Seven Brand-New (or Brand-Newly Arrived) Fiction Titles:
February 9, 2010
February 8, 2010
Romantic Books for Valentine’s Day
Hands up everyone who hates Valentine’s Day.
OK, now hands up everyone who doesn’t actually care a whit about Valentine’s Day. That many? All of you can go look at these.
The other two of you can stay here. 
We wanted to suggest books for Valentine’s Day that wouldn’t make you want regurgitate your heart shaped bon-bons. We almost managed it too! Read on for books about all sorts of romantic love and how we deal with it.
February 5, 2010
Read The Book Before You See…
… these films out in February 2010:
… The Lovely Bones, directed by Peter Jackson, starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, and Susan Sarandon. Based on the award-winning novel of same name, written by Alice Sebold, it can be seen in première in the major big cities in the Netherlands before its official release date.
The Lovely Bones tells the story of fourteen year old Suzie Salmon, who is raped and murdered by a neighbour. After her death, she sees events developing from her personal heaven while life goes on within her family, full of wonder and bitterness.
Her murderer is still at large. But even if it takes time, leads will find their way to him and, ultimately, Suzie will also find a way to gain her eternal rest.
… The Princess and the Frog, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, and the voices of John Goodman, Anika Nani Rose and Bruno Campos.
Not really based on a particular book, this new Disney film takes the basic fairy tale of the Princess and the Frog and twists it quite a lot. So our princess kisses a frog, but instead of having him change into a prince, she is changed into a frog! And must look for a way to change back. There’s a lot of music, as usually Disney movies have, but this time it’s more jazzy and full of swing. Our princess is actually black – or should I say African-American? – and the scenario is New Orleans.
So in this case, read the fairy tale ( it’s in this, our most popular fairy tale collection) before you watch the movie, just to compare how much they can – and did! – change.
… Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, directed by Chris Columbus and starring Logan Lerman, Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan, among others.
Based on the book of same name, written by Rick Riordan, it tells the story of Percy Jackson, a twelve year old boy diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, who has been expelled from several schools. On a trip with his mother, Percy’s mother learns Percy must go to a demigod training camp. As they drive towards camp, they are attacked by a Minotaur which grabs Percy’s mother. Percy sets himself to revenge and slays the Minotaur.
It’s just the start of his adventure and the knowledge he is the son of Poseidon with a human woman, which makes him a demigod. One that might in the future decide the future of the Olympus…
I watched the trailer the other day and it looks incredible! It certainly made me curious about the books as well, since it’s a series of 5 books up to now.
… Oscar et la Dame Rose, written and directed by Eric-Emmanuel Schimtt and starring Max Von Sydow, Amira Casar, Amir and Michele Laroque a.o., is a French film based on the novel of same name. An English language translation, Oscar and the Lady in Pink, was released in 2008.
Ten year old Oscar is sick and nobody tells him the truth about his ilness. Only Rose, a woman with a grumpy attitude, is straightforward with him. They play a game in which Oscar lives a day as if it were 10 years, allowing him to experience life in a short period of time. She also suggests that she should write to God and in his letters, Oscar talks about his suffering, worries, joys, falling in love for the first time, time passing by. A singular friendship develops between Oscar and Rose. Both have no idea how this closeness will affect their future lives.
February 4, 2010
Author Events in February/March
Friday Feb. 5th: Jesse Jackson will be the keynote speaker at the fourth event of the John Adams Institute’s New America Series, to discuss diversity in the US. The event will be held at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam, starting at 20.00 hrs.
Friday Feb. 5th: Lynne McTaggart will lecture at in Maarssen on “The True Healing Power of Intention,” in conjunction with Bliz Events. See the post from a few weeks ago with information (also about the weekend workshop following it, and the special ABC deal!)
Saturday Feb. 6th: Eric Raschke will speak about and sign his novel The Book of Samuel at the ABC Treehut in Den Haag, from 15.00 hrs onwards. This event was organized by the NLSCWBI. See last week’s post for all the details!
