I’ve updated the page showing our rather excessive collection of musical instruments. Newly included are photos of the oud and guitar-lute, as well as long-overdue thanks. Also new to the site, a page just on the guitar-lute, which is a lovely but quite bizarre addition to our collection.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Last night my laptop died, after at least a couple of years of devoted service. I didn’t lose anything (paranoid backup strategy) except a few photos from our trip around Greece. (Even most of these will have survived on Olga’s laptop, but I think there were a few only I had.) In other words, not [...]
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tomorrow we leave for Greece.
I expect we’ll end up either set on fire or fed until we burst, depending on whether we get caught first by the Greek rioters or the Greek mothers.
If we survive these many and varied perils, there might be a few photos and stories in the offing. Check back mid-January (yes, [...]
Het Martyrium bookshop has a pretty fine collection of “ramsj” (new books that aren’t selling well, at severe discount). Olga tipped me off; between us we’ve picked up biographies of Bakunin and Perec, essays on Russell, a collection of Harold Bloom’s criticism, and a selection of recent papers on philosophy of logic and knowledge.
The last [...]
Between one paper and the next I’m popping my head up for a brief gloat:
In the alleyway stalls beside the Oudemanhuispoort I found Een Cent Per Emmer (One Cent Per Bucket), a richly illustrated history of the drinking water of Amsterdam. This is local history at its absolute best, with a side order of typography [...]
Ok, so I can’t resist posting this week’s haul. Because Book Traffic on Leliegracht is going out of business, and has a 75%-off sale. Yes, 75% off. So I spent a truly delightful hour or so browsing, and found:
Multatuli’s Max Havelaar, a novel written in the 1860’s protesting Dutch colonial policy. I’ve been looking for [...]
Oops. “I’ll just pop in and see if they have any Lucius Shepard” doesn’t work at the Book Exchange (Kloveniersburgwal, loads and loads of English-language secondhand, good sf section, highly recommended).
Last week’s Primo Levi (The Periodic Table) has started me on a Levi kick: Moments of Reprieve, Other People’s Trades and his Auschwitz memoirs If [...]
From the Boekenmarkt Spui:
Allen Ginsberg, Reality Sandwiches
> A naked lunch is natural to us,
> we eat reality sandwiches.
> But allegories are so much lettuce.
> Don’t hide the madness.
> –On Burroughs’ Work
On the psychology of Military Incompetence, by Norman F. Dixon. This promises to be horrifying.
> Finally, [...]
From the Boekenmarkt Spui:
Hugo Claus, “Het Verdriet van België” (”The Sorrow of Belgium”). A classic, apparently, recommended by Marijn. At a hefty 774 pages, this should keep me going for a while.
“Sometime, Never: 3 Outstanding Tales of Science and Fantasy”. I can hear my mother sighing deeply… but this is good stuff! It’s William Golding [...]
Ok, there are some genuine holiday posts in the works, I promise. I’ve gone through the mountain of photos I took and picked out a molehill of good ones, so One Day Real Soon they’ll appear here.
Today though, I’m rhapsodising (is that a word?) about my first Boekenmarkt Spui in three months. Whee!
Flann O’Brien’s The [...]