What We’re Reading
Or, In Which We Still Await The First English-Language And Currently-In-Print Title Read By Maarten
Iris: I’m currently rereading the Harry Potter series (in Dutch) for my annual reread. 🙂 Just started the 6th book.
Jesse: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.
Ester: Foreign Éclairs by Julie Hyzy. Going through it way too fast, especially because I know this is the last in the series – trying not to cry.
Renate: The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Winner of the 2016 Costa Book Award – First Novel. Gothic Horror. I’m only about 30 pages into the book, but the tone and atmosphere has really been set!
Simone: The Redeemer by Jo Nesbø. And The Leopard, also by Jo Nesbø.
Daniele: I’m reading A Brief History of the Vikings by Jonathan Clements. Good stuff!
JeroenW: I finished The Magician King by Lev Grossman during my vacation. I thought it was great, and am looking forward to part 3.
Maarten: I just read the very entertaining and rather bizarre history of the neutral country Moresnet, by Phillip Dröge: Moresnet. Now I’m reading New Tales of the Unexpected (totally out of print), with stories by W. Somerset Maugham, Tony Wilmot, and others. Also entertaining, but not every story is good. I also just finished De thigmofiel by Midas Dekkers: less grumpy-bear-ish than is normal for him (thank goodness); loosely meandering thoughts about the need for security and comfort. (I didn’t know the Dutch term ‘thigmofiel’ either, don’t worry.)(Blogmistress’s note: I don’t know if there is an English equivalent. Certainly it’s nothing like what the Urban Dictionary suggests. I think.)
Jouke: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Cool space opera with lots of info dump. Fun fact: Reynolds lived in the Netherlands during the time he worked for the European Space Agency. (Maarten: “I knew that! He came into the store after publishing his first or second book, many many years ago. And I remember that he told me he worked for the ESA, which I found incredibly cool, being a geek and all.”)
Sophie: I recently finished The Machine by James Smythe; reads a bit like J. G. Ballard. I also just read the ARC for This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell. Just gorgeous, as always. And funny, too! 🙂 Now reading Out of Africa by Karen Blixen for my book club (beautiful language, wow!) and The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton for my self-selected entertainment (part 2 of the massive space opera trilogy I started last year).
There are ebooks available for The Miniaturist, Foreign Eclairs, The Loney, The Redeemer, The Leopard, A Brief History of the Vikings, The Magician King, Revelation Space, The Machine, Out of Africa, and The Neutronium Alchemist.