Sunday 29 March 2020

This page is sponsored by the American Book Center and covers books about the Netherlands and expat life plus translations of Dutch-language literature and Dutch children’s books. If you are bookworm, why not sign up for ABC events?

Bicycle Mania

Bicycle Mania

Shirley Agudo

The title and cover picture promise an eccentric and lighthearted peek into the Dutch love affair with all things on two wheels. What you get is a chunky little picture book with some nice photos and a few pages of bicycle facts and trivia. If you’ve ever wanted to know how many bicycles there are in Holland (approximately 18 million), or that there are 29,000 kilometers of cycle paths throughout the country, then this might titillate. And if you’re curious... More >

Cloudless Amsterdam – City in Motion

Cloudless Amsterdam – City in Motion

Peter Elenbaas and Lambiek Berends

An unexpected and beautiful view of a changing city From the wonderfully undulating Zeedijk and the monumental Westertoren to the copper-green Nemo in the Eastern Docks and the Water District of IJburg: Amsterdam has a wealth of striking places with impressive nuildings, fascinating streets and delightful squares. Photographer Peter Elenbaas took around seven thousand aerial photographs – most in the summer of 2012, but some of them decades ago – and chose his favourites for Cloudless Amsterdam: A City in... More >

Colonel Baxter’s Dutch Safari

Colonel Baxter’s Dutch Safari

Glenn Baxter

Cartoonist and artist Glen Baxter was first published in the Netherlands 40 years ago. Now he’s back with a collection of absurdist drawings covering all things Dutch – from herring and tulips to Mondriaan and Rietveld chairs. Dutch funnyman Wim de Bie, who curates the Glen Baxter Museum, provides the introduction to this slim volume of full-colour drawings and wry comments. In particular, Baxter seems to have it in for Rietveld’s famous chair – which is eaten by beavers, turned... More >

Dutch Cooking: The New Kitchen

Dutch Cooking: The New Kitchen

Manon Sikkel & Michiel Klonhammer

If the idea of authentic Dutch cuisine fills you with horror, then you’re not alone. Even the authors of The New Kitchen admit that, ‘Dutch cooking does not, to say the least, have a very good international reputation.’ Amsterdam based writers Manon Sikkel and Michiel Klonhammer have penned numerous articles about their passion for traditional food and have enthusiastically updated some authentically rustic dishes in Dutch Cooking: The New Kitchen. You could be forgiven for thinking that there is little... More >

A Dictionary of Dutchness

A Dictionary of Dutchness

Robin Pascoe

The Dutch language can puzzle at the best of times but throw in an acronym or abbreviation and you’re suddenly faced with a riddle, wrapped in a mystery and deep-fried in breadcrumbs. What hope have we uninitiated English speakers got if we can’t tell the difference between a BOB and a TSB? Enter A Dictionary of Dutchness. All those quirky Dutchisms that have caught us off guard, drawn blank faces and LOL’d (laughed at loud) at our expense, have been... More >

Confessions of a Dutch Reading Club

Confessions of a Dutch Reading Club

Patricia van Stratum

The title might not tickle your fancy but don’t let that put you off. Confessions of a Dutch Reading Club is the work of first time author Patricia van Stratum who has penned an unusual tale about a group of middle-aged Dutch folk and surprisingly, it works. When the reading club members are asked by a controversial priest to keep a journal and write a piece for a commemorative 10th Anniversary Book, they set about the task with trepidation. As... More >

Daily newsletter
SIGN UP