Did I Say That? » 40 books before 40

First Lines: Het achterhuis

Evil Nickname — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:22:46 +0000

The reason why I put Anne Frank's diary on my list of forty books to read before my fortieth birthday is quite simple: it's probably the most important Dutch book from the last century. As such, there's absolutely nothing left to be said about it. It is what it is: the diary of a young, jewish girl, hiding from the Germans during the Second World War.

Anne Frank — Het achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven van 12 juni 1942–1 augustus 1944: 12 juni 1942. Ik zal hoop ik aan jou alles kunnen toevertrouwen, zoals ik het nog aan niemand gekund heb, en ik hoop dat je een grote steun voor me zult zijn.

First Lines: The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Evil Nickname — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:47:20 +0000

The monomyth or hero's journey is the pattern that underlies most, if not all, myths, folk and/or fairy tales that have been told since the dawn of mankind, and was first described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It goes a little bit like this: a hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

The monomyth is divided in several stages, which I won't go into here. If you want more, there's a practical guide to the hero's journey, that originated as a memo in the movie industry. Which should come as no surprise, because aren't they in the business of telling stories that appeal to as wide an audience as possible? You can imagine how a framework that has developed autonomously in numerous cultures from all over the world would be helpful in achieving that aim.

Back to the book. I included it on my list of 40 books to read before my 40th birthday because it's basic premise, all myth boils down to the same thing is relevant to my interests. There are many parallels between current religious myth and all those that have now been degraded to ye-olde fairy tales of yore—I mean, it's not as if virgin births and/or resurrections are unique to christian mythology—and I thought it would be informative to read some more about that. And that it was. It also reminded me why I don't usually read non-fiction: the parts between the abundant examples of the various myths can be dry as a very dry thing.

Joseph Campbell — The Hero with a Thousand Faces: The truths contained in religious doctrines are after all so distorted and systematically disguised, writes Sigmund Freud, that the mass of humanity cannot recognize them as truth. […] —from the preface.

First Lines: The Catcher in the Rye

Evil Nickname — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:57:56 +0000

Holden Caulfield. With his goddamn red hunting cap. He kills me. He really does. But I felt sorry as hell for him too. I really did. Not because he's just a sixteen year old boy. And not because he's some kinda phony, complaining about other people being phonies or anything. I'm not saying that. But you can't kinda help to feel sorry for him. Because, you know, life is hard and all. Old Caulfield. He kills me, if you want to know the truth. He really does.

J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a bunch of fun. Chewing the fat over old Holden Caulfield. I can see why this novel is considered a classic. Because it is.

J.D. Salinger — The Catcher in the Rye: If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

Eerste regels: De avonden

Evil Nickname — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:04:13 +0000

Op de lijst van de 40 boeken die ik voor mijn 40e verjaardag gelezen wil hebben konden een aantal klassiekers uit de Nederlandse litaratuur niet ontbreken. Opvallend is wel dat ik verhaaltechnisch vooralsnog weinig plezier aan die categorie beleef.

Niet dat De avonden een slecht boek is. 't Is eerder dat een beschrijving van een tien avonden eind 1947 waarin weinig interessants gebeurt per definitie niet heel spannend zal zijn. En dan heb je ook nog de overwegend onuitstaanbare "held" van de geschiedenis. Godverkutjes, wat een lul de behanger eerste klas.

Volgens diverse recensenten zou De avonden een naargeestig boek zijn. Daar kan ik me wel in vinden. Het bezorgde mij in ieder geval een gevoel van onbehagen en jeuk op onbereikbare plaatsen als ik voor de zoveelste keer de zinsneden dacht hij of zei hij bij zichzelf voorbij zag komen.

Gerard Reve — De avonden: een winterverhaal: Het was nog donker, toen in de vroege morgen van de tweeëntwintigste december 1946 in onze stad, op de eerste verdieping van het huis Schilderskade 66, de held van deze geschiedenis, Frits van Egters, ontwaakte.

First Lines: The Great Gatsby

Evil Nickname — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:37:33 +0000

The only inhabitant of West Egg not to enjoy Jay Gatsby's legendary parties is Jay Gatsby. The one girl he seeks to impress with them is already married. Glamorous, dangerous, hopeful and desperately in love, Gatsby's naive dreams can only lead to destruction.

