From Paris, Venice and Berlin to Istanbul and Amsterdam …
Bestselling
writers Kate Mosse, Michelle Lovric and lots more
Around
the World in 80 Books Readers’ Day
Anglia Ruskin University,
Lord Ashcroft Building,
Bishop Hall Lane.
Chelmsford, Essex , CM1 1SQ. Saturday 29
June 2013, 9.30am – 4.30 pm Tickets £15/ £12 concessions (tea and coffee
included in price) Tel: 01206 573948 www.essexbookfestival.org.uk/events/around-the-world-in-80-books/
Come along and enjoy a
readers’ day with a difference – a feast of exciting reading with some of the
very best in world writing run by the Brentwood-based publisher of the
city-picks travel guide series in association with the Essex Book Festival, the
Arts Council and Anglia
Ruskin University.
Featuring an amazing range
of popular authors, publishers, cultural institutes and translators, plus
competitions, goody bags, book lists and much more.
Kate Mosse, the superselling author of Labyrinth
and Sepulchre on her own writing and French books that have inspired her,
and Venice-based author Michelle Lovric on the pleasures of living in - and
writing novels about - Venice.
The best books to read from France, Germany,
the Netherlands and Turkey
introduced by friendly and enthusiastic experts
A Year
of Reading the World: Ann
Morgan on spending 2012 reading a book from every country in the world
Independent Publisher of the Year Peirene Press
on what makes a good book in translation
Around
the World in 80 Books with
Oxygen Books’ city-picks team
Freedom to Read, Freedom to Write – a special
creative writing workshop with English PEN
'There are so many wonderful
books written in other languages but sometimes the problem is knowing where to
start,' says Oxygen Books publisher Malcolm Burgess. 'We think our readers' day
is an ideal way for readers to discover new writing about some of their
favourite cities and countries and with superb introductions from well-known
writers like Kate Mosse and Michelle Lovric.'
For more information or to speak to most of our
participants, including Michelle Lovric down the line from her Venetian palazzo,
please contact malcolm.burgess3@btopenworld.com;
tel: 01277 263770 www.oxygenbooks.co.uk
The famously liberal city might be reinventing its red light district but it’s still an eclectic, progressive and seductive place where ‘acting normal is crazy enough’.
Published January 09, 2013
By Florian Duijsens
This year sees a new Amsterdam. Or rather, the return of the old Amsterdam. With the reopening of both the Stedelijk Museum (contemporary art) and the Rijksmuseum’s (Old Masters), the city is getting its biggest museums back, and this represents nothing less than a restoration of the city’s soul.
They’ve been closed almost a decade, during which time a great deal of construction has occurred throughout the city (it’ll still be years before the new underground line is finished — par for the course, as 25% of the city is below sea level). With the already narrow streets even harder to navigate, locals became that bit more impatient with tourists cluelessly wandering onto bike paths, lured by the city lights picturesquely reflecting on the canals. Now Amsterdammers feel less restricted, they can focus on getting back to old habits: getting into friendly shouting matches and into everybody’s business.
At the heart of the famously liberal Dutch society is a passion for free speech: one is almost obliged to opine on anything from strangers’ outfits to their political leanings. Start a conversation anywhere, about anything, and you’ll fit right in.
Over the past few years, the political climate has turned conservative, though, which means that some of the country’s more infamous liberties have been curtailed. Yet that development seems to be stalling, so marijuana, for instance, is still available to foreigners here, except in the southern Netherlands. As prostitution is also still legal, one encounters much jiggly flesh on a walk through the city’s red light district. Still, Amsterdam has been inspired by New York’s Times Square clean-up, which replaced streetwalkers and grindhouse theatres with a sparkling Disney paradise in the early 1990s. The city of Amsterdam is now buying up red-lit buildings and renovating them for new uses. Great examples are the lovely Restaurant Anna, and San Serriffe, an art bookshop right on the edge of the district.
It’s perhaps a surprise that Amsterdam is not a big city — it has around 820,000 inhabitants, and is thus best enjoyed on foot or by bike — perhaps going from the fancier Zuid (south) to the formerly folksy Jordaan, or from the concentric central canals, the Grachtengordel, up to the residential architextravaganza that constitute the former dockyards on the KNSM and Java Islands.
Food glorious food
The Dutch are not big on eating out. They breakfast at home, pack sandwich lunches, and cook robust meat, veg and potato meals in the evening. As a result, most restaurants take a ‘will this do?’ approach to both service and cuisine, with some of the staff not just careless but all-out rude. Now, this doesn’t mean there’s no good food to be had, it’s just that expectations have to be adjusted. Just make like the locals and find a great bakery, as fresh-baked Dutch bread always bests the famous but heavy German loaves. For proof, head to Hartog’s Boterham, one of the city’s best bakers.
Another true Dutch treat is fresh young herring, available on ubiquitous little stands between May and July. Like sushi, it’s eaten raw, but served as twin fillets still attached to the tail and sprinkled with equally raw onions. For an afternoon or a late-night snack, grab a pointy bag of chips anywhere, but especially at the Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx — just tell them to go easy on the mayo.
