Siberia, but never got the chance. Now he is finally able to travel to Siberia. He meets native Siberians, who's tribes are on the edge of extinction, descendants of those who suffered in the Gulag, Christian priests and missionaries of many congregrations, poverty spreading fast under new Russian rule. The beauty of the endless taiga, interupted where usefull sources were found and explored.

English and Dutch title are the same

book 129: БAM : een reis van niets naar niets by Jelle Brandt Corstius
library, e-book, non-fiction, no translations, 130 pages
TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book where the title and the author’s name both have a double letter in them

While reading the previous book, I remembered I wanted to this book about traveling to Siberia by a Dutch writer.

As a young boy Jelle Brandt Corstius was fascinated by maps, especially the map of Siberia.
With his father he tried to travel the BAM (Bajkal Amoer Magistrale), a railway more inland next to the Trans-Siberian Railway, but they only did a small part of it. With two friends he tries again, but halfway stranded aigain because of an injury of one friend, who needs hospital care. A year laster the final try, again the three of them, and this time they do reach the end.
On their way they meet a lot of challenges, the long trainride, lack of sleeping places in the villages where they leave the train etc.

Dutch title translated: БAM (written with Russian B) : a journey from nothing to nothing

Read, not yet reviewed:
#130: Sneeuwblind (Snowblind) by Ragnar Jónasson
#131: Robinson Crusoe (Robinson Crusoë) by Daniel Defoe
#132: Het geluid van de berg (The Sound of the Mountain) by Yasunari Kawabata
#133: Wat wij zagen by Hanna Bervoets
#134: Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten by F. ten Harmsen van der Beek

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
De tijgerkat. Herinneringen aan mijn jeugd en andere verhalen by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
De gierzwaluw by Remco Daalder

Happy Sunday, Anita. I hope you both are doing fine.

Such good reads you've had! It's always fun when Bruno gets others going as much as he does me.

I've actually become a stranger to my ordinary self. I've just 5-starred a comic book the same week I didn't detest a collection of poetry.

...I need a lie-down...

>132 FAMeulstee: I would love to do the TransSiberian. I've never heard of this other railway, but it sounds a bit too extreme for me.
I loved Thubron's books about his travels (my mum used to buy his books new and so I read them as a teenager). Due a reread now I think. Maybe one day!

>134 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara, all is well here.

>135 richardderus: Thank you, Richard, I noticed the reviews on your thread. Are you sure you are still *you*? ;-)
Well you liked Toon Tellegens poetry before, so I wasn't completely stunned by your poetry review. The Polish GN sounded good, I will look for it. Given the present state in Poland, it won't be available for long over there... And now Hungary is going a similair path :-(

>136 charl08: The TransSiberian has a magic feel, Charlotte, of course I have dreamed about taking it one day. It will probably never happen, but we can keep dreaming.
This was my second Thubron, I did read Shadow of the Silk Road two years ago.

book 130: Sneeuwblind by Ragnar Jónasson
library, e-book, translated from Icelandic, English translation Snowblind, 286 pages
TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where The title is shorter than the author's name

Dark Iceland first book
Ari finds his first job as policeman in the far north of Iceland. Leaving his girfriend in Reykjavik behind, he moves to Siglufjörður. According to his chief, Tómas, nothing ever happens in this small town. But of course things do happen and the police does their best to find out who did.

Fairly good read, with statisfying murder mystery. Nice descriptions of an isolated northern Icelandic town, where strangers will always be strangers, even after years.

English and Dutch title are the same

book 131: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
1001 books, library, e-book, translated, original title Robinson Crusoë, 270 pages
TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book where the first name of the writer comes alphabeticly before the last name

Everyone knows roughly the story of Robinson Crusoe stranded on a desert island for years.
The start and the ending were more a surprise, Robinson becoming a slave himself and escaping, going to Brasil starting a plantation, and shipwrecked when he wants to get slaves from Africa.
How he found religion while on the island got a bit much.

Glad I am done with this one.

English and Dutch title are the same

book 132: Het geluid van de berg by Yasunari Kawabata
own, Nobel Prize winner, translated from Japanese, English translation The Sound of the Mountain, 236 pages
TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book that shares a common word with a book title or author’s name that is #65 on any LT list AND that you read in the past

Shingo is getting older, and his memory is failing him. His children don't do as well as expected, and they don't respect the traditions anymore. Shingo has a hard time with these changes, but isn't able to interfere. There are still deep wounds from WWII, his son came back from the war, but many others didn't.

