Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I want to explore my own region a bit more so I plan to do a reading tour of Belgium and the Netherlands. I am not putting a time limit on this challenge.

The regions/provinces to cover are:
- Vlaams Brabant
Jo Claes - Het gewicht van de haat

- Brussel/Bruxelles
Nicolas Ancion - Haute Pression
Dimitri Verhulst - De intrede van Christus in Brussel: in het jaar 2000 en oneffen ongeveer (English Translation: Christ's Entry into Brussels)
Isabelle Corlier - Ring Est
Jacqueline Harpman - Le bonheur dans le crime
Stefan Hertmans - Antigone in Molenbeek

- Antwerpen
Jeroen Olyslaegers - Wil
Michael Kestemont - De witte weduwe

- Limburg (Be)

- Oost-Vlaanderen

- West-Vlaanderen
Stefan Hertmans - Oorlog en terpentijn (English translation: War and Turpentine)

- Brabant Wallon

- Hainaut

- Namur

- Liege

- Luxembourg

- Zeeland

- Limburg (Nl)
Cobi Van Baars - De onbedoelden

- Noord-Brabant
Maartje Wortel - Goudvissen en beton (English translation: Goldfish and Concrete)

- Zuid-Holland
Simone van der Vlugt - Nachtblauw (English Translation: Midnight Blue)

- Utrecht

- Gelderland
Hans Heesen - Naar Zutphen

- Noord-Holland
Esther Gerritsen - Dorst (English translation: Craving)

- Flevoland

- Overijssel

- Friesland
Vonne van der Meer - Eilandgasten ~ De avondboot ~ Laatste seizoen

- Drenthe

- Groningen
Lupko Ellen - Moddergraf

Bonus reads (i.e. prize-winners or classics):
Maurice Maeterlinck - Pélléas en Mélisande
Tommy Wieringa - De dood van Murat Idrissi (English translation: The Death of Murat Idrissi)
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld - De avond is ongemak (English translation: The Discomfort of Evening)

Non-fiction reads:
Geert Mak - An Island in Time: The Biography of a Village
Pascal Verbeken - Grand Central Belge. Voetreis door een verdwijnend land
Geert Mak - The Many Lives of Jan Six
Bart Van Loo - The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire

Good luck on your challenge, Valerie.

I like your challenge Valerie - good luck!

Sounds adventurous! Hope you find some great books!

Thanks Rosemarie, Cheryl, Mome_Rath and Manda! Am looking forward to digging into this challenge and discover some new authors.

I've read some Dutch fiction already, but I'm looking forward to what authors you find in your challenge!

Sounds interesting! I’m curious what you will find. I’ve only read one book set in Belgium - Expo 58. Have fun!

Pam wrote: "Sounds interesting! I’m curious what you will find. I’ve only read one book set in Belgium - Expo 58. Have fun!"

Thanks Pam. I'll try to pick out some books that are available in English as well, though realistically I think I will only be able to complete the challenge by also reading books that are only available in Dutch or French.

Finally got round to visiting the first region of my Low Countries travel challenge:

Antwerpen: Jeroen Olyslaegers' Wil (will be published by Pushkin Press as Will)

You can find my review here

I read the second book in my Low Countries tour: Esther Gerritsen's Dorst, which is set in Amsterdam (the book has been translated into English as Craving)

This is quite an unusual novel, which I give around 3.5 stars. It tells of the dysfunctional relationship between a mother and daughter and how they try to reconnect at a time when the mother is dying of cancer. Both protagonists are off-kilter personalities who are turned inwards and find it difficult to connect with other people – some might describe them (or at least the mother) as being on the autism spectrum but I like that the author doesn’t say so in the book and doesn’t find it necessary to pathologise her characters. The dialogues in the book wonderfully convey the awkwardness of the interactions between the mother and daughter, while also displaying a lot of playfulness and airiness in the language used. The book lacks any kind of sentimentality, which I found to be both its strength and weakness as the emotional struggles of the characters, and especially the hankering of daughter Coco for some emotional fulfilment and attachment, felt quite raw and sad.

Continuing my trip around the low countries with some crime fiction, set in the university town of Leuven. The author, Jo Claes, is a well-established Belgian writer of crime fiction. Claes' writing is average, but the book had a well-developed plot and good pacing so it was an enjoyable read.

Vlaams Brabant: Jo Claes - Het gewicht van de haat

I've decided to add an additional pitstop on my low countries reading trip! I've created a 'bonus' category which will be for prize-winning books and classics by Belgian or Dutch authors, which don't have a particular regional/provincial focus.

I've read two such books over the past month:

Maurice Maeterlinck - Pélléas en Mélisande
Maeterlinck is a Belgian playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. This is one of his most famous plays. It is a short read, but I didn't really enjoy the linguistic style (though I read the Dutch translation, so it might have been a translation issue. Might have to reread it in its original French) or the story. Not a book for me.

Tommy Wieringa - De dood van Murat Idrissi (English translation: The Death of Murat Idrissi)
Longlisted for the International Man Booker Prize 2019. This is a short novella about migration, told through a Moroccan boy's attempt to cross into Europe and two Dutch-Moroccan girls who are meant to facilitate his crossing. I enjoyed Wieranga's writing in this book - it is crisp and very evocative. While I found the premise of the book interesting, as well as its exploration of the alienation felt by the Dutch-born children from former Moroccan migrants, the book felt too short and detached to be truly effective. So I give it 3.5 stars.

On this leg of my low countries reading trip, I visited Friesland with Vonne van der Meer's trilogy of books: Eilandgasten ~ De avondboot ~ Laatste seizoen (they have been translated into French and German, but not English).