The Dutch no-nonsense attitude blessedly makes them natural adopters of local organic ingredients, and one of the best restaurants in town, De Kas, even has its own greenhouse. There are also some more traditional restaurants that rise above the city’s culinary underachievers: Mauresque does Moorish cuisine on the Java Island, a location that guarantees more spacious seating than the cramped inner-city spaces. Catering mainly to international (and perhaps more receptive) diners, the hotel restaurants of the upscale InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam and Hotel Okura Amsterdam — La Rive and Ciel Bleu, respectively — serve the most refined dishes in town. For a more intimate experience, a still slightly underdeveloped kitchen, and — more importantly — a lovely view, give the new Café Barco a try. A short walk from Central Station, it’s moored below the stunning public library, even offering some seating right over the water.
Unlike the flâneurs of the Mediterranean, the Dutch much prefer people-watching to being watched. No wonder, then, that al fresco seating is so highly appreciated, as it affords the best perspective on any human traffic passing by. And now that the hype around Hannekes Boom has died down, this cafe’s become a great little spot to enjoy an early spring day between the hum of the train tracks and futuristic science museum NEMO, across the glittering waters of the Oosterdok docks.
Trendier still is Pllek, an actual beach spot on the NDSM Wharf in north Amsterdam that’s constructed from disused shipping containers. Aside from drinks and a basic, enjoyable menu, there are tai chi classes and movie nights. Yet it’s not all about relaxing with the city’s creative types; dance music is a big part of Dutch culture (remember, these were the people who brought you 2 Unlimited, DJ Tiësto, and, er, gabber techno) and the enormous Amsterdam Dance Event festival has grown from niche to essential since its 1995 inception. For five days every October, the biggest and best DJs in the world play almost 300 gigs at 75 venues to a total of around 200,000 punters.
For the rest of the year, the people of Amsterdam can be found at places such as the Melkweg, a multi-stage venue that hosts great live music, drama, cinema, and art; or the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, a modern performance hall that specialises in an equally contemporary classical repertoire. Wherever they might end up, people in Amsterdam will always find a place to chat; their goodbyes stretching to epic lengths (the equivalent of Italy’s endless ciaos, only far more guttural). Just don’t expect things to get too crazy, as most Amsterdam residents won’t party through until the wee hours; as is the case for its cuisine and style, the Dutch still believe that ‘acting normal is crazy enough’, as the local saying has it.
Amsterdam’s fashion sense is best described as part preppy casual, part sporty sleek: for every slicked-back man in soft pastel chinos, there’s a kid in outrageous sneakers; and for every leggy woman in tight jeans and boots, there’s one in hippie mum-wear. The Netherlands is generally more trend-conscious than its neighbouring countries — if not always willing to pay the hefty price this involves. The Dutch mostly favour mid-list, roughshod wear from brands such as G-Star Raw.
For preppy threads, the best place to go is still the beautiful old department store Maison de Bonneterie, while the hottest footwear can be scored at Patta or Acht. Although über-posh brands like Cartier and Hermès can be found along the PC Hooftstraat, below the Vondelpark in south Amsterdam, it’s also worth checking out nearby Beethovenstraat and Cornelis Schuytstraat for less familiar/pricy brands. Up in the Jordaan district, meanwhile, the vibe is more bohemian and vintage, so take your time discovering its little shops and classic cafes. The main shopping street there is Haarlemmerstraat — also a great place to indulge in coffee and Unlimited Delicious’ luxurious chocolates.
Any shopping trip, though, has to involve the following two department stores: HEMA — probably the main source of underwear for any Dutch person and sole designer/producer of all its wares — and De Bijenkorf, the classy, more traditional department store right on Dam Square. Once you’re covered as far as basics and designer deals are concerned, head to the Nine Streets district, a warren of independent shops in the heart of the city. Those looking to branch out could head down the Utrechtsestraat — the place to go for menswear (even if Zwartjes van 1883, a shoestore for men, has been around since the 19th century).
Places mentioned G-Star Store: PC Hooftstraat 24-28. Maison de Bonneterie: Rokin 140-142. Patta: Zeedijk 67. Acht: Vijzelstraat 105. Unlimited Delicious: Haarlemmerstraat 122. HEMA: Nieuwendijk 174-176. www.hema.nl De Bijenkorf: Dam 1. www.debijenkorf.nl Zwartjes van 1883: Utrechtsestraat 123.
Top 10 local tips
01 Rent a bike. 02 Always lock said bike’s frame and wheel to something else. 03 Seriously, lock it. 04 Park your bike in assigned/guarded spots wherever possible (near Paradiso or Central Station, for instance). 05 Make sure that you have working lights both in front and on the back of your bicycle. 06 Don’t hog the bike paths in groups. 07 Buy a disposable chip card before boarding any of the city buses, Metro cars or trams. 08 Don’t forget to use that card to check in and out of said public transport. 09 Look up from your map or Maps app for a few hours — get lost a little. 10 Stock up on stock phrases such as ‘dankjewel’ (pronounced ‘dahng-kyu-well’ — ‘thank you’); ‘twee friet, geen mayo’ (‘tway freet, ggain mahyo’ – ‘two chips, no mayo’), or ‘Hee, dat is mijn fiets!’ (‘Hey, daht iss main feets!’ – ‘Hey, that’s my bike!’).
