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 [...]
Only one this week, but it’s a doozy: Goudy’s type designs : his story and specimens : being a virtual facsimile of the Typophiles chap books XIII and XIV. This gorgeous pocketsize volume is accompanying me to New Zealand, where I can gloat over it at my leisure. Thanks very much Robert, glad you liked [...]
Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (just too late to feature in a game of HipBone with some Kiwi mates) Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy
These three from the Boekenmarkt Spui.
Munchkin. I know it’s not a book. Get over it. It’s fun.
It’s been two weeks, and quite a lot has arrived… I’ve read a good chunk of it, and I just cleared most of my pending reviews on LibraryThing, so I’ll be pretty brief here.
Nobilis, R. Sean Borgstrom. This is an RPG (roleplaying game) but I ordered it for the backstory and world creation. Reviewed on [...]