A quiet and lyrical story, with nature ever around to reflect feelings and moods.

English and Dutch title are the same

book 133: Wat wij zagen by Hanna Bervoets
own, Book Week Gift 2021, Dutch, no translations, 94 pages
TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book whose title starts with one of the words "who," "what," "when", "where," "why," or "how"

Kayleigh works as content moderator of a social platform (not to be named). Looking at terrible videos all day, and deciding if they must be removed or not, deforms Kayleigh and her collegues psychicly. At first they seem to be friends, Kayleigh even gets a relationship with Sigrid, but slowly they all move away from eachother. Some get so brainwashed some become supporters of QAnon, Holocaust deniers, and Flat Earth.

At times a bit creepy, this story told by an unreliable narrator. Still not sure I liked the ending

Title translated: What we saw

Read, not yet reviewed:
#134: Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten by F. ten Harmsen van der Beek
#135: De tijgerkat. Herinneringen aan mijn kindertijd en andere verhalen by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
#136: Cliënt E. Busken by Jeroen Brouwers

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
Wraak en andere novellen (Legends of the Fall) by Jim Harrison
De gierzwaluw by Remco Daalder

>131 FAMeulstee: I own a copy of this book and must try to find it so I can read it.

I have travelled 1/3 of the Trans Siberian railway, from Moscow to Novosibirsk. My friend and I had to be in Novosibirsk for a specific day, so we stayed on the train the whole time. I don't recommend this - I believe the joy of the journey is in getting off and spending a day or two in the towns along the way. From the train itself, at least on this section, you see a lot of fields and birch trees and not much else! I would love to travel farther east on it, and into Mongolia too.

>138 FAMeulstee: I love this series.

>139 FAMeulstee: I've read that one decades ago.

>142 FAMeulstee: I definitely should read Lampedusa's book. I've heard only good things of it.

I wish you a lovely evening.

>144 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara, wishing you the same.

Snowblind was good enough to continue the series. I think almost everyone has read Robinson Crusoe, I think I read an abridged children's version in my youth.

Lampedusa's book was great, or at least Il Gattopardo was great. The other stories (I racconti and three more) were good, but not at the same level. Review will follow soon.

>143 Sakerfalcon: I hope you find it, Claire.

How cool that you have been on the track of the Trans Siberian railway!
Now I am curious why you had to travel to Novosibirsk.

>145 FAMeulstee: I loved The Leopard when I first read it. I was utterly seduced by Sicily. I wanted the timballo di maccheroni so badly that my mother finally tried to make it...modestly successful but mostly I appreciated the effort.

I also started a book called Lampedusa just as the pandemic hit...I got here:

My heart is like honey, Giò protested.

But miserable and scratching at his yellow knuckles as he said it.

And closed the book. Pandemic plus ill narrator. Um, not for Big Daddy, nope.

I should go back to it. I liked Steven Price's writing just fine.

>139 FAMeulstee: I reread just the first bit in recent memory and was startled by how fresh it felt.

>147 richardderus: So do I, Richard dear, it is a great book. That was sweet that your mother tried to make the timballo for you. Glad to know you have (a few) good memories of her.
I admire that you are able to decide a book isn't for you to read. I still have to learn to abandon a book. I only managed four times in the last 12 years.

>148 quondame: The start wasn't bad, Susan, and I would have liked the whole better without the preaching.

>146 FAMeulstee: I was taking part in a conservation project to survey for snow leopards and their prey in the Altai Republic. The meeting point was Novosibirsk, from where we had a 2 day, 1000 km drive to the study area near the Mongolian border. It is an amazing part of the world.

>150 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, Claire, I didn't know there were snow leopards outside the Himalaya region.
It must be a beautiful part of the world, and snow leopards are beautiful animals.

book 134: Geachte Muizenpoot en achttien andere gedichten by F. ten Harmsen van der Beek
own, poetry, Dutch, no translations, 94 pages
TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book in honor of my 56th birthday (rolling)

Poetry, first published work (1965) by Fritzi ten Harmsen van der Beek.
Can't make much of most of these poems, instead of forced rhyme it is forced in form: nearly each poem has 13 pairs of sentences and a last word on two pages.