More info Books Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City, by Geert Mak. RRP: £8.99. (Vintage) The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank. RRP: £6.99. (Puffin) Rembrandt’s Whore, by Sylvie Matton. RRP: £8.99. (Canongate) Amsterdam (City-Pick Series): RRP: £8.99. (Oxygen) Film Nightwatching (2007). Online Great apps include Anne’s Amsterdam, which reveals the city’s history during the occupation. I Amsterdam is full of English-language information on where to go and how to get there. The helpful Bike Like a Local can remember where you parked that rental bike
From Paris, St Petersburg and Berlin to Istanbul and Amsterdam …
Helen Dunmore, Beatrice Colin and lots more
Around the World in 80 Books Readers’ Day
Winchester Discovery Centre, Saturday 9 March 2013, 9.30am – 4.30 pm Tickets £15 Tel: 01962873603 www.discoverycentres.co.uk/ winchester
Come along and enjoy a readers’ day with a difference – a feast of exciting reading with some of the very best in world writing. Featuring an amazing range of popular authors, publishers, cultural institutes and translators, plus competitions, goody bags, book lists and much more.
Helen Dunmore, award-winning author of The Siege, and Beatrice Colin, author of the Richard and Judy favourite The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite
The best books to read from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey introduced by friendly and enthusiastic experts
A Year of Reading the World: Anne Morgan on spending 2012 reading a book from every country in the world
Independent Publisher of the Year Periene Press on what makes a good book in translation
How to set up an international book group with the British Centre for Literary Translation
Freedom to Read, Freedom to Write – a special creative writing workshop with English PEN
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2013
Funded by the Arts Council and co-ordinated by Oxygen Books, creators of the city-pick travel guide series, and Hampshire County Council, Around the World in 80 Books is a unique and entertaining way for readers to discover new writing about some of their favourite cities and countries.
They are the LOW COUNTRIES LITERATI: all prize-winners and best-sellers back home, all writing in Dutch but from 2 different countries – Belgium and the Netherlands. 2 of our closest neighbours producing some of the most exciting literature in Europe, but about whom we know too little and they too little about each other. Now for the first time, and in a unique collaboration, 6 of the best Dutch-language storytellers are coming together for a rock star-style tour of 6 English cities – to perform for us and to discover what they may (or may not!) have in common.
Sponsored by Flanders House and the Netherlands Embassy in London and curated by Rosie Goldsmith, known in the UK as a champion of international fiction, HIGH IMPACT is a unique idea with a unique group of writers. You’ll hear the Dutch Poet Laureate side by side with Flanders’ leading graphic novelist; 2 global best-sellers, a thriller writer, a celebrated historian and a travel writer – together on stage every night. Selected by Rosie from across Flanders and the Netherlands not only for their brilliant books but also for their wit, wisdom, fluent English and HIGH IMPACT performance skills, these authors will wow you with their readings and ideas. Each night a different city, a different theme, a different type of venue (a church, theatre, an arts centre). And if by the time they reach London for their final gig and you’re still unconvinced of the HIGH IMPACT of LOW COUNTRIES LITERATURE, then the impact level will be boosted even further when they perform alongside English literati such as Tracy Chevalier, Deborah Moggach and David Mitchell
An anthology of writing about Amsterdam from international authors – compact, full of essence, informative: “City-pick Amsterdam” is a small and handy book introducing readers into the history, people, traditions and mysteries of the Dutch capital.
About the book City writing about Amsterdam with excerpts from almost a hundred writers. Along the names like Charles de Montesquieu, Voltaire, Albert Camus, Paul Auster, a historian Simon Schama and several Dutch classic authors as Multatuli and Nescio, there are passages from beloved in the Netherlands contemporary writers as Martin Bril, H.M. van den Brink, Remco Campert, Simon Carmiggelt, Jules Deelder, Maarten’t Hart, Gerrit Komrij, Geert Maak, Cees Noteboom and many others. Two pages from the Anne Frank “The Diary of A Young Girl” are also included.
The Dutch have a tongue in cheek saying about their celebrities – they are “wereldberoemd in Nederland” – “world-known in the Netherlands”, as they accept the fact that being a small nation, they not always are able to promote their achievements abroad. So here, luckily, you have a chance to meet many Dutch writers reading their reflections about Amsterdam – sometimes just a half page, sometimes a bit more – just glimpses rich with stories, events, ideas, images. You may also see these short passages as an invitation to read the whole book in its English translation. Hence you will find the excerpts from every one of the best books set in Amsterdam as recommended by The Guardian. Nevertheless, many of the quotes from the selection have been found among unknown titles, Dutch and foreign, which makes “City-picks Amsterdam” even more valuable.
The themes The book divides all the excerpts around nine main themes: from general pieces about Amsterdam, through the city highlights and people of Amsterdam, the city history and traditions, completing the selection with quotations about the modern metropolis. The collection of extracts gives the reader a unique insight into these themes - full of small observations, noted events, personages, characters, emotions.