Sunday Feb. 14th: Poet Harry Zevenbergen launches his collection Save the Last Dance for Me (a selection of translated poems and ones written directly in English) at the ABC Treehut in Den Haag from 17.00 – 18.00 hrs. A post with all the details will follow shortly, but see the Treehut website for information in the meantime!
Saturday Feb. 20th: Nancy Marchant will present her book Knitting Brioche at the ABC Treehouse in Amsterdam, from 15.00 hrs onwards. See last week’s post for all the details!
March 10 – 20th: Nationale Boekenweek (National Book Week). For the 75th time, the country will celebrate all that is literary. This year’s theme is Titaantjes – Opgroeien in de letteren, which roughly translates as Little Titans – Growing Up In Literature. See the website for the countless events planned everywhere (including when you can travel for free with your Boekenweekgeschenk)(i.e. Book Week Gift)(which, incidentally, we won’t be able to give away to you in our stores, as they are designated for buyers of Dutch books)(we applied for them, but were given this answer, alas).
Staff Review: The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind
Reviewed by Oscar Strik
For those familiar with Terry Goodkind’s massive fantasy series, The Sword of Truth, it might have come a bit of a surprise that the author has chosen a slight genre departure for his latest novel. The Law of Nines is best described as a supernatural thriller, and especially the seemingly mundane beginnings of the book are quite a change from the usual fantasy worlds.
There are ties to Goodkind’s other works, though. The protagonist, Alex Rahl, is linked to the universe of The Sword of Truth by his last name, as well as in other ways that become clear as the book progresses. Alex is a struggling painter, at odds with a society that seems to place highest value on superficiality and fleeting ideals.
Parallels can also be found in the novel’s ideology. It is no secret that Goodkind’s works are influenced by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, and this is clear in the book’s attitude towards art and the right to freedom and self-determination. This has some genuine appeal in the part where Alex and his mother are constrained both physically and mentally in a psychiatric hospital, but most of the time, it bogs the novel down in a most preachy way, and reduces its characters to ventriloquists’ dummies.
The Law of Nines isn’t the first or the only work of popular fiction to reference Randian philosophy in recent years. The 2007 video game BioShock did so extensively, and in a way that was more fulfilling than that of this book. Where Goodkind is content with simply rehashing ideologies in an upfront manner – with protagonist Rahl resorting to extreme and seemingly uncharacteristic violence to protect himself – BioShock sought (and succeeded in some respects) to problematise Rand’s capitalist philosophy, allowing the player of the game to form his own opinion about the system’s merits and flaws. Sadly enough, The Law of Nines offers little of that, even when a book might appear a better medium for ideological reflection than a science-fiction horror computer game.
In this sense, Goodkind hampers his own agenda, by putting ideas in the foreground, at the cost of characters and story, and it is to the detriment of the value of the book as a work, whether it be philosophy, art, or entertainment. Apparently Goodkind wasn’t able to display the skill or ambition as a writer to pull it off all at once.
Nevertheless, despite these issues The Law of Nines has quite some value as a thriller. If you’re willing to put up with some of the preaching, and are able to stomach heavy loads of violence, torture, and suspense, it can be a gripping book that has some interesting things to say about freedom, autonomy, and how these are at times oppressed by outside forces. I don’t think it will disappoint readers who have grown to love Goodkind’s fantasy works.
February 2, 2010
ABC’s Best Books of the Decade
In January, our buyers got their heads together and came up with a very, very long list of what they considered to be ABC’s most successful books of the decade. Wrestling that list down to fewer than a gazillion titles required more objectivity than can reasonably be expected from people who are passionate about books, but we got there in the end. What makes a book worthy of the list? First: it had to be originally published between December 1999 and December 2009. Second: It should be a bestseller, not just originally, but currently too. And lastly: it had to be a book that we would personally recommend to you, our customer. How many of these books have you read?
BEST FICTION TITLE OF THE DECADE: The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time by Mark Haddon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger’s, a form of autism.
He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colors yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbor’s dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down. Almost universally loved and recommended by ABC employees, this book is deceptively simple, but completely memorable. And hilarious too!