I probably missed a lot of references, I did like some nice word creations

Title translated: Dear Mouseleg and eighteen other poems

book 135: De tijgerkat. Herinneringen aan mijn kindertijd en andere verhalen by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
1001 books, library, translated from Italian, no English translation in this form, main part is The Leopard, 445 pages
TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book where the first name of the writer comes alphabeticly before the last name

This book contains nearly all works by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in one edition.

The Leopard is the main part, furthermore Places of My Infancy: A Memory, The Professor and the Siren, and two more stories.
The Leopard is a wonderful historical story about declining Sicilian nobility in the 19th century, based on the life of Tomasi's great-grandfather. The arrival of Garibaldi on Sicily, the start of Italy as one nation, the (extended) family of the prince.
With interesting foreword, afterword and historical context by the translator.

Places of My Infancy: A Memory contents descriptions of the palaces where Tomasi grew up. The buildings don't excist anymore. The palace in Palemo was bombed in WWII and an other one got destroyed by an earthquake.

The professor and the siren was an intriguing story about a professor who is fluent in ancient Greek and he tels the writer how this happened.

I would rate The Leopard the full 5 stars, the others would get 4 stars, so the whole is rated 4,5.

Funny that the English translation is named The Leopard, as the Italian "gattopardo" refers to smaller big cats: African "gattopardo" is Serval and American "gattopardo" is Ocelot

Dutch title translated: The tigercat. Memories of my childhood and other stories

Read, not yet reviewed:
#136: Cliënt E. Busken by Jeroen Brouwers
#137: Wraak en andere novellen (Legends of the Fall) by Jim Harrison
#138: De gierzwaluw by Remco Daalder
#139: Een roos van vlees (A Rose of Flesh) by Jan Wolkers

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
De 90ste verjaardag van Louis van Roosgaarde by Jan Terlouw
Het veelkleurig land (The Many-Colored Land) by Julian May

>153 FAMeulstee: Ah, but if one called a story like di Lampedusa's The Ocelot, there would be zero evocation of nobility, or armorial designs, or grace and power. A better try might be The Wildcat, but there one runs into more cultural freight with the fact that, during WWII, there was a Navy fighter plane called that and thus military recollections would again make it unworkable for a 1960 audience. And don't even get me goin' on the serval! Always looks misspelled, for one thing....

>155 richardderus: Cerval?

>155 richardderus: I was more thinking about mytical beasts that might come closer, with the feel of nobility. The leopard is larger than the Italian word. Well, that is the line between languages, as Dutch has no exact translation either.

>156 humouress: According to Wikipedia it is serval, both in Dutch and English.

>157 FAMeulstee: I was just pandering to Richard :0) Apparently, it's the French spelling.

>158 humouress: I shall Haughtily Overlook the lèse-majesté of your facetious utterance.

>157 FAMeulstee: Language's innumerable and insuperable barriers to communication in one book's translated title....

>159 richardderus: So kind.

Happy Weekend, Anita. Have a lovely time with the books. I remember loving Legends of the Fall when I read it, many, many years ago.

>159 richardderus: Indeed, Richard dear, translation and words always makes me think of the USSR where some Russian words were banned. If you don't have words you can't tell...

>161 msf59: Thank you, Mark, happy weekend with plenty of books, birds and beer :-)
I didn't love Legends of the Fall like you did, there was a bit to much violence for my taste. But I am glad I read it.

book 136: Cliënt E. Busken by Jeroen Brouwers
own, Dutch, Libris Literatuur Prijs 2021, no translations, 257 pages
TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with a standalone capital letter in the title

Intern monologue of a man suffering from dementia. Physical locked in a wheelchair in an institution, his mind locked in a failing body, he comments on his surroundings. His memories of a past life get more and more absurd.

The winner of this years Libris Literature Prize is a very good read. Brouwers makes you feel how locked up and misunderstood the main character feels. Just enough humor to make reading bearable.

Title translated: Client E. Busken

book 137: Wraak en andere novellen by Jim Harrison
own, translated, original title Legends of the Fall, 273 pages
TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a Western

This book contains three novella's: Revenge, The Man Who Gave Up His Name, and Legends of the Fall.
The first story was an disturbing read about aldutry and revenge. The second about a succesful man who gives up this life for more peace of mind. The third about 3 brothers going to WWI, with only two returning.

A bit much violence, and female characters stay flat, some are used, and abused in very disturbing ways. Not my kind of book.