Interesting introduction by an Amsterdam based American author Sam Garrett, with a short synthesis on the subject, as well as Index and List of sources complete the book.
“City-pick Amsterdam; Perfect gems of city writing”; edited by Heather Reyes and Victor Schiferli, introduced by Sam Garrett; 244 pages; published by Oxygen Books Ltd, UK.
“City-pick Amsterdam” can be purchased online directly from the publisher The Oxygen Books via their website www.oxygenbooks.co.uk
From Malcolm Burgess, publisher of Oxygen Books’ city-pick series, featuring some of the best writing on favourite cities, comes a new series for Spotted by Locals on the best city books written by local writers. He starts with Amsterdam …
Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City, Geert Mak Translated by Philipp Blom
The world-famous travel writer Geert Mak’s Amsterdam is an absolute must for anyone seriously interested in the place. Like many great cities, Amsterdam constitutes ‘a small nation made a larger one’, but is unlike so many others, says Mak, in being relatively ‘unmonumental’.
‘Amsterdam is not proud, indeed, it is even unproud in a proud sort of way. The wealthiest Amsterdammers have clung stubbornly to the sobriety of their seventeenth-century forefathers, with the result that the cityscape has emerged untouched by the grandeur of absolutism, and uncut by the broad avenues which might have been driven through the city in the nineteenth century.’
Joe Speedboat, Tommy Wieringa Translated by Sam Garrett
In Tommy Wieringa’s coming of age novel, a young Joe tries something in Amsterdam a little stronger than he’s used to.
‘He took a deep breath, looked around and decided to stay in Amsterdam for a while and see how things worked out. … Joe took the train. He experienced giddying happiness – no one knew where he was, life could go any which way, there were as many possibilities as combinations on a fruit machine and every direction he chose was the right one, because it was time for the machine to pay out. P.J wasn’t home. Joe waited in Coffeeshop Baylon, sitting by the window where he might see her come by. Meanwhile he had plenty of time to feast his eyes on the economics of soft drugs.’
On the Water, H. M. van den Brink Translated by Paul Vincent
One of the best novels on Amsterdam’s rivers and canals is On the Water, telling the story of two young rowers moving through the golden summer of pre-war Amsterdam, and into the Nazi occupation.
‘I took in everything: the freight barges on their way into the centre of town or on the contrary returning after delivering their cargo to the markets, the life on the houseboats, the flags on the larger ships, the washing hanging out to dry somewhere on board, a fisherman bent over his rod and in the distance the jumble of house fronts, masts and towers, the silhouette of the city.’
In Lucia’s Eyes, Arthur Japin Translated by David Colmer
Set in the eighteenth century, Arthur Japin’s elegant novel reminds us that it isn’t just physical beauty that can make us love this city.
‘I had set my heart on Amsterdam. The city’s name as one of the first that Monsieur de Pompignac had taught me. I saw it many times in the books he gave me to read, the most important of which had all been printed in Holland, the place, he told me, where both Descartes and Spinoza had found refuge … I only had to think of that city to see before me a paradise where, amid all the flowers of the world, the liberated human spirit and all the branches of science blossomed.’
About Love, Doeschka Meijsing (published in Dutch as Over de liefde)
In this wonderful Amsterdam novel, the narrator manages to escape an event she is far from enjoying by taking an unplanned swim in a canal …
‘The water of the Prinsengracht wasn’t too cold: the sun had beaten down on it all summer long. It should stink, but I smelled nothing. I wasn’t afraid of rats – they would be more afraid of me. I used the breast stroke to swim in between the two boats until I seemed to be in open water. It was too late at night for tourists on the water; the surface was as smooth as glass and reflected the moon. It was quiet and calm in the middle of the canal. I had the place to myself.’
The Philosopher Without Eyes, Cees Nooteboom (published in Dutch as De filosof zonder ogen: Europese reizen)
From the greatest living Dutch novelist comes a collection of lyrical and meditative essays on the modern city.
‘The city is a book to be read; the walker is the reader …. The words consist of gables, excavations, names, dates, images. One house is called the Pelican, and would speak to us of distant voyages. Another is called the Spitsbergen and commemorates a particular wintering. A street is called Bokkinghargen, and without smelling anything you can recognise the odour of smoked fish.’
‘Harlequin on Dam Square’, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (from the novel published in Dutch as Harten Sara)
The fashion for ‘human statues’ as a form of street entertainment is taken up by one of the most innovative and interesting young Dutch writers.
‘Today I’m a harlequin … I go to Dam Square and stand in front of the National Monument. I’m sure that the city’s aroma is lost on all these people, but I smell it, as always, because it’s mine. I’m capable of identifying every single aspect: last night’s rain, the vapours of the canals, the coffee and ventilated warmth at the entrance to the Bijenkorf department store and the salty, fishy smell because the fishmonger’s wife is cleaning oysters.’
May the Sun Shine Tomorrow, Abdelkader Benali (Published in Dutch as Laat het morgen mooi weer zijn)
In this extract from May the Sun Shine Tomorrow, this Dutch Moroccan writer creates the unforgettable healer Malik Ben based in the centre of Amsterdam.
