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Rated The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 10/10

Rated De Canadese ontmoeting 6/10

An easy read that is comfortable to get in to when having a few mins to read. The story is original and the mood is set really well.
Only thing I didn’t like was how it’s very much a chick-lit with lots of references to what someone is wearing etc. Not bad, just not my thing.

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 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 Het Stravinsky-spel 8/10

Early on while reading I thought it felt a bit snobbish, however nothing could be further away from that in the descriptions of life during the siege of Sarajevo.

Although this is fiction, it did make more interested in reading some of the work by Susan Sontag.

Rated Luchtplaats 8/10

It took me some time before I really got into it, but once I did it was pretty good.

I really like that all of the characters have some real dark edges.

Rated After I Do 6/10

Rated Gomorrah 8/10

Rated Bloedverwant 6/10

Horror (and vampires) is not my kind of thing, but it wasn’t bad at all. I enjoyed the dynamic between the different characters and the overall atmosphere that was created by the constant chase.

Rated No Longer Human 8/10

Rated Als scheuren in de aarde 6/10

It was a fairly enjoyable read about a love triangle. The surroundings is brought to life really well and it was easy to read.
In the middle there was a section where the obvious was hinted at a bit too much and it felt it dragged on during that part.

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 Beads on a String: A Novel of Southern Siam 10/10

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 Beach Vibes 6/10

Rated Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality 6/10

Rated De enige die overbleef 6/10

The story was a bit too far fetched and bouncing all over the place.

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 Mijn zeven vaders 10/10

The more I read in it, the more I liked it. A great coming of age book.

Rated La Chamade 8/10

Quite enjoyable, even if I found the characters tiresome at times.

I like this from a review: “Françoise Sagan is perhaps not the greatest French writer but she does justice to the tradition of beautiful, clear, poignant love stories into which she was born.”

Rated Katabasis 6/10

Like any R.F. Kuang book, it is well written. I just only got into it in short bursts. Particularly the theoretical stuff was not my cup of tea. The exploration of hell was cool though.

Rated Een vriendschap 8/10

I thought it be a cheesy love story, but it was nothing like that. Very much enjoyed this story about friendship, family, toxic authority and therapy in the first 2/3 of the 20th century.

Rated Conquest 8/10

A nice sequel to the first part. The main character is still a bit annoying in its goodness. But sometimes that is all one wants, a clear divide between good and not so good. A nice getaway into a fiction story in a historical world of the past.

Rated Dark Karma 10/10

I tried postponing reading this, because there is no releasedate for the 3rd part in the series yet. I half succeeded I suppose.

Just like the first part in this trilogy, this one took me right to the south of Siam (now called Thailand) and it is great fun to recognize things that are still very much Thai this day.

The story is engaging and the number of characters with depth makes this a very rich one.

Looking forward to the final part in this trilogy.

Rated Hoe klein de wereld is 8/10

A quite original Dutch WWII story with a strong Indian influence. I really enjoyed it.