This is the pile of books I'll be torturing myself with this week. I'm going to read 9 books (in total around 2500 pages) in 7 days. And these are not exciting and fast novels, these are heavy duty Dutch literature books.
For those who complain about the English literature they have to read, you have seen nothing yet. I can assure you, Dutch literature makes a book like Wuthering Heights look like light girly fluff. Unless it's about the Second World War, substance abuse, or sex, it's not considered a classic (preferably a book has them all). If the main character doesn't have suicidal thoughts or at least a traumatised youth that follows him the rest of his life, the chances of this book becoming a contemporary literary novel are slim.
If you haven't noticed it yet, I don't like Dutch literature. Overall, I don't even like normal Dutch adult fiction. There does not exist such a thing as a successful Dutch fantasy writer. There just isn't one. I don't know why. We do have the most erotic literary responsible collection of books of all the countries of the world. If these books would be published in a different country, they would go straight to the erotica section. Here, that is called literature. And as high school student you are encouraged to read these books.
Of course, this is a generalisation. Not all books are that bad, and not all Dutch books are full of porn. I'm probably a bit frustrated because I have to read 9 books that I don't like at all when I could be reading these wonderful books I got for review (like The Vespertine and Twilight's Ashes). Therefore there won't be any book reviews this week. I do have some other posts for you. On Wednesday Vanessa Morgan is stopping by to talk about her short story turned into film production, including pictures! And on Sunday Killian McRae is stopping by for her post on NBR for her blog tour. She'll be giving us her Top 10 reasons why it's awesome to be an author. Don't forget to stop by and leave us a comment!
4 comments:
Have you read Brieff voor de Koning and Het Geheim van het Wilde Woud by Tonke Dragt? Those are great! I agree with you that if there's no porn, drugs or the war in it it doesn't count as literature!! Have you read the Buitenvrouw? THat one sucked!!
Juli @ Universe in Words
Hey Juli! I have read Brief voor de Koning and I completely loved it. Still have to read Het Geheimen van het Wilde Woud though, I'm glad to hear it's good too (:
I haven't read the Buitenvrouw, who has written that? Thank god I'm not alone in this!
I think it is frustrating to be told which books you have to read, when common themes can be found in many books. It's such a waste. I feel for you.
Thanks Alexis. There are so many books out there that I would prefer to read over these.
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