‘Malik’s office was in the heart of Amsterdam, in the basement of a nineteenth-century town house a stone’s throw from Leidseplein. Callers were obliged to ring a bell that jangled loudly. Even before they stepped inside, Malik could tell what was on their minds by the expression on their faces.’
H2Olland, Maarten Ascher (published in Dutch under same title)
Maarten Ascher’s ingeniously titled book celebrates the history of Amsterdam and its waters.
‘Amsterdam, with its horseshoe-shaped, quadruple ring of concentric canals, is the most distinctive of all Dutch cities where you can live in close proximity to the water … In the early years, if I wanted to remember the order of the four main canals (from the outside in), I would often refer to the mnemonic Pier Koopt Hoge Schoenen (‘Piet buys high shoes’), the first letters of which correspond to the initials of the four canals. You soon learn that each of these sections of can forms something of a small neighbourhood and you discover landmarks: a church, a side canal, a shopping street, a distinctive corner building.’
City Eyes, Martin Bril (published in Dutch as Stadsogen)
From a well-known Dutch writer comes a richly atmospheric celebration of the extraordinariness of the ordinary in the city’s streets
‘The Rozengracht lay there like only the Rozengracht can. It was the end of the afternoon. To the west the sun was setting in the bend the De Clercqstraat takes to the right, the sky was as pink as candyfloss … The man looked at his watch. A full tram 18 rattled past and stopped at the corner by the Marnixstraat. People got in and out. A few crossed over and walked towards the man. Two young women who passed him were discussing the fate of a mutual acquaintance. She’d just given birth.’
Excerpts from all the books featured here are available in Oxygen Books’ city-pick Amsterdam (£8.99) Other titles in the series include Berlin, Paris, London, Venice and Dublin with New York out this autumn. www.oxygenbooks.co.uk
This week's guide offers a flash tour of some of the best fiction written about a few of Europe's biggest cities, courtesy of the folks behind the fantastic City-Lit series...
Malcolm Burgess and Heather Reyes run Oxygen Books and are the publishers of the city-lit titles, a series of books offering selections of the finest writing on their favourite world cities; a sort of literary travel guide, if you will. Taking in Woolf's Westminster, Christopher Isherwood's sordid Berlin underworld and Joyce's Dublin odyssey, they talk us through the impetus behind the series and their favourite books from their first five titles.
Words: Malcolm Burgess & Heather Reyes
We were on the slopes of the Acropolis in the blazing heat three years ago and desperate to read a selection of contemporary writing about Athens. We had the heavy and slightly out-of-date guide books but there was nothing in them, or, we discovered later, in Athens' bookshops. There wasn't anything in London bookshops either. And so Oxygen Books and our city-pick series began, finding some of the best writing on cities we love, from fiction and non-fiction to journalism and blogs. Current titles include Berlin, Paris, London, Venice, Amsterdam and Dublin with New York out on 20 October and Istanbul and St Petersburg appearing next year.
LONDON
Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925)
No matter how many times I read Mrs Dalloway, I enjoy it and find some new detail to wallow in. Finding oneself in London on a lovely summer's morning, the whole novel floods back and increases the pleasure of it all.
When we step out into the London streets on a brilliant June morning with Clarissa Dalloway, we begin a rich day (like Ulysses, the novelobserves the classical 'unity of time' rule) that draws many aspects of the city and its people into the narrative. While it is a wonderful – and often very funny – celebration of the capital, Woolf doesn't ignore its darker side. Set in 1923, the aftermath of the First World War casts a shadow both in the character of the shell-shocked Septimus Warren Smith and in Mrs Dalloway's own state of health. The sound of Big Ben haunts the novel, suggesting human mortality but also a kind of joyous pride in London. The party at the novel's close feels like a celebration of city life and brings together the characters we have met or whose minds we have entered during the course of the day. Tragedy arrives in the midst of it all, but the overwhelming impression is of a deep appreciation of people in all their failings and complexities, and of the city itself, which is equally complex but elicits love too.
BERLIN
Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin (1939)
No matter how well you know the film Cabaret, going back to the book on which it was based is essential if you really want to get into those pre-Second World War years in Berlin. On the first page, Isherwood declares himself to be "a camera", and while this suggests a cool, objective take on events, one mustn't forget that a camera is selective and able to make us 'feel' through focusing on particular details. For me, it is this balance between the objective and subjective that makes the book work so well. Who can forget, once we have met her, the landlady of 'Herr Issyvoo', Fraulein Schroeder. While poking gentle fun, Isherwood treats her with an underlying generosity of spirit which he also applies to the "hopeless" Sally Bowles (not quite as striking and energetic as Liza Minelli in the film). Yes, there's plenty of good fiction set in Berlin, but I always go back to Isherwood when I want that satisfying blend of truth and pleasure.