These books were highly enjoyable (I gave it four stars). They relate the stories of people who come to stay at a holiday rental home, called 'Duinroos', which is located on the island of Vlieland. These stories aren't really connected but little elements are introduced within each story that relates back to the previous holidaymakers, which gives some coherence to the book and the trilogy as a whole. They are mostly bittersweet stories, focused on people's struggles with love, friendship, parenthood, and loss. I was initially concerned that the books might be a bit saccharine but that wasn't the case. Instead, the author explores people's little foibles and the ubiquitous small sadnesses which pervade life. The end was absolutely perfect, in my opinion.

This time around I visited West-Vlaanderen (West-Flanders) in Belgium with Stefan Hertman's well-known book Oorlog en terpentijn(English title: War and Turpentine). It was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2017.

I really loved this book. I struggled a bit with it at the beginning, but once I was absorbed into the story and Hertmans' beautiful writing I couldn't put it down. I thought the way in which the book was structured was interesting and gave a rhythm to the book that closely mimicked the worlds being portrayed. It was a very moving homage to the narrator's grandfather, and I adored the way in which Hertmans managed to capture the Flemish landscape and the bygone world of the 19th century. It offers much food for thought about notions of loyalty, duty, memory and the trauma's war leaves behind.

I visited Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands with Simone van der Vlugt's historical fiction novel Nachtblauw (English title: Midnight Blue).

This was quite a disappointment. The book is set for the most part in the city of Delft and follows the story of a young woman who leaves her village after her husband dies and ends up in Delft where she finds work as a painter at a pottery maker. The story is set agaist the background of the development of Delft blue pottery. I really didn't enjoy the book: I thought the writing was plain, the storyline flat and I didn't get much of a feel for what 17th century Delft must have been like. I would not recommend this book.

I made a more extended stop in Brussels, reading three books:

Dimitri Verhulst - De intrede van Christus in Brussel: in het jaar 2000 en oneffen ongeveer (english translation: Christ's Entry into Brussels)
A satirical book in which Verhulst mercilessly mocks Belgian society and its prevailing mores. The book doesn't really contain a story as such; Verhulst merely uses the impending visit of Christ to Brussels to dissect Belgium and expose its foibles. I found it very funny and enjoyed the little morality tale that Verhulst insinuated into the book. Though I imagine that for those completely unfamiliar with Belgium, the book might be a bit baffling.

Isabelle Corlier - Ring Est
An enjoyable crime fiction, where we know the perpetrator from the outset so it is more a 'will-he-get-away-with-it' crime fiction than a whodunnit. But nothing extraordinary. I enjoyed it in large part because all the events in the book took place in locations I am so familiar with.

Jacqueline Harpman - Le bonheur dans le crime
A novel set around a mysterious house in Brussels and the seemingly innocuous bourgeois family living in it. Both, in fact, have hidden, dark depths which will lead to tragedy. It is a book about transgression, and I imagine the theme of the book might be uncomfortable for some. Harpman was a psychologist and this is reflected in how she constructs her characters and have them explore their inner emotions and morality. An interesting book, but I didn't enjoy it as much as when I read it the first time round. I would rather recommend her book Orlanda (same titile in English).

I read two more books for this challenge:

Marieke Lucas Rijnveld - The Discomfort of Evening: this is shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. I found it a very disturbing book. Can't say I enjoyed it much.

I visited Gelderland in the Netherlands with a short story collection by Hans Heesen - Naar Zutphen. It was a pleasant read. All the stories are narrated by one man who lives in the town of Zutphen and revolve around the theme of what I would call 'the little unresolved mysteries in life'. 3.5 stars

I have been lagging behind on this challenge as I only read one Belgian/Dutch novel in 2021: Michael Kestemont - De witte weduwe

But I did read three non-fiction books:
Geert Mak - An Island in Time: The Biography of a Village
Pascal Verbeken - Grand Central Belge. Voetreis door een verdwijnend land
Geert Mak - The Many Lives of Jan Six (this was my favourite of the three)

I plan to continue on with this challenge in 2022 (and beyond).

Finally made another visit, to Noord-Brabant with Goudvissen en beton by Maartje Wortel (English title: Goldfish and Concrete). This was a pretty weird short story and I am not sure I really understood what it is about. But I did really like Wortel's writing.

Finding your low countries project has been illuminating! I'm an American that's been living in Antwerp for almost five years, and only just realized that I haven't read any books (besides Leopold's Ghost) about the surrounding country! I've added some of these to my to-read list. Thanks! :)

Eve wrote: "Finding your low countries project has been illuminating! I'm an American that's been living in Antwerp for almost five years, and only just realized that I haven't read any books (besides Leopold'..."

Hi Eve, glad this challenge has given you some inspiration for books to read! My progress has been slow but I intend to keep going so hopefully I will be able to suggest some further good reads in the future.

I visited Groningen in the Netherlands with Lupke Ellen's crime fiction Moddergraf. I was initially quite put off by the very male-gazy representation of the female characters in the book and was ready to dnf it. But then I got completely sucked into the story; the constant shift in character perspective made it a very propulsive read. There is no great writing or character building but it was an entertaining read.

I visited Limburg (Netherlands) with Cobi Van Baars' recent novel De onbedoelden, a beautiful book that explores the impact of the separated adoption of twin sisters. It is a subtle psychological study of what binds people, and in particular family, together and how personal identity is formed. The book has been shortlisted for the 2024 Libris Literatuurprijs, one of the main Dutch-language literary prizes.