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World War II in Dutch literature and non fiction: 12 recommended books

World War II in Dutch literature and non fiction

On May 5, the Netherlands celebrates 75 years since the end of the Nazi occupation. Here is a selection of books which focus on very specific Dutch experience during World War II, stories of everyday life, of great heroism and of tragedy. Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II Several biographies have chronicled Audrey Hepburn’s stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, ‘The... More >

Money for nothing: Do three books about ‘niksen’ make a trend?

Various authors

Just when you thought it was safe to sit on the sofa and stare into space for a bit, three books about doing nothing come along at once. Niksen, at least three different publishing houses would have us believe, is a Dutch lifestyle trend which the rest of us in this busy, busy world would do well to take on board. We’ve had Hygge from Denmark and the art of Japanese tidying up, so why not something about doing nothing... More >

A comprehensive guide to Dutch words in English: Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops

Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops

We’ve all heard that the words cookie and coleslaw originated in Dutch. But did you know brewery and pinky are also of Dutch origin? And both Broadway and Wall Street owe their names to the Dutch as well? In her book Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages, Nicoline van der Sijs, professor of historical Dutch linguistics at Radboud University, examines the impact that Dutch people and the Dutch language have had on the... More >

India and the Netherlands – Past, Present and Future

By Venu Rajamony

Venu Rajamony, the Indian ambassador to the Netherlands has produced a colossal coffee table book in India and the Netherlands – Past, Present and Future. It is a lavishly illustrated encyclopedia of the cross-cultural legacy between the two countries, highlighting their economic and cultural ties – right down to yoga and museum treasures. In his introduction, the ambassador says that the book has been inspired by his two years of living in the Netherlands ‘and the desire to shed light... More >

A disturbing summer holiday: Summer House With A Swimming Pool

Herman Koch

From the author of The Dinner, Summer House with a Swimming Pool brings together all of Herman Koch’s best: unlikeable characters, an unreliable narrator, a page-turning plot and the complicated relationships between parents and children. The narrator in this work is Dr Marc Schlosser, a general practitioner whose patients are mostly rich artist types. One of Schlosser’s more famous patients, actor Ralph Meier, invites the doctor and his family, wife Caroline and pre-teen daughters Julia and Lisa on summer holiday,... More >

Interviews with internationals: Languages of The Hague

Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade

Every so often a book drops into the DutchNews.nl offices that makes you smile, and Languages of The Hague is one of them. Based on a column in local paper Den Haag Centraal, the book covers 35 of the hundred or so different languages spoken in The Hague, from Russian, to Kurdish, Dutch Malay and Ngiemboon. The inspiration for the columns, says writer Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, was a newspaper article about The Hague being the most segregated city in... More >

Facts, trivia and background stories: 68 icons of Dutch origin

Evert de Rooij

The intro to this selection of random things which can be considered typically Dutch explains why author Evert de Rooij opted for the figure 68 – it was in 1568 that the melody which became the Dutch national anthem was first sung to ridicule the failed Siege of Chartres. The Afsluitdijk, violin player Andre Rieu, model Doutzen Kroes and racing driver Max Verstappen are among the ‘icons’ featured alongside the usual suspects of drop, pancakes, stroopwafels, Heineken beer and Giethorn.... More >

Holland Handbook: the indispensable guide to the Netherlands

Xpat Media

Guides to living in the Netherlands come and go but the Holland Handbook continues to stand the test of time. This year publisher Xpat Media has just brought out no less than the 20th edition. It is a weighty, lavishly illustrated, tome with 276 pages of essential information. The 11 chapters cover all aspects of living and working in the Netherlands plus a healthy dose of history, current affairs and nice to know information. Want to bring in your pet,... More >

A young man seeks to understand his parents: Little Caesar

Tommy Wieringa

Tommy Wieringa is one of the leading lights of modern Dutch literature and several of his novels have been translated into English. In Little Caesar, first published in 2009, he takes his central character on an odyssey in search of answers about his dysfunctional family and the legacy it left behind. Ludwig Unter, the child of artists, is born to a Austrian father and a Dutch mother in Alexandria, Egypt. His nickname is Caesarion, or little Caesar, the name... More >

A modern Dutch classic: The Dinner

By Herman Koch

A classic of modern Dutch literature, and a best seller at both home and in the US, The Dinner by Herman Koch explores what families will do to protect their own. The novel, published in English in 2012, follows four main characters during a single summer evening’s dinner. A former history teacher, Paul and his wife, Claire meet Paul’s brother, politician Serge and his wife Babette for a meal. The restaurant in the book is not specified but it is... More >