Dutch title translated: Revenge and other novels

book 138: De gierzwaluw by Remco Daalder
library, e-book, non-fiction, Dutch, Jan Wolkers Prijs 2014, no translations, 205 pages
TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a non-fiction book about some aspect of nature

All you ever wanted to know about the common swift, and more.
The common swift is a migrating bird, studied at Oxford and other places around the world.

Winner of the Jan Wolkers Prize 2014 (Dutch prize for books about nature).
A lot of interesting (and less interesting) facts and research. Now I know more about common swifts, I recognise them and see many on my daily walks :-)

Dutch title translated: The common swift

book 139: Een roos van vlees by Jan Wolkers
own, Dutch, English translation A Rose of Flesh, 194 pages
TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book with a flower in the title or author's name

Ten years ago Daniel and Sonja lost their 2 year old daughter. Daniel still can't cope, his wife left him. We follow Daniel one day in winter, waking up with his cat, going to his daughters grave, having his son midday from school for lunch, his parents visit him, and having a date in the evening. Always afraid he will also loose his son, misunderstood by his very protestant father, missing his ex-wife.

Sad, very good written story. Some beautiful nature descriptions, and two very disturbing scenes.

Dutch and English title are the same

Read, not yet reviewed:
#140: Het veelkleurig land (The Many-Colored Land) by Julian May
#141: De 90ste verjaardag van Louis van Roosgaarde by Jan Terlouw

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
De gouden halsring (The Golden Torc) by Julian May
e-book: De druiven der gramschap (The Grapes of Wrath) by John Steinbeck

>166 FAMeulstee: It's years sinceI read this, and other Wolker's novels Anita. He's not so well known here in the UK now, but I think I have three of his novels, all read maybe 15 years ago.

I saw his holocaust sculpture near the Hortus Botanicus, in Amsterdam. Also around that time.

The HB is one of my favourite places.

Hi, Anita. I understand your criticisms of Legends of the Fall. Like Mark, I loved it way back when. It may be more of a guys’ book, or it may not have aged well with our changing perspectives over time.

So, in the newspaper here today there was an article on how Singapore is going to create its first polder, to ‘reclaim’ land, with Dutch help and expertise. I have to be honest, although it’s interesting, I’m not a fan of messing about so much with nature.

>165 FAMeulstee: De gierzwaluw is "Dutch title translated: Revenge and other novels"? I am so confused....

Happy to report that a new thread was made despite my apparent descent into "Triple A-Double D" as Karen explains it in her thread. Spend a splendid Sunday, my dear friend.

>168 Caroline_McElwee: I haven't read much Wolkers, Caroline, this was my first since 2008. We have a few others on the shelves. At school the teachers pushed his books, so I skipped them, as I don't like to be pushed.
I must admit I have never been to the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam.

>169 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe, I think Legends of the Fall is more a male book. I am afraid women are still victims in the way he describes, but it makes a hard read to me. Others may like it way more than I did.

>170 humouress: Interesting, Nina, without polders our country would not exist at all. And with rising sealevels other countries might need to do the same....

>171 richardderus: Thank you, Richard dear, sorry to have confused you. A copy and paste went wrong, I have corrected it now. Well maybe also a case of AAADD ;-)
I am trying to finish The Grapes of Wrath tonight, I will visit treads later.

Read, not yet reviewed:
#140: Het veelkleurig land (The Many-Colored Land) by Julian May
#141: De 90ste verjaardag van Louis van Roosgaarde by Jan Terlouw
#142: De gouden halsring (The Golden Torc) by Julian May
#143: De druiven der gramschap (The Grapes of Wrath) by John Steinbeck

Reading now:
Een jaar uit het leven van Gesine Cresspahl (Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl) by Uwe Johnson
Johannes Viator by Frederik van Eeden

You've read an interesting selection of books Anita!

>139 FAMeulstee: I avoided Wolkers, because of a part of a book of his, a very painful and gruesome excerpt we had to read in school. He is a good writer, when you can make your readers feel so intensely. But i disliked it so much, i didn't want to read more.

>172 FAMeulstee: I love the Hortus, a very nice place. And then a visit to the Wertheim park, with Wolkers' sculpture. And when you are still up to it, go on to the Oosterpark.