Don't worry that this back cover blurb gives away the ending. The journey there is still worth it.

F. Scott Fitzgerald — The Great Gatsby
: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

First Lines: Brave New World

Evil Nickname — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:31:27 +0000

As a story, there's not much to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World: the characters are uninteresting at best, and the plot is merely there to hang theories on.

As a novel of ideas, Brave New World is much more interesting. Huxley describes a society where everything that faintly resembles individualism has been abolished in favor of stability. Quite interesting.

Aldous Huxley — Brave New World: A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.

Eerste regels: De uitvreter / Titaantjes

Evil Nickname — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:22:58 +0000

Een lijstje maken met veertig boeken om voor je veertigste verjaardag te lezen klinkt makkelijker dan het is. Nu heb ik het geluk dat ik nog geen veertig ben, dat scheelt minimaal de helft, maar dan nog: ik vond het een pokkenwerk. De richtlijnen die ik mezelf opgelegd waren eenvoudig: 1) geen werk van auteurs waar ik al eens wat van gelezen heb, en 2) als het even kan, klassiekers in genres waar ik niet zo thuis in ben. Want het moet natuurlijk wel interessant blijven.

Hoewel ik veel lees, lees ik verdacht weinig Nederlandstalige boeken. Laat staan Nederlandstalige fictie. En klassiekers in dat genre zijn er genoeg, dus kwam er voor mijn doen veel Nederlands op de lijst. W.F. Hermans, Ferdinand Bordewijk, Gerard Reve, Nescio—menigeen zal ze kennen van de boekenlijst op de middelbare school. Maar ik zo de pest in het verplicht moeten lezen dat ik er alles er aan deed er zo makkelijk mogelijk vanaf te komen. Om vijftien jaar later er toch alsnog aan te beginnen. Omdat het kan.

Nescio's verhalen De uitvreter en Titaantjes zijn al sinds jaar en dag aan elkaar gekoppeld, en staan vooral op de lijst vanwege hun openingszinnen. Later werd aan deze bundel ook de novelle Dichtertje en een serie schetsen onder de titel Mene tekel toegevoegd. Verhaaltechnisch doet het me allemaal niet veel, maar taalkundig gezien is het genieten.

Nescio — De uitvreter: Behalve den man, die de Sarphatistraat de mooiste plek van Europa vond heb ik nooit een wonderlijker kerel gekend dan den uitvreter.
Nescio — Titaantjes: Jongens waren we — maar aardige jongens. Al zeg ik 't zelf.

First Lines: Neuromancer

Evil Nickname — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:05:58 +0000

William Gibson's Neuromancer tells the story of a washed up hacker, who's been given a second chance. Now he has to hack into a staggeringly advanced Artificial Intelligence. Whether he succeeds is completely besides the point. (Spoiler: he does.) This book kicked off cyberpunk, an entire new branch of Science Fiction.* It also brought the term cyberspace to the main stream. And while I'm pretty sure I didn't get everything out of the story that's in there, I got a pretty good kick out of it.

And as far as first lines go, boy, it's a classic:

William Gibson — Neuromancer: The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

* Cyberpunk is where science and technology meets philosophy. (more) (back)

First Lines: The Elements of Style

Evil Nickname — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:58:02 +0000

The Elements of Style is a short style guide for writing clear and understandable English. Or at least, that is what it might have been once. Sure, some of it's advice is usable today, but since the publication of the first edition in 1918, the English language has evolved in such a way that you can't help but wonder if you, reputation be damned, should pay much attention to such an antiquated tome.

William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White — The Elements of Style (third edition): 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.

First Lines: Peter Pan

Evil Nickname — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:46:21 +0000

One night, Peter Pan came and took Wendy and her brothers to the Neverland. There they had many grand adventures with Lost Boys, mermaids, redskins, a ticking crocodile and pirates, before safely returning home. If you know the Disney movie, you know what happens.

What you should of course realize is that J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan differs quite a bit from Disney's sanitized version. All potential cause of tragedy is carefully omitted from the movie, while in the book the pirates massacre the indians, and Peter and the Lost Boys in turn kill off most of the pirates. The writing is so terrific, that I actually didn't realize how dark it got every now and then. Quite recommended.

J.M. Barrie — Peter Pan: All children, except one, grow up.