Sibyl's comments (member since Jun 28, 2008)

Sibyl's comments from the Constant Reader group.

What I've always understood was the right way to eat red cabbage is with mashed potatoes and hachee (a stew with beef, onions, wine or vinegar and gravy with cloves and laurel).

carol (akittykat) wrote: "Sibyl wrote: "My mother cooks cabbage that way, but I don't like it when it gets mixed up with my potatoes, they get all purple and wet. The cabbage tastes good though. "

You serve it with potatoes.Hmmmmmmmmmm."

When you're Dutch that's the standard meal: meat, boiled potatoes with gravy, vegetables, desert. My favourite part has always been the vegetables, I can eat an entire plate of those, the potatoes are just there because they're supposed to.

My mother cooks cabbage that way, but I don't like it when it gets mixed up with my potatoes, they get all purple and wet. The cabbage tastes good though.

Jonathan wrote: "In the second part of your example, Sibyl -- and please tell me that you just made this up -- you pile on the compounds: bijeenkomst = a conference; vakbond = trade union; and kaartjeverkopers = ticket sellers. So we end up with hottentottententententoonstellingskaartjesverkopersvakbondsbijeenkomst, or, roughly "the Hottentot tent exhibition's ticket-sellers' union conference." (I think.) What a great language!"

I did not entirely make that up. It's part of the hottentottententententoonstellingjoke that you can make the word as long as you want, there is always another word you could add to it, there is no longest word (in Dutch at least). There are also languages where a word can be an entire sentence, I think Greenlandic is one of them.

hottentottententententoonstelling(skaartjesverkopersvakbondsbijeenkomst etc.) is always a good one, but I'll try to think of a word that's actually being used.

Oh, I wish German grammar was similar to Dutch grammar, that would have helped a lot in school ;)

Four years of German in school is nothing to be envied, somehow they reserve the most insecure and inexperienced teachers for that subject. I can't speak or write German, because I've never understood the grammar (blame the teachers), but I can understand it and have a German dictionary that hasn't been used enough to earn back what I payed for it. Can't let that third language go to waste.

My library doesn't have much of Herta Muller's work in translation so I'm going to try to read Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt (The Pasport) in German.

The

Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!

has been going on here for a few weeks now, but I saw the sun today! For five seconds that is.

You mean the Verhoeven - Carice van Houten Black Book? I've seen it, and thought it was quite good for a Dutch movie, not bad for a WWII movie either.

Jonathan, thank you for that link. I will try to read it as soon as possible, I'm not a subscriber so I'll have to read it in the library or at the university.

Yes, eighteenth century. I've even heard of groups as early as the twelfth century. The groups that started in the eighteenth century are part of the European Enlightenment and of course were very different from what we see now. People wanted to get educated and also began to read more different books and texts instead of just rereading the same ones over and over. The reading groups (leesgezelschappen) were a cheap way to get and read books. In the most simple form it was a group of people who rotated a selection of books for a year, after that they were sold. Some also had a space where they kept the books, where they could go to read and discuss books and where lectures were held.

The archive we have is of a very organized bookclub with a lot of participants, we got the archives because their anniversary is coming up and they wanted to do something special. I have no idea if other bookclubs are as organized as this one, but of some of the eighteenth-century bookclubs there still are lists of members, protocols etc.

I presented my concept today and the woman turned out to be a historian so she was very interested in my research.

Jonathan wrote: "Sibyl wrote: "I was looking forward to this discussion after reading all the great reviews, but life has got in the way (my research into the history of bookclubs in the Netherlands amongst other t..."

My main goal is to make an overview of the history (eighteenth century until now) because there hasn't been much research and the little there is only provides small fragments or a century at most. I started because for one of my classes we're working with the archives of a local bookclub. We all had to base research on those archives and this is what I have come up with. I'm also doing a comparison with American bookclubs. Tomorrow I have to do a presentation of my concept for someone from the bookclub so I'm very excited.

I think I read somewhere that you had some articles published in De Groene Amsterdammer, is that correct? I would love to read some of your work.

That was very interesting and fun to read. Some things I recognized: solitaire is perfect for procrastinating, I sometimes just take the train not to go anywhere but to concentrate on my reading or writing and I like to gather my thoughts in the shower (you can't take notes so you have to work on sentences and individual words over and over or you'll forget). Also some great ideas for the future: literal cutting and pasting and the old-fashioned typewriter.

I don't go to the theatre when I know there will be a crowd. I like to have a few rows to myself. A few weeks ago I went to see Up with my youngest sister (10) and the theatre was packed with kids, I would prefer excited children at a kid's movie to adults that can't chew with their mouth closed any day.

I was looking forward to this discussion after reading all the great reviews, but life has got in the way (my research into the history of bookclubs in the Netherlands amongst other things). I hope you will have an interesting discussion.

Movies are the perfect place to indulge in human's natural love for happy endings. They're short and unlike with books, I don't feel guilty for quitting. And even though you say you avoid movies "like the plague" you probably know very well that there's no avoiding the plague when the entire world is infected so you probably also know that not all movies are of the "happy ending-itis"-type.

SPOILER IF THERE ARE ANY

Besides, Hunger has a happy ending too.

Thank you, Capitu.

Newengland wrote: Hunger is also a bit of a downer.

There's nothing like a good downer to cheer me up!

A dead wasp in my tea just made my day, maybe my judgement isn't to be trusted after all.

It's not that I prefer Hunger to Pan, I haven't even read Pan yet. So far I've only read Hunger and Victoria, Mysteries is scheduled for next week. I think Hunger gets better on the second reading. The first time I read it I had no clue as to what was going on. Now that I've reread it several times I understand and appreciate it more. It has even become one of my favorite books. I don't think I will like Pan more just because there is more going on or there are more characters. That's not really what I look for in a book. One of the things I like about Hunger is that nothing really happens and that there aren't that many characters.Hunger also gets some of its strenght from the fact that it's part autobiographical.

Capitu, that sounds like a great deal, thank you for offering. I would prefer Hunger.

Hunger was my nomination, but I voted for Pan too. I've already nominated two others for the Reading List but if someone nominates Hunger or Pan, you have my vote.