book

Rated Submarine 8/10

Rated Les Miserables 10/10

Rated The Satanic Verses 10/10

Rated The Barefoot Queen 8/10

Rated Moederland 8/10

I am Dutch, but I have no - and never had - people from Curaçao (or with that heritage) in my social circle. So I started reading with a pretty blank slate on a personal level. The author has a really raw style, but I quite liked it and it was easy to follow along. Some passages are very poetic and I really enjoyed those.

Very impressive story and personal history of both the author and her mother.

Rated De rode kamer 6/10

Rated Life of Pi 10/10

Rated Americanah 10/10

Rated After Dark 10/10

Rated Vind me aan de andere kant 8/10

Enjoyable, even though - given the topic - it was a fairly predictable story.
I do like the fact that a different angle on WWII was highlighted.

Rated Norwegian Wood 10/10

Rated The Count of Monte Cristo 10/10

Rated De weduwnaar 8/10

Rated Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman 10/10

Rated Het eiland van Anna 10/10

It is about an island that had to be evacuated in the 1800s, because of flooding, which then in the 1900s became part of reclaimed land. It is about the people that lived there, their descendants and how origin and origin story impacts people’s lives (even several generations later).
It also highlights how immigrants find their way faster if they get equal opportunity to education and employment. Something that many present day societies should take note of instead of the xenophobia we see too much of.

Rated De meisjes van De Goede Herder 8/10

Seeing the life in and around Catholic 'shelters' for women between 1860 and 1980 through the eyes of the people who were there.
A rather nuanced take on this, which I quite enjoyed.

I received this book through a curated list and probably would've never bought it otherwise. But I'm glad I read it and would recommend to anyone with an interest in the topic.

Rated Ik heb het echt gemaakt 4/10

I have not often been more annoyed by a character than the person whose 1st person view we get. What shallowness.

Not 1 star because the writing is actually not bad.

Rated De meisjes van de katoenfabriek 8/10

Very enjoyable read about 3 generations of women in northern Finland, working, surviving and at some point, also living.

Rated The World After Gaza 10/10

This books goes deep into how we got here (here being the genocide happening in Gaza) and gives some ideas of what that may bring for the future.

From a review: “It is mandatory reading; for a present that is horrifying, for the way in which history that is ongoing needs to be written and understood– the myriad threads that Mishra weaves together include the treatment of Jews in East and West Europe before, during, and after WWII, in the Middle East where they were not blond and blue eyed, the role of the Allies and USA in the Holocaust and the utter lack of guilt and responsibility on their part + parallels with Vietnam, Germany's totally perverse absolution of the guilt + parallels to their colonial history (hardly ever spoken about), India's own hindutva nationalism sharing deeply in the zionist psyche, leaving us reeling today in an abyss of moral & political decrepitude – the colour line stronger than ever, the decolonial project still far too distant in the horizon.”

I’d like to add to that, that decolonization was in fact - for the vast majority of people - the main event in the 20th century as opposed to WWII, which mostly westerners will see as the main event. A perspective changed.

Rated The Book of Disappearance 10/10

A powerful and heavy piece of speculative fiction which asks the following question: "What if all Palestinians vanished from their homeland overnight?"

The book focuses on two characters who are friends, one Israeli and one Palestian. Also, it shows different possible reactions of the government, media and random people.

In the light of the events (the Gaza genocide) that have happened since they book was first published, this story obviously reads very different than it would have otherwise.

Rated Doorstarters aan de Franse kust 8/10

A fun and easy read about mostly good things in life and some bad things that eventually push people to more good things in life.

Rated De rivier 8/10

This was a nice surprise. After reading the synopsis I was managing my expectations for this book, but I really enjoyed it.
Also nice to learn about Martha Ballard.

Rated In the Darkroom 8/10

Rated The Setting Sun 8/10

Rated Rósa en Björk 8/10

I very much enjoyed reading this one. It is easy to read and always created an atmosphere of calm.