The novel is not just about a young girl who lost her family and has to look after herself, not easy at a time where the only decent way for women to keep alive is to get married.
The writing is very well done, the characters described perfectly. Apparently, Charlotte Brontë used a lot of material from her own life.
Brown, Eleanor "The Weird Sisters" - 2011
Brown, Eleanor "The Weird Sisters" - 2011
"The Weird Sisters" aren't called Weird at all, their last name is Andreas and their father is a professor of English literature. The title comes from the name of the three witches from Macbeth, the girls are named after different characters from different other Shakespeare plays, Rosalind (Rose) from "As you like it", Bianca (Bean) from "The Taming of the Shrew" and Cordelia (Cordy) from "King Lear".
The girls are all as different as the plays, they all have their own ways of doing things, their own dreams, their own problems. They come together after many years apart to help their mother who suffers from cancer.
Burton, Jessie "The Miniaturist" - 2014
Fascinating story, gripping story.
A novel about a family in the 17th century, a rich family in Amsterdam, a poor girl from the countryside who marries into the rich family.
But that is not the major part of the story, the book is full of secrets.
The author was inspired by the doll's house of a real life Petronella Oortman, a real life doll's house that can be visited in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Frisch, Max "The Arsonists" (aka "The Firebugs" or "The Fire Raisers: A Morality Without A Moral, With An Afterpiece") (German: Biedermann und die Brandstifter) - 1958
Max Frisch is a satirical, dark writer. He shows this very well in this play.
Gottlieb Biedermann is a rich person who is upset that some arsonists are in town who start living in people's houses while intending to burn them down.
Mak, Geert "In Europe. Travels through the twentieth century" (Dutch: In Europa: Reizen door de twintigste eeuw) - 2004
Geert Mak is an excellent Dutch journalist who has written several non-fiction books about life in general and in particular in this part of the world.
With this work he has excelled himself. He travels through Europe (not just in the book but also in real life) and describes every decade through the country he is just visiting. Some of them he has to visit several times, of course.
Moore, Michael "Stupid White Men" - 2001
Some of the stuff in this book is so unbelievable, you wonder why people still vote for that party. And, even worse, they are the ones who write the most negative stuff about others.
This book has kept what it promised. It gives you a good view over what is (was) going on in the so-called Land of the Free, and not just what you hear from friends who like to overshare their hate for the other party on Facebook.
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