>174 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella.
I know Wolkers puts disturbing scenes in his books, this one was no exception. Which book was the excerpt you read from?
I have been to the Hortus in Haren, and of course Arboretum Trompenburg in Rotterdam. We might visit the Hortus in Amsterdam one day, I am sure I would like it.

>175 FAMeulstee: It has a butterfly House too Anita. I also loved the Keukenhof Gardens when I was there one year.

There is a photo of Oliver Sacks in de Hortus. Can't find online, but next time I spot the book I will photograph the page.

>176 Caroline_McElwee: I have been to the Keukenhof when I was a kid, Caronline.
And next year the Floriade will be in Almere, that is near where we live, so I hope to visit a few times.

  

book 140: Het veelkleurig land by Julian May
own, translated, original title The Many-Colored Land, 393 pages
TIOLI Challenge #4: Tagmash Rolling Challenge

Dutch and English title are the same


book 142: De gouden halsring by Julian May
own, translated, original title The Golden Torc, 399 pages
TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book in honor of my 56th birthday (rolling)

Dutch and English title are the same


book 145: De troonveroveraar by Julian May
own, translated, original title The Nonborn King, 411 pages
TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book where the first name of the writer comes alphabeticly before the last name

Dutch title translated: The throne-conquerer


First three Saga of the Exiles books (of four, I am reading the last one now).
Earth, 22nd century, people who don't feel at home at Earth and colonised planets have a way out: a one-way time portal to six milion years back. We follow the eight characters of Group Green, who leave together. But they don't arrive in an idyllic ancient world, aliens are in control of the Pilocene Earth, fighting eachother and using the humans fot their own advantage.

Julian May sets up a great story, incorporating Celtc myths, in a mix of sience-fiction and fantasy. There is a huge cast of characters, that can be a bit overwhelming at first.
I gave all books 5 stars when I read them in 2010. I still love these books, but after reading many other books since, the ratings are a bit lower now.

book 141: De 90ste verjaardag van Louis van Roosgaarde by Jan Terlouw
library, e-book, Dutch, no translations, 319 pages
TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a novel written by a politician or journalist

The 90th birthday of former minister Louis van Roosgaarde is approaching. A grandson is preparing a party on the big estate of the family. Meanwhile he finds out some family secrets, together with the other grandchildren.

Mystery and family mixed makes a mildly amusing story.

Title translated: The 90th birthday of Louis van Roosgaarde

book 143: De druiven der gramschap by John Steinbeck
library, e-book, translated, Pulitzer Prize, Nobelprize, original title The Grapes of Wrath, 603 pages
TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a books whose title takes the form "The xxx of yyyy"

The tragic story of the Joad family in the 1930s.

I can't add much to the many raving reviews here on LT, except for my own experience. Steinbeck did it again, he made me cry, like he did before with Of Mice and Men. The hardships people went through during the Great Depression, the little acts of kindness, the personal losses, the hope...
I didn't want to story to end, it was a great read.

Dutch and English title are the same.

book 144: Johannes Viator by Frederik van Eeden
own, Dutch, no translations, 412 pages
TIOLI Challenge #14: Read a book where the title and the author’s name both have a double letter in them

Johannes is tormented by his love for Marion, his love isn't as pure as he wishes it to be. He goes through his own battle of Good and Evil, fighting his demons, hoping to find enlightment.

A difficult read. The book is written in bombastic language, including a few beautiful sentences and descriptions of nature. Neither Johannes or Marion comes alive, they stay the puppets of the writer. If you want to read Frederik van Eeden choose an other book.

Dutch title translated: Johannes Viator (Viator means traveler in Latin)

Well I didn't finish Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl this month (1596 pages). I got halfway, and it is a great read, and it looks like it is going to be a five star plus read. I just can't manage more than 20-30 pages a day, so I hope to finish it in July.

I did finish The Complete Essays of Montaigne (1557 pages), that I started in March. So I finally got one book of my "books with 1000+ pages" list down.