BEST NON-FICTION TITLE OF THE DECADE: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point is that magical moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.
Gladwell reveals how easy it is to cause group behavior to tip in a desirable direction by making small changes in our immediate environment: Removing graffiti in the New York subway caused a dramatic reduction in crime; a specific hip group of teenagers wore Hush Puppies and suddenly sparked a national craze. The Tipping Point contains a profoundly hopeful idea that people will embrace for its sense and simplicity: one imaginative person, applying a well-placed lever, can move the world.
This is a book that should be read by everyone in business, politics, marketing, advertising, and anyone interested in trends, fashion, fads, policy making, and human behavior. In other words, all of us.
And now, in no particular order, all the other title that we think were ABC’s Best Books of The Decade. (Please note that sub-categories are fairly arbitrary and completely subjective. :-))
FICTION
Fiction for Everyone
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
- The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
- The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley
- The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
- The Coffee Trader by David Liss
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Slightly More Demanding Fiction
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories by Miranda July
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
- The Human Stain by Philip Roth
- Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
- Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
- Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Juvenile Fiction
- The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time by Mark Haddon
- The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
- Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
NON-FICTION
Biography
- Postsecret by Frank Warren
- The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
- Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Help Yourself
- Loving What Is by Byron Katie
- What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson
- The Game by Neil Strauss
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
- He’s Just Not That into You by Behrendt and Tuccillo
How The World Works
- Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
- The Tipping Point by Macolm Gladwell
- No Logo by Naomi Klein
- The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
- The Island At The Center Of The World by Russell Shorto
- The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
- Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things by Michael Braungart and William McDonough
Feed Your Senses
January 31, 2010
ABC Meets: Knitter Nancy Marchant
On Saturday, February 20th, knitter extraordinaire Nancy Marchant will launch her book Knitting Brioche: The Essential Guide to the Brioche Stitch at the ABC in Amsterdam.
Nancy Marchant has created an entire website about this stitch, right here, and, if you’re a knitter, I can highly recommend not going there, as you will find yourself seduced by all those fabulous color combinations. Knitters being what they are, you’ll want to start a pattern with that brioche stitch straight away!
Come here the expert speak about it in person. The event starts at 15.00 hrs.
Bring your stash so you can get started on one of these on your way home (trying to resist the siren call of that Brioche Pullover myself).
ABC Meets: Young Adult Novelist Erik Raschke (again!)
After his visit to Amsterdam in November, Young Adult Novelist Erik Raschke will be stopping by at the ABC in Den Haag on Saturday, February 6th.
Erik will be signing copies of his Young Adult/crossover novel The Book of Samuel (published last October by Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press) and telling us about the writing and publication process. Visit the book’s website at: www.thebookofsamuel.com.
Erik will read and sign his books at 3 pm in the ABC Treehut in Den Haag (accessible through the store on the first floor). You’re also welcome to stay for a drink and a chat.
This event is part of the program for the Dutch chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (www.scbwi.org) and is open to anyone who is interested in writing or reading! Please check the ABC Treehut website for all the details.
January 29, 2010
January 28, 2010
Shelf Obsession: Irene Zonnevijlle
You’ve been invited to dinner at someone’s home. Your host is busy in the kitchen and you wait in the living room. What do you do to pass the time? Admit it: you snoop around their bookshelves don’t you? We know you love shelf snooping just as much as we do, and now you can check out all sorts of bookshelves via the ABC blog.
We were sent this wonderful photo by Irene Zonnevijlle. “In this picture you see my incredibly untidy bookshelves and myself with broken leg and wheelchair. Fortunately with lots and lots of books to read” she wrote in the email.
The picture might have come straight out of a Where’s Waldo book (Where’s Wally for you English folks)(or Where’s Bin Laden for you current affairs types) – the more you look the more you see! It just goes to prove how one picture can give rise to loads of nosy questions, all graciously answered, and another satisfying peek at people’s books.
What are all those books – it looks like text books and files more than anything. Is this also your workspace?