Archive for April, 2009

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Bookbits for April 29th, 2009

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

A short Bookbits for you, for a change.  Enjoy Koninginnenach if that’s what tickles your fancy, and maybe see you tomorrow in the Den Haag store (11 – 17, not 13 – 17 as I was deluded enough to keep thinking):

  • Quiz time again! My favorite bit of the online Guardian has come up with a Literary Apocalypses quiz – and I scored a paltry 2.  And I was all excited because I knew straight away what nr. 1 was, without having to think!  Em, surely you’ll beat me?
  • The NY Times started an online bookclub called The Vulture Reading Room.  Five people (authors, bloggers, critics, what-have-you) discuss, in this case, Wetlands by Charlotte Roche.  I haven’t read it myself, and after reading their thoughts I know I’ll never come close to even opening the thing.  Looking forward to the next installment (of the bookclub) already!

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Topical Tips: Queen

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Happy birthday Queen!  Or rather, Queen Mother, of course.  Hope you wear a lovely hat on Thursday and that none of your children fall in the water while fierljepping.

  1. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands by Sascha Zuger.  A grade 6 reader about our queen.  I’m mightily surprised such a book even exists in English, I have to say.
  2. The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory.  And no, I still haven’t read any of her books.  This one’s all about Mary, btw.
  3. The Queen & I by Sue Townsend.  Read this book if you’re wondering how the British Royal family would manage themselves on a housing estate.  Would the Dutch Royals be better?
  4. Confessions of a Bi-Polar Mardi Gras Queen by Marie Etienne.  Well, that’s the kind of title I can’t pass by, although apparently it’s a bit of a rehash of her first memoir, Storkbites.
  5. Tales of Peter Rabbit: And Other Favorite Stories by Beatrix Potter.  Although she shares her first name with our birthday girl, it’s a shame she’s called Potter (although of course she couldn’t do anything about it) because that name will forever be linked to this video for me (harrypotter, harrypotter – oooh!  ……harrypotter, harrypotter – yeah!)(fair warning: the song gets stuck in your head, so don’t click unless you have a back-up song standing by).

Note:  The Den Haag store will close an hour early (at 6 pm) on Wednesday, April 29th, because of Koninginnenach, but it will be open on Koninginnedag from 11 – 17.  The Amsterdam store will be closed.

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You Review: A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Reviewed by Em Angevaare

Kate Griffin’s A Madness of Angels promises you a different London, a London where magic sings in the telephone wires and travels on the underground trains. In this London, Matthew Swift awakes, after having been dead for two years. He is the same Matthew Swift, sorcerer, as the one who died, except that suddenly his eyes are blue, and he has a tendency to speak about himself in the plural. And the Matthew who calls himself ‘we’ doesn’t always agree with the Matthew who called himself ‘I’.

It is an intriguing beginning, and for a long time I hoped that this inventiveness would redeem Matthew’s London. In the end, it didn’t. The London of sorcery and blue electric angels is a dark, crowded, uncomfortable place, so full of people who do not trust each other that betrayal comes as a shock to no one, least of all the reader. It is peopled by bag ladies and beggars, rats and pigeons, all part of a magical community built on fear and self-interest. There are also less-expected creatures in this urban nightmare, creatures called weremen: like werewolves, only they shapeshift to other animals. Unfortunately, since ‘werewolf’ means ‘man-wolf’, the poor things are called ‘man-men’ – the only thing they are certainly not.

Throughout the book, Matthew Swift reminds allies and enemies alike that they have no idea what they are dealing with. It is this reader’s impression that neither did the author. This London of magic is complex but rough at edges, unfinished and unconvincing. The promise of that other London with its blue electric angels is never fulfilled.

You Review: The latest releases, reviewed by ABC customers. If you’d like to join in and get free books and ABC gift vouchers, see the original post for more details.

You Review is made possible by the following publishers: Penguin US; Penguin UK; HarperCollins US; Hachette US; Hachette UK; Simon & Schuster US, Random House US, Little, Brown UK, Hodder and Stoughton.

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ABC Meets: Patrick Rothfuss

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

ABC Amsterdam is excited to reveal that bestselling fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss will visit us this coming May!

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One) is his gripping debut, which Orson Scott Card has compared to the Harry Potter series.  It won the 2007 Quill Award for Fantasy, and was named one of the best books of the year by influential trade magazine Publisher’s Weekly.

We hope to welcome Mr Rothfuss mid-May. Watch the blog for more details!

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Bookbits for April 23rd, 2009

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Happy birth- and deathday Shakespeare (and good luck to all cowering poets out there)!

  • R. I. P. Two literary notables have died this week:  J. G. Ballard died April 19th from prostate cancer, aged 78.  See obituaries here, here, and here.  I’m sure Hester will be crushed!  Also, yesterday Dutch columnist Martin Bril died, aged 49, of esophageal cancer (if my translation serves correct).  Dutch obituaries here and here.
  • Tired of reading all those free newspapers on your commute? In London you can get a free book to read, to be returned at a later date in a drop-off box; the brainchild of choosewhatyouread.com.  Would it work here?  It’s worked for the beach, so why not?

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New Dan Brown book out in September

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Well, all you Robert Langdon fans can rest easy: the third installment featuring the intrepid symbologist, after Angels & Demons and, of course, The Da Vinci Code is finally ready for its close-up!

The Lost Symbol is the official title (it’s been in our database as The Solomon Key, though I’m sure that’ll disappear soon), and it’s due out September 15th.  Not much more is known about it than that it features Langdon again and takes place in a 12-hour period.

