Birthday books!

In May, I celebrated my 28th birthday, and boy, did I get spoiled with books! So here are some reviews and expectations of the books I got!

Swimming in the Dark – ­Tomasz Jędrowski
I believe this book is quite popular right now, I have seen it lying around a lot of bookshops. It’s a coming-of-age story of a young gay man in Poland during the Cold War. Although the style didn’t blow me away, it had some really decent representation and I loved how the story wasn’t just about being gay in a homophobic society, but about the struggle of being in a relationship with someone who has very different political ideas. It’s not amazing, but I would still recommend it.

Klifi – Adriaan van Dis
I looooove Adriaan van Dis and I was really looking forward to this book. I actually got it from two people, my mom and my partner, but as my mom gave it to me first my partner had to go back to the bookstore to get me another present! Klifi is a dystopian story about the Netherlands in the next fifty years and it’s mostly about climate change and the refugee crisis. It is so different from Van Dis’ usual work and I’m really impressed that he was able to write something so far outside of what he normally does. He does seem to step into some dystopian pitfalls (overexplaining society, and the dictator is not exactly subtle), but I still applaud that he tried.

Frauen, die schreiben, leben gefährlich – Stefan Bollman
But, as my German is terrible, I got the Dutch edition. I think this is part of a series or something, because I have also seen the title Women who read are dangerous lying around. My dad bought this for me, who might be the biggest fan of my blog. The book is filled with stories about great female writers so I’m looking forward to it!

Low Pay? Don’t Pay! – Dario Fo
My best friend is in a play-phase so that means he’s recommending me all kinds of great plays at the moment. I’m not a big fan of reading plays myself (I prefer seeing them on stage) but he knows my taste really well so if he gave me this I’m pretty confident that I will like it.

The Angel That Troubled the Waters – Thornton Wilder
Another friend of mine isn’t really into books himself, but he likes going to antique shops and buying old books for me. It’s really cute and sometimes he turns up with the most wonderful stuff! I’m not sure if this play is something I will like but I’m gonna give it a try!

Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age – Donna Zuckerberg
I had ran into this title online and I’m absolutely obsessed with it. I studied classics for a while and even though I had to quit it, I still enjoy classical literature immensely. Unfortunately, so does the alt-right, and I hate seeing the classics getting abused to make sexist points. Emily Wilson, an amazing classicist, recommends it, so it must be good!

Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men ­– Caroline Criado Perez
After some bad experiences with female health care (I suffered some intense side effects from my anticonception pills for ten years and no doctor ever bothered to make the connection), I got interested in the position of women in medical research. This book is supposed to be the holy grail on this subject so I’m looking forward to reading it!

Vegan in 5
I’ve been eating mostly vegan for a few years now so I’m always looking for new recipes. This book is not only full of delicious ideas, every recipe also takes only five ingredients and I can get most of them package free! The small amounts of ingredients also makes it really easy to use this recipes to get rid of leftovers.

De Groene Amsterdammer
De Groene Amsterdammer is a Dutch magazine about politics, society and art. I read it for a few weeks during the past elections and I loved it some much I asked my dad for a subscription for a year. They also have some great book reviews. The puzzle however is a bit too hard for me. I prefer my daily NRC-puzzle, or the old Vrij Nederland-puzzles.

L’Oeuvre – Zola
I got this one from my brother who always manages to buy me pretty good books! I really enjoy 19^th century French literature (it was one of the subjects of my bachelor thesis) so I already know I’m gonna love this. It’s also just a very pretty book, it gives me a real autumn-y vibe so I think I’m gonna save it for rainy days in October with candles and a cup of earl grey tea.