I won't finish any other book today, I just started the last book of "Saga of the Exiles". So now it is time to gather all numbers for my June statistics, and prepare my July thread :-)

June 2021 in numbers

24 books read (8.547 pages, 284,9 pages a day)

own 10 (42 %) / library 14

17 male author / 7 female author
7 originally written in Dutch / 17 translated into Dutch
19 fiction / 5 non-fiction

24 books in TIOLI Challenges
  8 e-books
  4 1001 books
  4 mystery/police procedural
  0 YA

--
pages:
0 - 100 pages: 2
101 - 200 pages: 3
201 - 300 pages: 6
301 - 400 pages: 7
401 - 500 pages: 4
501 - 999 pages: 1
1000+ pages: 1

longest book 1557 pages
shortest book 42 pages
average book 356 pages

--
own books read were on the shelf since:
before 2008: 9
2008: 1
2021: 2

--
date first published:

16th century: 1
18th century: 1
19th century: 1

20th century
1930s: 2
1950s: 1
1960s: 3
1970s: 1
1980s: 3
1990s: 1

21st century
2000s: 1
2010s: 7
2020s: 2

--
ratings:
  1 x
  4 x
  8 x
  4 x
  6 x
  1 x

--
Best books in June


De druiven der gramschap (The Grapes of Wrath) by John Steinbeck

and
De tijgerkat (The Leopard) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa would have gotten 5 stars if I had read it as stand alone. In my edition were other works by him, and those were not as good.

===

walking in June: walked 28 days, 149,0 km; average 5,32 km/a day
e-biking in June: biked 2 days, 35,6 km; average 17,80 km/a day

2021 totals to date:

145 books read (44.107 pages, 243,7 pages a day)

own 38 (26 %) / library 107

100 male author / 45 female author
  36 originally written in Dutch / 109 translated into Dutch
110 fiction / 35 non-fiction

145 books in TIOLI Challenges
  48 e-books
  18 1001 books (total 201)
    3 Dutch Literary Canon (total 35/125)
  14 childrens/YA
  24 mystery/police procedural

pages:
0 - 100 pages: 12
101 - 200 pages: 20
201 - 300 pages: 46
301 - 400 pages: 42
401 - 500 pages: 16
501 - 999 pages: 8
1000+ pages: 1

longest book 1557 pages
shortest book 42 pages
average book 294 pages

--
own books read were on the shelf since:
before 2008: 21
2008: 1
2009: 1
2010: 1
2015: 1
2016: 2
2019: 3
2020: 2
2021: 6

--
date first published:
4th centry BC: 1
16th century: 1
18th century:
19th century: 7

20th century
1900s: 1
1910s: 1
1920s: 2
1930s: 8
1940s: 3
1950s: 4
1960s: 10
1970s: 6
1980s: 12
1990s: 18

21st century
2000s: 12
2010s: 48
2020s: 10

--
ratings:
  3 x
17 x
48 x
48 x
24 x
  3 x
  2 x

===

Walking in 2021: walked 170 days 1016,1 km; average 5,98 km a day
e-biking in 2021: biked 11 days 219,0 km; average 19,91 km a day

>172 FAMeulstee: >170 humouress: Sorry, Anita; I should have put my comment in context. Singapore seems to be using the polder to create new land and extend one of the outlying islands. I’m not sure how they’ll get it past Indonesia and Malaysia because the sea borders are pretty tight.

Singapore has been creating new land for years. The Marina Bay Sands hotel complex stands on created land. The Raffles hotel is on Beach Road because it used to be on the beach, which I didn’t realise until quite recently. You can’t see any water from there now, only high rise buildings. I’m pretty sure this will have adverse environmental consequences elsewhere, not least with all the sand they must have to displace from somewhere to fill in the new land. It isn’t a case of protecting existing land but of making the island bigger.

>185 humouress: Yes, Nina, the Netherlands have been doing the same for centuries. I am sure there are environmental consequences, but those were not a thing until recently. I live on the most recent created new land.
But I do understand Singapore needs land, and has very few other options. Rising sealevels only add to the problems.

Hi Anita. I apologize for being out of touch. Projects around the house, and an increased pain level have kept me from reading and posting. But, yesterday I visited my local library, and realized how very much of a hermit I've become since Will's passing. I enjoyed the conversations about books, and happenings in our lives and came home happy.

I vow to get out more. Grief has zapped me. It is time to move on.

I love your stories of your pets throughout your life. I have always had a pet. Life would be so sad without one. I remember when I first found your thread, what seems to be so many years ago, there was a beautiful litter of puppies. I wanted each and ever one of them.

I hope you are Frank are well. I send all good wishes.

>187 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda. No need to apologise, you are always welcome here.
Loosing Will was hard on you, and of course you needed time to deal with it.

We are well, without pets since Ari. But I still remember the good times we had with them.

Take care, dear Linda.