Essential reading about Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City

Geert Mak

Though it claims it’s a ‘brief’ history of Amsterdam, this Geert Mak classic takes 400 pages to cover the history of the city from the year 1,000 to the present. And every page is worth reading. What do a medieval shoe, Elsje Christiaens, Rembrandt van Rijn and the number 1,660 have in common? They all play a role in the development of Amsterdam. Mak brings to life the history of the city with historical records, diaries, anecdotes and even police... More >

A story of the Amsterdam underworld and a sister’s betrayal: Judas

By Astrid Holleeder

Judas is the story of Astrid Holleeder, a criminal lawyer who eventually decided to testify against her brother, the notorious Dutch gangland figure Willem Holleeder, sentenced to life in jail in July on six counts of murder. Holleeder’s notoriety stretches back to 1983 when he, together with Cor van Hout and three others, kidnapped the CEO of Heineken, Freddy Heineken and his driver, Ab Doderer, from the front of the Heineken office in Amsterdam. The kidnapping catapulted Holleeder from minor... More >

A classic history of the Golden Age: The Embarrassment of Riches

By Simon Schama

This well-regarded book of Dutch history is packed with information from a variety of sources, from cookbooks to bankruptcy filings, bringing the reader an in-depth understanding of possibly the most important century of Dutch history. The Embarrassment of Riches was first published in 1987 and remains a classic work of Dutch history, in particular in for its discussion of how Dutch history shaped the country’s consensus method of political discourse. As an outsider, author and history professor Simon Schama, was... More >

A guide to modern Dutch architecture: Best Buildings Holland

Toon Lauwen

If you think modern Dutch building means concrete monoliths, or endless rows of identical post-war blocks of flats, think again. This nifty little guide contains 84 of the Netherlands best buildings completed after 1900, compiled partly on the recommendations of 10 leading architects and other designers. Of course it includes the classics, like the Amsterdam school ‘Socialist’ housing Het Schip, Berlage’s Stock Exchange in Amsterdam (1903), and designs by household names like Gerrit Rietveld and Rem Koolhaas. But there are... More >

Dutch literature: A Beautiful Young Wife

Tommy Wieringa

A Beautiful Young Wife follows an older, famous researcher who meets and marries a younger woman, a relationship which then falls apart. Edward, a microbiologist who became famous for his work on AIDS, sees a much younger woman, Ruth, biking in Utrecht and wants her, specifically, her rear, though he eventually marries her entire person. The novel follows their relationship, from Edward’s initial, awkward meeting of Ruth’s family where he lusts over a preteen photo of Ruth, to the... More >

Recipes using chocolate sprinkles feature in Spread the Hagel

Jennifer Foster and Lianne Koster

You can’t live in the Netherlands for very long before discovering that the Dutch eat sprinkles on bread for breakfast. If you have, by chance, missed out on this very Dutch habit, hagelslag comes a variety of flavours (dark, milk, white chocolate and a fruit flavour are common) and, if the basic sprinkle isn’t enough for you, your supermarket will also have muisjes (candy-coated anise sprinkles), vlokken (or flakes of various chocolate flavours) as well as hagelslag in various sizes.... More >

Essential reading about the Netherlands: The Little Orange Handbook

Stephanie Dijkstra

Xpat Media, the publisher of the mighty Holland Handbook, has come up with this condensed and more portable guide to living in the Netherlands. The Little Orange Handbook describes itself as a ‘practical guide and quick introduction to the Netherlands’ and information is packed into the book’s 220 pages. It covers everything from housing and working to the educational system and political system of the country. The contents are divided into two main sections: About the Country and Living in... More >

Learn to cycle in Amsterdam

Xing Chen

This gorgeous how-to book brings out all of the rules and norms of cycling in Amsterdam alongside amazing pictures of every day cycling experiences. Get it for anyone who comes to visit and needs a primer before heading out on a bike in the city. Author Xing Chen is a neuroscientist who moved to the Netherlands for work in 2014. She grew up in Singapore and lived in the UK and the US before arriving here. She learned how to... More >

Unsolved Mysteries of Amsterdam

Martijn J. Adelmund

Unsolved Mysteries of Amsterdam brings you the tales of horror and folklore of Amsterdam. If you’re interested in the urban legends of ghosts, curses and unsolved crimes in Amsterdam and the surrounding area, the Unsolved Mysteries of Amsterdam has it all. Each chapter in the book is based around a single mystery. Some are familiar, such as who revealed the location of Anne Frank and her family during World War II and the story of Helena of Ghost Alley,... More >

NLXL – possibly the biggest book about the Netherlands you have ever seen

Karel Tomei

The Netherlands might like to consider itself a small country – a kleine kikkerlandje, as the Dutch are so fond of saying – but this is one mighty big book. Karel Tomei’s NLXL weighs in at a whopping 3.5 kilos but is such a joy to look at that you will forget the weight on your knees. The book draws on the tradition of birds eye view paintings in which the world is captured from the skies: the intricate patterns... More >