AMSTERDAM
H. M. van den Brink, On the Water translated by Paul Vincent (1998)
This is a short but truly memorable novel and reflects Amsterdam's deceptively quiet, considered nature, which conceals turbulence beneath. It is the story of two adolescent boys from very different backgrounds who find a deep friendship partly through their shared passion for being "on the water" during an ideal summer before the war. With the rise of fascism and the occupation, their world is destroyed and the more fortunate of the two boys, David, disappears. The focus on water helps one appreciate the various manifestations of this essential element of Amsterdam, but the historical setting reminds one of just what was lost to Europe as a whole through the spread of the Nazi regime. It's a quiet but powerful read that deserves to be better known – as do many Dutch writers of whom we remain shamefully ignorant.
DUBLIN
James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)
No, I'm really not being pretentious when I say this is my favourite book on Dublin. I had made several (unsuccessful) attempts to get through it, but then came across the most marvellous Naxos recording (22 CDs), read by Jim Norton with Marcella Riordan as Molly Bloom, which simply made it work. And it really is one of the funniest, most touching, tragic, wide-ranging, thoroughly enjoyable books ever. But you have to hear it in an Irish voice. It deserves its reputation as one the great books of all time not only for its close observation of early 20th-century Dublin, but of human relationships of many kinds, and the great joys and sorrows that shape our lives. Yes, there's a brilliant (and often referred to) description of Leopold Bloom on the loo, but details often not mentioned include the fact that he and Molly lost their only child, little Rudi, as a baby. The subtle anti-semitism of Dublin society is also something Bloom has to deal with continually. And Joyce isn't just good on people: the description of the Bloom's cat is just brilliant.
PARIS
Emile Zola, Ladies' Delight (1883)
Ladies' Delight (Au Bonheur des Dames), published in 1883, tells of the rise of Octave Mouret, and a new kind of Paris department store, based on the Left Bank's Le Bon Marche. But at its loudly throbbing heart – and this is the real story – is the rise of modern capitalism and consumerism on a scale never seen before. Although a man of the Left, Zola is able to give us the visceral feel of seemingly unlimited products and materials there for our delight, delectation and moral ruin, and our moral approbation if we can remember it. Think Selfridges on a Saturday afternoon a week before Christmas and you'll get the picture.
Malcolm Burgess, publisher of the City-Lit series, selects his favourite reads for the Dutch capital
• We have 15 copies of the City-Lit guide to Amsterdam to give away for the best recommendations in the comments below – Guardian User Help will be in contact with the winners by email
Cees Nooteboom is the greatest living Dutch novelist and Rituals is his masterpiece: Inni Wintrop wanders the streets of Amsterdam in his search for salvation.
"Six years previously, on the eve of his marriage, he had wept on the steps of the Palace of Justice on the same Prinsengracht, exactly such genuine tears as Zita had shed when he deflowered her in a room full of frogs and reptiles in the Valeriusstraat." • Prinsengracht
Visiting Rembrandt's House is a memorable experience and his home is captured brilliantly in Sylvie Matton's novel of the painter's descent from fame and wealth to bankruptcy.
"The great hall at the front, the little room at the back, the antechamber next to the courtyard and the cabinet of curiosities. Every wall in every room is hidden behind paintings and objects. Weapons I've never seen before." • The Rembrandt House Museum, Jodenbreestraat 4
The classic account of Amsterdam past and present by the distinguished Dutch writer and commentator.
"The patron saint of the Oude Kerk, Saint Nicholas, the 'water saint' … was to have something of a second career as a friend of children, riding his horse over the rooftops of Amsterdam on the eve of his name day, 6 December, and distributing presents by dropping them down chimneys." • De Oude Kerk, Oudekerksplein
From one of the Netherlands' best-known writers, the compelling story of classic Dutch actor Pierre de Vries and a richly detailed portrait of modern Amsterdam.
"He turned into the Nes, where a slight gloom came over him. Entertainment districts in the morning are as dismal as seaside resorts in winter. In the narrow street, he found the theatre in a building of which he had no recollection … " • Nes
This beautifully written story of two young rowers moves through the golden summer of pre-war Amsterdam, and into the Nazi occupation.
"I took in everything … the houseboats, the flags on the larger ships, the washing hanging out to dry somewhere on board, a fisherman bent over his rod and in the distance the jumble of housefronts, masts and towers, the silhouette of the city." • Amstel river
A visit to the Magic Mushroom Gallery is combined with a quick one to the Van Gogh Museum as the narrator and his friends take a weekend trip to Amsterdam.
"We headed for the relative tranquillity of the Van Gogh Museum, where the paintings pitched and reeled in a blaze of yellow … a sun burst over the writhing corn of Arles, a roman-candle night – starry, starry – swirled into life. Blossom-tormented trees reared into view … " • Van Gogh Museum, Museumplein
Rupert Thomson's strange and haunting novel is full of perceptive descriptions of daily life in Amsterdam.
"I had always liked the red light district during the day, especially when the sun was shining – some bleary, slept-in quality the streets had, the neon diluted, pale, and, every now and then, a girl on her way to work in full make-up and impossible high heels." • Red light district, De Wallen
Amsterdam has always been a haven for refugees and Dubravka Ugresic shows us with great insight the lives of eastern European immigrants in a poorer district of the city.
