books

It's been many years since I read something by Jan Wolkers. In high school I read a few of his works and didn't like it -- vulgar, coarse, not beautiful. The coarseness is still there, but this book, Winterbloei was a nice book to read. I loved the story of his stay on the Rottumerplaat; the full book about that might be worth a read.

Geert Mak is an master storyteller and this topic, the story of the Six family over the past 400 years, is a perfect match for Mak's skills. I loved this book.

I really wanted to love this book, and it started very strong, but ultimately it was a bit disappointing.

The copyright aspect is nice and the lawyers are witty and funny, but the aliens are disappointing -- not really funny.

Still, I read this right after I reread the Hitchhiker's Guide and it was nice to have references to modern pop culture for a change, as opposed to 1970 references. That was cool.

Overall, I'd probably rate it 3 stars.

I've read the Hitchhiker's Guide several times in my life. The first times were in Dutch, when Arthur Dent was living in the Wieringermeer, the area were I grew up, as a translation to a Dutch audience of a boring area where not much ever happened.

Sasha and I saw the movie years ago.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the 2nd novel, is a great read to and I know it well. But the 3rd through 5th were new to me. I was very disappointed in part three, part four was fine and only part five became somewhat interesting again.

Bernlef is becoming one of my all-time favorite authors. This is another powerful book by the author of Hersenschimmen.

The story is about the friendship of two little boys, in the teens and later.

He makes me nostalgic for a time I never knew -- the main character is about the age of my father.

I guess it's a sign that I'm a father that I caught myself wondering about the friendship my boys will have in the future.

I read this book on the train to and from New York.

This is a great book, with a wonderful subject: how live has gotten better over time.

But it's a follow-up to a Pinker's book from 7 years ago, the Better Angels of Our Nature. Was it worth another 350 pages? Well, I enjoyed reading the book and it made a solid case for how enlightenment has been the driving force for all the improvements in the past few hundred years.

I'd say the answer is 'yes' -- this was worth another re-read. And the book does have new material, and a reflection of future developments.

The one thing I didn't like was the attention to Trump's election. First of all, that's just one data point in a very long history, and more importantly, a book that writes about the ages should not try to be too current.

It took me a while to get into this book; it had a slow start. But as always, Vestdijk is a pleasure to read and oh my what a beautiful story line. Subtle.

Well, I couldn't resist -- this book has been in the news for several days now and I wanted to check it out.

I read the book with a good deal of skepticism, since the author is known to take liberty with the facts at times, and some of the more salacious details in the book are contested. Nevertheless, this is a intriguing insider story of the first year of the Trump White House.

I won't mince words on my opinion of the Trump White House. Needless to say, the book did not improve my opinion.

Fascinating read.