My first Murakami

I just finished my first Murakami and now I see how well the pictures can correspond with the story I just read.

If you haven’t read Sputnik Sweetheart yet, I can tell you that it’s sublime. Murakami has a great knowledge of people and a way of making every bit as believable as necessary to keep reading.
Halfway, the book gets really scary. This reminds me of Miike Takashi’s ‘Audition’, which starts of as any other feature-film, but makes a sudden shift to intense horror later on. Though I wouldn’t call Murakami’s book a horror story in the conventional way, because there is no killing and such. It’s more a mystery which keeps you thinking.
And this is one thing I like about books. You get so much more information to think about; I seldom see a movie which really keeps me pondering.
If you read the book than you might have figured out what I mean with the pictures. But even if you don’t see it, it doesn’t matter, because my photography and stories usually don’t get along very well. Maybe it’s better to either describe a photo (without showing it) or show a story (without explaining it).

Sublime

If you're Dutch...you gotta read this!
(I don't like saying you HAVE to, but I can't think of anything so worthwile to spend your time with, especially now, in summertime, and it's only 10 euros now).
This book is about a boy telling about his life, how he was thrown in his uncle's arms when his parents were no more. How he met the girl not from his dreams, and also not from his nightmares, but from reality.
This book is so funny and at the same time tragic it's genius! A remarkable witty way of the boy's thoughts can make some parts stand out forever.
I'm gonna buy the author's next one.

Signspotting 2

An extremely funny book! I found it in the school-library as a new acquisition.
Had to laugh my head off, the signs with crazy texts just non-stop funny material! And the captions were gold too!!
Worth buying if you need a healthy break.

How to...

I love the fact that you were free to look at these books and photocopy pages while being in a "white cube" of the VanAbbeMuseum. This one about stealing from the supermarket was my favorite to begin with. My second choice was "Be your own dick", the last word meaning a private detective (just in case you might think it's about understanding your penis).
Other books were about cooking with cannabis, guns and everything else illegal you can imagine.
What a cool library that was...too bad it's gone now

le scaphandre et le papillon

Everyday I go to the library and read a chapter of Jean-Dominique Bauby's book. The book he wrote by blinking his eye, letter by letter.

As a way of experiencing his efforts, I gave myself the task to have to work a little to get to read a little. I have to make my way to the library on bike every time to read a chapter. This way I experience reading the book as a thing I have to take my time for.

During my visits I have received the English version “The diving bell and the butterfly” which I won on eBay. Now I read a chapter every time, corresponding with the chapter I will have read prior in the Dutch version of the library (Vlinders in een duikerpak).

I am proud that I have found an inconsistency in the translations, and when I’m done reading both books, I will look up which is a more correct translation in the French version. The inconsistency I have found is that in the English version it reads: “Once I was a master at recycling leftovers”, while the Dutch version reads (translated) that “There is a thing like the art of making something of leftovers.”

My opinion for now is that the Dutch translator was being less keen on exact translation, but took a liberty in that. I think the first example can be found in the title translation. Literally translated it means butterflies in a diving suit.

Normally I wouldn’t go so far for a book, but because of the specific way it has been written, I believe it’s very normal to spend more time on it.

I have been going to the library several times now.

I don’t have a subscription.

I wonder sometimes if they would ask me if I am a member, but I feel that I can do this as much as I want without them probing me.

I’m also the only person in the building who knows that the real reason of my visit is a little out of the ordinary. It's like being a secret agent with a mission no-one must know about. The only difference is that my visit to the library is to sustain my relationship with a special person that basically only exists in the form of paper and ink.

My deepest sympathy, for this man.

Book for my parents

Je introductiemaatje tot Araki

AKT-TOKYO is een fotoboek, samengesteld uit foto's van Araki.
Voorheen had ik niet veel van Araki gezien, sterker nog, de beelden die ik überhaupt van hem had gezien verbond ik nog niet aan zijn naam en persoon. Dit boek (Edition Camera Austria) is samengesteld door Manfred Willmann & Seiichi Furuya, terwijl in de meeste boeken Araki het zelf doet. En deze schijnen vaak heel dik te zijn.
Daar dit boek vrij dun is, met een vrij verhalende volgorde en selectie, vind ik dit de ideale introductie tot Araki.
Ik had vaak het idee de meest bepalende momenten uit zijn leven te zien.
Zijn trouwfoto. Zijn vrouw. De hand op haar sterfbed die hij niet loslaat.
De leegte in zijn foto's erna. De omslag.
De eerste series foto's zijn in zwart wit. Het laatste portret in het boek is in kleur. De fotograaf draagt een felroze jas en heeft het zwart-wit portret van zijn vrouw in zijn handen. Met zoveel persoonlijk drama toch een meesterlijke foto maken bewijst dat hij een beeldenmaker is van klasse. Minder belangrijk vond ik om te horen dat het de jas van zijn vrouw was. Stond hem toch ook goed? dacht ik.
Het boek benadrukt vooral ingrijpende momenten, en ik denk dat daardoor zijn erotische naakten wat minder goed naar voren kwamen. Want waarom ga je met zoveel andere vrouwen om die hun geslachtsdeel laten zien als je een vrouw hebt waar je zo veel om geeft?
Dat snap je dan misschien niet als Araki-leek.
Als westerling.
Hoog tijd om dat eens te gaan onderzoeken!