"I would take the Zeedijk, in the direction of the Nieuwmarkt … Sipping my morning coffee, I would observe the people stopping at stalls displaying herring, vegetables, wheels of Dutch cheese and mounds of freshly baked pastries. It was the part of town with the greatest concentration of eccentrics … " • The Oudezijds Kolk/Zeedijk area
Sean Condon made Amsterdam his home for three years and his love for the city and its sights, big and small, is captivating.
"[Cafe Papeneiland] is a wonderful place with a low, exposed-beam ceiling, a tiny staircase leading up to a tiny toilet, wood-framed windows and a panel of antique Delft porcelain allegedly discovered in the basement during renovations 15 years ago. The bar has been here since 1641." • Intersection of Brouwersgracht and Prinsengracht canals
The famous story of Anne Frank and her family, who were caught in hiding by the Germans in 1944. Their house, now a museum, is one of Amsterdam's most popular tourist destinations.
"After we arrived at 263 Prinsengracht, Miep quickly led us through the long passage and up the wooden staircase to the next floor and into the Annexe. She shut the door behind us, leaving us alone. Margot had arrived much earlier on her bike … " • Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht
• Malcolm Burgess is the publisher of Oxygen Books' City-Lit series featuring some of the best ever writing on favourite world cities, oxygenbooks.co.uk
Oxygen Books new catalogue has just arrived from the printers and we think it looks brilliant! All our current titles, plus city-pick New York, Istanbul and St Petersburg in special postcard-style format.
City-Pick Amsterdam: the city, the guidebook and the footsore tourist • Chris Mills We took a trip last month to Amsterdam; a weekend trip squeezed in between work and school commitments. It was to be a brief taster of all that the city has to offer if one only had a bit more time to spend there. I took along with me the literary travel guide City-Pick Amsterdam (Oxygen Books, edited by Heather Reyes) which I had been sitting on for a while without actually putting to good use.
This was finally to be my chance to put the guide book to the ultimate test. But things never really go according to plan, do they? The reality of the case was that I did it slightly backwards and didn’t actually get around to reading half of the book until after I had come back from Amsterdam. I managed to read the introduction and several pieces (the book contains excerpts from over 70 writers) but I didn’t read solidly. Quite clearly I now have to return to the city and visit the places I managed to read up on afterwards but missed seeing this time. I certainly recommend at the very least browsing through the guide before venturing forth because the personal accounts here give the visitor a flavour that a conventional guide book won’t capture. I wish I had read more before going because now I have an itch to return and explore further Amsterdam’s streets, canals and history. But more from the guide book shortly.
Unfortunately, the one thing I actually did do before travelling was to get sucked into reading some ‘Trip Advisor’ reviews on the hotel that we had booked into (Hotel Citadel). I am not entirely sure whether the site is a Good Thing or not. It seems to me (on admittedly a brief acquaintance) to be full of reviews from people who obviously didn’t do their homework before going somewhere and then complain about stuff afterwards. It looks to me as though a lot of people don’t read the large print let alone the small print when they are making a booking. I say this because in spring I booked a stay in York at a Travelodge hotel and then idly skimmed through TA reviews afterwards. Many people complained about parking (the lack thereof) and left luggage facilities (ditto) and yet the company website quite clearly stated the situation in the first place. I don’t drive, but I must admit that a left luggage facility would have been handy. As there wasn’t such a thing to be had it would seem pointless to make a fuss about it. But I digress. To return to the Amsterdam reviews: I was pleased to see that our prospective hotel had a pretty good press on the whole and was praised for its good breakfast buffet selection (always a good thing to have). It was referred to as ‘charming’ and ‘clean’ which seemed most satisfactory.
But back to literary Amsterdam: In his introduction to the literary guide to the Dutch capital Sam Garrett describes the city thus, ‘Giddy Amsterdam, staid Amsterdam. Empress, fishwife, lady of the night. Hero, artist, traitor, beggar. Visionary, Calvinist and clown’. It’s a bit of a daunting description really, considering that we have only got a weekend to get to grips with all of those personalities. But in a couple of days you can only really scratch the surface of any city I suppose, let alone one with as much going on as Amsterdam. And with a child along on the trip, there’s a limit to how much giddy night time activities can be accommodated. So that’s a visit to the Sex Museum marked down for another time then I suppose. The guide book is divided into sections covering different aspects of the city’s history, culture and geography, beginning with a clutch of extracts attempting to explain the hold that Amsterdam gains over those that come to know the city well. Some pieces have been especially translated for this anthology (for instance excerpts from Cees Nooteboom and Peter de Graaf to mention but two). Not surprisingly, water and the canals figure largely in people’s hearts and minds and there is whole section devoted to ‘Water, water everywhere...’ Nobody mentioned Trip Advisor though, which can only be a good sign I feel.
