Tourism

On Tenerife I noticed a few things that I just thought weren't as they should be:

A propper trying to get people into a restaurant, with the opening sentence: "Sorry to disturb you..."

A restaurant with a sign on the window: "Closed from july 28th until september 6th due to staff holidays" in the middle of high season.

A salesgirl in a souvenirshop dusting the postcards.

De Muur 1 (02-028)

De Muur 1 (02-028)

From the same publisher as Hard Gras, a new series have started about cycling. 3 of the best Dutch cycling journalist have taken the task to edit the stories by several well known, though also some lesser known cycling addicts. Obviously they wrote a story each themselves. Jungmann about the unfairness of the sport, which actually adds to the exitement. Smeets about the silent hero from Spain: Indurain and Wagendorp about all Dutch cyclists who should have won the Tour, but haven't. Highlight of this book is the story by Wilfried de Jong about Gino Bartali. He had the luck to interview the old campionissimo a few years ago. I have seen a part of it on television then. Here he tells the whole story about the old men, a few years before his death, still addicted to the sport than made him who he was. Another great story is the story from the unknown Dutch cyclist Vos who left the Tour the very same day as the famous Zaaf and ended up on a drinking sprawl in Paris with the African legend. I'm afraid this might be another series I have to keep up with. And another one I need to aspire to write for one day, after writing cycling stories myself for over a year now.

Tessa de Loo - Het rookoffer (02-029)

Tessa de Loo - Het rookoffer (02-029)

The tragic story of an affair between a female teacher in her thirties and a student half her age. The story is told in reverse order. So we know the end, while every chapter we know more about how it could have happened, an interesting way of telling a story. It actually adds to the book, as some things become more and more clear while you continue to read. The idea obviously isn't new, but I'm sure a lot of teachers could imagine things like this happen. I know I can, though I haven't really been tempted (yet?). In this story at least, she is the one suffering most. It always looks like the teacher is the strong one, the one who uses, but throughout the story, this does not seem to apply here.

Good book. Tessa de Loo has become one of the best export products of Dutch literature. Especially her story "Twins" about two sisters growing up seperately in Germany and the Netherlands has become a major international bestseller. "Het rookoffer" would deserve a translation as well.