The real question is: when can I first report a spin-off/”desymbolizing The Lost Symbol”/cash-cow for skeptics?

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Pulitzer Prizes Announced

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Yesterday morning (our time) the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes were announced.  You can see the full list here, but I would be a terrible miser if I withheld the book winners from you, and so… *drum roll*

Fiction: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud

Drama: Ruined by Lynn Nottage (book version won’t be published until November this year)

Poetry: The Shadow of Sirius by W. S. Merwin

History: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Biography: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (trade paperback coming in June)

General Nonfiction: Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon

Note: These would have been up yesterday if I hadn’t fallen asleep at 8 pm. ;-)

And another note: doesn’t that picture of Andrew Jackson look eerily like Hugh Grant?

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Laser 3/14 ‘crossed’ at the ABC Treehouse

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Laser 3.14 is one of the artists who regularly exhibit their work at the ABC Treehouse in Amsterdam.  Known for his pithy and often esoteric street poetry, Laser uses the Treehouse to broaden out into visual imagery as well.  He adds a certain street savvy to the mix of paintings, digital art and photography that usually hangs on our walls, and is a welcome addition to the current exhibition “Bron“.  But recently an incident occured that begs the question: you can take the artist off the street, but will the street let go of the artist?

On April 16th, during exhibition hours, an unknown man entered the Treehouse, gazed for a moment at the artwork hanging near the door – then pulled out a spray can and ‘crossed’ Laser’s work! Crossing is a well known occurrence within the graffiti scene, but new to the ABC, and the natural question is: why now?  Might it have to do with the Laser’s rising popularity among galleries and collectors?  The fact that his first solo book “Are You Reading Me” will be launched at the ABC store in Amsterdam on April 23rd? You can pre-order your copy of this gorgeous collection of Laser sightings here.

Was this an act of jealousy, or the street version of a frat challenge?  See the work and judge for yourself – The “Bron” exhibition is in the ABC Treehouse in Amsterdam throughout April/May (Thursdays-Sundays, 1pm-6pm).   Everyone is welcome – except the man who ‘crossed’ the line: I’d advise him to stay away, because when you’re inside a gallery, ‘crossing’ isn’t art – it’s vandalism, and police have been alerted.

In any case, I think we know the answer to the question posed above: no, the street won’t let go of the artist.  And in my opinion, the art world will only benefit from this artist keeping one foot in the streets, and one in the ABC Treehouse.  Big up, Laser!

Posted in ABC News, Art, Book News, Donna, Events, Hip & Hype, Local Interest, Photography | No Comments »

About Us: PeterL

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

In a series of interviews conducted by ABC’s Maria Minaya, we’re going to introduce you to (almost) everyone who works at The American Book Centers in Amsterdam and The Hague.

Books form an integral part of our lives not only because they’re our bread and butter, but because our passion for them came first. Our mission is to pass them on. By reading these interviews you’ll discover the faces behind your favorite sections and get a glimpse of who we are.

Meet Peter L

Where were you born?
I was born in a hospital in Apeldoorn.

What was your favorite food as a kid and what did you hate?
My favorite was applesauce. I hated Brussels sprouts.

Were you read to as a child?
Yes, I was read to mostly by my mother. We read Pipi Langkous (Pippi Longstocking).

Did you have books in your house while growing up?
Yes, my father was a van Ditmar representative so we always had books in the house. They were mostly cheap paperbacks.

Quick free associations: (more…)

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You Review: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Reviewed by Marjolein Balm

Laurel thinks she is just an ordinary  girl.  Everything is normal about her life. She has just relocated with her parents from Orick to Crescent City and started at her new high school, where she almost immediately makes friends with her classmate David.

When she is walking to a wood outside her old house, she feels a little spot on her back. The spot grows out to a larger and larger bump, and one day, the bump is gone, but instead of that.. there are two big flower petals on her back, that look like wings. Laurel is shocked and scared and doesn’t know what to do with the wings, so she hides them in scarves under her clothes. Her mom is trying to sell the old house, and the person in charge of that is the strange Mr. Barnes.

When walking to the wood again, Lauren meets Tamani, a strange creature who tells Laurel the thruth about life: she is a faerie! Laurel was put in a basket on the doorstep of her parents house, and has always been a faerie, and she is sort of a plant. Tamani tells Laurel that the ground that connects with the wood beside Laurel’s old house belongs to her and her family, and must not be sold to anybody else, but her mom wants to sell it because they need the money. When Laurel’s father gets seriously sick, Laurel has to do something to stop Mr. Barnes, she risks her and David’s safety, but to save her father and the wood and creatures that live there, she has to do it..

Wings is a very different, very original and lovely book by Aprilynne Pyke. One of the better Young Adult novels I’ve read.  It’s kind of a modern fairy tale with unexpected twists in the plot, I really like to read that, as I love books like Ella Enchanted.  If you like fairy tales and young adult books, this is the perfect mix!  I enjoyed reading it and I loved to read that it is going to be a series of books, I am looking forward to read the sequel!

You Review: The latest releases, reviewed by ABC customers. If you’d like to join in and get free books and ABC gift vouchers, see the original post for more details.

You Review is made possible by the following publishers: Penguin US; Penguin UK; HarperCollins US; Hachette US; Hachette UK; Simon & Schuster US, Random House US, Little, Brown UK, Hodder and Stoughton.

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