We walked (and walked and walked) along canal paths, craning our necks up to look at bits of buildings and down to look at lovely house boats on the water. Thank goodness for a pair of flat boots and dry weather to walk around in. There is so much to look at that you could easily just spend a day wandering the streets. In one extract from Cycling Amsterdam Kelvin Whalley explains how it is that so many of the old buildings are so tall and narrow; a width tax no less. His wife then swiftly steers him through the red light district where women are making good use of the windows in those tall houses, ‘I tried to explain that I was just curious to sample the diverse cultural nuances that make Amsterdam simultaneously traditional and racy..’. Don’t try that one at home.
Not that there is any need to walk or cycle as there is a very efficient tram network around the city. Living in Dublin where we have two tram lines crossing the city that don’t intersect, it is refreshing to encounter a transport system that appears to be geared up to facilitating route hopping to your hearts content. We didn’t really set off with any firm plan other than an intention to visit the Van Gogh Museum later in the day. In the end we paid a visit to the Artis Royal Zoo (founded 1838) before finally reaching the famous sunflowers.
The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the Van Gogh Museum, despite my total lack of preparedness for the queues or the high level of security in the place. And if I’d only discovered the Amsterdam tourist card before arriving we could at least have been saved some of the queuing. I cheerfully admit to being the kind of person who would really like to have the whole art gallery to myself and not to have to share it with hundreds of other people who all want to look at the same paintings at the same time as I do. Bearing that in mind you can imagine how frustrating is to finally get to see paintings only seen previously in books ‘in the flesh’ but then to have other people’s heads in the way when you are trying to see what is arguably the most famous painting on display.
Chris Evans in an extract from The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam rails against the ubiquity of Van Gogh’s The Sunflowers, ‘It’s a wonder the average visitor knows that Van Gogh painted anything else’. To balance this tartness the book includes a lovely, thoughtful piece by César Antonio Molina where he introduces the reader to his favourite works at the museum (and yes, he does mention sunflowers).
I was reading a couple of excerpts on visiting the Anne Frank House, but I have to come clean and state here and now that I didn’t end up visiting it despite it being one of the ‘must see’ items on a trip to Amsterdam. I read the famous diary many years ago as a teenager and promised myself that one day I would visit Anne’s place of hiding. So why, after all these years did I not then make time to go on this trip? I think probably because I have mixed feelings about her former home and hiding place being a tourist attraction at all. Obviously people who are familiar with her history want to go, and so do I, or at least a part of me does. Part of me is squeamish about the intrusion into what would have been her private space. Perhaps David Sedaris has the right idea in his irreverent approach to a tour round the iconic building, ‘My months of house hunting had caused me to look at things in a certain way, and on seeing the crowd gathered at the front door, I did not think, Ticket line, but, Open house!’ He then goes on to decide what improvements he would make if he bought the house. Another writer, Salil Tripathi writing of a visit to the house, recalls that Ayaan Hirsi Ali, threatened with loss of citizenship drew attention to the fact that the Dutch had betrayed Anne Frank also. Thus, sadly: the traitor of Garrett’s introduction.
This guide book has had more use after the trip than before it (see above) and acquired a fair few highlighted and marked passages for future reference. Next time I really travel though, I will be so much better prepared. I also have a date with Rembrandt, sadly neglected on this trip, my interest reawakened by the extract from Sylvie Matton’s Rembrandt’s Whore. It has to be said that the book is also a great armchair travel guide; just read a few words from a gifted travel writer, shut your eyes and away you go. No need for queues, passports or security checks. Club class please!
If you'd like to road test any of our city-pick titles (Paris, Berlin, London, Venice, Dublin and Amsterdam) and are happy to write about your experiences, we'll gladly send you a copy of the relevant book. Please contact malcolm.burgess3@btopenworld.com
'This sublime and 'literary' travel book operates on so many levels ... some of the greatest writers painting the city in magical word pictures' The Sydney Morning Herald
'Another wonderfully atmospheric guide ... if you are going to St Petersburg then this is the book for you.' Hot Brands Cool Places
'the latest literary treat from the city-pick series ... as a guide to the atmosphere and spirit of the city, it's unmissable' Lonely Planet Magazine
'Superb ... It's like having your own iPad loaded with different tomes, except that this anthology contains only the best passages' The Times
'The latest triumph of distillation. There's everything here - you'll read about walking and drinking, being poor and being poetic, new wealth and newcomers, old timers and returning natives' The Good Web Guide
'The latest offering in this impressive little series concentrates on the spirit of London as seen through the eyes of an eclectic selection of writers. It's an exciting selection with unexpected gems.' Sunday Telegraph
'This wonderful anthology explores what it is really like to be a Berliner by bringing together extracts about the city from a range of genres, including some specially translated' The Guardian
'A new breed of city guide ... it makes for some delightful discoveries - even for those of us who think we know this city well' Time Out
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City writing about Amsterdam with excerpts from almost a hundred writers. Along the names like Charles de Montesquieu, Voltaire, Albert Camus, Paul Auster, a historian Simon Schama and several Dutch classic authors as Multatuli and Nescio, there are passages from beloved in the Netherlands contemporary writers as Martin Bril, H.M. van den Brink, Remco Campert, Simon Carmiggelt, Jules Deelder, Maarten’t Hart, Gerrit Komrij, Geert Maak, Cees Noteboom and many others. Two pages from the 
