Everything seems not to work lately. My washing machine is making strange noises while pushing out the water, my new computer refused to start for a week, my old laptop is randomly giving a blue screen (but never on top of the service desk), and my old computer denied the presence of a wireless card into its system for a couple of nights. That's one of the things keeping me busy lately.
In the mobile home we were living in there was a scale, which allowed me to check my performance against the goal I set to myself sometime ago. I am about 98.5kg, which is 95kg within 5%! Encouraged by the fact that I am on target, I bought a high precision scale, which I am using regularly. I have also decided to report it on the sidebar. I think I will stay on target up to end of the year - if not I will use the secret weapon: buying and reading an issue of Libelle...
23 August 2007
12 August 2007
Holidays in France - II
At the end of our holiday the children make some friends and disappeared during the day. That made us discovery the concept of free time, which we filled with lectures. Since I finished my books very fast, I decided to read the books that Loes had finished, and get acknowledged with Dutch contemporary literature.
The last book I have read (I'm still reading I must admit, is Terug naar de Kust from Saskia Noort. It is one of the worst novels I ever read in my life. It's designed to be read by Libelle's reader, actually it could have been published over there in episode, was not for the fact that Libelle had better things to publish. It is supposed to be a thriller, but it is just a sequence of words describing useless details (we checked with our hands whether the tub water was at the right temperature, and then we had a bath...). Women, especially young mother, dynamic, holding their life and full of feelings, are the heroins; all villains, suspected or real, are male, since the evil is male, fortunately. Instead of being a story of threatening, misfacts and fear, is the story of a neurotic young mother, who feels justified of every single act because of her feelings. I suspect the author didn't write it like this purposely, she probably had no other choice. Reading this novel is educative, since it shows how bad a novel can be written, in absolute terms.
The second novel I have read is Tirza, written by the dutch celebrity Arnon Grunberg. Also this is a book about family life, since there is probably nothing else to write about in The Netherlands. But in this case, despite the literary prices (can you imagine, the guy won a price organized by its editor, twice!), the book is good. There's again a lot of detail, every fact seems to carry with it a deep significance; the story is slow and intense, and everything seems to happen inside the characters, even though there is a lot of things happening outside. A sentence remain impressed in my mind from this book: "sex is humiliation". In the book it has to do with the fact that the main character loved to have is dick licked after some anal sex with his cleaning lady, but it has its impact also outside that context. Tirza is a nice snapshot into family life, or maybe more than that, it is a X-ray picture, an MR-scan - you see everything what's behind the curtain.
This is the first time I read a book my wife has read. It feels strange and good at the same time. Reading is an individual experience, but reading the same book in a short time enables a very special kind of sharing.
The last book I have read (I'm still reading I must admit, is Terug naar de Kust from Saskia Noort. It is one of the worst novels I ever read in my life. It's designed to be read by Libelle's reader, actually it could have been published over there in episode, was not for the fact that Libelle had better things to publish. It is supposed to be a thriller, but it is just a sequence of words describing useless details (we checked with our hands whether the tub water was at the right temperature, and then we had a bath...). Women, especially young mother, dynamic, holding their life and full of feelings, are the heroins; all villains, suspected or real, are male, since the evil is male, fortunately. Instead of being a story of threatening, misfacts and fear, is the story of a neurotic young mother, who feels justified of every single act because of her feelings. I suspect the author didn't write it like this purposely, she probably had no other choice. Reading this novel is educative, since it shows how bad a novel can be written, in absolute terms.
The second novel I have read is Tirza, written by the dutch celebrity Arnon Grunberg. Also this is a book about family life, since there is probably nothing else to write about in The Netherlands. But in this case, despite the literary prices (can you imagine, the guy won a price organized by its editor, twice!), the book is good. There's again a lot of detail, every fact seems to carry with it a deep significance; the story is slow and intense, and everything seems to happen inside the characters, even though there is a lot of things happening outside. A sentence remain impressed in my mind from this book: "sex is humiliation". In the book it has to do with the fact that the main character loved to have is dick licked after some anal sex with his cleaning lady, but it has its impact also outside that context. Tirza is a nice snapshot into family life, or maybe more than that, it is a X-ray picture, an MR-scan - you see everything what's behind the curtain.
This is the first time I read a book my wife has read. It feels strange and good at the same time. Reading is an individual experience, but reading the same book in a short time enables a very special kind of sharing.
11 August 2007
Holidays in France - I
We visited France last week. The country looked devastated by its recent history. Locals were wandering in disbelief, trying to forget, trying to accept the reality of last summer Football World Championship. I have seen youngster playing rugby on the beach, older people looking at me with watery eyes, housewife doing housekeeping; Life goes on was sounding everywhere around me, for as you repeat a lie enough times to yourself, you'll start believing in it.
We headed south, and stopped for a night rest in Chanas, a village in the south of Lyon, not mentioned in any touristic guide, and rightly so. The place was ugly, as ugly as France or Italy can be when they try hard, when they build shopping malls and automated hotels along the highway. We ate disgusting pizze, anyway much better than whatever you could get in The Netherlands - the quality range of world pizza is amazing.
We headed south, and stopped for a night rest in Chanas, a village in the south of Lyon, not mentioned in any touristic guide, and rightly so. The place was ugly, as ugly as France or Italy can be when they try hard, when they build shopping malls and automated hotels along the highway. We ate disgusting pizze, anyway much better than whatever you could get in The Netherlands - the quality range of world pizza is amazing.
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